Chapter 4

When we got to the kitchen, bedlam broke out as the children saw their parents, and demanded some attention. Priya and I cuddled the babies, and Rillnam and John hugged their children as well. LJ and Patrick had been sampling human foods, as could be seen by the smears on their faces, but they still wanted Rillnam's milk. Our babies were already fed, having suckled on Jessica and drunk from bottles of Priya's milk that she'd pumped yesterday.

Once the children were calmed, we adults got to eat, while our caregivers played with the children again.

I was reaching for a second helping of eggs when Nilwint gasped, staring at my new bracelet.

"That's a Clan Lord's band," she said in awe. She looked up at me, then bowed her head and said, "I"m sorry, Lord, I did not know! Forgive my presumption for failing to observe the proper courtesies."

I finished dishing out my eggs, then put a hand on the back of her wrist, and said, "Rillnam and John, and Priya and I, formalized our roles in a ceremony last night. We'd bonded, inadvertently, an Earth year ago, but did not realize what we had done. But now, our bond is complete at last. So, yesterday, I was not their Lord. Today, I am, but that does not mean that I require the 'courtesies' that the Lords of old demanded. Treat me as you did yesterday, and all will be well."

"Thank you, Lord," Nilwint said, her head still bowed. She slowly lifted her head, and looked me in the eye, then continued, "It may be hard, at first. There has not been a Clan Lord in centuries, but our Clan Elders receive the same courtesies that they did. I will try to do as you wish, but our training is strong, and I find myself thinking of you as I think of them."

I patted her hand again, and said, "I will not be offended if you forget, and I will try to be gentle when I remind you of my desire to be treated as a person, not a Lord."

I pulled my hand back, and began to eat. While I did so, I saw Kirnwan struggling with the same impulse to submission, and smiled at him, hoping to ease his mind. He smiled back, and shook his head, "It is hard, but I think I will manage it."

Nilwint was staring into space when I glanced back at her, and her eyes widened suddenly.

She slowly stood, then knelt on the floor, and crawled to me on her hands and knees, keeping her face to the floor as she said, "Clan Lord, I beg you to take me as your Pet, your plaything, your toy. Take me, and use me, then breed me to the mate of your choice."

Kirnwan was in shock, and the rest of the Craxill were speechless. But, strangely, Kirnwan recovered first, and said to me, "Clan Lord, if you take this one as your Pet, I beg you to consider me as you decide who she should be bred with. I would gladly join your clan, if I could have this one as my mate."

I looked down at the Craxill woman at my feet, then looked at Rillnam and John in complete confusion.

I asked them, "Can either of you explain this one's request to me? I find the concept of taking a sentient being as a pet to be disturbing in the extreme; I hope this is a case of a poor translation, rather than a literal term."

John found his voice, and said, "The Clan Lords of old took a mate, just as all Craxill do. They also controlled the matings of the members of their clans, as you did for Rillnam and I, and took the first such pair as their First Ones. From time to time, the Lord and his Lady would take a female to be their plaything, to be used as they saw fit. Such toys were usually allowed to bond, since their Lord could not bond with them, but the plaything's mate knew that the Lord would also be enjoying the plaything's favors."

Kirnwan said, "If you take her, you will use her as you will, and I will gladly care for her, when you are not using her. I find myself in love with her, and this is the only way that she and I can bond, unless we leave our society completely. Her clan arranges bondings, and will not permit us to bond. And if she leaves the clan voluntarily, whatever clan she joins is obligated to compensate them for her departure by sending them a female as a replacement, and none of the clans represented here will send one of their own into that situation.

"But, if you take her as a Pet, then you need not send anyone into their clutches, even if you choose to follow Craxill custom, instead of the Earth custom."

Nilwint was still at my feet, still abasing herself. I let her wait there while I finished my eggs, then reached down and touched her shoulder.

"Look at me," I said, in Command Tones, as if she was a subordinate waiting to be yelled at for a minor infraction.

Nilwint looked up, and I continued, "You wish to be used, even abused? And this will be better than joining in the bonding to be arranged by your clan?"

Nilwint struggled to regain control, and said, "Lord, even knowing you for only the few hours since we met, I know that in your most abusive moment, you could no more harm me than you could harm your children. A lifetime of your worst would be less pain than a single day with the type of creature that my clan will bind me to."

I reached for my coffee, and took a sip. I looked down at the woman at my feet, and said, "I do not reject your request, but I can not yet grant it. I must study this custom, to learn my obligations and yours, should I do this. I warn you, though, that if I do this, it will not be a sham. If you are my pet, I will use you, and use you hard. I will take my pleasure from you. You are correct, however, that my pleasure will not require your pain; to the contrary, forcing you to accept more pleasure than you can imagine will please me greatly."

Nilwint shuddered as she looked at me; I suspected suddenly that the idea of being used was attractive to her, even outside of the instinctive reactions that my new Alpha status induced in her.

I looked at Priya, who was sitting quietly, our son in her arms, and said, "And if I do decide to consider this, I will require your blessing before I proceed. If I take a Pet, that Pet will be yours as well, to be used if you wish, in whatever way you desire."

Priya smiled briefly, and said, "If you find you can accept this one's service, I will not object. I'm sure I will find an interesting use for whatever is left over after you amuse yourself."

Nilwint shuddered again, and I became aware that the scent of an aroused Craxill female was beginning to fill the room. It was obvious that she didn't object in the slightest to being discussed in this manner. Interestingly enough, her would-be mate seemed to be not only OK with it, but even interested in joining the list of people who would dominate and use her. But he also clearly loved her, in the way that Rillnam and John had grown to love each other once their bond was established.

I was going to have to talk to my "Father" the Ambassador; unless the political consequences were too extreme, it looked like my little Clan was about to get bigger again.

I looked at Nilwint again, and waved her back to her seat. "You may sit; you are not yet my Pet, and there is no need for you to be uncomfortable while you wait." She rose, somewhat reluctantly, and did as I commanded.

Nadiya cleared her throat, and asked, "Can you excuse Jessica and I? She needs a bit of attention for a few minutes."

Priya nodded, and said, "Certainly. Rillnam and Nilwint can help me with the babies, now that they're fed."

I looked at Jessica, and saw that she was flushed, and licking her lips, and staring at Nilwint. She jumped when Nadiya touched her shoulder, and gestured for her to stand up. Jessica leaped to obey, and followed Nadiya out of the dining room, her head bowed slightly and her hands behind her back. I'd never seen her like that; her entire posture screamed submission.

As the two women left the room, I looked at Priya and raised an eyebrow. She shrugged, and said, "I've never asked. That's the first time they've ever acted like that. Normally, it's all loving and tender, the relationship of equals."

I nodded, "That's how it's always seemed to me. Not our business, of course."

Priya nodded in return. One of the major social changes in the past century had been the death of the power of society to prescribe the nature of love, and to proscribe (nearly) any of its variations. Pedophilia was the last taboo; even incest was accepted, as long as the parties were adult and consenting. Two women in love, such as Jessica and Nadiya obviously were, were allowed, even encouraged, to marry. If they chose to express their love by having one dominate the other, it was nobody's business unless it became apparent that the relationship was involuntary, or if the submissive partner showed signs of permanent damage.

I turned to Nilwint, and asked, "Do your duties at the Embassy require your presence today? If not, you are to remain here, and assist my mate and my Firsts as they direct. I will research this custom today, and tonight, and will discuss it with my mate. You will have my decision in the morning, unless events prevent me from gathering sufficient information."

Nilwint shook her head, and said, "No, Lord, I am not required to be elsewhere today, nor tomorrow. Kirnwan is also free today, though I believe he is scheduled for work tomorrow."

I glanced at Nilwint's would-be mate, and his head moved in a Craxill "nod", confirming what she'd said.

"Very well," I said, "You will act as instructed." I turned to Kirnwan and continued, "You are welcome to stay, if you wish, or you may return tonight or tomorrow morning. If I take her, I will do so tomorrow night, and you will need to be there, if you intend to be her mate."

Kirnwan stood, and made the gesture of respect, lowest-to-highest, and said, "I would be honored to remain in your home, to serve or aid you, in any way that I can, as a gesture of thanks for your hospitality, and your willingness to consider taking Nilwint as your Pet."

"There is no need for thanks," I told him, "But your offer to help is welcome. I must go now; I warned my office I would be late this morning, but I have much to do, in addition to the research I must now undertake." I rose, and left the room, stopping to kiss my wife, Rillnam, and my children.

I didn't deliberately choose a path that would take me past Jessica and Nadiya's rooms, but I did need to stop by my home office before I left, and the path I happened to use did just that. Their room didn't open on a major hallway, but a side branch that led to several unoccupied small bedroom suites, their rooms, and my office.

The door to their room was ajar, and I could hear sounds of pleasure coming from it. Somewhat ashamed, I walked quickly past, not intending to look in, but a motion drew my eyes, and I stopped abruptly, frozen by what I saw. Through the open door, I could see a completely naked Jessica, tightly bound in a net of ropes, with an equally nude, and very pregnant Nadiya kneeling in front of her and licking her exposed sex, while tugging on a chain that ended in a set of clips attached to Jessica's nipples.

Jessica was gagged, her jaw distended by a large red ball, held in place by a leather strap around her head, but the gag wasn't enough to keep her moans of pleasure from escaping. Her eyes were wide open, but sightless with lust, and her bound hands clenched and released as she struggled against the ropes that restrained her.

I'd tried to remain silent, but Nadiya must have noticed me somehow, because she paused in her lingual assault on her wife, and glanced at the open door. She smiled as she saw me standing there, winked, and went back to work.

I dragged my eyes from the sight, and reached in to gently pull the door closed, then turned and went on to my office. I was hard as a rock, and desperately wanted to go back to the kitchen and fuck my wife's brains out, but I needed to get to work.

I gathered up my data pouch from the security drawer, and requested a travel pod. I saw that I had a few minutes to spare before I had to leave to meet the pod, so I went into the attached bathroom, and jerked off quickly, moaning my pleasure as an image of a bound Jessica writhing beneath my pounding cock flashed through my head and I shot my load into the waiting wad of toilet tissue.

I cleaned up quickly, and left the bathroom, the office, and my house, arriving at the travel pod station with several minutes to spare. Fortunately, there wasn't anyone waiting, or in the pod, so I had several minutes to calm myself before the pod arrived at the office complex.

I spent the morning catching up on the previous day's activities, and planning today's work, then had a quick working lunch with my office administrator, reviewing the upcoming personnel actions.

It was time for annual reviews, and I was very pleased that I wouldn't be delivering any negative appraisals. There were a few 'slackers' who might be disappointed in the size of their increases, but even the worst worker in the office performed adequately, so I wasn't going to be handing out any bad news.

After lunch, I pulled up the secure link into the Craxill Embassy's cultural database, and researched Clan Lords and their perquisites. I found, as expected, that the Clan Lord's Pet was an actual custom, but I was surprised to discover that it was still accepted as proper, even though the last Clan Lord had died more than five hundred years ago. The Centaurus-system Craxill had allowed the Alphas to die off, but they hadn't killed the legends, and if the information I was reading could be believed, I could take Nilwint as my Pet, and no one would be able to dispute me.

I would, however, be making an enemy or two among her clan, by foiling their plans for her, whatever they were. For that reason, and because I wanted to verify what I'd read, I put in a request for a meeting with my Craxill father, specifying that it was for a personal matter.

The reply came back a few minutes later from his personal assistant, telling me I could have as much time as I wanted after four o'clock, or about thirty minutes at two. I took the later appointment, since I wasn't sure how complicated the discussion would get, and because it would be less disruptive to my work day.

The rest of the afternoon passed smoothly, if somewhat hectically, and I wrapped up everything I'd hoped to accomplish in time to waltz out of the office, announcing that I had an appointment with the Ambassador, and would see everyone in the morning. I was halfway down the hall before it occurred to me that I had done something that my mother was famous for; bragging about my connections to a room full of people who were all too aware of them.

I'd recently begun to wonder if my mother's professional mannerisms had arisen for the same reason that my professional persona was so much more aggressive than my personal one; the need to be taken seriously despite my age. If I relaxed, it seemed as though my age became more apparent; while if I was aggressive and assertive, people seemed to take me seriously, even if they were somewhat miffed at my attitude.

I toyed with the idea all the way to the Craxill Embassy, then set it aside as I entered, and made my way to my Father's office. The sleeve of my Western-style suit mostly covered the Clan Lord's bracelet on my wrist, but enough of the Craxill noticed it to leave a trail of whispers behind me. When I entered my father's office, his assistant noted my bracelet, but didn't comment. I suspected my Father had briefed him, knowing full well that my respect for Craxill custom would require me to display the signal that acknowledged my relationship with my First Ones.