37. Kyle

CHAPTER 37

Kyle

K yle sighed and pulled out his runepad, his thumbs typing out a pissed off message to his cousin.

Kyle

He's a dick

Indira

I don't even need to ask who you're talking about, do I? What did Epsilon do this time?

Kyle

Be a dick

Indira

I see. So nothing new?

Kyle

Feel sorry for me, damn it. Everything was going kind of well between us again, and then he just…turned back into a huge fucking duck

Indira

Gonna assume that one was an autocorrect.

Kyle

URGH

DICK. WHY WOULD I EVER CALL SOMEONE A FUCKING DICK

*DICK

*D I C K

…I give up

Indira

And I'm trying to *sleep* Kyle, so maybe get to your point?

Kyle

I forgot you're now one of those weird people who sleep at nighttime

Indira

If someone ever stops messaging me, I might actually get to do such a glorious thing.

Kyle

I'm just booooored

Indira

How can you be bored? You're running a House!

Kyle

And ‘running a House' apparently means waiting around on a cum-encrusted sofa at House Theta for its Master to stop being a duck and let me into his office

Indira

You're at House Theta? WTF?

That's where Epsilon sent you? He really is a dick

Kyle

I know. If my dog tags fail while I'm here, I'm guaranteed to catch something. Pretty sure this sofa is alive and crawling

Indira

Kyle, seriously, be careful there.

"Master Theta will see you now."

Kyle shoved the runepad into his pocket and stood up, resisting the urge to brush down his clothes.

The word ‘ finally ' was on the tip of his tongue, but he knew the half-hour wait hadn't been the fault of the demure woman standing before him, even if she'd been the one to keep him here with hollow platitudes that her Master would only be another minute. The obvious power-play was entirely Theta's doing, and the man didn't bother to apologise when Kyle was shown the way to his office.

"Randall," Theta greeted with a knowing smile, pale hands clasped together and wrists resting on the edge of his desk.

The desk…that was also a cage.

Large enough to fit a grown adult, although not comfortably, the vertical chrome bars of the cage bore the weight of the wood desk that formed its roof. It was clear from the heavy padlock latched on one side that it wasn't just an eclectic design choice: the contraption was capable of being used to keep a person inside. How the stars had he not noticed it when he'd been here to collect Akira?

Because Akira had been even more of a startling sight that night, that was why, and it only served to remind Kyle of how much he detested the man seated before him.

"Master Theta," Kyle said, dragging his attention from the cage to the Master and plastering on an expression of mild politeness. He sank down into the chair facing the desk. "I'm here for some…document thing?"

Theta hummed, his smile growing broader. "You like it?"

He blinked at the odd response. "I'm sorry?"

"They usually are. The ones who end up in here, that is. So awfully sorry ." Theta toed the padlock with his shoe, making it rattle.

Kyle's gut churned with a messy, unsettled feeling. "You use it for punishment?" he asked hollowly, surveying the cage in a new light. "Not pleasure?"

Theta laughed, long and light. "It's always pleasure for men like us, isn't it? Watching them suffer?"

"No," said Kyle, disgusted.

Seriously?

"Then you're clearly not doing it right. And you call yourself a Dominant?" Master Theta stretched and stood up, rapping his knuckles on the desk's surface and making Kyle flinch at the unexpected noise.

Theta smirked.

"Don't worry, Randall. Only disobedient and underearning employees get put in there." He laughed again to say he was joking, but his eyes shone with a cruel ferocity that assured Kyle he wasn't. "Including your Master, back when he held no such title. You know he once whored for me?"

"Yes," Kyle said, and took savage pleasure in the way that made Theta falter. Clearly he hadn't expected Akira to have shared such information.

Yet the other man recovered quickly.

"He's so beautiful when he's wrecked, isn't he? Desperate and helpless and eager to please."

Theta's lips parted on a sigh, his gaze heated with arousal and satisfaction as he stared Kyle down and dared him to react. "Epsilon would crawl into that cage of his own accord when he'd disappointed me, even knowing I wouldn't let him out until he begged me for so long his voice gave out."

"Shall I look for the document myself?" Kyle offered. "Seeing as you're so busy reminiscing?"

Master Theta gave him that sinister smile again, tracing a finger lightly along the edge of the desk. "How long do you think you would last in here, Randall? How far would you go to please me, I wonder, if the alternative was spending days trapped in my cage?" He considered that for a moment, cocking his head and letting long locks of silver hair fall over one shoulder. "Weeks, perhaps, if you were as mouthy in there as you are out here. You'll find I'm not a forgiving man to those who work for me."

"I find I don't work for you at all."

"…yet."

"What?" Kyle snorted. "Are you offering me a job? Save your breath, I'm not leaving House Epsilon."

"Of course, how silly of me." Theta didn't sound put off at all. "Because you're a House Master yourself now, Randall, riding on others' coattails without any real stakes of your own, aren't you?"

There was a thread of irritation in his otherwise smooth tone. Kyle was tempted to pull on it, but he didn't like the implication that was being made.

"I don't claim to be a Master," he protested. "I'm just helping to manage the House at Epsilon's request. You're making assumptions, Theta."

" Master Theta ," the other man corrected sharply.

Kyle just shrugged.

"You're nothing special," Theta sneered. "I could easily persuade any one of your clients to claim you assaulted them, and with all of Epsilon's rules , he'd have no choice but to dismiss you. And when you went crawling to another House for a job, I'd make sure you were rejected from all but mine." He circled the desk and leaned over where Kyle was sprawled in the chair until their breaths mingled and his voice was the barest of whispers, reminding Kyle that he was alone in the domain of one of the most dangerous creatures in the city. "You'd really have to work for your credits here, Randall. I'd rent you out at a discounted rate so whatever dregs from the street wanted to stick their dicks in you, could. I'd keep you on the edge of poverty for years."

Theta pulled back and gave him a nasty look. "So don't mess with me."

Letting out a low whistle, Kyle carefully bent his leg and pushed off against the edge of the desk to put more space between them. "That sounds like an awful lot of effort for you."

"To put you in your place? It would be worth every exquisite second, you little slut."

Kyle grinned up at him. "But I thought I was nothing special, Simon ."

Master Theta bristled and straightened. "It really is no wonder the mayor wants you served up on a fucking plate to him," he said disdainfully. "The only mystery is why it's taking your Master so long to oblige."

"Because Epsilon is a decent person."

To his surprise, that made the older man laugh. "You're so sheltered." His mouth twisted scornfully, although there was genuine amusement behind the expression. "Pampered by a man who is doing you no favours in shielding you from the realities of life."

"I know perfectly well how shitty life can be," Kyle said shortly. He pushed himself to his feet, tired of the game. "Just give me whatever document I'm here for."

"As I said. Sheltered."

"I don't-"

There was a knock on the door.

"Come," said Theta, and a young man shuffled in, eyes locked on the floor. He was thin; beyond wiry and closer to malnourished, with a mess of red hair and a splattering of freckles that clearly hadn't come from exposure to the sun. His shirt hung loosely from his shoulders, showing off the leather harness beneath. "Ah, Tyler. At least you're capable of following some orders."

"I'm sorry, Master."

"So you say. But sorry doesn't get me back the money I lost from your disobedience, does it? Did you bring what I asked?"

Tyler raised a shaking hand. A single-tailed whip was coiled neatly around his bony wrist.

Kyle froze. "Wait," he said, as Theta crossed the room to snatch the whip from his employee and ordered him to turn around. "Is this consensual?"

Theta chuckled. "Well?" he asked, prodding Tyler in the back with his index finger. "You heard Master Randall. Do you want this?"

"Yes," was the immediate response, so quick and dully expressed that Kyle swallowed. The man had no ability to give true consent, not while he was in Theta's employ.

"There you have it," Theta said smugly, and then unexpectedly held out the whip to Kyle. "But if you're so concerned for the boy's welfare, you can administer his punishment. It's all for fun, of course."

"I'm not in the mood to play."

Theta clicked his tongue. "Too bad. I am."

Kyle grimaced. He couldn't stop the Master tormenting his staff, at least not without getting Epsilon in trouble, but he certainly wasn't going to participate in it. "I just want what I came for."

"And you'll get it once you've done this for me." Theta watched him with a cold smile. "It's how the Coterie functions, Randall: mutually beneficial transactions. A favour for a favour."

"This is for Master Epsilon," Kyle snapped. "Would you refuse him if he'd come himself?"

"Of course not," said Theta smoothly without missing a beat. "Because that boy knows how to ask for things properly ."

Kyle stiffened at the thick suggestion in his tone.

"Someone needs to accept punishment for Tyler's failure to please his client," Theta added, eyes boring into Kyle. "If you don't whip him, I'll whip you ."

Kyle held his challenging stare for nearly a minute. Then he yanked his Livin' on a Prayer t-shirt off, marched towards the wall, and braced himself against it with his back bared.

"Go ahead," he said shortly.

He could tell that Theta, once he'd gotten over his initial surprise, was considering it. There was a tension in the air, a kind of bristling fury, and the man's need to take Kyle up on his offer could practically be tasted.

If he did, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Kyle had only been whipped twice before, both times under Akira's careful hand. It was Master Epsilon's philosophy that a Dominant should know what he was putting his submissive through.

Understand his pain, his struggle, his surrender.

Kyle hadn't enjoyed either experience, but he'd appreciated the logic behind it, and now knew, for example, the difference between the sensations offered by a light, teasing warm up like the first one had been, and a brutal, vicious whipping that had raised welts across his skin and made him fear he would pass out. He'd gotten to practice taking and giving both types, which he supposed was quite the benefit to having a switch for a trainer. Akira had seemed equally happy on both sides, although happy on the man manifested as slightly less stern than usual. Still, Kyle had greatly enjoyed torturing his Master in a variety of creative ways. Not only had it given him what had seemed at the time like a lifetime of material to jerk off to, but the days they'd spent together in his training had been some of the best in his life.

But while both of those whippings had only been brief encounters, designed to teach him how to wield the implements and what they could feel like, he expected that what was to come would be far worse.

For Kyle had no doubt that for as long as he defied him – kept his chin up, his mouth shut, his eyes dry – Master Theta would keep going, determined to triumph in their silent battle of wills until Kyle was lying broken and bloodied on his floor like Akira had been.

Then Theta let out a short laugh. "You are fortunate I have no time for such things," he said with forced indifference, waving Tyler out of the room and letting the single-tailed whip drop onto the desk, unused. "As fun as you are to toy with, Randall, some of us have actual work to do. You can leave now."

Kyle forced breath back into his lungs. "And the important document Epsilon asked me to collect?"

Master Theta wandered across the room, kicking Kyle's shirt over to him, and then idly plucked a blank sheet of paper from the pile nestled in the printer tray. The runes on the device gleamed mockingly, not having printed a single mark on the paper Theta was now holding out to him.

Kyle stared at it. "What is this?"

"What you were sent here for," Theta drawled, waving the sheet of paper impatiently until Kyle plucked it from between his fingers. "Run along now, boy. And be sure to enjoy what little freedom you have left before the Mackenroths get their hands on you."