Sophie Oak - Siren in Bloom

Leo stopped briefly. “Yes. In the conference room. Did Holder send the files he has?”

Chase nodded. “Ben is poring over them now. He wasn’t in a place to be here tonight.”

“I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know he had real feelings for her.” That guilt weighed heavily. Shelley leaned into him as though offering him support. Sweet sub. He put an arm around Shelley to let her to know he would take whatever comfort she had to give.

Chase’s face was grave even as he attached electrodes to Kitten’s nipples. A Dom’s work was never done. “He didn’t want you to know. He didn’t tell you. He knew you would have walked away from her, but he also knew she was more into you. This is why I stay free of the whole commitment thing. But I would appreciate your help with him. This has stirred the whole mess up, and Ben needs some fucking closure.”

“I promise,” Leo said. “We’ll find out what happened. It’s past time.”

Ada had been a shadow over his life for far too long. But now, with Shelley here, he felt ready to face the situation. Chase gave him a salute, and Leo turned to the crowd that was gathering at the office.

Damn it. Of course. Logan had been taken into his boss’s office and held there for hours. He’d been beaten to a bloody pulp, tied down, and forced to endure anything they gave him. He’d been made to feel small and helpless and it had changed his worldview.

And Wolf was going to force him to watch it happen to someone else.

This was possibly going to be a huge mistake.

But Jack was already at work. His male sub, Sam, was tied down to the top of the desk. They used the office play space to enact little fantasies about bosses and secretaries, but this was something different. Though the crowd didn’t find anything wrong with it, Logan Green would think of it as his own personal nightmare.

Sam was dressed in khaki pants and no shirt. Jack was in black. He had a crop in his hand and, at first glance, it appeared he was brutally beating his sub. Anyone with a skilled eye could see that Jack was pulling his strikes and some of them actually landed on the desk behind Sam. Sam covered the sound of the crop hitting wood by screaming. Another tell. Sam never screamed. Sam was a bit of a pain slut. He genuinely enjoyed being spanked and whipped by an experienced hand. But now Sam seemed to be in agony.

“Tell me what I want to know!” Jack screamed at the blond man on the desk.

“I don’t know anything,” Sam cried. “Please. Please. I don’t know anything.”

“Are they doing some sort of spy torture scene?” Shelley asked.

Leo looked over the tops of the heads in front of him, looking for Logan. One of two things was going to happen, both of them potentially harmful. Logan would crack or his protective shell would harden further. His brother really needed to leave the fucking therapy to him. Janine slid in behind Shelley.

“Do you know what’s going on, Leo? This is an odd scene. There really should have been an announcement that an intense scene was being played out. I would ask Julian to stop it, but Jack isn’t actually hitting him most of the time. Is this for Sam’s benefit?” Janine asked.

And then he heard it. A roar filled the playroom. It was a sound of primal rage that nearly shook the walls. Logan charged the small play area, ignoring the boundaries, pushing past everyone in front of him.

“Leave him alone!” Logan screamed, his face a mottled red. He leapt, trying to get his hands on Jack, but at least Wolf had done one thing right. He’d stayed closed enough to catch Logan before he killed someone. Wolf’s arm went around Logan’s waist, and he hauled him back. Jack dropped the crop and held his hands up.

“It’s all right, deputy. My sub is fine. It was just a scene.” Jack’s hands worked on the bindings that held Sam down.

“You’re a fucking asshole. Let him go!” Logan didn’t seem to know where he was.

Leo pressed through the crowd, pulling Shelley in his wake. He wasn’t about to leave his own uncollared sub walking around unattended, but he had a job to do. When they reached the front of the crowd, he ordered her to stay right there and climbed up on the slightly raised area.

Sam was sitting up. “It didn’t hurt. Jack was just playing. We were just playing. I wasn’t even thinking my safe word.”

But Logan was far gone. Wolf had a brutal hold on him, but he was still fighting, still trying to get at some assailant who now only existed in his mind.

“Logan!” Leo stood right in front of the deputy. His tone was calm but loud and firm. “Logan, you’re in Dallas, Texas, in a club called…The Club.” Why had Julian been so lazy when naming his freaking club? “You’re safe. Sam is safe. This was a scene. This has nothing to do with what happened to you.”

Logan stopped and seemed to focus on Leo. He stilled. “What?”

“You’re in Texas. Not Bliss. This is a scene, not reality. Jack barely hit his sub. What you just saw was a bunch of smoke and mirrors.”

Logan looked over to where Sam stood holding up his hands. “He barely hit me, man. And he would never hit me enough to do anything more than redden up my skin. The one time he cut me when he was using a whip, he felt so guilty I had to force him back into play. I trust that man with my everything. He’s goddamn half of my soul.”

Logan went still, and then he slumped forward. If it hadn’t been for Wolf’s arms around him, he would have fallen to the ground. A low wail came from the young man’s throat, and he wept openly.

Wolf went to the ground with him. “It’s okay, man. It’s okay. You’re safe.”

“Janine? Please?” Leo looked to his ex-wife.

Janine started moving the crowd away. “Please, follow me to the doctor’s office. I hear a very naughty kitten might finally be forced to use her safe word.”

The crowd shuffled off, and Leo was left with Wolf and Logan and Shelley, who was crying, too, now. He knew her heart wouldn’t allow her anything less. And she could help.

“Come here, baby.” Despite Logan’s happy-go-lucky demeanor, Leo really felt the young man had the core of a Dom. He’d tried to protect the people around him. He’d looked out for those weaker than him. And he’d been surrounded by women growing up. When he looked for comfort, he would look for a female. He nodded toward Logan, and Shelley seemed to understand. She dropped to her knees and offered the crying man a hug.

Logan pulled away from Wolf as fast as he could. What he couldn’t take from Wolf, he had no problem accepting from someone soft and sweet. Logan held her, but the way he would hold a mother or a sister. He buried his face in her shoulder and sobbed. Shelley played her part beautifully because it was natural for her to reach out and comfort someone in pain, even someone she didn’t know well. She smoothed back Logan’s hair and promised him it would all be okay.

Wolf got to his feet. Leo pulled him out of hearing reach.

“That could have gone very badly,” Leo scolded.

Wolf’s eyes turned down. “I didn’t know what else to do. He was leaving for New York in a few days.”

“And he still might. He might not trust anyone in this club ever again.”

Wolf turned to Logan, who was starting to calm. “Logan, I did this. I set it up. I knew what it would do to you. I did it. I did it behind Leo’s back because I knew he wouldn’t agree with me. And I timed it so Leo couldn’t stop it. Leo didn’t do this. I did this. So if you hate someone, hate me.”

Logan looked up, his head still resting on Shelley’s breasts. “How about I hate that fucker who did this to me instead? I’m not stupid. And I may be stubborn, but I’m not an asshole. You wouldn’t have done this if you didn’t care. And it wouldn’t have worked if I wasn’t in trouble.”