Page 8 of Inhuman Nature

“What’s your name?” DJ asked.

“Shaun.”

DJ smiled. “Hi, Shaun. I’m DJ. This is my Dom and boyfriend, Rake. We wanted to check that you were all right.”

“I’m fine.”

“You told us that your Master left the room. That’s against the rules,” Rake pointed out, in a way that straddled the line between care and condescension.

DJ shot him a look, trying to get him to shut up. Shaunseemed a bit fresh to the scene. He might panic at being accused of breaking the rules, even if it was his Master who did so.

“What he means,” DJ said, “is that you shouldn’t be left alone in this kind of bondage. What if you needed to use your safe word?” He infused his tone with as much warmth as possible.

Shaun just looked confused. “I’m fine,” he repeated. “You should put the gag back in before my Master comes back.”

DJ pressed his lips together to stop himself from disagreeing with Shaun. He didn’t seem fine, and DJ didn’t want Rake to put the gag back in before they talked some more.

Shaun’s eyes widened, and he looked up at Rake. “Put it back in, Sir,” he said. Rake hesitated, and the cuffs around Shaun’s wrists clacked as he shook. “Please!”

Rake began to do as Shaun asked, but he wasn’t fast enough. DJ wasn’t sure how the Dom had made it over to them without anyone other than Shaun noticing, but he stood there suddenly, looming over them all. DJ pressed a hand to his chest at the shock of his arrival.

Rake dropped the gag and straightened, looking startled.

“Master, I—” Shaun began, but a sharp hand movement from the Dom had him closing his mouth with an audible snap.

“Who do we have here?” The Dom looked down at DJ in a way that was more than simply because of their relative positions.

“We just wanted to check that Shaun was all right,” DJ said, raising his chin.

The Dom narrowed his eyes to slits. “Who gave you theright to engage with my pet?”

“You left the room,” Rake said slowly. “That’s against the rules.”

The Dom’s nostrils flared. “My pet is fine. Aren’t you, pet?”

“I told them so, Master.”

“Regardless, it’s not supposed to be done,” Rake insisted. DJ closed his eyes. Rake’s commitment to the rules was admirable in many ways, but once he saw something he didn’t agree with, it was hard to get him to focus on anythingbutthe infraction.

“It’s none of your business,” the Dom said.

“We’re all members here. As a Dom, it’s my business to ensure the safety of any sub,” Rake replied, his hands flexing.

“Unless you wanted to make use of him, you shouldn’t have intervened.”

Rake’s face was impassive. “You shouldn’t have left him. I would never leave DJ alone.”

“Well, what’s good forDJisn’t necessarily what’s best for my pet.” The way the Dom said DJ’s name was as if it offended him to allow the letters to pass his lips.

DJ shuffled closer to Rake, looping a hand around his legs. Partially to give them both some comfort, and partially to stop Rake from advancing on the other Dom. Rake wasn’t one for physical violence, but DJ could tell how upset he was getting over the exchange.

“Master, please. They weren’t causing any harm.” Shaun’s voice was timid, but DJ felt proud of him for standing up to his Dom, even in such a simple way.

He was less pleased with the Dom’s response, however. “That’s for me to determine, not you.”

A new voice joined the melee. “Is something the matter?”

DJ almost jumped out of his skin for the second time in as many minutes when the woman—who’d been nowhere near them a mere second ago—spoke.