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.
Not even a minute elapses, and he returns to gazing at the wall and pecking away at his keyboard.
What? The translator can communicate his thoughts and the most amusing toys in the universe are sitting, unused, only a few feet away and he wants to work?
No, this will not do! I leap onto the bed, pick up and shake the pair of cuffs, and ring my bell.
Peck, peck, peck. He doesn't even look up from his keyboard.
I huff. So, I grab one of the coiled ropes and ring my bell. When this fails to get his attention, I hurl the rope at him. It bounces off his arm and falls onto the floor.
"Pet, stop playing. I need to work on this assignment. It will help us with our communication plan."
Communication plan? He has figured out how to activate the translator. What more does he need? Plus, why does he want me to make sounds while he gets to speak?
I hold up the other set of ropes. "Play with me?"
I know the instant the wall translates my words for him. His keyboard crashes onto the floor. He cocks his head as if he is seeing me for the first time, and his tail swishes slowly on the floor.
He still does not move. Must I do everything? Apparently, I do. I get the rope that I threw at him and is still on the floor, neglected. I unwind some of the rope and then I make a mad dash, running in circles around him and his chair.
"Pet! What are you doing?"
He chases after me. Tarak is more powerful and much larger than me, but I have speed and can fit into places that he can't. I could keep this game going for a long time.
We are playing a different type of game, though, one that he must think he wins. When he reaches for me, I topple into his arms.
He pulls me into his lap. Does he understand yet?
I stroke the frayed end of the rope and I gaze at him. "Play?"
He takes the rope from me, clenching it firmly in his fist. His eyes skitter between the rope and me. His pupils dilate and he strokes my stomach. I feel it; an electric current, crackling underneath my skin with all the possibilities. Does he feel it, too?
His dark eyes skitter over me. "My smart little playful pet. If we are going to play..." He licks his lips. Why do I suddenly feel like his prey? "I must be able to check in with you frequently and you must always answer me, yes or no."
Together, we establish a system. Tarak is attached to the sounds for some reason, so in addition to me saying yes and no... When he lays his palm flat on my belly, that is my signal to answer him, ringing the bell for yes or growling for no. We also decide that my growl will also be the signal to stop.
He carries me to the bed and places me on it so that I'm sitting on the edge, my legs dangling over the side.
"Now pet," he asks, kneeling in front of me, the rope clenched in his hands. "I want to make sure you understand my intent, so I need to ask again. I want to use this rope to tie you to the bed."
Before he has even placed his hand on my belly, I'm peeling clothing from myself, dropping them in a pile beside the bed.
Our eyes meet. His pupils are blown, and he tucks one of my stray locks of hair behind my ear. A shiver runs through me from head to toe. I feel like I am the center of his universe, his star.
I lie across the bed, and I ring the bell.
***
His focus is intense. He's making elaborate knots that crisscross over my chest and abdomen, securing me to the bed. My arms and legs are free, though.
I stroke his abdomen in admiration. His muscles are big and hard. So well defined. "Beautiful."
He chuckles as he continues making what looks like a macrame net across my stomach. My insides flutter. This feels good, but if he moves faster this could be fantastic.
I spread my legs. "Hurry."
"Pet," he says, gripping my wrists and leaning so close that our foreheads touch. "I am your master, and I will arrange you the way I like." Then he dangles the cuffs in front of me. "May I use these on you?"
It's like we are doing a dance and he is careful, asking me for permission to make a move, cautious of stepping on my toes so to speak. I delightedly ring my bell.
When he cuffs one of my wrists, I laugh and immediately pull my hand out, patting his chest. These cuffs are way too large for me.
"That's not how you use cuffs," I tease.
He growls and rearranges the cuffs. This time, he locks one end of the cuff to somewhere above me that I cannot see and then he grabs both of my hands and locks the other side of the cuff over both my wrists. I tug my hands. No matter how much I pull and twist, the cuff holds me in place.
I'm turned on by my powerful alien looming over me, controlling my every move. My groin tingles and I need more from him.
Several minutes later, he is still adjusting the ropes, making them into perfect, beautiful knots. He is nowhere near the nether region of my body.
Time for me to express my demands.
I buck my hips. "Go faster."
He growls. "Do not order me around."
When he says it like that, it's like he is summoning my inner brat.
I laugh, unable to resist. "Faster, faster, faster."
"If you don't stop..." He grabs the ball gag, shaking it in front of me.
Wait. He wants to bind and put the ball gag on me? Yes, yes, yes! This is getting better by the moment.
When he starts to take it away, it's time to take matters into my own hands.
"Faster," I shout.
"Open your mouth," he says, holding the ball gag over my face again.
I give him my best glare.
Tarak, the sap, falls for it, strapping the ball gag onto me. Maybe it's a good thing I'm gagged because I would be unable to resist teasing him yet again.
My nerves are on fire, and already, I'm drooling around that ball gag. I squirm, excited to discover what comes next.