I made my way over to the cabinets, stopping when one holding collars caught my attention. They rested on black velvet—some plain leather bands, others more elaborate, studded with metal or lined with fur. One collar sat apart from the rest. It was heavier than the others, with a single word tooled into the surface in elegant script—SLAVE.
I stared at it, imagining the weight of it around my neck. The pressure at my pulse point.
None of this made sense—why I was still standing here, why my body was reacting like this, why I couldn’t make myself turn around and walk out the door.
This wasn’t who I was. So why couldn’t I leave?
A sound of footsteps cut through the silence, and I spun toward the door. My heart seized, and dread settled low in my gut when I saw Kiernan standing in the doorway.
His face was a mask of fury. His jaw clenched so tight the muscle jumped beneath his skin. Every line of his body radiated anger.
This was his room. His cross. His bench. His collars. Kiernan was the one who used these implements, who strapped people down and made them beg.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?”
His words were quiet, controlled, and more terrifying for it. When I opened my mouth to respond, nothing came out.
I was standing in his dungeon with an obvious erection. There was no explanation that would make this acceptable.
Kiernan stepped into the room, and the door swung shut behind him. He stalked over to us like a predator closing on prey, every step measured and deliberate. He walked like a man who knew exactly what he was capable of and had spent years learning how to wield it.
I backed up until my shoulders hit the cabinet, rattling the glass.
Kiernan kept coming. He stopped inches away, near enough that his heat bled into my space and his breath ghosted across my face. If either of us swayed forward, we would be touching.
His pupils had blown wide despite the fury on his face. Whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t only anger.
“I asked you a question.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” The words came out unsteady. “I was walking. I didn’t know this was here.”
He raised a brow. “You didn’t know.”
“No.”
His focus swept down my body with deliberate slowness, lingering on my chest, my stomach, then drifting lower. It landed on my erection and stayed there long enough that fire spread up my face and down my neck. I should have been humiliated, should have wanted to disappear. Instead, part of me wanted to drop to my knees.
When our gazes locked again, I couldn’t read what I saw there.
No one moved, but my pulse pounded in my ears.
He took a step back. “You don’t belong in here.”
I pushed off the cabinet, but my legs were shaky. When I reached out to steady myself, Kiernan grabbed my arm.
“Return to your room. Forget what you saw.”
A sound escaped me that might have been a laugh if it had not been so strangled. “Forget?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Yes, sir.” The words slipped out. I had no idea where they’d come from or why my voice sounded quietand calm, nothing like the chaos ricocheting through my skull.
Kiernan’s expression flickered, and for a split second, I saw hunger. It was gone as quickly as it had come.
I didn’t wait. I jerked my arm loose, then skirted around him and left.
I made it halfway down the corridor before my legs gave out again, forcing me to catch myself against the wall. I pressed my forehead to the cold stone, my lungs seizing while my heart raced and my hands shook.
