Eleven days later and Merrie was in a storm of emotions as they headed into Franome City. Seeing the city from a distance, with the World Tree towering over the central valley, brought a pang of homesickness to her. The tree was a kilometer tall and home to the royal palace and the Parliament. It was coming up on night and already sparks of light lit up the endless branches in what would be a cloud of brilliance in a few short hours.

The inner districts were shaded by branches that spread out over the city. Merrie rarely went into the shaded areas of Franome City—it was too rich or political for her life—but she could pick out the various quarters as they came up from the south side of the valley: the legal buildings, the tiny jewelers quarters, the two academic districts, and the multitude of homes for the rich and famous.

Her new master was in his usual place, on the side of the wagon bench with one hand holding the reins of the horse and the other arm around her waist. She was leaning into him with her head on his shoulder and one leg spread out along the bench.

He loved seeing her short limbs and she kept them on display for him. Every time he caught a glance, she could feel a stirring of lust. Images would bubble up from his mind, shaded by his thoughts but bright with sexual hunger. He focused on the smooth ends of her ankles and wrists, a feeling of power filling him. Knowing that her amputation turned him on, she rested her arm so her wrist touched his forearm.

His right hand was in its usual spot, fingertips resting against the entrance of her pussy. Occasionally, he would plunge a finger inside or use three tips to drum against her clitoris. She was already addicted to his fingering; he never stopped tapping and she came more than a few times with whimpering cries and her amputated limbs wrapped around him. In the moments of stillness, she could still feel the three finger beat against her sex.

It frequently lead to him fucking her and that brought a smile to her lips. He was a good lover, compassionate with a hint of hesitation. He whispered he wouldn't choke her as every time he thrust in her mouth and that tenderness was a balm to the horror she felt with Rakin and Bass.

In the last ten-day week, he had taken advantage of every hole he could fit his cock into. He filled her pussy, ass, and mouth half a dozen times a day and she enjoyed hours sucking on his cock as he drove the wagon. She licked her lips and caught a hint of the last time he came in her mouth. It was an hour ago but she felt the familiar stirring of hunger rising from them both.

Her new master was horny and she knew how to deal with it.

Twisting around, she reached for his cock.

“No,” he surprised her as he reluctantly guided her back into place. “I need to concentrate.”

Confusion, Merrie settled back into place. She spread her leg, the warm air teasing her pussy lips, but Kine didn't replaced his hand.

Instead, he held on to reins with both of them. “I was hoping for a darker day when I got back.” He pointed up to the blue skies and yellow-tinted clouds. “Hard to shade the wagon in bright light. But, if I don't,” he bumped her with his shoulder, “you attract attention. Selling slaves is illegal in the City, but not owning them. But still, you don't see naked bitches in the street, do you?”

Merrie beamed and her tail thumped against his thigh.

He glanced down and smiled. “Don't worry. You won't noticed it, but I'm going to take the back roads, is that okay?”

She nodded, as if she had an opinion.

Kine settled against the bench and took a deep breath. A prickle of power rose up around them. The strange, alcoholic ethereal taste tickled the back of her throat. She felt it crawling against her skin, cool and comforting in the sun but also fragile in the sun's brilliance.

She squirmed slightly as the pressure of magic increased. Around her, the shadows looked like they were reaching out for her. The shade from the leaves and branches grew deeper, turning from a faint blocking of sun into pitch-black voids that looked like holes in reality itself.

Merrie lifted her arm and looked down below her arm. The shadows of her limb was a hard-edge darkness. She couldn't see even a hint of the naked flesh underneath her. Curious, she drew her hand across her body, watching as her body disappeared from sight in the darkness.

A strange sense of fear and joy rose up inside her. It took her a moment to realize that the happiness came from Kine. He was home in the shadows. She glanced up at him and saw that his eyes had turned pale, as if all the color had been leeched out of his gaze. His skin following, growing gray and colorless with every passing moment.

Above her, the sun faded faintly and the heat didn't burn as much. She was in the shade, but there was nothing blocking the burning light except for the ethereal sense of power.

Kine let out a long, gasping breath. “Damn, that's hard.” There was no color in his skin, just the blue-gray of a man in shade, though the sun continued to bear down on them.

Merrie reached up and used her arm to wipe the sweat beading his forehead aside. His skin was cold, almost icy. She wiped her dripping arm on the bench.

He gave her a comforting smile. After a moment, he turned back to the road as they came up to the first gate of the city. Without slowing down, he guided the wagon into the reserved lane. Normally, it was held for the rich and political. Merrie felt fear rising up, but he drove the wagon right through the open gate and not even a single guard looked at him. Instead, the guards paced the wagons in the other lands, their brown cloaks swirling behind them.

Inside the gate, Kine turned off the first secondary street. It was shaded and he let out a sigh of relief as the wagon plunged into darkness. The tension dripped from him but never left.

The horse continued to clop along the cobblestones. In front of them, people stepped aside without every looking at them. It was an unconscious movement, the same repulsion that he used at the fair.

Merrie shivered as she watched it, enjoying the flutter of power and the way it felt cool against her skin. She wondered if she would be able to see it better when they bonded. She didn't know what to expect or even hope. She knew that she would share memories with them, but Sable had Bass' powers and Dixie could tap Tabitha. Would she be able to use the repulsion that Kine had? She wished she could ask Sable or Dixie what to expect.

Leaning back into him, she closed her eyes and enjoy the sway of the wagon and the beat of his heart. She loved every part of his body, more so when he was thrusting hard into her with short, powerful strokes. She smiled and nestled closer.

Kine slipped his arm back around her waist. His fingertips danced across along her taut stomach and down the “V” of her legs.

She grew moist at the anticipation. The soft smells of her pleasure rose up and she spread her leg invitingly.

He slipped his fingers down to her pussy, spreading her lips and tapping lightly against the sensitive nub of her clitoris. She gasped at the impact of his finger against her soaked button. He tapped again, then added two more fingers to drum against her pussy.

Soft whines rose in her throat. She jerked with every impact, crying out as the pleasure rose inside her. Kine knew how to please her and his talents with just three fingers would put all of her lovers to shame. Soon, she was writhing underneath his manipulations, her breasts smacking against his arm as she reached for an orgasm.

“Ah!” he pulled back just as she was reaching her orgasm. “I need to pick up something here.”

She whimpered and tapped her pussy with his arm.

Kine chuckled. “Later, bitch.”

She flushed and leaned forward as he crawled off the wagon. Breasts heaving with the aching needing between her legs, she watched as he circled around and disappeared into a store. Above the door was a plank with an anvil on it.

Merrie was alone. She glanced around the busy street and saw people milling around. She felt a surge of embarrassment rising up as she sat there, naked and with her breasts sticking out. The only relief was the shadow Kine had parked the wagon in, protecting her bare skin from the sun.

But, despite her nudity, no one looked at her. The same repulsion that surrounded Kine also protected her from attention. No one would look at her but she could watch them. She found a thrill in staring at the people walking by, unconsciously walking around the wagon without even registering its presence. She could almost reach out and touch them as they passed, but she was afraid it would break the illusion.

Twenty minutes later, the door to the store opened and Kine strolled out backwards. “And you'll get me some new collars for the boys too?”

“Of course,” came a booming chuckle as a large man dragged himself out from the darkness. The scrape of metal rang out loudly on the street and people slowed to watch curiously.

Merrie lifted herself to peer over the edge.

As the storekeeper came out, she saw what he was pulling: a cage.

Her pussy clenched as a heat flushed through her. It was a large cage, about twice as large as her, and made of welded steel. The joints were smooth as if the entire thing was drop forged in one piece, but she knew it was magic that sealed the entire thing together. She shivered at the heavy-looking metal. If she was inside, there was no escape unless her master freed her.

Hot juices dribbled down her thighs as she stared at the cage. The thin bars were shimmering in the sunlight. She could picture herself in it, thumping her pussy against the bars. A gasping whine rose in her throat.

Kine glanced at her and smiled.

“So, you actually have a wagon?” asked the storekeeper as he looked around in a circle. “Going to let me see it?”

Kine gasped, then chuckled. “Sorry, here you go.” He reached over and patted the storekeeper on the shoulder. There was a dark flash of magic and Merrie almost caught a sense of pattern, a spell.

The storekeeper looked around, then focused on the wagon. “Ah, help me pick this up. I'll get you…” his eyes lifted to Merrie and widened.

Merrie squirmed at his look and crouched down slight to hide behind the wagon bench.

“Um, boy?”

“Yeah, Rice?”

“You have a naked woman on your wagon.”

“Yeah,” Kine chuckled, “isn't she beautiful?”

“And you are going to put her in a cage?” Rice sounded surprised. “You're going to put a full grown woman in a cage?”

Merrie's thighs clenched at the heat boiling inside her. She was growing wetter with every passing seconds. She remembered the torture of being in the cage. Then, she couldn't cum and she hurt herself trying to find some edge of pleasure. Now, she would be confined and helpless but still able to find that crest of pleasure.

She couldn't wait.

“Yeah,” Kine said, his lust naked in his eyes. “I bought her. And she's an amazing fuck too.”

Rice let out a booming laugh and clapped Kine on the shoulder. “You're going to die.”

Kine glared at him, but there was a smile. “It won't be that bad.”

“Oh, when She Who Cannot Be Named,” Rice wasn't talking about Merrie anymore, “finds out. She's going to kill you. Not just kill you, she's going to hang you by your balls and use you for knife practice.”

Kine smirked. “I don't think it will be that bad. I've made sure the bitch can keep our secrets at least. She can't talk.”

Even though he didn't know it, Kine was talking as if Merrie was property, an object. She flushed as she listened to their conversation, her body growing even hotter. She reached down with one hand and stroked her pussy, a sheen of her juices coating her arm.

“You know,” Rice smirked, “I think I'm going to start a wager. Thirty marks that you won't make the night.”

Kine shook his head and smiled. “Just help me load the cage, please?” He jumped up and threw back the canvas. It was filled with random things, stuff that Kine stole or picked up. There was no rhyme or reason to it other than it attracted his attention. Merrie glanced over it—she saw it a few times in the last few days—but it matched his mind, chaotic and fluid, like the shadows themselves.

“Who are you planning on taking all this garbage to?”

Kine shrugged. “Didn't think about it. Maybe The Rat.”

“Rat got arrested a week ago. Selling drugs to a city guard. Idiot did it right outside the guardhouse too.”

“Damn, what about Gold Buyer?”

“He won't take this crap and you know it.”

Her master let out a grunt and piled up the stuff to make room for the cage. He jumped off the end and grabbed one end of the cage.

Rice took the other. “I heard there is a new fence over on Glorious Golden Court, I think at 1904 from what I heard.”

Kine paused for a moment. “Old Margret?”

“Her daughter. Got a pawn shop going. Pretty good front on her, tits are too small, plus I've heard only good things from those who fenced with her. Cute thing too but with a nasty knife. Don't piss her off and don't ask about her old husband.”

“Got it,” grunted Kine as they shoved the cage on the wagon. Underneath Merrie's body, the entire wagon shuddered from the weight of it. A few bags tumbled off the end of the wagon and hit the ground with the clink of delicate metal and a crack of glass.

Rice picked up the bag and peered in it. With a shrug, he tossed it back on the wagon. More glass shattered as it slumped against the steel bars of the cage. He turned on Merrie's new master. “Well, there you go. Anything else, boy?”

Kine shook his head and held out his hand. “Thank you, Rice.”

In a few more words, Kine and Merrie were once again on the road. The ethereal smell surrounded them as he shaded the wagon, protecting it from the attention of others.

Merrie nestled back into her position, her head on his shoulder and her pussy bared to his hand.

Kine slipped his arm around and pressed his palm to her sex. “God, I love this. You have the wettest pussy I've every touched.” He chuckled, “well, I guess I haven't really played with too many. A few prostitutes and Rimmy.” His finger curled over her pubic bone and he began to tap her clitoris.

Right on the edge of an orgasm from seeing the cage, Merrie mouthed his arm as she came out. The orgasm was brief, but it left sparks floating across her vision.

He added a second finger, tapping on her soaked pussy. His fingertips slurped as they struck her, the wet tapping sending sharp pulses of pleasure coursing through her body.

Merrie arched her back, whimpering as she clutched his arm. Her legs jerked violently from her orgasm. She tried to keep them open for him, silently begging for him to add the third finger and the intoxicating drum, but her thighs clamped down on his hand.

“Did you noticed that Rice didn't call me by my name?”

Still in the throes of her orgasm, Merrie could only nodded as tears streamed from her eyes. She bucked against his knuckles, desperate for him to plunge them into her aching hole.

“Secrets. The shadows are full of them. My master says a name is an anchor, a way of finding you. So, I'm known as ‘boy’ to Rice but ‘kid’ to others. Old Margaret called me 'Ricky.'” He ground his fist between her pussy, sliding one finger into her drenched hole before bringing the three fingertips against her clitoris.

With moan of hunger, Merrie used her arm to force her legs apart and give him access. She closed her eyes as he began to drum, teasing her and adding to the tiny sparks of ecstasy coursing through her veins.

“We're wrapped in secrets, Rimmy and I. Though,” his fingers stopped against her sex, “I would love to know how you figured out my name.”

Merrie tensed up, a whimper in her throat as she rocked her hips toward his fingers.

“How did you know?”

She looked up at him, unable to answer.

Kine rolled his eyes. “Idiot. I should have told them you could talk to me. Or course,” he rippled his fingers along her soaked pleasure, “better that you can't talk at all. Even the shadows can be listening for secrets. I think I like you this way: wordless, moaning, and sexy.” He lifted his hand up from her pussy. Raising it to the air, he peered over her body as the clear, thick juices ran down his fingers.

Merrie reached out with her arms, catching his wrist between the smooth ends of her own. Her tail thumped against his hip as she drew his hand to her mouth, opening obediently.

When her lips wrapped around his fingers, she could taste herself on them. With a moan, she bobbed along his length, lapping every bit of flavor from his fingers.

Kine's cock surged as his breathing deepened. “Damn, didn't know you'd do that.”

Merrie arched her back so she could look at him as she popped his fingers from her mouth. A bit of saliva connected their bodies before it broke. She let out a soft gasp of content and pleasure.

“You'd really do anything I want, wouldn't you?”

Merrie pushed his hand back down to her pussy as she nodded.

“Good girl.”

The familiar pleasure rippled through her. She jammed his hand against her sex as she moaned.

“Good… girl?”

With a moan, she jammed his hand against her sexy, grinding her hips up and down against his fingers. He curled his digits into her, plunging two fingers into the soaked tunnel of her being.

“I like that. Good girl.”

She came as he slammed his fingers into her pussy, his knuckles scraping against her lips. His arm shook from the impact and he forced her closer to his body. Leaning over, he whispered in your ear. “You are a very good girl—”

Her pussy clamped down around his fingers. She cried out from the pleasure, not from magic but from the intimacy of his whisper and the days of training to respond to that phrase.

“—and you come so sexy too. I like when you beg, you can do that all you want.”

She leaned into his body and drank in the smell of man and shadow. The curls of her own pleasure drifted through his scent, an intoxicating mixture of sex and master. It was becoming a comforting smell and one that brought a flush to her cheeks.

Kine palmed her pussy and rested against the bench. “Life is good, Merrie. Life is going to be very good for both of us.”

She smiled and watched the stores go by. The clopping of the horse on the cobblestones was hypnotic and she just let her eyes unfocus, enjoying the hand against her pussy and the comfort that wrapped around her.

It wasn't until twenty minutes later that she found herself focusing on the buildings that passed. They were houses and apartments, tightly packed with white walls and painted beams. One of them had a little flower box that reminded Merrie of a place down the street where she used to live. And then the old corner grocery store where she used to grab food when she didn't go shopping.

A tingle ran along Merrie's spine as she stared at the painfully familiar houses. Kine was driving down her own street, about to pass her own house. Seven weeks ago, she was rushing out the door because she was late to work. Instead of coming in only a few minutes late, she was kidnapped, raped, and cropped. It was less than a ten-week month since she last ran out the door.

Anticipation and fear shot through her body. Slowly, she levered herself up into a sitting position. She wondered what her house would look like. Would it be sealed up like a crime scene, with glowing wards and whispered warnings? Would it be empty? Or would it be normal with a “for let” sign in the front. She didn't want to know how the world had moved on since she was kidnapped.

Time slowed down as the horse clopped its way down the path. Kine, unaware of her growing fear, continued to lead with the same detached look he had while driving. In his mind, he was seeing how to break into houses and steal from the pedestrians. It was just another street to him.

As they came up, Merrie closed her eyes. But, at the last minute, she cracked them up as they drove past her old life.

It was her house, with white painted walls and a dark blue door. The flower box still was filled with flowers, the strong-smelling blossoms her landlady planted before Merrie had moved in. Merrie had let them die but never replaced them, but now they were back in the box.

A woman was coming out the door, wearing a mini-skirt and a revealing top. She had a bottle of wine in her hand and a tiny purse tucked underneath her arm.

A tear ran down Merrie's cheek. The dark-haired woman was doing the same thing Merrie did on Liefday, going out for a night of partying and dancing. Maybe coming home with a cute guy for a few seconds of frantic fucking before passing out.

She not only had lost her life, but someone else had taken over it. The strange woman was living in her house. She was going to parties and getting drunk. It was as if no one cared that she was gone, kidnapped.

Choking back a sob, she turned her face into Kine's shoulder and let the tears run.

“Merrie,” Kine whispered. Instead of teasing her, he wrapped his arm around her head and held her close to him. “Do you know that chick?”

Merrie sobbed pitifully and shook her head, unable to look back at her doppleganger.

“I can do something, you know. If you want me to?”

She shook her head again and then buried her face back into his shoulder. A soft whimper rose in her throat. There was always a hope that she could go back, but she knew there wasn't. Someone had already taken her life and her home. No doubt her job was also filled. She could never go back, no matter much she hoped. Even if Kine would fall in love with her, like Ebony's old master, the door they just passed would never be hers again.

“Don't worry, little bitch,” Kine held her close and stroked her hair, “I'll take care of you.”

She smiled into his arm, the tears cooling on her face.

They rode in silence. The jerks of the wagon quieted as they moved from the poorer middle-class districts of Franome City onto the bricked roads of higher society.

Merrie, the tears drying on her cheeks, settled back into her place. Her master automatically palmed her pussy, but didn't tease her. She was content to just hold his arm with the ends of her wrists and leaned into him.

They held each other through a number of district gates until they reached the Red Brick Quarters. It was an older district of Franome City, close enough to be in perpetual shadow from the World Tree above it but no longer in fashion. Most of the houses were behind stone walls and cast iron gates, but there were signs of a district abandoned. The stone walls were chipped and broken. Rusted gates squeaked as they rocked back and forth in the summer breeze. For every house that clung to the old styles of rich, there was another that had a foreclosure rune glowing on the gate. Broken windows mixed with wagons barely in repair. The Quarters weren't abandoned, but they no longer had the pride they did a hundred years before.

Merrie could feel Kine's excitement rising. They were about to reach her new home. She felt a bit of despair at the run-down appearance of the quarters but also joy that she was going to start her new life.

She smelled the house before they came up to it. It wasn't musty or garbage, but the scent of ethereal grew stronger with every passing second. It clung to everything, a tickle on the back of the throat or the first exhalation after drinking strong spirits.

As they came around the corner, she felt her gaze sliding to the side. It was what her master called a “shade” but it was far more powerful than anything she saw Kine doing. She could feel it slipping into her thoughts, pushing her attention to the side. It felt different, though. Instead of being a wave of power, it was thousands of tiny waves, layers of spell after spell built up into a massive effect that forced her mind away.

Merrie clamped down on her shield, wrapping herself in mental leather. She could feel the pressure building but she fought against it. Her body shook from the effort as she forced her gaze back. Her vision blurred for a moment and then there was a wet snapping sensation.

And then she could see her new home. It was a two-story mansion behind a eroded cast-iron fence. The mansion used to be painted white, but now the paint was peeling and a few of the columns at the main entrance had crumbled. The entire top floor had broken windows, some of them boarded up but others had tattered curtains fluttering in the breeze.

It used to have a brick drive, but weeds and even a few trees had grown through the cracks. It was now a foot path barely wide enough for the wagon. The former gardens were overrun in a thick snarl of weeds, vines, and trees.

Merrie felt some of her excitement faltering. It was a pit.

Kine glanced at her. “Can you see it?”

She nodded and gave him a pleading look.

He was curious but then a wide smile crossed his face. “I'm not surprise you can see through Rimmy's shade. I know she's stronger than me, but somehow I wonder if you are somehow more powerful than the both of us.”

Merrie cocked her head, a strange fluttering in her stomach.

Kine turned the wagon into the estates. As they crossed the gate, Merrie felt them crossing the ward. It was like the line of force at the mill's entrance and at the fence, but instead of a hard edge of power it was a tingling across her skin and left an alcoholic taste in the back of her throat.

“I know, it looks like shit, doesn't it?”

Merrie tensed but didn't move.

“You don't have to tell me. When I bought it, it used to be beautiful. I had gardeners to trim everything, servants to clean the place, and parties every night.” He sighed and pulled her close to him. “And then I had a really bad patch where I couldn't fence anything. After a while, I couldn't pay anyone and they left. And then, Rimmy needed me, so I ran to help her.”

He left a chuckle. “She bitched for me to hire people again, but she wouldn't let the shade go on the house. As soon as anyone left the mansion, they couldn't find it again. After a week, she stopped trying and then… I guess… she stopped caring. Mostly, we use it for storage. I kind of suck at keeping the place up, but what do you do? With Rimmy's shade, we can't hire anyone but it also means I don't have to worry about anyone sneaking it.”

He squeezed her. “Win some, lose some. Don't worry, it isn't so bad on the inside.”

Kine wasn't sure himself, but Merrie nodded. It was her new home and, if she was her master, she had no doubt that whatever he wanted, she would give him.

The wagon swayed dangerously as he drove over plants and rocks. In the back, the cage slid to the side. The heavy steel slammed against the side, crushing glass against the edge. With the impact, the wagon pitched up on the side.

Merrie lost her balance. With a shriek, she fell out of Kine's grip. She tried to stop herself, her limbs flailing helplessly against the bench as she plummeted off the wagon.

A sharp pain exploded from her spine as her tail got caught in a gap and she flipped over before landing face first into a rat's nest of prickle plants. The sharp pains were nothing compared to agony of her tail. She rolled off, trying to get away from the prickles and managed to throw herself into a rose bush.

“Merrie!” Kine was next to her, scooping her up out of the plants and picking her up.

She let out a pathetic cry and clutched to him, her mind wheeling from the impact and the sudden series of pain.

“Are you okay, girl?”

Merrie sniffed and wiped the tears from her face.

“Well,” he gave her a kiss and a smile, “I guess I won't be returning the horse.”

She peered over his shoulder at the wagon. The leather holding the horse had snapped and in the distance she could hear the hooves clopping loudly on the bricks. She whimpered as she looked at him.

“Don't worry. I stole it.” He winked. “I wasn't going to really return it. There is a guy here who buys horses.” And somehow, that made her feel better.

She smiled and clung to him as he carried her back to the foot path on the trail. The wagon had spilled out into the garden. He stopped at her cage and set her down.

She stared at it with a flickering heat boiling inside her. Her new home, her new cage. Trembling, she reached out and stroked the metal. It tingled underneath her touch and she brought her aching tail between her legs to sop up the sudden warmth she felt.

“I'll get it later. Come on, want to see your new home?”

Merrie knelt down and barked.

“Good girl.”

Her tail wagged between her legs, tickling her pussy at the sensation.

“Come on.” He gestured and she obeyed, the submission adding the edge of anticipation inside her.

Inside, the mansion was different. She half expected to see garbage, but the musty smell of an old house wasn't interrupted by rotted food or filth. Instead, the entire front room was filled with furniture and treasure. Gold jewelry was haphazardly thrown on the ends of dressers, beds, and mirrors. Silver charms and things that glowed with faint magic were tossed between half a dozen mattresses and huge piles of slowly rotting curtains.

Three trails cut through the clutter: one up the stairs around the gaping hole in the center, another to the right to what looked like a dining room, and a third toward a hallway.

Kine pointed toward the hall. “That's the north end. Rimmy lives on the south,” his hand swung up to the stairs, “up on the second floor. And that,” he pointed to the dining room, “is to the kitchen and where we spend most of our time.”

A dog barked and another howled.

“Oh, that those are my dogs.”

The barking turned into snarling and then into the sound of fighting. After a few seconds, there was a high-pitched yelp and it grew silent again.

Merrie shivered at the sound.

“Better check on them. Come on.”

She didn't want to, but she followed her new master down the trail leading to the kitchen. As they got closer, she caught a whiff of rotting food. She made a face, but Kine didn't stop.

He led her through a huge formal dining room covered in dust and into the kitchen. The smell grew stronger. It was the familiar smell of dishes left in the sink too long, a smell she had inflicted on herself in more than one occasion.

The barking and growling grew louder. It echoed down a hallway from the back of the kitchen. Peering through the legs of a small table in the middle of the kitchen, she could see two doors on each side of the hallway and a fifth leading into a room plunged in shadows.

She could see movement in the darkness, of large bodies pacing back and forth. The barking grew louder and she saw a flash of teeth. It reached a frenzy and then the movements turned into a storm of snarls, teeth, and bodies slamming into each other. The cage door rattled loudly as the dogs attacked each other.

There was mindless rage in the dark and Merrie felt fear coursing down her spine.

Kine chuckled. “Sounds like Tamin is getting a bit bitchy.” He continued down the hall into the darkness. His body seemed to disappear in the shadows.

Merrie hesitated as she stared into the dark.

“Oh, sorry. I forgot you can't see in the dark. Here, try this.”

Light grew in the room from four globes hanging from the ceiling and Merrie got her first look at Kine's canines.

There was eight of them and even the smallest was larger than her. All of them had broad chested, powerful-looking hindquarters, and jaws larger than her head. Their tails were short, only little rounded ends. Her heart beat faster as she stared at them, her eyes focusing on the largest of the pack.

He had dark eyes, almost a black that didn't reflect the light. His mouth was a broad expanse of teeth and jaws. It was large enough to rip off her arm, if he wanted to, and the ripple of muscles gave Merrie a fear of being cropped. The alpha male could tear her to pieces in a second.

Kine walked over to him. “Ah, Tamin, having a good day?”

The dog growled and his lip peeled back. The shadows gathered around him, darkening his form. Merrie could see the curls of power rising off the dog, but it was unfocused and sputtered.

Tamin lunged forward and snapped at Kine's outstretched fingers.

There was a surge of power from Kine and Merrie's new master was suddenly a foot away from the cage.

Merrie whine and backed away. She could feel the anger and rage boiling off Tamin. The other seven were also the same: hungry, anxious, and filled with a raging energy. She was suffocating from the dog's needs. With a sob, she crawled back into the kitchen.

Kine followed after her, rubbing his hands. “Okay, he might be a bit hungry. But isn't he beautiful?”

She didn't think so, but she nodded. She glanced down the hall and saw Tamin's eyes staring at her from the darkness.

“Merrie, are you okay?”

She whined and backed up some more, stepping to the side to break the dog's gaze.

“He scared you?”

She nodded sharply, peeking at the door.

“Well, I'll feed him later. Come on, want to see where I'm going to fuck you?”

Thankful, she nodded again and her tail wagged. She didn't know if Kine would be upset, but she didn't want to ever go near the dogs again.

“Don't worry, girl.” He patted her on her head. “Let's go.”

He lead her toward his end of the house. The hallway was just as cluttered as the front hall. She crawled over a pile of rugs as she followed him. The narrow path was claustrophobic. They passed a number of doors, all of them blocked. Only one door was clear and he headed straight for it.

She wasn't surprised to see that it was piled high with more furniture. The items were higher quality, including gold and jewels, but he gestured to a massive, four-poster bed. It was the only place of neatness in the entire room, with a wide path around it. A wall of dressers and wardrobes were facing the bed and she could see clothes sticking out the drawers.

It smelled of Kine and shadows. She breathed in the smell and crawled around the room. The bed was soft and the blankets felt rich against her skin. She got up on her knees and peered over it.

Kine knelt down next to her. “I'm going to fuck you on this bed.”

She whimpered, her body tingling with anticipation.

“And over there,” he pointed to the foot of the bed, “is where I'm going to put your cage. That way, in the middle of the night, I can just look down and see you… helpless at my feet.”

Her pussy clenched at the thought of it. Trembling, she got back on her wrists and knees and crawled over. There was a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed. She peeked up at him. Seeing his smile and feeling the spark of lust burning inside him, she used her short arms to push the clothes out of the way. The musty, ethereal scent rose up around her, mixing in with his scent. She managed to clear out a spot about as large as the cage.

Panting to herself, she circled around three times, then got on her knees. Raising herself up, she stared at him with a parted mouth. She leaned forward and gave a soft bark. She spread her legs, stopping only when she felt her labia spreading apart and the warm air teasing her clitoris. Her heart beat loudly in her chest as she brought her wrists up to neck and gave her best sultry look.

His pants grew tight around his crotch and she lowered her gaze to it. She knew what was straining the buttons and desperately wanted to feel it inside her. She barked again, thrusting her breasts out. She could feel his gaze against her and the small measure of control crumbling.

“Damn the gods,” he muttered with a smile. He came around her as he fumbled with his buttons.

Her tail waved back and forth slowly as she stared at it, desperate for him and helpless to free him. She reached up with her arms, the smooth ends caressing his thigh.

“No,” he whispered, “hands down. I want to do this.”

Juices surged down her thighs. Her tail snapped back and forth, hitting the legs of his bed. She opened her mouth wide, panting as she stared at the cock in front of her.

“Wider,” he commanded.

She moaned at the order and forced her mouth as open as she could. She trembled with need as he eased his cock past her lips. He didn't touch it against her mouth or tongue, but held it there. The heat rolled off his length, the hardness pulsating the air.

Precum ran down on her tongue. She felt it pooling in the valley.

“Hold it there. I want to fill your mouth. I want to see it pooling in there.”

Quiet whimpers rose out of her throat but she held herself still.

He began to pump his cock. With every stroke, droplets of cum splattered into her mouth. He stared into her eyes—the color had returned at some point and she realized they were a dark, murky brown color. She smiled and kept her lips parted for his cum.

“I can't wait to see you in a cage. And… and, I'm going to get you a collar.” Kine's pumping grew harder.

Merrie squirmed at the images she picked up from her master. They leaked out with every wet, slurping stroke. It burst in her mind, a different fantasy in each stroke: her crouched down in the cage, whimpering for freedom; her under the dining table, sucking on his cock; a morning blow job; her bent over the edge of the beg with her tail up and her buttocks spread apart for his cock. Each one was a plan and a hope and it slammed into her with the force of a punch.

Her body exploded with lust, an orgasm coursing up triggered by nothing more than the endless fantasies of what he was going to do to her. She bobbed in the intense emotions and pictures, losing her physical form in the endless rapid-fire scenes of lust and domination.

His pumping grew faster, the wet slurping of his precum filling her ears. It dribbled into her mouth and coated her tongue with the salty slickness. She swirled it around with her tongue, pushing the hot liquid from one side to the other. She loved the taste of it. She reached up to lap at it but he pulled back.

“No, no. No touching. I'm going to fill your mouth.”

He fisted himself with one hand. With his other, he grabbed her right ear and clamped down on it.

Her body spasmed at the touch, then she shivered as he drew her closer, guiding her with nothing but her sensitive ear. He was in charge and she wanted it with all her heart. She shook with the effort to hold still but the pleasure continued to rise up inside her. Tiny orgasms rippled through her body, exploding with every droplet of precum that dripped into her mouth.

“I love your whimpers. I love when you beg.” He groaned as he pounded his cock. The precum was flowing faster and she had to lick her lips to catch the splatters that threatened to fall.

Instantly, his mind was fixed on the idea of cumming in her mouth. He was at the crest of his orgasm and it was only strokes before he filled her mouth with hot cum and lust.

She wanted to grab his ass and suck on it, but she was a good bitch. She held herself still, one hand between her legs and against her heated slit.

“Fuck!” he roared. He released his cock and grabbed her other ear. With a powerful stroke, he buried his cock into her mouth and held it there. The pain and pleasure exploded inside her as the hot jets of his cum splattered against the back of her throat, right against her gag reflex.

She choked on his cum. She managed to force her tongue against the back of her throat to prevent it from dripping down. Merrie moaned as the cum poured into her mouth. She tilted her head back so it could pool in her cheeks. Her tongue swirled around the cum; it clung and flooded her tastes.

Merrie dropped her arms to her legs, rubbing against her pussy as he continued to cum. It filled her mouth and she realized that it was going to drip out if he didn't stop coming. The little fear was minor and insignificant, but the idea that she would have to lick it off the floor sent an intense rush through her veins. She inhaled through her nose, a long shuddering breath as the tiny sparks of orgasm ran tore through her body. She fought the urge to let it spill even as she struggled to keep it pooled in her mouth.

“Kine!” They both jumped at a woman's voice calling down the hall.

“Oh crap,” whispered Kine and a final blast of cum poured into her mouth. A thick dribble tickled the corner of her mouth, threatening to pour out.

He stepped back and fumbled with his pants. His cock, glistening and dripping, shot out once into the air and landed on her face. He managed to get it into his pants and buttoned it up.

“Kine!?”

“I-I'll be right back.” The shadows gathered around him, choking her with the alcoholic scent. The room grew darker by the second and he stepped back into it, his body disappearing in a heartbeat. She stared into his eyes, the brown hovering in the black.

And then he was gone.

Merrie froze, her mouth gaping open and pooled with cum. She couldn't feel him in the room anymore.

A moment later, she heard talking down the hallway. Kine was speaking with a woman, their voices in soft whispers but they grew quickly more tense. Even through the walls and their natural repulsion of shadows, Merrie could feel the emotions rising.

“You bought what!?” Rimmy's scream was a high-pitched shriek. “What is wrong with you!?” Her voice resonated with the crystals in Kine's room and they rang out in sympathy.

She jerked and the cum in her mouth dribbled out the side. She felt the hot liquid running down her chin, clinging to her throat, and running down her front. She shivered at the sensation, a moan vibrating her throat and around the cum held there.

“Damn it, Kine! What part of keeping a low profile is buying a fucking slave!? What if she talks?”

“She won't be talking, Rimmy, I swear!”

“And how is that? You going to gag her?”

“I got a geas put on her.”

“You don't even know what a fucking geas is! I was there when you heard about it. How do you even know it is on right? Some country hick told you that it was on her? What if they were lying?”

“It isn't a lie. I promise, she is geased not to talk.”

“What is the knot?”

“T-The what?”

“The fucking knot? Every geas has a trigger to release it. So, what is it?” Her voice was growing shriller by the second.

“I-I…” a faint pause. “I don't know.”

“Damn the shadows, Kine! You were suppose to stick with petty thefts. And you came home with a wagon full of crap and a fucking sex slave!”

He didn't respond.

“Where is she? It's a she, right?”

“Yeah, Rimmy. Her name is Merrie.”

“I thought,” came her voice as they drew closer, “she couldn't talk?”

“It was before the geas.”

“You talking to your fucking slave before you bought her. What did you do, buy her dinner before buying her ass?”

They were just outside the door.

Merrie looked around in panic. She still had a mouth full of cum and the fury in Rimmy's voice told her that walking in to find it pooling on her tongue wouldn't be right. Fear coursing through her vein, she closed her mouth and swallowed. The thick glob of cum ran down her throat, mixing in with the humiliation and fear of breaking a command.

The door slammed open and Rimmy stormed in.

She wore a dark gray outfit, a simple cloth wrapped around her body. It clung to her curves, but she was small breasted with nipples tenting the fabric. Her hips were narrow and she wore black slippers on her feet. The dark, shadow-colored fabric contrasted with her brown skin.

Even though she saw Rimmy in Kine's memories, Merrie had never really seen a Melkuth woman before. It was the country to the south of Franome. It was known for their dark skin women and a domineering matriarch.

Behind her, Kine looked nervous as he followed after her.

Merrie gulped at the hatred in Rimmy's eyes. She squirmed, unsure if she should be begging or cowering. She couldn't read the woman in front of her, not through the rage that burned inside her. She was also shielded, just like Kine.

Rimmy's eyes scanned over her, from head to toe. Her eyes narrowed. With a snap, she spun on Kine. “You were just fucking her, weren't you?”

“Rimmy? I-I wasn't….” His voice trailed off.

Merrie realized she had a line of cum down the side of her mouth. She tried wipe it off, but it was too late.

Rimmy slammed Kine against the door frame. It shuddered the wall and dust poured down around Merrie.

“Listen, you little fuck. We are suppose to be in the shadows, not standing out in the light. It's bad enough you can't stop stealing crap, but you aren't suppose to bring it home.”

“I had to, Rimmy. I had—”

“No! Damn it, Kine. It's bad enough that you have no clue what you're doing! This,” she gestured angrily at Merrie, “is just like the damn dogs. You didn't know the first damn thing about breeding dogs. You didn't even get a bitch because you were all hung up on some damned fantasy!”

“I said I was sorry.”

“Have you fed them?”

“We,” he blushed hotly, “just got home.”

Rimmy leaned into him. “You've been home long enough to fuck her.”

“I…”

“I'm going to bed.” Rimmy's voice grew seething and angry. “And feed your fucking dogs.”

The shadows gathered around Rimmy. The darkness clawed across the room, wrapping around Rimmy in a cloak of shadows. The air grew choking and the aftertaste of alcohol. Merrie could feel the taste of it burning the back of her throat and her eyes watered.

The shadows peeled back and Rimmy was gone.

Kine wiped his brow with his arm. He took a deep breath. “All right, she's going to kill me.”

Merrie whimpered.

His eyes took her in. He stepped into the room. “Well, I'm not going to get any from her tonight. And you,” his eyes twinkled as all the fear evaporated in a heartbeat, “little bitch,” he stopped in front of her, “swallowed.”

She looked down, ashamed but incredibly turned on. She smiled as she stared at the ground. She was going to get punished.