But the colors...If she closed her eyes, she wouldn’t be able to see them. She hiccupped. Could one’s phantom body hiccup?
“Show me how you pleasure yourself, darling. Close your eyes and touch yourself. Open your legs a bit more. Can you feel the vibration? That’s right, wider. Think of this and the checkered flag, sweetheart. You have to come back to me.”
Helen moaned, feeling a deep vibration penetrating her. What was he doing to her? She couldn’t quite see...got to concentrate... Fingers. Pressure. Floating. Every sensation was jumbled. Her phantom body fell, spread-eagled, spinning, so close to orgasm.
“So wet. Everyone in the audience can see how wet you are.”
Audience? What the—her eyes snapped open and met chocolate brown ones. Part of her struggled because she understood that she was back in the Portal. She wanted to go back to the colors. But she was back in Hades’ arms. And coming.
“No...”she whispered, weakly. Not in front of an audience.
“Yes. It’ll go back to soft vibrate for a minute before starting again. You’ll come for them till you’re back here. And I’ve reset that vibrator till you obey me when I tell you to come back. Till you call me master.”
Outrage poured out of her and she struggled to beat him off her. Call him what? How dare he? How dare he bring an audience in to humiliate her? She would not...
“Your minute is up again. Can you feel it?”
She gasped. It felt so good against her clitoris. She screamed, unable to stop her orgasm. Her whole body convulsed as waves of pleasure took over. Panted. Horrified. People watching. Hate him, hate him.
“Say it. Master, I’m back here with you.”His voice was mockingly soft, his hands like steel bands around her.“Ooops, your minute’s up again. Feel it moving against you, exactly where you want it. Look, everyone is gathering close. I love to show them how you come for me, Elena.”
She shook as the vibrator kicked up again, stimulating her already sensitive flesh. She couldn’t think, couldn’t fight, as all her muscles tensed in excruciating pleasure-pain at coming so hard a third time. She could feel the eyes on her. No, she couldn’t take them coming closer...
“Master, I’m back...with you,”she gritted out, acknowledging his power over her, opening her eyes to glare at him.
Immediately, the feeling of being watched disappeared. There was no one. No vibrator. She looked down and saw her own hand between her legs. Oh God. She had been the one doing herself. She jerked her eyes up to meet Hades’. There was a tender curve to his lips and his hand stroked the hair away from her face. He had put the whole thing in her head. He knew she would be pissed off at having to call him master. And in front of an audience, as the final outrage. He’d manipulated her to come back.
“I hate the power you have over my mind,”she told him, in between small pants.“In fact, I hate you right now.”
“Hate, love, lust. I need all your strong emotions tied to me,”he replied grimly.“I won’t lose you out there in the ether. You’ll obey me in this. Once we’re back in reality, you can punch me again, if you like. In here, you’re mine. The more you accept this, the less dangerous it’ll be for you when we’re pushing the unknown in immersive remote viewing. Get it?”
She was too damn tired to argue right now. She closed her eyes.“Well, get me out there right now so I can fucking punch the daylights out of you, then.”Her threat was as weak and useless as her mind and body. She wasn’t feeling very energetic right now.
Her eyes were half-closed. She felt his kiss, soft and promising.“Unfortunately, supersoldier-spy, you’re going to have to sleep off a lot of your RV jetlag first.”She stuck out a tongue and her eyes closed fully on their own. She thought she heard him add,“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, but you’ll still do it again,”she mumbled.
His reply sounded from far away.“Affirmative. Especially if I can get you to perform like that for me in real life. Disengage from VR mode, Dr. Kirkland.”
Helen yawned.
Chapter Fifteen
It took Jed longer than usual to peel off his sensor suit. His legs felt wobbly and he had to hold on to the back of a chair until the lightheadedness passed. He reached for a bottle of water and took one long gulp, taking a few minutes to gather his thoughts.
He cracked his neck. Normally, he would wait for Dr. Kirkland, but he wanted to go to Elena quickly to see how she was. Dr. Kirkland would probably want to run a battery of tests, but what she needed was complete rest right now.
He wasn’t feeling exactly perky himself. Absolute focus took its toll on mind and body. As Elena’s monitor, he’d discovered he needed to be several steps ahead all the time as he switched his attention back and forth from Elena-in-the-ether to Elena-in-the-Portal. What she could do—what they could do together—was so incredible that it sometimes distracted him. He’d listened in on remote-viewing exercises before, learning from experienced monitors how to guide and what to expect. They hadn’t prepared him for immersive remote viewing.
He downed the rest of the water and grabbed the towel set neatly beside his clothes. He felt clumsy and awkward moving about, as if he was slightly inebriated. He was just about ready to leave his quarters when a buzz sounded from the intercom. That would be Kirkland, checking on him.
Jed frowned. In his hurry, he’d forgotten to type the requisite code after logging off the Portal control pad, which was a signal to let Dr. Kirkland’s crew know that all was well at his end. He picked up the call.
“I’m all right and I’m on the way,” he said crisply. “How’s she doing?”
“Vitals are fine, but not normal. She’s barely coming out of REM. Aren’t you going to be at your quarters?”
“No, I’m coming over right now. She’s still in the sleep-dreaming state because she’s exhausted. I’ll explain more when I’m there.”
