Judging by the new light in Talen’s eyes, he would love a bath. Rune began to head back upstairs, rightfully assuming that Talen would follow. He led him to the bathroom, flicking on the light, but Talen hovered out in the hallway, watching closely. 

“Soap, towels, toilet paper. If you run out there’s more in that closet,” Rune said as he gestured to the corresponding objects. Talen’s eyes followed where Rune’s hands pointed. 

Rune crouched down by the large bathtub and prepared it for a bath. As it began to fill with comfortably-hot water and soap, Rune rose and turned back towards Talen. 

Given their recent conversation, Rune knew there was something else going on with this particular slave. He would need to forego his lifestyle for the time being and focus on taking care of Talen. The werewolf hadn’t been dropped off with any kind of possessions, so that meant he would have to share his things for now. Luckily he kept a stash of extra toiletries for when his clients had extended stays with him, but they usually brought their own clothes, if so desired. 

Rune walked to his room and into his closet, where he found a simple outfit for the werewolf to wear. The clothes would be a couple sizes too big on Talen, given their height difference, but hopefully Talen wouldn’t mind. He figured Talen would like something breathable, something he could move around in, and chose a pair of cargo pants, a T-shirt, and a pair of boxers.

With those in hand, he returned to the bathroom and set the folded clothes onto a bench that sat at the end of the bathtub. “You can wear these for now. Since you’ll be here for a while, I’ll head into town at some point and get you some clothes of your own.”

Talen stared at him. Rune couldn’t tell if he was comprehending anything that was happening. Rune leaned against the vanity and waited until the tub was halfway full, then he shut the water off. He dug out a spare loofa from the bathroom’s storage closet and set it in the water.

“That one can be yours,” Rune said. Talen still only stared at him, eyes watching intently with vague bewilderment. 

“I have to make a few calls, so if you need anything, I’ll be downstairs. Enjoy your bath,” Rune said. He waited a beat for Talen to react, but the werewolf still hovered in the hall, uncertain. Rune exited the bathroom and held a hand out towards the tub. Talen eyed him for a moment, a silent warning of distrust, but he entered the bathroom. Rune closed the door just enough to leave a small gap.

Satisfied that Talen was at least inside the bathroom, Rune went back downstairs. He immediately went to his office and dug out his phone, and he called the number he had saved for Devian.

The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Rune hung up and called again. It rang once more, the drone in his ear causing Rune to grip his phone tight. It went unanswered a second time. Rune exhaled sharply and closed his eyes, rearing in his growing frustration. He took a few deep breaths, and sat down in his chair. 

Rune pondered Talen’s strange explanations. Using cruel and broken as nouns, as labels for people, and calling Devian the “Head Cruel.” Werewolves could be stubborn, but they weren’t inherently dumb. However, Talen’s way of speaking made Rune wonder where his IQ may be at. Perhaps “Head Cruel” was his term for “Master,” but Talen had snarled at the mention of “Master.” Perhaps “Cruel” was his term for dominants, and “Broken” was his term for submissives, and Devian was the ringleader of all the other dominants. Was Devian actually an owner of his own club? Had Talen been introduced to the lifestyle too young, and thus had his worldview of the lifestyle completely skewed?

The idea put a bad taste in his mouth. The fact that Talen possibly referred to dominants as Cruels and submissives as Brokens made him think Devian’s club centered entirely around sadism and masochism. It would make sense why Talen didn’t want any painful punishments. Maybe Devian’s group went so far deep into the lifestyle they operated too closely to a cult. It could explain Talen’s lack of knowledge, his treatment, and his verbiage. But most cults didn’t lend their members out to others. 

Rune was probably getting too far over his head. He just needed to get some answers from Devian, and maybe things would start to make more sense. 

He figured the man wasn’t answering because he was busy, so Rune opened up his computer and began researching other BDSM clubs within his region. He spent the next hour running through each club’s website, taking in information of the owner, the theme, events, and membership benefits. There were a few that centered mostly around sadism and masochism, but none of the owners were named Devian, and they all had age restriction rules. He knew Talen was 21, but he had yet to find out how long he’d been under Devian’s ownership. 

Finally, Rune’s phone rang. Rune picked it up at once and said his usual greeting. 

“Master Rune, how can I help you?” Devian replied, jovial and carefree, as if he hadn’t just lended out a sack of red flags to a renowned trainer. 

“I need some clarification on Talen. Care to answer some of my questions?” Rune said. 

“He’s a bit of a handful, isn’t he? Ask away,” Devian answered. 

“How long has Talen been your slave?” Rune started.

“Oh, since he was eighteen,” Devian replied. “Little guy was interested in the lifestyle and wanted to go all in. I think he didn’t realize what he got himself into.”

The chuckle in Devian’s voice caused Rune’s brows to furrow. “How did the two of you meet?”

“One of my employees found him, actually. Said he was looking for adventure, so I decided to give it to him,” the other man said. 

“It seems to me like Talen doesn’t enjoy your version of ‘adventure’,” Rune returned. “What exactly does your lifestyle with Talen include?”

“The usual twenty-four-seven Master-slave arrangement,” Devian replied casually. “He knows his rules, but I assume his werewolf nature causes him to fight those rules. Didn’t I already go over this with you?”

Rune clenched his jaw for a moment. “Talen likes to use a certain set of labels and seems to believe that’s all there is. He says everyone is either a Cruel or a Broken. Can you imagine why this would concern me?”

“That’s part of the rules he’s supposed to follow,” Devian explained, but Rune remained skeptical. “He’s not supposed to call his handlers by their names. Part of his disobedience is calling us cruel rather than Master.”

“I see,” Rune replied, but he didn’t buy it. There was a certain telling tone in Devian’s voice, something too casual, too technical. None of this truly added up. Talen was too aggressive for it to be simple disobedience. 

“Any other questions?” Devian inquired. 

“Do you have a copy of his contract?” Rune asked. This caused a pause in Devian’s responses. 

“I’m sure I have it around here somewhere. It’s likely buried underneath all my other paperwork,” he said. “I’ll email it to you as soon as I find it.”

“That would be appreciated,” Rune said. “And I think that’s all for now.”

“A pleasure,” Devian replied, and hung up.

Rune glared at his computer screen for a few long minutes. It was clear to him that Devian was lying, but no matter. Talen had no filter, only a lack of vocabulary, and Rune would get the real answers one way or another.

Rune exited his office and made his way back upstairs to the bathroom. He knocked quietly on the door before pushing it open. He found Talen crouched in the bathtub, his hair still a ruffled mess and the visible parts of his skin still covered in grime. Talen was playing with the loofah in the water, like it was a toy rather than a means to scrub himself clean.

He froze when Rune entered, meeting his gaze with a guarded one. Rune considered closing the door behind him, but thought better of it. Perhaps Talen would feel safer if he had an escape route in sight. Rune settled down on the bench beside Talen’s new clothes. 

“I’d like to ask you a few more questions, if that’s alright with you,” Rune said. Talen furrowed his brows a little more. 

“How long have you been with Devian, the Head Cruel?” Rune asked. Talen narrowed his eyes, but answered anyway. “I have always been at his camp.”

Concern rose so quickly up through Rune’s gut he almost grew nauseous from it. “What do you mean by ‘camp’?” 

Talen glared at him, accusing, either believing Rune to be playing dumb on purpose or thinking Rune was calling him stupid again. “His fucking camp. Where he makes the Broken’s grow his funny-smelly plants and lets the Cruels beat us whenever they fucking want.”

Funny-smelly plants. Beat us. Camp. Always.

The puzzle pieces clicked together in Rune’s head. “Did you have a life before Devian’s camp?” Rune hoped so desperately that Talen had a concrete answer, but Talen only shrugged, his glare making way for indifferent confusion, and Rune’s worst suspicion came true. 

Talen had always been Devian’s slave. But he was not a BDSM slave, he was a real one. Rune had accepted a job to tame a real slave. 

Rune wanted to storm out and call Devian again and verbally rip him a new one. He let his anger rise, but as he continued to stare at Talen’s wet and grimey body crouched in the bathtub, he forced his anger back down. He needed to go about this carefully, and more importantly, he needed to take care of Talen.

“Thank you for answering my questions,” he said. It took some effort for him to keep his voice level. He rose from the bench and approached the side of the bathtub. Talen visibly tensed, his upper lip curling at the beginning of a snarl, but Rune got down onto his knees and sat back on his heels. “Can I help you bathe?”

Talen continued to glare at him, wholly untrusting, and Rune didn’t blame him. “I know how to fucking bathe.”

Rune wasn’t completely convinced, but he knew better than to ignore Talen’s offense and attempt to clean the werewolf himself. “Alright then. Can you show me?”

Talen pulled a face, like he thought Rune had asked the most absurd thing. He kept staring at him with that look as he clutched his loofah, pressed it to his skin, and began to scrub. Rune watched as Talen scrubbed a little too viciously at his skin, rubbing away the dirt. He stayed crouched as he dunked the loofah underwater and scrubbed at his legs. To Rune’s surprise, he rose up onto his knees, which exposed everything above his thighs out of the water, and unabashedly scrubbed between his legs, getting right up in every nook and cranny. At least he’s thorough, Rune thought. 

Once done scrubbing, Talen dunked himself underwater, twisted around as a means to rinse himself off, and rose back out of the water. His hair was soaked now, hanging down over his eyes, and Talen shook his head out much like a dog would, flinging water everywhere. Rune squinted and leaned back as drops of water hit his face. Talen noticed this, and grinned, a flicker of delight in his eyes. His grin held a feral edge to it, not so much a full smile as it was a baring of teeth, his nose scrunching up a little. Rune wiped the water off his face and reached over to where the shampoo was.

“You can use this for your hair,” he offered, holding the bottle out to Talen. Talen snatched it away and poured far too much into his palm. He scrubbed just as harshly at his hair as he had with the rest of him, scratching at his scalp. When he was done he dunked his head underwater again, and this time Rune turned his face away as Talen rose and shook his head once more.

The water was filthy at this point. Rune moved to the drain and stuck his hand in to unplug it. Talen scooted away to the other end of the tub. Slowly the filthy water drained, and Rune turned the faucet on and dug out a bucket from the storage closet. He let the bucket fill, and backed away. “You can rinse off with that.”

Talen eyed him, still untrusting, but he picked up the bucket and poured it over his head. Whatever remaining gunk clung to his skin washed away down the drain. “Very good,” Rune praised, and handed Talen a large towel. Talen bared his teeth at him, but he snatched the towel and dried himself off, still in the tub. 

Rune glanced at the blanket Talen had tried to hide by stuffing it underneath the bench. He figured Talen would want some space to change into his new clothes, so Rune rose and left the bathroom.