Becoming His Slave (74 page)

It was something that had baffled Paris, went against his grain of logic. If a relationship was so fragile you had to take extra care before coming around every corner, then the relationship wasn’t meant to be. It was doomed to fail. But looking at the man now. How every fiber of this little woman had his attention, Paris realized it wasn’t the relationship that was fragile, but simply put, it was her.

Katianna for all her smarts and playful curiosity was not a modern woman. Women today were fearlessly independent, they went into business, went into battle, some even chose to remain unencumbered by a man for large parts of their lives and world be damned if a man tried to tell those women what to do. Katianna was none of these things.

She was one of those curios of hand blown glass or one of the Chanel eggs or the hope diamond. And you did everything in your power to shelter and protect her, because it really was necessary. Everything scared her and she was so damn small everything was a threat. A small part of her held that sea farer survival though, so long as she had a strong sturdy rock to hang onto, something solid to cling to she was safe,. Without it she was at the mercy of the storm waters being pushed and crashed against the rocks.

Most guys now-a-days weren’t up for that kind of maintenance. They’d gotten terribly lazy in the wake of feministic independence. Likely she would have ended up married to some red neck who kept her busy fixing dinner, keeping the home clean, raising the kids and sucking his dick while he kicked back watched football with the guys and knocked off a six pack of beers every night. When it was time to go to bed he’d lie over her, grunting like a dog till he shot his wad then roll over and slept. Never a second’s thought towards holding her or giving her what she needed. And she’d never say a word, never complain, because that was what life gave her. She’d be miserable, never happy.

Not in Trenton’s arms. Trenton knew this deep need in her and wanted to be the caretaker of her needs. He sought her out, prepared to tend to her every engagement, equipped with the super powered sci-fi force fields, white gloves, velvet pillow and lots of sex toys. She would never find happiness in any other relationship as she would find here with this man, becoming the life slave for the Dominus. She had to know this. Surely she felt the warmth and security when she was in his arms. But she was also scared, afraid to make the jump, from one definition of the world into another.

Have you ever watched one of those movies—say a Steven Seagal movie—the train is racing down the track at 200 miles per hour and the bomb is ready to explode and everyone including you is going to die if you don’t get off in the next five seconds? And then there’s Steven, all calm not a drop of sweat, on his
I’ll save you
cloud, “Jump. I’ll catch you.”
Yeah right.

Where they nuts? Jump? Without a safety net?
But that was it—Trenton
was
her safety net and she needed to hear that from someone other than Trenton. That she could make the jump and he would catch her. Paris wanted to tell her this before it was too late. That he’d seen it when she wasn’t looking, but the chance was slipping. She wouldn’t wake up and Diesel was already at the door waiting to walk with Dominus back to the auction for the last event.

Trenton glanced at his watch, he was running out of time, while Diesel was able to tend to the preliminaries it was still up to him to conduct the final auction. It would be short he had but only three listings, the twins and the two Slaves available for a five year contract. It wouldn’t take long, but it still meant he had to leave Katianna.

Trenton knelt down next to her, his fingers lightly stroking her face, “Wake up Katianna—” he whispered, so softly he doubted she could hear how badly he needed her. His gaze rolling over her as if searching for that missing feature, some part of her he had yet discovered. But he knew every part of her sweet face awake or asleep. He kissed her lips gently, “Then sleep till I return.”

He had to go. To steer away from his responsibilities now would break down his position as Dominus and that could be disastrous for the slaves that expected him to always monitor their contracts and wellbeing. But he knew the second he stepped from the room it was a mistake to leave Katianna and he was already dreading consequences he could not suspect would soon be coming.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

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Katianna wandered out on the beach. Letting the storm breeze whip around her. She loved how it felt reminding her of home when she stood on the beach and watched the summer storms travel up the shore at night. Such extraordinary displays of nature when the lightning lit up. Crackling the night sky into a million fragments like shattered glass and the fat billowing clouds that circled around the storm cell would flicker and flash with an array of colors like a visual symphony. And the best part was the warm sea breeze.

The clean salty scent cleansing you, while the winds danced around, blowing away the blues or just simply caressed your cheek while you cried. Right now the storm was her storm, it was here because this was how she felt inside. Since she didn’t know how to get it out, it blew and whirled and wailed its fierce winds around her and the sea thrashed and sprayed, while the sky boomed and thundered her emotions for her.

And that’s what was happening now—crying. Tonight had been such a rush of fear and arousal like a roller coaster one right after another without even the slightest hesitation to catch her breath. But when her coaster ride turned into a train wreck—who was there to catch her? No one. Trenton had not been there as he promised he would be. She stood there as the aging artist from France went insane, convinced he would have raped Paris had no one intervened. Then Paris himself, yelling at the man, challenging him, egging the insanity into manic fervor. She didn’t know what to make of it all. She had thought she saw fear on Paris’ face at one point, only to see his eyes glow with red lust a second later. And then the crowd, closing in around them and then the fight that placed her closer than ring side, she was caught in the middle of it. So close she ended up getting hit by someone. That was the last thing she remembered. And the next was when she came to and Trenton was gone, he had left her to return to the auction. She felt so utterly abandoned.

She rubbed at the tender spot along her jaw, fearing the bruising that would be there in the morning and the memories it would stir from a previous horror. More tears flooded her eyes till she was blind with them.

Abandoned not exactly like, but painfully close to the time she came home to find all her belongings sitting in the hallway of her apartment where she had lived for five years.

She should have seen this coming, that once in that instance she wanted more than life had given, she would be dumped. That this fantasy of Trenton’s was just some wicked game of lust for him and he’d forgotten that he was so easily capable of running her over. When she couldn’t keep up with him, he was gone. She couldn’t bare it, her chest hurt, her head hurt—hell her fucking heart hurt.

She felt the surge build till there was not containing it. She pitched her head back letting out the anguish and pain in one bellowing scream that was caught up in the wind, whistling around her head and swept out to sea.

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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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Trenton stood at the edge of the beach looking out its stretch of sand that went as far as the eye could see; a view lit up with a blinding glare as the morning sunlight reflected off the white sand. They’d been up and down the beach for two hours now searching for Katianna.

But his fears started back at the hotel when he returned to their suite to check on her and she was gone. They searched the hotel until one of the bell hops recalled seeing her get into a cab. A confirmation from the desk said she called a cab for an address in the Hamptons.

Trenton called Canton; his guard on duty at Amelia’s who confirmed Katianna had arrived shortly before the storm hit and went for a walk on the beach, which explained why she wasn’t answering his calls.

Trenton had gotten caught between his duty as Dominus, needing to wrap up the event and his responsibilities to Katianna, the woman he loved more then anything.

She had left undoubtedly in an emotional wreck, but he couldn’t leave just then. He had a hundred and fifteen slaves that were waiting to be turned over to the new masters and it was a time that had to be handled carefully. He couldn’t go just then and he had convinced himself that letting her sleep off the night would be good for her.

But now, no one knew where she was.

Canton had reported to Troy when he came to change out with him in the morning, that he’d seen Katianna wonder out on the beach late last night after a cab dropped her off, but never saw her return and never saw any lights come on inside the guest house. It wasn’t entirely unusual, since it wasn’t her first time wondering off on the beach at night. Especially since there had been a lightning storm just off shore. They were like magnets to Katianna, when the storms came they called on her and off she went.

But last night had been different, Troy knew Trenton had her with him at the auction and that had to of been unsettling if not outright frightening for the woman. Troy didn’t get all that Dom/Sub shit and he really didn’t care that others did just as long as it didn’t get in the way of his regular old fashion way of spending time with his woman. But Katianna never struck him as the sort to be into all that stuff either and for his boss to be pouncing after her seemed like a losing race to bet on. But who the hell was he to intervene. But knowing she might have come home a little overwhelmed by the event and seeing how Canton never saw her return he figured it was best to step out of line just the once. So he knocked on her door to see if she was okay.

When she didn’t come to the door, he peeked in her bedroom window and discovered the bed covers untouched, that’s when he made the call to Trenton there might be a problem.

Trenton shifted again now staring up at the mansion.
Where the fuck could she be?
He fished his phone out and called Harper up.

“Yeah?”

“Anything yet?”

“Nada
—
police don’t have anything that suggests there was any foul play up that way and nothing on Katianna.”

He disconnected and dialed up Diesel. He heard the phone connect but didn’t wait for the response to toss his questions in, "You there yet?”

“They’re pulling her out of the hanger now.”

“I want that chopper in the air and up here a.s.a.p. Don’t wait on another call from me.”

“Sure, but it’s still gonna take another thirty minutes before I have her up in the air Trenton.”

“Just get up here.” He shut the phone and stuffed it back in his pocket. He twisted back towards the beach glancing one way then the next. One hand gripping at his hip while the other came up to rake through his hair, “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

There was movement out of the corner of his eye and he glanced in its direction. Just the small dingy tied up to the dock, its rope had pulled loose and it was pushing towards shore with the incoming tide.
What did he think he saw?
He shook his head; the blinding white glare from the sun had him seeing things now. He glanced around, but didn’t see any gulls that might have just passed over head catching the sunlight—then he saw it again—a corner of blanket cloth reaching up from inside the dingy, stretching then lowering back down. He glimpsed the small fingers gripping the blanket corner. He turned back to his men, “You didn’t think to look in the fucking boat?” He yelled at Troy standing next to Canton who’d come back out to join in the search.

Trenton didn’t wait for Troy’s response, marching through the sand and waded into the water to the dingy, and it was pretty evident of the small fetal form hiding under the striped Indian blanket, the very one she always had on her sofa and the tarp that had been partially kicked off.

“Are you serious?” He yelled down at the slumbering body.

The blanket stirred, a mop of wavy brown hair made its way from under it, then pale blue eyes peeked out blinking several times. Katianna’s hand pushed up the corner of the blanket to shade her eyes from the morning sun as she looked up at him silently.

“Jesus!” He shoved his fingers through his hair than slapped his hands to his waist. “Do you have any idea how many men I have out on the beach and surrounding areas looking for you?”

She blinked several more times, glancing around down either direction of the stretch of sand. She pushed up with a groggy motion and rubbed at her eyes then looked back up at him again, eyes squinting, “Why?” Then turned away to yawn and blinked several times more while her eyes continued to adjust to the scorching sunlight already reflecting off the white sand of the beach.

Trenton twisted in absolute frustration, “Why?” He rattled his head, it was more of any exclamation to himself of his own bafflement, “Why she asks.”

“Yes why?” She snapped. His anguished vibe drawing her own emotions to come back as to why she was out there in the first place.

He snapped back around to her. “One of the patrol guys saw you come out on the beach late last night, but you never came back.”

“So.” She nodded a hint of pouting coming on, “I went for a walk, but got caught in the storm when it came onshore.”

Trenton was too furious to waiver under her pouting right now. “And this has
what
to do with you sleeping in the boat?”