Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

what?”
    “Sir, if Master loses his grip on me even slightly, the pain will be unbearable.”
    “Remember Bosnia, Stephen? Remember when you thought you were going to
    die in a dark forest all alone?”
    “Yes, Sir.”
    “Who came and got you? Who protected you?”
    “You, Sir.”
    “Of course I did.” Kael lowered Conran onto the table and then fetched a pair
    of steel handcuffs. He snapped the cuffs around Conran‟s wrists and then brought
    the chair over. He sat down directly in front of Conran. “Now talk to me, boy. Tell
    me why you need me. It‟s not as if we were friends at school. In fact you weren‟t
    very kind to me back then, were you?”
    Conran began speaking, his tone touchingly deferential. “I know, Sir. I was
    immature then. I‟d had a privileged life, and you were as tough as nails from a
    rough part of Liverpool. I knew the only way a boy like you could have ended up
    with a full scholarship to a school like College Grange was if you were brilliant. And
    you were. You are. You were handsome and big even then, and you grew more so
    with each year.” He took a long, ragged breath. “I was jealous of you.”
    When a man was rendered defenseless, his soul was exposed. Under ordinary
    circumstances, even if he was drunk, Conran would never reveal himself so
    absolutely.
    “Are you still jealous of me, boy?”
    “Yes, Sir, in some ways.”
    “Tell me all about it.”
    “You live by your own rules. I know you‟ve been trying to conform, and you are
    only doing it for Angel, but look what a disaster it was. You are unique, even among
    your peers. I always thought life would be simpler if I was like you and cared less.”
    “Cared less about what?”
    “About what other people think of me, about whether or not I will succeed in
    my career. You see, someone like me doesn‟t have a lot of options if I fail. But you?
    You would simply reinvent yourself and move on.”
    “I failed as a teacher.” Kael shrugged as if he didn‟t care.
    “As a language teacher, yes. But the operatives in your weapons and self-
    defense classes are in awe of you. The men all want to be you. The women wish you
    were available to them.”

    80
    Fyn Alexander

    Kael smiled as if he knew that already, but he hadn‟t. He had no idea how
    people felt about him, never having been very good at gauging emotion in others,
    and he found himself flattered.
    “I care a lot about some things,” Kael said. “It‟s important that my hits are
    neat and tidy. Arterial spray can be a bitch.” He laughed. “Do you know how good I
    feel when I get my target in the exact right spot in the center of the forehead or the
    brain stem? Especially if it‟s a sniper hit. And there‟s something disturbingly
    satisfying about sticking a scalpel in the jugular at the precise angle to avoid
    making a mess.”
    “You‟re gifted at your work,” Conran said.
    “You still haven‟t told me why you need me,” Kael reminded him.
    Sweat began to glisten on Conran face and neck. “Sir, you‟re not videoing this
    again, are you?” he asked.
    “If I am, what can you do about it?” Kael asked. “But no, I‟m not.”
    Conran spoke very quietly, seeming nervous and self-conscious. “I feel safe
    with you. Perhaps that‟s stupid of me considering you have been less than kind to
    me on many occasions. But it‟s true, I do. I get very stimulated by being controlled
    and punished, and no one does that better than you. Aside from that, you are a very
    handsome man. I‟m not a homosexual, but I am sexually attracted to you. I have
    never felt this way about any other man. I wish we could be friends.”
    “Perhaps we can,” Kael said.
    “I love you,” Conran whispered.
    Kael was stunned at the admission. No wonder Conran wanted to ensure he
    was not videotaping the scene. For a long moment, he watched Conran, whose face
    was scarlet. He decided the best thing to do was to move on briskly. “Excellent!”
    Kael rose and moved the chair.
    Without warning, he came up beside Conran and lifted him to the floor. The
    man tensed, his breath coming hard. But as before, Kael lifted him perfectly and
    carefully. Reaching under Conran‟s belly, Kael removed the cock ring. “Here‟s what
    I‟m going to do, Stephen.” Kael strode over to the shelves and selected a thick black
    neoprene butt plug and a tube of K-Y. From the hooks on the wall, he took a wooden
    paddle. Returning to Conran, he squirted a long stream of K-Y between the