Unleashed by the Defender (Brides of the Kindred #25) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,16

said quickly. Reaching up, she captured his chin and pulled gently but firmly. “Look at me, J’are,” she said urgently. “Don’t pay any attention to her—just look at me.”

Slowly, the big Kindred turned back to face her.

“She likes pain,” he said simply. “Being with her hurts.”

Imani felt as though he was squeezing her heart with his words. She had a sudden flash of what life with Mistress Bittlebum must have been like. She’d been the first one to own J’are after the kind but eccentric Lady Hownow, who had apparently treated him like a son. Then her niece had come along and introduced him to the pain collar and who knew what other torture devices the Yonnites used on their male bodyslaves?

It must have been terrible for him to go from a home where he was loved and cared for to a place where he was constantly shocked into submission.

“It’s all right,” Imani told him, stroking his cheek again. “She can’t hurt you anymore. She’s never going to hurt you again. No one is—you’re mine now.”

As she spoke those words, she felt the truth of them. She wasn’t just saying the words—she really was claiming the big Kindred as her own. Somehow he had gotten under her skin and she wanted nothing more in the world than to keep him safe.

J’are’s blazing green eyes looked into hers for a long moment.

“I’m yours now,” he repeated in that hoarse, deep voice of his. “Yours and not hers.”

“Mine,” Imani agreed. “Come on now—you’ll be all right. Just focus on me. Stay with me, all right?”

“Yes.” He nodded slowly. “I’ll stay with you.”

“I must agree with Lady Bittlebum, Councilor,” Judge Thoughtgood’s voice cut in again before Imani could take the big Kindred’s hand to lead him away. “You’ll need the remote to his pain collar to keep him under control. And you cannot take him out without a leash—it simply isn’t proper.”

Imani wished she could argue that she wasn’t afraid of the big Kindred and thus didn’t need to use the pain collar. And also, putting him on a leash was dehumanizing. But right at that moment, she just wanted to get out of there before the judge changed her mind.

“All right,” she said evenly. “Give me the leash and remote.”

Another Horvath guard stepped forward and handed her a long black leather leash and a small black rectangular box that looked like a mini TV remote.

Imani took them but when J’are saw the small remote in her hand, he at once began to growl.

“No, no—look at me. Look at me,” Imani told him, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “I’m not going to use this,” she said, showing him the remote. “I promise—not even once. I have to take it because they won’t let me take you with me otherwise. But I’m not going to use it.”

Slowly, his green eyes cleared and the animalistic rage leaked away. He frowned.

“You swear by the Goddess?”

“I swear,” Imani said firmly. She tucked the remote into the front of her bra, since she had no other place to put it. “See? Out of sight, out of mind.”

“Mmmm.” J’are agreed, but his pale green eyes were fixed on the tops of her breasts, cupped snugly in the white lace bra.

Uh-oh… Imani wished she had some way to cover herself, but she couldn’t exactly put her blouse back on at the moment—she would risk offending the judge.

She tried to ignore the big Kindred’s interest and turned her attention to the leash instead. She didn’t like using it on him but again, she didn’t see any way around it.

“I have to put this on you now,” she told him. “I’m sorry, J’are—I don’t want to but I have to.”

He nodded with surprising acceptance and lifted his chin, baring the thick black collar with its metal rings. Imani wished she could take that off him as well, but she knew better than to ask. She would have to see if there was some way to remove it once they got back to her hotel room.

She clipped one end of the leash to the front ring of his collar and held the other end awkwardly. It seemed so strange to be leading a grown man on a leash like a dog, but there was no way around it—not here on Yonnie Six.

“All right, now we’re ready to go,” she told J’are.

“I’ll see you here this time tomorrow, Councilor,” Judge Thoughtgood said, drawing Imani’s attention away from the big Kindred for a moment.