Authors: Dakota Trace
“Micah has been hurt! Mistress Svetlana and…” Raymond’s eyes widened before rolling back in his head. Jude carefully lowered the man to the floor. He quickly ripped the shirt off the man, looking for the source of the blood. Years of medic training in the Rangers kicked in when he saw the deep wound high on Raymond’s left shoulder, just below his collarbone. Tearing the shirt into strips, he made several compresses. Olivia sank down next to him just as he finished.
Without looking at her, he guided her hands over the wound. “Put pressure on here. Don’t let up on it, Olivia. While I don’t think he’ll bleed out, I don’t want to chance it.” He pressed hard on her hands, before brushing a kiss over her lips and rising. “I’ll be right back, Mistress.” His eyes met hers. “I’m locking the door behind me…” he gave her warning look. “…and I won’t be happy if something happens to you, so keep it locked unless it’s me or Jackson.”
Before she could respond, he was out the door, shutting it firmly behind him.
* * * *
Entering the main part of the club, Jude followed the crowd of people into one of the private rooms next to Olivia’s. Entering, he expected to find chaos, but instead found a small gathering of Olivia’s security people, surrounding a trembling man, while the Dungeon Monitor was standing beside Micah. Strapped to wall with manacles, Micah was sagging, the only thing keeping him upright were the tight leather cuffs around his wrists. His back, once dark and smooth was now covered in welts, and broken skin oozing blood in places.
“What the fuck happened here?”
The man surrounded by the security people tried to make a break for it. Carlos yanked him back - none too gently. “Where the fuck do you thinking you’re going, dickhead?”
Jude covered the distance between him and Micah. Coming to a stop next to his friend, he barely glanced at the Monitor before speaking softly. “Micah?”
When he didn’t answer, Jude lifted his hand to touch his shoulder. Micah jerked as skin met skin. “Red…please don’t…no more…” Micah’s head rolled away from Jude and Jude caught sight of Micah’s face for the first time. The red marks and swollen lips told its own story. The man had either been gagged or they’d taped his mouth shut.
Probably to keep him from screaming his safe word.
Fury consumed Jude, causing his body to shake. He turned from Micah and focused his attention on the Dungeon Monitor. Jonas Raphael, known widely as Master Raphael and a former undercover cop, looked just as dangerously angry as Jude felt.
“Raphael, what happened here?”
“I’m not sure. I was up in the Main Room and got paged by the Security Room, telling me that there was a sub in danger. When I got here, I found that
fuck
over there whaling the hell out of Micah.”
Jude looked over his shoulder and glared at the man. “And Raymond? How’d he get hurt?”
“Raymond came when he heard me cussing – guess he was heading back to the bar from the stock room. He came in while I was trying to disarm the bastard. Asshole was using a fucking horse quirt on Micah, and when I told him to cease and desist, the motherfucker pulled a god-damned knife on me. We were struggling for it when Raymond tried to break us up and he got stabbed.”
A growl built in his chest. “Who’s the asshole and how did he get in?”
Carlos answered him. “He had a temporary pass from Master Jackson, Jude. His name is Charles Stanton and he came in with Mistress Svetlana and her new trainee Mistress Suzette. Svetlana vouched for both Suzette and…” Carlos gave the man a shake, “…this asshole.”
Jude gave a sigh of disgust.
Mistress is gonna be pissed.
“Take him next door. Tie his ass up…I’ll leave his punishment up to Mistress Olivia.”
Gasps from both the Security people and on-lookers standing in the door were loud in the quiet room.
Evidently Mistress’s punishments are legendary.
The man began blubbering. Jude didn’t even give the man one bit of his attention – instead focusing on Carlos. “Get his ass out of here. When I’m done dealing with Micah and Raymond, I want to question him.”
“No, no…you can’t do this to me…I’m a member of the Northern Ireland Consulate. I have immunity!” The man struggled as Carlos and several members of the security team half dragged – half carried him out of the room.
Turning back to Jonas, Jude took a deep breath. “We’ve got to get him down from there.” Jude motioned to Micah’s other arm as he approached the still restrained man. He glanced over at Jonas as he touched the manacle holding Micah’s left hand. Probing it, he found the release mechism. He glanced at Jonas. “On the count of three. One, two, three.” Jude activated the quick release mechanism on the side of the manacle at the same time Jonas did.
With the cuffs no longer there to support him, Micah dropped towards the floor. The only thing keeping him from hitting face first was the gentle hold each of the men had on him under and supporting his shoulders.
Without looking to see if he would be obeyed, he asked for the aftercare kit that each playroom stocked. “And don’t forget the fucking warm water or witch-hazel.”
A low moan of distress pushed past Micah’s parted lips as the two Doms lowered him onto leather-covered settee on his stomach. Grabbing one of the blankets someone from the security team handed him, Jude folded it in half and placed it pillow-like under Micah’s head.
“Here, Master Jude?” The soft sound coming from his right had him frowning. He glanced at young woman as he accepted the aftercare kit from her. From the cuffs adorning her delicate wrists, he realized she was submissive.
“I’m not a Master…” The words came out without thought. Mistress was his Master.
“He’s my slave, Katie.” The soft voice of Mistress washed over him, and he heard Micah cry out in protest.
“Please…don’t let…Mistress see me this…way…” There were very real tears in Micah’s eyes and they were filled with shame.
He looked over the subbie’s shoulder and saw Olivia standing in the door, her cast spotted with blood. The splatters of crimson on her white linen shirt reminded him of Raymond. Fear hit him square between the eyes and his voice came out harsher than he intended. “Mistress, you were told to stay in your office!”
She isn’t supposed to be out of the office until I make sure it’s safe!
The subbie gasped at Jude’s tone of voice. “You can’t talk to Mistress Olivia like that. Not only will you get punished, it’s disrespectful!”
Jude glared at the girl.
I don’t care what the fuck she thinks. God damn it, if something happens to Mistress, I don’t know what I’d do.
“Relax, Katie. He’s merely concerned about my safety as any good slave would be.” She turned her attention back to Jude. “Jackson is here now and one of the members who’s a doctor is taking Raymond to the hospital.”
A sigh of relief escaped Jude and his body relaxed.
“Now that I’ve cleared that up, let’s see to tending
mal-chick’s
back.” Olivia walked into the room like a queen.
Jude was torn between his need to please his Mistress and the despair in his friend’s eyes. This was the same friend who’d dragged him from club to club, answered his endless questions, and in the end had helped him accept his submissive nature.
“Micah? Please let her help you. You have nothing to be ashamed of. She cares for you.”
Micah turned his head away from Jude. Jude looked helplessly at Olivia. She shooed him away from Micah. As Jude stood, she switched places with him, then beckoned him closer.
“I’ll attend him, Jude. He needs a firm hand at the moment to replace what happened. I know my
mal-chick.
I need you to go and talk to the
tupoy
next door. Find out why he attacked Micah.” Olivia’s accent was quite heavy as he realized how upset his Mistress was about it.
He looked over at Micah. The man’s head was still turned away from him. “Micah?”
“Just go.” Micah’s tone was flat.
Jude paused. “Please understand, Micah…”
“You have to do as she says…guess you turned out to be a better slave than I expected. Already following your Mistress’s requests blindly.”
Jude jerked as if struck. Pain and anger now fought for dominance inside of him.
How the hell can he say that? I’m not a fucking doormat!
Olivia touched his arm. “He didn’t mean it, pet. He’s striking out. More than likely because he found himself in a situation that spiraled out of control. I shall deal with my impetuous
mal-chick.”
She stood on tiptoe and he leaned down obligingly. Her kiss whispered over his lips. “Now, go get answers for me. Suggest to the
tupoy
if he doesn’t want me to deal with him like the Landing boy, he’d better answer you.”
He gave her a slow smile. “Yes, Mistress.”
She patted his ass with her good hand. “Come find me when you’re done.”
He nodded and turned to leave, behind him he could hear her talking to Micah.
“All right, my stubborn
mal-chick.
Let’s see about cleaning up those wounds.”
Chapter Fourteen
Jude paced around the man bound to the chair. The hemp rope was wrapped around the disheveled man’s chest, upper arms and down to his forearms and wrists.
Calm the fuck down! Beating the holy shit out of this asshole isn’t going to take back the fact he brutalized Micah.
Barely hanging on to his control, Jude’s anger, not only at himself but also this stranger, was trying to consume him. He took a couple of deep breaths. Popping his knuckles, he finally came to a stop in front of the man claiming to be Charles Stanton.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s your choice.”
“I’m a member of the….”
Jude made a slashing motion with his hand. “I don’t want to hear it! You’re going to tell me what I want to know, one way or the other.” Leaning down, Jude braced himself on the arms of the chair, his face mere inches away the man.
“Don’t hurt me!” The plea came out as a high-pitched squeak.
Jude gave him what he hoped was a sinister smile. “Honestly, you shouldn’t be worried so much about me as you should be about Mistress Olivia. I might only beat the shit out of you if you don’t tell me what I want to hear. But Olivia on the other hand, might strip your ass naked, tie you to a spanking bench. You do know what that is?” Jude pointed over to the small bench across the room. “Then she’ll more than likely fuck your ass with this huge strap-on she has.” Jude held his hands apart about a foot for emphasis.
The man blanched then began to sweat profusely. “She wouldn’t…I’m a member of the Northern Ireland Consulate – she can’t do that to me…she’s still a member of the aristocracy. They don’t act that way! All she had to do is sign the freakin’ papers.”
Ice-cold fury raced through Jude’s veins.
This fucking son of a bitch is the one who attacked Mistress.
Enraged, he punched the man in the face, enjoying the feel of the nasal bone crunching under his fist. The man cried out as blood gushed from his now broken nose. Jude straightened then walked away from the man before he gave into the overwhelming urge to beat the holy shit out of him.
I’m not going to get any answers if I kill the son of a bitch!
“Asshole, you made a couple of mistakes by coming here. The first is that you’re not on Northern Ireland’s soil. You’re in the good ole U.S. of A. The second is thinking Mistress Olivia would care how you think
she
should act. You hurt one of her slaves. She’s going to be looking for your blood.” He walked over to the cupboard and rummaged around it. A grin split his face. “In fact, rumor has it a few years back, she found out a friend of hers had been injured in an attack at one of the local university’s libraries. She found the man responsible, tied his ass to a spanking bench just like that one.” He nodded towards the bench again before showing the man what he had in his hand “…And raped his ass with this.”
The man screamed when he saw the eleven inch strap-on with harness. Jude winced – damned if the man didn’t have a set of lungs on him. Charles’s gaze was frantic before a huge wet spot appeared at the juncture of his thighs as he lost control of his bladder. “Dammit I can’t tell you. She’ll kill me. But I can give you something else… something more valuable.” He struggled against the ropes, now desperate. “I’ve got information. I swear, it’s good as gold in the bank. I can give it to you. I know this bitch who’s looking for a guy who took off with her man’s kids. She’ll pay good money to someone who has information on their location.”
“You’ll do more than that.” Jude hung onto the strap-on as he crouched down in front of the man. “You’re going to tell me about who sent you after my Mistress, and then you’re going to give me the information on this man who thought it was okay to steal someone else’s kids.” His eyes narrowed. “Cause if there’s anything that pisses me off more than a man who uses information for leverage – it’s a man who uses kids for the same reason. But when I get pissed off, I let Mistress deal with scum like you. She has quite the…talent for finding out things.”
The man’s eyes widened when Jude grabbed his nuts. “So if you want to keep these, talk!” Charles screamed again weakly then started talking.
* * * *
After discussing with Jonas what the man had revealed, Jude had left Stanton in Jonas’s capable hands. He’d see make sure the man was brought up on charges.
One thing nice about knowing the right people – they know how to take care of assholes like Stanton. Thank God Micah is going to be okay.
Jonas had let him know Olivia had tended Micah’s wounds, which thankfully weren’t as bad as they originally thought, and then she and Jackson had taken him back to her condo, with strict orders to sleep. Jude’s relief had been a heady thing. He was so glad his friend was going to be okay.
Taking a deep breath, Jude entered his Mistress’s office. He knelt at the door awaiting her acknowledgement. The sound of her voice was tired and definitely not happy.