Khell'ar knelt at the corner of the bath, mostly out of sight. "I'm washing your hair and your body, then I will feed you and put you back into the bed. No more games downstairs."

Which was not the same as no games at all. "Is this going to be one?" I asked, twisting my head. He grasped my jaw in his hand and turned my face away from him again.

"No. You need breaks, little one, or you will stress your body and your mind."

"I didn't find it stressful," I said. "It was…not relaxing, but—" It had been a relief. Partly to know this part of myself at last, to know it was real, to stop wondering. And partly because when everything was at his command, I had no more worries, no more choices. Just open wide, be fucked well, and come hard. "I liked everything we did."

Khell'ar pulled a shower head from the side of the tub and switched it on, the hand on my jaw moving to claim the back of my head, tilting me just so, aiming the water carefully into my hair and away from my eyes.

"I know," he answered.

Of course he knew. I'd been begging and shouting and barely able to keep still, even when he'd ordered me to. Claws appeared at the back of my neck, but they scratched gently and purposefully, digging into my scalp as the warm water rushed over my hair and into the bath. I sighed and let my eyes fall shut, barely feeling the shift of my head from one hand to the other as he rinsed my hair.

"You're very good at this," I murmured as he began to massage my scalp. There was a whiff of tea tree and lavender, and I hadn't even noticed him getting the shampoo. Did he have extra arms?

No. You're just not the first person he's done this for, I reminded myself. Of course he was good at it. He'd had plenty of practice.

My chest pinched at the reminder and I tried to sit up, but Khell'ar's claws dug gently into the back of my neck, holding me in place.

"You surrendered to my control, now surrender to my care too," he said, but it was gentler than the commands he'd made in the basement.

It's not his fault the sex was so good you're feeling possessive, I reasoned with myself. In fact, that was his job.

"Let go of yourself, little one," Khell'ar growled near my ear, as if he were reading my thoughts. His hands moved up toward my temples, rubbing tension out of my head, even out of the roots of my hair.