Back to the thoughts of the dinner party next week and who to invite. Gordon had done well, so he invited him. Seldon also needed to bring Daniel up to speed on what it meant and what would be expected of him.
“I need to talk to you about a dinner party next week,” Seldon said. Daniel came over and sat down, and Seldon looked at the progress of putting away groceries. He was done, but he hadn’t prepared food for himself. Why not? With the angry sound of his stomach, fishing food out of bags had to have made him even hungrier. Was the boy too afraid to make any without being told to after seeing the breeder punished? That would be counterproductive. By the unhealthy color of the boy’s face, Seldon wondered. Maybe he shouldn’t have shown him so early on. Or he shouldn’t have shown him a punishment that strict. He still looked pale and shaky. “Get yourself some breakfast. We can talk while you eat. And fresh coffee.”
“Yes, Master,” Daniel said quietly and left the table again. Seldon plotted in the invites and ordered three breeders for himself, Caledon, Gordon and a red-eye named Jonah. He was new—a Changeling who took color to the iris eight years earlier. He’d definitely be hungry. His name didn’t have a mark next to it so it was a red-eye Seldon had never dosed before. And he had to, which was the whole point of the dinner parties. He was just sad he had never had the opportunity to meet the Changeling before. Since he didn’t know the others on the list either, he just picked at the top of the list, ending on Jonah.
Since Caledon had announced he’d be a regular at these dinner parties, he and Seldon usually invited two red-eyes to be dosed, so they could feed off both them and the breeders while doing their duties as dosers of the lower Incubi. He hoped he’d one day find someone he wanted to dose regularly like Caledon did him because it was so fucking fantastic when the doser knew what buttons to push. Once a month he got the best sex ever. And tomorrow he’d be completely beat with both Caledon and Maldon. He’d never tried him.
As per usual, Seldon indulged in the fantasy of getting to top Caledon. Just the thought of that ass made his cock drool. Shaking the thought of his Lord’s plump behind, Seldon’s mind went to where he knew Maldon from. He’d met him a few times at Caledon’s house, but he’d never attended a dinner party at Lord Caledon’s home. That could mean he was a Lord of House himself. Maybe he was of House seven where he also thought he’d seen the blue-eye?
Daniel placed a plate with scrambled eggs and a piece of toast with butter across the table from Seldon before going back for the coffee. He poured a cup for the both of them before he finally sat down and forked some eggs, but his hands were shaky. Seldon noticed and ran a few scenarios through his head. One thing was training a human in the stables another was training one in-house. He decided to try to take the boy’s mind off it by going over the dinner party plans.
“Dinner party in this world is us feeding. You probably figured that out. But the breeders need food, so you’ll cook for you and them that evening. Four humans and the red-eyes so that’s six in all. Once the party moves upstairs to the pillow area, you’ll be bartending. You don’t drink alcohol, clear?”
“Yes, Master,” Daniel said in a tiny voice. He was too fucking nervous for this and Seldon got the feeling it wasn’t just the ten fingernails he’d witnessed removed a few hours before. Surprise, surprise…was this the one with the least fight or the one choosing his battles. If the first was the case, then this fear was to be expected. Had he expected the strong silent type? The way the boy had stood straight and followed him without fighting him after being collared, then yeah, he had thought it a possibility.
“What’s up? You won’t be fed on—you know that by now, right?”
“Yes, Master.”
Still too timid. “Then what? You’ll even have clothes on because you’re off limits.”
“I’m not a good cook—”
Great, there it was. “I don’t expect a nineteen-year-old to be a fucking gourmet cook.”
Daniel let go of his fork and placed both hands in his lap as a waft of fear tickled Seldon’s nose, making it necessary to smother a growl.
“Eat your food, I don’t want you sick or something.”
The boy withdrew further into himself as he picked up his fork and shakily put something into his mouth. Fuck. Back to square one.
“You’re going to have to tell me what you’re afraid of right now. I’m not a mind reader.”
Daniel looked surprised at that, so Seldon figured he’d guessed correctly when he brought up the knives that morning. The experience of having raised slaves before did give him an advantage, but it didn’t mean he could guess why the boy was afraid now. Training slaves in the stables didn’t give him an advantage when training a companion. The punishment he’d witnessed was probably it, but what went through his head now?
“What’s going on in that noggin? You have a question? Questions are allowed, you know.”
“I was just wondering…what’s the punishment of failing at the dinner party...Master?”
“Depends on what you fail in. But unless you do something really fucking stupid like that other breeder, then I’m not going to rip your fingernails off if that’s what you worry about. And if the food stinks…” Seldon sighed and got up to look through the bottom drawer. He hadn’t cooked in months because he usually had the breeders do that themselves, but he had once had to make preparations where none of the breeders were available for the time needed to make it prior to their feeding. He did have a small stack of recipes, both easy and more challenging ones.
Maybe he should see whether someone had an Untouchable or Claimed with more experience to come and help Daniel through the first dinner party? In the meantime, the boy could practice on himself. “Here. Look through these and find something that looks doable. You get to practice on yourself. I’ll see if I can find you some help this first time.”
“Thank you, Master.” Daniel pulled the recipes closer and leafed through them, sending stolen glances toward Seldon. He let the boy look through them and scrolled through the list of Untouchables. He needed to see whether or not he knew any of their Sires or Lords well enough to invite them to the dinner party so he could ask them to bring the Untouchable. There were five left, not counting the three just brought in.
How the hell had they gotten three in one batch? Getting someone so young was difficult because many still lived at home or went to college and most were never alone long enough for them to vanish without a trace. Heimli’s idea of luring in the young and beautiful hadn’t been well received by the Grand House. At least that’s what he remembered Caledon mentioning in confidence when Rosadin joined the team, but it had worked. Damn had it worked. The main concern was that they would get caught, but apparently, Heimli’s theory about young people sneaking off to try their fortune had proved correct. No trace for the authorities to follow.
The Cubi had a lot of influence in the human world, selling doses to the virility-impaired men of power to keep themselves hidden, but humans too young to dose would bring trouble to the Cubi doorstep if leads pointed toward them. Well, young people who could disappear without a trace were a dime a dozen on the streets, but beauty wasn’t, and that was what counted in the Cubi world.
Seldon kept an eye on Daniel’s leafing through papers and noticed a recipe he remembered loving before his level had risen to above the need for food. It was an old handwritten piece of paper, tattered from years of use. It was an easy recipe, so he reached for it.
Daniel flinched away. Seldon slowed his movements at the boy’s reaction and eyed him. Yeah, bringing him had been a mistake, but he had to learn somehow. Seldon took the recipe and looked it over.
“This would be a good one to begin with. It takes twenty minutes, and it’s heaven. Not a lot of prep work.” Seldon placed it in front of the boy and sat back. Daniel looked over the recipe. “You up for it? I’ll have what you need delivered for tonight then.”
“Yes, Master,” the boy said, almost too low for him to hear. This was
getting annoying, and he had happily forgotten the timid slaves he’d had. He’d had his fair share of feisty ones, though, and they had needed a firmer hand from the beginning. Once again, never an in-house slave. Why did this boy’s fear bother him so much? Had he just forgotten how irritating it was when they broke so fast and gave up? He’d have to keep a closer eye on Daniel. He didn’t want to let the boy hurt himself in order to escape a destiny he feared so much that he’d act like this. It could get either better or worse.
The Untouchables were a status symbol because it took so much to look after one for years and not touch them. It was not expected that anyone under the color dark blue could restrain themselves, and Seldon had certainly wanted the boy on more than one occasion already. He even thought he’d have to order in extra breeders to keep himself in check since his dick got hard every time the boy took some clothes off. He was responsible for the boy’s development into a first class life-long partner to a Cubus and the boy’s mounting fear was not productive. Maybe he just needed some time. Seldon decided to back off a bit.
How to put him at ease?
Seldon looked around the place, his eyes ending on the hundred inch TV. That could work.
The boy was barely halfway through his breakfast, and he wouldn’t be done anytime soon the way he poked at it.
“Finish that.” Seldon got up to return the rest of the recipes. Whether Daniel answered him or not it was yet again too low for him to hear but he let it go, busying himself with going through the cupboards to see whether there were any snacks for the boy. Now all he needed was a snack for himself.
Daniel had almost finished his food when Seldon returned to the table. What caused him to remember this breeder, he didn’t know, but he would be a perfect snack for Seldon because this breeder was also pleasant to be around. And he could stay for dinner and help Daniel out. Seldon smiled and fished out his phone to send a text.
Daniel cleared the table, and Seldon moved to the sofa with the coffee and mugs to not crowd the boy too much. It became quiet in the kitchen so Seldon got up and peered around the corner to see what Daniel was doing. He stood in the corner of the kitchen and looked at the recipe.
“Come on, leave that for now,” Seldon said. Once again too timid a sound came out of the boy’s mouth, though his lips moved. “Speak up.”
“Yes, Master.” Daniel hesitated for a beat before walking to him. Seldon steered him by the neck to the sofa and took a seat, patting the space next to him. Daniel sat stiffly.
Seldon handed him the remote. “We have Netflix. Any ideas for a movie?” The boy looked at him as if he had sprouted a second nose. “You do remember me saying that your time with me doesn’t have to be unpleasant, right?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Pick a movie. No horror flicks, please.”
Someone came through the front door, and from where Seldon sat, he could see the length of the hallway. His snack had arrived, naked and handsome.
“Hello, gorgeous,” the breeder yelled.
“Jeff! Come help Daniel choose a movie.”
“Oh, so that’s why Sire said something about snacking.” Jeff stopped at the end of the hall, leaning casually against the wall, smiling.
“What’s a movie without a snack? I got chips for you and Daniel.”
“And Daniel is?” Jeff pushed away from the wall and came closer.
“My Untouchable. Arrived here yesterday.”
“Hey,” Jeff said, holding out his hand. Daniel forced a smile and shook his hand, squeaking a low hey in return. “Skittish little fellow, isn’t he.”
“Yeah, he witnessed a punishment earlier today.”
“Uh,” Jeff pulled a face. “I’d be skittish, too, if I saw someone getting his ass whipped blue the day after I arrived.”
“Worse.”
Jeff’s brows shot up. He pulled in air as if he was about to ask for what, but then his eyes diverted to Daniel. “Daniel, how about you and I go fix a bowl for those chips? We can whip up some dip, too, if your Sire has something in the fridge for it. And I need something other than coffee.”
Oh shit, yeah, Jeff didn’t drink coffee, Seldon remembered. Hard to tell them all apart when they didn’t come around that often. Of course, since Jeff was collared and claimed by Sire Jaydon he wasn’t someone you could just schedule a time with.
Seldon nodded toward the kitchen when Daniel looked to him for permission. Hopefully, it would be good for him to talk with Jeff.
* * * *
Daniel followed Jeff into the kitchen. He didn’t really want chips. He’d just eaten, and even that food had to be forced down. Eating around naked men was new, too. The breeder’s screams and pleas had done nothing as his nails had been pulled off, and it kept replaying in Daniel’s brain. The second he thought Seldon wasn’t that bad, he’d either slap Daniel, or Seldon would do something crueler. This took the prize, though.
And now Daniel had to make dinner for others. He was going to fail so miserably, and he had no idea what Seldon would do. Seven thousand percent more ideas than Daniel’s worst nightmares could conjure up seemed about right, and Daniel had no problem admitting to himself that he was scared shitless of the big man. Taking the word master in his mouth was no problem now.
The cruel reality that his good looks were what landed him here and that he was nothing but something beautiful had finally sunk in at the stables. Every naked person here was a looker. Every Cubi was, too. They took the best, and here he was. His own vanity had landed him here instead of bored at school.
What had his life been like before he’d been so stupid as to run off, thinking he had the whole world figured out? Safe at home and loved by almost everyone at school. He’d had friends, and the worst task of the day was when he had to fill the dishwasher. Now he had to keep a house, which reminded him he had to change the bedding. He didn’t even know how to work a washing machine for crying out loud. How was he not going to get on this sadistic master’s last nerve? If a spanking over his knee was the punishment for not saying master, then…
And every time he thought about possible punishments, the breeder’s pleas and screams replayed in his head. He had to get out of there, but in the busy maze of hallways, there was no way he could find his way back to the train tracks even if he could get past the hallway security paired with his collar. And the guy, who had taken him from the train, had said he was in the middle of nowhere. By the glance out the panorama windows, he was in the middle of a huge forest.
With a sinking feeling, Daniel reevaluated Gordon and Seldon’s musings about what he was. Truth was, he was too afraid to be the one who chose his battles, and the realization made him loathe himself for being weak, pathetic, and useless.
“You okay?” Jeff asked. Daniel shied away from the hand on his shoulder and chose to nod, afraid Jeff, who seemed too friendly with Seldon to be a slave, would tell on him. “No, you’re not. What did you see today?”
Daniel glanced toward the den, happy the wall hid Seldon in the sofa. Daniel then shook his head, not wanting to talk about it. Not with this guy. Jeff sighed, looking concerned. Then he nodded and rummaged through a few cupboards to find a bowl before looking in the fridge. He found a carton of juice and a glass, placing them on a tray, before finding other stuff. Daniel just watched.
Jeff looked mid-thirties and well-trained. He was handsome and had a neatly kept beard.
“How long have you been here?” Daniel asked.
Jeff turned long enough to smile at him. “Almost ten years. I was scared shitless, too. Had my month of not fitting in at all. Never gotten whipped, though.”
Whipped? Getting fingernails pulled off? What’s next? Waterboarding?
Jeff leaned against the table, looking at Daniel. “Life can be pretty good here, even if you’re not one of the lucky ones who change into a Cubus.”
Daniel had a hard time believing that.
“What did you see?” Jeff asked softly.
Daniel still wasn’t go
ing to tell Jeff and decided to change the topic. “Have they ever given you an O.D.?”
“Yeah, I’ve been overdosed,” Jeff said, looking like he definitely didn’t like that one. “And that shit takes only once to learn from. Unless you’re really thick.”
Daniel nodded, not knowing enough about how it felt to see how it could. He just feared it since Seldon could use it as a punishment. The other Incubi who had joined them seemed like sadists, too. This whole day had turned from bad to completely fucking crazy, and it wasn’t even noon.
“Do you know how it works?” Jeff asked. “The dose?”
Daniel shook his head. “I just know it’s something in their spit or semen.”
“Secretions. They have glands we don’t, and they make a powerful aphrodisiac. It’s also what makes them so damn virile. They don’t automatically produce it and release it—they can hold it off, which in my case is pretty good, but others need it.”
“You don’t?”
“No, I’m a pleaser. A top. You could see the problem with Seldon dosing me, right? The guy doesn’t bottom for anyone except when being dosed and that shit can get wild!” Jeff grinned goofily.
“Then how can he feed from you?”
“Me sucking dick. If he dosed me, I’d probably end up uncontrollable. Since he can’t feed on me from topping me, I’d be in trouble and just squirm around in my own cum.” Jeff looked thoughtful while Daniel tried not to gape at the language or the careless way he spoke of it. “Hell, I might even try my luck with you being that far gone, and that would certainly end up with me being whipped or some shit like that. No one touches an Untouchable. Hence the title.”
Untouchable Beauty Page 7
