Page 23 of Reforging Onyx

Dominic did own him.

Fuck.

“Why are you doing this now? Trying to impress your fucking friends?” Onyx demanded.

Dominic sighed. “Onyx, I’m not asking you to do anything more than has always been implicitly included in anything I’ve said before. I’m not asking to fuck you now, and I’m not expecting to. We both know that you’re not ready for that. And why would I try to impress anyone when there’s nothing that they would know about it one way or the other?”

Onyx hugged his arms against his chest, that nagging sense of betrayal only growing. He hadn’t thought Dominic would do anything like this, would demand anything like this, and even the negotiation was bullshit. Maybe Dominic had even set him up so he’d be grateful for the idea of only having fingers inside of him.

Fuck, he hated Dominic sometimes, and it was easy to lose sight of that until he pulled shit like this.

“I’m just a toy to you,” Onyx said bitterly. “Fuck, I’m…” He shook his head, letting out a despairing huff of a laugh. “I’m so stupid.”

Because he’d let himself think that maybe Dominic wasn’t so bad, these days.

“Onyx, come here.” Dominic held his hand out again. “You are not a toy to me, my beautiful tiger.”

“That’s bullshit, and we both know it’s bullshit,” Onyx snapped at him, crossing his arms against his chest. “This whole thing is bullshit.”

Dominic held his hand out and waited.

Onyx let out an irritated huff, but he knew that refusing was only going to lead to more things he didn’t want. He closed the distance between them again, but he didn’t take the outstretched hand, only staying within reach of it. “I’m not wearing the fucking plug. Not now, not ever.” He glared at Dominic.

Dominic took hold of Onyx lightly by the hips and tugged him in to kiss him again. “Have I lied to you?” he asked softly. “Has anything I’ve done caused you pain when I’ve promised only pleasure?”

“Stop that,” Onyx muttered. “You’re doing that thing I hate. The lesser of two evils is still fucking evil, Dominic!”

“What is evil about feeling pleasure?” Dominic countered in that smooth way of his that tried to make everything sound reasonable.

“Don’t,” Onyx snapped. “Just… don’t.” He let out an agitated sound, wanting to pull away but knowing Dominic would only draw him in closer again, over and over, because Onyx apparently wasn’t allowed to have any fucking space anymore.

“There’s nothing evil about pleasure, and you’ve entrusted me with showing you how good things will be. I take that trust seriously.” Dominic squeezed Onyx’s hips lightly. “Go get dressed. Our guests will start arriving soon.”

Onyx eyed him. “I didn’t agree to anything,” he muttered, but he had a feeling he’d gotten outmaneuvered. Not that that was anything new; he was used to Dominic being able to manipulate circles around him. He went to the bed, dropping the towel. He let out a long-suffering sigh before fumbling with the cock cage.

Maybe if he wore this, Dominic would forget about the plug, or his fingers.

Or maybe this had been Dominic’s plan all along, to get him distracted by the idea of something worse so he didn’t protest the cock cage.

“I don’t need this either,” Onyx complained. “I’m not going to get turned on around your crazy fucking friends.”

Dominic chuckled as he moved to help Onyx into the cage and secure it. “I know you won’t,” he said. “This is just because I enjoy knowing you are wearing it sometimes.” He dropped another kiss to the back of Onyx’s neck before returning to finish getting dressed.

“You’re sick,” Onyx muttered, but he finished pulling on the uncomfortable clothes. He wondered if Dominic was going to keep pushing the plug, if one day he was going to accept it like he accepted the cock cage. He chased those thoughts away immediately, then turned back to Dominic. “All right, fine, I’m ready.”

“I’m afraid you can't have your headphones tonight,” Dominic said. “But all you need to do is sit beside my chair and ignore anything going on, though you will socialize after dinner.”

The idea of the dinner was bad enough; the knowledge that he couldn’t have his headphones made it worse. He sighed, but this wasn’t something worth fighting Dominic on. Besides, then he was continuing, and the idea of socializing had him both horrified and fascinated all at once. “Who will I socialize with?” he asked suspiciously.

Dominic chuckled. “You will see." He stepped out into the hall and held the bedroom door open for Onyx to join him.

Here went nothing.

Dominic’s hand on the back of his shoulder made his skin crawl, but Onyx didn’t fight it as they went downstairs, straight into a sitting room. Two witches were already standing there, along with a girl who was seated on a cushion on the floor. Dominic guided him to a similar cushion, right next to the biggest chair in the room, then stepped away so he could approach his other guests.

Even as he fought the instincts that told him to fight, Onyx plopped down onto the cushion without a word.

He recognized all too well that he was becoming well-trained, and it made him want to do something, anything, to make it clear he was still feral. But Dominic would consider that acting out, and it likely wouldn’t lead to anything he liked. He eyed the girl, who knelt quietly with her hands on her knees, palms up, and made a face. She was obviously not a problem, not like he was, and he didn’t think he’d want to socialize with her — or any of the other submissive slaves that would be there.