He glanced at me, seeing the look on my face, and he put more effort into chasing the dot as I moved it across the floor. He scrambled across the floor, pawing at it only to see that it disappeared each time. I chuckled as I watched him. It was almost as good as seeing him chasing around a tennis ball.
Almost, but not quite.
Then again, he was actually doing this.
I moved the pointer, letting the dot shift to the wall. He went after it, and I could see he was starting to get into the game as he gave a good swipe like he was going to catch it.
“Let me see your butt wiggle,” I told him, “before you pounce.”
He cast me a dubious look, but he didn’t argue.
I let the red dot stay in place, watching him as he settled down. He glanced at me again, then reluctantly let his back end wiggle like a cat’s. I grinned as he pounced, letting him “catch” the dot then. “Good kitty,” I told him, my voice warm. “Such a good kitty.”
We played, and he pounced and scampered and chased the dot across the floor and to the walls, up them a little, and back down again as I put it within his reach. My smile felt unnatural at first, but as I watched him, it became moresincere. I enjoyed the sight of him playing, even if it wasn’t what I’d wanted.
Maybe it could be, though. Maybe I could learn to want this — just like I wanted him to learn to care for me. I hadn’t ever planned on meeting him halfway, but all of that had changed when he’d made the bold decision tomeowat me that day.
Now, we were involved in something else entirely, and I wasn’t sure it was a bad thing. It felt good seeing him get into the role in a way he’d never done as a pup. I’d always been able to see the misery written across his features as boldly as if he were screaming. This time, I didn’t see that unhappiness. He didn’t really look happy, per se, but he didn’t look downright upset either.
It was like we both forgot who we were for a time. Instead of Griffin and Toby, master and slave, we were pet owner and kitten. We were just there enjoying the game instead of focusing on anything else, and it felt good.
Finally, when he started looking winded, I tucked the laser pointer back into the dresser.
He was breathing hard, sweat beading up on his forehead, and I liked the sight of it. I wanted to always be the one to make him sweat. I wanted to flick my tongue across his skin and taste the salt, to know that I’d fucked him until he was breathless and sweaty beneath me.
I would do it soon enough. I would feel him, tight and hot around my cock, and I’d see him surrender to me…
The thought was a distracting one, and it almost made me forget we were there as something less than lovers. It was easier to see him as one, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not — but I was erring on the side of not. If I cared about him too much, I wouldn’t be able to force him into the role he’d chosen after rejecting the one I’d assignedhim. I had to be stern with him, firm, and he had to obey me.
How could he do that if I treated him like a lover instead of a pet? It simply couldn’t happen. This wasn’t a relationship. We weren’t equals. We weren’t a Dom and his sub playing a game.
This was in deadly earnest, and he would never be able to escape my grasp. Not then, not ever.
Possessiveness swept over me like a tidal wave, crashing down until I could barely see through its haze. He was mine — forever and always — and if that meant I occasionally acted like a lover… so be it. There were worse things.
He just had to remember he was mine.
“Who do you belong to?” I asked, gazing down at him.
“You,” he said after a pause.
“You, what?”
He wasn’t my lover. Maybe we both needed a reminder of that.
“You, Master,” he said.
I could see it as the tension returned to him. I hadn’t even realized it had seeped out of him while we’d played until I saw it once more, and there was a part of me that regretted pulling rank on him like that. If I’d realized…
I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted him to submit to me, but at the same time, I didn’t want to see him this way when there was a chance he could be something else for me.
The problem was that I didn’t know what. I’d thought I knew…
I went to him, leaning down and brushing my lips against his. “It’ll be okay,” I told him, and I sincerely meant it in that moment, more so than I had every other time I’duttered the words. I believed, truly believed, that everything would be fine.
Now I just had to make him believe it.
He looked at me, his expression unreadable.
