Unconditional Dominance

Preface

"Oh, Katherine," I sighed, closing my eyes and savoring the slight little body in my arms. "You know I'll miss you every day I'm not with you."

"I know," she sighed. Then she gently eased herself back, keeping her eyes down and focused on my shirt. "Are you sure you have to leave?"

"Yes, baby... They need me there."

"But why do they need you? Can't somebody else help?"

"Nobody else is quite as good at resolving conflicts as I am."

She frowned miserably, and I cupped her cheek and smoothed my thumb back and forth across her soft skin. I hoped it would encourage her eyes to look at me, but she kept them down.

"I hate the rebels."

Cocking my head to the side, I observed her. "Really?"

She nodded emphatically.

"There isn't a small part of you that hopes that our government will be overthrown and forced to adopt Berkelium culture? You wouldn't be anybody's submissive. You could go to school. You could work..."

She didn't answer, so I tipped her chin up with my fingers and forced her eyes to mine. I smiled.

"Doesn't any of that excite you?"

She didn't answer immediately. She never did when Clark or I tried to discuss such things with her—as if she felt it would be traitorous of her to wish for more than the life her country was willing to give her.

Looking away, she carefully shook her head.

"No," she answered softly. "I wouldn't choose another life for myself. I want to belong to Master...and Daddy."

I knew she wasn't being entirely honest, but I accepted her answer with a smile. From over her shoulder, Clark appeared in the doorway. He leaned against the frame with his arms crossed, shaking his head at the sight before him. I smirked, not envying him the task of endlessly dealing with Katherine's naughty antics.

Shifting in my lap, she took my hand as she asked another question:

"Would you prefer it if we were under Berkelium rule?"

"Yes, I'm getting quite bored with spanking you every other day."

Gasping indignantly, she lightly swatted my chest. I grinned devilishly.

"I do not get into that much trouble!"

"Little girl," I drawled. "You wind up over my knee at least three times a week and I know that your Master fills in the remaining four days."

"That's not true!" she whined, but she was giggling, and it warmed my heart to make her laugh before I had to leave.

"You're right," I falsely sobered, nodding my head as I twisted her around in my arms. "I've only spanked you twice this week. Let's get that third one in before I leave."

She squealed as I tipped her over my knee. Lifting the delicate material of her little night dress, I playfully swatted at her panty-clad bottom.

"Daddy!" she cried, kicking her feet and twisting her hips in an attempt to evade my hand. "Daddy, stop! I wasn't even naughty! Ouch!"

Clark stepped into the room.

"Not even naughty?"

Katherine's struggling immediately ceased upon hearing the voice of her Master.

Smirking at the predicament she put herself in and shaking my head at Clark for playing her so well, I gently tugged Katherine back into my lap.

This time she sat with her back to my chest. She chose to keep her head down in lieu of looking at her Master, however. I could almost feel her heartbeat thump erratically in her chest.

"Hello, Master," she softly greeted him.

The silly little thing knew she was in trouble.

Clark stepped forward and smoothed his thumb down the curve of her cheek.

"Hello, My Katherine. You're not quite where I left you, hm?"

"No Master..."

Clark and I met each other's gazes over Katherine's head. He smiled lazily and I knew he wasn't truly displeased with his Katherine. But he couldn't let her know that. He would play her like a fiddle until she tore at the seams.

I decided I should come to her rescue.

"Little Katherine didn't think I would say goodbye before I left," I explained. "So, she took it upon herself to visit me while I was packing." I tightened my arms around her waist and kissed the top of her head. "And she's been keeping me company ever since."

"Really?" Clark questioned, raising one intimidating eyebrow towards his submissive who squirmed beneath the intensity of his stare. "She wasn't counterproductive?"

"Not at all. I only had to give her one spanking."

Gasping, Katherine turned around to swat my chest again.

"Traitor!" she hissed before turning back to her Master. "I didn't really get a spanking, Master... Daddy was just being silly..."

Amused with the whole predicament, Clark sat beside me on the bed. He didn't ask Katherine to come to him. He knew that she needed some time with me, and I her. And I respected him deeply for it.

"I know you don't like it when Dawson takes his business trips," Clark spoke to Katherine as he reached for her hand and held it warmly in his. "But he always comes back, doesn't he?"

"Yes, Master," she whispered as she surrendered her hand to him. Then she laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. "I just have a bad feeling about this one. You don't usually go near the line of fire..." she spoke to me, her eyes lifting to mine. "This time you could really get hurt."

One year into our lives as a happy family of three, news of a very small and non-threatening rebellion in Berkelium caught our attention on our side of the ocean.

It wasn't the first time some backcountry rebels riled up a group of people in order to plant the idea of a war on their government.

Unfortunately, however, it was the first time it truly worked.

Whoever was running the show was doing a marvelous job of convincing the majority of Berkelium citizens that the eye-sore across the ocean (us) needed to be dealt with.

They hated our outdated lifestyles. They pinned submissives as abused victims in need of saving and portrayed dominants as rough, merciless, monsters who wanted nothing more than to cause pain.

The movement wound up being so big that their government had little choice but to support the endeavor in order to please its people. Now, a full year after the first mention of the backcountry rebellion, and our two nations were at war.

The only reason I wound up in any of it was because of my Communications professor. He recommended me, to his old friend, a colonel in the Ruthenium army, for one dispute among the rebels before it got so bad.

I was just too good at it. I was asked to return several more times, only to local military bases where all conflict resolutions were handled remotely.

This was the first time I would be taken across the ocean.

And I understood Katherine's concerns.

I was scared as hell too.

"Three weeks, baby," I murmured in Katherine's hair. "You can do that for me, can't you?"

Sighing softly to herself, knowing that she hadn't convinced me to stay, I felt her body relax into mine as she gave up the fight.

"Yes, Daddy."

Holding her close, I looked at Clark, who looked at me as if he also had a bad feeling about the trip.

"Three weeks," he confirmed firmly with a nod.

I nodded in return, and responded with all the certainty in the world:

"Three weeks."

Nothing could keep me away from home longer than that.

Sighing, I closed my eyes and prayed to God that I was telling the truth.