The Slave (Free Men Book 1)(4)

"Then why did you choose him?"

He resumed washing, wringing out a rough flannel and scrubbing his underarms.

"The other buyers wanted to hurt him."

He dropped the flannel beside the bowl and turned to face me, smiling.  "That sounds a good reason." He hooked a finger under my chin, lifting  my mouth for a kiss which I gratefully received. "Come here and tell me  more."

He settled on the bed amid his pillows, long legs stretched and crossed  at the ankle. I curled gratefully into his open arms, fingers teasing  the soft down in the centre of his chest as I told him everything.

"He was a soldier? A Granthian soldier?"

I nodded, then frowned as I felt Master's muscles stiffen. I looked at him. "Did I do wrong?"

"No, no, not wrong." He petted me. "How do you feel about him, given what happened to you?"

"I-I don't know," I admitted. "I hadn't thought of him as being like  those men." A fresh horror slowly gripped me as I realised Kai was,  indeed, of the same stock as those who'd killed my family.         

     



 

"Don't, Tam." He stilled me. "I'm sure he's nothing like them."

"I don't know if he can be trained."

Master chuckled. "Of course he can-he was a soldier. He's been taking orders his whole life."

"Then you won't sell him?" I lifted my head to look into his eyes.

"We'll see. If you like him, and he performs his duties, I don't see why he can't stay."

Relief washed over me even as my heart curdled at the idea of Kai performing his duties.

"That is why it will be you who trains him."

I think I started. Master tightened his grip around me, reassuringly steady.

"Me?"

"You chose him, Tam. It will be up to you to make him work."

"But, I've never-"

"Are you questioning my orders?"

I silenced my protest. "No, Master."

"Good." He resumed petting me, his fingers rippling casually through my hair. "I won't rush you. I know you'll need time."

I nodded gratefully.

"But I won't coddle you, either." There was a hint of warning in his  voice. "I shall leave him to settle in tonight, but he will present  alongside you at breakfast. He has house duties to perform, and I expect  you to begin training immediately. If he obeys and does well, I won't  force the other."

I kissed the hard flesh of his chest to show my gratitude, and he  shifted a little, subtly altering the mood between us from relaxed and  content to desiring and intense. I didn't need explicit orders. I could  read him well, and he ruled me as capably with a crooked finger or  flexed muscle as any master with a whip or lash. I complied happily,  twisting in his arms to kiss my way across the swell of his pectorals to  the soft copper discs of his nipples.

He threaded his fingers into my hair, clasping my skull as my lips  sealed and sucked, my teeth and tongue working together to pleasure him.  He teased my long locks, draping them over us both, fanned out across  our bare skin. I was glad I'd left it loose; it was worth the  inconvenience, the endless, obstinate knots that would take me hours to  comb out later.

Sometimes he would comb it, spending an age picking out all the tangles,  taking the greatest care not to pull too sharply. He would plait it  until it lay like a rope down my back, and sometimes he would be rough,  gripping the base and using it to yank my head until he had me where he  wanted me.

I turned my attention to his other nipple, scraping over the hard peak  with my teeth, eliciting a low groan from him. I was not his  pleasureslave for nothing. Over the years he had trained me well,  teaching me all the things he loved best. He gripped my shoulders,  pulling me roughly to him for a bruising kiss, his stubble burning the  soft skin around my lips, his slick tongue probing my mouth. Desire  pooled in my belly as we shifted closer, and I felt the insistent press  of his cock through my loincloth.

I reached between us, gripped his hard length through his loose  trousers, and pulled firmly up to the tip, silk sliding under my palm.  His hips bucked as he thrust into my fist, and I pumped roughly, the way  he liked.

"You wicked creature." His eyes flashed dangerously. "Suck it."

I scrambled down the bed, kneeling between his legs, still rubbing along  the hard bulge now straining beneath his trousers. I peeled back the  waistband, pulling it low enough to expose him without restricting his  legs. His cock slapped against his stomach, the dark vein on the  underside pulsing with his aroused heartbeat. I released his balls,  tucking the waistband behind them so he was all laid out for me. I  lowered my face, my eyes meeting his as I nosed his sac, licking the  seam, planting sloppy, open-mouthed kisses over the wrinkled surface. As  I sucked one plump ball into my mouth, he took a fistful of my hair and  stroked his cock with it, feather-light.

"So good."

He grunted when I released him with a wet slurp and began to kiss and  lick the base of his shaft, kneading the taut skin of his hips. I  trailed my tongue from root to tip and back down, streaking him with  moisture. On the next upward stroke, he placed a hand on my head and I  needed no further encouragement to take him into my mouth and suckle.

His eyes squeezed shut, and he thrust upward, almost making me gag. I  clamped his base in my fist, concentrating on taking all of him. His  glans nudged the back of my throat, and I swallowed, curling my tongue  around as much of him as I could reach, my cheeks hollowed as I  concentrated on making it as good as I knew how.

He gripped the back of my neck, holding me steady as he drove  relentlessly upwards, forcing me to accommodate him or choke. I  spluttered and regained myself, cheeks scalding for the error, and I  focused on letting him in, on doing what was required of me. He used my  face shamelessly, shoving my nose into the thick thatch of his pubic  hair again and again. Drool escaped, running over my chin to spot his  trousers.         

     



 

My dick was painfully hard in my loincloth: I reached to touch it, but  he ordered me still with a single sharp word and I obeyed, clasping the  flesh of his thighs as he took his pleasure from me.

His pace became frantic, scraping against my teeth while I struggled to  keep them covered by my lips, but he didn't pause as he relentlessly  drove into my mouth. I steeled myself, prepared when he pushed my head  down, his dick sickeningly deep as he began to spurt into my throat. I  swallowed as best I could, determined to drink every last drop he gave  me.

He released me with a sigh and hauled me up onto his chest. I sprawled  across him as we kissed messily, sharing spit and juices. My limbs were  trembling, I could hardly catch my breath, and I was so hard it hurt,  but all I could think was how much I loved this man.

He slid his hand along my flank to my hip and groped between us,  gripping my aching, straining sex. I moaned with gratitude as he pumped  my length, whined with frustration when he let go.

He chuckled. "You're not getting off that easily."

I frowned at him, confused.

"Consider this your incentive. I'll continue to use your body as I see  fit, but I won't let you come unless I want you to. Nor are you allowed  to touch yourself." Horror must have shown my face, for he continued,  "Do I have to take measures to enforce my rules?"

"No, Master," I replied hastily.

"I shall have your bedding inspected, I think. That should suffice."

I was thoroughly perplexed and miserable, humiliated at the prospect of  my sheets being examined-as they had been at my mistress's behest when I  was still a teenager-and I let my distress sound in my voice. "Master,  have I displeased you?"

He pulled me to him, laughing gently. "Not at all. This is an incentive,  Tam. Think. If I won't let you come, and you can't touch yourself … ."

Kai. Of course. My face fell.

He chucked me under the chin. "Don't look so woebegone. You have a  beautiful prick." He squeezed it until I yelped. "It's about time you  learnt to use it properly."





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It was fair to say I wasn't in the best of moods when I let myself into  Kai's room. My erection had subsided, but my balls throbbed, and I was  desperate to relieve them. I'd never responded well to deprivation, and  it wasn't a technique Master usually employed to discipline me. "He'll  see you in the morning," I informed my fellow slave.

"What?" He scrambled to his knees on the low mattress. He'd be cold  tonight without blankets, for the desert air swiftly chilled once the  suns set. Too bad.

"He wants to see you in the morning. He thought he'd give you tonight to settle in-"

A desolate laugh. "Settle in? Is that all he thinks it'll take-a few hours?" He glowered at me.

Something snapped. I was not patient at the best of times and right  then, horny, frustrated, disappointed and heartsick, I didn't have  anything left to pity an enemy soldier foolish enough to get caught.  "It's more than most would give you," I snapped. "Do you think any of  the others sold today have been allowed time to adjust? Any privacy?  Children, most of them, half your age. Do you think anyone is going to  step in and make it stop when they start to scream? Be grateful for what  you've got."