by Cara Wylde
I undid my belt, took it off, folded it in two, and hit Vera over the ass one more time. That did the trick. She opened her eyes, screamed in pain, and scrambled inside the cage. I rushed to slam the door closed and lock it. Once that was done, I grinned at her as I put my belt back on.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
She grabbed a pillow and covered herself with it.
“I hate you,” she muttered.
“What was that?”
“I hate you!” She said it louder, making sure her voice dripped with venom.
“Good. Hate is a powerful emotion. I’m humbled that you feel so strongly about me.”
“This one will be hard to tame,” Dev said as he retrieved his shirt from the bathroom and headed to the door.
“Don’t worry about her,” I said, following him. “We’ve got this. Soon, she’ll be begging for my belt.”
As we closed the door, leaving it unlocked since there was no way Vera could get out of her cage, she yelled one last time after us:
“I hate you!”
Vera
They left me there, shaking with fear and embarrassment. I was angry at myself. I should’ve been stronger. I should’ve fought them harder. I was sore and exhausted. My ass hurt where Navin had slapped me and then slashed at my tender skin with his leather belt. I blushed furiously just thinking about it.
I looked around the cage. There wasn’t much space for me to lie down, so I could only sleep with my knees drawn to my chest. The faux pelt was soft, but it was simply too hot to enjoy it. I had nothing to cover myself with but seeing how the sun had just set and the temperature hadn’t dropped almost at all, I probably didn’t need a blanket anyway. Still, I hated that I was naked and exposed, although… and this was going to sound ridiculous… I was getting used to it. After the initial shock of being exposed to the eyes of two men, after being dragged around, touched, groped, and stared at, I was starting to realize that it didn’t matter that much. It wasn’t like they hadn’t seen a naked woman before. And besides… this was my body, and I was not ashamed of it. This wasn’t my fault, so why would I feel shame? It wasn’t my choice to be naked. It was all on them, and I refused to feel bad about it.
I felt like a puppet, my strings pulled, and my movements manipulated by Petrov, the bastard who’d taken everything from me, and now by the three mafia bosses who owned me.
Aryan. He seemed to be so broody and mysterious. I wanted to know what had gone through his mind when he first saw me. He’d left me with the others and said he had business to take care of. Maybe he didn’t care about me at all. He’d barely shot me a glance.
Dev. He was rough and domineering. Not getting his way was not an option. When we were in the shower together, he’d put his hands all over my body, his fingers had caressed and probed parts of me that no one had ever seen before, let alone dreamed of touching. And my flesh had responded to him. When he’d taken his shirt off, I saw just how big and ripped he was. If my hands hadn’t been tied behind my back, I would’ve probably given in to temptation and threaded my fingers through his dark chest hair. Those few minutes I’d spent with Dev under the hot spray, with his big hands roaming all over my body, had revealed to me one interesting fact – I found chest hair attractive.
Now, as I lay in my cage among pillows and fake fur, I could only think of Dev. I could still feel his hands on my breasts, my stomach, my… My core tightened with need, and I sighed. I dug my fingers in the soft pillow under my head and promised myself I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t touch myself. This room they’d put me in… For all I knew, they had hidden cameras all over. I wasn’t going to humiliate myself more than I’d already had by letting them to whatever they wanted. I should’ve bitten and scratched. I should’ve screamed louder. It was hard to believe we were alone in this huge mansion. They had to have servants, right? Maids… Soldiers to guard the perimeter. I hadn’t seen anyone, but there was no way the three bosses lived alone.
As I tossed and turned trying to find a comfortable position, I ended up on my back and had to quickly move onto my side. I hissed at the sting on my ass. Navin had really done a number on me. The slaps had been easy to endure, but the bite of the belt had been too much. I knew he would’ve hit me again and again until I crawled inside the cage, and that was why I’d obeyed on the first strike.
Navin was short-tempered. Enticing in his own way, but dangerous. I wondered what he looked like without his clothes on. I cursed under my breath when the thought crossed my mind. Now I was even wetter. But it was only fair, wasn’t it? They’d seen me naked, so I wanted to see them just as bare and exposed, too. Given the situation I was in, the cage, the fact that Petrov had practically said I belonged to them, my curiosity was probably going to be satisfied sooner rather than later. I shuddered at the thought. On the one hand, I wanted to know. I’d never seen a naked man in the flesh. Of course I’d gone online and watched porn with my girlfriends, but it wasn’t the same. On the other hand, the moment they were going to lose their clothes would also be the moment I’d lose my virginity.
My maidenhood… It had been such a burden to me. Still was. If I hadn’t been a virgin, maybe I would’ve been braver now. More confident. I would’ve been a different person.
“This is horrible. Who am I? What the hell am I thinking?” Here I was, daydreaming about my captors naked and hovering over my fragile body, when I should’ve been planning my escape. I would’ve tried my luck if they hadn’t locked me in a goddamn cage. I’d promised them I wouldn’t, but of course, that had been a lie. I was so tired, though. Little by little, I was drifting to sleep. What were my options, anyway? I could wait for Petrov to come back, as he’d said he would. Two weeks Aryan had given him to pay up. I could survive two weeks… I still didn’t understand what Petrov wanted from me, what he wanted me to do. He’d said to keep my eyes open, listen and learn. Learn what? Given their line of work, Aryan, Dev, and Navin must have had plenty of secrets. Maybe Petrov wanted me to learn about their weaknesses? Yes, that must have been it.
Escape… I couldn’t escape. There was no way. Only if they forgot to lock my cage, or maybe I’d get a chance when they’d take me out to get some air. Who knew how big their estate was, though?
Obey… I couldn’t possibly obey them, either. They were going to possess me, humiliate me, break me. If I let them, what did that make me? Who would I be then? Would I still be worthy of the name Kudrin? As if my father’s name meant anything now that he was gone…
I sobbed in my pillow, squeezing my knees to my chest, keeping one arm tightly wrapped around them. I sobbed for minutes on end, maybe hours… Eventually, I drifted to sleep.
Aryan
For the next few hours, I counted the money Petrov had delivered, had a coded conversation on the phone with my accountant, set my books in order, and did my best not to think about my little prisoner. Our little prisoner. I had to remember that Vera Kudrina was Dev’s and Navin’s gift just as much as she was mine. What had Petrov been thinking?! To murder her entire family, rob them, and let her live… To bring her here like she was some kind of trophy… Vasily Petrov was a sick man. That was why he’d risen in ranks in the past five years. Nothing that came from him should’ve surprised me anymore.
I stood up, walked to the bar in my office, and poured myself some bourbon. I gulped it down, slammed the glass on the desk, and wiped my forehead. It was so damn hot in July, even with the AC on almost all the time. I started pacing the floor, trying to put my thoughts in order. The sun had set, and the sky was clouded by veils of pollution. I loved my city, but nowadays, it wasn’t exactly the greatest place to live. I felt like a wild animal in a cage. I snickered at the comparison.
“I am a wild animal,” I whispered to myself. “And I need to remember that especially now, when a human lives under my roof.”
I paced some more, but it didn’t help. I couldn’t clear my head. The fact that she was just below me, in the bedroom on the ground floor, didn’t
make things easier. I could smell her. Her skin, her hair, the dampness between her thighs… I could hear her breathing evenly as she slept peacefully. Earlier, I’d heard Navin struggle with the cage we kept in the basement, and I wondered whose idea it had been to put Vera in it. At least she wouldn’t be able to escape. The last thing we needed was a human female roaming free in the house or on our estate.
I unbuttoned my shirt and shrugged it off my shoulders. I should have gone to sleep. It was late, and I always liked to wake up early and hit the gym before I started my day. But I was restless, and I knew I had no chance of going straight to dreamland if I went to bed now. A quick, brisk run around was what I needed, and since it was dark, it was safe enough. I opened the windows, and as I looked outside at the wide, exotic garden stretching before me, at the pool, the gazebo, and the terraces, I breathed in deeply. I undid my pants, took them off, and folded them neatly before removing my shoes and climbing on the windowsill. My muscles flexed pleasantly, and I smiled as I let the beast hiding inside me take over. My fingers turned into sharp claws, and dark stripes became visible on my tanned skin. What followed next was black and yellow fur sprouting out of my pores, my face changing shape, elongating, and morphing into that of a tiger, and my ears moving to the top of my head, turning pointy and soft to the touch. I jumped off the sill and landed on all fours. In my tiger form, I was bigger than the human body that I inhabited. I was heavy, strong, invincible. I let out a roar, then cursed myself, hoping the human hadn’t heard me. My ears perked, once again tuning in to the sound of her breathing. Nothing had changed. She was still asleep. I sprinted away from the house and into the garden, disappearing behind bushes and trees. The squirrels and lizards living in our backyard moved out of my way, quickly hiding in their tiny shelters. They knew I wasn’t going to do anything to them, but their self-preservation instinct was stronger than reason.
We owned a lot of land around the house. We needed it, because Navin, Dev and I… we were the same. We were tiger shifters, and even though we’d gotten used to our human bodies and our human nature, we still needed to shift and become one with the trees, the sky, and the earth from time to time. We were Bengal tigers. I dashed through the garden at full speed. Even in the hot, damp air, it felt invigorating. I noticed weeds had grown since the last time the gardener had come by, and that made me groan in annoyance. I hated it that we had to bring people over once a week to take care of the house, the pool, and the garden. But it couldn’t be helped. Sometimes, if I really didn’t feel like dealing with anyone, I went out myself and did some gardening. It relaxed me. But I couldn’t do it every week, since I was busy with real business, and besides… it was too much for me to cover. I wasn’t a very good gardener, anyway.
It was crucial to keep humans away from us and our home as much as possible. If anyone found out what we truly were, our future in the business would be over. It wouldn’t matter how powerful and influential we were, how rich… Humans were naturally afraid of what they couldn’t understand and control, and if our partners knew we were beasts, they would certainly take it as a pretext to end our lives and claim what was ours. We couldn’t risk it, so Dev, Navin and I had decided the best course of action was to isolate ourselves from the world, leave our land only if it was absolutely necessary, and do the work we had to do through people we delegated. It was an arrangement that made sense, and it had protected us and our secret so far. Our partners merely believed we were… eccentrics. We were all okay with that.
But now, Petrov had brought a human female in our home, and the truth was that we had to keep her at least until he came back with the rest of the money. It wasn’t like we hadn’t had human females over at the house, but they rarely spent the night. And when they did, they were either too tired to roam around and discover God knew what, or they were too intoxicated to even move. Vera was different. She wasn’t one of the common whores Dev and Navin hired when they got bored. She was the daughter of a Russian mafia boss who Petrov had just eliminated. She was smart, educated, and she was probably filled with hatred, too. She would look for ways to escape or gain the upper hand. A beautiful woman like her could even try to seduce us to get what she wanted. Revenge. And while I knew I could resist her, I wasn’t so sure about Dev and Navin. They could both be unpredictable.
After half an hour, I found myself back to the house. I walked along the wall, peering inside through the windows. My big paws hit the ground rhythmically. I reached the window to Vera’s room, and I couldn’t help myself. It was open, so I stuck my head inside. My body followed off its own accord. Before I knew it, I was in her room, in front of her cage, staring at her fragile frame as she slept. She was naked, but still wearing her strappy sandals. Those idiots had apparently stripped her, washed her, and then forced her to get inside the cage wet and bare. Not that I could complain about the view…
Her long, blond hair was spread chaotically all over the pillows, and her chest rose and fell with each gentle breath. Her breasts were exposed – round and firm, with hard nipples that simply begged to be sucked. She’d covered her private parts with the fake fur, or at least had tried to. I walked around the cage, sniffing her eagerly. I could see her round ass, and my heart skipped a beat when I noticed the red marks on her pale flesh. Had Dev hit her? Maybe Navin? What did I care, anyway? She’d probably fought them, and they’d taught her a lesson. I stepped closer to the cage, until my wet nose was pressed to the metal bars. I dragged in a long, thirsty breath. God, she smelled amazing! Her scent told me that she was in heat, which in human terms meant that she was ovulating. Her womb was ready to be seeded, and the more time I spent there, gazing at her, the more difficult it was for me to control my urges. I wanted to shift back, unlock the cage, and sneak inside, trap her under my body. I wanted to spread her legs and penetrate her. I wanted to…
She opened her eyes. For a second, she seemed to be in shock. Then she started screaming. She jumped to her feet, taking the faux pelt with her, squeezing it to her chest. Without knowing what had gotten into me, I lifted myself on my hind legs and pressed my body to the cage. I was taller than it, and way bigger. Tears ran down her cheeks as she screamed again. No one came. In the distance, I heard Dev jump out of the bed, but when he realized that it was me in her room, he just snickered and went back to sleep. Navin turned on his other side, unimpressed. They knew no one had broken in, and it was just me, suffering from insomnia as I sometimes did, having fun with the female to pass the time. My nostrils flared when the scent of her arousal mixed with the scent of her fear. She was terrified by me, and for good reason. I was a humongous tiger who’d just gotten into her bedroom through the window, and she was alone and helpless, trapped in a cage. And yes, if I wanted to get to her, I could’ve done it easily, although she probably didn’t know that. A normal tiger wouldn’t have been able to bend the bars of the cage, but I wasn’t a normal, common tiger. Tiger shifters were ten times stronger, more agile, and more skilled. I could’ve bent the metal without much effort if I wanted to. But I didn’t.
I stepped away from the cage and fell back on all fours. I let out a roar, which only made her scream again, then headed back to the window. This was bad. She was too beautiful, too charming, too enticing. She was pure sin on two long legs, and the fact that those two idiots had made her keep the high-heeled sandals didn’t help at all. I wanted her. Badly. I wanted to make her mine, body and soul, and it was wrong. If I’d just wanted to fuck her and discard her, like I did with the whores, it would’ve been fine. But no… What I felt for her was more than lust. I needed to get away. I needed to stay away from her.
I jumped out the window and padded back into the garden for a second run. The first one hadn’t cleared my head. On the contrary. Okay, so I’d try again. No matter what, I was going to take back control over my thoughts and my urges, go to sleep, and start a new, fresh day tomorrow. If Dev and Navin wanted to fuck her, fine. I wasn’t going to stand in their way. As for me… I had to be careful. For the sake
of everyone that was under my command, I had to keep a cool head. We just couldn’t afford having three bosses ensnared by a human bitch. Not even when her cunt was untouched and her body promised a taste of Heaven.
Vera
The tiger disappeared into the night, and I stood frozen, my heart beating wildly in my chest, unable to process what had just happened. I was shaking like a leaf. Yet, after a few minutes of utter silence, I started wondering whether it had all been just a nightmare. Maybe the tiger hadn’t been there at all, and I’d just dreamed the beast. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and sat down. I used two pillows to prop myself up, as I felt the need to stretch my legs. I couldn’t sleep with them drawn up to my chest anymore. I tried to stay awake, but it was useless. I was so tired that I wanted to fall asleep and never wake up, never see the light of day again. I wanted to sleep forever, peaceful, unbothered by the cruel world outside. The tiger must have been a figment of my imagination. As twisted as they were, Dev and Navin wouldn’t have possibly left me in a cage, with the windows wide open, so their pet tiger could attack me. Now I was grateful that they’d put me in a cage and I hadn’t tried to run away. It was pitch dark outside, and if beasts like the one that had just visited me roamed in their garden… No, I didn’t want to think about it. The tiger wasn’t real. I’d just had a bad dream…
I drifted off again. The position was slightly uncomfortable, and my ass still hurt, but at least my knees were taking a break. My body relaxed as I fell into a deep, vivid dream. I saw the tiger again. It came in through the window, and this time, I wasn’t scared. I knew that I was dreaming, and it only proved that I’d been dreaming the first time, too. The mighty beast circled my cage, and I watched it with increasing interest. Its eyes seemed… human. It was the biggest tiger I’d ever seen. I wondered if its sheer size was even possible in its species, but then I remembered… this was a dream, and the tiger wasn’t real. This was just my exhausted brain playing tricks on me. I smiled and let it happen, allowed the dream to unfold. As long as I knew I was sleeping and it was all happening in my head, I was safe. Nothing could truly hurt me physically.
