Seven Tails: Tail 05

"Did I miss anything?"

From the shocked looks and blank stares I was pretty sure I hadn't. I'd kept an eye on Belle all of her life, even if I wasn't there in person. And once she had hooked up with Chris I spent some money on a pretty extensive background check on him as well. That sort of thing was like second nature to our family. Part of the reason I had retired from the scene and tried so hard to hide myself away. Apparently I'd only been partially successful.

Luckily for me nobody had quite figured out how I had actually acquired my pets to begin with. I don't know if they would have turned me in or not.

Deciding to continue taking advantage of the situation as it stood, I decided to forge ahead and make damn sure that they knew who they were dealing with. I picked up the folder again and riffled through the pictures until I found one of just me. I flipped it over until it was facing them and slapped it down on the table.

"My name is Master Max Rambeaux. I am a trainer and owner of champion exhibition human ponies. At the moment I have six ponies in my stables." I went through the pictures again and started slapping them down on the table one at a time.

"Sarabeth."

"Nathan."

"Gael."

"Daniel."

"David."

"And Wendy."

"They are my ponies. My pets. My servants and my bed partners. They all wear my collar and call me 'Master' and do anything I tell them to. They live in cages in my stable and they work and they train and they clean my house and come to my bed whenever I wish them to entertain me. Sometimes singly and sometimes in pairs or groups. They do what they are told because they love me and they love being my ponies. They also know that if they misbehave there is always the whip and the crop and the paddle and the cane waiting to mete out my displeasure. And sometimes I will turn one of them over my knee and use my hand or a crop or paddle on their little bottoms just for fun."

"Is that enough information?" I held up my phone and tossed it on the table atop the pictures. "I can call and you can talk to them yourselves if you like. I'm sure they will tell you everything you need to know about me."

Belle jumped up like she was going to run from the room, then came over and threw herself on her knees in front of me and wrapped her arms around my leg.

"Uncle Alex, please!" she begged "I'm sorry! I didn't want to make you angry. I just wanted your help. Daddy gave me the number of the private detective he uses and I called... It took him six months to track you down and get the report I showed you. He said you were one of the hardest people he had ever traced in his whole career. And once he gave me this report I told him to stop immediately. I knew...that I had found who I was looking for."

Belles chin and lower lip were quivering and there were tears leaking slowly out of the corners of her eyes and down her cheeks. I felt a twinge of guilt. I never wanted to see her unhappy. Belles happiness in life was second only to my own. I was a selfish prick like that. Leaning down, I held out my hands to her. Belle immediately wrapped her arms around my neck and I patted her on the back and shushed her until she calmed down. Then, pulling back a little, I handed her a fistful of tissues from the side table. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose and regained her composure.

Glancing up at Chris, I said "Maybe we should start over again. I think we all got off on the wrong foot here. And I think your young man is in some distress. He looks like he wants to come over here and kick my ass. Or at least try to. Let's all take a step back and a deep breath and start again from zero, shall we?"

Belle got up and leaned over her husband and kissed him and whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was that she said made all of the tension run out of him like popping a balloon. The color faded from his cheeks and he slumped a little against the couch cushions. I leaned back myself and blew out a breath. I had gotten myself a little wound up too.

"So," I said "Let's just recap a little. Maybe I can get to the meat of this without any more dramatics from either of us. One..." I said, holding up a finger. "You tried to talk to your father and it was so personal that he would rather have you take it up with a private detective rather than discuss it with him. Knowing Raymond and how straight-laced he is, that tells me that the subject has to do with your sex life. Am I correct so far?"

Belle and Chris both nodded. I said "Raymond has always been stuffy like that. I was actually surprised when he got married and had the...balls... to produce a child. Especially one as special as you, dear." Belle smiled lightly. "When we were younger I often wondered if my brother wouldn't end up in a monastery somewhere. Except, of course, it turned out money was his god and business his religion. But somebody has to do it, I suppose. Keep the family coffers brimming."

I held up a second finger. "Two. Since you have decided that I am the 'best man for the job' in Raymond's words, especially after seeing that report and those pictures I'm assuming that this has something to do with the sexual dynamics of dominance and submission. Correct again?"

They both looked down and nodded again, blushing. I held up a third finger.

"Third." I said. "And this may take me a minute to get all the details, but they are pretty clear so far. I have been watching you two from the moment I got here. I know exactly who the dominant partner is and who the submissive partner is. To anyone who is paying attention that would be screamingly obvious. The only way you could advertise it more blatantly was if you were wearing thigh-high leather boots and carrying a whip and Chris was on the end of a leash."

Chris opened his mouth to say something, I'm guessing in feigned indignation, and started to rise up off of the couch. I snapped my fingers at him and said "Sit down, boy!" His ass immediately hit the couch cushion and he sat there and gaped at me in shock. I'm guessing that nobody had ever used the 'Dom voice' on him before. A rainbow of emotions from shock to anger to embarrassment flashed across his face. I'd almost overdone it again. I held my hands up and asked "Chris, do you love Belle?"

The question caught him by surprise. His jaw worked a few times trying to phrase a reply then he said "Yes, I do. More than anything."

"And you want to make her happy?"

"Of course I do."

"You would do...anything...to make her happy."

"Yes."

"But sometimes your male ego rises up and makes it difficult, doesn't it? You both study human societies all over the world. You know how it should be. The man is supposed to be the dominant one. The breadwinner. The hunter and gatherer. He takes his woman and makes her his. And she stays home and raises his babies and cooks and cleans for her man. Because that's what society says is the norm, right?" They both nodded, a little shamefaced.

"My niece is a strong woman. She's been that way all of her life. Even as a child she was strong willed and independent. She always demanded things from people and if she didn't get her way she damn well wanted to know why. But, while she was strong, she was also a nice enough person not to run over other people and become a bitch, like some of them do."

I leaned forward a bit. "Looking at your past histories has given me some perspective that you have both missed. Perhaps I can clarify a few things to help you see it better."

"Belle, your past sexual partners have always had too much ego. They were too wrapped up in themselves to give you any real satisfaction. They all tried to dominate you and it just left you unfulfilled and wanting. There was always something unsatisfying about being with them and the relationships never lasted long."

Belles eyebrows rose up on her forehead.

"And Chris, the women you have been with were always too submissive, too willing to give themselves to you after the initial seduction. They were too nice... And that bothered you. Even though in the back of your mind you thought 'This is how it should be', you felt that something was wrong. And you wondered for awhile, especially after that little affair with Lisa, that you might be gay and that really bothered you deeply."

I was pretty much just guessing at this point. But from the looks on their faces I was right more than I was wrong.

"But I know how Belle is and how she reacts to people. She has a good sense for reading people's moods. I'll bet the first time you kissed she straddled your hips, grabbed your face and kissed you before you were really ready, didn't she? And it was the same way the first time you slept together, wasn't it? I'm willing to bet that she was on top the entire time. Am I right?"

Stunned, they both just nodded.

"And it was the best sex you had either had in your life, up to that point. Yes?" They nodded again. I shrugged and laughed a little. Shaking my head I said "You two are a fine pair of idiots." Before either of them could react I continued, pointing a finger at them both. "Sociology and Anthropology. Two sides of the same coin, studying man and how he interacts with his word. One is more empirical, relying on hard facts, numbers and tables. The other is a little more fuzzy, studying how we form groups and families and how we interact with each other on a more personal level. But both disciplines are the study of mankind. How we work."

I paused and said "I've seen your records. Both of you graduated at or very near the top of your class. Neither one of you is a dummy."

"Yet you never once thought to use what you learned on this little 'problem' of yours?"

"And there are a thousand... More than a thousand, books on the subject."

"And if worse came to worse, you could have just asked me for advice instead of coming up with this elaborate confrontation. That would have been much easier on us all, you know."

They both sighed heavily and deflated a little on the couch. Belle started to say "I'm so..." and I held up my hand. "Yes, I know. You are sorry." I shook my head. "Sometimes I don't know what to do with you, girl. How could anyone so smart be such a nincompoop?" Chris started to open his mouth and I pointed a finger at him. "And you are not much better, young man. I'm sure you have studied sexual mores a lot more than she has. You should have recognized what was going on much sooner. Being new to this family gives you about two inches of slack with me and it's been used up. My favorite niece loves you. And that means that you are going to have to work your tail off to be worthy of that love."

I pointed back at Belle and said "And you, young lady. You may be my favorite niece and probably my favorite person in the whole world but I'm not letting you off of the hook either. You have found a wonderful young man who loves you with his whole heart and now you have a family of your own. Your life is now going to be changed forever. You are going to have to work and work and work to keep this together, especially if it turns out the way I think it's going to."

I paused and smacked my lips. My mouth was completely dry. I'm not sure if I had spoken that much in complete sentences in months. A lot of my communication with my pets was in that verbal shorthand that we used. It just saved time. Unless we were in bed, of course. Then I got a little more loquacious.

"I am seriously dry, here. Chris, would you be so kind as to fetch me a big glass of ice water?"

Seemingly happy of the change of subject, he jumped up and said "Of course Uncle Alex. I'd be happy to." and trotted off to the kitchen. Belle started to open her mouth again and I held up a finger and said "If you say 'I'm sorry' one more time, I will paddle your behind. Keep that in mind. Start a sentence with something besides that."

That was kind of a dirty trick. Knowing full well that was what she was going to say and forbidding her to say it threw her brain into kind of a feedback loop trying to get started again. After several false starts where her mouth flapped open and nothing came out she finally managed to croak "Love you, Uncle Alex."

I smiled. "Love you too, baby girl."

"That was a dirty trick."

"Kept you from saying it though, didn't I?"

"It would have been easier to let you paddle me, I think."

I shook my head. "Then I would have had to paddle your new husband, too. And I'm too tired to fight right now. He looks like a scrapper. I'd hate to have to get him all banged up."

Chris returned and handed me a glass of water. He had one eyebrow raised as he did so. But he wisely kept his mouth shut as he sat back down next to his bride and held her hand. Thinking clearly, probably for the first time since dinner, I suspect he realized that I was tweaking his ego on purpose. And if he was thinking that he would have been one hundred percent correct.

And, as young and as fit as he was, if worse came to worse I could have made him scream for mercy in seconds. Dirty tricks were, after all, my specialty.

I downed half the glass in two large long gulps. I think just being in Texas made me thirsty. As an added bonus it gave me a few more seconds to think about what I was going to say next. By the time the glass reached the table again I was prepared.

The picture of me leading my two half naked pony boys on a leash. That was perfect. Sliding it across the table until it was right in front of Belle where she sat on the couch. Her eyes tracked down to the picture as it slid to a stop in front of her. I pointed to the creases in the corner of the picture. "You looked at this one more than once, I can tell. I don't blame you. It's highly erotic." Looking her in they eye I asked "Do you want to know what that felt like?"

My nieces tongue came out slowly and licked her lips and she swallowed and then nodded. I leaned over and put a hand over the part of the picture that had me in it.

"Just look at them for a moment. Forget that I am even there, just look at them. That is Daniel and David. Both of them are young. Early twenties. Both very pretty. Look at their bodies. They are obviously fit and athletic. Well toned and muscular without being over-inflated. And they are both very obviously well equipped. And they are both obviously sexually excited by being that exposed in front of all of those people."

"Look at their faces. The expressions. What do you see? They are both smiling. Happy. That is obvious. There's also a hint of embarrassment. Being naked in front of a crowd is a nightmare for many people. Look at Daniel. He's embarrassed. A little ashamed. I put him in the harness and leash because he was in disgrace. He made me look bad in front of another Master and I lost some status and had to give up some favors to make up for it. I could have beaten him or caged him or worse. Instead, I chose this. Made him walk half naked and leashed like an animal. It was his penance."

"Look at Daniel again. Embarrassment and shame. But there's also a hint of pride there as well. Even though he was in disgrace I had told Daniel that I was proud of him and that I loved him still. Daniel is proud to be one of my ponies and has worked and trained very hard to make me proud of him. I have no doubt he will be a registered champion very soon."

"Look at David. He's smiling, yes. And a bit embarrassed as well. There's also a hint of fear and trepidation in his eyes. The evening before this picture was taken I purchased David at the pony auction. He'd only been a pony for a couple of months and his previous owner had died. He had no idea what his life was going to be like and what was going to happen to him. He was afraid that I would be cruel or unjust or demanding things that he wasn't ready to do as yet. Sexually, as well as physically. He was still a bit afraid of me at this point."

"But he's also smiling because him and Daniel were becoming fast friends. Daniel was my newest pony before David and I gave him the task of teaching David how I wanted my pets to behave. Daniel was honored that I put that task to him. It showed that he still had my trust, even though he had made a mistake."

"On the day that this picture was taken I had Daniel in my stables for several months. Before me he had never had sex with another man and he fought against it bitterly. Today he would come to my bed, or Nathans, or Davids or yours, at my direction.." I pointed at Chris. "Happily and willingly and do his very best to make his partner happy. And he's quite popular with the ladies as well." Chris looked alarmed and started to say something and I just raised my hands and said "Save it."

I pointed back to the picture again. "David, on the other hand, had one sexual encounter with another man and he didn't like it. He was pretty convinced that it wasn't his cup of tea, so to speak. Six days after this picture was taken he came to my bed willingly and gave himself to me and hasn't regretted it since then."

"My two boys... My three boys... Hell, all of my pets... serve me and entertain me and perform for me in the arena because they love me and they love being my ponies. Any single one of them would happily walk naked through a crowd if they thought it would please me."

"Can you see all this in their faces or am I just reading too much into it?"

Belle said "I can see it, uncle." Chris nodded. I moved my hand and covered up the part with the lads in it.

"Now look at me. Look at my face. What do you see?"

"Happiness." Belle said.

"Pride." Chris nodded.

"Contentment."

"A bit of vanity?"

"Hubris, definitely."

"And a hint of concern."

"And that little twist in the corner of your mouth looks like you are a little horny, too." I laughed.

"All of those things and more." I moved my hand again and pointed at the boys. "How could I not be proud? And more, how could I not be horny with those two following me around at the end of my leash? Knowing full well that if not then, certainly now, they are willing to do anything possible to please me in any way?"

I riffled through the pictures again. The picture of me hugging Sarabeth after the race. The look of ecstasy on her face was exquisite. Just knowing even now that she was in the throes of a hard orgasm at the time the picture was taken made my prick twitch around in my pants. I did so love giving her the release she craved after an exhibition like that. My little pet got so wound up...

I slid that photo over in front of Chris. "Would you like to know what made her so happy? Do you want to know what that felt like to her?" He stared at her. Hell, they both did. I briefly wondered if my sweet little niece also had an undisclosed bisexual streak in her. And now that I noticed, Chris was unsuccessfully trying to hide quite a bulge in his pants as well. And I'm sure it was there before I brought out the pic of Sarabeth. Hmmm...

I picked up my phone and said "Let's just ask her, shall we?" A quick glance at my watch told me it was about a quarter after nine. Really. Where had the time gone? I punched #1 on the speed dial and hit the button for the speakerphone. Nathan answered after the first ring.

"Hello, Master!"

"Hello, Nathan. Everyone behaving?"

"Of course, Master. We had a good time, but we all wished you were here. It's always so much better when you are here."

"I wish I was there too, sweet boy. Let everybody know I'm missing them and after we are done here go give everybody a kiss from me, okay?"

I could here him smile over the little speaker. "I'll deliver them myself, Master!"

"You are a good boy, Nathan. I'm here with my niece Belle and her husband Chris. We are on speaker phone. Is Sarabeth still awake? We need to talk to you and her both."

"She's just gotten out of the shower and she's brushing out her hair. You know how long that takes."