Claimed (Club Sin 1)

“Hello, Katherine,” he replied.

Martin, a CEO of a bank out of New York, glanced up at Dmitri as he sat across from Katherine. He offered his hand, his dark hair fell over his brow, and his near-black eyes creased at the corners. “Good to see you, Dmitri. We were surprised to receive your phone call. It’s five months early.”

Martin wasn’t wrong—the visit had come early, which of course was for a good reason, which he hadn’t explained when he’d called Martin this morning. The first six months of Katherine and Martin’s relationship, Dmitri saw her monthly. After that, the visits extended to every year and included Martin. Even if these visits weren’t to catch up, they were personal, because Dmitri checked in on Katherine.

Katherine had entered into a Master-and-slave relationship in which her servitude was twenty-four/seven. While Dmitri knew she desired that lifestyle, he didn’t know Martin enough to trust that he’d protect her and not abuse the gift.

Their introduction had come because Kyler had known Martin from a BDSM club in New York that Kyler played at when he traveled there. When Dmitri went looking for a Dom who wanted a slave, Kyler had given Martin a high recommendation, partly because Kyler had known Katherine almost as well as Dmitri and thought the two would get along nicely. Kyler hadn’t been wrong.

Dmitri shook Martin’s hand and took a seat at the head of the table. “I apologize for the short notice. Thank you for coming.” Not a second later, the waiter approached, and Dmitri ordered, “Glass of chardonnay.”

“Right away, sir.”

The man scurried off to fetch his drink, and Katherine laughed in that soft way Dmitri remembered. “It’s amusing how everyone seems to call you that even if they have no idea what’s going on in that naughty home of yours.”

Dmitri smiled. “You look well, Katherine.”

“Thank you.” Her gaze swept to Martin, and tenderness filled her features. “Things have been good.”

Dmitri looked at Martin, too, and saw the man staring at Katherine as if no other woman should live on this earth, because only one existed to him. Their relationship had started out based purely on a Master-and-slave agreement, but it became obvious after the first couple of months that Katherine was starting to care for Martin. Once Martin was included in the visits, it became even more obvious to Dmitri that Martin loved her, too. It pleased him to see that they were still deeply in love.

The waiter returned, and Dmitri sipped at the fine wine and nodded approvingly.“Would you like to order now?” the waiter asked.

Dmitri shook his head. “Drinks only, thank you.”

After the waiter left, Dmitri settled into his seat and examined Katherine. She seemed strong. He didn’t see any darkness under her eyes, indicating exhaustion, and her weight looked good.

His study of her drifted lower to the diamond necklace around her neck, but the jewelry didn’t hold his focus long. There was a deep red mark just above the necklace, looking much like a rope burn. With a jerk of his chin, he gestured to the mark on her skin. “Care to explain that?”

Martin’s eyebrows furrowed before he followed Dmitri’s direction, then his features lightened with understanding. “We’ve dabbled in breath play.”

Breath play had never been an interest of Katherine’s. In fact, it once was a hard limit, which Dmitri approved of. Even Doms had limits, and that had always been one of his. Safe, to him, didn’t involve cutting off a submissive’s air supply. He ran his finger over the rim of his glass and asked, “For how long?”

“Oh, we added it to our scenes a few months ago.” Katherine held Dmitri’s stare dead-on, while before, she never would have done so. Dmitri had no doubt if she looked at Martin now, and spoke to him freely, it was because she had asked permission before they came. She’d always been a needy submissive and thrived off of living that role. The three years they’d been together, she’d spent most of that time kneeling at his feet loving the rules he had in place for her. Even though Katherine was a powerful defense attorney, while not at work, she wanted no control at all.

Dmitri had tried to be the Dom she needed, but after a while, Katherine grew to require different needs, ones that he couldn’t fulfill. That rope burn on her skin was a simple reminder to him of how different their desires were. Katherine needed a Dom with a firmer hand, one who enforced strict rules and who treated her as his slave, not a sexual submissive. Dmitri didn’t want that life.

Katherine caressed her fingers across the mark on her neck, and her shiver was visible, as was the smolder in her eyes as she watched Martin. “People change, Dmitri.”

He took another drink of his wine, and its sweetness rushed down his throat. “You’re right. They do.” For a couple of years after Dmitri ended their relationship, he’d held a strong connection to Katherine. He’d experienced it every time he saw her at visits for him to check in, though none of that existed now.

“All right,” Martin said, and sipped his red wine but kept a stern gaze on Dmitri. “Why did you request to see us so soon?”

Dmitri snorted softly at the challenge in his eyes. Hadn’t the roles been reversed? That challenge once was in Dmitri’s eyes as Martin proved himself. At the same time, Dmitri wondered how to put into words why he’d called for this visit, and discovered he was at a bit of a loss.

“Well, well, well,” Katherine mused. “The bachelor has finally fallen in love.”

Martin gave Dmitri a thump on his back. “Ah, so that’s what this is all about.” He leaned back in his seat and grinned. “I take it you’ve come to say goodbye to my Katherine.”

Didn’t that sum it up quite well? The matter of ending these visits was, in fact, between Dmitri and

Katherine, not him and Martin. While Martin owned her, and Dmitri had released her to him, Martin needed only Dmitri’s word that these meetings were over. Dmitri could’ve given that over the telephone. He and Katherine had history that needed the goodbye it deserved. With her now living in New York with Martin, Dmitri could only assume this would probably be the last time he saw Katherine.

“It’s that time, yes.” He stood, hearing the forks and knives clanging against the plate at the table behind them, and he settled in next to Katherine. He looked at Martin. “May I touch her?”

Martin nodded.

Dmitri placed a finger under Katherine’s chin, lifting her head, and stared into warm eyes. He inhaled the fragrance of roses she always wore; even if some things changed, some things never did. Then he went through the same questions he had asked her over the past four years, the questions that, after this moment, he’d never ask again. “Are you playing safe, Katherine?”