by Aria Adams
Hervé
“Bertrand!” I bellowed. My aide appeared almost immediately, looking unflustered.
“Master?” I was only his master in the sense that I employed him as my assistant. Still, he did love to stand on ceremony.
“I have to go to Kliona for a crisis summit. All the alphas in the consortium of planets will attend.”
“When do you leave?”
“Immediately. I need to pack.” I was hurrying around my office stuffing gadgets into my old-fashioned leather-bound briefcase—a modern imitation of an antique, because I didn’t like broken, decayed things—while my transport ship waited outside.
“Did you have instructions in your absence, Master?”
“Yes. The pet store has messaged me. A new shipment of kittens arrives in a few days.”
“Is this really the time to think about—”
“I’ve waited months, already. Get me a kitten while I’m gone.”
“Wouldn’t you rather inspect them yourself before choosing?”
“Of course I would. But you know what happened last time. They were gone within two days.” And I’d been on a dwarf planet that was really an overgrown moon with aspirations of grandiosity, where I got stuck debating with the Folonians about free trade of bunny-girls.
“I will do my best, Master.”
“I would appreciate it. If she’s not a good fit, you can keep her, so choose wisely.”
“I will select her as if she were going to marry my firstborn son, Master.”
I suppressed an eye roll. The trouble with Bertrand was he was prone to being pompous occasionally. It was far outweighed by his better qualities, though.
I ran upstairs and threw three suits into a case, along with the essentials, then leapt over the handrail, startling a maid whom there was no time to apologize to, before I sprinted out to the waiting transport.
I was looking forward to finally getting a pet. Owning a Felyne had been my ambition ever since I saw one at a party. Was it the triangular, fluffy ears? The way their hair grew in tufts around the top of their head? Their lithe, beautifully proportioned bodies? The vision they presented, as they crawled on all-fours, eager to be whipped to orgasm? Or maybe it was the millennia-old connection between men and cats, brought forward into the fourth millennium alongside genetic splicing.
When Earth had become uninhabitable, one-thousand-five-hundred years ago, people had settled on new planets. At the time, transhumanism—surgical alterations to integrate human and animal DNA—was popular, and dozens of new subspecies emerged. Each found their own planet, but bipeds—I guess we were most closely related to the original humans—had quickly taken control of everything.
The history articles were vague on why it happened. The current theory was that we took care of the subspecies because they didn’t have the intellectual capacity to run their own planets or defend themselves. By contrast, bipeds were very good at all the things that kept this star system functioning.
I wondered if my new Felyne—because I assumed Bertrand would find one—would be easy to train. I wanted her to be under my complete control, but that sort of training would take time. The kitties were delivered every eight to twelve weeks, and I’d already grown impatient waiting to get one of my very own. I’d dreamed about a kitten for so long, I had very high expectations. After reading everything I could find about kitty care and how their biology worked, I was confident I would be an effective master. I wanted a kitty who would be obedient and submissive. She had to be strong enough to withstand my tastes. And she needed to be beautiful.
For the rest of the journey, I occupied myself planning out how I was going to train her. I already knew the background to the summit I was attending and being there in person was really just a political stunt, in these days of videoconferencing and light-speed networking technology.
Chapter 3
Kitty
“She’s not smiling enough. Why isn’t she smiling?” A bratty woman was banging on the glass and stomping her feet.
I’m not smiling because someone hacked off my tail and ripped my claws out before dumping me in a pet store. There was no point speaking. The people here wouldn’t care.
“Look at the bunnies, why don’t you get one of those instead?” The brat’s master led them away and I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been in the pet store for five days, and all the other kitties had been sold. I’d watched them play a game of preening, looking cute, and presenting their asses for potential masters to view.
I, on the other hand, lay sideways, usually with my back to the glass, ignoring everyone, including the other kittens. Today I was facing the window, glaring out at anyone who might dare to want a pet kitty. I didn’t want to please a master. I didn’t care. I just wanted to go back to Mama-kitty and my sisters, where the milk was creamy and fresh, and we all had each other’s backs. I’d watched the kittens in the pet store screw each other over. Being like them was abhorrent.
Although I wasn’t paying much attention, I felt eyes on me, and I looked across the store. From about twenty feet away, down an aisle, a man observed me. He looked deep in thought and I wondered if he’d noticed me at all. Hopefully not. I licked my paws because it was more interesting than thinking about bipeds. I was idly flicking my tail before I realized it wasn’t there. Surprised at the odd sensation, I had to look over my shoulder to check.
No tail. So why did I feel like I was moving it?
My mood soured as I remembered the evil bipeds holding me down and cutting my tail off. Rolling over, I curled up into a ball so no-one could see me crying.
Kitty
The biped observing from a distance got up, and I thought he’d lost interest, until he returned with a uniformed assistant.
“I’d like to buy her.”
They discussed price, but I didn’t know if I was expensive or cheap. As soon as payment had been exchanged, I was dumped into a kitty travel carrier which followed the biped out of the store. As soon as we were alone, he looked into the carrier, which was floating behind him at eye level.
“Any misbehavior and you will be severely punished when we arrive at your new master’s house.”
From the tone of his voice, it sounded like he wanted to punish me. He also implied he wasn’t my owner, which was relieving.
“I’ll be good,” I whispered.
“Address everyone you encounter from now on as ‘master’. You are a pet. A slave.”
I knew I was a pet. I’d been raised all my life to expect to find an owner. But not like this. Not with punishment and sorrow. Owners were supposed to be loving and cherish their pets.
I had to hope my new master would be kind.
Looking out of the holes in the carrier, I saw gray concrete everywhere. Occasionally, it was punctuated by big planters full of bright flowers, but they looked like little islands drowning in a rising tide of stark concrete. It was like the people here knew their world wasn’t beautiful, but instead of changing it, they just brought nice things here to suffocate.
Tall concrete buildings rose around the wide streets. Windows everywhere. A thousand lives playing out behind the smoky glass. And I was never going to see any of it.
I sympathized with the flowers, imprisoned in soil and forced to live for someone else’s pleasure. It was my lot in life, too.
Hervé
My transport slowed exponentially as it landed carefully on the manicured lawn in front of my home. I watched Bertrand get out of a land vehicle, followed by a floating pet carrier, held in the air by six small rotor blades. As we landed, I got a glimpse of his expression. He looked irritable, which made little sense, since he had done as I asked.
I jumped out of the transporter, my luggage duffel slung over one shoulder while my briefcase was in my hand, and I called out across the driveway as Bertrand reached the door.
“Bertrand, I see you found me a pet?”
“It was the last kitten in the store, Master,” he said in way of an explanation.
I looked into the carrier, then shrugged. There didn’t appear to be anything wrong with her, and she looked forlorn, not disobedient or resistant, so Bertrand’s reaction continued to confuse me.
“Bring her to my study immediately. I’ll inspect her in there.”
“Yes, Master.” Bertrand opened the door with his palm print and went inside, leading the carrier across the wide hallway toward my study, while I went to get rid of the duffel, which was mostly filled with laundry at this point.
Six thousand years of progress, through the birth and death of numerous civilizations, and we still didn’t have anything that cleaned clothing instantly.
I quickly turned my attention away from the laundry after handing the duffel bag to a maid. She disappeared and I headed straight for my study.
I’d been planning this first encounter with my kitty for so long, it almost didn’t seem real. Despite the fact I ran this planet, which was the most prosperous place in this star system, I experienced a frisson of nervousness. What if I didn’t like her?
Squaring my shoulders, I opened the door of the study and stepped inside like I owned the place. Because I did.
Kitty
I was alone in a very odd room. Peeking out, I saw the walls were all a pale blue color, with little glass windows, behind which there were beaches, starscapes, and things I couldn’t even put into words.
Shelves lined some parts of the walls. They contained tall thin things crammed side-by-side, with intricate patterns on them, mostly in black or white, depending on the color of the background.
There were also strange glass things. At least, I guessed they were glass. I wasn’t sure. Some of them sat on the table and others were so big, they stood on the floor and reached almost to the ceiling. They were oddly-shaped and I didn’t have an inkling of what they were for.
The floor itself was made of some clear glassy substance that sparkled with flecks of something glittery. As soon as I looked at it, I couldn’t stop. It was mesmerizing.
The door opened and closed behind me, and I was still lost in the sparkling floor until the front of my travel carrier was opened.
“Come out, kitten.” His voice was quiet, but it reached into me and compelled me to do as he said. I crawled out of the carrier and waited on the floor, unsure what to do next.
I breathed in and found his scent swirling around me, surrounding me, claiming me. He reeked of power. I recognized him immediately as an alpha. His scent radiated the fact that he was used to being in control. It was the odor of raw power and I found my body softening as I drew him into my lungs.
My new master stood barely six inches from my face, and I saw his black pants, his shiny shoes, near enough for me to lick them. I refrained. Instead, I slowly looked up, taking in his long, muscular legs, his black utility belt and plain black top—clearly some sort of uniform—and his corded forearms. He was the biggest man I’d ever seen. Even for a biped, he was enormous.
My gaze continued, seeing his dark, close-cut hair, and his square jaw. His eyes were lavender, and they pierced me so intensely that I quickly averted my eyes. His appearance fit with his scent.
“What is your name?” he asked.
“I don’t have one, Master.” I remembered what the other man had said, about addressing everyone as master. Hopefully he hadn’t misled me.
“No one ever named you?” He spoke as though I ought to be ashamed.
“No, Master.” In the pens, none of us had needed names. We knew each other by scent and appearance, and it was enough. Scents were far more unique and distinctive than names.
“I shall remedy that, today. You will need some identifying nomer for your registration chip.”
I winced as I remembered the chip embedded in the metal ball that pierced my clitoral hood.
The man walked around me in a circle, appraising me, deciding if I was worthy of remaining here.
“I will call you Kitty. Your fur is a pleasing shade of red. I shall keep it that way. Open your mouth.”
I obeyed, and waited as he came so close I felt the heat radiating from his body.
“Hmm. Your teeth are fine although your canines are a little longer than I would prefer. I won’t have them removed unless you bite me.” He slid two fingers deep into my mouth, and I tried my best to yield to him but as he reached the back of my throat, I couldn’t help moving my tongue.
“Untrained.”
He removed his fingers and I sensed he’d deemed me lacking in some way. Walking around behind me, the first thing he did was touch the stump where my tail had been. I yelped in pain and startled, reflexively moving away from him to protect my injured limb.
“Was it recent?”
“Y-yes, Master.” My voice was unsteady as I remembered the way they’d held me down and taken my tail. I fought not to cry all over again. I couldn’t express myself without my tail.
“I will give you a new tail. But not yet. You have to earn it.”
A new tail? How was that possible? Could the people here re-grow limbs or something?
“How do I earn it, Master?”
He was silent for a long moment before he finally answered.
“Obey and submit.”
I wanted to ask more questions, but he’d moved again and his fingers suddenly plunged into my pussy. They stopped abruptly, stretching my opening and feeling impossibly huge. Why was he touching me there? That place was reserved for male cats when they were permitted to breed with females.
“You’re untouched.” His voice was thicker; deeper. When I inhaled, his scent had become stronger.
“There were no males in the pens, Master.” They were kept separate and only breeders like my mama had ever seen them.
He growled. A low, possessive sound that somehow made me feel completely owned and utterly intoxicated at the same time. Despite my fear, my clit swelled and I rolled my hips.
“You are mine. No other male will touch you. Mine to claim, mine to use, mine to punish.”
He wanted to... what? I shuddered as I contemplated my grim future, but my body was responding differently. My nipples were hard, and liquid was making its way out of my hole, around his fingers. If my tail were still there, it would have been pointing straight upwards to show I was coming into the mating frenzy.
“But... but I am a kitty, Master. You couldn’t... you wouldn’t fit.” I flailed in desperation to put into words the concerns I had, against the tide of need that was sweeping through me.
“Are you denying me?” His fingers scissored inside me, stretching me further and making me gasp. “You are a pet. You have no rights, on Corellia.”
I had no rights anywhere, it seemed. I’d had no choice about being raised in a kitten farm, destined from birth to be sent to a pet store on another planet. I hadn’t chosen my owner. And I didn’t get to choose what my owner did with me. I wondered if there were any free kitties, anywhere in the galaxy, or if the bipeds ruled over all of us.
“You wouldn’t fit,” I reiterated.
His scent changed. It became deeper, with more musk, somehow, and I sensed his arousal had grown.
“That sounds like a challenge,” he growled, and his voice reverberated through me in a way that simultaneously reassured and terrified me.
He was my owner. I’d been taught by Mama-kitten that my job was to please him, but I hadn’t expected that to involve arousal or being touched in my most intimate places. I wanted his approval, his touch, his protection; at the same time I didn’t want him to hurt me. And he was far too big to handle me the way he seemed to want to.
He slid his fingers out and trailed them over my clit, playing with the piercing. My spine stiffened but my core tingled. I wanted to hide in my box until he came to his senses and realized what he wanted to do to his new pet kitty, but I didn’t even try to move. Instead, I mewled with pleasure at the sensations his fingers elicited.
“So responsive,” he muttered. “Training you will be... interesting.”
Was he com
paring my responsiveness to biped women or other kitties? It bothered me to think I wasn’t his first kitten.
“How many pets have you had, Master?” I asked, between shaking with need and meowing.
“Enough.”
I was wrong-footed again. What happened to his other pets? Were they still here, somewhere? Kitties famously didn’t like to share their masters.
“Does that bother you, Kitty?” His voice was a song of seduction as he wrapped his fingers around my throat, and I was frozen under his full attention. “Do you hate the idea of sharing your master?”
I didn’t want to reply. This was the first time I’d met him, and I didn’t want to admit to the sea of lust I was drowning in.
“Answer.” His voice took on a hard edge and I gasped as his hand squeezed my throat.
“Kitties hate sharing, Master,” I ground out.
His hand lingered, his fingers pressing into my neck while my body silently begged for him to take me.
“Then it will make the perfect punishment.”
I startled in horror. Was he serious? It was impossible to tell. I didn’t dare ask. The idea of being bought by someone then watching him favor another was too awful.
“Obey and submit, and you’ll never have to find out what it would be like,” he murmured.
Obey and submit. That seemed to be all he wanted from me. He expected so little, and yet, so much.
“Yes, Master.”
He released my throat and I waited, watching him as he walked across the room. He opened a drawer and withdrew something before turning back. When he got closer, he held it out for me to look at. A steel chain, with a clip at one end and a handle at the other. The clip was attached to a thin, black collar.
“Kneel,” he told me. “Ass on your heels, knees together, hands clasped behind your back.”
I moved into the position. He circled my neck with the collar and fastened it. When he stood back, he held the handle of the chain. I was collared and leashed.