Authors: Avery Gale
“Who is targeting me now?” Rissa’s soft voice brought both men’s focus to the doorway immediately. Both snapped their attention to the sleep-rumpled pixie standing idly in the open doorway looking absolutely adorable wrapped in the soft throw they’d covered her in with her sleep-lidded eyes and her hair in a riot of soft red curls framing her face before tumbling past her shoulders.
“Well, good evening, starshine, glad you joined us. Come here.” Bryant held out his hand to her and smiled as she stepped forward, her bare feet making her look even younger than he knew she was. She was a submissive through and through, she hadn’t even hesitated at his command. Bryant pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her slim shoulders, breathing in the fresh scent of her shampoo. “Oh, love, you smell so wonderful, fresh citrus and lush woman. Perfect.” He released her and moved her toward Mitch.
“Come here, baby. I need to hold you for a bit.” Mitch’s tone was soft, but the underlying truth of his statement didn’t escape Rissa’s notice. She reached her arms around his waist and hugged him back, sensing his need to be held. Instinctively Rissa knew Bryant was more of an alpha Dom, that his demands would always be stronger and his punishments harsher. But there was a part of her that craved that strength. Mitch was a softer touch, probably owing to his gift of empathy. Rissa had no doubt being bombarded with the feelings of others would be difficult to deal with continually, and it was no doubt a huge energy drain. She decided at that moment that he’d need extra love and attention from her, and she wanted to be sure he knew he could always count on her.
“God, you are the most amazing woman in the entire world.” Mitch’s voice caught in his throat, he’d heard her observations, and she had read him so accurately it had caught him totally off guard. “You are right, baby, it is an energy drain, but over the years I have learned how to shield myself from a lot of it. Right now, I’m frustrated with Mistress Rachel from The Club. She seems to be rallying support to be the one to administer your punishment for lying to a dungeon monitor because she doesn’t feel Alex or Zach will do it severely enough.” He felt her stiffen and start to shake in his arms. He’d known she was afraid of Rachel, fuck, every sub at The Club was terrified of the old hag, but he wasn’t going to hold back the truth from her either.
“Oh God. She is evil. She’ll hurt me, I mean really,
really
hurt me.” Rissa was starting to panic, and Mitch pulled her back so he could look in to her eyes just as Bryant stepped up beside him.
“
Stop
!” Bryant’s sharp tone startled Rissa into taking a deep breath and focusing on the men in front of her. “We are handling this, love. You are not to worry about it. This is one of the perks of being a sub, you get to let these types of things go, and know that your Doms will do exactly the right thing for you. This is going to be a trust test for you, sweetness. Are you going to pass?” Bryant raised a brow and waited.
“Oh, my…okay, well, I guess I see that…so, well…” Rissa was obviously still worried, but in her heart she knew that none of the men at ShadowDance would ever really hurt her, and she also knew they weren’t going to step aside while that evil bitch whipped her like she did the male subs she sunk her vicious claws into. Rissa had seen the way she treated her subs, and no one was surprised when she couldn’t keep one longer than a few weeks. Rissa finally realized they were still waiting for her answer. “Yes, I trust you. I know you will protect me and make sure I’m not hurt by her. I know I have to do the punishment, and I’m not as afraid of that pain—because I know none of you will take that beyond what I can endure—but, well, I’m really scared of the public part of it. I’m just…well, I’m afraid of all those eyes on me, you know?” Rissa had dropped her gaze to her feet and her fear and insecurity almost broke Mitch’s heart.
“Baby, tell Master Bryant exactly why you are worried about the other Dungeon Monitors seeing you naked, and I’m cautioning you to be honest because I’ve already heard it from your clever thoughts—wrong though they may be, those feelings are still very real, and we need to address that right now.” Mitch’s voice was soft, but steel edged, he wanted her to verbalize her fears because that was the first step in overcoming them.
Rissa’s whole body shuddered, and when she looked up at Bryant, she had big tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t want me to feel embarrassed about my body, but you have to remember, I’ve had years of hearing what people snickered behind my back, and then I have these new scars…and…” Slowly the tears had spilled over and were sliding down her deeply blushing cheeks.
Bryant knew there was a time to punish a sub for not loving what a Dom considered his property, and there was a time to love the woman who was struggling on multiple levels with everything she’d been dealing with for the past couple of years. Pulling her into his embrace, he ran his hand in slow circles over her back until he felt her relax. “Now, I want you to stop and think, love. No, don’t get all tense, I’m not going to punish you for this, although I certainly could—and will in the future. But right now, I want you to stop and consider what about this conversation is contrary to where we want you to be?” Bryant had moved Rissa back so that both he and Mitch were looking at her sweet face. He watched as she chewed on her bottom lip as she thought about his question.
“I think you don’t like me criticizing what you consider yours.” Her voice was whisper soft, and she wouldn’t meet their eyes and after she’d spoken that simple sentence she was literally holding her breath. Mitch looked at Bry and narrowed his eyes.
“Baby, I have a couple of issues with what you just said…First of all,
what we consider ours
? No, babe, you
are
ours, and you’ll do well to remember that from this point forward. And second, this is a discussion and as such, you need to be open and honest and look at us when you are answering a question, it’s a matter of showing respect for us and for yourself.” Mitch placed his fingers under her chin and raised her face so they could see her expression. The tears in her eyes brought them both up short. “Who ever told you that you were anything less than perfection did you a huge disservice, baby. And we’re going to make sure you understand that just as quickly and with as much passion as we can, do you understand?” Mitch smiled at her when she slowly nodded her head and he saw her take a deep, shuddering breath.
Bryant brought their beautiful sub’s attention back to him saying, “Very good, love. Now, one of the first lessons we want to make sure you have mastered is that this beautiful body is a joy for us to look at, and there will be times, probably many times, we’ll be sharing it with others.” Rissa immediately started to hyperventilate and was backing up so quickly she fell over the ottoman that was behind her, and Bryant barely managed to grab her around the waist before she hit the floor. The minute he set her on her feet again, she turned and ran for the door. Bryant couldn’t believe she was actually running from them, what the fuck was this about? He hadn’t even finished his sentence, and she had gone into full-fledged fight-or-flight mode; and damn, she was fast on her feet, too.
She was almost to the front door when Mitch caught her easily. “Clarissa, Stop right now and tell us what you heard that made you run. And for Christ’s sake woman, look at the way you are
not
dressed…How long would you last out in that snow?” He easily scooped her up and brought her back to the sofa. Settling her on his lap, he placed his hands on either side of her face and turned her to face him. “Talk to me, baby, because there has been some huge misunderstanding for you to react like that to what Mitch hadn’t even completely finished explaining to you.” And like lightning her thoughts raced through his mind. “Oh…sweetheart…never, never, ever against your will. The bastards who kidnapped you talked about sharing didn’t they? Oh baby, we had no idea those are the words they’d said to you.” When she started shaking all over, he held her tightly whispering sweet words of comfort against her hair.
Bryant took her from Mitch and settled her on his lap. “Remember, you have a safe word, and we’ll be checking with you even more in the beginning to make sure you are always at ‘green,’ and if you aren’t, it is your responsibility to be honest and let us know. You can’t depend on Master Mitch’s special gifts because strong emotions often wipe that out…so that means it’s on
you
to speak up…Understand, love?”
When Rissa didn’t answer right away, Mitch put his hands firmly on each side of her face to help her focus solely on his words. “Baby, that was a direct question, you must always answer every direct question quickly and honestly.” When she nodded her head, he added, “And with words. These same rules will be in effect at ShadowDance. It is a good idea for you to follow them from the beginning. Remember…we begin as we intend to go.”
“Yes, Sir, I understand. And I’m sorry for trying to run from you. I have no idea how I thought I could outrun either of you. I just panicked.” Running her hand through her tangled curls, she shook her head. “I wonder sometimes…will I ever get over these crazy fears? There have been so many different times I thought I was going insane.”
Both men assured her that she wasn’t insane and that they were certain both Katarina and Jenna would be able to offer valuable and healing insight if she would just open up and talk with them. She agreed to try and was just settling down when Mitch’s phone rang. When he saw Trace Bartell’s name displayed on the screen, he smiled and answered quickly. After just a short conversation he was back and nodded to Bryant.
“Now, baby, we’re going to have some company, we want you to get accustomed to being seen and touched by others before we return to The Club tomorrow. Master Trace is also stopping by because he has some information about Mistress Rachel that he believes will be helpful in getting her to back off what has become nothing but a glorified witch hunt against you.” Rissa’s eyes widened, and even she wasn’t sure which part of that information was causing her the most concern. Of course she knew Trace Bartell, so she wasn’t afraid of him. She had heard him referred to as “The Gentle Giant” by her spa patrons because he was just under six and a half feet tall but had a relaxed, easygoing air about him that women and men alike gravitated toward. Since his wife’s death a while back, he’d taken in the young man who had been drinking and caused the accident that claimed her life. He’d set to rights a kid who had been quickly headed in to the state’s correctional system. That kid was now in college, his education being funded by Bartell’s huge ranching operation. Everyone expected the kid to meet his goal of becoming a veterinarian and someday return to the ranch to work.
“Witch hunt? Oh my…can you tell me exactly what you mean by that?” Rissa’s voice was shaking, and even Bryant could feel the anxiety coming off her in waves.
“I mean she seems hell-bent on making sure she gets to whip you during the busiest time at The Club in full view of all the members. That is not what Alex and Zach have planned, but she is trying to stir up support among the members, and since so many locals are concerned about the financial lever she holds over them, they are grudgingly supporting her.” Rissa wasn’t moving, hell she was barely breathing. “Now, baby, don’t panic. You know the Lamonts are not going to fold on this, and they will do the right thing. It doesn’t matter what pressure she puts on them, but it does stand to have a significant impact on your business as well as theirs.”
“Oh shit, I hadn’t even considered that. I can’t take a financial hit like that…God, I’m just barely getting by now, and Alex and Zach aren’t even charging me rent on my space.” She had started biting her bottom lip and was beginning to pace again. Even though they should have settled her down, she was so cute pacing back and forth in front of the fire. They’d allowed her to put on one of Bryant’s white dress shirts, they just sat back and admired the view of her luscious body being highlighted by the firelight. It was certainly no hardship to wait while she attempted to sort through some of the emotions flooding her. The shirt hung nearly to her knees, but when backlit by the fire it was completely translucent and highlighted every soft curve. Her breasts bounced and swayed perfectly as she walked and the tight muscles of her ass flexed below the gentle curve of her slender back. Her legs made up the lion’s share of her petite stature. They were both smiling like fools before she finally turned to look at them completely puzzled. “What? Why are you both giving me that silly grin?”
“Well, love, that is quite the peek show you are giving up each time you pass in front of the fire, and we are just enjoying the view.” Bryant tried, but failed to keep the amusement out of his voice.
“Oh shit! I didn’t realize…Oh my, I’d better get upstairs and get dressed. How long until he arrives? Do I need to make you all something to drink? How about cookies or a cake? Oh dear, what about dinner? I’ll bet he hasn’t eaten dinner either, I’d better make sure we have enough for him also.” She was fluttering about like a pretty butterfly that couldn’t decide where to land first because all the flowers seemed to demand her attention.