I gazed down at the bashful little slave burying his face into my lap, and then hooked my finger under his chin to pull his face up to face mine. Two big green eyes gazed adoringly up at me, and then a little quiver of a smile crossed his lips.

"Ready to keep going with dungeon day, Davey?" I asked him playfully.

He blushed, that adorable little blush that I loved entirely too much, and he tried to automatically look down, but I held onto his chin with one hand, forcing his head to stay up.

"Yes Mistress,” he murmured, with a soft, breathy edge to his voice that made me tingle in all kinds of ways.

I ran a thumb over his mouth, feeling the softness and warmth of his lips as I traced them gently, then leant forwards and kissed him hard on the mouth, pulling him into me with the grip on his jaw, my tongue casually exploring his mouth before I pulled back, smiling serenely as he almost panted up at me.

“Good,” I purred.

Looping my finger through his collar, I stood up, simultaneously ‘helping’ him up. He staggered a little as I did and I caught him by the hips and pulled him back against me, grinding my own hips into him, with one of my hands sliding into the centre of his stomach, proprietorially holding him in place. His whole body shuddered as the fingertips of my other hand slid lower to rest on his thigh.

“Aren’t you glad I’m not Mistress Caitlin?” I breathed gently into his hear. “Because you know she’d have you bent over a table right now with either a flogger or a strap on… knowing her, possibly both.”

David nodded frantically, his eyes semi-lidded, breathing hard. He blew out a long breath of relief as I retracted my hand from his leg, but I don’t know if he noticed my undoing his armbinder until his arms dropped to his sides. I threw that away carelessly, then suddenly, I pushed him forwards, still pressed up behind him. Automatically, his hands snapped out to splay on the dungeon wall, keeping him, and me, upright. I tapped his hip warningly as he tried to straighten up.

“Keep those hands exactly where they are,” I commanded.

I reached forwards and took a gentle grip on his collar, looping my finger through it and giving a gentle tug on it before leaning close to his ear, seeing his skin quiver.

“Close your eyes,” I breathed.

I didn’t need to see his face to know that he’d done exactly as told. I continued to run my hands up and over his chest, my breasts pressed against his back, my hip against his arse, one leg sliding between his.

“We’re going to play a game, you and I, a nice simple little game,” I murmured. “You do know how to play hide and seek, don’t you Slave?”

He started, then nodded quickly. Clearly not what he’d been expecting and I laughed.

“I told you that it wasn’t a complicated game Slave,” I purred. “We’re going to play a few rounds of hide and seek, but like all my games, there’s a twist. I’m going to hide, and you’re going to seek. If you find me all… shall we say 5 times, then you get to escape your chastity belt punishment. But, if you don’t, it’s staying on all day tomorrow while you clean the dungeon from top to bottom.” I gently bit his ear, making him squeal. “Do you understand?”

He nodded again.

“Good boy,” I smacked his butt as I stepped away. “When I tell you and only when, you’ll start counting to 60, then you have 2 minutes to find me. We’ll start easy this time, but I promise, it’s only going to get harder.”

I started to slowly browse through the racks, my heels ringing around the concrete room. I picked up an army-style kit-bag and started to slowly put things into it, pausing, considering, putting things back, until I was happy with my selection. I set the bag near the steps to the kitchen, then picked up an egg timer and wound it up, setting the dial to 3 minutes.

“Okay David,” I called. “You may start counting… now.”

“1, 2…” David’s voice was trembling slightly with suppressed excitement.

I felt a thrill of my own excitement run through me, and something a little like nerves. Nothing like a game of hide and seek to get you a little scared, after all. Resisting the urge to giggle, I ran across the room on tip-toes, snaked my way between the racks and crouched down in the triangle formed by where another heavy latex isolation mattress was leant against the wall. Backing into the space, I was pretty well hidden from the rest of the room. The count of 100 seemed to take forever, and I still was fighting the urge to laugh when he finally finished.

“…59, 60,” He finished. “Ready or not, here I come!” He paused, then swiftly added. “Mistress.”

Kudos to him for being polite, I suppose…

He spun around, and the urge to laugh was so strong at the bizarrely of it, hiding in my bondage dungeon while a naked young man was cautiously looking for me. I had to bite my finger to resist it, but even then, I think a soft nasal snort of amusement might have escaped. Either way, David looked up like he’d heard something and started to slowly search through the racks on the side of the room closest to me. He looked strangely nervous too, probably expecting the whole thing to be a trick of mine and expecting me to jump out at him. Which… was not totally ridiculous to be fair.

The ticking of the egg timer seemed insanely loud in my hand, but then so did my beating heart. I probably should have left it on the stairs, where I still would have been able to hear it, but it wouldn’t hurt to give him an advantage. This time, anyway. Now was not the time to be worrying about it. Or giggling. I bit harder on my finger as he started to draw closer. He had one arm wrapped tightly around his chest, like he was trying to hide himself, and the other hand, when he wasn’t searching things, kept dropping to his crotch, as if he was trying to cover it. I rolled my eyes. Seriously? Nearly 2 months of having him in varying states of nakedness and he was still doing that silly modesty thing? I had to beat that out of him sometime.

He stopped suddenly, his ears pricking up. I froze, wondering if he’d heard my amusement, then he started to cautiously pad towards me, and then started to trot with much more confidence. He’d definitely heard the egg timer. Well then. Just as he rounded the corner of the mattress and saw me I jumped out at him, slamming his back against the wall and grinning broadly.

“About time,” I told him.

Before he could say anything, I’d kissed him, hard and hungry on the mouth, then pulled back. He looked faintly dazed and every bit as breathless as me. I straightened up and slapped him gently on the chest.

“Keep your hands off yourself,” I chastised gently. “Or I’ll be forced to keep you naked more often until this stupid modesty thing wears off.”

His eyes bugged out at that and he went brick red.

“But, as I’m a nice mistress, I have something to help with that,” I said slyly.

I picked up a basque from a nearby rack, wrapping it around his chest, then turning him around to lace it up tightly. It of course did nothing to conceal any part of his body, being made of bright red lace. It did, however, compress his breathing slightly. I leant forwards and whispered in his ear again.

“Told you it would get harder,” I whispered. “And I wasn’t just talking about the game.”

My fingers grazed the skin of his exposed thighs and I let loose a wicked cackle as he let loose an involuntary moan. I backed off a few steps and picked up the egg timer, rewinding it.

“Eyes shut, slave,” I commanded. “Prepare to count on my mark…”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. That was weird, I could have sworn I’d set it on ‘do not disturb’. I held a hand out to David.

“One second, Slave.”

I pulled out the phone and looked at it. It was actually ringing, and it was my boss. I hesitated a moment, then pushed David up against the wall, clamping a hand firmly over his mouth. Right now, he was almost entirely unbound, except for a chastity cage, collar and basque, and if he wanted to cause trouble, he was more than able to. I fixed his green eyes with my own.

“I’m going to answer this,” I told him, taking a firmer grip on his jaw. “Say a word and I will take a leaf out of Caitlin’s book, understand me?”

He nodded quickly against my hand.

“Outstanding,” I observed and answered the phone. “I’m on leave, Jeff, this better be important.”

“I know, I know, I promised not to disturb you,” My boss replied. “But something’s come up.”

“If it’s about my notice…”

“It’s not about that… exactly. The company’s been acquired over the weekend, and they’re mandating that every-one be pulled in to review their contract. They are… insistent that you come in tomorrow morning for a 1:1 meeting.”

“With whom?”

“The Head of Acquisitions, Vanessa Parkes.”

The name was like a punch to the gut. The Kraken Queen herself. Not that Vanessa was the Kraken really, that term went to their elusive Chairperson as I understood it, but Vanessa was the Team Lead for the UK branch of the Kraken Club. The Raven hadn’t been kidding, they really were making a move. David moved against my hand, his green eyes filled with concern, but I just gave him a warning nudge with my foot to get him to be quiet, keeping my eyes fixed on the locked padlock of his collar.

“I don’t suppose they could respect my leave?” I asked dryly.

“Being as that gives them only 3 days before your contract ends, they’re eager to discuss with you sooner. A matter of handover and onboarding, as I understand it,” he added quickly. “You will of course be paid for the leave in your paypacket.”

I took a long, slow breath.

“It’s hardly ideal, Jeff,” I said coolly. “Is it at least a virtual meeting?”

“No, apparently Vanessa likes conducting business face to face.”

She would.

“Fine. What time?” I asked.

“10:00 am.”

“Fine,” I said sharply. “I’ll be there.”

I hung up and stared down at my phone, tempted to throw it at the floor and stomp on it, but with an effort, I carefully replaced it in my pocket. I wasn’t stupid, I knew what this meant. The Kraken club were here for handover and onboarding, and they meant to onboard me. They had bought the security company that I worked for in order to get leverage, and they had done it quickly too, they must have heard about my notice being put in. They knew that I was trying to avoid them, knew the Raven had tipped me off, and they knew that there was no way they’d willingly get me to extend my contract, which meant they were going to do what they knew best. The Kraken club didn’t take ‘no’, not usually anyway, but their usual way was to take what they wanted. They knew if they imprisoned me I’d be hell to handle, what with inconvenient friends like the Raven, and Caitlin and my good standing with Bondcon. They wouldn’t get what they wanted out of me as a slave, so they’d have to get better leverage. I didn’t have much close family or friends, perks of being an introvert, but I did have a slave. A slave Prescott had seen me be very protective of. They’d organised a meeting I couldn’t duck out of 30 miles away from home, leaving my home empty and my slave unprotected. Well, unprotected by me anyway. And if they took him…

David made a little squeak as my hand tightened on his jaw. I blinked and stepped back, letting go swiftly.

“Sorry,” I said quietly. “Bad news. We’re going to have to cut dungeon day short.”

I expected some kind of protest, but David just looked at me, the finger marks left by my hand going red, a look of concern on his face. I couldn’t meet his eyes, and I didn’t want to hear what he was going to say. My heart was pounding uncomfortably hard in my chest, my hands were shaking slightly. I wasn’t in control. And while that wasn’t David’s fault, his green eyes were unnerving me enough, I didn’t want to hear what his voice would do. I grabbed a gag off the nearest rack and threw it to him. It was a panel gag made of latex, the kind that would mould to the person’s face.

“Get that mouth of yours under control,” I commanded sharply. “And make sure to use plenty of packing.”

David scurried over to the other side of the room to my box of rags, carefully considering the strips of thin, clean material. He thoughtfully took one piece, balled it up and tucked it in one cheek, before carefully balling up another and tucking it in the other cheek. I watched him, mind whirring as he continued to carefully pack his mouth until it was overflowing. At the fifth piece, his mouth was borderline exploding, strips of fabric hanging over his lips, but he was still trying to pack a sixth in. I rolled my eyes.

“That will do, slave,” I said curtly. “I said plenty of packing, not the entire basket. I don’t want you choking or throwing up. Now get yourself sealed away and stop being silly.”

A plan had slowly emerged in my mind while watching the thoroughness of my slave, and I felt calmer. Not so calm that I didn’t stride over and tighten my slave’s gag by another hole, though. The thin layer of latex clung to his face, showing the pouting lips with the packing still bulging between them and the almost hamster-like bulging cheeks. I snapped a padlock onto it, then marched him to the centre of the room. Returning to the racks, I pulled out his French Maid outfit and held it out to him, before returning to the racks and collecting a sturdy belt, cuffs and lengths of chain. Returning to my chair, I folded one leg over the other and raised an eyebrow.

“Well?”

David blushed and swiftly started to climb into the latex outfit.

“Take the basque off first Slave,” I said tiredly. “Or the outfit won’t fit. Do I have to do all the thinking today?”

David’s apology was barely audible he was that muffled. He swiftly shed the basque, then climbed into the latex outfit, then walked towards me and turned his back, kneeling down to allow me access to the zipper in the back. I leaned forwards and smartly did it up, smoothing the back under his collar. There was something grounding about it, holding onto my latex-clad slave and I held on for a few seconds more than necessary, before getting up. David rose with me.

“Wrists,” I commanded.

He held them out infront of him and I swiftly buckled and locked the cuffs in place, before doing the same on his ankles. Wrapping the belt around his waist, I locked that in place and attached the thin chains from it to his wrist cuffs, locking them together, then locking the ankle cuffs together with another chain, giving him a severely limited stride.

“Just be glad I didn’t insist on heeled boots today,” I observed. “Right then slave, I want you to clean this entire basement, put everything back into the right place.” I paused. “Don’t worry about the iso mattress or the ceiling, you can clean that tomorrow. Once you’re done here, go up to the kitchen, do the washing up and tidy up in there. I’ll be back in half an hour or so.”

I jogged up the steps, into the kitchen and into the hall. Stepping out of my heels and into a pair of sensible shoes, I let myself out of the front door, shutting and locking it carefully. My phone vibrated to let me know the house was now on secure mode. Excellent. I completed a careful sweep of the boundary, checking that all my defences were in place and active, checked the front gate, and then sloped off across the lawn to the barn on the far side of my property. Entering it, it appeared to just be a barn, half full of hay, the air heavy with dust, scratching my nose and the back of my throat. Climbing up onto the bales, I climbed to the top of the pile, then headed to the back, pulling at the top of a bale that looked just like all of the others, but swung up on a hinge to reveal a ladder leading down to a small room, the lights clicking on as I did. Pulling the door shut after me, I dropped into the space.

It was a very small room, and dusty, but it was my back-up control centre, and had all of the controls for the house. I ran through my security protocols, and checked for any error messages, but it all appeared to be working. Okay then. Using the controls, I remotely triggered one of the boundary sensors at random. My phone instantly gave a loud, repetitive series of buzzes. I pulled it out.

SECURITY BREACHED. PROTECTIVE PROTOCOLS ENGAGED.

I double tapped on the screen and it showed me 2 camera shots, one of the perfectly innocuous boundary fence where the supposed ‘breach’ had happened, and the other showing David in the kitchen. He had been mid-sweeping the floor and dropped like a ragdoll as his security plug activated. I watched as he squirmed for the dungeon door and lowered himself down the steps. The dungeon door slammed shut behind him, vanishing into the wall of books and becoming invisible to anyone not aware it was there. The camera swapped to a vantage point of the dungeon, showing David climbing into the cage and slamming it shut after him.

I checked the timer. 2 minutes. That was all it took from the defences triggering to David being safely locked away, and that was when he was in the kitchen. It was good. Was it good enough to foil the Kraken Acquisition Team? I didn’t know. I cancelled the alert as a test, and then put my head in my hands. My brain raced like a racing engine, thinking of every possible scenario and every impossible one too, shaking itself almost to pieces as I tried to outthink a professional kidnapper. Security was my job, but acquiring targets was theirs, and I was sure they’d outwitted more complicated systems than mine. Or would that arrogance be their downfall.

Sometimes good just had to be good enough, right?