"Would you have let me leave?"
"I don't know." The honesty seemed to surprise him. "Part of the protocol is allowing subjects to self-select continuation. But you... I might have come after you."
"Why?"
"Because you're mine." The words came out raw, possessive. "My subject. My responsibility. My fascinating, infuriating Bunny who hates me just enough to be interesting."
"I do hate you."
"I know." He helped me stand, wrapping me in a towel that had been warming. "But you also knelt for me withoutbeing told. Took me in your mouth because you wanted to see me lose control. That's not just hate, little one."
"Don't psychoanalyze my blowjobs."
He laughed—actually laughed—and the sound transformed him. Made him look younger, less controlled, more like a man and less like a god of behavioral modification.
"Come on," he said, still smiling. "Let's get you dressed. We'll have dinner together tonight."
"Together?"
"In the dining room. At a table. Like civilized people who don't spit at each other."
"I make no promises about future spitting."
"I'd be disappointed if you did."
He helped me into a soft nightgown, the tail making every movement awkward. But his hands were careful, professional despite what had passed between us. Despite the way he'd looked at me on my knees.
"Dr. Mire?"
"Gabriel." He paused in the doorway. "In private, you can call me Gabriel."
"Gabriel." I tested the name, found it fit better than expected. "What happens when the twelve weeks are over?"
"That depends entirely on you, Bunny." He studied me with those storm-grey eyes. "Some subjects leave and never look back. Others... find they don't want to leave at all."
"And which do you think I'll be?"
"I think," he said slowly, "that you'll find a third option. You always do."
He left me to rest, promising to return in a few hours. I curled up on the bed, tail making it impossible to get fully comfortable. Everything ached—my ass from the belt, my throat from taking him so deep, my heart from admissions I hadn't meant to make.
The collar caught the light as I moved, initials that weren't mine anymore glinting like a promise. Or a threat. Or maybe both.
I closed my eyes and tried not to think about how his name tasted on my tongue. How he'd looked on his knees in front of me, admitting to fears I hadn't known he could feel.
How the unlocked door meant nothing if I didn't want to walk through it.
"Rest well, Bunny,"the AI said gently."Dinner will be served at 6:00 PM in the main dining room. Daddy is looking forward to it."
Daddy. The word should have made me cringe. Instead, it made me think of his hands in my hair, his voice saying I terrified him, his control shattering because I'd pushed exactly the right buttons.
Gabriel.
I pulled Mr. Hoppy from his shelf, curling around the stuffed rabbit like the broken child I was becoming. Or maybe always had been. It was getting harder to tell the difference.
The tail shifted as I moved, constant reminder of consequences and care twisted together. Just like everything in this place. Just like him.
Just like me.
