Caline couldn't help but get goosebumps and shake. She was still naked besides a flimsy pair of canvas tennis shoes and a collar, this time with a leash attached and held loosely in Judan's hand. She knelt between Judan's legs as Caris drove, and drove, and drove.
She trembled because eventually they would stop, Judan would tug on her leash, and she would be out and about in public for the first time as a slave. The training facility had been fenced in and remote. Ander had mostly kept her in his bedroom and dungeon, except for walking her to and from the parking lot of the doctor's clinic. But now Caris and Judan intended to walk her around, in public, on sidewalks, in shops, naked, obedient, and chained. Her heart fluttered at the thought.
Judan sensed her anxiety and tried to reassuringly smooth her hair and rub her head. His right leg bobbed on his toes, and Caline sensed that he was anxious as well. She shut her eyes, as she loved to do, and tried to forget where she was and everything left of who she was.
At the training facility, they'd told her that her old memories would seep out of her like dirty dish water squeezed from a sponge, and then they'd fill her porous, parched mind with the new identity they were crafting for her: an obedient, suppliant sex slave.
But the glimmers of remembrance made her think that her old life hadn't poured out from her. She'd built a wall around her old life, brick by brick, humiliation after humiliation. She'd guarded away the Caline from before (her name WAS Caline before, right?), protected whoever that happy and promising young woman may have been, and allowed herself to be crafted anew, the demon infiltrating her body from head to tip toe while her soul steeled itself away somewhere precious.
Sometimes she glimpsed herself-the old her-from behind the wall. Something bad had happened in her life even before she was taken. There had been someone she loved, and Judan made her remember him. She had danced, and she had loved it and been very, very good at it. That was all she had.
The car stopped and reversed, angling as Caris parallel parked. Caline squeezed her eyes harder. Did she want to remember? Would this be just another brick to add to the tall tower her old self was buried behind? Were Caris and Judan going to force her to separate herself forever from her past? Caline remembered what Judan had told her the previous night: "You can be the real you. No matter what happens around other people, you can always come back to yourself."
Caris and Judan both opened their doors. Judan carefully swung his long legs around her and out of the car, tugging on her leash for her to follow.
Caline opened her eyes and kept them trained on Judan's shoes.
She focused on carefully getting out of the car and standing on the sidewalk. She felt the fog-laced chill on her skin, her skin and nipples instantly prickling in the cold. Caris had made her pull her hair back and braid it, so it offered no protection from the cold and the prying eyes of passerby. Caline couldn't see them looking exactly, but she noticed all the people in her peripheral vision slow, many of them stop, and the horrible sound of a phone left on sound taking a picture. She could feel their eyes on her.
Judan stepped toward her and gave her shoulders a squeeze. He leaned down so that she could feel his strength and his warmth. "You can do this," he whispered into her ear, and then he was turned away from her, leading her on the leash with Caris beside him. Caline kept her eyes on the soles of Judan's shoes in front of her, faltering only once, when she saw Caris move in an odd way. Her eyes flickered up to him, and she saw that he had turned to look at her. He smirked when her eyes met his, all her misery and humiliation written across her face.
"Welcome to the city, sweetheart."
They walked for what felt like at least a quarter mile. Couldn't this asshat have sprung for a parking garage? Caline wondered. Or did these idiots waste all their inheritance and blood money on slaves?
Despite her efforts to hone in on Judan, she couldn't help but notice how many people seemed to slow or stop around her. Waiting at stop lights was agony. She pressed her body against Judan's, yet somehow some hand or other found a way to brush suggestively against her thighs or bottom.
A few times Judan noticed someone reach out while they were walking, and he'd yanked her to him, calling out, "No touching!" the first few times, and, "Watch it-she bites!" after that.
Finally, they came to a stop. Caris held the door, and Judan led her inside a dimly lit shop. The ground floor seemed to be little more than a lounge, with ornate rugs, a long, low blue velvet couch, silk lavender drapes, and a low marble table. Caline was relieved to be inside from the cold and prying eyes but felt increasingly anxious as she was led behind Caris and Judan down an ornate flight of steps.
The basement floor had marble floors and golden chandeliers.
"Wait," Judan whispered to her, and she dropped to the floor and assumed her stance. In the warm room, Caline suddenly felt clammy and couldn't stop herself from shivering and shaking. She dared to lift her lids slightly to look closer at the room and realized where she was: a lingerie shop. This information sunk in as Caline heard heels on the marble.
"Annaleigh!" She heard Caris greet the woman wearing the heels, and she heard his footsteps approach the heels. Both footsteps stopped, and she listened as they softly air kissed. Beside her, she heard Judan take a deep breath. He tugged up on her leash, and she stood on shaky feet.
Get yourself together, she told herself. You aren't being raped or tortured. You have a Master who wants to set you free, for God's sake! You found the needle in the hay stack of this nightmare. Be grateful.
"This is Caline," she heard Judan introduce her as she continued staring down at her feet. She heard the heels click again, and patent leather heels lined up with her own pathetic sneakers.
When she was around men, whether they were whipping, spanking, or force feeding her, usually Caline's loathing and fear toward them overpowered any other emotions. With Annaleigh facing her, seeing her glamorous high heels and the bottom of her beautiful tailored cigarette pants, smelling her expensive sandalwood and leather perfume, even without looking up knowing that she's impossibly tall and elegant, Caline was filled with nothing but bitter jealousy.
"Let's take a look at you," Annaleigh's voice had a smile in it. She cupped Caline's chin and lifted her head until Caline was looking up at her. Annaleigh was even more beautiful than Caline expected-wide amber eyes, light brown waves loosely pulled back, perfectly understated makeup, and what looked like a very expensive white button down tucked in and unbuttoned to reveal a lacy black corset underneath.
"What a pretty girl!" Annaleigh crooned, her face breaking into a smile, her white teeth flashing. "You got a third one?" she turned to Caris.
Caris shook his head, then nodded his chin toward Judan. "She's my nephew's."
