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L iam is awake when the call comes in to report to medical. It’s just after three a.m.

“Do I have time to take a shower?” he asks, voice rough from lack of sleep. He’s much too good at tossing and turning.

“Yes. But don’t use a neutralizing bodywash. It’s a submissive in crisis.”

“Got it, I’m on my way,” he says, and gets out of bed, takes a shower, brushes his teeth, and then puts on the most comfortable sweats and softest t-shirt he owns. A submissive in crisis will be very sensitive to everything—including touch—and something like wool or denim would be too rough. The same with zippers or buttons.

Liam’s in medical ten minutes later. They’ve been waiting for him, a nurse hovering around the intake desk, and an extra guard in the corner of the room. He doesn’t know the night nurse on duty, but she must know him because she buzzes him back and tells him to go to room three.

The medical ward is fairly quiet.Most of the patients are seen during the day, and anyone seriously hurt will be transferred off base to a better equipped medical facility. A light flickers overhead as he walks down the hall and passes an empty nurses’ station with the computers all turned off.

The door to room three is open and he peers inside. There’s no one in there. Room three stinks of blood and misery and hasn’t been cleaned yet. There’s bloody gauze on a tray, and a pile of used stitch kits.

“Commander Stone,” Dr. Chang declares, sounding relieved. “Good. We’re over here. A clean room with a bit more privacy.” He looks tired. Is it the patient that’s exhausted him, or the fact that it’s the middle of the night? Probably both.

“Patient is a submissive who is designationally off the charts and very difficult. Well, the circumstances surrounding him are difficult; I don’t think he actually is.” He shrugs and puts his hand in his pocket then realizes there’s blood all over his jacket. “Sorry, it’s late. I’m not speaking clearly. I’m at my wit’s end with this one. Well, with the whole damned situation, if I’m being honest. But you didn’t hear me say that.”

“Okay,” he says, curiosity already piqued. He’s become friendly with Dr. Chang over the last couple of years and has found him to be calm and competent. Finding him frazzled and annoyed about a patient is a new one.“What can you tell me about the patient?”

He sighs and closes his eyes for a moment as he gathers his thoughts. His gaze flicks around the empty hallway to make sure no one is listening. “He’s got a complicated presentation. Probably one of the most unusual I’ve ever seen.”

Liam doesn’t bother to hide his surprise. Chang is an expert on submissive health. Soldiers are flown from all over the country to see him, and he thought the doctor would have seen it all. “Wow. Okay.”

“You’ll see what I mean when you meet him. He’s just about as submissive as you can get. Which is rare nowadays but not impossible.”

“I’ve handled very submissive soldiers.”

“I know. That’s where he started. Since he became submissive, he’s had an incredible amount of experimental treatment performed upon him, all of it attempting to correct his submission. From surgeries to brainwashing, conversion therapies, and drugs. Any agency that had a treatment lying around they wanted to try out, this poor boy was an available guinea pig. Frankly, if you told me his father hated him and did this to torture him, I’d believe it. Everything they did just made him worse.”

His curiosity intensifies. The submissive designation isn’t new. And it isn’t reversible. God knows the military has tried to fix the problem over the years and it always ends badly. Policy nowadays is to leave the soldiers alone whenever possible.

“Unless there’s some radical new treatment I don’t know about, what’s done is done. You can’t unbake a cake and get it back to separate ingredients, and you can’t unmake a submissive. I thought the science was pretty settled.”

“I haven’t heard the cake analogy in a while. I try not to use metaphors because they are imprecise, but this poor boy….”

Liam is pretty sure he knows where the doctor is going with this, but raises an eyebrow in interest anyway, wanting to hear his take on the submissive he’s about to meet. “Go on?”

Dr. Chang sighs. “Sure. Why not? I find this example trivializing and unscientific, but I understand the appeal. And I actually tried telling this to his father. I was so desperate to get my point across—not that it made any difference,” he says, and then takes a deep breath. “Before the designation process, a soldier is basically clay. He goes through the designation process and he emerges as a durable plate. Microwave safe, dishwasher safe, can withstand various temperatures, shatterproof, etc. Further modifications to get a better plate weaken the creation. You get chips, cracks, and if the plate breaks, then a very good glue can be used to piece it back together, but it will never be as strong as it was in the first iteration. Just like you can see where the plate is broken, we can see where further attempts are made upon the body and the DNA to alter the soldier, and the improvements aren’t there. It isn’t possible. Once you get the plate, you have to accept the plate and move on.

“This poor boy has the unfortunate honor of being the son of a very high-ranking military official who does not like the word no. It’s clear no one has told him no in a long time. He also appears to hate plates and wishes his son had been a cup. So he has smashed him to pieces and glued him into something and it’s not worked. At all. And the plate might believe he is a cup or could be a cup.” Dr. Chang glares at him. “Do you perhaps see why I dislike using metaphors for people? He is a person and deserves respect and to be accepted for who he is. He isn’t a disposable piece of crockery.” He shakes his head, running out of words.

“Who is his father?”

“General Burrows.”

Liam whistles. “That’s unfortunate. I met him once. I think he’s a psychopath. And I mean that he literally meets the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy.”

“Right. You know a majority of political leaders, CEOs, and those in charge of the military are typically psychopaths. And this poor boy did what his father wanted by joining the military and becoming enhanced. He was turned into a submissive, which was unacceptable to his father. Every time he undergoes a new treatment, he’s worse. It isn’t just physical issues that we’re dealing with now but mental. You’ll see his file and the things they did to him, and I can tell you that every time you see a glowing report about the potential and progress, that it was a lie. If anything worked at all it was temporary. I think it’s abuse. He could probably sue. Drugs, surgeries, psychological interventions—you name it, he’s endured it. Everything that has been attempted on this young man didn’t do a thing beyond making him incredibly unstable.”

“So what has changed that has resulted in us having this conversation right now?”

“His father has had a stroke and is in the hospital in a medically induced coma. His son’s care defaults to me until the general is able to make decisions again.”

“The son can’t make them?” he asks, even though he knows the answer.

“Too submissive. His father arranged for me to be his conservator.”

Liam grunts in annoyance. If a soldier is too submissive to manage their own life, then they shouldn’t be allowed to serve. “I hate that. Either a submissive is mentally competent or he isn’t, but a conservator and active service shouldn’t both be allowed.”

“Exactly. And in my expert opinion,” Dr. Chang says, voice shaking with anger, “what Private Burrows needs is to be left alone and allowed to be himself. He needs time to heal.”

“Right. So I’m here because Daddy Warbucks can’t say no to you calling me in?”

“Yup. And the moment he’s back I have no idea what will happen, but my hope is that Daniel will be evened out and happy enough that his father’s heart will grow two sizes larger and he’ll just let him exist. Get him out of the military and settled with his owner.”

“Owner?” Liam asks, surprised at the word choice.

“He’s top of the scale. The poor boy isn’t meant to submit but to surrender hard. The dynamic he will be happiest in is quite extreme. He’s the closest thing to prey I’ve ever seen.”

Liam frowns. “So why am I here?” he asks flatly. “I’m not enough of a sadist for a man like that. Prey isn’t something I’ve ever dealt with. Frankly, I thought it was hypothetical.”

“Prey isn’t common and there’s no standard guidelines because soldiers with needs that extreme don’t do well. I hear there’s almost a thousand of them on ice in Montana, but that's a rumor. With his scores, it’s a medical miracle that he’s functioning as well as he is.”

Liam shifts on his feet, unsure he’s the right Dominant for the job.

“He needs consensual nonconsent, he needs to be owned and controlled, and you can do that. But, most importantly, someone with his scores and trauma needs someone who isn’t an abuser. If I put him with a Dominant he is directly compatible with, it won’t end well. And that’s assuming I could find one, which I can’t. An equivalent Dominant would be put down immediately. Daniel wouldn’t survive a Dominant with similar needs. Also, he’s been denied and shamed for so long that my biggest concern is that he can’t handle what he needs. And he’s been through so much correction and trauma that I don’t think it will be easy to get the balance right. He needs a Dominant with incredible control, which you have. You can deliberately choose to give him more or less. Meeting his needs has to be done strategically. Plus, you’re probably going to have to give a full report to his father when he’s better, and you present well. Your reputation can take it.”

“Ah, so I’m here to be hung out to dry?”

“I didn’t say that. I hope not.” He winces. “Will you meet him and then decide? Please?”

“Shit. I like my career.” But Liam isn’t going to say no. How could he? Yes, he likes his career, but that isn’t as important as his designation. He’s a Dominant who needs to take care of submissives. That’s baked into his DNA. Tell him there is a tragic submissive that no one can help and who is struggling and of course he is going to say yes.

“He has to have someone. It’s medically necessary,” the doctor says firmly. “At this point I’d be worried about putting him with a Dominant who was eager for the chance to have him. The fact that you’re not eager is a good sign. It means you’ll do right by him. Or at least try.”

“Flatterer,” he mutters, waving the praise away. “You know I can’t say no.”

Dr. Chang nods, refusing to meet his gaze. Does he feel guilty about introducing them?

“He needs help and I like to help. I’ve been without a submissive for three days and I think I’ve slept for a total of three hours,” he says so the doctor won’t feel bad. Plus, it’s true.

“Another success story,” he comments with a sad smile.

“That’s right. His name is Enrico and he is a lovely boy who has now found the Dominant of his dreams and they are happily settled outside of Austin. My work there is done.”

“I think it would be difficult to give them all up,” he says.

It’s a kind thing to say. Most people think he has a great job: spend a few days or weeks with a submissive, get them evened out and then settled with the right partner, and move on to the next.

Lots of Dominants think he has the best job possible. An endless supply of new boys to play with. It isn’t that easy. There are times when he wishes he had a boy of his own, one who would stay and that he wouldn’t have to give up, but it hasn’t been right. He hopes he knows when the right one shows up. He isn’t even sure anymore.

Being with submissives now is like dancing—a dance he knows by heart and has practiced endlessly. He still likes dancing but there isn’t a thrill. Not when he knows the boys will leave him for another and do the deep work of submission with someone else. It’s like he teaches them all how to box step and then passes them off to a new partner.

But he’s never worked with a submissive with a prey designation before. And that is intriguing.

“He’s prey but he’s never gotten to be prey,” he says, thinking aloud. Liam knows the doctor is right. Throwing a submissive like that into the deep end with a Dominant that he matches perfectly with would just lead to him being hurt. The flesh might be willing, but the mind is fragile. Just because he needs consensual nonconsent to thrive doesn’t mean it can be with just anyone. “With a designation like that… yeah, you have to be careful. Okay, what else? I know there’s more.”

Dr. Chang makes a humph sound as they walk down the hall. Which isn’t a denial.

“His status is further complicated by prior trauma. He does not get easily aroused nor does he make use of toys for soothing purposes, though he should. His prior experience with Dominants is minimal and highly negative. But he’s enhanced enough that the drugs are simply not possible. His metabolism is too high, and he’s had surgeries he shouldn’t, which means his own hormone production isn’t normal. We’re trying to supplement him and even him out, but he’s burning through everything we give him and I don’t know whether he’s so shut down, he isn’t producing the right hormones, or whether it’s because of what they did to him. A lot of what was done to him is classified. And because it all failed and was experimental, I’ll never get my hands on the files. No one will.”

“I assume the general was trying to make him Dominant? Isn’t that what every experimental submissive surgery is meant to do?”

“He has a twin brother who was treated at the same time. He came out null.”

“I’ve never met a null,” Liam says, voice flat. It’s bullshit as far as he can tell. A submissive doing self-harm to pass as not submissive. But they’re certainly not Dominant. He’s only met a few, and rumor is they become submissive eventually.

“The general is convinced. He wants that for Daniel.”

“Sure. And I want a pony.” Liam scrubs his hands over his face. “Okay. How has he been getting by? And how old is he?”

“He’s not been getting by very well. He tries to endure the drops. He masks well, uses lots of denial. God only knows what his coping mechanisms are, but they can’t be good. He’s twenty-four. Come see him. He’s sleeping at the moment. You’ll need to be calm. He’ll sense a Dominant’s distress and it’s triggering for him.”

“Wait. So he’s purely submissive, he has trauma, and he can’t even out with drugs. But he will have a negative reaction if he’s around an unsettled Dominant? He should seek out an unsettled Dominant like a moth to a flame.”

“As mentioned, a complicated case.”

“What about his fetishes?” It sounds like a nightmare. The poor bastard.

“Ah. That’s another problem. We don’t even know if he has any. We did a brainwave test to check for his arousal response to various stimuli and it remained flat. He was in such a panicked state that nothing registered. There were a few things that registered as highly negative, but that’s all. It’s in his file. I’ve been seeing him off and on for a few months now. We’ve put him through three diagnostic videos with scenes of male Dominants in just about every fetish and sexual play one can imagine, and the only one he could get through was a Daddy/boy dynamic. He watched it. He didn’t become aroused, but he updated his needs to indicate an interest in aftercare. That was three weeks ago. His father determined he was well enough to return to duty and he was sent back out on training missions.”

Training missions are not real. They’re for Dominants and submissives who are trying to reintegrate back into active duty. “Pseudo or not, how is that not a disaster? A submissive this unstable shouldn’t be out on missions. And no one took advantage of him?”

“Submissive only. He was at Camp Poquete.”

Camp Poquete is a base filled with submissives. It isn’t a prison but Liam thinks it sounds like one. The submissives there are so unstable they can’t be allowed near Dominants.

Correctly interpreting the disgust on Liam’s face, Dr. Chang says, “I agree with you. That’s off the table now. They just shipped him over to me two weeks ago because he collapsed. I thought I had him evened out but I didn't. However, I’ve received word that his father is in an induced coma, which means Daniel is currently under my complete jurisdiction, so I want to act on it while I can.”

“How long would I have with him?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. A week? Two? It depends upon how long it takes General Burrows to recover enough to yank Daniel from us.”

“What about his cycle? Does he have one?” Liam is just close enough to his that he’ll have to take suppressants if they’re drawn to each other. “Mine’s due in a week.”

“You’ll need to check him. I’ve been doing blood tests only, and there’s enough hormonal change that it’s hard to tell. We’ve never been able to get the ultrasound inside him.”

“Why the hell not?”

“I’m under orders that didn’t allow it. No penetration of any kind.”

“That is insane. This is like those countries that don’t allow vaginal examinations because they think it takes away one’s virginity or something,” Liam argues. It’s sad. And enraging.

Submissives need penetration to settle. Hormones released during mating allow a submissive to get rid of stress toxins, leaving them emotionally stable and happy.

“He has only responded to Daddy/boy? Isn’t that too gentle? Perhaps if it was supplemented with humiliation or maybe denial it would be okay. There was a lot of blood in that exam room. Is he self-harming?”

Dr. Chang takes a moment to think about it. “No. Well, I don’t think so. It wouldn’t be intentional. But he is worse every time he comes in—more injured when he gets to us and he waits longer to call. I honestly think that without serious intervention he won’t last another month. But that’s not something anyone wants to hear.”

“Okay. Let’s go see him,” he says, and wonders what exactly he’s getting himself into.