A small nudge drags me from the semi-conscious darkness painted in my mind. I groan turning my head to the opposite side, trying to ignore the nuisance. The nudge comes back not even three seconds later. This time more forceful and with more vigor. I crack an eye blinking the grogginess from my mind. Who?
"Remi?" I croak, turning back. The person chuckles and shakes me harder.
"No silly! It's me Noma." I sit up from the bed rubbing my eyes tiredly trying to rid myself of blurry squiggles and fuzzy shapes.
"What time is it?" Flopping back into my pillow, I stifle a yawn while trying to keep myself awake.
"It's only ten-thirty Rosalita," She says peeling the comforter off my body. The cold air immediately makes me shiver, and I pull my legs up tightly to my body trying to preserve the heat. "Plus, I added something to your trainee program. It's hands on~" She cooes shaking me again. I sit up this time shooting her this look.
"What is it?"
"Follow me and I'll show you." Noma slides off the bed and then holds her hand out towards me. My heart jumps with a deep sense of excitement and I grab her hand letting myself be led out of the room and down the hall. Once we reach the top of the staircase, Noma looks back towards the room.
"Also," She starts. "Why were you sleeping in Ezra's room?" Oh...Was I? I peek behind me down the hall and then I turn back towards Noma with a stiff shrug.
"I hadn't notice, I guess I was just so tired my legs autopiloted," Noma stares me down for a long while before tugging me down the stairs and towards another hall. "So, where are we going anyway?" I ask changing the topic. Noma beams at me before tugging a large door open, ushering my body into the room.
"The sub wing's playroom," She says motioning her hand around the room. "It's similar to the Dungeon, but a bit lackluster compared. As you can see this room lacks furniture and bigger toys, but that's only because the bondage tables, swings, benches and so on can't fit in this smaller room." Noma informs sitting me down in a chair. She nods slowly.
"So, bondage and sensation play is big here. There's also a community cabinet in here," She motions towards the tall cabinet. "We have the basics, but every now and then someone will add to the collection. She swings the door open and rummages in one of the bins on the side door. Noma grins and then turns back towards me tossing a bundle of rope. I react fast catching the material between my palms. Unconsciously I roll it between my index finger and thumb.
"Guess the material." Noma says cocking her hip. I roll it in my hand and scrunch my brows.
"Polyester?"
"Close, that's cotton. Good for beginners and very accessible. So, if you ruin rope it'll be easier to replace." Ruin it? Noma shoots me a smirk and then clears her throat letting her eyes drift towards the door. When I turn to also peek towards the entrance, I immediately groan towards myself.
"Hello, Miss Amanita'Rose." Remi purrs while slinking into the room. My arms cross over my chest.
"What's he doing here?"
"Well since Ezra isn't here, I asked Remi to fill in for him. So, Remi is going to assist with this lesson today which is on rope bondage," She walks over towards the male and gently taps him on the shoulder. Remi let's a soft oh out before he begins to unbutton his shirt, shrugging the material of his vested top off. He peeks at Noma once before shimming out of his pants. And my mind seems to go blank. "So, I'm going to be teaching you basic knots and restraints on Remi. Once we've run through it and you're more comfortable with performing the knots and designs without my help, then I'll give you some reading material on basic bondage and bonds." I nod still a bit dumbfounded and watch as Noma claps her hands together.
"So, first things first, unspool the rope and make sure you have a firm hand on that loop at the top, from there measure about two to three inches from the loop and then tie a knot. Here tie the knot like this," Noma guides my fingers across the rope tugging the material around and between the space of the four stripes of the rope. "This is just a basic slipped overhand knot, now place it on the back of Remi's neck and split the two strands so that you have two separate pieces. After you do that place each of those strands on either side of the shoulder." I drag my finger down the middle and shrug the material over the sub's shoulder. My nail accidentally nicks at his neck and Remi shudders jerking in his spot.
"Like this?" I ask. Noma nods and gives me an encouraging smile.
"Now what you wanna do after that is grab the two strands in the front and come down about an inch from the collar bone, repeat the overhand knot," I brush over Remi's collar bone measuring a sloppy inch, and I tug the rope into a quick knot while tugging the excess material through the slot. "Now drop about another five to six inches from the first knot and make another. This one will be around Remi's chest area or if it were a female her breasts." I bite my lip in concentration and stumble through the knot. This was simple so far, and not that hard to understand.
"Good! After you do that drop another six inches or so and knot it. Repeat that process one more time ending the knot around Remi's pelvic area. You can also add another knot after the pelvic one, that one will rest in the genitalia area." I peek up at Remi and his eyes seem to dilate.
"Can I?" I ask. He nods once and I create one more knot which rests at the bottom of his crotch area. Remi hisses.
"Bring the rope from between his thighs towards the back area. Keep it a bit loose, it will eventually get tighter," Noma steps around the sub so that she's able to look at his back. She points back towards the beginning loop and instructs me to pull the rope through it. "Not too tight." I loosen my grip and the rope loses the tautness.
"Stick two fingers under the rope underneath the loop and bring your excess over the top and catch it with your two fingers, once you do that pull it through and push it up," I look at Noma dumbfounded, and she chuckles before grabbing my fingers and walking me through. "Get it now?"
"Yeah..." I mumble. Noma looks at Remi's face and taps a finger against his cheek. He jerks coming back from the haze.
"You okay?" He hums and Noma eyes him down before continuing. "I need you to stay awake for me okay? I can't have you in your headspace quite yet, not during the demonstration at least." He whines lowly and Noma placates him.
"Okay Amanita, take this and bring it back around."
"Again?" I ask.
"Yes honey, again," Noma splits the rope in the front and motions for me to pull the rope through the slot. "Now pull it back from the front to the back and towards the other side. Once you get to the back it gets a little confusing so I'm going to demonstrate how you're supposed to overlay the rope and where to bring it next." She walks me through that part, and I absorb the information like a sponge soaking up water.
"Repeat for the rest of the knots in the front, once done you should have five diamonds, if you have excess just build on the securing loops on the back until all the rope is gone," I finish the design and tuck the rope into the overlapping strands. Remi shifts and he moans while flexing his fingers.
"This particular design is the Karada Diamond tie, a basic body harness—"
"Noma I don't know if I'll last," Remi murmurs dragging his fingers across the tightened rope. A finger dusts over one of his nipples and he gulps loudly wobbling on his legs. "It feels...it feels really secure and..." Noma sets the sub against the couch and he immediately slumps into the cushion; dirty blond hair cascading around his face, chest heaving. His aura blips and I briefly let mine run over him trying to soothe him. Remi just turns into the couch cushion and stifles his noises.
"Shoot, I knew this wasn't going to be a good idea," I raise a brow at Noma and she shakes her head. "Remi is big on rope bondage, one of his hard yeses. I thought it was a smart idea to use him as the test subject, but I forgot about the consequences. I should have known he'd go into his subspace; this was my mistake." I sit at the end of the couch and rake my fingers through his hair, Remi just grinds down on the couch, voice still muffled.
"Should I unravel him?" Noma looks over him and sighs.
"No just leave him for a bit, I guess we'll just continue onto another design. I'll be the practice dummy." Oh? I look down at Remi once more and give his head one last ruffle before I stand and walk back towards Noma whose deep into the cabinet.
"Good thing I bought extra cotton rope."
°♡°
After the lesson concludes Noma hands me three books. One is on the art of rope bondage and it comes with tutorials and images which help explain each intricate design. The other book is about the many toys a dom can use, and how to use them safely and to it's fullest potential. But the last book which Is by far the most intriguing, is the book on bonds and aura compatibility. When she handed me that book I knew immediately I'd start reading into it so that I'd have a better understanding of me and Ezra's relationship. Our ever-growing bond.
"Amanita'Rose?" I turn towards Remi and he flushes a bit looking down at the ground before shaking his head once. "Sorry about...my lack of assistance mon cherie." He mumbles. I chuckle shooting him a small smile.
"It's okay you couldn't help it." He shrugs and then clears his throat. He regains his smirk and in an instant, all sense of embarrassment is gone.
"But do come to my room, there's a lot we have yet to discuss, no?" My smile slips and I nod once, following the male out of the sub play area and down a few halls to his guest room. Remi peeks at me from over his shoulder, opens his mouth and then shuts it up tightly unsure how to proceed.
"Your aura is quite," He pushes his door open and I step into the room after him. He ushers me to the bed, and I sit patiently on the soft duvet. "Unique."
"Yeah." I respond glancing around the room before tracking the sub's movement. Remi slides one of his dresser drawers open and removes a sleek black laptop as well as a small fingernail-sized flash drive. He tosses it towards me, and I catch it with both of my palms. Once he grabs the computer, he bounds back towards the bed climbing across my lap to get to the other side of the bed. When he's settled he pops the laptop open quickly typing in his password.
"Here," He says. I take the computer from him and insert the drive watching as the little bar in the corner loads the files. He points at the notification tab and I click it open watching as files upon files download. I scroll through them. "The ones that have numbers on them are the ones I can't access." I click on the file titled five and the computer freezes for a split second before giving me an access password icon. I hum to myself.
"Then which files can I access?" He points to four files, and I scrunch my brows at them.
"I split the files into four sections: profiles, date of contracts, screening, and general information of each Dom. Click that one." I double click the folder marked as profiles and the computer opens a document that has about five pages in it. I scroll until a picture pops up; a woman with long auburn hair and beautiful cat eyes. She's tilted towards the camera with this confidence that seems to bleed from the image. Her name is Carla Romano.
"Will told me about her." I whisper holding the intense gaze of the photo.
"She was the first." Remi states. Scrolling farther down the document I quickly scan over the other four profiles and their names.
"Frank Moore, Quinten Wells, I also know their names too," I lift my nail up to my lip and I gently run the flat side against the skin. "But Will didn't tell me about these ones here. Elodie Fletcher and Josiah Caldwell." I say. Remi crosses his arms and then sighs.
"They weren't in the limelight like the other three, so people found it much easier to forget about those two."
"Oh." I click out of the file after spending another ten minutes looking through their photos, and then I click on the general information file. It seems like I zoom through this information with a twist in my lip and a heavy conscious. These files were awfully vague.
"This isn't telling me anything," I say to Remi while skimming through sentence after sentence. "All it's telling me is previous occupation, contract rates, and how much experience each of these people had. That's not what I need right now."
"It's the encrypted files, those are the important ones, the ones that'll tell you everything." He replies.
"I can't get through them though." I scrub a hand over my face before slamming the laptop shut. Remi watches as I tap at the top of the computer.
"I told you that you wouldn't be able to," He yanks the drive free and places it in my palms, curling my fingers around it. "But fret not cherie, nothing is impossible. You just need the right help." I clench the small flash drive and then skootch off the bed padding towards the door.
"I truly am sorry though Amanita'Rose." My hand pauses on the door and I take a deep breath.
"Thank you Remi...and goodnight." The door clicks and it feels as if I wound back up at the beginning of everything. Would I ever find out what happened to these Doms? Or would I be the next victim loaded onto the drive?
°♡°
"A—" There's a firm shake to my side and I groan cracking an eye to peer at the digital clock next to the bed. Two-fifty-six it reads. I groan even louder throwing an arm over my eyes.
"Noma go way," I say, words muffled. "Too early." They chuckle before pressing a soft kiss to my cheek. That immediately wakes me from my groggy state.
"Silly, it's me, Ezra," He scoots into my space pressing his back against my chest, curling into himself. I raise a hesitant hand and then let it wrap around his torso dragging him in closer. Ezra goes pliant and cuddles back into me. He takes in a choppy breath. "I went to the Dom wing, but you weren't there, I ended up running all over the place looking for you." My heart clenches and I know that's the bond between us. I hold him tighter.
"I-I was petrified, I thought you left me. Left me for good."
"Ezra..."
"I'll change Amanita, I'll be better I swear. Anything you want I'll do it, just please," He tumbles over the words, and they come out wet and crackled. "Don't leave me behind. I can't...I can't be without you I can't. You're the best thing that's happened to me and I can't let that go, I'm too tired to keep—" He muffles a sob into the pillow and a deep agony bulldozes over my entire body. I lift my hand touching it shakily to my eye watching as it comes back wet. These were Ezra's tears and this was Ezra's pain. Excruciating.
Ezra rolls over to face me, eyes ruby red, gleaming under the light of the moon. He caresses my face gently, swiping the moister away from my eyelashes.
"I'll change," He scoots in and brushes his lips across mine, soft and sweet before gently placing his forehead against my own. "I'll change." I hold him the rest of the night in utter turmoil.
The bond loved Ezra. But Amanita'Rose was terrified of him.
A/n
This is my longest chapter 🤡