Gabriel wasn’t sure what time it was.
The room was bathed in red glow, dim and pulsing like a heartbeat. He was kneeling. Naked. Blindfolded. The concrete was cold under his knees. His wrists were bound behind him, and the heavy collar around his neck hummed with the faint throb of static control. A leash extended from it, held loosely in Mistress Selene’s gloved hand as she stood behind him, silent.
She hadn’t spoken in an hour.
Not since she’d forced him to confess every dark craving he’d ever buried. Not since she’d gagged him with her used stockings and made him wear her spit like a blessing.
Now they were waiting.
He didn’t know for what.
The silence was louder than pain.
He heard the click of heels. Not hers.
Another presence entered the room.
A man. Tall, sharp-voiced, heav
