by Flynn Eire
Table of Contents
Title Page
1 Rune
2
3
4
5 Rune
6 Rune
7
8
9
Sneak Peek: Love’s Neglect
Find A New Series To Love…
Or A Different Genre…
Sneak Peek: Accidentally Wolf
About the Author
Other Titles by Flynn Eire
A Supernatural Script Inc. Book
Rune Freeman fears he’ll never be a free man with the past he can’t seem to escape. Allowing others to hurt him is his only source of relief from the demons that haunt him, but it has to be someone who cares about him… And someone who does couldn’t hurt him that way.
Helios Reynell knows Rune is different even before he officially meets him. Helios doesn’t want anyone to know he’s undercover at the camp or that he’s feeling more than he should for the damaged tech geek. With rumors of distrust and traitors, Helios must put an end to what’s happening or a chain of events could start that cannot be undone.
When Rune can’t take anymore abuse and breaks down, no one can seem to get through to him. Can Helios heal Rune while attempting to determine what is going on at the camp, or will Helios be what finally pushes Rune’s past his breaking point?
1 Rune
As my sneakers hit the ground on my morning run, I relished the burning in the calves. The same playlist was running on my iPod as always and right then it was Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life”… And I wondered what it would ever take for me feel that. Would anything ever save me?
Was that even possible at this point? Maybe there were just people there was no hope for?
I nodded to a few people as I flew by them. I always ran the grounds the opposite direction on the wrong days, my way of saying I didn’t want anyone to join me.
That and I didn’t think anyone could keep up. Most went to jog—I sprinted the whole time. I needed to sprint. I needed to always be ready to run. To be able to run faster, harder than anyone who might be behind me.
Seether’s “Broken” loaded next and I knew that was a true song. And didn’t that just answer my earlier question.
And the one I was trying to work out in my mind… But I knew the answer to that one as well. I didn’t know why I even bothered debating if I’d go back to Ben and Dean tonight. I would. I knew I would. I’d let them hurt me however they wanted, fuck me however they wanted—do whatever they wanted to me.
It was the only way I felt anything. And I needed to feel. They all thought it was how I enjoyed my sex, and I let them think that because as much as I hated the looks people gave me, if they knew the truth, what they’d really think then would be so much worse.
Then I’d have to run again. I was always ready to run—I ran every day just to make sure I was prepared for it. But I didn’t want to.
I didn’t want to be broken anymore. I wanted to be brought to life. How did someone go from one to the other? I thought I knew the answer—find a new Master. No one ever seemed to want me though.
So I waited, and ran, and let whoever wanted to hurt me have me, so I felt something in the meantime… And wished maybe I hadn’t fought so hard all those years ago. I still didn’t think all this was worth fighting for.
* * * *
My heart sank as Ben and Dean continued to fuck me that night in one of the common rooms. I should never have been honest with them when they asked me what I wanted. I should have been smart enough to know they liked giving the pain of denying others what they needed. They liked to humiliate, choke, and demean. None of that did shit for me, but still I came, hoping if I played their games long enough, they’d give me even a crumb of what I needed.
After two months, they hadn’t.
“You came to watch the show, Helios?” Ben grunted as he smacked me. “Thought you might like to see this.”
I didn’t know the name but I didn’t even bother looking because this was boring to me, and I didn’t really even care.
“Get off him,” a strange voice snarled, so deeply that I practically felt it reverberate through my bones across the room from him. Slowly I shifted my head and gazed as best as I could while Dean’s dick was in my mouth and met the most gorgeous green eyes staring back at me.
And for a second, I wondered if he was who I’d been waiting for all this time.
2
When Douche #1, aka Ben, and Douche #2, aka Dean, asked me to hang with them after dinner, I was about twenty seconds from telling them there wasn’t a chance in hell—until they said they were playing with Rune. It shocked me that the quiet man who I’d yet to meet because he kept to himself would hang out with these assholes, and I found myself agreeing to see what was up.
I never imagined I’d walk into one of the lounges to find them fucking him hardcore and Rune not really into it. At first I couldn’t speak because I’d never seen someone as beautiful as Rune in my life. Even in this kind of compromising position, his jet black hair fell past his shoulders, the slight curls of it bouncing as he moved. Every line of his body, every gorgeous dip of his muscles, every curve he had—especially his perfect ass—on display.
“You came to watch the show, Helios?” Ben grunted as he smacked Rune’s upturned ass… With his claws. “Thought you might like to see this.”
“Get off him,” I snarled, my hands changing to claws as my fangs came out. Then I saw Rune’s violet eyes as they slowly looked at me. My heart skipped a beat. Of course he would have some color as rare and beautiful as violet. This is going to be the best assignment ever.
“We invited you to watch us play, not take over the show,” Dean bitched as he fisted Rune’s hair roughly, staring down at him. “Who the fuck told you to stop sucking my cock?”
“I did—I am,” I demanded as I stormed forward until my claws were under Dean’s chin. “He’s mine now. Get the fuck off him or challenge me.”
“Dude, you can have him next,” Ben muttered even as he stopped thrusting. “Rune lets anyone do whatever to him. It’s cool. He’s a total sub slut. Boss him around to do anything you want.”
“Not anymore.” I shoved Dean back, smiling as he yelled because Rune’s teeth nicked his cock. Then I turned on Ben. “He’s my sub now. I find out anyone touches him, they will meet me in the circle.”
Ben pulled out of Rune and, just to be a fuck, clawed his ass up doing it. “Fine, whatever. He’s a lousy lay anyway. Have him.”
Rune hung his head in shame as he started to fall to the floor in exhaustion. I caught him in time and lifted him into my arms, easily able to handle his six foot frame and two hundred twenty or so pounds given I was six-seven and almost three hundred myself.
“I’ll come back for your clothes,” I muttered as I brushed his hair off his face.
“They’ll shred them the moment we leave just because you took away their fun for the night,” he argued, glancing at his pants. “I need the stuff I brought with me.”
He made a valid point. They were assholes like that. I ordered Ben to put Rune’s stuff on Rune, and he did, begrudgingly. Hurrying out of there, I ignored that Rune looked over my shoulder at them. I doubted he wanted to stay. Probably he didn’t understand what the hell just happened.
Well, that made two of us. So much for staying objective during this assignment.
Minutes later I lowered Rune onto shaky legs in one of the private stalls in the showers down from my room. I reached over, steadying him with one hand, while grabbing some soap and a washcloth with the other.
“Turn on the shower to whatever temperature you prefer,” I mumbled as I set my supplies down and got undressed. His clothes were safe and there was no point in getting mine all
wet. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
“I’m fine. I’ll heal—I always heal after they cut me up.” But he still did what I asked.
“Why do you let them?” I cupped his cheek when he tried to look away and forced him to face me.
“Are you my Master now?” There was such hope in his eyes I felt a lump form in my throat. He wanted all of this.
And I wanted him, but this wasn’t my scene. Still, I found myself saying something I never thought I’d ever agree to, not in a thousand years. “Yes.” Rune sagged against me with relief as if he’d been waiting a long, long time to hear that. Realizing this had been something big and probably traumatic for him, I wanted to comfort him so I leaned in to kiss him.
Rune turned his head away, and I flinched. “I don’t kiss.”
“Why not?” He shrugged, and I used my gift, pulling the answer I needed from him. “Rune, why don’t you kiss?”
“Dogs don’t kiss, dogs take their beatings,” he muttered, half in the trance my power caused.
I stumbled back from him, floored not only by his answer, but that it wasn’t only his voice I’d heard. All vampires were blessed with powers, abilities—speed, strength, hearing, vision—to name a few. But all of us were also given one unique gift just for us and mine was to be able to make people tell the truth. Not only that but to also hear it in their minds. It was a dual gift, because I was so old, that I could also hear the source of the truth which allowed me to know if someone was being controlled.
But that wasn’t the case with Rune. I’d only come across something like what I’d just heard a few dozen times in all my years. I’d need to study him more, hear it again, but my gut clenched, because while I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, I knew I was right… Rune had been conditioned. Someone else’s voice was in his head when he answered me. That only happened when a person had been subjected to psychological torture, mental conditioning, or abuse so severe they stopped hearing themselves in their own minds at times.
I waited until my influence wore off before I tried again, ignoring Rune’s wide eyes as he realized what he’d just told me. “Well, I’m your Master now, right?”
“You still want to be after what I just said?” he panted, anxiety written all over his features. “Why did I just tell you that?”
“You know I need to know these things,” I murmured as I leaned over and kissed his neck as I ran my hands down his stomach, soothing him. “There can’t be secrets between us. I won’t allow it.”
“Okay.” He squirmed under my touch, and I felt like a god. This gorgeous man responded to me so beautifully from only this after what I’d just witnessed him going through with those assholes.
“So, I’m your Master now, right?” I waited until he nodded. “Which means nothing from your last Master applies and only my rules stand.” Rune went tense against me, and I waited until he worked that out in his mind, giving him soft kisses and gentle touches merely to show him I was there, not leaving him.
When he did finally speak, his voice was so quiet I barely heard it. “Is that how this works? I’ve only had one Master before.”
Fuck if I knew but I took the chance and lied my ass off. If nothing else, Rune needed help, and I now knew only I could give it to him because of my gift.
And I needed answers from him.
“Yes. I’m going to retrain you to what I like.”
He growled and shoved me away. I hadn’t seen that coming, so it was actually effective, and I stumbled back. “What about me? Don’t I get what I like for once? Won’t anyone ever care what I want?”
So he wasn’t a real sub. He’d been abused. I searched his eyes and saw they were wild, needy. I nodded. “Yes, Rune. I care very much for what you want and what’s best for you. What Ben and Dean were doing wasn’t what you wanted or good for you—that’s why I stepped in. But you want me to be your Master which means I lay down the rules and you trust me to know what’s best for you. If you want something, you’ll tell me.”
He studied me closely for a few moments before he nodded. “What’s your name, Master?”
“Helios. Helios Reynell, and I don’t like being called Master. You’ll call me Reynell when we’re alone as your sign of respect and Helios in front of everyone else, understood?”
“Yes, Reynell.” He’d gone tense when I’d taken away the idea of using Master, so I’d thrown in that last part. I didn’t like it, but Rune was special, needed me and a soft touch. He was the key to so many answers I required and already I couldn’t believe no one else had caught on to what was going on with him.
How could no one see this?
“Good, very good, Rune,” I praised as I moved closer. A soft smile spread on his mouth as his cheeks heated up. So he wasn’t used to getting rewarded by his Master, only punished.
Well that would change real fast.
“I don’t play dog or animal games with my subs,” I instructed as I moved us under the water, soaping up the washcloth. “You won’t think of yourself like that anymore.” I felt him shake under my touch and knew this was going to be a big hurdle for us. “We’ll go slow. I’ll help you if you trust me.”
“You won’t leave me when I fuck up?”
Not if, but when. My heart broke for him. What had happened to this sweet man? “No, Rune. Not as long as I see you’re trying and you want me with you.”
“Yes, Reynell.” He relaxed a bit, but then winced when I ran the washcloth over his hips, most of the gashes partially healed.
“I’m going to kiss you now and clean you up, take care of you and comfort you,” I murmured as I tended to him. “It’s what I want and you want me happy so you’re going to try it. If you hate it, you’ll tell me. If it feels weird, you’ll tell me that too, but just because it feels weird, that’s not enough of a reason to not do it again, okay?”
“That’s fair,” he agreed after a few moments.
I leaned in slowly, giving him every opportunity to change his mind or stop me. Instantly I went from semi-hard to rock hard and leaking as our lips touched, just from the slight contact of them brushing together. “What did you feel? Was it okay?”
He shrugged so I used my gift again, feeling like a bastard. My only excuse was I couldn’t risk doing more damage to him.
“What did you feel, Rune?”
“Nothing,” he mumbled, looking at me but not really seeing anything. “I feel nothing but pain ever. Feelings describe emotions which are an abstract concept but can also be used as slang for the same meaning, thus, the word has no true value. I felt nothing. I never do.”
I released him from my influence, another piece of the puzzle falling into place. His abuse or whatever started early. Rune didn’t understand or process emotions like most people did. I would also guess it was because his IQ was off the charts high and his affinity for machines was due to his brain being able to work logically like one.
“I need to stop telling you these things,” he rasped, his face crumbling when he was normal again.
“No, you need to keep being honest with me,” I soothed as I rubbed my thumb over his lips. “I understand you better now. You’re a logic-based person. There’s nothing wrong with that. It helps me. You feel, Rune, I promise you that you do. No one’s ever connected the dots for you though. You react as if you feel. You’re embarrassed right now. Your tone has changed, your expression has, you’re folding into yourself and you want to leave this situation, right?”
He studied me a moment before giving the barest of nods.
“That’s embarrassment.” I saw understanding fill his eyes and it gave me hope. “Before I kissed you, you were tense, nervous, but then you relaxed. What I gave you in that kiss was comfort. Think of your muscles and the sensations in your body. They weren’t tense, were they?”
“I’m not sure,” he hedged and shocked me by leaning forward and kissing me on his own. I gratefully accepted the kiss, smiling when his body molded against mine. He was relaxed when I broke the ki
ss, not wanting to push him too far.
“And now you’re more at ease, your body is relaxed, you feel comforted,” I whispered gently.
He nodded but then his eyes slowly started to fill with anxiety, and I could tell we’d reached his overwhelmed point. “Can I suck your cock, Reynell?”
I just about swallowed my tongue. Apparently he also had intimacy problems and wanted to divert that with sex… But what sane man said no to an offer like that?
I do. “Not yet, Rune.” I leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. “Not until I know you better, we know each other better. I like to take things slow so I make sure I’m pleasing my sub. I want you to be just as happy as I know you’ll make me. For now, all I want is you to get comfortable with me being around and us kissing, understanding it will bring you comfort. Once I know you like it, want it, we’ll move onto something more.”
His eyes went wild, and he struggled against me. “You don’t want to fuck me? Everyone just wants to fuck me? This isn’t right. It’s not normal.”
“Fuck normal,” I snarled, pinning his hips against the tiles with mine and grabbing his wrists into one hand. I easily brought them over his head, and I swallowed back my own lust when I saw his eyes fill with the same emotion. “Lust, Rune. You’re feeling lust.” He nodded as he licked his lips. “Do you want me to kiss you now?”
“No, fuck me,” he whimpered.
“I won’t ever fuck you without kissing you first,” I ground out, realizing we had a lot of work ahead of us. “So do you want me to kiss you? We need to work on the steps to getting to that and this is one of them.”
He sighed, his cock deflating some. “Then kiss me.”
“But you don’t want me to?” I searched his eyes carefully.
“I want to be fucked or suck you off and please you,” he growled. Jesus, it was hard to refuse an offer like that.
“That option’s not on the table,” I said, putting all my authority in my tone. I watched him shiver, hoping that helped. “Either you get my kiss or we simply clean up and go to bed. Now which you want?”