Trials and Errors
Authors: Rachel Haimowitz,Heidi Belleau
Riptide Publishing
PO Box 6652
Hillsborough, NJ 08844
http://www.riptidepublishing.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Flesh Cartel, #9: Trials and Errors
Copyright © 2013 by Rachel Haimowitz and Heidi Belleau
Cover Art by Imaliea,
http://imaliea.deviantart.com
Editor: Sarah Franz
Layout: L.C. Chase,
http://lcchase.com/design.htm
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, and where permitted by law. Reviewers may quote brief passages in a review. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Riptide Publishing at the mailing address above, at
Riptidepublishing.com
, or at
[email protected]
.
ISBN: 978-1-937551-98-8
First edition
August, 2013
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With a wedge at last driven between Mat and Dougie Carmichael, courtesy of Nikolai Petrovic’s expert manipulations, the brothers must each accept their new path forward: Dougie, a perfect slave, sweet and obedient and loving. Mat, a tightly reined dog, snarling and snapping but never allowed to bite.
Unfortunately, no transformation, however well planned, is without its growing pains. Mat’s leash is so tight it’s choking him. Dougie is tormented by a little voice inside his head—a fragment of his former self—that he cannot silence.
And Nikolai’s most difficult tests for the brothers are still to come.
The critical question isn’t whether they
can
pass those tests, but whether they even want to. Without each other to lean on and live for, a bleak future has become bleaker still. But Nikolai’s too good to let his slaves slip through his fingers—by death or by despair.
A noose, a nighttime sky, a shared lover, an unexpected friend. A foreboding forest cabin. A lavish party with all the debauchery Nikolai’s clientele could want. It’s all coming in season 3 of the
Flesh Cartel
.
“I’m ready to do what you want. I’m ready to
be
who you want.”
Nikolai peered down at Mathias—the source of so much frustration these last weeks, the source of Roger’s recent pain—and read the sincerity in his face. In his body, too, weakened and thinner than before, naked, a near perfect picture of submission. Not capitulation, not by any means. But obedience, at least. No attitude he could detect. No anger, either—they’d have to work on getting that back, but how hard could that be? The man looked almost casual, but for the glint of determination hardening his eyes and jaw. He suspected Mathias was trying to hide that, though, trying to appear unfazed. It was a farce Nikolai was willing to let him cling to, at least for the moment.
“If you’re sincere,” Nikolai said, “then your first step is to return to my good graces. I think you know what that means.”
Mathias’s tongue darted out to lick at cracked lips, and his eyes went to Nikolai’s crotch. Then he blanked his face—
it’s all good, look how cool I am with this
—and nodded. “But just so you know,” he said, and the absence of the “sir” at the end of that statement was more pointed than the words he’d spoken, “I’m not doing this for me
or
you. I’m doing this, all of this, for the people it protects. Roger”—
Yeah, I know you beat him, fucker
, that gaze said—“and Dougie. So I’ll
do
it, I’ll be the good little slave, I’ll fight when you want me to fight and I’ll stop when you tell me to stop, and I’ll suck your cock and take the beating I know you plan to dish out afterward, and I’ll even fucking thank you for correcting me if that’ll get your rocks off. But the instant—the
instant
you take Dougie away from me, I’m done. I’m outta here.” He leveled his gaze at Nikolai, no forced ease now, just naked truth and angles sharp enough to flay someone on. “So you’ll let me see him, you understand? And when we leave this place, we leave
together
. Or you can tell me no, and we’ll find out just how bad for business it is when your client’s new multimillion-dollar prize offs himself before the fucker even gets to have any fun.”
Well, that was . . . not unexpected, Nikolai supposed. In fact, he couldn’t help but be impressed by the fact that his fighter had such a wily little brain behind the brawn. Still, the reality of it
rankled
—he knew damn well he couldn’t call Mathias’s bluff, at least not now, because it
wasn’t
one. He couldn’t play the trump card of Mathias’s affection for Roger again, either, not without Mathias wising up to their little game. And time had made it clear that nothing short of breaking Mathias for good would knock the unrelenting stubbornness out of the man. Oh, Nikolai
could
break him, could break
anyone
, but the client’s requirements wouldn’t permit that. Not this time.
Which meant Nikolai would simply have to outsmart him. Wear him down piece by piece and stay three steps ahead.
Fortunately, he had an idea.
“All right,” he said. “But do be careful what you wish for.”
Mathias thought that was bluster—Nikolai could read that clear as day on the man’s face—but he’d learn the truth soon enough.
“And watch your tone in the future. You’ve had your say. If you ever speak to me like that again, I won’t react so kindly the next time. You’d do well to call me
sir
, too. Or master.” His hand drifted to his pocket, where an auto-injector was tucked away. He wasn’t afraid to use it, not this time. “Honestly, Mathias, will you really make me start at the beginning again?”
The tiniest flash of fear in Mathias’s eyes proved that no, Nikolai wouldn’t have to start quite at the beginning. “No,
sir
,” Mathias said. “Have it your way. Sir.”
Nikolai curled his fingers around the hard plastic. “I’ve half a mind to use this anyway, given what a spoiled little
brat
you’ve been the last ten days. But you owe me more than that. You’ll be active in what’s coming to you. You’ll stand still for it, and yes, you
will
thank me for correcting you.”
“Get on with it, then. Sir.” Mathias glared at him, stony-faced and unafraid. Which was just what his client desired, although Nikolai certainly didn’t see the appeal.
“
You
get on with it. Go to the dresser. Third drawer down, there’s a black case. Bring it to me. Remember to offer it to me
properly
.”