Page 33 of His Master

I drew in a deep breath. The split-second’s worth of alarm I’d felt, knowing Simon had been one step ahead of me and known more about me than I knew about him from the start of our play, before that even, mellowed out into a deep, pulsing sense that I needed to take care of him. I felt it even more, now that I knew just how intertwined we are.

“I clicked on your fantasy request of my own free will,” I said, half to myself and half to reassure Simon. “I was drawn to it. I saw your picture along with the fantasy request and…it made a lightbulb go off in my head. It’s my fault that I didn’t figure things out right away. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Simon snapped his head up, eyes wide. “M-master?”

That single word, spoken so hesitantly, with Simon’s bottom lip wiggling, pierced straight to my heart. We had a lot to talk about, a lot of air to clear, but that look told me everything I needed to know.

It didn’t matter who Simon was or who his brother was. This wasn’t a fantasy anymore. I think we’d both known from the start that we’d crossed that line the moment we’d first seen each other. The way we were drawn together was no mistake. We were meant to be.

And now my omega was in danger.

I took a deep breath to clear away as much of the panic I felt as I could. How we got here didn’t matter. What mattered was whatever Uncle Vincent was up to.

As I let out the breath, I reached for Simon, cradling his face and wiping my thumb through the crusty mess that had dried on his cheek.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, boy,” I said, grabbing the ring in his collar and pulling him to stand. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think my uncle is just about to force my hand.”

Simon’s eyes went glassy with gratitude as I reverted to treating him like my slave.

“Thank you, Master,” he whispered as I led him back toward the bedroom. “Maybe I can help.”

His offer came as a bit of a surprise. As I stepped through the doorway into my bedroom, I glanced over my shoulder at him as we continued to the bathroom. “Help?” I asked.

Simon swallowed warily, then said, “I work for my parents’ law office. Only as a paralegal, but we handle a lot of business law cases. I’m very familiar with corporate law in Barrington, and in the state and country. I gather your uncle is trying to oust you from Victory Holdings?”

A chill shot down my back at those words. Everything about Simon screamed omega slave, from his posture to his nakednessto the crust of dried slick and cum on his inner thighs. But at the same time, he just about bowled me over with his calm intelligence and the sliver of steel I could feel in his resolve.

The best kind of slave was a sweet, biddable, masochistic one, but finding an omega who was beautiful and brilliant on top of that was like hitting every jackpot in existence.

Simon was my jackpot, but now I wasn’t sure I was worthy of him.

“I don’t know what’s going on yet,” I told him as I walked him into the shower, then stood back as I turned on the water, since I was already fully dressed. “I need to head down to the office to go through everything on the computer to see what I can find. Then I need to call Uncle Vincent. And Vivien, too,” I added as an afterthought.

I had a sudden, sick feeling that Vivien might side with her father on this one and dump me from Victory Holdings. She’d been curt and annoyed yesterday. My only consolation was that she’d seemed just as annoyed with Uncle Vincent as she was with me.

I blinked out of that thought, suddenly noticing the terrified and bereft look in Simon’s eyes.

“You’re coming with me, of course,” I reassured him, knowing what he wanted. “Scrub yourself clean, then get out here so I can dry you.”

He let out a huge breath of relief, then followed my order.

I hated seeing and feeling the conflict in Simon. There was no denying the beginning threads of a bond between us. Through them, I could sense Simon’s struggle to figure out who he was, in this moment and at large, and what he should be doing. It was a bit of a stretch to assume I knew what Simon wanted and needed and that I was the only one who could give it to him, but I felt all of that without a lick of question.

“You’re going to be okay,” I told Simon once he was clean and had stepped out of the shower and into the thick towel I held for him. “Until we know what’s going on and what it all means, you’re still my slave, and I expect you to obey.”

That command hidden within words of reassurance had Simon relaxing as I rubbed the towel over him.

I grasped onto that and ran with it.

“I know what you want, Simon,” I said. “I know you want more than a fantasy. That’s what I want too, and I’m not going to deny it. I have no idea what today will bring, or the rest of the week, but until we know what’s going on and what we have to do about it, you’re still my slave. That also means it’s my responsibility to keep you safe. But if I’m going to do that, it means you have to obey me immediately and without question.”

“Yes, Master,” Simon said, completely committed as I finished drying him and threw the towel towards the hamper in the corner.

“Good.” I stepped closer to him, cupped his jaw, tipping his head up to me, then kissed his lips. “Now, let me take care of that sore on your neck before we head downstairs.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Simon had tears in his eyes, which I liked. His emotion filled me, making me feel as good and powerful as he was. It made me want to get the whole master thing right instead of using it as an excuse to be cruel and get off.

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