Page 13 of Dozer

“I will, but I’ll be displeased if you touch your now-muddy feet to me. If you’d let me carry you from the start, your feet would be clean. Make sure you keep your legs straight, so you don’t get me muddy.”

She nodded, so I walked to her, cut the last zip-tie, lifted her like an infant in my arms, and she kept her feet away from me.

Chapter 9

Dozer

This was a test, of sorts. Would she run from me? I’d be able to easily catch her, if she did, and then I’d know. It was possible she’d be smart enough to wait until she thought she had a chance of actually escaping, though.

I had to tell her to put her seatbelt on once we were in the truck, and I decided this might be time for our first rule. “It should go without saying that you’re required to take care of my property, and if you become my slave, that means you have to take care of yourself. If I have to remind you to put your seatbelt on in the future, you’ll be punished. Also, while we’re at it, it’s probably a good time to go over the difference between consequences and punishment. Want to take a stab at it?”

“Consequences when it isn’t a big deal, punishment when it is?”

I shook my head. “Consequences will be part of training. If you’re still learning how to do something but don’t quite have it yet, there’ll be consequences. Punishment is when you break a rule you know about, when you willfully disobey, or when you don’t perform to a standard you’ve already been trained to.”

I could see her chewing on her bottom lip in my peripheral vision, and I wasn’t sure whether that would be something I’d want to train out of her, or whether it was kind of adorable.

Daisy was in perfect shape, with great muscle tone and a beautiful hourglass figure — and a plump ass I couldn’t wait to plumb.

She had long blonde hair, and she was gorgeous when exhausted and without makeup. She was probably a truly striking beauty when she was all dolled up.

“What do I call you?” she asked.

“Sirwill do for now. Once we’ve come to an arrangement, I’ll beMastersometimes andSirthe rest, and you’ll learn the difference as we move through your training.”

I’d put the burner phone in a signal-blocking bag a while back, and I waited until we were back in the city and stopped at a red light to pull it out. I typed out one of my alternate-ID names, as well as the credit card info for an account under that name, put it into memory, and then called a travel agency that caters to the supernatural and asked for a home or vacation cabin with underground accommodations with immediate availability, and open for the next ten to fourteen days. We weren’t on an encrypted connection, but this company would understand I was looking for something to house a Strigorii.

“Method of payment? Also, if you gave me your name, I didn’t write it down. I apologize.”

I pulled into a parking lot, opened the texting app, asked her for a number I could text the information to, and then pasted the info in and sent it. Three minutes later, I had a text with an address and a code, which I assumed would get us in the door.

Daisy had fallen asleep with her head against the window, or I’d have told her this might be a good opportunity for her to make a run for it, if she was having second thoughts. But since she was asleep, I took it as a sign that maybe it was best for all concerned if she didn’t have that chance.

There’d been no need to ask for a secluded location since it was a given that the underground rooms would be isolatedenough, no one would hear anything that happened once we were sealed in.

I made a stop at Ace Hardware, in and out quick, where I purchased rope, carabiners, various metal fasteners, clamps, an adjustable metal sawhorse, duct tape, and they even had some canes I could make use of.

Daisy roused when I got back into the car after depositing my purchases in the back, and I told her, “I have one more stop to make. If you’re going to make a run for it, that would be the time to do it.”

I didn’t think she’d take off running in a downpour, wearing only my shirt, and barefoot, but if she did, I’d probably take the truck somewhere and report it stolen, rather than hunt her down and recapture her.

And if she stayed? It would be enough to alleviate any guilt I may have over enslaving her. Also, I’d be able to ask her if I gave her an opportunity to leave before I took that right away, and my brothers would hear the lie if she tried to say I did not.

I repeated myself before I got out of the truck at the Dollar General. “I’m going to be in here a while — longer than I was in the hardware store. I doubt you’ll have another opportunity to escape. If you’re still in the truck when I return, there’ll be a warm meal and a hot shower when we get to the rental house.”

I was in this store at least thirty minutes, and she was still in the truck when I returned. I’d need to go home for wrist and ankle cuffs, butt plugs, proper gags, and actual dildos, but I’d picked up enough from these two stores, I could make a good start without the need to go home. Also, we were only a few days past the full moon, so I could go a whole month before I’d need to leave her alone for a night. And, with the recentchange, my wolf wasn’t chomping at the bit to get out.

The place had a garage, which meant I could pull in and close the door before she got out. I also pulled the motorcycle out ofthe back and parked it beside the truck, and I left the windows down in the truck so it could air out.

I took her downstairs right off the bat, so there’d be no window for her to escape out of while she showered. I sent her into the bathroom and told her she had until the food arrived to get warm and clean.

And then I went back aboveground and called in a delivery order to a local steakhouse — hot soup, steaks, and baked potatoes.

I’d planned to make Daisy eat naked, but even after the shower she still seemed cold, so I gave her one of the shirts I’d bought her. No panties or shorts, though, and it wasn’t a long shirt, so it didn’t cover much.

She ate without talking, and then I put her to bed, where she immediately crashed. The poor thing was beyond exhausted.

I used the credit card I’d used for the rental and our dinner to place an order for grocery delivery. I expected she’d sleep through until morning, and then we’d have a big breakfast, with burgers for lunch.

---