Page 25 of Milk & Malice: Vadik

I’d waited long enough for that little pleasure. The nerve attachment was clean, the base of her spine was healing beautifully, and the specimen itself—harvested, grafted, integrated—was a masterpiece.

Now it was time to bring her back.

I didn’t maim her for silence. I didn’t build my perfect cow to wither in bed like some invalid.

I built her to kneel. To moo. To feel.

???

I bathed her lovingly, playing Beethoven in the background. I’d decided to switch from Tchaikovsky—he’d been playing during her surgeries. When I cleaned behind her ears, the devil in me made me whisper to her.

“You’ve been drinking your own milk, my sweet. I can’t wait for you to see your tail. To hear your first moo. To fuck my little breeding cow while you stand on your hooves,” I murmured in her ear, licking her lobe before biting down on it.

Then I heard it—the slight inhalation of breath. Different.

I continued.

“It was never my plan to use your holes, little cow. I struggled with that concept. But these last two weeks, I’ve made peace with my decision. I’m your Owner. The old Lena does not exist. You live only for me now.”

I listened carefully, but there was no other reaction.

The only thing I told her on repeat was that she was a cow, and I owned her. Every time I drank from her udders, checked her grafts, or monitored her inflammation, I whispered it in her ear.

I rinsed the washcloth in the hot water before cleaning around her neck and chest, glancing at the time.

Not long until milking time.

I bathed her faster.

???

When I received the message, a stab of fear darted through me, but I read and reread it several times before I calmed.

How did he know?

I asked Viktor too many questions.

The gossiping fuck.

Pakhan:I hope you are enjoying your time with your pet. Good for you, take as much leave as you need, my friend.

He was the man who gave me purpose again. The man who changed my path and let me breathe again. In a new operating room. With a new mission.

No. He wouldn't try and steal my pet.

He was too busy with thekrolikand their daughter.

A memory of Alek stabbed through my chest.

His tiny charred body.

I took deep breaths, closing my eyes to remember what they used to look like before burying it all away again.

Lena.

I smiled.

She was my pet and I damn well intended to enjoy my time with her.