But the voice never came. While Zanti read, Ren played a video game with Li Po. But his mind wasn’t on it.
He found his thoughts wandering, his body hot, his heart locked in his throat too often when he tried to speak or laugh or even eat. He could not stop thinking about the way they’d lost themselves three nights before, how their kisses sought depth, how their bodies wrestled.
He looked down to find himself erect. It wasn’t unusual in the harem. Lots of the men walked around sporting erections at various times.
Supportive as always, Li Po said, “You’re mind isn’t on the game. How ‘bout some ice cream?”
Ren looked up as Li Po handed him a dish of frozen chocolate. “Thank you.”
After they ate, Li Po said, “I’m off to bed now. Have a good night.”
Still sitting, Ren looked at his own empty alcove, wanting to go lie down but afraid. Afraid that Zanti would not join him. Or maybe afraid that he would. For then what would he do? He wanted him so very very badly.
Finally, he forced himself up to prepare for bed. As he entered the bathroom, he noticed Zanti behind him. Together they brushed their teeth. They used the facilities.
Upon exiting, Ren said softly, “You are welcome in my bed any time.”
Zanti stopped a few feet away, head down, body frozen.
Ren watched his aura go black, then red stripes criss-crossed it. He slumped, his mind disappointed to see those colors. He wanted to take back his words, which had seemed harmless, but how could he know? If only Master had called them, ordered them upstairs, things would be fine. They wouldn’t be entirely on their own.
“All right, then.” Ren turned and walked to his own bed. He pushed down the covers with a shush, and immediately heard bare footfalls and a wisp of breath. He looked up. Zanti stood at the entryway, his aura now glimmering clear blue as the water that lapped the shallows of the pool. His pert, sweet cock was semi-erect, unusual for him.
Fearful of opening his big mouth again, Ren simply held the covers up in invitation.
It worked. Zanti stepped into the alcove and sat on the edge of the mattress.
Together, they both got into the bed, the area heating up around them in seconds.
Without Master to set them up, without the cuffs and chains, all was new to them.
Finally, Ren whispered what he’d said the previous night. “I am here for you.”
Zanti’s hand touched the center of his chest, just a brush, palm down. Ren’s heart danced and raced. His cock fully hardened. In the shadows he saw so many pink lights dancing across Zanti’s skin, everywhere now, not just in the hidden folds of skin, not just at the base of his cock, or on his lips. But everywhere, rushing into his outer aura, pink mixing with blue to make that beautiful lavender iridescence that beckoned Ren, invited, consented.
Ren had never wanted anyone more than he wanted Zanti right now.
Zanti rolled toward him, his breath fanning Ren’s shoulder, neck and jaw.
When their lips met, every cell of Ren’s body opened in pleasure. His cock leaked against his stomach. He was doing his master’s bidding. Both his masters. But it was more. He cared. He loved. He could admit that now.
Arms came around him.
It was as if he had found his home.
*
One Year Later
Ren placed the tulip bulb into the earth and smoothed dirt over it. Then he took a blue pitcher and poured fresh water all around it.
The leafy trees overhead provided dappled shade. A soft breeze made their branches tremble. The sugary fragrance of blooming flowers surrounded them.
When he was done with the watering, he looked up. Zanti sat on a clean blanket, dark eyes watching him, his bangs scattered across his face.
Here in the garden was the only area they were allowed to wear clothes. Lightweight shirts and shorts to protect from the sun. Knee guards. Slippers.
Ren got up and went to the blanket. Without a word, he lay down, tired from working. He placed his head in Zanti’s lap, bent his knees, and crossed his arms over his chest.
“I never thought Master would give us this place. This garden.” It was fenced with a locked gate, but it was theirs. Through a new door at the back of the atrium, they could go to it whenever they wanted. The other harem members were welcome as well.
Zanti ran a hand through Ren’s hair, combing gently.
“I could not have asked for a better life,” Ren murmured. “To be showered with gifts. To have everything I want.”
He turned his head. Zanti was looking at him intently, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
“But the best part is you,” Ren finished.
Zanti scowled. Ren had seen that scowl many times. In the beginning, it had meant something so different than what it communicated now. Before it had been about resentment, mistrust, maybe even a little hate.
But now the scowl came only when Ren got too sentimental. It was a fake-mocking of Ren’s enthusiasm for their love, for now that Ren fit in so well here, he tended to say what he thought without embarrassment, never shy.
Zanti still did not speak except those rare times he might order Ren to “Come!” He would always be shy. Even now his cheeks tinted pink at Ren’s words. The pink was a flush of capillaries beneath the skin, but there was also a pink light that flashed up to mix with his aura. And above his head a blue orb spun. It always appeared whenever Zanti looked at Ren, or touched him, or made love to him.
Unable to see his own aura, Ren had to imagine he had one too, twin to Zanti’s, for the spirit of love was strong in him. Zanti was the core of it. But he loved his mysterious Master intensely for bringing them together.
In his heart, finally, he’d become the pleasure slave of his dreams. Whole. Loving. And loved in return.
The End
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Thank you for reading “The Slave Harem.”
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Wendy Rathbone
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About Wendy Rathbone
I love to write.
The reason I write romance these days is because the overwhelming power of falling in love is a game-changer. It makes sad people instantly happy. It makes bleak reality look sun-warmed and friendly again.
I have written in all genres: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, paranormal, contemporary, erotica, romance. But I keep coming back to romance as the main focus. Gay romance. Male/male romance. The idea of two men falling in love is irresistible to me. It’s all I write now.
All my books are available on Amazon and most are in Kindle Unlimited. So if you have the urge, go take a look. See what’s on the shelf.
Love to you all!
Wendy Rathbone
THE SLAVE PA
LACE
Wulf and Locke
WENDY RATHBONE
Conquered. Captured. Sold as a pleasure slave.
After being taken as a prisoner of war, Wulf fights his captors and is sold as a One-Night Thrall to be used and abused, then put to death. He is purchased by a high ranking master of the famous Slave Palace. Why Locke buys him, Wulf has no clue, but something about this master is intriguing. Instead of abuse, Wulf is plied with luxuries he has never known by a man who actually seems to respect him.
Jaded. Looking for a challenge.
Eminent Master Locke takes on a bet with his best friend that he can’t train and tame a dangerous One-Night Thrall in ten days. But something about this slave stirs him like no other before. All bets aside, Locke has the urge to keep Wulf, as well as save his life. But Wulf is fierce, unwilling, and his consent papers have been forged. If Wulf doesn’t soon submit to his role as a slave, he will be sent to death as a prisoner of war.
A sweet, slow-burn love story taking place on an alternate contemporary Earth where owning pleasure slaves is legal.
LORD VAMPYRE
Wendy Rathbone
When Lord Neverelle becomes a guest at Cliffside Keep, Vanni watches helplessly as Damion, the young man he’s grown up with and secretly loves, falls for the alluring and seductive stranger. Lord Neverelle is danger incarnate, and soon takes control of the household.
Not satisfied with Damion alone, Never uses a vampire trick called “the tempt” to compel Vanni, who is swept into a love triangle that includes fiery passion and nightly threesomes.
Now Vanni must ask himself, is any of this consensual? And what about Damion—does he really want to be with Vanni, or is it all a sensual play controlled by vampire compulsion?
M/M and M/M/M romance.
The Imposter Prince
Book 1 in The Imposter Series
Wendy Rathbone
His love for an enemy prince threatens his very life.
Dare does not mind serving the spoiled and cruel Prince Darius. Growing up with him, Dare does everything for Darius including homework, bed play demands, and even doubling for him as the prince grows too paranoid to face even the smallest of crowds.
But everything changes in a single moment when Dare, while posing as Darius, is abducted by the enemy.
A captive in a new and hostile land, Dare meets another prince who seems just as indulged and rotten as Darius—until Dare gets to know him, until they fall in love. Against his will, Dare must continue to play the role of Prince Darius for real, or risk everything: his love, his land, and his very life.
His only chance for survival is to keep a secret from the one he loves, a secret that is also killing him.
A male/male, enemies to lovers novel of mad kings, troubled princes, abduction, fevers, cold dungeons, warm hearths, comfort, wine, and true love.
THE IMPOSTER KING
(Book 2 of The Imposter Series)
Wendy Rathbone
Their love made them close. Their secret kept them closer.
Dare and Prince Malory are happily married and in love, but the secret of Dare’s true identity as a mere servant threatens their romantic bliss.
Messages to the king of Brookfall go unanswered, and rumors of war unsettle both kingdoms. Until one day heralds arrive with bags of gold to ransom Dare and demand his return to Brookfall.
King Millard, Prince Malory’s father, orders Dare to make the journey to see his father. But Dare is not the true heir, and if they meet, the secret he and Mal have been guarding will be revealed. Also, impersonating a royal means a death penalty offense. Worse, it could mean all-out war between their countries.
Panic. Despair. Lovers torn asunder. Personal sacrifice. More dark secrets revealed. An ending that will leave you breathless.
Ganymede: Abducted by the Gods
Book 1 in "The Fantastic Immortals" Series (A standalone read)
Wendy Rathbone
My name is Ganymede, and I have been betrayed.
Every boy my age dreams of leaving home to embark on a noble adventure, but never does any boy imagine it happening as it did to me. On the evening of my 18th naming day, when I expected no more than a chalice of wine and a few drunken flirtations to tempt my innocence, I was instead sold by my father to the god, Zeus - not because of anything particular I had ever done or said, but solely because I am considered beautiful among mortals, and my father found more value in a few gold coins than in the well-being of his youngest son.
To be honest, I never believed in the gods, but my lack of belief held no power in Olympus or on Earth. Now under Zeus's influence, I am kept drunk on ambrosia in the sun-lit halls of the immortals, alternately amazed and horrified at the power these beings hold over others, and how darkly they influence the progress of humanity itself. How very much I want to hate Zeus for kidnapping me, and yet he shows me mostly kindness, even on that fateful night when we shared a bed for the first time. Kindness, yes, but also a godly and unyielding refusal to take no for an answer... probably because he could read my ambrosia-fevered curiosity as much as my naive, inexperienced terror. He owns me, after all, just as he owns everything else, so perhaps it never occurred to him that a captive and a slave might not make the best of lovers.
Throughout my time at Olympus - who's to say how long I've been here, for time on Olympus is not the same as that on Earth - the only thing that gives me hope comes to me in dreams and visions. His name is Sable and he is a magnificent shape-shifter in the form of a giant raven. When he first spoke to me in my mind it was with a resonance unlike any I had ever known - his mind and mine sounding a single note together, a song without words, a promise of freedom, a glimpse of some distant but very real possibility of this thing we humans call Love. But now he is silent. Perhaps I dreamed his voice. Perhaps I have finally lost my mind.
ZEUS (Conquering His Heart)
Book 2 in "The Fantastic Immortals" Series (A standalone read)
WENDY RATHBONE
When I throw the lightning and summon the thunder, it isn't always out of anger, but often from a love so all-consuming it could only be the effect of Eros himself. Yes, he is beautiful. Of course he is. How could he be otherwise, with hair the color of sunlight and white-feathered wings that drape to the floor? And he is as ancient as the myth of time itself, an immortal with powers and glamour beyond my ability to imagine. He struggles to teach me wisdom, control, strategy, yet I sit here babbling like a child, for all I can think of is how I might try - at least let me try! - to prove myself to him in some way that will cause him to crave my company and my touch, just as I crave his.
I do not yet know how to be a god, for I am only 18 and still just a silly boy who has fallen in love with Love himself, while my father Cronus plots and schemes to lock me in his dungeon and make me his slave forever.
A male/male romance.
BUYING YOU
Wendy Rathbone
It’s one thing to be a beautiful cover model on billboards, buses and magazine covers. It’s quite another to be sold as one.
Prized for his looks, Dane knows it’s shallow, but he is on his way to having it all. It feels good to be gorgeous, smart and have top designers from around the world requesting him.
When he returns to his hometown to participate in a small Date-For-Charity auction, it seems harmless enough—until a hooded man walks in and bids higher on him than anyone else. Dane is intrigued but nervous when he finds out the guy has vanished after the winning bid, leaving only a limo behind to whisk Dane off into the night.
Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, and hot steamy nights that challenge two guys’ trust issues along with their biggest fears.
Eye Scry Publications
A Visionary Publishing Company
www.eyescrypublications.com
ank you for reading books on Archive.
The Slave Harem: A Kingdom of Slaves Book Page 22
