Deviations: Submission by Chris Owen & Jodi Payne
Author:Chris Owen & Jodi Payne [Owen, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Pretty Muses Publishing
Published: 2016-10-28T16:00:00+00:00
Chapter 17
The walk across the yard was perhaps the strangest Tobias had ever had. Noah was looking down, of course, but he was anxious and probably insecure and there really wasnât any way Tobias could reassure him. Not when he was walking with lead in his feet and confusion clouding his judgment. Later, yes, of courseâas soon as he got them both inside and into the safe room.
Up the stairs, and he still hadnât said anything. In the hallway he pointed to the safe room and said, âIâm going to check the pagers. Iâd like you to strip down again so I can take off your harness, and then weâre going to talk, pet. Iâll just be a minute.â
Noah hesitated, but after a moment he managed, âYes, sir,â and disappeared into the safe room. Tobias could hear him sigh from the hall and then the tell-tale creaks of the harness leather as Noah started to undress.
Tobias shook his head, mostly at himself, and went into the bedroom. Heâd put all the pagers on his dresserâhis two, Noahâs work pager, and the one he would give Noah Monday morning. They were all lined up, all four of them with blank faces, still and silent. No one needed them, thank God. He suspected that they werenât good for much at the moment.
And it was his job to fix that.
Standing taller he looked at his reflection in the mirror, studying himself. Serious face, set jaw... consciously, he forced himself to relax. That lessened the tightness around his eyes, made his face more gentle. Still stern, strong... but not angry. He wasnât angry, not at Noah. Not really; Noah would learn and they would be fine.
He rolled his shoulders once and turned on his heel, going to the safe room in easy strides. He knew what he had to say and what to do to restore the balance; it was time to make a few things plain to his strong-willed sub.
Noah was kneeling in the middle of the room, head bowed and arms back, nicely into his display position.
âAre you all right?â Tobias asked softly. âPhysically? Thereâs no broken skin, and I couldnât find any damaged muscle, but Iâm not in your skin.â
Noah shifted and twisted his back slightly as if to be sure of himself before he answered, âIâm still a bit tender, sir, but Iâll be all right, thank you.â His voice was still soft, however, and seemed lacking a bit of its usual confidence.
âGood.â Tobias went to him and urged him to move a little, carefully unlocking the harness. The cage was lifted away, and Tobias smoothed his fingers along skin where the leather had pressed in. âOkay? Iâm going to take out the plug. Youâll feel odd for a bit, Iâm sure.â
Noah nodded in answer, and shifted to accommodate Tobias.
The plug was eased out and set aside, and Tobias made sure that the leather hadnât chafed, that Noah was in as good shape, physically, as could be expected. âAll right, then,â he said, standing up.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Personalized inhaled bacteriophage therapy for treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis by unknow(177802)
CONSORT 2025 statement: updated guideline for reporting randomized trials by unknow(86294)
Critical evaluation of the ProfiLER-02 study design and outcomes by Vivek Subbiah & Razelle Kurzrock(85860)
Cardiac gene therapy makes a comeback by Oliver J. Müller & Susanne Hille & Anca Kliesow Remes(85654)
Whisky: Malt Whiskies of Scotland (Collins Little Books) by dominic roskrow(74442)
Unveiling the design rules for tunable emission in graphene quantum dots: A high-throughput TDDFT and machine learning perspective by Şener Özönder & Mustafa Coşkun Özdemir & Caner Ünlü(50894)
A yeast-based oral therapeutic delivers immune checkpoint inhibitors to reduce intestinal tumor burden by unknow(40265)
Covalent hitchhikers guide proteins to the nucleus by Alexander F. Russell & Madeline F. Currie & Champak Chatterjee(40217)
Meet the Authors: Christopher R. Mansfield and Emily R. Derbyshire by Christopher R. Mansfield & Emily R. Derbyshire(40098)
Alkaline-earth metals promote propane dehydrogenation with carbon dioxide through geometric effects: Altering the reaction pathway by unknow(32736)
Induced iron vacancies boosting FeOOH loaded on sustainable Fenton-like collagen fiber membrane for efficient removal of emerging contaminants by unknow(32509)
Efficient electric-field-assisted photochemical conversion of methane to n-propanol exclusively over penetrated TiO2Ti hollow fibers by Guanghui Feng(32454)
Bi2SiO5 nanosheets as piezo-photocatalyst for efficient degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenol by Hangyu Shi & Yifu Li & Lishan Zhang & Guoguan Liu & Qian Zhang & Xuan Ru & Shan Zhong(32391)
A novel NDIPTA organic heterojunction photocatalyst with built-in electric field for efficient hydrogen production by Jiahui Yang & Baojun Ma & Yongfa Zhu(32364)
Enhanced conversion of methane to liquid-phase oxygenates via hollow ferrite nanotube@horseradish peroxidase based photoenzymatic catalysis by Jun Duan & Shiying Fan & Xinyong Li & Shaomin Liu(32333)
Ordered macroporous superstructure of defective carbon adorned with tiny cobalt sulfide for selective electrocatalytic hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde by Xiao-Shi Yuan & Sheng-Hua Zhou & San-Mei Wang & Wenbo Wei & Xiaofang Li & Xin-Tao Wu & Qi-Long Zhu(32260)
What's Done in Darkness by Kayla Perrin(27152)
Topological analysis of non-conjugated ethylene oxide cored dendrimers decorated with tetraphenylethylene: Insights from degree-based descriptors using the polynomial approach by A Theertha Nair & D Antony Xavier & Annmaria Baby & S Akhila(26532)
Investigation of mechanical and self-healing properties of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene functionalized with 2-ureido-4-pyrimidinone by Mohsen Kazazi & Mehran Hayaty & Ali Mousaviazar(26460)