“Yes, Mother,” Lilli murmured, looking up at Karn.
He caught her eyes again and winked gravely, making her giggle. When Mistress Mirabella turned to give her a reproving look, she hid her smile with her hand and turned it into a cough.
“Yes, yes…very nice. Excellent lines. Very good form.” Lady Mirabella circled the pedestal, nodding as she took in Karn from all angles. He thought that he had never felt so much like a piece of meat in his life, but the fact that Lilli was looking up at him with wide-eyed wonder instead of the jaded eyes of a long-time bodyslave owner made a difference.
He had been prepared to endure being “owned” as part of this assignment. Now he thought he might actually enjoy it—or at least, enjoy being close to Lilli. If, that was, he could get her mother to buy him.
“I like what I see,” Mistress Mirabella announced at last, after she had circled him three times. “But I want to know about his temperament. How long has he been a bodyslave? It’s well known that Kindred make excellent bodyslaves if they’re captured young enough.”
“Oh, he was captured as a child and raised to it,” Mistress Tikka said quickly. “So he’s very docile—unless, of course, your daughter was threatened in which case he can be very protective,” she added.
“I see. That’s good—very good.” Mistress Mirabella nodded, as though this ticked another box on her invisible bodyslave checklist. “He’s a fine specimen,” she added. “There’s just one more thing—I need to see his shaft erect. For display purposes only, of course.”
This was something Karn had been dreading. He didn’t mind being put on display—even naked. But he disliked the idea of a female he didn’t know or care for handling his shaft. Still, there was nothing to do but grit his teeth and bear it.
Clenching his fists behind his back, he widened his stance and waited as Mistress Mirabella took a firm grasp of his shaft. Her hand was cold as ice and bony as a skeleton’s claw.
His shaft absolutely refused to respond to it.
Doggedly, Mistress Mirabella kept trying. But no matter how much she rubbed and tugged, Karn’s shaft stayed stubbornly limp.
Damn it! Karn clenched his teeth and willed himself to get hard. He had never had this problem before. But then again, he’d never been handled by a female he didn’t want. This was definitely a complication he hadn’t expected.
“What’s wrong with him?” Mistress Mirabella demanded at last, dropping his shaft and wiping her hands on a lace handkerchief fastidiously. “Are you trying to sell me a defective bodyslave, Tikka? I won’t have a male in my household that can’t get hard—what would my friends say if they saw such a thing?”
“Mother, can…could I try?” Lilli asked while Mistress Tikka sputtered out an explanation about how this usually wasn’t a problem. “I think maybe…maybe he might react for me?”
“An inexperienced girl like yourself? Why, you’ve never touched a shaft in your life!” Mistress Mirabella gave a snort, as though this was a stupid idea.
“Please?” Lilli begged. “I think I can do it.”
Mistress Mirabella shrugged.
“Well, he is supposed to be your bodyslave—if we buy him,” she remarked. “So I suppose you ought to learn how to care for him. Go on, Lilli—give him a try. But mind you, if he won’t rise for your touch, we’ll have to find another. We can’t have a male we can’t display when we go out.”
“Yes, Mother,” Lilli murmured, but her eyes were on Karn’s again. “Can I?” she asked him, reaching one small hand towards his shaft.
“Don’t be ridiculous, you don’t ask a bodyslave if you can touch him, Lilliana—you just touch him!” Mistress Mirabella exclaimed.
But Lilli’s small hand hovered in place and didn’t move until Karn gave her a slight nod.
Slowly, tentatively, she stroked her fingers lightly down his length. It was a soft, ticklish touch, but Karn felt it like flames licking over his skin.
At once, blood began to rush to his shaft and he felt himself begin to harden. He had a moment of relief—when Mistress Mirabella had been yanking on him, he’d wondered for a moment if his equipment was broken. The relief was followed by a burst of pure lust as Lilli’s soft little hand came back to stroke him again, more fully this time.
“Oh,” she whispered. “He’s so big.”
“A very good length and girth.” Mistress Mirabella admitted grudgingly. “Another Kindred trait, of course.”
“What’s that, though?” Lilli asked.
Looking down, Karn saw she was pointing at his mating fist—the thick swelling that went all around the base of his shaft. It was from his Beast Kindred side, as the fangs were from the Blood Kindred part of his family.
“My mating fist, Little Mistress,” he said, answering her question since Mistress Tikka clearly had no idea. “It proclaims the Beast Kindred part of my heritage as my fangs proclaim the Blood Kindred part.”