Handling the Hybrid: A Kindred Tales Novel Read online

“What? So you can spank me again?” Tandy exclaimed. “I don’t think so!”

  He shrugged, his broad, bare shoulders rolling with the motion.

  “Better think of something else, then, little girl. Some other way to convince them you’ve ‘tamed’ me. I’m going to start the day being my belligerent self.” He grinned at her. “It’s going to be up to you to find a way to make me be a sweet little slave who’s happy to bow at his Mistress’s feet and kiss her cute little toes.”

  He was looking at her feet as he said it. Tandy looked down herself—she was wearing gold polish that went with her high-heeled gold and black shoes and she did have nice feet.

  “You, uh, think my toes are ‘cute’?” she asked, uncertainly.

  “To be perfectly honest, I think all of you is fucking adorable,” Vrox rumbled, grinning at her and showing those sharp, frightening fangs. Although now Tandy found she wasn’t quite as frightened of them as she had been before. “But of course, I’m not supposed to say that to my ‘Mistress’,” he added, lifting an eyebrow at her.

  “No. No, you’re not.” Tandy tried to make her voice stern but she was aware that her stomach suddenly felt like a thousand flutter-bys had taken flight inside it. And he smelled better than ever—had the dark musk and spice scent intensified somehow? Beneath the golden bustier she wore her nipples were suddenly as hard as diamonds and the place between her legs began to feel swollen and hot. What was wrong with her? She had to get away from the big Kindred so she could think!

  “I…I should go now. I’ll send someone in with your supper and some bedding materials. You can sleep here until I can think where else I could put you,” she told him.

  “You have a guest room?” he suggested.

  “Not for slaves,” Tandy said firmly. “If my Aunt Deelee found out I was housing you in a room meant for other Mistresses she’d report me to Mistress Sinda and the Sacred Seven for sure.”

  “Okay,” he grumbled. “Well, I’ve slept worse places, I guess. At least you’ve got an interesting collection.” He pointed at all the devices hung on the walls. “You use this stuff on any other slaves, little girl?”

  Tandy felt her face getting hot. “No—I told you, you’re the first slave I’ve ever had to train. And I don’t…don’t believe in hurting or abusing males just for fun, like lots of Mistresses do.”

  “Guess it’s a good thing I got bought by you after all, then,” he rumbled and a worried look came over his face. “Wish you’d bought my friend, Dannen, too.”

  “Why? Who bought him?” Tandy asked.

  “Some female named Mistress Tornflesh—said she needed him for her ‘pain display’ whatever the fuck that is,” he growled. “Do you know?”

  Tandy bit her lip. She’d heard vague, ominous rumors of the Mistress in question, but she lived outside of Opulex on a country estate and only rarely came into the city. Plus, since she favored “cruel entertainments” she had never been part of Aunt Zora’s circle of friends.

  “I’ve heard of her but I don’t know much about her,” she admitted. “She lives in an estate outside the city. I’ll help you find her when our deal is over.”

  “All right.” He still didn’t look happy about it. “Dannen’s a grown male and he can take care of himself. I just hate to think of him being tortured somewhere by some sadistic Mistress just for the fucking fun of it.”

  Tandy couldn’t deny that such practices went on here on Yonnie Six, but she didn’t want to go into that right now.

  “I’d better go,” she said going to the edge of the force field and waving at its shimmering surface. It recognized her heat signature and opened at once—just enough for her to get through.

  Vrox watched her go, a bemused look in his mismatched eyes.

  “See you later, little girl,” he rumbled. “I’m lookin’ forward to having you ‘tame’ me tomorrow.”

  Tandy just bet he was—especially if her taming him involved the use of the pain collar or cuffs so he could spank her again.

  Uh-uh—not going to happen, she told herself firmly. But then, how was she going to make her aunt Deelee and Mistress Sinda believe that she really had tamed the giant Kindred?

  Tandy didn’t know but she was certain she’d better think something up—and soon or she would wind up back over his knee with her ass in the air and she didn’t want that!

  SIX

  An older male slave with a hunched back and a quiet air about him brought Vrox a good supper and some pillows and blankets to bed down with. He was cautious around Vrox, which wasn’t surprising, but after Vrox thanked him politely for the food and bedding and didn’t offer him any threat, he seemed a little more at ease.

  “So you’re the Young Mistress’s new slave,” he remarked, looking Vrox up and down after depositing his burdens and closing the force field around him. “You’re a big one, you are—if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  “I’m Kindred,” Vrox said. “We run on the large side. Are you one of Tandy…er, the Young Mistress’s slaves too?”

  “Now, I am.” The older slave looked sad. “My own Mistress—Mistress Zora—passed on several standard weeks ago. She owned me almost all my life and hers. This place feels…empty without her.”

  Vrox was surprised to see genuine emotion in the old male’s face.

  “You’ll really miss her that much? You were her slave,” he reminded the male.

  “Aye, and proud to be so.” The old male straightened his hunched shoulders and lifted his chin. “She was the kindest and fairest Mistress in all of Opulex—in all of Yonnie Six, for that matter. And I know the Young Mistress will follow in her footsteps. If she’s allowed to,” he added darkly.

  “What do you mean by that?” Vrox growled, frowning. “Who’s going to stop her?”

  “Her aunt Deelee will for one, if she’s let to,” the old male said. “She wants the whole fortune for herself—always has. She was ever jealous of my old Mistress—who was her older sister, you know. Steals and lies like you wouldn’t believe—you’d do best to be on the look-out for her, since you’re going to be the Young Mistress’s new slave. You might need to protect her from her aunt—I wouldn’t put anything past that Deelee!”

  Somehow Vrox didn’t have the heart to tell the old male he wouldn’t be here all that long—certainly not a lifetime of servitude to serve and protect Tandy. He just nodded his head respectfully.

  “I’ll watch my back—and hers. Thanks for the warning.”

  “You’re welcome. And be kind to the Young Mistress.” The old male shook a quivering finger at Vrox through the shimmer of the force field. “She’s a sweet one, she is—never one to hurt so much as a barsa bug. So just you mind that you don’t abuse her kindness or try to take advantage of her. Or you’ll have me to answer to.” He threw out his chest and gave Vrox a warning look.

  Vrox smothered a smile. He knew the old male was just trying to look out for a female he cared for—it was touching that Tandy had caused this level of protectiveness in her aunt’s staff. Clearly she was as sweet and kind on the inside as she looked on the inside—for all she tried to play the stern Mistress.

  “I’ll be careful of her,” he promised gravely, thinking of how he’d turned her over his knee and given her a sound spanking not an hour before.

  But that had been part of their agreement and even though he’d heated her lovely bare bottom considerably with his hand, it was still kinder than putting the pain cuffs on her and giving her a jolt, as she had at first suggested. Vrox was afraid that the level of pain he’d endured might kill her and he didn’t want that. To be honest, despite the position he found himself in, he found he didn’t wish any harm on his captor at all. In fact, quite the opposite.

  I wonder how she’ll choose to “tame” me tomorrow, he thought as the old male—who he assumed must be the butler—said goodnight and shuffled off, leaving him to his dinner. And I wonder if I’ll be spanking her again this time tomorrow night.

  He sort of hoped so.