Chapter 51

The sound of a spanking woke her.

Mae blinked, trying to orient herself. She was lying on a narrow bed in a small room with walls whose upper halves were vertical bars. In a second it all came rushing back—the branding, the talk, and most of all Xavier’s face.

She checked all around the bed, but there was no note from him. No sign of him at all, except for one of her shoes from last night, sitting on the ledge of the stall door.

The sound of a beating—the distinct thwack, thwack, thwack of leather hitting flesh—echoed through the main part of the Conclave. Mae grabbed the sheet of the bed, folding and wrapping it around herself. Her body and emotions were both raw after the last few days, and if she was going to slink back to the Subs’ Garden, she’d rather not do it naked. Her fellow members had seen more than enough of her yesterday.

She opened the stall door and peeked out. It was mid-morning judging by the light that spilled in through the windows in the end wall. To her left, a half-naked male sub was chained up, his arms stretched above his head, his lower body partially covered by silky boxers. Mistress Faith stood beside him, crop in hand. When she snapped the tool against the sub’s ass, Mae winced. She did not want to interrupt one of the overseers at play.

“Aren’t you going to thank me, boy?”

“Thank you, Mistress.”

Mae gasped. That was Xavier.

Mistress Faith’s attention whipped to her. “Good morning, Mae. Join me.”

Feeling like Alice down the rabbit hole, Mae padded over to where Xavier was chained up, circling around so she could see him. He raised his head and a rueful smile twitched the corners of his mouth.

Mistress Faith struck his ass again and Xavier snarled, chain rattling. The change from hello smile to barely leashed fury was frightening.

The Mistress laughed. “Oh, you really have changed. A pity. You were a delightful sub.”

Mae could not have been more shocked. Staggering over to a bench, she took a seat, gaze ping-

ponging between them.

Mistress Faith touched Xavier’s shoulder, her expression one of both affection and worry, and Mae felt the first stirrings of jealousy. “This boy used to be one of my favorite subs. He started out as a rich kid playing games, but he was born for this. After he was…hurt, he couldn’t submit anymore. I taught him to top, taught him to be a Dom.”

He turned his head, and Mae saw the full extent of the damage to his face in the daylight. Whatever had happened to him had burned most of the right side of his head. He’d been lucky that it missed his eye, but his ear was mangled as was the flesh all down the side of his face. In the morning light she could see the twisted ridges of the scar tissues, the skin both paler than the rest of his face and darker in places where it seemed a permanent red-wine color.

He cleared his throat. “After I was burned, I took some time away from this life. Years, actually.” He shifted, the chains that bound him rattling musically. “Sessions with Mistress Faith were not only enjoyable, but how I dealt with stress, before. For a while I was too busy recovering, and making some other changes in my life, to miss this. But then I came back.” He seemed at a loss for words, as if he didn’t know how to tell the rest of the story.

Mistress Faith tucked the whip under her arm. “When he did come back he was a much darker person.

Before, he was smart, sweet, and a bit sassy. Does that sound familiar?”

Mae nodded slowly.

Xavier looked surprised by the comparison, but that didn’t stop him from continuing the tale. “I couldn’t submit anymore. Any loss of control was horrifying, yet I wanted pain. I wanted to feel something besides anger.

“Mistress Faith taught me to be a Dom. She saved my sanity.”

Mistress Faith smiled softly and touched his cheek. “You deserve to be happy, Xavier.”

He nodded, but didn’t smile.

“Is that why you won’t collar someone?” Mae asked. “Because you might go back to being a sub?”

Xavier growled and tried to reach for her, but the chains brought him up short. “I’m not a switch,” he snapped.

Mae raised one eyebrow. “Weren’t you just getting spanked with a crop?”

Mistress Faith laughed while Xavier glowered. “Oh yes, I knew you two would be good for one another.”

Mae tried to smile, but the need to understand was choking her. “Why?” she asked him.

Xavier’s gaze locked with hers. “If I could do it for anyone, I’d do it for you.”

Tears sprang to Mae’s eyes. Rising to her feet, she dropped the blanket and ran to him, throwing herself against his body. She wrapped her arms around his neck. With his hands bound, all he could do was bend his head to hers.

“You didn’t have to do this,” she said.

“I wanted you to understand that I know what it’s like to change.”

Before he could explain further, Mistress Faith cleared her throat, tapping Mae’s ass with the crop. Mae jumped when the Domme touched her. She took a step back and bowed her head, nervous at being so close to someone powerful enough to have topped Xavier and yet angry that she was still here. Angry that this other woman had touched Xavier, and that she clearly felt affection for him, and he for her.

“I’ll leave you two to talk.” The Mistress used the butt end of her crop to lift Xavier’s chin, and Mae realized where he’d gotten that particular habit. “Don’t hurt each other.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Mae said politely.

“The controls for the chains are over there.” The older woman laughed softly. “I suggest you make use of your time with him.”

With that Mistress Faith left, her heels tapping against the floor.

Mae looked from the panel that controlled the chains to Xavier, her eyes widening.

“Don’t even think about it, Red.”