Chapter 12

CHAPTER12

She woke slowly with a sense of disorientation. That wasn’t unusual for her. She tended to be groggy first thing in the morning, but when she yawned and stretched she realized something was off.

She couldn’t move. A heavy weight was pressing down across her body, making it impossible to push the blankets back, and her arms were trapped underneath.

It didn’t click at first. She struggled, thinking the blanket had gotten twisted around her, but the movement triggered a groan from behind her. “Stop moving so much,” a grumpy voice mumbled.

She froze. Had she gotten drunk and let some guy stay overnight? She never did that.

If you let them stay, they assumed they were getting sex. Trusting a guy in her space, while she was vulnerable and asleep was also not something she could handle. Either she’d been really drunk the night before, or something weird was going on.

It was the ‘weird’ part that triggered the memories to come flooding back.

Oh.

Krampus. Punishment. Expensive couture clothes. Humiliation. Blow job. It had been a night of intense firsts. Her first time sleeping with a man in the bed didn’t even top the list.

And she’d read somewhere they you couldn’t wake up inside a dream. If that was true, then… it had all been real. She squirmed, twisting under the covers so she could roll over and look at him.

His eyes were closed but when he felt her stare on him, one cracked open. He sighed. “I thought you’d sleep longer after everything.”

“I have to pee. It always wakes me up early.” She frowned. “Didn’t you say something about not needing sleep?” The conversations they’d had were coming back piece by piece.

He sighed. “I don’t usually, but I also wasn’t going to lay here wide awake all night.”

A grin tilted her lips. “I’m surprised you didn’t get up after I fell asleep.”

“I tried. Every time I moved you whimpered and wiggled closer, so I gave up. You’re a very restless sleeper.”

Aline blinked, frowning slightly. “Am I? I haven’t shared a bed with anyone since I was a child, so I guess I wouldn’t know. It’s a new bed and a new… well, everything, so I’m not surprised.”

He was so warm, and the bed was amazingly comfortable in comparison to her old futon with its thin mattress. She was tempted to snuggle right into his arms and go back to sleep. But her bladder was insistent and finally she realized she was going to have to get up.

“Um, I have to use the bathroom. Can you…” She held up her gloved hands and he freed them for her with a warning look to behave.

It wasn’t necessary. Getting to the toilet so she could pee was the only pressing need she had at the moment. Once that was taken care of, the next item on her agenda was to take a shower.

The glass stall was so much fancier than anything she’d ever seen, and she enjoyed trying out the multiple settings and positioning the side nozzles to hit different parts of her body. It was clear from the height that some of the nozzles could have been aimed at intimate places and it was tempting to try them out.

She behaved, but only because she didn’t want to be punished with more denial. She got out of the shower sooner than she would have liked, so she didn’t give in to the temptation.

Fresh warm towels and a stack of clothes waited for her on the counter, along with a bag of toiletries. She hadn’t noticed him coming in, but it did make her glad she’d behaved.

When she emerged from the bathroom, a cloud of steam followed her. She felt clean and refreshed. “I love your bathroom. It’s amazing.” She paused, and then frowned. “Krampus?”

There was a sunken seating area in the far corner of the room. She’d never gotten a chance to investigate it the night before, but now she found him sitting there, lounging comfortably in an oversized leather chair, in front of a fire.

He didn’t seem to notice her presence until she laid a hand on his shoulder and then he started and looked up. “What did you say?”

“I said I love your bathroom. How do you not spend hours in the shower every day? I think I like it even better than the tub.”

He snorted. “I don’t have the same daily needs you do. I’m not human remember?”

Oh, right. She was still struggling with that, even after seeing him in his other form. “It’s still nice… relaxing.”

After a second, he nodded. “I do enjoy a nice hot shower sometimes—in this form. It’s a pain when I’ve got my fur on.” He turned back to the fire for a minute and then waved a hand at her. “You should sit. We didn’t get very far yesterday, and we have a lot to do today.”

“Are you on a schedule or something? Can’t we just get to know each other?”

“Not a schedule. I just…” He trailed off, brow furrowed for a few long seconds before his expression cleared. “You’re right. There’s no need to rush. Why don’t you sit down so we can talk.”

He gestured to the seat across from him, but she ignored that and dropped into his lap instead. They’d just spent the night sharing a bed. She was supposed to be his ‘mate’. Sitting in his lap seemed reasonable, but he stiffened under her and not in a good way.

She tensed too. “Is this not okay? I mean, I thought…”

Master cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. “It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting it. I’m—” He cut himself off and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out. “I’ve never shared affections with anyone before. This is new to me. I hoped eventually we would get close, but I didn’t anticipate it happening so soon. Especially with you being a virgin.”

Aline rolled her eyes. “I’m not a virgin. Sex isn’t only penetration you know. There are other kinds of sex. I would think you knew that after…” She trailed off, flushing as she thought about the scene in his study.

“I’m working with older definitions and it’s taking me some time to catch up. I thought you’d be shy and need to be coaxed when it came to these things,” he explained.

She tilted her head, examining his expression and trying to decipher what he was thinking. “Are you uncomfortable with a girl taking some initiative, Krampus? Don’t like a woman with agency?”

A hand snaked into her hair, twisting as he pulled her head back. “You will call me Master, not Krampus. You don’t belong to the Collective. You belong to me.” There was a harsh, possessive tone to the final sentence, and it made her shiver.

She leaned into the pull and didn’t fight it. “I’ll call you Master, and I agreed to belong to you, but I’m not a doormat.”

“Explain.” The word was snapped out as an order, but he released his grip on her hair.

“I mean, I clearly have some strong submissive leanings, but I’m not going to sit around and wait for you to initiate everything all the time. I have thoughts, feelings, and desires of my own. If you want me as a wife, or whatever, then you have to realize I’m a whole person, not a role.”

His eyes darkened, glimmering red. “This isn’t your human BDSM scene. You have one role here and that is as my mate.”

Well, she didn’t know much about the human scene. She’d never taken part in it. All she had was her fantasies and the occasional torrid romance novel with pages folded over at the good parts, so she could revisit them as needed.

What she did know was that she couldn’t trust or feel anything for someone who only wanted a doll to play with. “Doesn’t that make it even more important that you see me as a whole person?”

When he didn’t reply, she continued, “Do you really want a mate who kneels quietly in a corner somewhere until you want to use her?”

He narrowed his eyes, not in annoyance but as if seriously considering what she’d said. “No. No, I do want more, but your fantasies are full of domination and punishment.”

“Yes, they are. They have been since I was old enough to understand sex. And don’t get me wrong, I do want to experience those things with you. I—” She cut herself off, taking a second to regroup.

She wasn’t even sure how to explain this, especially when embarrassment made her so flustered. A deep breath and a long exhale helped. “You’re naturally stern and dominant, right? I mean it’s a core part of you?”

“Yes.”

“It’s the softness you have trouble with?”

“I have no experience with it. I know that we’re meant to be tender with our mates, it’s part of the love that grows, but it doesn’t come naturally to me. I can feel your hunger for both extremes, but I understand the part of you that wants harshness better. It’s easier for me to respond to your desire for punishment.”

She started to get up, thinking it would be better to sit across from him after all, but his arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back down. “Don’t run, zaychik. It’s not that I don’t want the affection. I just need to find the balance between the harsh and gentle.”

She chewed on her bottom lip and then slowly relaxed back against him. “Most of the guys I dated were the opposite. They had no trouble being gentle, but they couldn’t manage anything harsh, or even understand why I wanted that. It never worked out because I need both.”

It wasn’t a warning, but maybe more voicing a worry. She loved what she’d experienced with him so far, but if he could only be a distant Dominant, she could see trouble in the long run. Harsh and cold was thrilling during a scene, but it didn’t make for a lasting relationship.

What scared her was that in this situation, she couldn’t just walk away. She’d made a deal, and she was bound to be his, whether she was getting everything she needed or not. Realistically it would still be better than what she’d had before—which was nothing, but she couldn’t be happy without feeling loved.

“The affection part will come with getting to know each other, I’m sure. There are so many things I want to do to you.”

Aline frowned and her brows drew down. “Is that how you want us to get to know each other? Just… sex?”

“Well, not just sex. You can learn a lot about someone while dominating them too.”

“But that’s…” She shook her head. “That’s mostly just getting to know someone’s body, maybe some of their emotions, that’s not all of them. I have a personality. I have likes and dislikes, preferences. There are things I want that don’t involve kink or sex.”

His eyes fixed on her. The silence stretched out between them for almost a minute. “I thought you wanted to experience all the things you’d never gotten to try. You wanted me to make your fantasies come true.” The words came slowly as if he were testing them on her.

“Of course. I want sex. I want orgasms. I want spankings and domination and everything we did last night. But that can’t be all we do together. Not if you want to get to know who I am as a person.”

There was a blank expression on his face that said he’d clearly never considered any of that.

“Not all my fantasies were about sex and kink, Master.” She used his name deliberately, because she’d mostly avoided calling him that, and now she wanted to make a point.

“I fantasized about love and romance too. I wanted someone to share things with. I promised to be your wife, so if that person isn’t going to be you, then you should just tell me now so I can adjust to it.”

The silence was longer this time. She shifted uncomfortably, wondering if she should get up, but his arm was still tight around her. Was he regretting the whole deal?

He cleared his throat finally. “So, this dating thing you wanted. Where do we start with that?”

A sense of relief flooded through her, making her muscles weak. She drew in a deep breath and let it out in a whoosh. He was willing to try, and that meant everything. “You’ve never been on a date?” He shook his head. “Well, um, normally you go out some place and spend time together. Maybe a movie. Or drinks and dancing at a club.”

Somehow, she couldn’t really picture him dancing in a club, but it didn’t really matter since he’d made it clear they wouldn’t be returning to the city any time soon. “Is there a reason we can’t go back to”—she was not going to refer to it as Earth as if she was on a different planet— “my city? You said we wouldn’t be back for a long time.”

“One year. You can’t return for a year. After that we might be able to make a trip back.”

“But why? You never explained.”

“There are rules. I’ll explain another time. But don’t worry, we can have our dates here. It’ll be just as good.”

She gave him a doubtful look. Home dates were okay, but it wasn’t as good as going out. “Okay, we can try.”

“If we could go anywhere on a date, where would you want to go? Pick anything.”

Just at that moment her stomach grumbled loudly. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was until just that moment.

He chuckled. “We’ll start with going out to breakfast, and then what would you like to do after?”

He’d said anything so she decided to test him. “Bowling and laser tag.”

His eyebrows slowly rose. “Bowling… and laser tag?”

She felt silly, but it was the first thing that had popped into her head. “Yeah, there’s a place in the city. It’s dark inside and everything glows. I’ve been a few times with friends, but not in a long time.” Not since she was a teenager actually, but it seemed like it would be a challenge.

“And you’re sure this is supposed to be fun?” He sounded skeptical.

“Yes.” She laughed. “You can have fun without sex and kink. I mean I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

He sighed. “Okay, that’s what we’ll do then. You better go get dressed. I assume you’ll want something casual for this kind of date. You should find everything you need in your closet.”

She wasn’t even going to ask how he’d already replaced the clothes when he’d barely been out of her sight. He’d just say it was magic. But she was happy to find an assortment of the kind of things she was used to wearing, and it didn’t take her long to get dressed.

Maybe bowling wouldn’t be as fun as she remembered, but she couldn’t wait to get to the breakfast part of the date. Her stomach was getting louder and more demanding. She wasn’t sure how he was going to manage the rest, but if he could whip up a whole wardrobe, food shouldn’t be an issue.

The day was a blur of events and she realized very early on that she’d been wrong about what Master could accomplish. She received a crash course in the magic of his realm and how he could control it.

A restaurant somehow sprang into existence just down the hall. It had an upscale breakfast menu, and efficient waitstaff who made sure they had everything they needed, but he claimed it wasn’t real. “It’s illusion, but in my realm the illusion is as real as I want it to be.”

“It can’t be. There’s no way,” she said, shaking her head in denial.

He snapped his fingers, and it all went away, except the table they were sitting at. The other guests, the staff, even the plates of food were gone for several seconds, while she sat stunned. Then he waved his hand and it all returned. “It is.”

“That’s impossible.” It was barely whispered.

“You’ll get used to it. When I said we could have our dates here and they’d be just as good, I meant it. If I didn’t tell you it was an illusion you’d never have known.”

“But how…”

“I can’t really explain it. Just believe it’s true.”

She frowned, eyes narrowing. “Does dream food even count? Am I still going to be hungry?”

“It counts. The food you eat will be real because I want it to be. It will have flavor and nutrition.”

Several times throughout breakfast, she begged him to cancel the illusion so she could watch it leave and then appear again. Each time she had more questions to ask. He was remarkably patient in answering.

Afterwards she felt stuffed. Every bite had been delicious and full of flavor, so apparently illusion food would do the trick. She couldn’t believe it wasn’t real no matter how many times she watched it vanish.

When they moved on to the next part of the date, he asked her to describe the bowling alley, and then to try to hold an image of it in her mind. The end result wasn’t quite the same as the place she remembered, but it still looked and felt real.

The laser tag was a hilarious adventure. She’d never actually played it herself and neither had he. They were both terrible at it, accidentally shooting each other more than once. But somehow the pair of them beat a whole team of skilled players.

That, more than anything else, convinced her that there really was magic involved, because there was no other way they could have won otherwise.

It was a long, exhausting day. It began with him clearly just tolerating it for her sake. A long-suffering expression and a lot of sighs made that clear. But by the end of it, he was smiling and laughing freely. She wasn’t positive, but she was pretty sure he’d enjoyed himself.

“Thank you for doing that for me.” She grinned at him. “Don’t worry, you get to pick our next date.”

“Do I? How generous.” His lip twitched up at one corner. “I admit it was more fun than I’d expected.”

‘Told you. See, you can have fun without sex being involved. You just have to branch out a little.”

He eyed her, one eyebrow rising. “Are you saying you’d rather throw balls down an alley, than have sex?”

“Maybe? I mean, according to you the sex I’ve had doesn’t even count.” She crossed her arms over her chest as her stubborn streak kicked in. “Anyway it’s a better way to get to know each other.”

“And you’d rather shoot people with lasers than feel my cock sliding into your body, while you scream my name and beg for release?”

She licked her bottom lip and swallowed. “I might…” She definitely didn’t think she would, but she wasn’t going to admit it.

A slow smile slid into place as he looked at her. “Okay, I have a new deal for you. Maybe we can call it a challenge.”

Aline had a feeling she’d just gotten herself into trouble. She hadn’t exactly lied, but she’d come close. Was he going to punish her for it? “What kind of deal?”

“You said these romantic dates are better for getting to know each other than sex, right?”

Had she said that? She hadn’t meant that, not entirely, but she was feeling intractable now. “Yes. Don’t get me wrong, I am excited about the sexy times, but I don’t think that’s how you really get to know someone,” she said firmly.

She almost believed it.

“So… you’d rather wait until you think we know each other well before we have sex? Take our time like the mortals do?”

Last night she’d been ready to jump him on the spot, especially after he’d driven her to the edge and stopped. But after a day of relaxed, innocent fun, her body had cooled down. The conversation earlier had made her rethink a few things too.

He clearly thought knowing her sexual triggers was all he needed to win her emotions, and she needed to prove him wrong on that. It wasn’t enough.

“Yes. There’s no rush right? I mean I’m going to be with you forever, so we might as well take it slow.” She chewed on the inside of her cheek, half regretting it almost as soon as she’d said it.

“Okay, then that’s the deal. We’re going to get to know each other by spending time platonically. No sex—and because we can’t seem to agree on what sex is… let’s specify no orgasms.”

“Wait—”

“So we’ll spend all the time together you want, talking, going on dates, but there won’t be any orgasms until…” He trailed off and looked at her expectantly.

Her eyes narrowed. “Until when?”

“Until you agree we know each other well, of course.”

“I—”

He continued right over her. “And then beg me to fuck you.”

She slow-blinked and her bottom lip trembled. Finally, after years of waiting, she had the chance to explore all those hot little fantasies that consumed her, and she’d just cockblocked herself.

What was she thinking? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

“Is it a deal?”

The quiet intensity in his eyes pinned her in place, demanding that she give in and admit she wanted the orgasms more than the dates. Which meant she couldn’t.

“This time I want to know exactly what I’m agreeing to. When you say no orgasms, you mean for either of us, right?”

Master drew in a sharp breath and then frowned. He obviously hadn’t meant that at all, and she had to struggle to hide her amusement.

“It’s only fair.”

“Fine.” The word was practically snarled.

“And… it ends when we both agree we know each other well, but whoever breaks first is the one who has to beg. That’s fair too.”

His eyes narrowed to slits and glowed like rubies as he glared at her. After the day of light-hearted fun, she’d almost forgotten how stern he could be. Now her insides twisted as she wondered if she’d pressed the Dominant too far.