The Human Pet: A Sci-Fi Romance

Part 28

Kayla

My owner lays out ropes and cuffs and even a little crop, although I don't get a good look at everything because he pulls me away from them, as if these are forbidden.

Just the sight of the rope alone stirs up memories. During my college years, I briefly went out with a man who introduced me to the art of kinbaku, which involved elaborately binding me with ropes and suspending me from the ceiling. I've always been someone who just can't stop thinking about all the what-ifs and sometimes, these do not let me sleep until I am a big quivering mess. When I was bound by the ropes during those kinbaku sessions, though, my mind and body focused on the moment, and a calmness I never felt before came over me. I only dated that man briefly, but those sessions were so incredible that seeing the ropes now makes me excited.

It's only natural to have expectations when I see all these wonderful toys laid out, tools that could be used to restrain me.

Is Tarak planning to use them with me? I shiver with want. Please let him be planning to use these toys on me. Please.

My owner not only moves me away from those intriguing toys, but he attaches a bell to my collar and flicks it, ringing the melodious bell.

Wait—what? Why did he attach a bell to my collar? I'm not a cat. I want to turn away, ignore him, and show my indignation at being thought of as a cat, except I need to explore the toys.

Tarak is speaking but then when the wall crackles and speaks to me in my language...

"Pet, listen carefully. I'd like to try something with you."

Has my master figured out how to speak with me? I grip his hands and hold them tightly because if I don't, I might wake up and discover that this was all a dream.

"My little pet, we must find a way to communicate. To start, I want to have a sound you can make if you want to tell me that yes, you want what you are being offered."

Tarak's gray gravelly eyes focus on me, but my mind is on the colorful ropes only a few feet away. Is that what this is about? If we learn this basic way to communicate, will we get to play with the ropes next? He does not need to tell me twice, and I swat at the bell on my collar, ringing that little bell.

His eyes flicker to my bell, eyes widening. "So, you do understand me."

I ring the bell again. Yes.

"What about if you don't like something or you don't want to proceed with a particular option? We need a different sound to use for that."

I growl at him.

He laughs and ruffles my hair. "Good pet. Let's test this, alright?" He reaches into one of his storage compartments. "Pet, tell me, would you like this as a snack?"

He shakes one of those awful rodents by its tail.

Hell to the no! I growl.

He laughs and rummages around a bit more in the storage unit, but this time he holds a piece of bright red fruit between his fingers. "What about this, pet, do you want this?"

I ring my bell and instead of offering it to me, he sits down on his chair. I kneel at his feet. He teases me with that berry, holding it out of my reach and shaking it.

"Tell me you want it, pet."

I shake that bell so many times, but I quickly lose patience with this game and leap for it. My owner is fast, pulling it away and dangling the berry in front of me again. Before I know it, I sprawl across his chest.

He feeds me the fruit by hand. Maybe it's that I need to work so hard for that tiny morsel, but it is the sweetest fruit that I've ever eaten.

"Good pet," he says, while I eagerly lick every bit of juice from his fingers.