by Cara Adams
“What?”
“You need to take your courage in both hands and look deeply at your Facebook. See what has been altered and how. That way, we may get leads on the person or persons who did this. It’ll tell us things about them,” added Pete.
“My Twitter wasn’t touched. I hear what you’re saying, but it’ll be hard.”
“Nothing worthwhile is ever easy,” said Jubilee, sitting on the arm of the chair Serena was in. “It may be simple for me to say since my Facebook page wasn’t violated, but this creep needs to be caught. We humans are all here to help our panther, cougar, and puma friends.”
Gaynor, Jill, and Diane the accountant joined them. “We’ll even hold your hand if you like,” joked Jill, a human and longtime resident of Carnal Connections.
Oliver nodded to Leticia. “She’s right. It might be easier for you if Serena goes first, that way you’ll be more eased into the concept.”
“You mean this time I might not have a brain snap and scare half the panthers into migraine headaches!”
Everyone laughed and Serena took Josh’s laptop. Josh was scared for her but at the same time proud of how calmly she tapped out her new password and opened the page with hardly a flinch. He tilted the screen back a bit so more people could see it.
He must remember to have them all change their passwords on their bank accounts, too. There was no telling what the hacker might target next and what information he may have found out about them after he’d hacked their Facebook accounts. Damn. They may need to change a lot of things, not just bank accounts, but anything with identifying personal details.
The profile picture was horrifying. It was a large cat, maybe even a lioness, with its belly ripped open. He looked away, trying not to show his distaste, and checked her profile. Instead of mentioning her hobbies, it’d been changed to add links to porn sites.
Serena flicked through her photo albums. In each case the opening picture had been changed, mostly to porn, but one was to a scene of a Rwandan mass murder site.
“Wait. That picture has been used on my Facebook page, too. Open another browser,” said Autumn.
Serena did and Autumn accessed her Facebook page then showed her photo album. Instead of being pictures of craft projects she’d made, it was scenes of the same Rwandan war graves, over and over again. “I bet he snatched them straight off some website. Oh, I hope your geek gets him and gets him good,” said Autumn.
Diane tapped the screen. “You know, I bet that profile picture up on Serena’s page is off some wildlife conservation website. I think our perpetrator may have overextended himself. He ran out of fresh ideas and just kept repeating the same old ones for all of you.”
“That makes me think it’s one of the other rogue panthers then. Drew and Charlie seemed to me to be quite intelligent,” said Ramona.
They all looked at Verity’s page and Ramona’s, but there were no more clues until they got to Leticia’s page. She hadn’t had any photo albums, so the hacker had splashed some pictures on her wall. All were linked to a porn site, the same site mentioned on Serena’s page.
“It does look like he ran out of ideas, doesn’t it,” said Oliver, giving Leticia a gentle hug.
“I’ll take the notepad, Pete, and show it to Larry so the information can be passed to the hacker cracker,” said Oliver.
Josh grinned. “Hacker cracker?”
“What else are we to call him?”
“Good point.” Pete gave Oliver his notes while Josh closed up the laptop.
“We really ought to go and eat. All we’ve had this morning is a chocolate chip cookie. Which was most delicious, but a man needs a meal now and then,” said Pete.
“I’m starving. Let’s do that,” agreed Serena.
* * * *
With the community at Carnal Connections constantly growing bigger, Larry had hired a housekeeper who was a motherly, middle-aged woman named Alyce. She cooked a lighter midday meal and an evening meal each day and supervised the team of community members who kept the main building sparkling clean. When the panther pack had first taken refuge at the community, because there were far more men than women, and few of the men liked to cook, the younger men had taken charge of the less-skilled preparation and clean-up duties.
When she’d arrived she’d quietly stood by as they held races to see who could peel the most potatoes in five minutes and who could juggle the most oranges without dropping any. Josh wasn’t at all sure how it happened, but every one of the young panthers was now perfectly capable of cooking a meal. She certainly hadn’t forced any of them to learn, but clearly they all had. Many of them now enjoyed whipping up suppers in their shared apartments.
A large whiteboard was affixed to one of the walls in the kitchen, and people signed it if they wanted meals prepared for them and if they took food out of the freezers. Josh noted Pete had fortunately had the forethought to sign the three of them in for lunch and dinner today.
According to the menu board, lunch today was a thick, beefy stew with homemade sourdough bread, and dinner would be chicken and rice, followed by angel food cake. Yum.
However, lunch was still almost two hours away and his stomach considered the chocolate cookie a distant memory. He followed Pete and Serena into the large room and sniffed. Something smelled good. Really good, and it wasn’t just the aroma of coffee, which he was also more than ready for.
They all sat down at one of the long tables, and Pete walked over to the counter. Josh watched as Jill carried a steaming cauldron across from one of the cooktops and set it on a thick mat. Luke followed her with a pile of bowls and container of spoons.
“Soup. How perfect,” Serena said.
“Alyce is a magician. I wonder how she had soup ready like that. She couldn’t possibly have prepared it in the time since Leticia found out about the hacker.”
“Likely it was premade and she defrosted it,” said Serena.
“Or maybe she was making it for tomorrow and we’re eating it today,” said Autumn, sitting down next to them.
“Almost right. She was making it to freeze for a rainy day,” said Pete, carrying over a tray of piping-hot bowls filled with rich, creamy potato soup.
As they ate they still worried around the idea of the rogue panthers, but Josh was sure Serena was happier in her mind now, more relaxed, not really worrying about it. But her body language showed him something was niggling away in the back of her mind. He couldn’t work out what it was though. He didn’t know if she was hiding it from him or if it was too undefined for him to understand. She certainly wasn’t giving him any verbal clues. Well, they’d talk about it later. They needed to talk through the mental-telepathy thing soon anyway.
He couldn’t wait to see her face when she went to their new home. He really hoped she liked it. He and Pete had put a lot of effort in. But if she wasn’t pleased, well, they could always fix it up until she was happy. It wouldn’t be a huge drama, he was sure.
Finally people started drifting away, and Josh collected their bowls and took them out into the kitchen work area where Jeff and Paul, a part-panther, were washing dishes. He rinsed the bowls and coffee cups, put them in the sink beside Jeff, and went back to Serena and Pete. Pete nodded to him, and they all walked out of the big kitchen and along the hallway to the stairs.
“Where are we going?” asked Serena.
“Upstairs,” answered Pete.
“Like I hadn’t worked that out already,” said Serena. But Josh could tell from her voice that there was a note of interest and excitement in it. Did she think they were going to her room? Or had she guessed already?
Up they all went to the top floor and Pete stopped at the first door on the left-hand side of the hallway. He pulled a blindfold out of his pocket and covered Serena’s eyes then he unlocked the door. Josh swung Serena up into his arms and spun in a circle before walking through the doorway and into a room set up as a small den or living room. They’d furnished it with four armchairs, a small end table, and a la
rge TV. On a counter built against one wall was a coffee machine and a microwave oven, and under the counter was a bar refrigerator. Beneath the window was a row of shelves, and on the same wall as the door was a floor-to-ceiling closet that extended from the doorway to the end of the room.
Next to the window on the same wall as the counter was a doorway into a second room.
Josh spun around a second time and Pete said, “Put her down and I’ll take the blindfold off.”
Serena held on to Josh for a few minutes after the blindfold was removed, and he loved the feeling of her hand on his arm. Of course, it wasn’t as good as having her entire body in his arms, but it was nice. He hoped she’d hold on to him more often in the future.
“Is this our apartment? Is this one of the ones JB and David were making? It’s nice. I like it.”
“It’s not all that big, but it’s big enough for our needs. We’re all out at work all day, and on weekends and holidays we’ll tend to hang out in the barn with everyone else anyway,” said Pete.
Pete’s voice was perfectly even and steady, but Josh knew he’d worried that Serena wouldn’t like it. Still, she was smiling and nodding, so she was pleased.
She pointed to the doorway by the window. “Can I see the rest of it please?”
“Sure, go ahead,” said Pete.
The door led into the bathroom, which was much the same as it had been when the two rooms had been guest bedrooms. The real alterations were in the first room, where the counter had been added, the internal doorway cut through, and the closet extended to make enough space for three people’s belongings. The bathroom had been repainted a delicate blue, with new baby-blue curtains at the high window.
“I love the color,” said Serena, opening the internal door into the bedroom.
Pete and Josh stood back, watching as Serena walked right into the bedroom. She looked straight ahead at the California king-sized bed, with its new burgundy blanket and sheets. Then she turned to the window, which looked out over the main entry to Carnal Connections and the road beyond, then finally she turned to face them and saw what they were waiting for her to notice.
Josh was almost holding his breath. This had been Pete’s idea, but he was the one who’d encouraged Pete to carry it out. Although someone else had done all the work. But still, would she like it? Fuck, he hoped so.
Josh watched as her eyes lit up and sparkled brightly. Her mouth formed an O as she lifted her hands to her face. “Wow!” she said out loud and in his head simultaneously. “That’s amazing.”
Serena walked closer then stepped back, moved to the left, then to the right, taking in the feature wall Raegan had painted facing their bed. Josh and Pete came into the room and stood with her as she experienced it for the first time.
The picture was a scene of trees and grass and bushes. In the background was a mountain and scattered among the plants were small animals and birds. In the center of the picture, partially hidden by a huge bush, were two panthers and a cougar. The cougar had amber eyes and a tan coat, like Serena, and was smaller than the darker brown panthers. One panther had black eyes, for Josh, and the other brown, for Pete. They looked content in their surroundings, at home, and at peace, yet, at the same time, filled with life and vitality.
“Raegan painted this, didn’t he? It must have taken him ages, there’s so much detail. Look over there at the bird with blue in its feathers. And here, just peeping out behind the tree is a tiny red flower. This is splendid. Thank you so much.” Serena hugged Pete then Josh.
Once again his arms were filled with lush, warm woman. She was so beautiful and everything he’d ever wanted all wrapped up in a stunning body and with a loving nature and smart mind to keep him from thinking he knew all about her.
“Yes, Raegan painted it. I’m glad you like it,” said Pete.
“He’s very talented. When Pete talked to him about what we wanted he made some sketches and they were exactly right. It was almost uncanny how he translated words into pictures,” added Josh.
Josh got a mental image of Serena watching Raegan paint an outline on a huge piece of wood. “Was that at the movie studio?” he asked.
“That’s right,” she said.
Then the three of them looked at each other. “We really need to talk about how that happens. You said Raegan’s painting was uncanny. Well, this mind-reading kick is mighty uncanny, too,” said Pete.
“Leticia said she tested her mental telepathy out with William in that he had to think about something when he was at work and not tell her when he thought it or what he was thinking of. When he came home she told him he’d thought about growing some plants in her vegetable garden. Oh, yes, herbs that have medicinal value, that’s what it was.”
“In that case, I don’t really think we need to play games testing our abilities. I think if we ever need each other we have a set pattern we use, kind of like knocking at the door of each other’s mind, not blowing the tops off our heads like Leticia did today. Although she may be much more powerful than any of us is,” said Pete.
“And only if we don’t get a response do we crank up the power. Unless it is a five-alarm fire, then go for it,” added Josh. He liked the idea that even if Serena was bound and gagged she’d be able to call him. Although hopefully the only time she ever would be bound and gagged was in the dungeon when they were about to fuck her.
“Traffic lights,” said Serena, giggling.
“Huh?”
“Traffic lights. If all’s well I’ll think green. If it’s a little worrying I’ll think orange, and it there’s trouble I’ll think red,” she explained.
“Honey, you’re brilliant. I like that plan,” said Pete.
Josh smiled. Yeah, he did, too. Now she’d always be safe even if they weren’t there right with her.
* * * *
Pete had booked a private dungeon tonight. Chaining Serena to their big new bed was good, but tonight he wanted to use some more advanced furniture. They’d all come down together, but as soon as they’d arrived he’d tapped Serena’s mouth, indicating the scene had begun. She dropped her gaze to the floor and inside he smiled. She may have looked like the perfect little submissive, but he was willing to bet big money that sooner or later she’d do something to push his buttons. She was a genuine submissive, but one who liked to test out the boundaries, and a person who reveled in being punished for her deliberately naughty actions. He liked that in her. She was his, no doubt about it, but she was still herself as well.
“Undress,” he ordered.
As always, Josh shucked his clothing, leaving it where it’d fallen, and moved into the center of the room, standing in front of Pete.
Serena looked around, walked over to a chair, undressed, piling her clothes on the chair, then stepped daintily on the cold stone floor until she was standing beside Josh. Her posture was right, head bowed, legs apart, hands behind her back, but he could hear her mind murmuring in the background. She was excited, happy, enjoying herself, all of which was good. He hoped to surprise her during the evening though. A Dom could never allow his sub to become complacent.
The reason he’d chosen this particular private dungeon was because it had a huge, solid free-standing St. Andrew’s cross that could be inverted. It could also hold two people at once, a bonus when a Dom had two subs.
He stood beside the cross and said, “Serena, come here.”
He locked her hands into the upper cuffs and her feet on the step. When she was secure he called Josh over. “Josh, come here.”
It was time to manacle Josh facing Serena but on the other side of the cross. Since Josh was taller, he was able to place his feet in the holes at the bottom of the cross.
Pete had been unable to decide exactly which toys to bring with him and ended up bringing both a whip and a flogger. First a few cracks of the whip, he thought, then the more teasing strokes of the flogger. With his two subs facing each other on the St. Andrew’s Cross, they would be able to see every expression on the face of t
heir mate as he punished them. Pete was certain that would enhance their own experiences because they would be anticipating the next time he whipped them and also empathizing with every stroke of the whip on their mate. Oh yes, this was going to be arousing indeed.
As he had done in the mating cave, he cracked his whip several times as he marched around behind them, circling the cross. On his second circumnavigation of them both he made feints at one or another of them without actually striking either of them. Finally on the third lap he lashed the whip across their asses as he passed them then stopped behind Josh to lay half a dozen firm strokes over his ass. Once behind Serena he cracked the whip before touching her, leaving four neat parallel lines on her ass.
He walked over to his backpack, taking his time, moving slowly, casually, wanting them both to be thinking and wondering about his next step. He was careful to keep his mind blank, not to remind himself of his plans for the session, just in case he inadvertently let them see any of his thoughts.
Mostly, this mind-reading ability was a wonderful bonus, but he’d have to learn and practice secrecy for times like this. Anticipation built arousal, and he didn’t want to remove one of the key components of a good BDSM scene.
He took his flogger and stood behind Josh before using an underarm stroke to flick the strands over Josh’s inner thighs and just lightly touch his balls before striking his thighs again several times. Then it was Serena’s turn. He stroked the strands over her shoulders then along her sides before lightly hitting her breast from underneath. A quick glance at her pussy showed her lips and the top of her inner thighs damp with her cream. Josh’s cock was engorged and the head already red, so there was no doubt they were both enjoying the play.
Now for the surprise. He focused on keeping his mind blank, not turning his head to look, just using his peripheral vision to kick the brakes off the cross, then he rotated the arms slowly around until Josh and Serena were both upside down.
This time he used his flogger to tease them, trailing the strands over sensitive areas of flesh, with just the occasional hard whack to remind them that he was in charge here and to ensure they stayed on edge. He wanted to push them as far as possible, to make them restrain themselves and wait, so that their orgasms would be harder and take them higher than usual. Pete wanted tonight to be special so that their orgasms would be better than ever. His aim as Dom was to arouse them higher and higher, giving them ever greater pleasure, while teaching them that he was in charge, that he knew best, that he understood their needs and ministered to those needs in the best possible way.
