Page 4 of Imperfect Gifts
“I get that, but I’m my own person. I don’t need permission to have sex with whomever I please. There are rules about what I can and can’t do while in their clubhouse, but my life is my own.”
“We thought she was a sex slave,” one of the men on the floor said.
“Lying brings on further consequences, and the two of you are already in enough hot water. She told you she was not a sex slave and you heard her speak truth. However, even if she was, unless a sex slave’s owner lends him or her to you, you can’t treat them with disrespect. You don’t get to fuck them on commandunless you own them, or unless their owner loans or gifts them to you.”
The Concilio wouldn’t have allowed sex between their slaves without permission, but it’s possible they would’ve allowed bullying in their stables — survival of the fittest. Still, those weren’t the rules here, though he might have to give the men some leeway since they hadn’t been through orientation and the rules here hadn’t been explained. He didn’t want to, and he wouldn’t give them much, but he acknowledged they truly might have thought they were acting within acceptable norms. Brooke would know more about that once she poked around in their heads a little more.
“I believe I can see Master Brooke, now,” Genie told him, and she did, indeed, seem better.
I know you’ll make certain she’s relaxed and comfortable,Dev told Brooke, who he knew was listening in.Still, I find I want to hold the two of you while you feed from her.
He’d grown to love the diminutive vampire over the centuries. She had his complete respect, and he’d volunteer to follow her to Hell itself if she needed him at her back.
She’d been turned at the age of eight, before even the beginnings of puberty took hold. As a result, she was — and would always be — completely asexual, without the hormones or development necessary to enjoy carnal pleasures. However, she still needed touch and intimacy, as any child does. Dev often held her in his lap, hugged her, and he’d even learned how to brush her hair the way she liked, though Mirabelle usually handled grooming tasks.
She seems comfortable with you,Brooke telepathed. I’ll have Mikael and Claire put our disobedient cats into dungeon cells and give them the first part of their punishment. You should bite the miscreants sooner than originally planned, so you’ll have a closer connection and more control of them rightoff the bat. Do so tomorrow, immediately after you’ve returned the owl to the bikers.
Less than a minute later, the two teen vampires arrived. Mikael and Claire each lifted a young man to their shoulder by the feet and hands, as if the shifters were a fancy purse, and left without speaking.
“What will happen to them?” Genie asked once they were far enough away it wasn’t likely the vampires or cats could hear.
“That is up to Brooke. I’m going to guess they’ll be whipped, for starters, but I don’t know what she’s decreed.”
It’s possible she’d order Dev to be whipped as well. Brooke was one of the easiest Master Vampires to live under that he knew of, as far as everyday rules went, but he’d allowed someone she’d promised to protect to nearly come to harm, so he deserved whatever she commanded.
He stood with the little owlet in his arms, and easily used one hand to close the door once they were in the hallway. Dev was a large man by anyone’s standards, and the owlet was tiny in all her forms. At a guess, he’d say about five feet tall, and he was certain she was less than a hundred pounds — seven of which made up her more-than-ample breasts.
Someone had once told him equating breast size to pounds, as if they were a roast or a brisket, wasn’t socially acceptable, but it was the way he’d always thought of them. He mostly kept that to himself, though.
“I can walk, Dev. I’m fine now. I apologize for losing my composure.”
“Your owl is a predator, but she’s one of the smallest of the predators, and is quite often prey as well.”
“You’re a snake?”
“I am.” Most mammal shifters knew he was a cold-blooded shifter, but couldn’t be certain which one. Rarely, someone knew right off the bat that not only was he a snake, he was a largesnake. Birds were close relatives to reptiles, so perhaps she sensed more?
“I was almost eaten by a pine snake, once. I was offered space tochangein a deer sanctuary, completely walled in so there were no large predators, and a friendly wolf on the ground keeping an eye on me. The snake seemed to come out of nowhere, but I managed to dive off the branch at the last minute, so he only ended up with feathers in his mouth. Hecompletelysnuck up on me.”
“He?” Figuring the gender out for those in snake form was difficult for anyone without a Jacobson’s organ.
“Or she. I don’t know.”
“You don’t seem afraid of me.”
“You protected me. Just as the wolves have come to represent safety to me, and even Frost in his snowy owl form, you feel the same — at least in human form.”
That wasn’t always the case. He kissed the top of her head without even thinking about it, then realized what he’d done and was a little mortified. “Sorry. I don’t mean to take liberties, but it’s nice when people can see me as protector rather than monster.”
“It was sweet. You’re fine, but I really can walk.”
“You’re no trouble to carry.”
To prove his point, he went up two flights of steps without jostling her in the least.
Brooke was playing a racing game on a huge television screen when they stepped into the room. She was racing a go-cart on what appeared to be sand dunes.
Without looking away from the screen, Brooke told Genie, “We have two vehicles retrofitted with seats and pedals that move into a position so I can see out the car and reach the pedals, but they’re mostly there for emergencies, in the event someone isn’t available to drive me. I practice on a drivingcourse every three months so I don’t lose the skill, and on actual roads a few times a year, but I have to go into the heads of anyone who notices me and make them believe I just look young but I’m old enough to drive, and it’s a pain.”
