When she stood in front of Ulric once more, she held the items within his field of vision and waited. When his attention finally landed on the cage, his startled hiss and the bucking of his hips gave him away. It had been one of his less favorite training tools, but absolutely necessary for so long.
“You know I would never do anything to harm you,” she said, softly. Stella ran a fingertip along the length of his rapidly hardening shaft. “You need this, Ulric.”
“Mistress?”
“Do you trust me?” She squeezed and stroked his cock. “Do you?”
“Yes.” He sighed and thrust his hips forward.
Stella squeezed his now-hard cock. “Pardon me?”
“Yes, Mistress.”
“Better.” She continued to stroke him until Ulric’s cock twitched against her palm.
“You do need this. Let me look after you. I will make things better for you.”
Ulric closed his eyes. “I don’t deserve it, Mistress.”
Stella immediately released his shaft and stepped back out of reach. Ulric moaned, but she ignored him. “Are you arguing with me? Do you think you know your needs better than I?”
Ulric forgot himself, his gaze snapping to her face. “No, Mistress. Please, I want your help. Need it.”
She stood there and waited. Ulric didn’t speak further, but did eventually lower his gaze. Good, she knew he was on edge, but he maintained enough of his training to remember the rules and how to respond.
Not wanting to react too soon, to reward him inadvertently, she stood and stared.
Long ago Stella had learned the power of silence. Men and women alike would crumple under the weight of it. Her father had teased her about becoming an interrogator for the Loyalists when she was a child. If he’d known about her sexual tastes back then, he’d never suggest such a thing. He loved her too much to see her shuttled off to one of the sex colonies. Her silence had kept her freedom.
Regardless, she knew how to manipulate others using her words or lack thereof.
Other who understood how to do use silence could control planets. Ulric, in his world beyond these four walls, understood how silence could be used as a weapon. She’d watched him unobserved many times when she was trying to learn how best to help him. Now it was time to put those lessons to the test.
Without any further delay, Stella stepped up and secured the cock ring around the base of his shaft. Confident in the binding’s ability to prevent him from coming before she was ready, she carefully fitted his shaft with the cage.
“If I thought I could trust you to remember your lessons, I wouldn’t have to use this. But you haven’t proven yourself to me tonight. I’m forced to treat you like a neophyte.”
“Yes, Mistress.” Ulric’s voice was soft, but confident.
Stepping back, Stella observed her handiwork. Body stretched before her, cock hard and nipples bound, Ulric was a beautiful picture. She walked a slow circle around him, reaching out to touch the vast expanse of flesh before her.
She stopped suddenly—eyes locked on Faris.
He was still seated in the chair, hands clasped to the armrests in a white-knuckled grasp. She was close enough to him she could see the sheen of sweat covering his forehead and the rapid rise and fall of his chest. What he saw clearly aroused him. The bulge in his loose pants prominently pushing up the front announced his approval of the spectacle.
“Ulric, I think I see why you invited Faris with you tonight.” Walking toward her visitor, Stella increased the natural sway of her hips. “He certainly seems to be enjoying the show.” Faris shifted in his seat, but didn’t look away. Stella approved of his confidence.
“Do you?” She leaned forward, bracing her hands on either side of him to expose him to her cleavage. “Have you learned something about the man you’ve admired for weeks now? Was there something about seeing his power stripped away so easily that made that cock of yours twitch?”
He didn’t answer. His loyalty in the face of what many would perceive as a weakness impressed her. Ulric deserved so much better than the close-minded men and women she constantly met as part of the natural parade of people on board the ship.
Perhaps he had finally found a kindred spirit in this man.
Leaning closer, Stella brushed her lips along Faris’ jawline. The muscles of his throat worked hard as he swallowed, but he didn’t sway closer to her. His skin grew damp with the moisture from her mouth. Pulling back, she looked directly into his eyes and ensured she had his attention. Faris didn’t look away.
“I consider myself a good judge of character. Ulric too. He wanted you here for a reason. He wanted you to see something because he had no other way of describing it to you.”
“Why?” Faris spoke as softly as she.
It was a question she’d been asking herself. “Are you brave enough to find out?”
Only a slight hesitation before he nodded. “Yes.”
Stella couldn’t hold back the smile this time. “That was the answer I was hoping for.” The game was on.
Chapter Two
Ulric’s cock ached as the blood and adrenaline rushed madly through this body. He couldn’t fully see Stella, only catching a glimpse of her and Faris out of the corner of his eye. He heard her easily enough, the musical lilt to her steady voice. It was one of the things he’d always loved about her—the teasing nature hidden beneath her strength.
Despite the abnormality of the evening’s events, she’d accepted Faris’ presence without question. It had been risky to go against the terms of their contract—Stella was leery of outsiders. She could have easily turned on her boot and marched out of the room, never to be seen again. He wouldn’t have stopped her from getting on a shuttle to take off for who knows where. Hell, he would have made sure she had enough credits to ensure she would never have to worry about her future well-being again.
But she hadn’t left him. Stella was nothing if not perceptive.
He couldn’t vocalize to her why it was so important for Faris to be here with them.
While Stella would understand, she certainly wouldn’t accept such insolence from a submissive, even if his intentions were for the best. Not that his current situation allowed for him to press matters, unless he wanted to feel her gag stretch his mouth wide.
Ulric knew if he hadn’t acted, Faris would become lost. He’d grown to care for the man too much to allow anything to happen to him. Shit, he hadn’t realized how much he’d wanted Faris until the past week. The nights he lay exhausted in Stella’s arms, his thoughts would drift to Faris. He wanted to know what it would feel like to be pressed between the two of them, their heat cocooned around his skin.
It was a dream he didn’t think would ever come to pass. Faris wasn’t sexually experienced enough to know the importance of letting go in this way. He held his emotions too tight and rarely shared what he was feeling with others. He needed to realize if he continued on in that manner, it would be only himself who suffered. The art of release was the lesson he hoped to teach his friend, especially given recent events.
And maybe, if they were all very lucky, those lessons would lead to something more.
It had been harder than he had thought to walk into this room and not immediately give in to his conditioning, letting Stella take control. He needed the release or else he’d go mad. Stella had long shown him the way to do that, how to step beyond the role of commander and back to being a man. The tightening of his chest and the pounding of his heart showed how much he’d come to rely on her.
He never told her how much their time together meant to him. Of course, she must know. The look in her eyes when he did something exactly right, or how she would lightly scratch the smooth surface of his head with her nails after sex, it told him what he needed to know. She cared.