Leather and wood and something… off. Cedric gazed into the man’s eyes and remembered thatsmell.
Five years ago, wearing nothing but a sheer black thong and Brittany’s collar, he’d seen those eyes leering at him from across The Shepherd. He’d tasted that scent on the air as Brittany brought him to his knees in one of the private rooms and ran the leather tails of her flogger acrosshisback.
Pain is the precursor to pleasure,Cedric…
Those eyes, boring through him as the tips expertly bit into his back. That gaze, piercing him as Brittany struck again, never high enough to wrap around his shoulders, and never low enough to do damage to his kidney area. The surge of endorphins, and the way the worldmeltedaway.
Let it take you. Let it heighten yourexperiences.
There’d been so many who gathered to watch the fall of a young, virile alpha male at the hands of a beta Domme, but only one set of eyes stayed with him, their hunger unparalleled. And now, so many years after his last appearance at The Shepherd, Cedric looked into them again. The hunger had grown more wolfishovertime.
Eyes like those would eathimup.
“Look at you,” the man murmured. The pistol pushed Cedric’s head up farther, and Cedric had no choice but to bare his neck for the man. “Five years older, but no less handsome. I wish I wouldn’t have waited so long. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have you by my side as you grew into the young man you’vebecome.”
Cedric’s lips twitched, but there was nothing he could say. With the muzzle flush against the underside of his jaw, he was afraid tospeak.
“But you’re lucky—I’m done waiting now. It’s time to pluck you while you’re in your prime. I won’t have you stray from me. Not again. Neveragain.”
“Please, put the gun down,” Cedric said through gritted teeth. He closed his eyes as if doing so would erase the danger he wasfacing.
“And what? Have you swing that lamp at me?” The man laughed. He reached out and glided the wrapped cord from around Cedric’s hand. The lamp clattered to the floor. “No. That won’t do. I’m not going to give you the chance. Until I have you where I want you—where I know you’ll be good—I’m going to use this to keep you docile. You’ve grown wild over the years without someone to look after you, haven’t you? Playing at Dom, pretending that you’re strong when deep down, all you want to do issubmit…”
The man brushed his fingertips along Cedric’s cheek. His skin was cold to the touch, and Cedric had to fight the impulse to yank hisheadaway.
“I’m glad I found you when I did,” the man admitted. His fingers found their way to the back of Cedric’s head to caress his hair. He’d drawn so close that Cedric could almost taste his vile breath. Alcohol, Cedric noted, and nicotine. “I knew if I was patient, you’d come back. The Shepherd is there to guide lost souls like your own—souls who need the stern, commanding hand of someone far more experienced. And what a coincidence it is that the second you came back into my life, you brought with you mybelovedtoy.”
Toy? Cedric opened his eyes to search for meaning on the man’s face, but there was none to be found. The crazed look in his eyes overshadowedreason.
“When I’ve got you where I want you,” the man explained, weaving his fingers through Cedric’s hair until his hand cupped the back of Cedric’s head, “then I’ll turn my attention on bringing him back, too. A full toy box. I know that you like him, Cedric. I’ve seen how you’ve looked at him—how he makes you forget who youreallyare.”
Cedric’s pulse rushed in his ears.Gabriel. “You leave him out of this. He didn’t doanything.”
“He did more than enough.” The man tutted. “I got bored trying to find you, you know. I thought after I killed Brittany that you’d come back to The Shepherd and look for comfort, but that never happened,didit?”
No.
For a second, the world stopped. Cedric looked into the bestial eyes staring him down as the dam burst, and every emotion he’d repressed over the last five years gushed back to the surface. “What didyousay?”
“You were supposed to find me,” the man murmured. His fingers tightened in Cedric’s hair. “What’s a sub without his Dom? Nothing. Alone, frightened, unable to cope… you should have come back to the club, and I would have taken care of you. I would have taken all yourpainaway.”
“What did you say?” Cedric demanded, his voice warbling as it raised inpitch.
“But you never came back for me, and then you moved, and I lost you. Can you imagine that? Ilostyou. The only one I wanted, and you vanished. Do you know what pain you put methrough?”
The gun didn’t matter anymore. Hot lead embedded in his skull didn’t frighten him. Cedric lurched forward with a strangled cry, but the man’s grip on his hair held him in place, and all he succeeded in doing was sending searing pain through his scalp. “Youkilledher?”
No suspect. No known motive. No trail. The mystery of Brittany’s death had haunted him for years. All the nights he’d spent awake in bed, unable to sleep as his mind tripped over every “what if” and “if I’d only…”, were for nothing. It was his fault. Brittany had been killed because the psychopath crouching over him wanted to keep Cedric forhimself.
“Shh. Keep your voice down, Cedric. It’s not polite to yell. You don’t want me to punish you when we get home, do you? Not when you’re still so new, and my love is still bottomless. Let me spoil you. Let me make you feel good. Don’t give me a reason to make yousuffer.”
“Who the fuck are you?” Cedric snarled. Each breath he took was labored, and his chest heaved from the exertion of keeping still. “Tell me who thefuckyou arerightnow.”
“I’m your newMaster.”
The man twisted the hand in Cedric’s hair to redirect his head, then pushed the gun tighter against his jaw to make sure he followed through. Cedric had no choice but to tilt his head to the side and accept as the man leaned in close so their lips could brush. Sickness and anger rose as one inside of him, and Cedric sucked his lips into his mouth and bit down on them to keep the man from touching him anyfurther.
“That’s no way to treat me, you know,” the man murmured. He pulled back and looked Cedric in the eyes, and Cedric committed to memory every repulsive feature ofhisface.
