When Remy turned to look at me the rage I had felt at the whole humiliating examination hit me like a kick to the gut. "Dammit, Remy! I will NOT be a stud!"

"You'll be whatever I want you to be, pet." He replied with a menacing calm.

I scowled at him. "Well why don't you just kidnap Jean then." I quipped. "A lot of people seem to think we'd have genetically perfect kids."

"Don' tempt me." Remy came toward me almost warily. I felt a tightness in my chest and a churn of fear in my belly when he said those words. Yet I pushed back at him, still furious at the whole miserable incident.

"Christ!" I spat at him. "You're as bad as Sinister!" One look at Remy's face as he stopped dead in his tracks told me I'd just gone over the line. His eyes began to glow. When he spoke, his tone was low and his words concise and controlled. A shiver snaked up my spine and I felt a warmth underneath the collar around my neck.

"Never compare me to dat madman." Was the collar growing hotter? I reached up to touch it and yanked my fingers back immediately with a supressed yelp. The collar burned with kinetic power. Remy had charged the device. It was a timebomb. If Remy let it explode it'd crush my throat and decapitate me. Fear gripped me further in the immediacy of the situation.

"No." I whispered in terror.

"I've allowed you too much leniency, Scott. And you've wounded me, cher." He came closer. "P'etetre I made a mistake wit' you. P'etetre you can't be tamed."

I stared at him in fear. The heat intensified and I began to feel pain. And the pain created a blazing defiance. Fear turned to anger and hatred. I wasn't going to back down on this. I wouldn't be bred out like a prized stud. Sinister had done that to me once without my knowledge. And Maddie had been his brood mare. My son had been lost to time because of madmen. I would not, could not allow Remy to use me in this way and to lose what children I sired to slavery.

"You're right Remy." I threw the name out deliberately this time with a reckless rebelliousness to push him even further. " I won't be tamed! Do it! If you have the balls!"

"Amende alors." Remy smiled maliciously. "Is dere a final message you'd like me to give to Alex, me?"

The room grew deathly still as we looked at one another. I could feel a prickly itch begin to rise on my throat. My fists were clenched tight. Everything seemed to hinge on this moment. And I was caught in a very deadly showdown. Was Remy bluffing? Should I...Could I call his bluff?

But Alex. Damn Alex. I turned my anger on my brother. I couldn't die like this. Not after I'd yelled at him for wanting to die. Not after I'd promised him we'd get through this together. Damn him.

I closed my eyes tightly feeling the slow smoldering intensity of the burn from the collar. "Okay." I breathed swallowing every ounce of pride and defiance I had left. No. Suddenly my mind screamed. Not even for Alex! No child of mine would be lost to this sick, twisted world. No child of mine would ever be born here. Not even for my brother. I lifted my chin in fury. "Tell Alex 'not even for him'. He'll understand."

I saw it for only an instant. Remy faultered. There was surprise and a spark of anxiety in his eyes for a fleeting moment. Then it vanished in the wake of a devious smile. "Scott, mon cher, how could I ever share you wit' anyone." His voice was sickly sweet. I could here the menace underneath. "You really t'ink I'd give you to Frederico for breeding? I despise dat man and his
'ranch'. It's one t'ing to bring an adult, wit' all dier sins, into slavery. It's another to raise a petit into dat life. I don' breed m'slaves." His fingers curled ever so slightly and I had to believe he was lying. He was trying to find a way out of his bluff that would allow me to live without letting me gain some power in the knowing that he didn't want me dead. "But someone needs to be punished for your insolence, hein. Perhaps I bring your brot'er up and punish him in your place."

Shit. I could see he meant that. I'd called his bluff on killing me. But that didn't mean he wouldn't hurt Alex. I began to doubt what I'd believed. Perhaps Remy wouldn't breed me. Perhaps he did think it was wrong. He had some moral sense. I'd seen that earlier. And if he was going to back down from killing me, there was no sense in letting Alex take the blame for my
outburst. The talk of breeding and selling children into slavery still wrankled, but perhaps Remy and I could come to a negotiation of sorts.

"Okay." I said. "Leave Alex out of this. I shouldn't have said what I did. But I'll take my own life before I become your stud." That set him off guard for a moment.

"I tol' you de breeding is distastful to me, cher. I don' care what your children be wort'. I won' 'ave you sire dem into slavery." He narrowed his eyes, giving me a hard look. "But your tongue is anot'er story. I won' 'ave you backtalking me. Dat can' go ignored."

I breathed a bit easier. Remy sounded sincere. The threat of taking my life seemed to set him back a pace. He'd think twice about breeding me. But now I needed to get his mind off Alex. "I'm sorry." I began. "I was out of line. I can see you're not at all like Sinister." He glared at me, reading the sarcasm in my tone despite all my efforts to keep my voice even. I rushed on to stop him from lashing out. "I was caught in the moment. You have to understand that after being used by Sinister to father Nathan, I have an aversion to the idea of being bred like some prize stallion."

"D'ccord." Remy conceded. But the collar continued to burn around my neck.

"I'm sorry." I said again. "Please forgive my outburst." I tried to force as much repentence in my look as I could.

"Oh, mon cher, you're going to 'ave to do a whole lot better dan dat." Remy took a step toward me as he placed the papers in his hand on the back of the couch. His head was bowed slightly, his eyes turned up, and lips curled in a lethal smirk. The collar still glowed with his power. I stood very, very still watching him, waiting for him to explain, to instruct. But he only gazed back, expecting me to figure it all out on my own. My mind reeled for several moments. And then I did what I hoped would sooth his anger and stroke his ego. I stepped toward him saying, "Master, forgive me." Then I pressed my lips to him with as much tenderness as I could muster.

Remy remained stiff and unswerving. His hands hung at his sides refusing to touch me. I could feel his jaw tense. He kept his lips tightly closed. I'd have put some serious effort into my apology to convince him of my sincerity. Or at least convince him that I'd be an obediant slave and keep Alex out of trouble.

Since he wouldn't open his mouth, I glided my lips down along his jawline to loosen the tension there. My hands went to his hips to pull him in close, our cocks nestled side by side with only the thin silky fabric of his robe as a barrier. Remy said nothing, which encouraged me. At least he wasn't talking of further punishment. But he wouldn't move much either. I could feel a tickle at the back of my neck and knew it was his empathetic power assessing my honesty. At least he could feel my desire. Though I'd tried to fight it, I couldn't deny it. And so I gave in to it and let him feel how my body wanted him. It certainly wasn't love, but I hoped it would be enough to convince him I'd behave. I let the sensation flow outward as my tongue worked its way to
the hollow of Remy's throat. My left hand slid around to grab his ass as the fingers of my right hand ran lightly up his spine to caress the back of his neck.

I held back a smile when I felt him quiver and right after draw the kinetic power back into himself. Inwardly I breathed a sigh of relief, but knew I couldn't stop. Nor did I really want to, now that my need had been let loose. My prick was coming back to life.

Bending my head down, I nudged the robe aside and took one of his nipples gently between my teeth, touching it with the tip of my tongue. Remy latched onto my shoulders with a crushing grip and a hiss. "Mais oui." He murmured. But then he pushed me away.

"I should 'ave you whipped, petit morue." He growled. But there was hint of amusement in his tone.

I gave him a mischievious grin. "But Master, you wouldn't want to scar me, would you?"

Remy caressed my cheek saying, "There are ways to have you beaten dat leave no permanent mark, cher."

It was my turn to shiver. "Would you like to experience dat, petit?" He continued deadly serious. "To be whipped until de adrenalin kicks in an you
can' tell de difference 'tween pleasure and pain. I don' do it dat often, and never to my newest slaves. But perhaps in your case I might make an exception. You're trying my patience, hein."

This silenced me completely and I dropped my head in defeat. I'd been beaten before. At the orphanage. And the humiliation of the act resurfaced in me. The pain wasn't the worst part of being tied down and paddled until I couldn't sit for a week. It was the loss of dignity and the loss of control. Remy could bring back all those childhood fears in me and reduce me to a
whimpering idiot begging for him to stop. I didn't think I could stand that.

He lifted my chin, ordering me to look at him. The hopelessnesss was evident there in my eyes. I couldn't hold it back. But he let fall the final blow, branding the anguish on my being as he said, "I can always do dat, Scott. I can take you to the depths of hell if I wan'. Dere's no escape."

Remy searched my eyes adding cruelly. "And I can 'ave your brot'er punished right dere in front of you, begging for you to tell him why he's being flogged."

I closed my eyes. One tear escaped and trickled down my cheek. Remy wiped it tenderly away saying, "Is dat what you want, cher? Is it too painful to respect me and obey me dat you'd endure punishment and take your brot'er wit' you?"

I shook my head.

"Bein." Remy nodded, retrieving the documents and moving around me. "Den we'll 'ave no more of your defiance, me. You know de price. And I can always make you pay, mon cher."

He walked around to the couch, ignoring me for the moment and settled in a corner of the U-shape, extending his legs casually upon the seat as he began to finger through the papers. I stood there uncertainly, wondering what I should do now. Hoping he'd tell me what to do. But he kept on skimming the contents of the treaty.

I started when without warning he yelled for the guard. One immediately stepped in. "M'lord?"

Without looking up, Remy said, "Get Peter to take de table away and bring me a pot of Cafe Brulet. As strong as he can make it."

The guard nodded and stepped back out closing the door. I looked over at the table a bit longingly and then back at Remy. I squeezed my fists anxiously. He still refused to acknowledge me and I wasn't sure if I should approach him. I continued to stare at him.

Finally, as if he suddenly realized I was behind him, he looked around at me, his red eyes still glowing. "Mais, come here pet." His tone was chiding, insinuating that I was a fool for not knowing I was to come to him. I followed his path around the couch and stood in front of him. "Sit." He said patting the area next to him. Nervously I sat down, my hands digging into the edge of the couch.

"Merde!" Remy sighed. "Must I tell you everyt'ing? Lay down and put your head in my lap."

Gingerly I did as I was told, resting my head over his lap. Remy wasn't quite aroused, thankfully, and I relaxed a bit stretching my legs out and resting my hands on my stomach, butterflys churning inside. I closed my eyes and swallowed.

"Comfortable, mon amour?" I looked up to see him gazing down at me, his face unreadable. I nodded despite my unease. I wasn't sure what he was about now and that worried me. He smiled slightly and went back to reading the page he was on. I watched him, still uncertain. Then I closed my eyes. Whatever was going to happen, I couldn't prevent. So I decided I might as well enjoy this luxury of doing nothing. After a moment, Remy's hand began to stroke my hair. Then he moved it to my chest, idly running his fingers across my skin, plucking at the nipples every once in awhile. My whole body shook when he first touched me, but then I settled into the caress, breathing deep. Soon my head lolled to the side and I dozed.

When I woke, Remy was still perusing the documents and drinking from a bone china cup. There was a tall silver kettle sitting on the coffee table, next to a china milk container and sugar bowl. Remy felt me stir and looked down. "Did you 'ave a nice nap, mon couer?" He asked pleasantly.

"Yes." I replied, adding somewhat shyly, "Thank you."

He smiled affectionately and nodded. Then he sat up, wordlessly telling me to move, and placed his feet on the floor. I sat up beside him as he put the cup and papers down on the table. He stretched his shoulders and neck, popping the tension away and then leaned in to kiss me. It was soft and chaste. And set my heart to beat more rapidly. Then pinching his nose with his thumb and forefinger, he stood up.

"Come on, petit. Time for bed."