Out of the Ashes (The Game 5)

Unfortunately, Colt was a Sadist whose feathers were nearly impossible to ruffle.

“Don’t mind the little boys here,” he drawled. “Kit and Noa are just mad we caught them in seconds. Really, my grandmother woulda lasted longer—rest her soul.”

“I wasn’t prepared!” Kit yelled, his voice echoing. It drew my attention to the area behind the Tops, and I realized it was water. A fairly large body of water surrounded by walls of rock. We were really at the bottom of a quarry. “I was surrounded on the patio from the moment we started!”

“Simmer down—Jesus Christ.” River folded his arms over his chest and looked at us like we were annoying toddlers giving him a headache. “Before we begin this month’s Game, Reese has something he needs to get off his chest.”

“Ah, that’s right. Thanks for reminding me.” Reese bobbed his head and studied us. “It’s been brought to my attention that some of y’all call our community House Mclean. By a show of hands, how many of you can’t read?”

I furrowed my brow.

“What’re you talking about, Sir?” Corey asked, confused. “It’s called House Mclean.”

Well…

Several agreed with him in a hushed echo, among them Cam and Gretchen.

Reese became bewildered by the weirdest things. Who cared what people called our community?

“It’s right there on the website!” he exclaimed. “We’re called Mclean House. It’s on your fucking membership tags too!”

“House Mclean sounds cooler,” Cam stated stubbornly. “Mclean House is just…lame.”

“You’re lame.” Reese scowled at him.

I coughed to hide my laugh.

Greer was kinda cute. He hid his own amusement by rubbing a hand over his mouth and looking over his shoulder.

“My Daddy’s so badass right now,” Shay said.

“All right. With that outta the way…” Colt squeezed Reese’s shoulder and urged the man to step back for a moment. Then he turned to us and took over. “Tonight will play out differently in terms of safety. We’ve relied heavily on the limits communicated by your Tops, and that’s what we’ve used when setting up the different stations. But that doesn’t mean y’all don’t get a say.” He paused. “Along the way tonight, you’ll come across spray-painted signs with a glow-in-the-dark patch of blue. They’ll serve as a reminder that you can always use the safeword ‘blue’ to get a hint of what’s to come.”

Greer cleared his throat. “Consider safewording ‘yellow’ if you just need a break. It’s easy to get overwhelmed when you don’t know what’s next, but sometimes we don’t actually want a spoiler. Sometimes we just need to calm down and refocus.”

Colt nodded with a dip of his chin. “Remember that. Yellow might be a better option than blue—but nevertheless, we’ve added that color in case the anticipation becomes too much, or you, for some reason, lose trust in your Top’s communication. Which isn’t wrong,” he emphasized. “We’re not fuckin’ around tonight. It’s perfectly normal to need reassurance, no matter how long you’ve been with your Top.”

It was my man’s turn to speak after that, and Lee stepped forward and clasped his hands behind his back. In those rare moments, you saw his background in the military.

“Included in our discussions with your Tops are pain thresholds, relationship boundaries, kink limits, and any medical issues,” he said. “It means that whatever we expose you to tonight has been approved by your Top in terms of pain, pleasure, hard limits, soft limits, and any other restrictions. In short, you don’t have to wonder if something is okay for you to enjoy.” He smiled faintly. “Not that there will be much for you to enjoy tonight.” He lifted his gaze at something behind us. “You’re up, sassafras. You all know Ivy, yeah?”

No. Never heard of her.

I felt my jaw tick with tension, and I truly fucking hoped she hadn’t sold us out in some way.

I looked over my shoulder. She was trailing down the hill, wearing a Red Riding Hood cloak—only black. And she was holding a torch. August was walking slightly behind her.

“Girl, what’ve you done?” Gretchen demanded.

“Silence,” Greer ordered.

Ivy released an audible breath and positioned herself at the center between the two fires. “I was forced—”

August cleared his throat pointedly.

I lifted my brows.

Ivy smiled stiffly. “I was kindly encouraged to strike a deal, but I swear to you that I’m facing my punishment too.”

It was difficult for me to doubt her. We’d been friends for years; she’d once recruited Master and me to Mclean, and she’d always been on the side of the subs.

“Enough chitchat,” Reese said. “It’s Ivy’s job tonight to write down any violations you might make, and August will make sure she doesn’t go easy on you.”

In other words, she was caught between a strict Dom and a hard place. Lovely.

Ivy took another deep breath and dug out a slip of paper from her cloak. “Dear brats, you’re here tonight to face your punishment. The Sadists behind me have prepared an obstacle course for you, where each completed station can give you one to three points, depending on various factors they don’t want to share.” She turned the note over. “Master Kingsley is in charge of the first station. Sir?”