Page 15 of Barron

“I came tonight hoping to find someone like you. I want your dominance. Beat me. Punish me, Sir. Please.”

“What the fuck.” He grasped her arms and tried to make her stand. “Come on, Iris. Get up.”

“No. No!” She fought him.

“Let me help you.” Finally, a DM intervened. He must have been attracted to their rising voices.

“Dude,” Johnny G exclaimed at his side. “What’s going on, man?”

“Fuck if I know.” Barron turned to the DM. “Please help her. She’s distraught. I don’t know why.”

A female dungeon monitor joined their group. “Come with me, dear.” Her gentle voice seemed to soothe Iris. Sobbing and sniffling, the subbie stood at last. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Her mask had wrinkled and seemed on the verge of crumpling as tears tinged black with makeup rolled freely to her chin.

“Did you come together, sir? Is the lady your submissive?” thefirst dungeon monitor asked while the female monitor ushered Iris to the aftercare section.

“She’s not my submissive,” Barron growled. “She latched on to me, but I don’t know her at all. Don’t you?”

The DM shook his head. “I don’t recall seeing this subbie before. Then again, I only work part-time. My partner, Lydia, might have.” He jutted his chin in the direction Lydia had taken Iris.

As the women sat on an aftercare sofa and Lydia draped a blanket around Iris, covering her exposed torso, the submissive’s gaze linked with his, despite the collapsing mask. A slow sneer lifted one corner of her lips. Barron shivered. Every hair on his body stood on end. Evil lived in that woman. And now, even more than before, he was absolutely certain that was the reason he found her repulsive. Who knows, had he succumbed to her pleas and engaged in a scene, her darkness might have infected him.

And what about the Steel Wolf guy? Fantasy or reality?

Fuck.

Shivering again, he gripped Johnny G’s arm. “Did you find anyone to scene with?” He started walking to the main section of the dungeon.

Johnny G chuckled. “I did. She’s real cute and is waiting for me to come back. She saw the commotion and told me to help you.”

“God, I hope you didn’t leave her strapped to anything.”

“Fuck. Would I do that? I’m not an idiot.”

“I didn’t say you were. Just asking.”

“So where did you find the subbie? That mask is pretty amazing. It’s almost…”

Barron nodded. “Scary-looking, right?”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

“I was trying to peek into one of the private rooms, and Iris came out of nowhere. That’s her name. She walked with me to theLittles’ room.” He shrugged. “Things were okay until she offered to be my Little for the night, and I said no.”

Johnny G frowned. “You can’t be a Little on a whim. Either you are a Little, or you’re not. We know this. We’ve seen Blade and Cel interact.”

“Yeah, we have.” He ran his fingers up his face and through his hair. “But there’s something else. I could swear I saw one of the Steel Wolves a moment ago. It was the same guy who followed me around in LaFayette.”

Johnny Gun scanned the room. “Is he here now? Where?”

“No. I don’t know. One moment he was there, then I lost him when Iris wigged out.” He rubbed his eye. “I’m just glad it’s over. When she freaked and started begging, I didn’t know what to do. And the more she asked me to dominate her, the less I wanted to do it. It’s like she grossed me out or something.”

“And that’s another thing. You can’t force attraction.” Johnny Gun blew out a breath.

“Plus, there was this strange expression on her face…”

“What kind of expression?”

Barron grimaced, shaking his head. “It’s hard to explain. An evil look. For a moment, I sensed her meltdown was an act. As if she’d planned the whole commotion. And…what if her freakout was on purpose? To stop me from going after the Wolf.” He blew out a breath. “Nah. It can’t be. The guy I saw probably looked like the biker in LaFayette. Nothing more. The chick was just a weirdo.”

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