Pride (The Copper Horse book 2) (gay erotic romance pony play BDSM)

by K. A. Merikan

  “As for the breeding... I would very much like to have a handsome stallion mounting you. It’s that simple.” Erik shrugged, stirring the wine with slight movements of his hand.

  Reuben licked his lips, unsure what to make of Erik’s words yet, though it meant Erik didn’t really want to keep him just for himself. Maybe if it were some handsome man, it wouldn’t be bad at all, but he wasn’t going to show enthusiasm like some eager cunt.

  “What do you think, Copper?”

  “Would you watch?” Reuben stared into his empty bowl. He could see a twisted reflection of himself in the white porcelain, and he could bet it would seem straighter if he could only have a bit of liquor.

  “But of course! I have always been excited by the idea of mating stallions. Freaks of nature.” Erik’s voice sounded hoarse and heated.

  Reuben clenched his lips together. He never wanted to be a ‘freak of nature’. Why would Erik call him that?

  “It’s a shame I could never witness such an act performed by real stallions, but watching you with another beautiful horse would be more than enough.” Erik flashed him a smile.

  “Because stallions don’t do that. They’re attracted to mares,” Reuben said into the bowl.

  “Not all of them,” Erik told him as John placed a small salad bowl on the table. “It’s humans who decide about the mating, if you ask me.”

  “Do you think I’m a freak of nature?” Reuben said after long silence, his head buzzing in a way it hadn’t for a long time.

  Erik blinked, stirring his salad with a silver fork. “No. But I am.” His gaze fell on the tiny bowl, as if there was something very interesting tossed inside with the lettuce.

  Reuben swallowed, finally looking back at him. “Did you ever try to change it?”

  “Of course not. This is my nature.” Erik put a forkful of salad in his mouth.

  “And... where would you find this other stallion?” Reuben tried to change the topic, sensing Erik didn’t want to talk about himself.

  “From a friend. I’m sure he’d gladly help me with that matter.”

  “Why do you like that idea, Master?”

  Erik sighed, his gaze following John to the feeder as he dumped a plate of chopped meat, rice and vegetables into Reuben’s bowl. Just the smell of it made Reuben’s stomach go wild. “I like to watch. And I like the way you submit to my will. It would be beautiful to witness, like a living work of art,” Erik said softly.

  “Why do you like watching a man do that?” inquired Reuben, even though half his thoughts were focused on the appetizing feed in front of him. The smell of meat within reach was tickling his nose.

  Erik stared ahead, slowly chewing the salad. “I just... I like it. I don’t know.”

  “Like someone would prefer cognac over tea?” Reuben wanted to put it into some kind of order, and he filled his mouth before he got his answer.

  Erik shrugged. “Something like that. It is hard to grasp.”

  Reuben swallowed, his brows furrowed. “But a man can’t get pregnant, right? Ever? It’s never happened?”

  Erik blinked and burst out laughing. “Now that would be a strange kind of man, my dear Copper!”

  “Well, corpses walk around without hearts beating in their chests. Anything can happen,” said Reuben before having another greedy bite.

  “No, Copper, we don’t have the necessary organs to carry a child. Don’t worry.” Erik smiled, gesturing for John to take his salad bowl away.

  “May I ask something else, Master?”

  Erik finished his wine in one swig. “Of course.”

  “Who was the man in the cage? The zombie in the backyard...”

  “Why?” Erik blinked, not even looking at the plate of food John put in front of him.

  “Well he was someone. Someone of blue blood, guessing from his clothes. And you keep him...” Reuben tried not to think about those rotting fingers reaching to him from between iron bars.

  “I honestly don’t know.” Erik started to eat. “He was a present from my brother.”

  Reuben didn’t even attempt to hide his repulsion. “Who gives presents like that?”

  Erik laughed with his mouth full. “That’s Frey. I think he wanted to scare me.”

  “I don’t want to offend, but... is it the horse thing that he hates so much?” Reuben still remembered the harsh slap he'd received when he first met Erik’s older brother.

  Erik sighed and gave Reuben a sideways glance. “I believe it is the stallion thing.”

  “You think he wouldn’t mind a mare?” Reuben smiled before bowing for yet another portion of meat that tasted like spicy heaven.

  “He was rather clear about that when I was younger.” Erik chewed on his food as if it didn’t bring him any enjoyment.

  Now it was becoming interesting. Maybe he would get to learn more about Erik? “What did he do?”

  Erik was mute for the longest moment. “I genuinely believe my skilled right hand is the only thing that kept me alive.”

  Reuben could vouch for precisely how skillful those fingers were. “It’s good to have something you’re good at. So you can be useful.”

  Erik snorted. “You need to be careful of these hands if you truly don’t wish for me to die.”

  “I did promise to never bite again.” Reuben smiled but couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Did Frey do anything though? When he first found out?”

  “Why are you so curious?” Erik gave him a smile, his mouth slightly shiny from sauce. “Do you wish to laugh at me?”

  At those words Reuben sobered up and stopped smiling. “No. As much as I think what you do is strange, I want to understand. My father always called me—” He looked up at Erik to check if he actually wanted to listen, and he found the strange eyes focused on him, waiting. “S-stupid,” Reuben continued, annoyed by his own stammer, “and useless. He mocked me when I tried to wash my clothes and shave. Called me ungodly when I would go out looking for... you know...” he ended on a mutter.

  “Whores?” offered Erik, watching him with that piercing gaze.

  Reuben nodded, feeling a flush climb up his neck. He didn’t know why he was still embarrassed by anything after having Erik’s fist up his ass. Maybe because it was a lie? He didn’t look for whores. He was the whore. Giving up himself to any man strong enough to take him. It had been so different from the tenderness he shared with Erik. He couldn’t imagine ever taking pleasure from such rushed, filthy acts after the way Erik treated him.

  “Your father must have been very stupid to overlook your qualities.” Erik drank more wine, and John returned to his side, leaving a tiny velvet-covered box at the side of his plate.

  Reuben hung his head in shame, suddenly less hungry. “No, I’m not really good at anything. You had a taste of my baking yesterday. Sometimes I still wonder why you chose me to save out of all those people.”

  “Copper, you are a sweet-hearted, hard working pony! You deserved to be saved,” Erik told him with a small smile.

  “I told you my dumb story, so what did your family say?” he insisted.

  Erik licked his lips, his eyes becoming distant, as if he expected to see his past on the far wall of the dining room. “They put down my pony.” It was strange for Erik to speak this quietly. For a moment, Reuben wasn’t certain if he heard correctly, so he took a step closer, ignoring the rest of his food.

  “That’s horrible.”

  Erik turned his head away and closed his eyes. “It was.”

  With his hands bound, Reuben couldn’t embrace him, so he kneeled by his side, ignoring even the smell of wine. “How did you survive? Your family is so powerful.”

  Erik put a hand on top of Reuben’s head. “I made them understand they couldn't force me to work for them. It had to be an exchange.” His eyes opened, and he gave Reuben a blank smile.

  “I never had courage to properly stand up to my father. But then again I don’t have fingers as skilled as yours.” Reuben leaned in and kissed Erik’s blue fingerti
ps. They twitched, but Erik eventually relaxed, stroking Reuben’s head in slow, languid moves.

  “It took a wiser man than your father to recognize how much you are worth.”

  “How did you start training ponies, though?” Reuben switched the topic back to Erik. He hoped to stay in this house for as long as his master would have him, so he wanted to be closer to him.

  Erik smiled, and for a moment his eyes were distant again. “My first pony taught me.”

  “How?” How could a pony have taught Erik anything?

  Erik coughed, pushing his plate away in favor of more wine. “There are certain people who enjoy this kind of play... being the pony. He was like that.”

  Reuben just stared at him, trying to comprehend what he had just heard. “You mean...” he licked his lips. “He came up with it?”

  Erik blinked. “Oh yes, he was my senior too.”

  “And how did that happen?” Reuben frowned, but paid full attention.

  “What do you mean?”

  “How do you even propose something like that?”

  Erik laughed. “One step at a time.”

  Reuben smiled back. “It’s like pulling teeth with you. What was his first step?”

  Erik traced Reuben’s cheekbone with his thumb. “He kissed me, silly.”

  And at that point, Reuben really did feel silly. He expected some flamboyant story of pain and kidnapping, or a passionate affair started by a quick fuck in the hay. After all, Erik did like his hay. It was also sad to realize that his own first kiss with a man had been with Erik. Even the first man he'd had sex with didn’t care to kiss him. “Oh,” was all he managed.

  Erik gave him a warm smile. “Does that surprise you?”

  “I just... that sounds r-romantic.” The last word barely left Reuben’s throat. He didn’t know how that made him feel.

  “It was...” Erik bit his lip and toyed with the cutlery. “We were playing in the hay and it just happened.” Was that a blush on Erik’s face? It was the last thing Reuben expected of someone as deviant as he was.

  “Sounds like a play in the theatre.” Reuben sighed, thinking of how useless his own first encounter was - drunk, bent over a wooden barrel and split open by a cock he couldn’t properly take.

  “I don’t know... maybe. It was so beautiful. I had no clue where it was going.” Erik swallowed, looking down at Reuben. “I felt like I found something I was lacking and didn’t even know it.”

  “And he wanted to pretend being a horse?” Reuben whispered, putting his head in Erik’s lap, eager to offer him comfort.

  Erik nodded. “He did.”

  “You were a lucky man, then.”

  “For a while.” Erik reached for the small velvet box and looked inside.

  “Would it be better it if never happened?” Reuben sighed.

  Erik swallowed. “That depends on when I think about it.”

  “Well, my first time, I was a drunk pig, and my lover didn’t even stay the night for my first time.” Reuben laughed, though he didn’t actually find it funny at all.

  “You liked her?” asked Erik after a moment of silence.

  Reuben nodded, still remembering how he watched Gareth for weeks at the pub before trying to approach him. “I thought it was special.”

  Erik bowed down to kiss his temple. “Who was she?”

  “Just this local scum.” He shrugged. “But the world to me, back then.” Reuben had never told anyone about this encounter. Even pretending it was a woman, the whole thing was too shameful and filthy. With Erik he didn’t have to pretend being confident and courageous.

  “With the women you were... did you let them take charge of the situation?” Erik’s shoulders relaxed, and he took a needle out of the velvet box.

  Reuben looked up at it, unsure of what it was for. “Um, I suppose I’m not the most decisive person....” He trailed off as Erik put a hand below his jaw, urging him to look up.

  “Were they riding you?”

  “Would that be bad?” Reuben swallowed.

  Erik’s face lit up. “Of course not.”

  “It’s not considered a good quality in a man.”

  “I don’t care. You’re perfect.”

  Reuben stared at him in shock. Could that really be what Erik thought of him?

  Erik leaned down to kiss his lips, slowly tracing his fingers up Reuben’s shoulder and to his right ear. “I want to give you a present for being such a darling.”

  “Me?” Reuben was breathless when he stared into his piercing eyes.

  “Yes. Something you can keep whatever happens,” Erik told Reuben as he gently stroked his cheek.

  “That’s too kind...,” he muttered, fighting tears that started to well up in his eyes. He didn’t even know what it was yet, but he already felt undeserving.

  “No it’s not. I want you to have it.” Erik picked up something small and showed it to Reuben. It shone in the light, round and red: a jewel.

  “It’s beautiful, Master...” Reuben was stunned with disbelief.

  “Mind you, Copper. This is a real ruby, not some cheap glass bead.” Erik turned the jewel in his hand. It was an ear stud.

  “And you would give such a thing to me?”

  Erik nodded with a smile. “I want you to wear it.”

  “It would be an honor, Master.”

  Erik smiled, gently lowering the stud back into the box and picking up the needle. “Then turn your right ear to me.”

  A tickle of fear ran up Reuben’s throat, but he shook his hair out of the way and offered up his ear to Erik. He would willingly take pain from him. Especially when it was delivered after being touched and spoken to so gently.

  “It will only last a brief moment, Copper, don't worry,” promised Erik, carefully drawing Reuben’s ear away from his skull.

  “I trust you, Master,” Reuben whispered and as much as there were still moments when he didn’t, he wanted to. With all his heart.

  Erik nodded and picked up the needle. As the thing disappeared from Reuben’s sight, he felt his stomach clenching. And there was the pain, sharp as it spread over his ear, but just as Erik promised, it was brief. He thought the earring would be placed in the lower part of his ear, but instead, it was his upper ear that was pierced.

  “Now I need to replace the needle with your ruby. It will sting a bit,” Erik said apologetically, retrieving the stud from its place in the tiny box. His voice was a caress curling around Reuben’s ear, so intimate and gentle.

  “I understand.” Reuben couldn’t even smile, too emotional to say anything else. The pull was unpleasant, and he could feel each tiny bit of the needle move through his flesh. As soon as it was out, a wet trail curled into his ear shell. Erik stopped the blood by inserting the stud and securing it at the back.

  “There, just be careful to sleep on the other side for now,” Erik told him with a small smile.

  “I will, thank you,” whispered Reuben, mesmerized. Erik was such a handsome man. Once one got used to those strange eyes, they were more fascinating than anything else. And just as Reuben realized he was staring, Erik pulled him closer, slowly running his tongue up the side of Reuben’s neck, over the ear, lapping at the blood.

  A moan escaped Reuben’s lips, but he gave in to the touch like a boneless puppet. “Demon...”

  “You’re mine now, Copper. Nothing could ever change that.”

  Reuben sighed with pleasure. He wanted to belong, and he loved how Erik seemed to always know what to do. Reuben turned his head a bit and licked the inside of his master’s wrist.

  Erik’s other hand traced his shoulders over and over. “Do you feel good?”

  “I do.” He hoped it wasn’t a shameful thing to admit. The fact that he'd got not just a present, but something that would be permanently in his body made him feel even more attached to Erik. Even when his master got bored with him someday, Reuben would have something to remember the good times by.

  Erik cocked his head, gently rubbing his thumb over R
euben’s lips. “How about a fuck then?”

  *

  Reuben entered his stable on wobbly legs. He couldn’t say ‘no’ to a fuck after such a wonderful present. At least that was his excuse, because the truth was he'd been waiting for penetration since the bath they had in the morning.

  Erik made him rest the front of his body on the dinner table, feet spread almost as wide as the legs of Erik’s chair. He spent so much time stroking Reuben’s bare thighs and buttocks, probing at the hole, staring at it as if it was the most exciting thing in the world. Reuben could barely contain the moan that escaped him when one of Erik’s fingers didn’t go deep enough. He didn’t even care about privacy when Erik asked John for butter to slick Reuben up.

  Erik had been fierce as he bent him over the table. Each thrust sent Reuben’s mind into dark oblivion as that lovely cock hit the wonderful bundle of nerves hidden within his body. The act itself might have seemed brutal, but for Reuben, it was the sweetest conclusion after long minutes, God, maybe hours of wonderful teasing.

  His mind was blank when Jack led him to the bathroom. Today was as exciting as yesterday was horrible, like being taken from the pit of hell fire straight into heaven.

  “Ah, we need to wash you. The master’s been unusually messy today,” Jack noted, scooting down to look at Erik’s backside.

  “Uhm, yeah, it got out of hand.”

  It took one look from Jack for the embarrassment to be back in the pit of his stomach. “You were screaming. Shall I use some salve to soothe your insides?”

  “I was?” Reuben cleared his throat. He didn’t even remember, but nodded anyway.

  Jack sighed, gently stroking Reuben’s back. “Did he hurt you today?”

  They went into the steamy bathroom, and Reuben wasn’t sure what to say. How could he admit that he enjoyed the rough penetration? What kind of man would that make him? And as fast and hard as the fucking was, it hadn't hurt much, since Erik prepared his ass properly. It was nothing like the forced intrusions of strangers. There was a tenderness to everything his master did.