Page 85 of At Her Pleasure
“It’s done. You can talk to Mick, make sure he’s okay. That’ll probably make the audience feel better.”
Olivia agreed. She entered the circle. As she did, Cyn’s attention moved to Ros. Her boss’s blue eyes were troubled, but she gave Cyn a slight nod. Vera had already reached the spot Olivia had vacated. “What do you need?”
Cyn couldn’t tell how Vera felt about what she’d seen, but if she had enough faith in Cyn’s judgment to ask her that, rather than anything else, Cyn knew they were good.
“I need one or two of the club’s volunteer med techs to help dress his back. Preferably female subs.”
Vera disappeared on that errand. Mick’s face was turned away from Olivia. The DM offered Cyn a negative gesture. He wasn’t willing to be verbal with her. “Do you want the cuffs off?” the older Mistress asked.
Cyn nodded and put the key in her palm. The audience was rising, spreading out, talking among themselves. While there were some uncomfortable looks, most were used to stretching their minds to accommodate things that weren’t their kink, as long as the boundaries were observed.
The utter containment Cyn exercised now, Olivia’s discussion with her, the quiet talk she’d attempted to have with Mick, seemed to satisfy almost everyone. Even the tight-lipped Mistress.
“Cyn.” Ros’s sharp word snapped Cyn’s attention back to the cross. Janus had stepped back into the Pit, probably to offer Olivia his help to remove the cuffs.
There was a reason Cyn had requested female sub techs.
Mick snarled like a wolf and lunged against the chains. Though he couldn’t get anywhere, the force made the cross creak alarmingly. That, and the violence of the act, was enough to have the man wisely stepping way the hell back.
“Piss off,” Mick spat. “She hasn’t told me it’s done. No.”
Cyn retrieved the key from Olivia. “I’ve got this,” she told her, low.
Olivia nodded and had Janus join her outside the Pit’s perimeter. Mick watched him retreat. Rabid animals looked calmer. His lip had broken open again, the cut from her knife earlier. All he needed was foaming saliva.
Cyn moved into his field of vision, blocking out the others, and met eyes that held the flatness of death in the wildness of the storm.
“It’s over.” Cyn put her hand on his face and gave him a no-nonsense, behave and settle down look. “I should have followed my instincts. That call fucked you up.”
She couldn’t deal with how she was feeling right now as a woman. But she could be a Mistress. He was a sub whose care was her responsibility.
He's mine to care for.
His ass is mine to kick.
“Her,” Mick said, turning his head toward Olivia. “Just her. I’m sorry. Sorry.”
Olivia’s brow creased. “It’s all right. You don’t need to—”
“The apology is for me, Olivia.”
Mick’s limbs were locked, holding him up. Otherwise Cyn was certain he’d be hanging from his bonds like a tortured prisoner in a dark cell, all his strength taken from him, mentally and physically. Knowing he’d fucked up would be a far greater agony than anything she’d done.
She thought they might be sharing the same body. It was the only explanation for why everything hurt at the moment. Especially in places hardest to heal.
Olivia spoke to Janus and sent him away, though Cyn expected the DM would remain until aftercare reached the point she could confirm her presence wasn’t needed. Which wasn’t yet, because Cyn hadn’t taken off his cuffs. Or the manacles.
“Want my help to get him down?” Vera was back. Cyn saw the requested two female sub med techs on the opposite side of the Pit, on the wall. Vera had likely put them there until things calmed down.
“Thanks.” Cyn drew her over to the table and lowered her voice. “You don’t have to stay. You and the others should go to the VIP lounge. Show’s over.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that. I’m staying. At least until I stop feeling like I witnessed a crime and did nothing.”
That stung. But Vera’s next words told Cyn she’d misunderstood. “I’m sorry he hurt you like that.”
Now she understood the look in Ros’s eyes, in Vera and Skye’s tight-lipped expressions. It wasn’t about her; it was for her. They were experienced Mistresses, enough to recognize what had happened, even if they didn’t get the full scope.
“He knows me, Vera. He knows me, down to my soul. So he pushed me, thinking he could get me to really hurt him.”