“And you don’t think spanking him will do that?” she asked Rosadin incredulously.
“No, because you never ended up hating me for spanking you.”
“Certainly hated you for a few days.”
Seldon chuckled. “Yeah, but I’m your dad. It’s not my job to be your friend. Forget what I’ve tried to preach to you. What do you think? Pros and cons for your theory when you argue your outcome.”
Silence followed, and Daniel strained to eavesdrop. This certainly wasn’t what he had expected from her after he had snapped at her.
“I remember your tales of Europe. Of a different time,” she said softly. “I’m a Mingler and…honestly, Dad, I think you miss being in the big world and not stuck here in the House of Dahlidin.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know, but I think the answer lies there. You read so much and love your reality shows, but they aren’t that real despite their name. The humans who come in here don’t bring you the full diversity of how their society works because they come in here and adjust. Some suppress in order to cope just like we do when having to live out there. I have to be a bitch and snap at people the way Daniel just did me. That’s the norm out there.”
“But not here.”
“You can learn at least as much from Daniel as he needs to learn from you in order to live amongst the Cubi, but you have to give him room. It takes patience, trust me, because Cubi born hunters have at least as much trouble learning to live in the human world as the ones we collect have here.”
“I will not let him get away with lip that my kids wouldn’t get away with.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying you should remember that he has so far been brought up to a different world so instead of just spanking him, talk to him. Learn why he does it. Then you’ll know how to explain the differences and why we need to live under a different authority. I sometimes hate the human world. But there are things I’m gonna miss, too.”
Seldon stayed quiet, and Daniel was flabbergasted. One thing was seeing how this place was so different from the world he was used to, but he had never stopped to think that there would be reasons behind the differences. Rosadin’s insight was welcome, and he hoped she’d get through to her old man.
“Do you miss the hunt?” she asked.
“Hunt?” Seldon laughed. “We didn’t hunt. You’re right, the world out there changes a lot. In here it doesn’t. We didn’t hunt we seduced. We worked, and humans often came to us. They fed us, and we used our superior strength to help them erect huge things or other hard labor. Then religion spread and sex became sinful. We were murdered and deemed demons so we fell back to structures and cities like this and held slaves. So did the religions, but we didn’t change our ways with slaves because they became our only opportunities to feed.”
Rosadin laughed. “Cubi history one oh one.”
Daniel hadn’t thought about how much a man over four hundred years old had experienced. He hadn’t thought about how much of a difference there was and what had caused it. He became curious about it.
“Yeah, but that one wasn’t for you. Are you done eavesdropping, boy?”
Daniel jolted at the question and looked in the mirror. His eyes weren’t as puffy anymore. “Yes, Master,” he said, joining them. Seldon patted the bed next to him so Daniel went to sit where he was directed to.
“The rules you lived under out there don’t apply in here. Our hierarchy is necessary for us to survive. Respecting each other is the most important and once you get to know why, you’ll hopefully understand. I did say you were going to read more, and this will be one of the first topics.”
“Yes, Master.” Daniel actually didn’t mind the prospect of books as much as he had when Seldon had first brought it up. Maybe because he thought it would be boring stuff like math and biology or old classics written in ancient English with hither, dither, and thou. Completely useless. And if their world stood almost still in here, no wonder Seldon still used corporal punishments. Didn’t mean Daniel would forgive him anytime soon for dishing out a spanking. Just sitting here, his ass stung. Not as much as he had feared it would, but he certainly felt it.
“Okay.” Seldon stood. “Can’t wait to see what style you find.” Seldon smiled and left them with an awkward silence hanging dead in the air. Rosadin finally looked away from the door to study Daniel.
“I understand why you dislike me. Doesn’t change the fact that this is our only means of survival and I won’t apologize for that. There are worse things out there than us, though.”
“Like what?” Daniel asked, thinking vampires and werewolves.
“Humans,” she finally said, smiling. Daniel snorted, opting to keep his opinion to himself this time. The further description of the way their society functioned and why, wasn’t thorough enough for him to understand, and he didn’t have to like it. He just wished every day could be like it had been the last few days. They hadn’t just been tolerable, they had been enjoyable. Seldon had been fun and nice, but he was still just an old asshole using barbaric methods to get his way.
Something Seldon had said in the kitchen came back to Daniel. Something about how Heimli’s plan had lured out the young and hopeful. Yeah, he had thought the world would be at his feet. He’d always been told that it would be—in one way or another, his life would unfold into something great. Humans being the worst thing out there? Please. They weren’t the ones kidnapping people to be sex slaves before they were finally discarded to work as cleaning ladies and janitors.
“Six months ago, Heimli, Chas, and I were in Chicago,” Rosadin said, sitting back. She looked out the window, drumming her fingers on her thighs. “I’d spotted a human I wanted. She was beautiful, and I had a dose with me as I followed her. Two men intercepted her before I could, and I wasn’t strong enough to take them on, so I stayed back. I called the police, but they were like, meh, not important enough to send out a car, full sirens. When they arrived she was dead. They’d had thirty minutes with her before the cops came. The men had beaten and raped her to death.”
Daniel shivered involuntarily. Rosadin turned her head and looked at him, the sadness in her eyes making him wonder.
“We don’t do that,” she continued.
“I’ve heard of one,” Daniel said, thinking of the faceless Elias that made Alex so afraid.
“Some are assholes—every race has those.” She looked away. “But we can’t feed off rape, that’s why we dose. We feed from lust and pleasure. And if a Cubus kills a human then they’re arrested and stand trial before the Grand House. Police didn’t even care enough to come help this woman. So yeah. There are worse things out there than us. Men who kidnap little children to use in sex videos. People who beat up old ladies on the street and film it just for fun. And the worst thing is seeing how women, in general, are treated because here we’re worth much more than in your world. If you have the stomach for it, you should look up human trafficking in Eastern Europe. That was the biggest shock for me. And my biggest problem with breeders. Men in particular. They still look at me like I was born for the simple reason they’d have something to stick their dick into. Man am I glad I feed from women.”
“Point taken,” Daniel said, looking at his hands. He’d heard of human trafficking, but it was obvious by the pain in Rosadin’s eyes that what little he knew didn’t hold the true horrors. And now he found himself insane again because he thought the Cubi way a lesser of two evils. They manipulated the human body’s own hormones with a chemical the Cubus body produced. Didn’t make it right. Didn’t take it that far away from a roofie. Except the one dosed fucking loved it and didn’t just sleep through it and wake up with a spotty memory at best.
“What do Cubi kids do to kick back around here?” Daniel asked to get away from the negativity of where their conversation had gone.
“We have a few clubs.” She smiled, and it reached her eyes. She seemed as happy as he was about leaving it alone. “How about we try
some makeup while we talk.”
Daniel nodded and gingerly took the seat she vacated.
Chapter Sixteen
Seldon plopped down on the sofa and flipped through the stations to see what was on. His mind wasn’t really on watching TV but on disciplining Daniel. The whole talk with Rosadin afterward was almost a blessing in disguise. He got to inform the boy of some history after hearing the water stop in the bathroom.
She had grown into a smart woman, and he valued her insights on Daniel. Didn’t mean he could change the ways of training him because every higher Cubi used corporal punishment in one form or another and Seldon would do the boy a disfavor is he didn’t teach him to expect that. There was no doubt that whatever purple eye he ended up the partner of he’d be subjected to that form of punishment.
But Rosadin had hit the nail on the head when pointing out he should find gentler ways than what he used in the training facilities. He’d already come to that conclusion and if the past few days hadn’t proven that, then he’d probably never learn. She hadn’t been around to see that, though.
Depending on how much Daniel had eavesdropped, then he’d have heard her advise Seldon to be gentler. Now he just hoped that would earn her some points with the boy. He’d leave them to it for now and not go snoop anymore.
The boy was right about what she did for a living. She did steal people and hand them to a life as a slave. Times had changed very much in the human’s world. Elias was proof that some never grew out of the ways of the human world. What was the man’s background? Seldon didn’t have access to personal files, so he could only speculate. He just knew he hadn’t been the one to train Elias when he came in as a breeder. Luckily, asshats like that were rare, and Seldon didn’t like him. Never had, never would. But he still showed him the respect he had to and he had even done his job as a doser, being as attentive to him as he was with his regular breeders. Was Elias just as rough with the Cubi he had to dose?
Seldon had problems with red-eyes in the stables all the time, and he spent as much time disciplining them as he did the stock—especially the Changelings. He needed them more appreciative about the humans because Lord Caledon had praised Seldon for the way the stock turned out. Caledon liked the ability to banter with the humans. Like he did with Seldon, too, when he dosed.
Seldon smiled at the friendship he had with his Lord. He liked the man—an infinitely fair man who didn’t think himself better than anyone but took his responsibilities seriously. And he was hot as fuck, too, and a very attentive lover.
The sound of the door opening at the end of the hall caught his attention. He turned off the TV and turned to look, finding only Rosadin with a smug smile on her face. She then stepped aside and held out her arm. Daniel came in wearing the white leather pants, the see-through shirt with print, and makeup. Seldon gaped and got up.
“Oh, wow,” Seldon muttered, stepping closer. Daniel smiled shyly and looked away. “Let me see you.” Seldon gently tipped the boy’s face up. Daniel looked up, and Seldon’s stomach dropped. All blood rushed to his dick while the prickle of hunger rose on his skin. Oh, God, if he could have snapped off a photo at that very moment. That look in his eyes. His focus lowered to Daniel’s light sandy, glossed lips and he had to fight himself to not lean in for a kiss. He wouldn’t last until the next night without feeding.
The overall look was pretty neutral, but his eyes took Seldon’s breath away. She had certainly used more than eyeliner.
“We decided against a shave first, giving him a bit of masculine mix,” Rosadin said.
“I love it,” Seldon said, not taking his eyes off the boy. At nineteen, the boy hadn’t really grown into his facial hair yet, and the sprinkle was kind of hot with the smoothness the makeup added.
“You had a question for him, right,” Rosadin said, getting both their attention, but she was looking at Daniel. Another shy smile and he looked down.
“What,” Seldon coaxed, smiling.
“If…if she could…do you, too.”
“Me?” Seldon exclaimed before laughing. Okay, so Daniel had heard he sometimes used makeup, too. Usually only at parties, but if he had Daniel given a makeover, why not play along. Especially if he had to smooth out the boy’s mood after a disciplining. “Okay.”
“Yes,” Rosadin exclaimed, and Daniel smiled triumphantly.
What had they talked about the past hour to put them in cahoots like this and for the boy to smile?
“Come on, Dad.” She took his hand and pulled him with her, and Daniel followed. Daniel sat on the bed while Seldon took a seat in the chair.
Seldon groaned as his pants were unyielding and tight around his physical proof of hunger. “Just a sec.” He adjusting himself.
“Aw, you made my Dad hungry.”
Seldon scowled at her before looking at Daniel, and he had the same expression as when he had stood up and jacked off during the dosing. And when they played with flour in the kitchen. And when he made Seldon miss his shot. He was beginning to notice a pattern here. Had it not been for the need to fast before a dosing, it would be fun.
“Boy, do you know what an exhibitionist is?”
“No.”
“Someone who likes to be watched. Gets off on it.”
Even the foundation didn’t hide the blush as Daniel bit his lower lip and looked Seldon right in the eye. Wildfire spread from Seldon’s neck and covered his entire torso, and if his dick had trouble finding room in his pants before, he certainly had trouble now.
“Obviously, I’m missing out on a story here,” Rosadin complained, tapping Seldon’s shoulder.
“Have Lord Caledon tell the story then.” Seldon turned in the chair to let her work. She took her time with him and even tweezed his brows.
“Yeah, I don’t see myself going up to Lord Caledon and asking him to tell me a story about an exhibitionist.”
“Ask him to tell you about a naughty Untouchable with exhibitionistic tendencies, then.”
“Oh, Daniel. Tell me the story while I finish here, then.”
“No!” Even Daniel’s voice blushed, making Seldon laugh.
“Sit still, Dad, why not, Daniel?”
“Cause…your Dad…was…”
“Oh, come on. Cubi kinda know their parents have sex lives. Just keep him out of the details.”
“I was being dosed by Caledon and Maldon,” Seldon said to get the ball rolling.
“Maldon, who’s that?”
“A purple-eye, think he’s from House seven.”
“You got double dosed by two purple-eyes? That had to be wild.”
“It certainly turned wild when Daniel decided to jack off in front of us, watching us.”
All hands left Seldon, and he cracked an eye to see Rosadin stare at Daniel with mock surprise on her face. Daniel smothered a grin.
“I’m so gonna ask Lord Caledon for his version. As much as we don’t have a problem with knowing about our parent’s feeding, I’d rather want an outsider’s version of this naughty little Untouchable’s escapades.”
“With the amount of sex I’ve seen around this place, I don’t think I even enter the category of naughty.”
“TMI, Daniel, I don’t need to know how my Dad feeds.”
Seldon laughed.
“I—I meant in a general…sense,” Daniel stammered.
“Sit still, Dad,” Rosadin commanded. Seldon growled and tried not to laugh while she continued beautifying him.
“Can I ask something?” Daniel asked.
“Always,” Seldon answered.
“How do you…hide feeding with a house full of kids?”
“We have one kid at a time. And you might find out later because while you two cook your own dinner, I might be in here, feeding.”
“And messing up my makeup,” Rosadin mumbled.
“I should change the sheets then,” Daniel mumbled, and Seldon once again smiled, feeling proud of the boy’s progress.
“Done,” Rosadin declared.
Seld
on opened his eyes and looked in the mirror. Maybe he should use it more often? “What do you think?” He turned to look at Daniel, once again awestruck at the boy’s beauty. At that second he was so fucking proud and grateful for Caledon’s decision of making him take in the Untouchable.
“Wow, it…kind of hides the eerie green glow.”
Seldon chuckled, glancing at Rosadin. “I’ll take that as a good thing, then.”
“I didn’t mean…I like it.”
“Good. God, I’d like to have Heimli take some real photos of you. You two up for that, baby girl?” Seldon asked, ignoring the pained expression on Daniel’s face as he returned his attention to forcing the last pillow into its casing.
“Sure.”
Yeah, the boy probably didn’t want to meet the guy again, but he had gotten past meeting Rosadin again. They even seemed to have found some common ground and Seldon held no illusion that it wasn’t from the spanking. He’d just have to poke at the boy’s vanity a bit to see whether or not he could get him to cooperate for a photo shoot. At least Daniel didn’t complain loudly.
“It’s actually almost Lord Caledon’s day of rite,” Seldon said. “Could be a good present. A huge ass calendar with the most beautiful breeders you can find.”
“Daniel is definitely in there, then,” Rosadin said, rummaging through the makeup. Seldon smiled and glanced at Daniel, and yup, they found the right button to push. God, he was beautiful, and Seldon was getting hungrier by the minute.
“So, you two making dinner, soon?”
Rosadin perked up at Seldon’s question. “Uhu. I even heard there’s fresh bread.”
“Yeah, that went well. In other aspects, Daniel is still a disaster in a kitchen, so I was hoping you’d teach him a trick or two.”
“I’m not a disaster,” Daniel said. Seldon and Rosadin looked at him, and the boy finally snorted. “Not a complete disaster.”
“We’ll figure it out. Daniel, I’m leaving this for you.” Rosadin pointed to the vanity table where a bunch of makeup was stacked along with a small makeup purse.
Untouchable Beauty Page 19
