Chapter 13

It was the faint sound of sobbing that woke Nadine - the pillow was wet with her companion's tears. She sat up, puzzled and worried by the look of sheer misery and terror on her little sister-slave's face. "Alexa, what is wrong - our love-making ... have I upset you? Tu es d'accord, ma chère pétite s?ur-esclave?"

"J-just a bad dream, th-that's all ... only a dream." But she had to look away to hide her anguish at the horrifying reality of the terrible vision. In her vivid nightmare, she had become a hated prisoner in an American jail - and she'd apparently done something so awful, so bad that the guards were taunting her about the cruel way she would be executed! What would she do? Why would she be branded a murderess? She forced herself to smile and tried to put the dreadful thoughts out of her mind. But she couldn't escape the fact that it had been as realistic as her recurrent dream of kneeling at her master's feet for the very first time in the limousine! "Umm, Nadine, you ... I mean you and me - it was so lovely, it really was so MMMMMMMFFFF!!!!" Nadine's tongue got in the way and completely stifled her words as they kissed. Gentle fingers explored Alexa's pierced nipples ... those magical fingers slid down her belly ... the tips caressed then separated the soft folds of her vulva to tease and probe and rub and ... and..."UUUUUHHHMMMM!!!!"

"I never expected you would meet me, Steve - I thought you were in Belgium training your new acquisition." Charles grinned at the distracted expression on his friend's face. "News travels fast, particularly when a senior council member tells the Defense Secretary to go screw his disarmament treaty in order to devote his time to his latest slave!" The motorcade swept through the security gates and joined the freeway without slowing. One good thing about the Brits, Charles thought, was their traffic cops -they obviously had VIP escorting down to a fine art.

"Hmm, and I suppose 'rumor control' thinks I've gotten a little crazy too?" Stephen wrinkled his nose in disgust at the appallingly bad espresso that he had foolishly brought along from Heathrow. Goddam so-called 'executive class' airport lounges. Now if little Alexa had made it, the coffee would have been WORTH drinking! Alexa ... wonder how she's doing ... Arnaud promised to take care of her but his fellow master didn't look too impressed with the girl. It was a shame that Arnaud had been the only other master based at the château - Stephen would have preferred somebody else instead of his cold, sarcastic and sadistic colleague...

"Steve ... err, hello?" Charles waited for his friend to respond. He seemed totally absorbed with his thoughts. "She must be very special indeed, this 'Alexandra'."

"Alexa - just Alexa ... and, yes, this one is VERY special to me but I'm damned if I know WHY!" He forced himself to take another sip of the dreadful 'coffee'.

"After Lyssa was put down, I thought you would never take a personal slave again - you hid it well from everyone else, Steve, but I knew you were devastated when she slipped into the coma. Look, are you really sure this is a good idea?"

Stephen laughed. "Charles, I never thought for one minute I might ever replace my Lyssa. I vowed to myself she would be the last - the pain of losing her was so bad. And then ... then this little creature suddenly turns up unannounced and unlooked for - no WAY is she like my Lyssa. Hell, she's too skinny, quite short and no real beauty but ... she's MINE and I wanted her in the moment I first saw her. Damnest thing, Charles, she submitted immediately. I didn't even have to break her!" He noticed his younger friend's wistful smile. "What about you, Charles - you must be the only master who has never taken a personal slave. When will we see YOUR mark on some young beauty's body?"

Charles sighed, stared out of the limo and watched one of their police motorcycle outriders streak past to clear the freeway ahead. "I don't want that kind of slave - it's not for me."

"Look, I know you still miss Laura but..."

"LEAVE IT, Steve ... PLEASE!" How could he ever get THAT committed, THAT close to anyone ever again? And how could he possibly make Stephen understand what it felt like when his wife bled to death in his arms having just lost their stillborn baby? Charles was haunted by the double loss and by the knowledge that it was his entire fault. After all, he had made the foolish decision to stay put at the farm rather than risk driving Laura to hospital through one of the worst blizzards ever seen in Alberta. She had begged him to take her because the pain was so bad but he'd refused, thinking he was protecting her. Then the bleeding had suddenly gotten far worse ... No, there couldn't be anyone special for him again, not after what he'd done. He couldn't risk being emotionally close again - love just hurts too much.

But Stephen wasn't finished. He decided to be up front and just get it over with. "Look Charles, you probably know I've not been so well lately. You see I'm dying of inoperable cancer - at best got two years with the drugs, maybe far less ... depends how much I can stand." He absently fingered the small container his friend the doctor had given him. The lethal dose would be fast and relatively painless. He broke the awkward silence again. "This life's too damn short to waste it on regrets, Charles. You get one shot and you've got to do the best you can. Hell, ever since I met you and became your mentor after you first got your master's ring, you've kept yourself apart. Everyone else has a personal slave or a favorite house slave. Even some of the guards like to reserve a special girl unless a master or mistress requires her. But you are so goddam detached - no wonder we made you head of security over at the Ranch. Charles, it isn't enough, is it? I've seen how you turn your head away at a collaring - like you can't bear to watch a slave willingly submit to her new..."

"Stephen, I'm truly very sorry you're so ill but please, PLEASE drop the subject!"

"Okay, okay ... but when the time comes, if Alexa is still alive, I hope you'll do the right thing ... if I can't. Will you, for a friend?"

Charles stopped pretending to stare through the limo's darkened window, turned back and looked directly at his well-intentioned friend. "I'm sorry I snapped - of course I'll deal with your new slave. You really did not need to ask."

"Good, thanks." Stephen sat in the uncomfortable atmosphere as they approached the organization's London headquarters. "Then I don't suppose you'll be coming over to Belgium for Alexa's collaring?"

"No, there's too much to do here in England - it looks like things have been falling apart for some time." Charles was grateful of the excuse to change the subject. "I hear you've already weeded out the worst of the rogue guards - so many useful slaves needlessly ruined! What a damned WASTE!"

Alexa learned a lot that night from Nadine. The most important thing she discovered was that it was okay to be intimate with another girl, that it didn't mean she was a 'lesbian' or 'bi-sexual' and that those labels didn't really mean much anyway. Nadine had reassured her that 'slave-play' was normal, in fact it was healthy behavior for a female slave - she wasn't betraying her love for master Stephen when she climaxed by her own hands or from the sweet skills of another girl. Alexa was so relieved to hear this and Nadine's nursing background made her trust in what she said.

"Umm, Nadine, please uhh why am I... ? Alexa swallowed her embarrassment and continued. "Why ... am I always so wet down below - between my legs, I mean. I feel so umm HORNY so much of the time!"

Nadine gently lifted Alexa's right hand and guided the tips of her fingers to the almost undetectable ridge under the skin of her upper left arm. "You haves heard of 'HRT', yes?? Alexa nodded. "This is a slow-release HET ampoule - 'Hormone Enhancement Thérapie'. It does not just replace our missing ovaries but make ... MAKES - pardonnez-moi - us much more sexy, more aroused." Grinning at her companion's flushed face, she stroked Alexa's moist, engorged cunt lips to prove her point. "Like you are 'with heat' always, n'est pas?"

And she certainly was 'with heat' as they embraced and continued their tender love making under the glow of the suite's emergency lights...

"That's a call from Belgium, sirs - sorry to interrupt but they're saying its urgent." The chauffeur's voice clicked off the intercom and was replaced by a stream of agitated French.

"'HEY - WHOA! Calm DOWN, man - speak slowly and use English. Now, who are you and what the hell's going on?" Stephen glanced at his companion's tight smile.

The apologetic guard explained how the château was cut off by a freak storm, leaving him and his colleagues unable to get back for duty. "Well, surely they can manage without you. Just explain the delay - tell them to..."

" ... Mais non, that is the problem, monsieur, we get no response to phone calls or radio. We have no communications with the château. I am most sorry to bother you but we thought you should know, monsieur."

Stephen kept his voice under control but he was unaccountably troubled. It didn't FEEL right ... and his instincts were usually correct. "Yes, good - you were right to call. Keep me informed of any change." He replaced the handset and stared straight ahead. "I have to get back to the airport as soon as we drop you off at the Club. Sorry, Charles. I was planning to give you a better handover than this. Something's not right back home at Ardèche."

"Surely it's just a bit of poor weather, but if you need to go I'll manage fine. Besides, how hard can being Acting Director of British Operations be - it's only a quarter of the size of the Ranch." Charles grinned. "I think you're really missing that new slave, aren't you? She must be one helluva girl!"

"Alexa is one of the best submissives I've ever handled, Charles. She's barely started her training and is already way ahead of the average slave."

Charles thought the better of challenging his friend's bold statement. The look on Stephen's face showed how seriously he believed what he'd claimed.

Nadine was a gentle, patient teacher who showed her the finer points of pleasuring and being pleasured by a female. Alexa lay flat on top of her lover and thought again how kind the guard called Gérard had been to let them spend the night together. The chain between their collars was just long enough for them to reach each other's cunts without having to curl up. She concentrated on teasing Nadine's clit to greater firmness by gently pulling the gold ring upwards with her teeth while sucking on the puckered front ridge of the squirming girl's labia.

"Aaaaahhhh, mon DIEU!" Nadine thrashed and arched in ecstatic spasm so violently she nearly knocked both lovers off the bed. "Ou, uhh - where did you learn, OOOOHHH... ? She could barely speak for Alexa was repeating the same delicious torment, bringing her an even fiercer climax than the last!

The door to the suite burst open, making the entwined girls shriek in fright. Marek swiftly unlocked the chain between their collars and hauled Nadine upright. "You will report IMMEDIATELY to Gérard at the infirmary - MOVE YOURSELF, slave!" He didn't even bother to watch the frightened girl run from the room. He reached down and grabbed a fistful of Alexa's hair and twisted it until she was squealing in fearful pain. "As for YOU ... tell me where you were since last night. Come ON, Alexa - WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?"

She clung desperately to his arm but he simply tightened his grip. "Oww, uhh P-PLEASE ... OWWWW!" Her tears meant nothing to him. Alexa knelt on the bed and sobbed in terror. "M-Marek s-sir, PLEEEASE - me and N-Nadine w-we were never anywhere but th-the kitchens and h-here! W-we aint never did nothin' bad - honest, we never d-did..."

Marek threw her back down on the rumpled silk sheet in disgust. "Oh, shut UP, slave - I need to think." He paced furiously up and down, ignoring her sobs.

"Umm, p-please Marek sir, w-what's happening - what's going on?" A horrible thought struck her. "Oh no - m-my master! Please Marek sir, your father, p-please IS HE ALRIGHT?" She was becoming hysterical with fear and felt herself gasping for breath.

A stinging slap brought her back from blind panic. "He is well and due back from England in the next few days ... and my father is NOT your master until you are fully trained and fit to kneel at his feet, girl. Remember your place." The look of relief on the girl's tear-streaked face certainly seemed genuine enough. "It is master Arnaud - he appears to have suffered a stroke." Had she just SMILED? He grabbed her by her ears and shook her terrified head. "Are you SURE you had nothing to do with it? There have been a lot of strange things happening since you arrived - the mutilated guard dog, the général's murder, and now master Arnaud found in the destroyed conservatory!" Marek slapped the sobbing girl hard across both her cheeks then thrust her backwards.