Magpie (22 page)

Long before Kane was ready for it, they stood outside the elder’s door. Everet spoke quietly to the man guarding the room from unwanted intruders—which Kane was pretty sure meant anyone below the rank of a bird of prey.

Pretentious bastards.

He scuffed his heels on the carpet as he waited for Everet to finish babbling with the guard. The lover of a bird of prey wouldn’t have to wait around like this. Kane glared at the mark his shoes had left in the carpet’s pile. He’d have to upgrade to a better master soon—preferably before he became the guy cleaning the carpets rather than leaving marks on them.

As for Everet…

An uncomfortable feeling wound around Kane’s stomach. If he found a new master, he’d have to find a way to keep seeing Everet, too—for sex if nothing else. Maybe the raven could be his bit on the side…

Kane smiled down at the carpet. If the other guys could have the best of both worlds, why couldn’t he? Everet would screw him, but he wouldn’t have any right to order Kane around unless they were sneaking a quickie behind the sugar-daddy’s back. Throw in a bit of quicksilver and the picture would be truly perfect.

Hell, he might even share the quicksilver with Everet…

“Kane.”

He jerked his gaze away from the carpet. Everet stood next to the open door, beckoning him forward. There was no way to keep pretending this wasn’t happening. In some horrible version of autopilot where he couldn’t help but obey Everet, Kane walked into the meeting room.

The same elders who’d been present when Kane first arrived at the nest sat facing them.

Everet stopped in front of the table. Not sure what else to do, Kane stood next to him.

“Is there a problem?” Hamilton demanded impatiently.

Everet stepped forward and put Raynard’s wallet on the table in front of the hawk. “Kane took it from your pocket when you were watching over him. I don’t think anything has been taken from it, but I’d appreciate it if you’d check so I can be sure, sir.”

The room fell silent as Raynard rifled through his wallet.

It was all there. Kane knew that. He hadn’t even had a chance to look through the thing before Everet took it off him.

“Was mine the first pocket he’s picked since he arrived?” Raynard asked.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the first time or the hundredth time,” Hamilton snapped. “He is evidently unable to conduct himself in an acceptable manor and Everet is just as clearly unable to control him. Everet—find out if there is a cage free in—”

“With all due respect, sir,” Everet cut in.

This silence was deeper than any Kane had ever felt.

“What?” Hamilton’s tone rattled like a glass full to the brim with ice.

Eagles weren’t used to being interrupted, arrogant sods. Kane glared at him, pissed off on Everet’s behalf.

“You put him under my protection, sir,” Everet said. “He belongs to me. Until one of us breaks our bond, I’m the only person who has a right to punish him.”

“And have you?” Raynard asked, while Hamilton apparently remained stunned with residual shock at being interrupted.

“No, sir. I don’t intend to. I’ve spoken to Kane. He understands what is expected of him in future,” Everet said, ever so calmly.

Kane turned his head and downright gawped at Everet. He honestly intended to try to keep his promise? He really thought he could do this? Kane mentally shook his head. It was blatantly pointless. There was no way in hell the avian aristocracy would allow a mere raven to speak to them like that.

Everet should know that, and—

“Completely unacceptable,” Hamilton burst out, confirming every suspicion Kane had. “I will not have a magpie running amok in my nest. The precedent of not punishing a thief is—”

“I’ll willingly take the punishment on his behalf, sir.”

Kane’s eyes opened even wider as he stared up at the raven.

Everet didn’t turn toward him. It was as if he’d forgotten Kane was in the room. Everyone else seemed to have done the same. All eyes were on Everet. Kane might as well have been invisible.

“I believe the current punishment is a period of time spent in the cages,” Raynard said.

“Yes, sir. But, with your permission, the more traditional punishment for theft is twenty lashes,” Everet said. “Kane is my submissive. His actions are my responsibility. I’ll take that punishment in his place.”

The elders exchanged looks and muttered to one another in voices too low to be audible on Kane’s side of the table.

“Do you have any objection, Ori?” Raynard prompted, after all the other elders seemed to have had their say. He made no attempt to speak quietly.

The swan frowned. He looked toward Everet for a second. “You’re sure this is what you want?” he asked.

Everet didn’t waver for a second. “Yes, sire. Very sure.”

“Then, I don’t think we should interfere with a master’s care for his submissive unless it’s essential,” Ori whispered.

Raynard nodded, a curt little motion. “I’d also advise that Everet’s offer to take Kane’s place be accepted.”

Hamilton huffed, but finally waved a hand as if to indicate that they might as well get on with it, if they really were intent on such an action. “But keep him on a shorter leash in future,” he snapped, as a parting shot.

“Understood, sir,” Everet said with a little nod.

“Leave the other things he stole here,” Raynard said. “I’ll see that they’re returned to their rightful owners and places.”

Everet set them all on the table.

The sparkle of the highly polished silver called to Kane. It was only a teaspoon, but it took all his fear of the punishment being transferred to him to keep him from trying to pocket it again. The pen he’d taken from the owl’s desk lay next to it. The little gilded box that had once decorated a hall table was also there.

“Go back to your apartment,” Raynard ordered. “The punishment will be set up for this evening. I’ll send someone to fetch you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Everet turned toward the door. Kane followed him. All in all, the meeting had gone a hundred times better than he could have ever expected. After all,
he
wasn’t the one due to get whipped. So, why the hell did it feel as if someone had punched him in the stomach?

Chapter Nine

Everet took a deep breath and mentally counted to ten. Perhaps that made it a little easier for him to keep his emotions to himself, but it didn’t magic away the sheer strangeness of the situation.

He wasn’t used to feeling so many men’s eyes wandering over his body while he removed his shirt. He didn’t want to get used to it either. There was a time and a place for public nudity, and it was when the men undressed in the locker rooms so they could shift into their avian forms unencumbered by yards of fabric unnecessary to a man who wore feathers. No one stared then.

Still, he told himself, it had to be better than being put in a cage. The very thought of that made a shudder run down his spine. At least this way, he’d be free and able to keep an eye on Kane. That was the important thing.

Everet didn’t look up. Apparently, every man in the nest had turned out to watch him take off his shirt. Everet had never seen so many people in the nest’s playrooms at one time, now they all clustered around the same station.

The whipping post stood in the middle of a carefully delineated area.

Folding his shirt neatly, Everet set it on the table to the left-hand side of that area. Kane stood alongside the table, nibbling at his bottom lip. He seemed to be the only man in the room whose attention wasn’t on Everet. In fact, the magpie looked everywhere except at him. He hadn’t met his eye once since they left the elders meeting room. He hadn’t said a word either.

Everet could no longer afford to give the magpie time to mentally process everything at his own speed. He touched Kane’s cheek and made him look up.

Kane glared into Everet’s eyes, as if daring him to change his mind about accepting the punishment in his place.

“You can trust my word,” Everet said. “No one will raise a hand to you while you belong to me. Not me, not anyone else”

Kane said nothing. His expression wavered, but he didn’t seem to know what emotions other than distrust and anger would be suitable for the situation.

“When you’re ready, Everet,” Raynard said from behind him.

Everet smiled down at Kane for a moment, pushing all other concerns aside in favor of reassuring the magpie as best he could. “Everything will be fine. It won’t take long. Just wait here for me. Understand?”

Kane nodded. His cheek rubbed against Everet’s palm.

It was hard to turn toward the whipping post, not because he was afraid of the whip, but because turning away from Kane when the younger man was confused and hurting went against every instinct Everet possessed.

Raynard stood on the other side of the square area around the whipping post. Hamilton and Ori flanked him. Whispered words passed from one man to the other. Everet stopped a few steps away from them, just out of eavesdropping range, patiently waiting to be invited closer.

Ori noticed him first. He placed his hand lightly on Raynard’s arm to get his attention and nodded toward Everet.

“You’re ready?” Raynard asked.

“Yes, sir.”

Raynard stepped away from the others. Everet remained exactly where he was as the hawk approached him. He felt strangely calm now that the moment had arrived.

“Have you ever been whipped?” Raynard asked.

“No, sir, not seriously.” Not since he’d indulged his curiosity as a very young man, before he’d even reached his avian maturity.

Raynard didn’t need to say that this would be a serious whipping. They both knew they couldn’t permit it to be anything else. The law of the nest was the law of the nest, and if Everet had any intention of remaining one of the men who enforced it, he couldn’t be seen to either disobey it, or to suffer less when he admitted his guilt.

“Ori and Hamilton both think you should accept time in the cage in lieu of this kind of punishment,” Raynard said, idly running the tails of the whip through his fingers as he spoke.

Everet met the hawk’s eye. “You don’t, sir.”

“I’d pick whichever punishment allowed me to best care for the man under my protection. I won’t try to convince you to do otherwise—not even if our resident swan thinks I should.”

Everet smiled slightly, but his attention quickly returned to the whip.

“If you ask me to stop, I will,” Raynard said. “But if you can take the twenty in one block, it will be over more quickly.”

Everet nodded.

“As soon as you reach the whipping post, I want you to find whatever mental place you need to go to as quickly as you can and stay there. Don’t worry about Kane. Ori will keep an eye on him during the whipping. He’ll let me know if the little brat moves from his place.”

“Thank you, sir.” Everet had never been more relieved to hear anything in his life. Kane would be fine. Even when his master was distracted, Kane would be looked after.

“Any questions?” Raynard asked.

“No, sir.”

“Go and get yourself in position. There’ll be no bondage.”