by Lyra Evans
The RACK was a well-known kink club, specializing in the various components of BDSM play. But Risk Aware Consensual Kink was not at all what Niko would have associated with a sex trafficking organization like the Woods. The RACK was known precisely because of its accreditation from the Escort’s Union for safety and protections for sex workers. That the Woods would trawl for people here of all places did not sit well with Niko. There was a moment, months ago, when he was lonely and horny and almost out of his mind, that he’d considered coming here to find a partner. Just for one night. It was all he thought he could give. All he thought he needed. But he’d talked himself out of it in the end. The idea that he might have brushed elbows—or worse—with someone associated to the Woods made his stomach clench.
“This place has won ‘Safest Work Environment’ from the Escort’s Union five years in a row,” Niko said, staring out the window of the car at the black-fronted building. Floodlights made to look like the thick leather cuffs Niko wore at his wrists and ankles shot beams of white light upward and down, illuminating the silver club sign and the plain black entrance door flanked by two bouncers. A lineup of people, all dressed in varying kinds of fetish gear, waited behind a black velvet rope along the sidewalk.
“Well, what did you expect?” Starla asked. “You think the Woods is set up in a club called ‘Sex Traffickers Unite’? They need to keep their actions hidden under the veneer of legitimate businesses. I’d guess most of the clients and people involved wouldn’t look like murderers and rapists at first glance. That’s kind of the point, isn’t it?”
Niko frowned, watching as the car ahead of them released its passengers. A woman in a leather bodysuit and four-inch spiked heels emerged toting a set of chain leashes. Three people emerged after her, all of them crawling on the ground on all fours. One of them ran around the car to her side, carrying his own leash in his mouth and offering it to her. She took it, tossing the keys to her car to the valet, and nodded to the bouncers as she guided her pets into the club.
“How are we to stand out as the kinds of people interested in buying someone to torture and kill if everything is meant to look on the level?” Niko asked harshly.
Starla rolled her eyes. “That’s why you’ve got me, idiot. Just follow my lead.” She paused, adjusting her hair and eyeing Niko. “Are you ready for this, Niki? Ready to do whatever it takes to get an invite? Or let Cobalt here do whatever it takes?”
Niko nodded. “Yes, obviously.” Cobalt shot him a glance.
“What might I need to do?” Cobalt asked, his expression inscrutable to Niko.
Starla shrugged. “Can’t really say yet. Depends on who’s there and how rowdy the night gets. But you’ve got to be willing to push even your own limits.”
Cobalt seemed stricken. “I will do Niko no lasting damage. Nothing that cannot be undone.”
He pulled the car up to the front doors, urged forward by the valet.
“Do worry about me,” Niko said, gathering his thoughts and willpower. “Just assume I’m okay with everything. I’ll let you know if there’s a problem.”
Niko reached for the door to exit, and Starla followed, but as he did, he heard Cobalt mutter something like “Why am I not reassured?” before exiting the car himself.
With no time to address the question, Niko fell into character, dropping his chin slightly and acting as though he had no vision beyond the blindfold. He held the edge of his leash in his hands as he casually felt his way around the car to Cobalt’s side, his bare feet padding silently on the rough ground. Starla stood confidently to Cobalt’s other side, but neither of them mattered much to the people standing nearby.
The moment Cobalt emerged from the vehicle, smoothing his suit and flashing his rings, those nearby fell into a hush. Niko heard some strangled groans and sounds from the waiting lineup, while some of the closest submissives, marked by their lack of clothing among other things, seemed to visibly swoon. Even the valet’s mouth fell open at the sight of Cobalt, and only the two bouncers seemed completely in control of themselves.
Niko offered his leash to Cobalt, who took it without a second glance at him. He dropped his keys into the valet’s hands and walked toward the door with Niko and Starla in tow. The bouncers considered him for barely a breath before pushing the black door open for him to pass through. Cobalt didn’t deign to nod to them as he passed, and Niko let himself be led by the neck into the club.
The lighting in the club was dim but not overly dark, with spotlights set up in a rainbow of colours highlighting different platforms and alcoves. They passed through the entrance hall, a black-floored room with dazzling pixie lights strewn around the edges of the ceiling, illuminating a canopy of snap hooks and other accoutrements by which to hang willing participants. A young woman was currently hanging by her ankles, her legs spread wide, as another woman licked and probed at her, making her moan and writhe. Her arms were tied up behind her, and her long hair gently brushed the surface of the raised platform beneath her. The woman who pleasured her slapped her ass whenever she moaned.
Cobalt led them further into the club, into the main hall where the majority of people seemed to be gathered. Niko padded along behind, the tile cold against his feet. The raised platforms here were in varying heights, and sometimes the pedestals themselves were actually clear rooms in which a performer was kept, bound and hooked up to some toy or machine by which passing guests could stimulate them. Cobalt paused near one such clear pedestal. The man inside was blindfolded, his pale purple hair reminding Niko strongly of Sade. His arms were bound up above his head, his ankles to the feet of a chair on which he sat precariously. There was a device attached to his penis, and when Cobalt toggled a dial on the outside of the room, the man arched, crying out, as his cock hardened and jolted under the inputs of the device.
Cobalt dialed the device back down. “Fascinating machine,” he murmured, shooting Niko a look that made him hot.
Various groups were set up atop the pedestals or beneath them, gathered to watch the show or performing it themselves. Floggers and paddles snapped against skin, punctuating the heavy bass of the music. The walls of the room were covered in thick red and black hangings, lending a luxurious feel to the place, though it was really just a giant chamber. Alcoves and nooks were lighted by spotlights from across the room, always in different colours, meaning there was not a single area of the club that was dark enough to perform dangerous or illegal activity in without being seen. Niko took in as much detail of these places as he could without looking as though he was looking.
“I think drinks are in order,” Cobalt murmured so only Niko and Starla could hear him.
“Man after my own heart,” Starla said. “We should go together so you can pay but aren’t seen to serve us.”
Cobalt said nothing to this but made his way toward the bar, pulling Niko along. The scent of the place grew stronger the further in they travelled. It was a strange mix of sweat, sex, and leather, with the sharp smell of alcohol and something vaguely floral. Cobalt stopped by a wall with a cut-out that formed the bar. Immediately, a Fae with dark eyes and orange hair appeared to take his order. He chose three drinks with names Niko couldn’t identify, likely from a menu Niko couldn’t allow himself to look at.
The bartender took Cobalt’s card, tapping it against a console of some kind to start a tab, then handed it back and went about making the drinks. Nearby, the sound of leather slapping against flesh caught Niko’s attention. He turned to find a young man with sky-blue hair and pale skin sprawled over a padded plank, his wrist and feet bound in place. Another man, this time with skin the colour of sandstone and roan red hair, whipped the other man’s ass with fluid, rhythmic strokes. The bound Fae moaned loudly with each strike, and Niko suddenly saw himself in that position, Cobalt behind him flogging him wildly until Niko couldn’t bear it anymore and came.
His cock hardening as he watched, Niko felt the collar at his neck tighten, the leash jerking to one side. Suddenly, he was pulled again
st Cobalt, his head angled back as Cobalt groped his exposed ass and whispered in his ear.
“Shall I find one for you? How bad have you been, Pet, to want such a flogging?” he breathed. Niko let himself moan under his breath. “Or perhaps the question is how bad do you want to be to deserve it?”
Niko groaned softly as Cobalt reached up and pinched one of his nipples before pushing him away. The bartender served Cobalt the drinks, and Cobalt placed a glass filled with red liquid in Niko’s hand. He handed a purple one to Starla and took a clear one for himself.
“Tastes like how a massage feels,” Starla said, taking a sip of hers.
Niko raised his glass to sip his own drink, catching the briefest hint of cinnamon and heat, when Cobalt stopped him.
“Down it in one gulp,” Cobalt told him. Niko shivered, his body tense. He hesitated only a moment, aware that anyone could be watching them at any time.
He tipped the glass to his lips, opening his throat to let the liquid pour down. It tasted of fire and hunger and set every nerve in his body alight. Gulping the last of the drink, Niko barely managed to keep hold of the empty glass as his body went into involuntary shudders. He convulsed a moment, racked with pleasure so intense he cried out. He wanted nothing more than sex in that moment. He wanted Cobalt to fuck him, hard and deep, and pounding out his orgasm until Niko really couldn’t see. But as quickly as the pleasure came on, it faded. And Niko was left standing there, knees weak and chest heaving, as Cobalt took the glass back from him.
Setting the empty glass on the counter, Cobalt wrapped the leash around one hand, forcing Niko to stand closer to him. “Just a little something to get you in the right mood,” Cobalt told him, and Niko clenched his jaw, his cock so hard he could barely think straight.
“Yes, Master,” he breathed, and Cobalt immediately leaned in and latched onto the soft skin beneath Niko’s jaw, just above the collar, with his mouth. He sucked and worried at the skin with his teeth, and Niko gritted his teeth, his eyes crossing slightly. He was grateful for the blindfold, then, if only to deny Cobalt the satisfaction of seeing just how out of control Niko really was.
“Shall we find ourselves a spot to take in a show?” Starla asked, pressing closer to them both. Cobalt released Niko’s neck, easing up on the leash slightly. Mind in a whirling haze, Niko scrabbled to regain control of himself. “I think I see a prime spot over there,” she added with emphasis, gesturing toward the opposite end of the hall. Niko tried to look without looking, following Starla’s gesture.
There was a set of black, circular couches surrounding a clear pedestal. Atop the pedestal was a black, lightly padded spanking horse with silver hooks to facilitate bondage. There were also silver snap hooks hanging from the ceiling above it, and a small container of toys sat at the base of the spanking horse. Inside the clear pedestal was woman with lime green hair, blindfolded, gagged, and wearing nipple clamps, suspended via ropes and other supports with her legs spread wide to either side of her, her knees bent. A machine sat below her, topped with a rather impressive purple dildo. Niko surmised there was a dial or button like the one Cobalt had pressed earlier that would activate the machine, at the discretion of the nearby guests.
Surrounding the pedestal were a group of men and women, watching in dark delight as one of the men toyed with a remote control pointed at the woman in the glass chamber. The man with the controller was middle-aged, his pink hair turning white in places, and his suit was cut of a quality even above what Cobalt had purchased for the deceit. The women next to him, one Fae by her powder blue hair and pointed ears, one Witch by the necklace of diamonds and obsidian around her neck, seemed tickled by something the man was saying or threatening to do. The other man with them was younger, his dark hair still thick and full. By the brown of his hair and the subtle way he moved his head, Niko guessed he was a Werewolf. He seemed less impressed by the older man’s games, and a rather bored expression crossed his face. His clothing was fine, clearly, but his shoes really gave him away as being of alarming wealth. He moved his foot just enough for Niko to catch a glimpse of the heel of the black leather dress shoes. It was capped in solid silver, a mark of one of the most exclusive fashion designers in the Three Courts.
“Have you names to give me?” Cobalt asked in an undertone as he guided them over toward the gathered group.
“The man pressing buttons on the remote is Ambert Redwood, heir to the Redwood fortune and head of the Lux Corporation,” she whispered. As she did, Redwood flicked something on the remote and the dildo machine began thrusting, hard and fast, into the woman suspended above it. She immediately began writhing in the air, the expression on her face somewhere between pain and pleasure. Niko was uncertain whether it was enjoyable for her, but given the reputation of the RACK, he hoped it was. “The woman with blue hair and skin tight dress is Noor Juniper; she owns a production company called Desert Sun Productions. Almost nobody has heard of it, but they’re behind all the biggest motion pictures of the last decade. Next to her, covered in jewels, is Madeleine Goshawk, youngest daughter of the Goshawk family in Nimueh’s Court. She owns what her family does, and for some reason, they let her make business decisions for them in Maeve’s Court. Mostly she spends her time flitting around with Noor at parties and clubs. I don’t know if she’s actually in love or just in it for all the attention she gets, but there you go.”
“And the Werewolf?” Niko asked under his breath.
Starla exhaled lowly. “He goes by Preston. Don’t know if anyone knows his last name,” she said. “Not even sure what he does. All I know is that he left Connor’s Court years back, when it was still Logan’s Court. He’s been living here ever since. He’s in investments or something, I don’t know. He won’t talk much about it. But he’s got money. Lots of it.”
As though sensing he was being discussed, Preston turned his attention to Cobalt, Niko, and Starla. He scrutinized Cobalt and Niko a moment, his eyes giving little away in terms of his appraisal of them, but when he spotted Starla, his wide mouth split into a hungry grin.
“Starla, love,” he said as they approached. “Haven’t seen you in a minute. How are you, darling? Still breaking hearts?”
Starla stood straighter, squaring her shoulders and looked him over darkly. “Why? Do you know someone who needs to be broken?”
There was a beat, the others still not having noticed them, and then Preston’s smile spread wider. He got to his feet and pulled her in for a set of cheek kisses as greeting.
“Always business with you, isn’t it?” he asked, shaking his head at her. Niko saw him sniff subtly at her hair as they embraced. When he was done, he turned to Niko and Cobalt. Cobalt, at his full height, was taller than Preston, but it was difficult to tell. The way Preston carried himself spoke of a confidence that couldn’t be shattered. When his eyes moved on to Niko, lingering along the length of Niko’s exposed body, Niko felt Cobalt’s grip on the leash tighten just slightly. “And who have we here?”
“Allow me to introduce—” Starla began, but Cobalt cut her off.
“Cobb Snyder,” he said, holding out a hand. Preston took it, as though in slow motion, his eyes and ears and nose all painfully trained on Cobalt. Niko tried to ease his pounding heart.
“Pleasure,” he said as they shook. “Name’s Preston.” He paused a moment. “You smell like the ocean. Been spending much time on the sands since you got here?”
Cobalt barely missed a beat. “Some,” he said. “But I grew up on the shores up in Nimueh’s Court. Not the same as the beaches here, of course, but I suppose the ocean is in my blood.”
Preston nodded, as though pleased by the response. He turned his attention to Niko again, sniffing the air with less subtlety. “And you are?”
Cobalt jerked down on the leash, and without thinking, Niko sank down to his knees before Preston, whose eyes widened, glinting with amusement. “This is Kilo, my pet.”
Preston leaned in toward Niko. “He seems so very well trained,” he said, as th
ough Niko could not hear. “And he looks like quite a fun ride, I must say.” He lingered near Niko a moment, breathing hotly against Niko’s skin as he examined him. Niko’s every instinct was to move, to pull away, but he stayed firmly planted in place. “I do always enjoy meeting others of like interests to me,” he said, pulling back from Niko now. Niko watched him sit back down on the sofa, gesturing for Cobalt and Starla to join him.
Cobalt pulled at the leash as he took his seat next to Preston, indicating that Niko should place himself at Cobalt’s feet. Niko bit his tongue as he crawled across the cold floor, settling on his knees next to Cobalt’s legs.
“What precisely are your interests?” Cobalt asked, reaching absentmindedly to play with Niko’s hair. He ran his fingertips along Niko’s scalp in circular patterns in a soothing way Niko thought might be unconscious. Until Cobalt grabbed a patch of hair and pulled just so, jerking Niko out of the trance the soothing circles had drawn him into. The momentary pain surged through him, even more enjoyable than the massage had been, and Cobalt immediately went back to the circles.
Preston watched like a bird of prey. “Oh, I’m interested in all sorts of things,” he said vaguely. “Bondage and dominance, of course,” he added, gesturing to their surroundings. “And I certainly appreciate a good submissive.” He glanced at Niko again, subtly licking his lips. Niko felt a shudder run down his spine, and behind him, Cobalt’s grip on the leash tightened minutely. “Does your pet perform for any other master?”
Niko tensed, working every muscle in his body to stay still and not look directly at Preston. Instead, he watched the others on the sofa. Redwood seemed to be growing bored of his electronic game with the girl in the pedestal, and the two women seemed to be taking a greater interest in each other than anyone else. Juniper was sliding her hand down the front of Goshawk’s dress, whispering something in her ear that made the Witch giggle.
