The healer smiled. “Unless you fall in love with him. Be very careful—you may have met your match in this one.”

Chapter Four

Kyle dreamed that he was drifting underwater. It was peaceful and calm and in the distance he could just make out a little house with a low red roof and white walls. He almost opened his mouth to laugh. Why would there be a little Lycan house underwater? Then he remembered as a boy when the rains came for nearly two weeks and a small community on the outskirts of town flooded. The river overflowed its banks and completely covered the houses there.

A dam was built and the place became a huge lake. He and his cousins drifted in the water there sometimes in the next few months and took turns peering under the clear water to see the strange sight of the road and the houses with the doors sitting open underneath all that water. He started to swim down to one of them, when someone caught his arm and pulled him back.

He looked around curiously and saw that it was his cousin Blayde along with his alpha Lucas, swimming alongside him now in the crystal water. Blayde was shaking his head at him and motioning for him to turn back. Kyle shook his head. He wanted to swim down and go inside the house, but his cousins wouldn’t let him. They both kept pulling at his arm and shaking their heads over and over. Lucas pointed below and shook his head frantically. What was it?

He finally pulled away and looked a little closer to see, and then he spied his mate, Taz, swimming just below and beckoning to him to follow. His long golden hair spread out in the water around him. Kyle wanted to go down to him, but Lucas was in front of him now, blocking the way. And suddenly his brother Nikolai was there too, grabbing him from behind. He struggled with them both to get to Taz, who was drifting farther and farther away from him. He had to get to him before it was too late.

“Nobyo, Nobyo, wake up. You’re having a bad dream.”

Kyle opened his eyes in a panic and found Taz leaning over him, his eyes lit up with concern. Kyle looked around wildly, trying to figure out where he was. He was so weak and disoriented. He and Taz were in a large bed together in what must have been the Tygerian’s bedroom. The room had stark white walls with no decorations of any kind, yet it seemed rich and even opulent. Part of it was the gleaming richness of the few pieces of massive, dark furniture, including the big square bed in the center of the floor, which seemed to consist mostly of large, soft pillows on a flat wooden frame.

Kyle was currently sunk down deep in the feathery pillows, but he had trouble moving his feet. He peered down at them and found both ankles attached to a chain that stretched between them. The chain wasn’t very long—about as long as his hand and forearm together. He could move, but his movements were severely restricted. And what the hell was stuck up in his ass? He turned an incredulous gaze on Taz.

“You seemed frightened, baby,” Taz said in Earthonian. “Don’t be afraid. Nothing will ever harm you here with me. You’re safe.”

“Safe?” Kyle rubbed his eyes and focused on his mate’s handsome face. Taz needed to shave, and he had a little soft, blondish red stubble on his chin and his upper lips. Kyle wanted to nuzzle it with his nose, but he stopped himself. He was furious and wanted to hold onto that fury a little longer. The drugs were making him too calm and placid, and he hated the damn floaty feeling they gave him.

“You have me chained up! And what the hells do you have up inside me?” He twisted to pull at himself, noticing for the first time there was some kind of leather thong thing wrapped around his waist and covering his genitals. Taz caught his wrists and held on tightly.

“Stop, Nobyo. I have you plugged until we make love later. I’m quite large, and the plug will help you to be ready for me.”

Kyle stared at him incredulously. He tried to speak, almost choking on the words. “You have me plugged! Oh, gods no, that is not going to happen. Get this out of me! We’ll mate, yes, but I’ll make love to you.”

Taz actually had the nerve to look affronted and made no move to release his wrists. “You forget your place, Nobyo. You’re mine now. Your body belongs to me. Now no more foolishness or I’ll chain your wrists as well.”

“Let me go, Taz-lan. And take these damn chains off my ankles! I demand it!”

Taz got a damn patient, I’ll-humor-the-poor-thing look on his face. Kyle wanted to mash it right off—with his lips, preferably. Damn him.

“Nobyo, you don’t make demands with me. I’m trying very hard to be patient, because I know this is all new to you. But you are no longer in charge of anything, darling. You belong to me now, and I’ll make all your decisions in the future. As for the chains—well, they’re not chains—exactly. The device is called a hobbler, and designed specifically for training our nobyos—the difficult ones who try to run away. You can walk, but just not quickly. It will prevent you from trying to leave me, now that I’m following the healer’s orders and backing off your drugs a little. If you promise to calm down, I’ll release your wrists.”

Kyle thinned his lips and nodded, so Taz would let him go. Immediately after Taz took his hands away, Kyle reached down to grab the chain and tug on it. He pulled so violently, the cuffs on his ankles dug into his flesh, but he didn’t care. He would not be chained up like a dog! “I’m not trying to run away, damn it! And I won’t be chained like this!”

“Stop that right now or I’ll have to punish you,” Taz said in a loud, commanding voice. Kyle stopped pulling at the chain, or hobbler, or whatever he’d called it, and looked up at him in surprise.

“Make no mistake, I will spank your ass and chain your wrists if I have to. Then chain you to the wall until you learn how to behave. Now will all that be necessary or are you going to calm down?”

Furious, Kyle could feel his chest heaving. It was getting harder to breathe, and he wondered briefly if the air on the planet had enough oxygen for him.

“Spank me!” he yelled furiously. He bent down and tore at the chain again, and his mate grabbed his wrists and pushed him to his back, rolling on top of him. Now he really couldn’t breathe, and though he wrestled with Taz a little, he couldn’t keep it up for long.

The fact that his gorgeous mate was naked and on top of him wasn’t helping, despite the fact that he was so angry at him at the moment. He bit his lip and finally nodded. “All right. I won’t fight you. For now,” he said with a snarl. Had this not been his mate, he’d have never complied in any way, but he realized that if they fought, even in his weakened state, he might hurt his mate. And that was completely unacceptable.

“Good,” Taz said, smiling at him and kissing his cheek. He rolled off beside him, though he kept his leg slung over both of Kyle’s. “Your training begins today, darling, but don’t worry. I’ll make you into the perfect nobyo in no time.”

Kyle growled and ran a hand over his face, still trying to clear away the grogginess. Most of the drugs in his system seemed to have worn off, but his reactions were still slower than normal. And why couldn’t he catch his breath properly? Since it was worse with agitation, he made a conscious effort to calm himself and his breathing eased a little. He decided not to pull on the chains anymore. It was getting him nowhere fast and making his ankles sore in the process. He glared over at Taz.

“On top of everything else, I’m starving. Am I allowed some food before we start this training of yours, or is your plan to starve me into submission?” he asked in a waspish tone. He was never in a great temper when he was hungry, and this time was proving to be no exception. He wondered just how long it had been since he’d had any real food. Probably days from the way his stomach felt.

“How long has it been since your brother kidnapped me?”

“Today makes four sunrises.”

“Four? No wonder I’m starving! You’re trying to kill me!” Kyle put his head in his hand, trying to remember just what he’d eaten last, but couldn’t even remember.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Nobyo. They couldn’t very well feed you when you were unconscious. They gave you water, I believe, to keep you hydrated. You’ve been mostly sleeping since I brought you home.”

“Half-drowned me with it, you mean! I remember a little of that, I think. And stop making them sound so solicitous. They kidnapped me, damn it!”

“Nobyo, I realize you’re upset, but I won’t allow you to yell at your master. Now be good and I’ll get us some food.” Taz ignored Kyle’s gasp of outrage at the word master and pressed a switch on the wall by his head. The door opened in mere seconds to reveal a servant, who bowed deeply at the waist.

Taz spoke to him in rapid Tygerian and sat up, holding out an impatient hand. “Come, Nobyo. The servants are bringing us our first-meal.”

Kyle tried to scoot to the foot of the bed, but got caught up in the damn pillows. The chain between his ankles snagged the corner of one of the massive things, and he was unable to get it unsnagged.

“Damn it!” He glared up at Taz. “Get this fucking thing off me, now!”

Taz folded his arms and frowned down at him. “I don’t think I like your tone, Nobyo. I’ve already explained why the hobbler is necessary.” He hauled Kyle to the edge, before picking him up in his arms and carrying him to the table and chairs in a corner of the room.

Kyle was large and not used to anyone carrying him around. He struggled a little and grabbed onto Taz’s neck, afraid he’d drop him.

Taz walked briskly over to deposit him on a chair by the table, not even breathing hard. The second he put Kyle in the chair, the damn plug shifted inside him and he made another grab for it, only to have his hand slapped away.

“Stop, Nobyo. The plug will stay in until I make love to you and we bond. Behave yourself or I’ll chain your wrists while I feed you.”

Kyle stiffened in outrage. “I’m not a damn child!”

“Then stop acting like one,” Taz said calmly, seating himself across from Kyle.

Kyle glared at him as a knock sounded on the door and it opened to admit two servants, both carrying large trays of food. Kyle felt weak at the sight and smell of the hot food, most of which he didn’t recognize, but any port would do in a storm. Gods, had he ever been so ravenous? Taz took a plate and filled it with a variety of foods and handed it over to him. “Normally, I would have you serve me, Nobyo, but this is a special occasion. Our first meal together.”