Assumed Master (30 page)

Spinning back around, she scanned the room and
discovered if he'd left, he’d forgotten his overnight bag which still sat at
the foot of the bed. He wasn’t gone. There was still a chance.

Julie went to her purse and found her phone
then quickly dialed Allen.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he said
on the second ring. "You missed breakfast. Would you like me to send up
some lunch?"

"Where’s Dante?"

"He and Blake went shopping. He asked me
to keep an eye on you while he was gone. Is there anything you need?"

"Keep an eye on me?" Julie asked,
hurrying back to her bed and getting in it lest Allen lurked in the hallway and
not leaving the bed was a rule for her confinement. "What am I not
supposed to be doing today?"

Allen laughed out loud before he answered. "You
sound more like a slave today, sweetheart. Worried her Master may find her
doing something forbidden. What are you doing anyway?"

"Sitting in bed wondering what I’m
allowed to do," she snapped. "Dante didn’t leave instructions unless
you have them. I'd prefer not be doused in liquid sugar, paddled, flogged,
caned, squeezed into a chastity device, or have my poor pussy tortured until it’s
raw. Now what am I not supposed to do, Master Allen. I’m sure he left a list of
tasks or something. Didn’t he?"

"You may take a shower. You’re to groom
yourself to your Master’s standards and you may come down to eat. When you come
down, I’ll tell you what the rest of your day will consist of."

"Thank you," Julie said with relief.
He hadn't abandoned her. "Did he leave instructions as to my dress?"

"He said casual, anything you wanted, and
advised me to send someone up if you needed your back checked and anything put
on it."

Twenty minutes later, Nicki stood behind her
smearing lotion on the few places on her back that still stung.

"Are you going to go home with your
Master?" Nicki asked, helping Julie pull her t-shirt down.

"Yes. Do you know where he went this
morning?" Julie asked, pulling a brush through her hair then applying a
healthy dollop of styling gel.

"Yes, but I’m not supposed to tell."
Nicki popped the red sucker she’d come up with back in her mouth and rolled it
between her lips, making a loud smacking noise.

"Then I suggest, unless you want your ass
paddled, you heed the warning."

A few minutes later Julie sat across from
Allen at the bistro table in the kitchen. A plate of bacon and eggs
awaited
her, still steaming, and a big basket of fluffy
biscuits sat in the middle of the table. The first thing she reached for was
the orange juice. After a healthy gulp or two, she took a biscuit, broke it
apart, and smeared a generous pat of sweet butter across its surface watching
it steam and melt, sinking into all the tiny wells.

"Your Master will be back late this
afternoon. He asked that you be dressed for play and meet him in the great room
at seven," Allen said while Nicki refilled his coffee cup then curled up
on a cushion at his feet, laying her head on his thigh.

"Did he say specifically what I should
wear?" Julie asked between bites.

It never occurred to her until that minute
that she’d barely eaten yesterday. She missed breakfast and skipped her
opportunity for lunch by being stubborn then picked at her dinner because she
was too tired to feed herself. If she’d been a good girl, her Master might have
helped her with that task, but as it were, he was busy feeding Blake while
Julie watched with blind jealousy eating away at her insides.

"Stockings, no shoes."

"That’s it?"

"That’s it."

It sounded to her like he had more punishment
planned. Would this hell never end? Would she ever pay enough for her offenses?

At seven sharp, Julie descended the stairs and
alit into the grand room in a pair of black stockings and nothing else as
requested. She was stunned to find the room filled with people, Dante standing
in the middle of the crowd that was formed in a semi-circle around him leaving
her room to walk through. Blake was on his knees on a pillow on his left and
Allen stood on his right, Nicki in a perfect pose behind him on the bare floor,
her school girl uniform primly pressed.

This was it. No more running.

Swallowing all that was left of her blind
pride, Julie walked through the silent montage, her eyes never leaving her
destination. Dante was quite possibly the most beautiful man she’d ever laid
eyes on dressed in his black leathers and black silky shirt unbuttoned half-way
down to reveal his bronzed chest. Time had been good to Dante, only making him
better looking in her humble opinion. It was in the moment before she sank to
the floor before him that she knew, really knew, she was ready to surrender.

Assuming a position she’d not taken in years,
Julie opened her legs and laid her body prostrate between them, her arms
extended over her head, her forehead on the cool tile.

"Master, I am so very sorry I offended
you in such a way and if you would only see fit to have mercy on my, your true
and faithful servant, I promise to do everything I can day and night to never
offend you so horribly again. I love you, Master. Please forgive me and let me
come home," she said from her place of perfect submission.

"Look at me," Dante answered.

Julie slowly raised and looked up, but not
directly at him. That would be disrespectful.

"Does this mean you’re ready and you’ve
decided?" he asked.

"Yes, Master. I freely give myself to
you.
Completely."

"I’m glad to hear that," he said,
squatting in front of her, holding something in her path of sight.

The supple leather had been rubbed to an
almost suede quality, shiny, and from the center ring a sterling silver owl
hung, its diamond eyes gleaming.
Owned and well-loved.

Owned.

Not borrowed. Not given. Not temporary. Not
part-time.

Owned.

"From now on, you’ll be called princess,"
Dante said, wrapping the collar around her throat and locking it in place. "And
you will call me…"

Dante went on to recite his rules, almost
identical to the rules he’d put forth for Blake two decades prior. After Julie
had agreed to them all, Blake stood and brought her a long black whip. He
extended it and she gladly took it from him then offered it to her Master…

And
into my garden stole, when the night had veiled the pole.
In the
morning, glad I see. My foe outstretched beneath the tree…

The End

Coming next
from Lila Munro...

Assumed Service

Turning loose of the pixie of a woman he held
in his arms, Allen Bourke hurried across his dungeon just in time to catch his
friend as he fell to the floor in front of his slave. Julie, sagging between
the heavy wooden beams she was chained to, was currently so far in subspace her
glazed over eyes didn’t take note that her Master had exhausted himself taking
her to task.

"Dante, can you hear me?" Allen
asked, easing the man to the floor. He lay limp, his whip falling from his
hand, his eyes closed.
Damn it.
"Dante!"

When he failed to answer, Allen knew within
reason the man had pushed himself to the point of Dom drop. Out cold, he was
unresponsive, his skin clammy. He glanced around to find Nicki, the woman who
was quite possibly afraid of her own shadow, still huddled in the corner. Her
complexion had gone ashen her eyes were even bigger than they were when she’d
first realized what Dante intended to do to Julie in an effort to mark his
territory against what he considered a foreign invader, one Keegan D’Amato.
Blake, Dante’s second slave of almost twenty years, was on his way to his
Master’s side, as was the culprit who spurred Dante’s display of power, the
Coast Guard rescue swimmer himself.

"Blake, take Nicki up to my bedroom,"
Allen told the man who didn’t seem at all surprised by Dante’s condition.

"Yes, Master Allen," he said,
clearly trusting Allen enough to enact what needed to be done and do as he was
asked without question.

"Nicki, go with Blake," Allen told
the young girl who was now visibly shaking.

If her keeper, Linn Dabney, had any sense at
all, he’d have trained her rather than used her for arm candy and the
occasional fuck. Apparently Linn was the complete opposite of his brother,
Layne, who was one of the most compassionate and understanding Doms
Allen
knew. Training his wife, Shelby, had been no easy feat
and he was sure Layne’s patience had been stretched thin on more than one
occasion, but no one would have ever guessed it.

"He won’t hurt you, doll. Go on."
Nicki seemed hesitant, but upon Allen summoning his in charge voice, she
nodded, took Blake’s offered hand, and toddled off behind him, looking over her
shoulder the entire time. "When she’s settled, come back. We’re going to
need some help.
Everyone else out.
You can stay and
play anywhere else in the house you want, but for now get the hell out of here,"
Allen announced, looking around at
the
 
completely
silent assemblage.

As the party attendants dispersed, Allen left
Dante to Keegan’s care as the man was a certified paramedic and knew what he
was doing. Allen went to work getting Julie down from between the posts where
she was still lashed. He first un-cuffed her ankles then the chains holding her
arms stiffly over her head which sent a metallic rasp into the air as he
released them from their eye bolts. Just as she started to go limp, Allen
caught her around her middle, holding her aloft.

"Julie, can you hear me sweetheart?"
he asked, scooping her up, trying to be mindful of the angry red welts covering
her legs, back, and breasts. Dante had surely done a number on her and she’d
taken it, every stripe.

Rather than answer, Julie squeezed the only
thing she could get purchase of, his bicep. Well, she was in there. She was
just so high on her bodies own chemistry he was certain she had no idea which
end was up. And he sure didn’t want to bring her back too soon or he’d have two
guests that felt like they’d been run down by a train in the morning. It was
the rare occasion he witnessed what had happened to Dante. Allen imagined the
man was wrung out to start with. For several months now Dante had worked hard
at earning and maintaining Julie’s trust after her being left in his care by
her former Master, who’d passed away. It had been no bed of roses. Then Keegan
managed to exacerbate the situation by flirting with the woman. It was a bad
move on his part and rude of any player, particularly when they knew a sub was
spoken for. Allen made a mental note to address that with the newcomer in the
near future.

Just as Allen was sinking into a chair at the
edge of the play floor, Blake hurried back into the room. Dante was coming
around as Keegan was waving a tiny vial of ammonia under his nose, which he’d
located in the first aid kit Allen kept in the toy closet. Seeing that was
under control, Blake came to Allen’s side.

"What can I do?" Gone was the
perfectly obedient slave, replaced by the no-nonsense man that lurked just
below his surface.

"Julie needs water and a blanket. As soon
as she’s warm enough, you can take her upstairs and stay with her until I can
get Dante up and into bed and check on Nicki." Allen pointed toward a
white canister in the corner which resembled a trash can.

"Okay…" Blake moved toward the
contraption and lifted the lid discovering what Allen was vying for, a
preheated cotton throw.

"Be sure to put another in to replace it,"
Allen instructed as he draped the soft cotton cocoon around Julie and tucked in
the corners. He then took the bottle of Powerade Blake offered. "Thank
you." He snapped the top and forced it to Julie’s trembling lips.

By this time, Dante was arguing in garbled
nonsense with Keegan about feeling well enough to stand and check on Julie.

"Master, listen.
Please," Blake begged, going to his
knees beside Dante and pushing him back gently. "I promise you Jules is
fine. Master Allen has her. She’s out of it, but she’s fine. You need to focus
on yourself right now."

Squeezing his eyes open and shut a few times,
Dante finally seemed to focus on where Allen sat. He took a deep breath in
obvious concentration then relented, collapsing back against the soft mat on
the floor.

"Where would you like him?" Keegan
asked, finding his footing and lifting Dante up and over his shoulder in a
fireman’s carry.

"They’re staying in the east wing,"
Allen said, giving up possession of Julie to Blake’s eager arms which lifted
her with the utmost care, love radiating from his every pore. "The two
rooms at the end of the hall on the left. I’ll be there as soon as I check on
Nicki. I think she’s past shaken."

Allen sat a minute gathering his own wits, and
watched them troupe from the room. He’d always lived by the notion it wasn’t a
party until something got broken, he just never considered that something could
be people. Running his hands through his short, spikey hair, he rose and headed
toward the stairs to see how badly damaged the tiny woman whom Julie had
rescued earlier really was. At first Nicki had been quite interested in
watching her first whipping, but the further it went, the harder she shook
against him as he held her, whispering in her ear as to the nature of what was
occurring, telling her Julie wanted what her Master offered and it was nothing
to be frightened of. It wasn’t until he brushed his hand across her chest he
realized part of her fear stemmed from the fact her nipples were rock hard. She
was as turned on from what she saw as Julie was from participating. He was sure
Nicki’s confusion meter was pegged and her view of herself was skewed as was
the norm for those who entered the lifestyle on a wing and a prayer. One minute
she was an innocent and the next she was introduced to things through one of
the harshest things a Master could
inflict,
a
merciless whipping.