Page 94 of Volatile Waters

CHAPTER TWENTY

Suspended Souls

Can insanity be diverse? In one person? Day by day?

For me, the answer was yes.

I felt lost in a darkened forest, full of hungry wolves, yet I was the leader of the pack. It was beyond baffling and distorted my every train of thought. I ping-ponged from Master, Boss, lover, and Trainer, and never found time for Yury. There was not a second to digest what happened with Wolf before I was thrust back into my unforgiving reality.

Leaving Wolf’s room, my heart, that I was still clueless I had, was completely shredded. Yet I was immediately approached by a recruiter, right outside Wolf’s door. The recruiter shook the arm of the terrified girl in his grasp, her red hair sticking to her tears. “There is no room available for this one.”

Wolf must have heard the English spoken words. His palms, with one slap, slammed on the door at my back. I was full of regret for his suffering, but Wolf was taking the chance of making me appear weak to my employees. That was unacceptable. When I saw the recruiter staring at me, questioning what he just heard, and witnessing me not reprimanding the ill-behaving slave, anger bubbled inside me. I couldn’t bring myself to go back in the room to punish him, but I felt Wolf had created the newcomer an issue by distracting me.

My resentment grew…

I asked, “What language does she speak?”

“English,” the recruiter replied.

Lifting the girl’s chin, I demanded, “Look at me.” I had to swallow my gasp when familiar green eyes peered up at me. This girl was not my Fire but came in at a close second. If Wolf wanted to dismiss my affections so easily, I felt I had a right to find new distractions. Hopefully, two Fires would be the remedy. I told the recruiter, “I will take her to my room.” Then I bent my knee and stomped the bottom of my shoe on Wolf’s door to be sure he heard he had already been replaced.

Taking Wolf by force, punishing him—even though regular practice for me with other slaves—was not something I could bring myself to do. That didn’t mean the redhead now in my grasp was safe from that fate. She would become my whipping post. Every one of my frustrations would become hers to bear. It was a horrible status to have with a madman that refused to let one more person into his heart.

As I dragged her up the basement stairs, I raced through my normal spiel. “You are so far from home you will never find your way back, nor will your family ever find you.” I hit the remote in my pocket to unlock the door. “Your only chance to survive this is to do everything I ask. If you don’t, I will hunt down your family and kill them.” I dragged her up the white marble stairs. “If you try to run, I will kill you.”

By the time we made it to my bathroom, she’d pissed herself.

Did I have one ounce of pity? No. I screamed, “Clean it up!”

Then I made her shower.

Then I raped her so violently she struggled to walk the next day.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

“Thank you for eating,” I told Wolf.

On his knees, he sneered while taking another bite. “It’s not for you, as much as for when you finally smarten up.”

My nostrils flared. “Smarten up?”

He peeled off a piece of his orange and popped it into his mouth that I wanted to taste again. “That’s right. Let me know when you’ve figured it out.” He twirled his leash around his finger.

Concerned I may kill him, I left his room. As I shut his door, I heard, “Coward.”

I’ll show you cowardly behavior. I grabbed a bottle of water, knowing Fire would do anything for a sip. She was so dehydrated, she was practically walking sandpaper.

When I told her it was time to start her training, in brute force, I begged in my mind for her not to let me break her. To save Link, she fought. To save Link from becoming a slave, she followed me into the room in which I had punished. Fire’s only weakness was fear, but she handled that so elegantly, I couldn’t help but fulfill her one request; that I held her before striking her skin.

I can’t say whether or not Fire was aware that the moment brought us closer, but it did. I paused, before responding as she leaned into my chest for comfort, but I eventually wrapped my arms around her, totally noticing the difference between her size and Wolf’s. Even though the distinction was evident, I found her to be unique. She was nothing like me. Unlike Wolf, Fire had no chance against my strength if she ever, unwisely, chose to fight me back.

From the way she melted to my stomach and chest, her vulnerability was clear to both of us. What she didn’t know was that I needed her protection as much as she needed mine. I needed her to feed my spirit and my ego what it desperately required: the tenderness Wolf had taught me.

Even as I tied up her tiny little wrists, to suspend her from the ceiling, her every movement was fluid, gentle, feminine, and full of respect for the power I had over her. Her body was breathtaking, no doubt, but so was her essence. The way her delicate eyes watched me, before I whipped her, had me staying behind her, so she couldn’t see me committing such a crime against her skin.

Not since my mother’s death had I shed a tear, but bringing this young, strong woman mentally to her knees had me regretting being alive. Wolf was right. I was a walking abomination that needed to be stopped. The little one trying to swallow her screams with my every strike was going to be the one who finally set Yury free. It would just take more time for me to realize it. For me to let her. For me to let her touch me in the deepest place a person can be touched.

Before that was to happen, I made Fire dance for me to soothe my soul. When the dance would become more sensual, I would take out my sexual frustrations on the fake Whit who was still locked up in my bedroom. Fake Whit became quite accustomed to the routine. I never beat or whipped her. That was for my special pet: Fire.