by KD Robichaux
“No. We don’t,” he speaks. It’s a gravelly, smooth sound, like whiskey on rocks, and it melts my core. That’s his Dominant voice, the keeper in him coming out.
I stumble on my words, coughing to wake my throat from its slumber. “Okay. Please schedule your next appointment, and I will see you both very soon.” I enunciate the word, my eyes looking him over with my brows drawn in sorrow. I hurt my keeper, and my wings are tucked and bent from shame and pain. I lost a feather when he looked at me like I crushed his heart in my hands.
He nods and stands, and with a few heavy, calculated, and unfaltering steps, he disappears from my office with Jacqueline in tow. Immediately, the tears fall and I break character like I shouldn’t. My shoulders slump and my knees cave in and bang together as I cry into my palms. I did this all wrong, and now I feel like I made a mistake.
I hurry and stand, losing my clothes, because I can sense him still near, I feel his presence, and I don't want to upset him more.
Stripping to nothing and falling bare on my knees just to the side of my desk, I drop my butt to my feet and lay my palms face up, lowering my head in surrender. Then I wait. Doing my best to stop the tears and breathe in and out calmly, I’m unable to. I hurt him. I hurt Xander. I did to him what I promised I would never do. Even after he crushed me and left me with wounded wings, I promised I would never hurt him.
I must have gotten lost in my thoughts, because I didn't hear him reenter my office until he speaks.
“Lizith,” he says sternly. It’s like a crack in the foundation when he calls me by my name. His voice crawls into my skin and bruises me with punishment. I’m his little psycho, his broken bird, his good little girl when he is proud of me. But ‘Lizith’ is reserved for the few times I have hurt him beyond what he can control.
I don’t look up, but I speak, desperate to share a conversation with him after years of being starved of it. “Xander, my love. I am so sorry. I wanted you to be happy, and I didn't do that. Break me. Please, pluck my feathers and bruise me. Just don’t hurt anymore, my keeper.” I choke out the last part with a pained sob. And before he can speak, I crawl to him, naked, bared to him completely, vulnerable, and stripped of any identity of my own. I am his now. I belong to Xander.
The carpet scratches my knees, and I do it purposely to punish myself. When his brown boots come into view, I bring the peaks of my knees to the tips of his shoes and slowly, looking up, my eyes assess every inch of him, especially his cock outlined in his fitted jeans. My heart cracks deeper in my chest. He is my home and he has been gone for so long. The image of seeing him or the dream of touching him again was never as good as this reality.
When our eyes meet, he is still stone-faced, and I shake my head, my silky hair rubbing back and forthagainst my hot, sensitive skin. “Please, touch me. Forgive me. Do whatever, but please fucking touch me, Xander.” Suddenly, he bends enough to grab hold of me under my chin and around my neck with authority and barely lifts, but I set into motion and come to stand.
“Watch your mouth, little girl. I don't like hearing nasty things fall from my bird’s cherry lips.” My knees buckle at his power. My core tightens and I begin to grow wet. God, I have missed his strong, aggressive control over me. “You hid from me. You knew about me being here all along. You have been here and you waited. You fucking kept yourself from me, and that isn't like you, Lizith. I trained you better than to challenge me. But here I am at your fucking mercy, mad as hell, and ready to punish you. You have me by the fucking throat, you bad girl.”
I choke when his grip tightens on my throat as he spins me around and pushes me against the wall. “I wanted to wait until you were ready. You told me you couldn't have me anymore, keeper. That’s why you left. You really hurt me when you left me, Xander.” My eyes drop, and those tears return with a vengeance, falling fast.
“Leaving you was the only choice I had, but coming back to you was always an option.”
“But… her.” I don't call her his wife, because I refuse to give him claim over anyone but me. “You left me with nothing but a goodbye and a kiss from death, Xander. You left me to start a family with her instead of me!” I snap. The years of controlled behavior that he instilled in me leaves, and I fucking snap, taking him by surprise and spinning in his grip. Banging on his chest and slapping his face over and over again, I start to scream, not caring if anyone can hear. But he is stronger.
“No!” Covering my mouth, his hand leaves my neck and he spins me around, and within seconds, his free hand comes down hard on my ass. The sting is so deep I feel it in my very blood, causing a pulse at the place of his assault.
“Uh!” I muffle a yell into his palm he clamps over my mouth.
“You calm down and tell me why you did this. You tell me what you wanted from this.” He has somehow not broken demeanor. Xander maintains control and exudes his authority.
I wait a few moments and take deep breaths through my nose, and once I calm, I nod against the wall.
“Good, now sit on the desk and spread your legs while you tell me.” I do as he orders and move to the desk. Scooting back on it, I spread my legs and watch him take a seat in the chair in front of me. He places his ankle on top of his opposite knee and stares at me. His cheek rests against two long, thick fingers, and his other hand is placed, beautiful and stoic, against the arm of the white chair.
His look is impassive as he peruses my body, his eyes assaulting my breasts then my little stomach, and all the way to my wet, bare core. I moan and move my hips in a circular motion, wanting some friction, but he stays seated and it drives me mad.
“Speak. Touch yourself while you do, Lizith.”
I gulp and tentatively move my hand along my stomach until my dainty finger makes contact with my clit. “Oh, Xander,” I whisper, a breathy moan in the closed office.
“Now, little bird, or I will leave and make you follow me again,” he threatens, and I nearly come, the thought of him leaving so I can chase him again sickeningly arousing.
“I wanted you. I wanted to be what you needed, and I knew I could be, but I had to do it so you wouldn't be able to leave again.”
“Fucking eyes. Now.”
My head snaps up at his demand and I meet his hungry, pissed eyes. “I… I… God, I wanted to do something so dangerous and wrong and sick, because it was a way for me to make you proud. You always loved me most when I was your bad little psycho.”
“And? Spit it out, sweet girl,” he coos, playing good cop, coercing it out of me.
“I followed you and waited until she slipped up. Waited until I could find a way to keep her from hurting you anymore. So when I found a way, I took it.”
He places his foot on the ground and leans forward, looking at me with interest and lust. “What did you do, little bird?” he challenges, knowing that isn't all I did.
I rub my clit faster with my secret on the tip of my tongue, and the minute he quirks his brow and his tongue brushes against his lip, I explode. “I had to steal you, Xander!” I orgasm hard, feeling every part of my body as if I were standing outside it and watching myself reach euphoria.
He growls and stands above me as I’m still coming down from my orgasm, my breath heavy. Grabbing my throat again and bringing my lips just inches from his, he whispers, “Stole me? What did you do, Lizith?”
I try to breathe, but between the orgasm and his grip, I can’t get my control back. “I… stole your sperm! I injected myself with your seed so I could give you what your foul, cheating wife can’t!” I yell out when I finally can, and I watch his face go stony again as he lets me go. I go to claw at him, but he steps back before I can pull him in to comfort him.
“How do you know she's cheating?”
It hurts that this is what he asks about first.
I almost say something, but decide against upsetting him more. “I have videos, surveillance of her having sex with Dr. Curtis, and she’s been lying. Taking birth control from him so she can’t get pregnant. She hurt you,
and I have proof. So I took your sperm. I wanted to give you what you wanted. I wanted to please you. I wanted to show you how much I love you.”
He keeps his back to me and plants his hands firmly on his hips. I stand on shaky legs and bring my arms around my chest to shield myself from the cold air.
“Xander. Please don’t be mad at me. I thought you would be happy. Aren't you happy with me for bringing us together again?” I wait, and when he says nothing, my heart breaks all over again. He isn't happy. He is going to say goodbye and go back to her, isn't he?
“Send me the tapes. Now. I expect them in my inbox by the time I get home.” And with that, he leaves me cold, alone, broken, and naked for the second time. And just like the first time, I lose my sanity a bit more. But I make a promise to win him back. I will chase him again if he leaves.
I will.
Chapter 6
Xander
How dare she hold this from me for longer than moments? Fuck, even seconds? She knew Jacqueline was a manipulative bitch, and yet she waited to tell me. I wanted to smack that ass beet-red and make her sleep at the foot of the bed like my little servant, begging for forgiveness. And trust me when I say—I will. Because Lizith, my little bird, not only put my life in sudden disarray, but she knocked me on my ass and pissed me off.
I should be incomprehensively upset, with no ounce of desire or understanding in my mind, but I’m not. I’m knocked over and fucking in love with my sweet psycho. She came back and claimed me, in the only way she knew how, and I may be ready to reclaim what was once mine—shit, has always been mine. But I will make sure she licks my wounds and aids the bruises I will leave on that ripe ass of hers. The bite marks I will ruin her dainty little thighs with. Shit. I want her.
Once home, I get to work on making sure Jacqueline receives the homecoming of a lifetime. Am I pissed? Yes. Hurt? No. And the only reason I am disgusted and manic over Jacqueline isn't for the loss of the marriage I am about to end, but over the fact that she manipulated me. She thought she could win at making me out to be the fool. Oh, but this serpent is vile, and I will make sure the tables will flip on her.
For years, she dangled her power over my head like a thorny crown, and now I have all the power to give it back tenfold, and she better believe I will. I wait at my desk, staring at my inbox, knowing damn well Lizith has my email address. She knows where I live, having access to private information in my medical files, and she knows my life and more. A fucking email isn't hard to find with her long list of obsessive skills.
When her name pops up, I immediately open it and see the attached videos and pictures with a note.
Master,
I am beyond sorry for what I’ve done. I shouldn't have gone through with this without consulting you first. I should be sitting at your feet, begging you to take me back and forgive me. Please don't leave again. I don't want to waste more time trying to make you mine again when we could just be together.
Please, Master, my keeper… Xander. My love for you is bursting from me, and I’m not afraid to take this even further just to have you.
I read it over again, and a smug, proud smile tugs at my lips as my cock hardens. I love how she has always been mine. Always willing to apologize when she fucked up, and always willing to do something to be sorry just to let me have a reason to turn that ass pink.
I slowly type the next sentence out as if I were looking her deep in the eye.
Send me your address. Have your ass bare and face up when I get there. Don't make me have more than one reason to destroy you tonight, little bird.
I wait, and within fifteen seconds, she responds. Another twitch in my dick, knowing she is on the other end hungrily waiting for a drop of water in her drought for me.
What time, my love?
I laugh low in my throat, knowing she is probably rocking with joy in her seat.
Does it fucking matter? Your punishment begins now. Ass up and waiting for me. Don’t you dare let your ass touch the bed. I hope your legs and knees fucking burn with exhaustion by the time I get there. I will know that you disobeyed me if they are not sore and you aren't trembling when I walk in. Leave the key under the mat. My key.
A brief moment passes as I stand to pour myself a drink. Amber liquid in an expensive glass tumbler. Putting one hand against my side in a balled fist, the veins straining, I stand over my desk and see her response waiting. I open it and read the crisp black letters.
Yes, Master.
And just like that, I am reminded that in just a few short hours, I will be with my other half again. My broken one.
“Little bird, you didn't show up after my final class today,” I growl into the phone at Lizith, my cock hard and ready for what was supposed to be our end-of-day rendezvous. I’ve been seeing her now for a month and a half, and every day, I have spent my afternoon and nights with her.
“I’m so sorry. I slept through my alarm. I’m not feeling well, my love,” she whispers the last bit, sounding so damn fragile, and it takes a hold of my chest. I’m falling for her fast. Even though this started as nothing, it has grown into everything to me. I would break bones and end the life of anyone who’d try to take her away from me. Lizith was innocent and untouched before me, soft and gentle, reserved just for my hands. But in the time since I’ve first taken her innocence, her adoration and love for me grew and she molded herself into the perfect woman that I dreamed of since I knew what wanting someone was.
But back then, even before she became that person, I wanted the girl she was then, and more so as the woman she is now. She obsesses my thoughts, haunts them day in and day out. I crave her like the blood in my body craves its survival. I want her even when she is being her worst self. Selfish, jealous, and even a little bit psychotic. In fact, I want her even more then. She is the physical being of an injected drug. Lizith isn’t a woman you start something with and then slowly weed out when you get bored. You don't get tired of Lizith; you fucking chase her to the ends of the earth and then hope, fucking pray, that she keeps you. Because if she let me go, I would not just chase. I would crawl on burning ash and bleed for her. Bleed for her to take me back.
The keeper is kept by his little bird.
Suddenly, I lower my voice as the alpha in me wants to get to her and take care of her. She isn't capable of taking care of herself, because only I can do that for her—because I am her strength when she needs it. “What’s wrong, baby?” It’s rare for me to call her such a thing, but I feel possessive and itch to cure her.
I can practically see her flushed cheeks and innocent little smile, coming alive like a child who's been praised. “I think I have a terrible cold. I can barely keep my eyes open.” She sounds vulnerable, all alone and waiting for me.
“I have just the remedy for you. I’ll be there shortly. Leave a key under the mat in case you fall asleep. Lock the door, baby. I don’t want anyone getting to you before I do. I’ll be your knight in shining armor,” I joke lightly as I stand, grabbing my closed briefcase and keys from my desk.
“Oh, Xander, that is so unlike you. You are usually the scary dragon.” She giggles first then sniffs. Fuck, she's my kryptonite.
“Call me a jack of all trades.”
“I think more a man of decadence and chivalry.”
“Nah, just a beast caged for the night so I can tend to my sick queen. I am far from all things good, baby,” I growl with a smirk as I lock my office.
“Not true, ‘cause I wouldn't do the things I shouldn't do if I didn't believe there’s a great man underneath all the danger and thorny tendencies.” Her voice is hushed and gentle, setting the tone for me to be tame and in control of my rough side. I hurry to the car, picturing her in her bed, wrapped in my clothes she steals, thinking I have no clue that she does it. Silly girl.
“So what are you saying?” I prompt.
“I think you aren't a monster or a beast. I just think you are a king with darker desires that speak to those same parts of me. That’s what I’m saying, X
ander,” she purrs, my name erotic sounding on her lips.
“Call me your keeper, and I promise to be only the gentle king tonight,” I challenge.
“You are always my keeper, and I could never go for too soft, maybe a little more gentle. But never go soft on me completely.”
“Never. I will be there soon, little bird.”
I hear her soft hum as she takes my praise. “See you, not soon enough.”
Within fifteen minutes, I am at her apartment door with my hands full with soup from the local bakery and some fizzy drink—like a real chump. I never even did things like this for my soon-to-be ex-wife. Not even close. And though this started out as something that was suppose to be nothing, I can’t help but see it’s beyond that now. Nothing has turned into everything to me.
She doesn't answer within seconds of my fist rapping against the door, so I let myself in with the key she left, impatient and determined to get in to see her. When I open the door, which gives a clear view of her small apartment’s hall where her room sits at the end, it frames her dainty little body. Her willowy legs are peeking out of one of my Harvard shirts she stole like a sneaky little pixie. Her long brown hair is thrown up on top of her head. And the part that grips my heart is the small amount of red blushing her cheeks and just under her upturned nose, where she has used a tissue over and over again to wipe away her sickness.
Lizith is my sick little bird, and this is the first time I will be able to tend to her like a real keeper would. She’s so fucking glorious in her weakness.
“Letting yourself in, I see,” she teases, stopping halfway to me in the middle of the hall.
“I was going to wait, but then I realized I’m not a man who can idly stand by and wait patiently to see his lady.” I start toward her slowly, my lip tugging in the corner as I watch her with deep intent.
