A Short Leash (6 page)

Chapter Four

Over the following weeks, Sierra regained much of her strength. Frequent meals, plenty of rest, and an abundance of care transformed her completely. Just one month after her arrival she had put on weight, her skin was clearer, her eyes were brighter, and her hair was so shiny and healthy she couldn’t help but admire it at every opportunity.

Master Kade had kept her confined indoors, something she had not minded at first, for she had not had the energy to go running about anyway. But as her strength returned, so did her native curiosity and her desire to explore his compound.

“Before we go out,” he said after she begged for the umpteenth time, “you’re going to have to wear this.” He held out a thin strap of leather with a dark circle attached to the center and a fastener on one end. She knew instantly what it was, and she did not want anything to do with it.

“No more collars,” she said, shying away.

“I know you don’t want to wear one,” Kade said with some sympathy. “But I promise you will only wear it when you’re out. The moment you come home, the collar comes off.”

“No.” Sierra was not often defiant or stubborn, but she found both traits at her disposal when confronted with the thick black band he wanted to put around her neck. She put her hands to her neck and shook her head emphatically. “No collars.”

“Don’t be naughty, Sierra,” he said, his tone cajoling. “A collar is sometimes a necessity. If you’re wearing this and you get lost, I will be able to find you.”

“You mean if I run into the wilds you’ll be able to find me,” she said, screwing up her nose. “I don’t want to wear a collar.”

“This isn’t optional,” he informed her. “And this isn’t a collar like your old owner put on you. It’s much lighter and much more comfortable. You won’t notice it once it’s been on for a few minutes.”

“No!” Sierra took further refuge in refusal.

“Well, in that case,” Master Kade said, “you can go to your room and you can stay there. I wanted to take you out around the compound today, but if you’re going to be a brat, I won’t bother.”

Sierra bit her lower lip. “But I want to go out.”

“Then you have a choice. Wear the collar and go out. Or go to your room until it is time to eat.”

They had just eaten, so it was not going to be time to eat for another four hours. That meant four hours of daydreaming and napping instead of going out where the plants and the wild winds were. Or maybe… maybe she could go to her room and then go out anyway. The doors of Master Kade’s home were not locked, so far she had stayed indoors only because he told her to. She had been a good, obedient little pet, but that was going to change if he insisted on putting that collar on her.

“I can practically hear you thinking, Sierra,” he said. “Go to your room and scheme there. Perhaps this afternoon you will be in a better temper.”

Sierra went to her room as he had told her. There was little point in directly defying Kade, but indirect defiance was always an option. Once in her room she dressed in the best sneaking-around clothes she had. She had long ago discarded the silk clothes the citizen had provided her with and instead wore what Kade had on hand, of which there was rather a lot. She selected a green tunic and dark underwear, eschewing pants altogether. Then she opened her door, went to her belly and began crawling across the floor. In such a fashion she could move practically silently and she did so all the way down the hall and through the living room. She did not know where Kade was, but she kept an eye and an ear out for him as she went, face pressed flat to the carpet as she listened for his steps.

“
Ow!
” Sierra screeched as a hand came down across her bottom hard. She looked up and saw Kade towering over her. How he had moved so silently was a mystery to her, but was probably just one of his hunter tricks.

“This is not your room,” Master Kade said. “Naughty girl.”

There was warmth in his voice even as he chided her. He did not seem truly angry at her; he seemed amused.

Sierra rolled over onto her back and looked up at him. “I wanted to go out.”

“You knew what you needed to do if you wanted to go out,” he said. “But now you’re going back to your room for the rest of the day to think about what happens when you disobey me.”

A pout established itself on Sierra’s face. “The rest of the day? The whole day?”

“Yes,” he said. “The whole day. That’s what happens when you’re disobedient. There are consequences.”

“I don’t want to go to my room.” She looked up at him under lowered lashes. “Are there other consequences?”

“What do you mean, you little brat?”

Sierra sighed. “I mean is there something else aside from sitting all alone in my room all day long? Something that is less lonely?”

She had spent far too much time shut out in the cold and even though her room was no cold yard, being separated from Kade for long periods of time was unpleasant. Even going to bed at night alone was sometimes more than she liked, but she made sure to fall asleep quickly so it would not seem as long until she saw Kade again.

“Less lonely,” he said. “Yes, there are consequences that are far less lonely.” He sat on his favorite couch, the one that was long enough that he could stretch out on it comfortably, and patted his thigh. “Come up here and lay yourself over my lap.”

Sierra was up and in position before she thought about what the consequences might entail. To be close to Kade, to have his strong body pressed against hers was more reward than punishment. Even when he put his hand on her bottom and swatted her lightly, she still wasn’t concerned. She stretched out with a little sigh of contentment and closed her eyes as his other hand ran up and down the length of her back in a slow massage.

“You make punishing you a difficult proposition, you know that? You’re almost too sweet to be spanked.”

Sierra smiled and turned her eyes to him. “Then don’t spank me.”

“I said almost,” he reminded her, swatting her bottom. “Sometimes it’s the sweet ones you have to watch.”

With that, he whacked her bottom hard three times, catching the lower part of her cheeks with each stinging blow. Sierra gasped as she was jolted against his thigh, the little nub between her legs igniting with excitement.

She would never have told Kade as much, but she liked being spanked. She liked how it felt to be held over his lap. She liked how her pussy clenched and tingled whenever his hand landed. She even liked how his voice sounded as he growled gentle chastisement down at her. Master Kade was not rough or cruel; he was firm and some of the slaps landed with enough impact to leave her bottom tingling for several minutes but at that moment they only served to make Sierra’s hips squirm against his leg, arching her hips forward so her clit received the perfect amount of pressure needed to turn pain to pleasure.

“I’m not sure you’re learning all that much from this,” Kade drawled, palming her bottom for a moment. He rubbed gently, massaging some of the sting into her cheeks. “I think those panties need to come down.”

Sierra lifted her hips as he peeled the soft fabric from her bottom and settled it right beneath the rise of her cheeks. There was something exciting about the way he bared her and yet did not, keeping the pouch of her pussy covered as his hard hand returned to her now bare cheeks, spanking them over and over with firm swats that made her grasp at the arm of the couch.

It was just as well her pussy was covered, for if it had been bare he would certainly have seen moisture welling between her lips. The more intense the spanking, the more aroused she became, letting her legs part with each slap so she could grind herself harder and more shamelessly against his leg.

“Sierra,” he said, suddenly pushing her panties down to mid-thigh. “What is the meaning of this?”

She froze, hearing what sounded like censure in his tone.

“You’re soaked,” he said. A moment later, she felt his fingertips drifting over the seam of her pussy lips, coating themselves in wetness. Her wetness. “Do you think I spank you so you can gratify your naughty cunt?”

His words were hard and almost harsh, but the circling of his fingertips around the entrance of her body softened the message.

“I think you need to be mated,” he said. “Or at least tended to down here. I cannot have a horny pet distracting herself when she should be paying attention to her lessons. Stand up and bend over the back of this couch.”

Sierra did as she was told. Kade came around behind her, fastened one hand on the back of her neck and speared his bare cock inside her with a long thrust that made her squeak in surprise as he started fucking her with hard, rough thrusts. There was no foreplay as such, no tender kisses or romantic words. There was just his hard cock sliding deep inside her soaking wet cunt with enough force to make her rise up onto her toes.

“My naughty pet needs a different kind of punishment,” he growled, leaning down to bite the back of her neck, his arm snaking around her upper body as his hips pounded against her hot bottom. He pulled her up almost to a standing position and fucked her hard and fast, pounding her pussy. Grinding against the back of the couch, Sierra’s clit was also given the same treatment, her body disciplined and pleasured at the same time.

His large hand cupped and held her breasts, the other on her hip, pulling her back so she had the full benefit of each and every stroke. That meant she could no longer wriggle herself against the couch and her throbbing clit went unsatisfied as Kade pushed himself deep inside her until his cock pulsed against her cervix.

All of a sudden he pulled out, leaving her wet and needful. “Down,” he growled out, pointing to the floor.

Sierra sank to her knees as Kade stroked her hair, took hold of the back of her head, and aimed his cock toward her mouth. She was more than willing to part her lips, her fingers going between her thighs to rub herself to climax as Kade began to use her mouth as he had used her pussy. It was probably supposed to be a punishment of some kind, but Sierra loved how it felt to have his hot hard rod spiced with her own scent sliding in and out of her mouth.

While she was distracted, she didn’t take careful notice of what Kade was doing. One hand was in her hair, but it slid down and a second later she felt the collar latched about her neck. She tried to make a sound of complaint, but Kade shook his head, his aquamarine eyes flashing warning as he kept her speechless with the application of his cock over her tongue.

There was nothing Sierra could do. She had been fucked and collared and her fingers were rubbing desperately at the wet nub of her clit as she suckled on Kade’s pulsing cock. Her tongue lashed around the head of him, tasting the first droplets of his salty semen. A second later, Kade began to spend himself. The rush of his seed triggered her orgasm, her fingers working hard against the nub of her clit in desperate circles until she too felt a release, though it was not as powerful as it would have been if he had provided it.

“You weren’t meant to cum,” Kade said, taking her hand to draw her up to her feet.

“You didn’t say that,” Sierra shrugged with a little smile as he slapped her bottom lightly.

“I suppose I didn’t,” Kade admitted. “Put your clothes on. We’re going out.”

* * *

Though collared, Sierra could not keep the smile off her face. She was immensely satisfied with being outside as the cool air wrapped itself around her, lifting her spirits immediately.

“This compound covers several acres,” Kade informed her. “It’s surrounded by thick walls, so there’s no opportunity to get into the wilds proper, but, and this is a big but, once you pass that fence,” he pointed to the crisscrossing wires just barely visible a few hundred feet off, “there will be both predators and prey. I keep this place as close to the wilds as possible. There are real dangers here.”

Real dangers. Oh, how she had yearned for real dangers every day she was locked in that little yard. Citizens did not like danger. They insulated themselves from it at every turn and instead amused themselves with noisemakers and brightly colored visual machines. Every night, Sierra had watched as her citizen owner and his wife sat before a rectangle of material about three feet wide and two feet high and just stared at the flashing images until they fell asleep.

Kade’s compound was not truly wild, but she could scent that what he was saying was true. Being a wild one, her senses were more keenly attuned to nature than citizens’ senses. They may as well have been blind, deaf, and dumb compared to a wild one. To a citizen the shimmering fence was probably hidden in the greenery, but to her it stood out like a sore thumb.

Sierra stood very still, drinking in the wonders of that outdoor space. She thought she could smell rabbits, foxes… and something else… something she couldn’t quite place. The smile faded as she realized she didn’t know.

“I can’t… why… I can’t scent the…”

“It’s alright,” Kade said, putting his hand on her shoulders. “You were incarcerated for a year. Your wild senses have diminished. They will return in time and with practice. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry?” Sierra’s voice rose to a panicked pitch. “I might as well be blind! I can’t scent anything. Some rabbits, that’s it!”

“The enclosure contains a lot of animals,” Kade said. “No large predators, but there are plenty of medium-sized equally dangerous ones, and serpents too. For the moment, I want you to stay in this garden, away from the animals. It has been a long time since you were allowed into the wilds and it’s likely that your body isn’t as strong as your mind anymore.”

“I am strong!”

“I’m not saying you aren’t,” he explained patiently. “I’m saying you’re used to being able to run almost as fast as a gazelle, climb as adeptly as a monkey, and fight with all the fierceness of a tiger. But you just spent a year in confinement without proper nourishment. Your muscles will not be what they once were. It will take months to restore their old strength.”

Sierra looked at him doubtfully. She felt strong. Weeks of good food and relaxation had left her feeling very well. How dare he say that she was no longer fast or agile or able to take down prey? She would show him.