Protecting His Mistress (Kindred Tales)

Karn shrugged and grinned.

“I have yet to meet the female I can’t please, Commander.” As a Hybrid, he didn’t have to worry about bonding anyone to him. So he’d had his fair share of amorous encounters, though he took care never to become emotionally involved with any of them.

“So I hear,” Commander Sylvan said dryly. “It’s yet another reason why I thought of you when this assignment came up.”

“I’ll do it,” Karn said without hesitation. “I know there are risks but hell, there always are.” That was part of the excitement of working in the Espionage Corps—you never knew what was coming next.

Sylvan smiled.

“You’ll be doing your kinsmen a great favor, Commander. I know there are many in bondage right now, who need to be discovered and rescued.”

“We’ll find them, Commander Sylvan,” Karn vowed. Both males rose and Sylvan offered his arm for a warrior’s clasp. “We’ll find every last one and bring them home,” Karn said as he took the offered arm.

“I pray the Goddess will bless your mission,” Sylvan said formally. “And I thank you for taking this risk.”

Karn smiled. “Happy to do it, Commander.”

Of course, at the time he had no idea he would be risking much more than his life—he would be risking his heart.

But by the time he found that out, it was too late…

Two

“Just stand still on the pedestal and try to look menacing,” Mistress Tikka snarled under her breath. “Mistress Mirabella likes big, scary bodyslaves. They enhance her status.”

“I can do that.” Karn pasted a glare on his face and tensed, making his muscles bulge. He did wish he didn’t have to be displayed naked—it really wasn’t his preference to stand around with his shaft hanging out. But apparently those were the rules of the private auction house, since the minute Lady Tikka had met him, the first words out of her mouth had been an order to strip.

Not that she had much else to say to him, Karn thought, eyeing the sour look on her narrow face. She had bright green hair which went badly with her sallow complexion and seemed to hate her role, working for the Kindred. And no wonder, since all Yonnites considered males to be inferior. But apparently her huge gambling debts were more pressing than her hatred of men. So though she clearly despised what she was doing, at least she was doing a fairly professional job of it.

He was trying to be professional too—though posing naked wasn’t his usual line of work, he thought dryly. Well, mostly naked. He was wearing a thick black pain collar around his neck, as did almost all bodyslaves on Yonnie Six. It was a fake, though—thoughtfully provided by Commander Sylvan. It looked extremely real and even had a remote that went with it. Karn just had to remember to ‘writhe in agony’ when the pain button on the remote was pressed, which shouldn’t be a problem.

The fake collar, of course, was absolutely vital to his getting out of this assignment in one piece. If he had been wearing a real pain collar, he would have been as trapped here as the other Kindred warriors which had been captured and enslaved.

As he stood there looking menacing, several of the Mistresses shopping for bodyslaves passed by the pedestal where he was standing. They all stopped to admire his physique and ask how much. But Mistress Tikka just shook her head.

“Sorry—he’s already spoken for.”

This happened three or four times and Karn was just beginning to wonder if Lady Mirabella was even there when the thin Mistress beside him hissed,

“Get ready—here she comes!”

Looking down the rows of displayed males, all naked and wearing pain collars like the fake one he had on, he saw a tall, thin, middle-aged woman coming around the corner. She had brassy gold hair the color and texture of the Christmas tinsel Karn had seen on decorated trees down on Earth, a long nose, and thin lips which she pursed in apparent disapproval of almost everything she saw.

Beside the forbidding-looking Mistress and walking a half step behind her was a much younger girl who appeared to be barely in her twenties. She was both shorter and plumper than Mistress Mirabella with softly rounded curves Karn found immensely appealing. Her honey-blonde hair hung in lose ringlets around her oval face and her big brown eyes were wide as she looked from side to side at the massive naked males on display.

“Come along, Lilliana,” Mistress Mirabella snapped at her. “Don’t shilly-shally so! I know you’ve never been to a bodyslave market before but there’s no excuse to lag behind.”

“I…I’ve just never seen so many males. And…and all without their clothes.” The girl’s voice was soft and uncertain. “I never knew what they looked like with no clothes on before!”

“Honestly!” Mistress Mirabella blew out a breath impatiently. “I knew I should have picked a more liberal place to have you raised until I was ready to make you my heir. But the Sisters of Chastity and Honor came so highly recommended.” She frowned at the girl who must be her daughter—though they looked nothing alike to Karn. “Do stop staring at their shafts! It’s not like they have any use to us—a bodyslave’s shaft is only useful for display purposes. And we don’t use that part of them for anything else!”