Page 5 of Designation Prey

“He’s top of the scale. The poor boy isn’t meant to submit but to surrender hard. The dynamic he will be happiest in is quite extreme. He’s the closest thing to prey I’ve ever seen.”

Liam frowns. “So why am I here?” he asks flatly. “I’m not enough of a sadist for a man like that. Prey isn’t something I’ve ever dealt with. Frankly, I thought it was hypothetical.”

“Prey isn’t common and there’s no standard guidelines because soldiers with needs that extreme don’t do well. I hear there’s almost a thousand of them on ice in Montana, but that's a rumor. With his scores, it’s a medical miracle that he’s functioning as well as he is.”

Liam shifts on his feet, unsure he’s the right Dominant for the job.

“He needs consensual nonconsent, he needs to be owned and controlled, and you can do that. But, most importantly, someone with his scores and trauma needs someone who isn’t an abuser. If I put him with a Dominant he is directly compatible with, it won’t end well. And that’s assuming I could find one, which I can’t. An equivalent Dominant would be put down immediately. Daniel wouldn’t survive a Dominant with similar needs. Also, he’s been denied and shamed for so long that my biggest concern is that he can’t handle what he needs. And he’s been through so much correction and trauma that I don’t think it will be easy to get the balance right. He needs a Dominant with incredible control, which you have. You can deliberately choose to give him more or less. Meeting his needs has to be done strategically. Plus, you’re probably going to have to give a full report to his father when he’s better, and you present well. Your reputation can take it.”

“Ah, so I’m here to be hung out to dry?”

“I didn’t say that. I hope not.” He winces. “Will you meet him and then decide? Please?”

“Shit. I like my career.” But Liam isn’t going to say no. How could he? Yes, he likes his career, but that isn’t as important as his designation. He’s a Dominant who needs to take care of submissives. That’s baked into his DNA. Tell him there is a tragic submissive that no one can help and who is struggling and of course he is going to say yes.

“He has to have someone. It’s medically necessary,” the doctor says firmly. “At this point I’d be worried about putting him with a Dominant who was eager for the chance to have him. The fact that you’re not eager is a good sign. It means you’ll do right by him. Or at least try.”

“Flatterer,” he mutters, waving the praise away. “You know I can’t say no.”

Dr. Chang nods, refusing to meet his gaze. Does he feel guilty about introducing them?

“He needs help and I like to help. I’ve been without a submissive for three days and I think I’ve slept for a total of three hours,” he says so the doctor won’t feel bad. Plus, it’s true.

“Another success story,” he comments with a sad smile.

“That’s right. His name is Enrico and he is a lovely boy who has now found the Dominant of his dreams and they are happily settled outside of Austin. My work there is done.”

“I think it would be difficult to give them all up,” he says.

It’s a kind thing to say. Most people think he has a great job: spend a few days or weeks with a submissive, get them evened out and then settled with the right partner, and move on to the next.

Lots of Dominants think he has the best job possible. An endless supply of new boys to play with. It isn’t that easy. There are times when he wishes he had a boy of his own, one who would stay and that he wouldn’t have to give up, but it hasn’t been right. He hopes he knows when the right one shows up. He isn’t even sure anymore.

Being with submissives now is like dancing—a dance he knows by heart and has practiced endlessly. He still likes dancing but there isn’t a thrill. Not when he knows the boys will leave him for another and do the deep work of submission with someone else. It’s like he teaches them all how to box step and then passes them off to a new partner.

But he’s never worked with a submissive with a prey designation before. And that is intriguing.

“He’s prey but he’s never gotten to be prey,” he says, thinking aloud. Liam knows the doctor is right. Throwing a submissive like that into the deep end with a Dominant that he matches perfectly with would just lead to him being hurt. The flesh might be willing, but the mind is fragile. Just because he needs consensual nonconsent to thrive doesn’t mean it can be with just anyone. “With a designation like that… yeah, you have to be careful. Okay, what else? I know there’s more.”

Dr. Chang makes a humph sound as they walk down the hall. Which isn’t a denial.

“His status is further complicated by prior trauma. He does not get easily aroused nor does he make use of toys for soothing purposes, though he should. His prior experience with Dominants is minimal and highly negative. But he’s enhanced enough that the drugs are simply not possible. His metabolism is too high, and he’s had surgeries he shouldn’t, which means his own hormone production isn’t normal. We’re trying to supplement him and even him out, but he’s burning through everything we give him and I don’t know whether he’s so shut down, he isn’t producing the right hormones, or whether it’s because of what they did to him. A lot of what was done to him is classified. And because it all failed and was experimental, I’ll never get my hands on the files. No one will.”

“I assume the general was trying to make him Dominant? Isn’t that what every experimental submissive surgery is meant to do?”

“He has a twin brother who was treated at the same time. He came out null.”

“I’ve never met a null,” Liam says, voice flat. It’s bullshit as far as he can tell. A submissive doing self-harm to pass as not submissive. But they’re certainly not Dominant. He’s only met a few, and rumor is they become submissive eventually.

“The general is convinced. He wants that for Daniel.”

“Sure. And I want a pony.” Liam scrubs his hands over his face. “Okay. How has he been getting by? And how old is he?”

“He’s not been getting by very well. He tries to endure the drops. He masks well, uses lots of denial. God only knows what his coping mechanisms are, but they can’t be good. He’s twenty-four. Come see him. He’s sleeping at the moment. You’ll need to be calm. He’ll sense a Dominant’s distress and it’s triggering for him.”

“Wait. So he’s purely submissive, he has trauma, and he can’t even out with drugs. But he will have a negative reaction if he’s around an unsettled Dominant? He should seek out an unsettled Dominant like a moth to a flame.”

“As mentioned, a complicated case.”

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