A Short Leash Read online

  In the end, it was Kade who went to them, greeting them both affectionately. It was a relatively innocent touch, but it drove Sierra wild in an instant. If Kade was not hers and she was just another in a very long line of women, then she would not stay. Thoughts came swiftly, only barely predicting action.

  She wanted to leave.

  They were already in the wilds.

  Sierra ran.

  There was a shout, and then the awful whacking began to pulse against her backside thanks to the infernal collar. She persevered through it, running as more than a dozen strokes of that unseen cane rained down on her bottom. With tears in her eyes, she kept moving. Though she was not back at full strength just yet, she was far faster than any hunter ever could be. Her lithe form and superior agility allowed her to flit through the forest in a way Kade’s large bulk could not.

  After several miles the smacking stopped. Sierra did not know why at first, but she stopped and listened and realized she could not hear any form of pursuit. She must have gotten out of range. Of course Kade had never mentioned that the device only worked within a certain range, that would have encouraged her to do what she’d done, but right away instead of five minutes into the meeting.

  A sound in the distance got Sierra’s attention. Footfalls, moving cautiously through the undergrowth. They did not belong to a hunter, and they certainly didn’t belong to Kade. Her collar was not whacking her again, so he must still be at a distance. Or perhaps he had turned it off so as to sneak up on her unawares, or not drive her further still. Sierra did not think much of the collar. It inflicted a certain level of discomfort, but it was not enough to stop a determined woman.

  As the footfalls drew closer, Sierra decided to take her escape vertical. She was glad for Kade’s careful rehabilitation as she scaled a tree, taking refuge a third of the way up where the branches and leaves were thickest. She was high enough to see a much greater distance and sure enough she could soon see her pursuers.

  Two sybaritic female forms were slinking through the trees. The hunters had set their pets on her. Sierra’s upper lip curled back in preparation for a bite. She was not going to allow herself to be caught by those women, not that they seemed to be looking for her terribly hard. It occurred to Sierra that they probably didn’t like her any more than she liked them.

  Perched high above them, she stayed very still, averting her gaze. Best not to stare, lest they sensed her gaze and found her. Sierra kept them in her peripheral vision as they began casting around in circles. They had lost her trail, which made sense as it had in fact ended. She tensed, waiting for one of them to look up at her. There was really only one place she could have gone, and yet somehow they didn’t seem to think of it. They just wandered around in circles for a bit, then sat down and waited for the hunters to arrive.

  It took several minutes for that to happen. Sierra found herself trapped by the lazy pets, unable to make an effective escape for their presence. It was annoying to be cornered by them, but she did not want to give her position away by making some mad dash that would certainly get their attention.

  As the hunters drew near, Sierra heard them talking about her.

  “She’s very wild,” one of the citizens said.

  “She’s never been trained, but she spent a year with a man I’d like to choke,” Kade replied. “The asshole starved her half to death and didn’t teach her a single thing but how to bite.”

  Sierra frowned. Although Kade was speaking more about her previous owner than her, it was strange to be talked about at all—especially when the other women could hear.

  “How did you break her of the biting?”

  “Wasn’t that difficult,” Kade replied. “A happy, secure pet doesn’t usually bite.”

  “Seraphine has an oral fixation,” the citizen said. “She’s always mouthing… things.”

  The other citizen and Kade both chuckled. Sierra sensed that an uncouth comment had been made. Seraphine was very beautiful and it did not surprise Sierra that her owner was smitten. She could see that even from the significant distance at which she perched.

  “Good girls,” Kade praised the pets waiting for them below. Sierra started to get a very uncomfortable feeling. His praise meant that they had done as they were told. What if they had found her after all but were being careful not to spook her?

  Kade reached for something at his waist. All of a sudden Sierra felt a whack like none before. It was as if three cane strokes had landed all at once, propelling her from the branch. She almost fell from the tree entirely, but managed to clutch at a branch on the way down. Enough noise and motion was produced by the fiasco to draw every eye.

  Swearing, Sierra made another escape, darting from one branch to another. Unfortunately the other pets had already given chase. Seraphine took the lead, her green hair blending with the leaves as she moved through the trees with speed beyond any Sierra could muster. Looking over her shoulder, Sierra saw Seraphine’s bright green eyes narrowed and marked with dark lashes and liner, locked on her with predatory intensity.

  Whump!

  Sierra hit a trunk and slid down it to the ground. Looking over her shoulder had been her downfall, she reflected in a daze as Seraphine caught up, pinned her down, and fastened her teeth on the back of Sierra’s neck.

  “Seraphine! No!”

  Sierra screeched as Seraphine’s teeth dug in deep. She squirmed and thrashed, her head singing with pain as a result of the collision with the tree, her neck contorting as Seraphine started gnawing unpleasantly. No amount of struggling could dislodge her; she had locked one arm around Sierra’s neck, consumed by the hunt.

  “Seraphine! Seraphine! No! Seraphine!” Roman’s voice was high-pitched as he ran toward them, but in the end it was Kade who dragged Seraphine off Sierra, casting her back to Roman who did his best to contain his bloodlust-filled pet.

  Sierra was left panting on the ground, dizzy and in pain as Kade helped her to sit.

  “Look at me,” he ordered, taking her by the chin. His eyes searched hers, no doubt looking for signs of concussion. His expression was grim and stern and though he seemed worried, he didn’t seem as sorry as she thought he should have been.

  “Don’t touch me,” she snarled, pulling her face away from his grasp. “This is your fault.”

  “I didn’t make you run,” he said, snapping a leash onto her collar. There was now no chance of escape, for the other end of it was attached to his belt. “I think that concludes our hunt, gentlemen,” he apologized. “I need to get this one home and looked at by a physician.”

  “And I need a gag for this one.”

  “Roman!” Seraphine whined her owner’s name.

  “You did not need to bite her,” Roman said, his face twisting with annoyance. “I have spoken to you repeatedly about this, haven’t I? And you still bite at every opportunity.”

  Seraphine did not seem particularly apologetic about that until Kade took a step toward her and his scowl joined Roman’s.

  “I will tire that jaw of yours out, girl,” Kade growled, his voice taking on an intimidating timbre that took Sierra by surprise. He had never taken that tone with her in all their time together. There was a certain masculine aggression being unleashed on Seraphine that both excited and frightened her.

  It was certainly effective. Seraphine sank down, her eyes lowered, her shoulders and head bowing. There could be no mistaking her surrender.

  “I am sorry,” she whimpered. “I just… I couldn’t help myself, Master Kade.”

  “You will learn to help yourself,” Kade said, taking something from one of the many pockets about his waist and thighs. It was a thick leather strap with a large round circular ball with several holes in the center of it. He held that ball down toward Seraphine’s mouth and snapped an order.

  “Open.”

  Seraphine tearfully complied and Sierra watched shocked as Kade fed the ball into her mouth and locked the straps around the back of her head. She was gagged, able to breathe thr
ough the matrix of openings, but unable to bite.

  It didn’t look comfortable in the slightest. It certainly didn’t look elegant or pretty. With her mouth held open, unable to bite or speak, Seraphine suddenly looked quite helpless. In spite of the bite still lingering painfully about her neck, Sierra felt a pang of pity for the woman. The gag didn’t really seem necessary. It wasn’t as though Seraphine was biting indiscriminately. She got the impression that Kade had put the gag on her to punish her, not to prevent her from misbehaving.

  “Take it off,” Sierra spoke up. “That’s cruel.”

  Kade turned to her. “I don’t need your opinion, my little runaway.”

  “I don’t care if you need it,” Sierra said. “You set her on me and now you punish her for actually catching me?”

  “She’s not supposed to bite her prey.”

  “And I suppose a bird is not supposed to fly,” Sierra answered back. “Of course she’s going to bite. She was gentle compared to what she is capable of. If she’d wanted to really hurt me, she would have bit lower and harder. Please, Kade, take it off her.”

  Her argument turned to pleading. She very much disliked seeing Seraphine subdued with the unwieldy gag.

  “I think this is almost more of a punishment for you than it is for her,” Kade noted. “Don’t worry, you won’t find yourself in one of these unless you take up biting again. Seraphine has had many chances to avoid this fate. She knows all too well she deserves this, don’t you, Seraphine?”

  He looked down at the gagged woman. All eyes were on Seraphine as she made a small whimpering sound and nodded. She seemed much subdued by the treatment as she crouched on the ground quite still, almost as if the gag had restrained her limbs as well.

  “You haven’t been using this as I directed, have you?” Kade asked the question of Roman. The citizen looked vaguely ashamed.

  “I did try once,” he said. “She bit me.”

  “And then what did you do?” Kade’s eyes bored into Seraphine’s head. She was looking fixedly at the ground, avoiding the stare she almost certainly felt.

  “I ordered her to her room.”

  “And what happened then?”

  “She…” Roman paused, embarrassed. “She bit me again.”

  “And then you…” Kade let the sentence hang for Roman to finish.

  Roman did not make an immediate reply and it was obvious that he had done little to nothing to chastise his pet.

  “These are beautiful but dangerous creatures,” Kade lectured. “If a pet does not have a firm leader, she will run amok. Don’t let your feelings get in the way of your duty. Don’t ever let her think she can push you further than you can push her. I have to take care of Sierra now. You keep that gag on her until you get home, and then I strongly suggest you follow with your own punishment.”

  Roman looked thoroughly guilty and almost as hangdog as his pet as he agreed to do as Kade instructed.

  “Did you mean more punishment for Seraphine? Or that Roman should punish himself?” Sierra half-whispered, half-giggled the question as Kade turned and began leading her back toward his compound.

  “Both, preferably,” Kade replied in growling tones. “I’ll take a whip to that boy myself if he doesn’t start disciplining her.”

  “I think I’d like to see that,” Sierra said, giggling dizzily. She was feeling a bit wonky thanks to the bump on her head and her outrage at Seraphine’s punishment had abated after hearing the discussion between Kade and Roman. Although she would never have admitted it openly, it was clear that a weak owner was not good for a pet. No wonder Seraphine was so eager for Kade’s attentions.

  “Am I concussed, or are we going the wrong way?” She asked the question as they took a path that was not the one she had expected to take.

  “We’re not going to my home,” Kade said. “We’re going into the city and you’re going to see the doctor.”

  “I’m fine!”

  “You’re not,” Kade replied. “Seraphine broke the skin on your neck and you hit that trunk pretty hard. Besides, you haven’t had a proper medical exam since you came into my care. It’s about time I rectified that.”

  “You can rectify yourself,” Sierra said, squirming away from him. The leash pulled tight and she was forced to move with him as he approached the city gates. Sierra had never thought she would willingly enter a city. She wasn’t precisely willing, but her own feet took her into the sterile antechamber where they were both liberally sprayed with an agent designed to wash away any traces of radiation.

  “Citizens are weak,” Sierra spluttered.

  “Citizens are adapting to the environment as best they can, the same as every other creature on this world.”

  “Well, maybe citizens shouldn’t have blown themselves up in the first place,” Sierra said, referring to the old tales of history and the war that had made most of the world uninhabitable for pure-blooded humans.

  “We all make mistakes,” Kade said as the doors to the city opened. An attendant was waiting outside, ready to record their entrance. Both their names were taken down and Kade’s iris was scanned, confirming not just his identity, but his right to have her on his leash.

  Stepping back into the city was quite a novel experience for Sierra. She had never seen it from the viewpoint of a relatively free visitor. She was surprised to discover that it was actually a great deal more beautiful than she had remembered.

  The city was built in a great sweeping spiral. They had entered the lowest level, where wide paths populated by flying spheres delivered citizens from place to place. In the very center of the shining white stone was a spire that rose from a broad base all the way to the very top of the city’s protective dome many miles ahead.

  “What is that for?” Sierra pointed at it.

  “That is where most citizens live,” Kade explained. “See the dots? Those are windows. Each of them belongs to a separate apartment.”

  “There must be thousands of them,” Sierra said, frowning. She had no idea that there were so very many citizens all in one place. Her village had only been home to a few hundred people, and the citizen she had first lived with had what she now realized must be a relatively large home midway up the grand spiral.

  “Eutopia is home to eight million souls.”

  “Eight million!” Sierra was not sure she believed that. “How do eight million people eat when there is nothing but rock in this place?”

  “We grow mushrooms mainly,” Kade explained. “A lot of mushrooms. And of course, hunters provide delicacies like meat and there are some gardens inside the spire where plants are grown with water and nutrients.”

  “And all cities are like this?”

  “Not all. Since the cities were established, much has changed. These days, one city is as much like another one as one country used to be like another in the old days.”

  It was warm inside the city, somewhat moist too. Alongside the walkway were large banks upon which mushrooms were growing, big as dinner plates and edged with pretty blue frills.

  “Are these for eating too?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Kade said, draping his arm over her shoulder and pulling her close. “They tend to have strange effects on citizens and wild ones alike.”

  The conversation took them to an arch-shaped door where Kade drew to a halt. “This is the doctor,” he said. “He treats all my pets, and he’s very good.”

  Oh, he treated all Kade’s pets, did he? Sierra was not terribly impressed by that fact. Just how many pets had there been? How many Seraphines and Karas? How many of them had felt his hand between their thighs? And how many still would?

  Sierra resisted as Kade drew her into the office, which was bright and airy thanks to the weird technologies that allowed citizens to make small suns shine inside their homes and the fans that blew only the crystal clearest air up their pampered noses.

  A citizen female in robes of spun gold was sitting behind a large log, or as citizens liked to call it, a desk. She smiled bro
adly at Kade and asked if he had an appointment. Kade did not, but apparently that was not of any concern, for he could see the doctor immediately.

  Ushered into an even smaller room, Sierra just barely managed to maintain her composure. Little rooms inside little rooms inside little rooms, fractal boxes everywhere. She hated being hemmed in, even more so when the room reeked of disinfectant and other foreign unnatural scents.

  “I don’t need to see a doctor,” she said, edging toward the door.

  “Come and sit down,” Kade said, patting the padded table in the middle of the sterile room. There was nothing living there at all, besides her and Kade. Sierra had the idea that she would not survive if she spent too much time in there.

  “Kade!” A cheerful baritone filled the room, distracting Sierra. “And who is this charming lady?”

  Sierra turned toward the sound. A very tall man with dark eyes and raven black hair had entered the room. His skin had an attractive olive tone and his facial features were handsome in the extreme. He had a strong roman nose and charmingly full lips that drew Sierra’s gaze. He looked like a statue in a book Sierra had seen once. All her objections melted away as he endowed upon her a smile, which made her heart flutter.

  “This is Sierra, Dr. Charles,” Kade said. “She had an altercation with a tree… and another pet.”

  “Oh, dear,” the doctor purred. “Why don’t you sit up on the bed and let me see what we can do for you.”

  Sierra was on the bed a moment later, waiting patiently for the doctor to begin his examination. Her obedience was motivated by pure instinct and perhaps a little by her desire for Kade to feel something of what she felt when Seraphine and Kara simpered over him.

  “There’s a bite on the back of her neck,” Kade said, his fingers brushing her hair out of the way with a gentle touch that sent a little shiver coursing through her. Sierra put her head down whilst the doctor donned rubber gloves and came closer to inspect. He smelled like leather and soap, two scents that Sierra had never known she liked until that moment.