Ellery laughed, a rich beautiful sound.His eyes crinkled at the edges in a way they seldom did when he smiled at the den.“You’re a terrible liar, kitten.Stop trying to be polite.Tell your master the truth.”
“It’s…different than being with lions, sir,” he whispered.
Ellery stroked his fingers through Kefir’s hair, his touch just slightly rough and entirely perfect.“Yes, it is.”
“All the men here are part of your pride, sir?”Kefir asked, cautiously.
Ellery shook his head.“Some of the members of the club are men I’ve been friends with for the best part of a lifetime; most of the crowd in the public rooms I couldn’t even name.”
Kefir nodded his understanding.The men in this bit of the building were important.The men out there weren’t.That made it easier.Dismissing anyone who wasn’t in that room from his mind, Kefir looked around him and began to take in a few details.
No one there was entirely naked the way the lions were for their meets, but the clothes they wore were just like Ellery’s.They merely seemed to highlight those bits of them that were bare so the nude parts actually looked more naked.
A dozen or so men sat around, talking to each other.Some of the submissives knelt on the floor or stood behind their master’s chairs waiting for an order.Two men stood apart from all the others, in the far corner of the room.One was cuffing the other to a big X-shaped cross.As Kefir watched, the free man stepped back and picked up a whip.
He brought the whip down hard on the bound man’s back—against the sub’s back—creating harsh red lines against his skin.Kefir turned his face away from the sight.
Ellery tugged on the lead, encouraging him to look up at his master.
“He’s being punished, sir,” Kefir observed, as neutrally as he could manage.
Ellery broke eye contact for a moment.Looking over Kefir’s shoulder, he appeared to examine the sight of the two men very carefully.Kefir could still hear the leather lash striking the man’s skin.He hadn’t thought Ellery would need to think about his answer for a second, let alone a full minute.
“Yes,” Ellery said eventually.“He’s being punished.”
Kefir nodded, even as he felt his stomach clench at the idea of his master ever treating him that way—of him ever failing Ellery so badly, his mate thought he deserved to be treated that way.
Unable to look Ellery in the eye and believe that Ellery wouldn’t see his disapproval and hate him for it, Kefir kept his gaze lowered.It was important to respect the different way humans did things—especially if a lion wanted to take a human for a mate.Arslan had drummed that into them time and time again.
It wasn’t fair to try to turn a human into a lion.A middle ground had to be found.
Kefir took a deep breath, once more filling his lungs with the scent of men, and sex, and bondage.He had a distinct impression that Ellery wasn’t a middle ground type of person.There was only ever going to be one kind of ground they stood on together, and it was going to be human and carpeted in leather.
Another tug on the lead demanded Kefir lift his gaze whether he wanted to or not.
“Up here.”
When Kefir would have climbed onto Ellery’s lap and snuggled against him, quick to appreciate the reassurance he knew he’d find there, Ellery shook his head.
“No.Turn yourself over my lap.”
Kefir looked his query to his master.
“I’m going to spank you.”
Kefir thought about that for a few seconds.
“Kitten?”
“And, afterwards, you’ll be pleased with me again, sir?”he prompted.
“I’m very pleased with you now.”Ellery smiled slightly.“This isn’t about that.”
Kefir blinked up at him, waiting to be told exactly what it was about.
Ellery nodded toward the men on the other side of the room, but Kefir didn’t look over his shoulder to follow his gaze.He didn’t want to see what was going on behind him.“It’s about showing you that, just because something might look like a punishment from an outsider’s perspective, that doesn’t always mean it’s a bad thing.”
Kefir nodded his understanding, even if he wasn’t entirely sure he understood anything at all.Ellery guided him to climb onto the sofa and arrange himself so he lay across Ellery’s knees, his head resting on the sofa to one side of him and his legs supported by the cushions on the other side.
