Eric jerked and shuddered beneath her, and Kendra's o.r.g.a.s.m held her in the grips of euphoria as she fell to his chest and Eric's arms wrapped around her. He held her through the ferocity of their releases, and when both were finally lying quietly, Kendra licked the bite marks before collapsing on top of him.

Long moments pa.s.sed before she asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure. I'm positive I couldn't stand right now even if my life depended on it, though."

Kendra kissed his cheek, sat up, and pulled off him, groaning as he slid out of her. She went to the bathroom and looked for the towels, but couldn't find them right away so she pulled the hand towel down and wet part of it. She cleaned herself, and then went to him and cleaned him before lying beside him once again.

Your heart rate is smoothing out now, and you smell of contentment. I think you're going to live.

His eyes grew big, and he took several seconds before tentatively trying to talk to her in the same manner. Wow, it worked. I can hear you in my head.

Yes, it worked. Are you freaked out enough you need s.p.a.ce again, or do you feel closer to me?

I think the fact that you told me about it, asked my permission first... I feel closer to you. I mean, the things you can do are scary, but you've never done anything without telling me first, without me saying it's okay. So, I'm not freaked. Much, anyway.

Where do we stand with each other? Are we going to continue as we have, with the occasional date, but not exclusive?

I've thought about it a great deal. He shifted his body ever so slightly, so they were more face to face instead of side to side. "I need to do this part out loud, just to make sure we get it right, okay?"

"Of course."

"I'm ready to commit to a relationship with you, if you'll have me. I realize what I'll lose, but I'm also aware of what I'll be gaining, and I think you're worth it. We'll have to figure out the whole power exchange thing at some point, and I hope you'll trust me enough to submit to me again eventually, but I won't push for it to happen anytime soon, as I know I need to win your trust back. If you need me to submit to you first, I will, though we need to talk about some of my hard limits." He paused, kissed her cheek, caressed his way down the side of her face with the backs of his fingers. "I want to be clear - I don't see us as a switch relationship, I intend for the vast majority of our power exchange to eventually be you submitting to me. However, until we get there," he gave her a lopsided smile, "we seemed to do a good job of vanilla s.e.x tonight."

He thought it was vanilla? Should she set him straight, or make things clear? She sighed inwardly as she realized she couldn't keep quiet if she wanted to be able to keep saying she'd always been honest with him.

"Eric, that wasn't vanilla, it was me in control of when and whether you got to o.r.g.a.s.m unless you safeworded. I mean, your safeword was just telling me you were done, but it worked the same. As much as I'd like to let you stay convinced it was vanilla, I can't. You need to see it for what it was."

His eyes narrowed as she smelled a hint of anger and fear, but she stayed silent and gave him time to work through it in his head.

"d.a.m.n. You're right. It wasn't a formal power exchange, but you were definitely in control and I had to trust you'd respect my wishes." His eyes went dark as he added, "The second bite on my neck hurt this time when it hasn't for more than a split second in the past. Did you do that on purpose?"

"Yes. I wanted you to have just the smallest edge of pain with your o.r.g.a.s.m, so I didn't numb it all the way."

Kendra could've jumped for joy when she smelled arousal - the idea she'd wanted him to hurt a little at the end excited him. She wondered if he'd admit to it, and said, "Eric, that turned you on - the idea I gave you a little pain at the end on purpose. You were aroused by it."

She could see him bristling, and he sounded more than defensive as he said, "You said you wouldn't poke into my head!"

"I didn't. Did you feel me in your head?"

He gave an irritated sigh and asked, "Then how did you know I was aroused?"

"I can smell the chemical changes in your body. Fear has a smell, anger has a smell, arousal has a smell."

"Now see," he said, clearly unhappy, "this part has the ability to freak me out. I'm having a hard time with the idea I can't hide these kinds of things from you - that you'll know what I'm feeling whether I want you to or not."

She softened her voice, not wanting to sound defensive. "And I'm being as honest with you as I can, so I don't hide anything from you. I could give you the illusion of privacy, but if we're to have a relationship, we have to be honest about everything, Eric."

He closed his eyes a few seconds, and opened them to say, "Just because the idea of it turned me on, doesn't mean I want to submit to you, or to let you hurt me."

"I understood why you hurt me as much as you did when I submitted to you," she told him, her voice soft. "You needed to establish yourself as Master, and I get that. Once you warmed me up I enjoyed the pain, needed it, almost. However, while I enjoy dispensing pain, it isn't necessary for me to do so in order to establish dominance. If you prefer, then during our first session with you submitting, I can spend less than five minutes of an hour dispensing outright pain and still leave no question of who was in control when the session is over. Unless, of course, you give me reason to need to punish you, and then there'll be more. My point, though, is that long periods of impact play aren't necessary for me to establish dominance. So, if that's what has you worried, you needn't be."

"It sounds like we need to talk it over and then let you Top me and get it over with, doesn't it?"

"Yes, I think so."

He closed his eyes for a count of five, and opened them to say. "Okay, the usual hard limits of asphyxiation, scat, watersports - you get the idea. I guess blood can't be a hard limit since you may bite me, but no cutting for the sake of cutting. Also, I don't want any CBT, or anything a.n.a.l."

"Sorry, the a.n.a.l thing is kind of a requirement. I won't hurt you there, but I do intend to make use of your a.s.s."

"Yeah. I don't let others dictate that, either, but you can't blame me for trying." He shrugged, his scent resigned but accepting as he said, "Okay, but no a.n.a.l pain."

"There'll be discomfort, and maybe small amounts of pain, but nothing major. As for the CBT, I won't do anything extreme, but I will pay attention to your c.o.c.k and b.a.l.l.s, and some of it will hurt."

"Leave my b.a.l.l.s alone. Completely alone. We can negotiate the stuff you want to do with my c.o.c.k, but not my b.a.l.l.s."

His scent told her this wasn't negotiable, but she said, "I'll want to put you in a harness so you'll have a hard time coming until I take it off. I also have a restraint device that'll keep you bent over at the waist - it uses your b.a.l.l.s to hold you in place, but won't hurt unless you try to stand up. Those are the only things I can think of that might involve your nuts."

"I think I can live with that for my b.a.l.l.s, what do you have in mind for my c.o.c.k?"

She shrugged. "Clothespins, some light flogging, I'll have to see how you react to medical sounds and other types of inserts. If you respond positively then they'll be part of play, negatively and they'll be part of punishment, but I enjoy that kind of thing so you can be sure I'll fit it into our play in one way or another." She inhaled with a smile. "I can tell you're both aroused and a little afraid of those things. I also sense some adrenaline. I think we'll be fine, Eric." She was quiet a second, taking in the speed and rhythm of his heart. Happy with what she heard, and added, "I think the next step is for you to start hanging out with me at the house - as we are, with no pretenses, without worrying about how the other vampires might take it."

"From what you and Abbott said originally, that's kind of a big step. Isn't it?"

"Yes, but if we're going forward, and with you saying you want us to be exclusive, it's time."

"Will word get back to your ex?"

"I don't know and I don't care. I'll let Gavin know what's going on, and probably Josef and a few of his top people. Everyone else will find out when they ask questions."

"What does this mean, as far as time you and I spend together?"

"It means you get access to the main floor of the house. Once everyone in my section of the house approves of you, you'll have twenty-four hour access to the bas.e.m.e.nt and you'll be able to come and go as you please, so if you want to show up a few hours before the sun sets so you'll be there when I wake, you can. Or, if you want to stay with me until I rest at dawn, you'll be able to get out once I'm down for the day. Until you get daytime access downstairs I can let you downstairs once I rise in the evening, but we'll need to make sure you're gone before I'm down for the day."

Kendra paused, then rushed into saying, "Just so you know, most human companions are live-ins. If you want to move in once the other downstairs residents give the okay, you can. If you don't, that's okay, too, but I just needed to get it out there, so you'd know you have the option. You aren't technically a human companion, you're my lover, my boyfriend - you're my equal, but, it's kind of a protocol thing to make the offer."

"Are you asking me because of protocol, or because you want me to move in?"

"A little of both? I don't expect you'll actually move in permanently because your yacht is your home, but it'd be nice if you'd come stay for a bit, and then maybe we could stay here for a while, though we'll need to work on some security concerns before I regularly rest here in the daytime. I know you have work to do, and while I have about a week of mostly downtime with The Library, once the contractor gets to a certain point then we'll start training employees and getting ready to open, and I'll be busy again for a while." She leaned in, gave him a quick peck on the lips. "In between us needing to work, I guess I'm hoping we can spend more time together, if you're okay with it."

"Sure, I can give you a couple of drawers here to keep stuff, and let you take over one of the closets in a guest bedroom for clothing you need to hang."

"And I can make room for you in my suite, as well, so you can keep some of your things at my place. You'll need to hang out for a while, though. The downstairs residents will need to get to know you before they give you twenty-four hour access to the downstairs - each suite of rooms locks, but vampires are a bit touchy about who can get to within one locked door of them during the day."

Chapter Fourteen.

Kendra didn't mention much to her housemates about Eric, though they all noticed he was with her a good bit. The new security system had been installed for a while now, and once the initial discomfort of 'something new' was over, the vampires appreciated it. Eric had also been teaching a cla.s.s a week, each filled to capacity. Even vampires already using computers attended a few of the cla.s.ses, and most said they'd learned enough to make it well worth their time. Within a week, the downstairs residents gave the green light for Eric to have twenty-four hour access to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

Eric opted to stay home and work for opening night of The Library, as he knew she'd be busy. Abbott arrived at midnight, pleased with the activity as well as the amount of money going into the registers. He'd seen the plans, knew Kendra had put in roof access, and motioned her to the stairwell.

When they emerged into the cool night air, the stars twinkling above in the midnight sky, he said, "The Owl King, as well as the female owl we intend to take to the council, are supposed to meet us at TBC at three, which should give you enough time to close here and still make it. We'll decide during the meeting who'll take the girl to the council tomorrow night."

"What do I need to know?"

"Tricia, the female, is considered something well above a genius. The man she works for was a computer prodigy and multi-millionaire before he was of driving age, and by all accounts, considers his inner circle as family. The Owl King has implied he won't hesitate to trade her off for political clout; however, if she doesn't return to work after the two week vacation she's requested, indications suggest we'll have a billionaire human with infinite resources looking for her."

Kendra shrugged. "So one of us pays him a visit and changes his memory of why she left and when she'll be back. A one year sabbatical to see the world, and when the year's up, she can call him and tell him she fell in love with someone in Dubai and isn't coming home."

"When Gavin tried to peer into the human's mind, he couldn't. There's a possibility he's built the kind of shields necessary to keep us out, and he's too important of a human to kill off, should we expose ourselves to him without a way to make him forget." Abbott looked away, watching humans walking up the hill to a parking lot, hand in hand. "There's something else. She appears to be... what is the current word? f.u.c.kbuddies, I believe, with one of Aaron Drake's tech people. He also expects her back in two weeks, and since he's a horse, she can be honest with him about where she's going."

Kendra's stomach rose into her throat as she realized the ramifications. "The Council won't be able to keep her."

"Correct."

"We can't guarantee Eric's safety from them."

"I'm afraid not. I'm sorry, Kendra."

"How far will you step out, to go to bat for him?"

He sighed and looked into the distance as he said, "You're special to me, and he's special to you. I've been worried about you, these past decades." He shifted his gaze to look at her, his expression caring, almost sad. "You've gone through the motions of living, but haven't found much joy in it. He's put life back into you, so I'll go farther than I would for another human, but you have to know I can't put any of our people at risk to save him."

Kendra wrapped her arms around herself, needing touch, and as her Master, Abbott knew and pulled her into his embrace.

"Thank you for caring about him, and about me," Kendra said, her face at his chest as she let him hold her. "I trust you'll do what is in your power to do, Master."

Abbott looked up, and she felt him taking in the energy of the night as he said, "I have a few more stops to make before the meeting. I miss the days when I could fly on a dark night. Electricity and photography have made life simpler, but it means I must get in a car and drive, instead of taking flight." He kissed the top of her head. "I'm happy with what you've done here, getting a new establishment up and running. I'd like you to work with my media people to keep up with the advertising campaigns you've begun, but otherwise, your job is finished and my people will take over keeping it running." He let go and stepped back. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Kendra didn't text Eric when she finally left The Library. When he was with her he usually stayed up to somewhere around two or three in the morning, but when not with her she knew he often went to sleep closer to one.

In the past weeks they'd bundled up and gone roller blading, bicycle riding, rappelling, and caving - and Eric had finally taken her on the nighttime hang gliding flight he'd promised.

He hadn't told her where they were going, only that they'd have to leave right at sundown, and what she should wear. He'd driven her to the Ocoee area, where they could get away with being towed up by an ultralight at night without too much risk of getting caught. One of Eric's friends had agreed to a nighttime tow, and then Eric had piloted them for over an hour until they landed, the feel of the wind in their faces as they silently soared and drifted through the crisp, night air. Kendra had been speechless at first, awed by the sensation of being lifted by the air, moved by the breezes, and flying in a whole new way. Hang gliding was such a different feeling than that of flying magically, and her heart soared as Eric piloted them through the inky black sky.

She pulled into the parking lot at TBC and immediately knew something was wrong.

Abbott?

Come inside, Kendra. Remember to think politically. I'm sorry I can't give you enough attention to explain the situation before you enter.

He wasn't going to tell her until they were face-to-face, so she made her way across the parking lot, and the front door opened as she approached.

"You know Natalia, Mitroff's second," Abbott said as she walked in, "and to her left is Abel, His Highness the Owl King. Beside him is Tricia."

Kendra gave a respectful nod as she said, "Your Majesty, it's nice to meet you." She turned to the girl, "h.e.l.lo, Tricia. I'm sorry you've been dragged into this, we'll try to make it as painless and quick as we can, so you can get back to your life." She looked at Natalia. "Of course, how quickly we can get through this likely depends upon Natalia, who I wasn't expecting to see, tonight."

"Yes," Natalia said, her expression much too smug. "When we realized you had no intention of delivering the human to us, the Council decided to collect him ourselves."

Abbott was holding strong shielding, protecting the vampires and human companions in the city, so Natalia couldn't weevil her way into anyone's thoughts or willpower while she was here. He looked at ease and relaxed, but she knew better. Natalia would've never been allowed in the territory under normal circ.u.mstances, and was only here now because of her position within the Media Council.

As much as she wanted to tear into Natalia, doing so wouldn't help Eric. "I trust he's being treated well," she said, her voice cool, "his value as a human is great. He's under The Abbott's protection, as well as mine, and I believe you'll find he has other advocates in the supernatural world, as well."

Natalia inclined her head. "The Council is prepared to financially remunerate both you and Abbott for the human. He's going directly into the operant conditioning program, so he can be trained as quickly as possible to be the most use to us."

Operant condition was political-speak for the "do as you're told or we'll hurt you" training program, and Kendra cringed as she realized he'd likely be there at least until tomorrow night before they could get him out. She needed to complete this meeting with Natalia and get on the phone with Aaron Drake... and hope Eric's connection to Ranger was enough to get the security company's help in going after the Media Council.

"We refuse monetary compensation for the human, and we require his safe and swift return," Abbott said, his voice succinct.

"And we require a human qualified for the job, as well as a supernatural who will accept a full time paid position. It is my understanding the owl girl you've brought is not interested, and I'm also led to believe she has connections with a security firm we do not wish to incite at this time."

"As does the man you've taken," Kendra told her. "You'll need to find another human, if you wish to avoid entanglement with Aaron Drake and his people."

Natalia observed her a few seconds before saying, "You seem to believe you are speaking truth, but nothing flagged on our research so I'll have to believe you are mistaken, unless evidence presents itself otherwise."

"Remove him from the operant conditioning program immediately, and make arrangements for me to pick him up, Natalia."

"Sorry, the Council is in unanimous agreement we need to rectify the video game problem as soon as possible, and your human seems to be well qualified to help us staff the division. We'll need players as opposed to creators, but he seems to have a stable of people who play his games and help with development. As is the case with the readers and reviewers we've commandeered, most qualified humans should be more than happy to take on a life of playing video games one after another, with only food and lodging given in payment."

Eric would never be happy being kept indoors, living a life of video games instead of being outdoors having new adventures. It would kill him.

She was also aware Natalia was likely working towards making whatever offer her Master had sent her to make, and Kendra needed to end the meeting before the offer was made, because she couldn't ask Abbott to back off the fight for South Carolina over one human.

"If no further negotiations are possible with you alone, then I'd like to request a meeting with the entire Media Council, within the three days specified under supernatural grievance procedures. In the meantime, nothing irrevocable is to be done to the human."

Natalia gave a curt nod and looked towards Abbott. "I a.s.sume you'll have your second drive me to the airport, and watch me leave?"

Gavin stepped forward. "Your pilot was sent home. You'll be returned home on our jet, so we can be sure you don't detour while in our territory."

She flinched the barest amount, which meant Gavin had messed up her plans. Natalia recovered quickly and moved to the door, gliding on her stiletto heels in her pencil skirt and suit jacket, the jet black bun at her hairline as severe as the rest of her, and the red of her lipstick the only color on her body.

The second the door closed, Abbott was on the phone. "Aaron, we have a situation, do you have a moment to speak in private?"

Aaron and Abbott were close friends, but each tried to keep their politics separate from the other. In this case, since Eric was a blood relative of one of Aaron's men, he could justifiably step into the situation without the supernatural community making as many waves about a shapeshifter and vampire joining forces, politically.

He took a few minutes explaining the situation in succinct words, and Kendra wondered why he was letting Abel and the girl stay to hear their conversation. Abbott did nothing without a good reason, though, so she took her seat and listened.

After he'd explained, the entire room heard Aaron ask, "Is Abel still present?"

"He is."