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“Excellent answer, Georgina Patricia Hughes, who was named after your grandfathers because your sister was named after your grandmothers, and there were no boys to give their names to. You are made of stern stuff, and are exactly the kind of partner my Devansh needs in his life. The two of you will figure out your place in your cats’ lives. You don’t need me to tell you what to do, because you will follow your gut instincts — the same ones that made you stand up to the vampire who just gave you so much pain, many would’ve lost consciousness, but you did not.”

Genie got out of her jeans and panties, accepted the clean panties and jeans offered to her, and sat to put her boots back on. If she wasn’t supposed to have changed clothes in front of the damned vampire, she wouldn’t have been handed the fucking clothes to change into. The bitch had seen naked people before, and Genie refused to be embarrassed or to feel vulnerable around the damned ancient vampire who looked like a fucking adorable child.

She stood again and told the vampire, “I’m still pissed at you for doing that to me. Giving me clean clothes can’t undo that.”

Brooke floated up into the air, so her head was the same height as Genie’s. “Once you have more time to think about it, I believe you’ll understand you learned as much about yourself as I learned about you. It was a necessary exercise, and it told meabout your physical strength, your willpower, and your ethics. Also, that you can be even more hardheaded than two cats and an extinct giant snake who can kill you with either venom or constriction. Living with three men is going to be a challenge, but I feel certain you’re up to it, Georgina.”

“How did you know I was named after my grandfathers?” They’d been George and Patrick, and she’d been given the feminine versions of their names.

“I’ve been in your head, of course. I will not require you to oath to me. There are things you can’t know about the coterie, and about Dev’s life, unless you do. If you ever wish to do so, I will accept your oath, based on what I’ve seen of you since I met you. Are you still interested in being able to telepath with Dev?”

“I don’t trust you enough to let you bite me right now.” Genie understood that, if Brooke was right and she could see the purpose for this later, then she’d have to get over that, so she added. “Another day, perhaps.”

“You’re still angry with me. I could fix that, but I won’t, because I want you to work it out in your head on your own. The guard will take you back to Devansh and your cats, now. Go in peace.”

* * * *

Dev watched the entire scene as it happened, broadcast from Brooke’s mind to his telepathically.

He was sick to his stomach over it, but he understood why Brooke had done it. It wasn’t just so Brooke and Genie would have the proof of Genie’s convictions, but also so Dev would.

Genie would do the right thing, even if it meant taking the harder path. Also, it was a reminder that Genie gifted him her submission because she wanted to, not because he took it. He’d known that already, of course, but the reminder of it was likefireworks re-announcing the message with brightly lit words exploding across the sky.

Elijah’s charmed bracelets had been put back on before he’d even been allowed out of the cage in the van. He’d been taken to a room in the dungeon, where a guard had put Elijah’s humbler on and inserted a weighted butt plug, though with a combo of olive oil and eucalyptus oil this time. Dev didn’t want cinnamon oil to come to mean punishment.

And, because Dev didn’t have twelve hours to give the same kind of punishment as he’d doled out before, stinging nettles were rubbed on Elijah’s dick and nipples, and an irritant cream was rubbed on them as well.

Twenty minutes later, Dev stepped onto the rough concrete floor of the barebones jail cell with heavy boots designed to make just the right noise on the floor to create extra dread in the gut of the person being punished. He placed a stool on the floor six feet in front of Elijah, and poured several cups of uncooked rice between the cat shifter and the stool. The disobedient cat was going to be forced to crawl over the rice, in the humbler, to make it to the stool this time.

Dev placed three felt tipped pens on the stool, along with the paper Elijah would need, and propped the dry erase board against the wall.

I want to be an adult in modern society. In order to do so, I must respect the rules necessary for integrating into society and becoming a contributing member of ______*.

* You decide whether to write ‘the coterie’ or ‘society’ here. Either is acceptable.

Dev didn’t give Elijah a chance to ask questions before telling him, “Twenty-five pages of ten lines each. Someone will gatherpages and check them over periodically, and will return blank pages to you for every page that doesn’t pass muster. As before, the humbler comes off, the plug comes out, and you get to move off the rice when you’ve completed your lines. Someone will bring a protein energy drink every two hours. If you need water in between, let whoever gathers your completed pages know. There’s a bottle with a lid in case you need to piss. Crawl forward.”

It took Elijah several minutes to make his way across six feet of floor space. When he was in place, Dev leaned down to lock the chain already attached to the humbler to a bolt in the floor. He stood, pulled a medical glove from his pocket along with the small baggie of stinging nettles, and he rubbed them onto Elijah’s already red nipples and dick, as well as the parts of his scrotum he could get to around the humbler.

And then he turned and walked out the door without further comment. Someone would monitor Elijah’s progress on camera, but it was important Elijah suffered his punishment without knowing for certain he had an audience. He’d assume someone was watching, but he wouldn’tknow— and he’d be alone in the room with his pain, and the words he was writing echoing in his mind.

This was why Dev wasn’t using the threat of shock to his balls if he stopped writing, because he’d know someone was watching. The chain between humbler and floor was short enough Elijah would be forced to stay on his knees. He wouldn’t even be able to roll sideways to lie on his side. His knees were going to be on the rice until he finished his lines, so dawdling wasn’t going to be a positive thing.

Also, since it only took an hour or two for most shapeshifters to eject the tiny little needles in the stinging nettle leaves that caused the irritation, whenever one of Elijah’s sheets weren’t up to standards and had to be tossed, the monitor on duty wouldsupply another rubbing of fresh stinging nettles to Elijah’s dick, balls, and nipples. The property had a nice little crop of them towards the back, and Dev had found many uses for them over the years.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dev came out from behind his desk when Ezra was brought to him. He embraced the other man for several long moments before settling him into an armed chair and then moving another chair so the two would face either other, and then Dev sat as well.

“I’m proud of you. Do you want to talk about what changed?”

“I want to be free, Sir. You’ve given us a path for that, and for the first time ever, I can see a way that I can be free even if my brother can’t, and we can still be just as close. I think he could be happy as a slave under the right Master — so he’s told what to do and he can be a bit of a brat about it, but he can also enjoy his art and get to fuck and be fucked on a regular basis.”

“But you don’t want that for yourself?”

“No, Sir. I would prefer to make my own decisions about who I fuck, who fucks me, and what I choose to do with my spare time.”

“We’re part of a bound poly group, which means you belong to me. Do you want that to be the case once you’re free? Even if belonging to me means I get to decide when you’re fucked, even once you’re a free person?”