CHAPTER 11

Swan lounged in the birdhouse with Jay and Cardy, playing boardgames and painting their nails. Her masters had needed some time to work and Swan knew she tended to be a distraction to them when around. So she decided to spend the day with her friends.

Jay was currently cheating at a game of monopoly. Cardy was trying to convince Swan that Jay was cheating. Swan had noticed Jay cheating turns ago but said nothing. “Swan, look at all the money she has,” Cardy whined.

“Cheating is part of this game, isn’t? It’s like part of the rules,” Swan teased. Cardy continued whining at Jay.

Swan glanced across the rec area and noticed Hudson enter the bird house. She waved hello at him, and he came right over to Swan, “You’re needed by Master Tristan and Master Sean.” Glancing at the time, Swan felt confused. It was too early for her masters to be finished working. They were negotiating a big deal today and Swan assumed she wouldn’t see them again until a late dinner. But if Hudson said they needed her, she didn’t need any further prodding.

Swan got up, telling Jay and Cardy to finish without her, and followed Hudson who was already walking toward the exit. She jogged to catch up with him and they slipped out the door, “What is it, Hudson? What’s going on?” His pace was starting to make her worried that something was wrong with her masters.

“You know Master Tristan and Master Sean have be in negotiations today, right?” he asked not stopping his quick pace toward their apartment.

“Yes, they mentioned it at breakfast this morning. Are things not going well?”

“No. Negotiations have been tense. The latest offer has been given to Master Tristan and Master Sean and they are in conflict over it. I’ve never seen them argue like this over work. It’s because you’re involved.”

Swan didn’t understand why she would even come up, “Why…?”

But Hudson cut her off, “Swan, they’re negotiating with Victor.” Swan stopped dead in her tracks. Hudson, who was walking quickly, didn’t notice she wasn’t beside him for a few steps. Swan was frozen. What if Victor was trying to get her back? What if her masters needed to give her back to save a deal? Questions raced through her head.

Hudson grabbed her arm and got her walking quickly again, “Don’t panic. If you start panicking, then you won’t be able to help them. And I think you can help at least get them on the same page. I don’t care how it goes, but our masters are best when they are unified.”

They had reached the door of the apartment. Hudson paused for a moment, listening at the door. Swan could clearly hear their voices, they were speaking loudly.

“Sean, no. Absolutely not,” Master Tristan yelled deeply. “I can’t believe you’re even considering it! No!”

“We must consider it, Tristan. No, we can’t just consider it. He has us backed into a corner; we have to take her there. We don’t have a choice!”

Swan heard Master Tristan shout “no” again. Hudson nodded to her and opened the door quickly and loudly not wanting to sneak in unexpected, “I’m so sorry to interrupt, sirs.”

“What could it possibly be, Hudson?” Master Tristan yelled. Swan stepped through the door quickly realizing that Hudson was taking a risk of his own to even bring her here now without a command from her masters to do so.

Swan turned to Hudson. “You can leave us,” she said dismissing him. He nodded gratefully to her and closed the door behind him. She walked into the room with her masters. Master Tristan braced himself at the bar counter across the living room, shirt untucked and hair askew. She’d never seen him look so sloppy. He was always meticulous and controlled. Master Sean paced between the dining area and the living area looking just as mussed.

Master Tristan looked away from her sighing deeply. He stared at the wall unseeing. Master Sean waited for her but Swan wasn’t sure how to start. She just said, “Hudson is really worried for you. What is going on?”

Master Tristan leaned his head on his hand over the bar and rubbed his forehead, “Tell her.”

With a sigh, Master Sean stopped his pacing to explain, “Swan, you know us in a way that very few people know us. With everyone but our closest friends and lovers, we have… reputations… that we cultivate to keep our business successful…”

“…and our home safe,” Master Tristan finished still facing away from them.

“Most people think they know Tristan is harsh and ruthless. There’s good reason why when Tristan makes a threat that people believe him. They think of me as careless and wasteful, a playboy who has everything and cares for nothing. We need these personas to keep the upper hand in our dealings.”

Master Sean took Swan’s hand and continued, “We’ve been negotiating with Victor. He offered the deal because he knows we never walk away from a deal. It’s been back-and-forth all day, but his most recent offer includes our attendance to a gather at his property with you. It’s not a trade in anyway. Just that we would be required to go and to bring you to the event in his compound.”

Master Tristan turned toward them and burst with anger, “No! It’s not just bringing you to an event. It’s walking you in on our arm into whatever trap he has laid! I will not throw you into the jaws of that shark!” He deflated and Swan saw fear in his eyes at the thought of not just losing her but giving her to Master Victor again. She rushed over to him and wrapped her arms around him. Looking into his eyes, she saw wetness, tears at his very thoughts. He pulled her against him cradling her head with his hand as if he couldn’t bear to let her even step away from him.

“Tristan, please, think about this. If we refuse the event, we lose the confidence of our community. If we attend and refuse to bring her, Victor shatters our masks and finally deals the damage to our business and reputation that he’s been working on for years.”

They stood in silence for some moments while Master Tristan thought. Swan felt his grip on her loosen, so she pulled back only enough to hold his eyes, “I want to do this for you.”

Master Tristan’s expression was pained. He whispered, “Swan, no…”

“I can do this.” She turned her face to Master Sean, “You’re sure it’s just one event?” He nodded. “I know his gathering rooms. I know the rules. I know how to be careful with Master Victor, how to avoid anything that could be seen as an infraction. I’ll stay glued to your sides all evening.” She asked Master Sean, “If we don’t do this, it could ruin you?”

Master Sean sighed, “Yes. There would be a few consequences right away, but many over time.”

“We can do this.”

Master Tristan bent his head down to Swan’s and breathed, “…I don’t think I can do it.”

Swan put her hands on his face and pulled his lips to her own. She kissed him deeply, opening herself to him in the kiss, surrendering completely. “I know you can do it because I know you would never, never let me go,” she said fiercely. “I know you would destroy Master Victor if he tried to take me from you.”

She saw his eyes harden, saw his resolve and self-control reform before her eyes. He took two deep steadying breaths, “Sean, tell that fucking bastard that we accept his offer. He’s going to lose his fucking pants in this deal, and all he’ll get out of it is one frustrating evening where we show him holds no power over us.”

__________________

A week later, Swan prepared for her evening out. The other birds buzzed with excitement around her, but only because she hadn’t told most of them how serious the situation was. Cardy and Jay knew and stood solemnly with her as she readied herself.

She opted to go without any tail. If her experience with Pea told her anything, the tail made her vulnerable outside her home. But Eric had outdone himself with Swan’s requests. She wore a white ruched sheath dress with a few modifications: Eric had removed a portion of the back of the dress so that her Ass was on display, like an elegant spanking dress. He had attached a small bouquet of white glittering feathers at the top of the opening. It was a small feather bustle right above her Ass. It was the best they could do to remind everyone that she was a bird belonging to Master Sean and Master Tristan without her wearing one of her tails.

The other modification was to the square neckline which now plunged below her breasts leaving them exposed. She wore small diamond pasties over her nipples, and they matched the massive diamond necklace around her neck. Her hair had been combed to a silver shine and she wore a small white feathered head cap to complete the perfect picture of a bird.

The dress made her uncomfortable, but it was exactly what she needed to make a statement at one of Master Victor’s gatherings. Not a single person would miss her tonight.

Hudson walked her to the main entrance of the building. Master Tristan and Master Sean were already waiting for her in their tuxedos. She grinned at them both, “You both look amazing! I want to hug you, but I don’t want to wrinkle you!”

Master Sean swept her up in a hug and spun her around, “Everyone will expect me to be wrinkled, so don’t hold out on me.”

Swan giggled as he put her down. She hugged him tightly and said into his chest, “Tonight will be ok. I can do this.” She felt him nod and he let her go.

She stepped up to Master Tristan and took his hands. He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed them both several times. “I will be ok tonight. As long as you are right there with me, I can get through anything,” she assured him.

He nodded, “I will not leave your side tonight.”

The three of them stepped outside and into the waiting limo.

______________

Swan held the elbow of each of her masters and walked between them into the old familiar gathering room. The feeling of déj� vu struck her like a hammer: the couches and chairs, the bar in the back, the thin doors lining each side of the room. Swan felt her breathing quicken, a familiar fear in the pit of her stomach. Master Sean said under his breath to her, “You are ours. We will never leave your side.” Her breathings slowed, but her stomach still did flip flops.

Just like her first night meeting Master Tristan, she was the only girl in the room and she could tell her dress was influencing the male crowd. Everyone took their chance greeting her masters and they gathered a small crowd around them that followed them around the room.

She heard the announcement and saw them open the doors for Victor’s girls to enter. They swarmed into the room silently, heads downward. It all felt familiar but weird now; when the birds entered a gathering, it was a joyful, boisterous noise. Now Master Victor’s gathering felt less somehow. Master Tristan leaned down to her ear, “Even that first night I wanted to rescue you from this sadness. You get to hold your head high tonight.” They had strategized and decided that Swan should not downcast her face. It wasn’t a rule for the girls, but more a tradition. It wasn’t something that Master Victor would find punishable.

Master Sean left them and quickly brought back drinks. Swan requested ice water. She needed to keep her head clear to concentrate tonight.

Swan recognized a friend nearby but couldn’t catch the girl’s eyes to wave hi. Her name was Beth. She realized Beth had been her closest friend while she belonged to Master Victor, but it was pale in comparison to her friendships with Jay and Cardy. Her heart broke a little as she thought what that girl’s life was still like.

The three of them continue their rounds of the room, Master Sean and Master Tristan talking business and Swan flashing small flirty smiles. If she could help her masters conduct some successful networking as well during this awful evening, all the better. She didn’t mind being social bait for them.

Swan looked around and spotted her old friend again. Beth was on the arm of one of Master Victor’s close personal friends. Pity filled her for the girl. His name was Master John and he got off on hurting the girls. Swan recalled one night she got picked by Master John. He caned her back so that she was crying when he took her beneath him on the bed. Noticing her friend had a finished drink in her hand, Swan remembered doing her best to over drink when she’d been picked by a master like Master John.

She moved Master Sean and Master Tristan toward the group Beth was with. When her masters greeted Master John, their greetings were cold. They must already know the type of master he was. Swan let go of her masters’ elbows but kept her hand on Master Tristan as she walked around behind him to take his other arm. She was now standing next to her old friend. She noticed Beth swaying a tiny bit. That empty glass in her hand must not have been her first drink of the evening.

“Hey, up here,” Swan whispered beside her.

Beth lifted her head a bit and turned to look at Swan. After a moment, she recognized Swan and quietly gasped, “Oh my gosh! I can’t believe you’re here!”

“I know! I can’t believe it either.”

“Is he your new master?”

Swan nodded, “I have two now. Master Tristan and Master Sean beside him. They’re really great.”

“I’m so happy for you, that’s awesome.” Beth tipped her head downward again before they got caught conversing. Swan reached for Beth’s hand, gave it a quick squeeze, and let go.

The masters were all having a heated argument about stocks or something Swan didn’t bother to follow. Swan took the distraction as a chance to chat with her friend again. “How have you been?” she whispered.

Her friend looked up at her again and whispered back, “Only ok. Keeper Michael has been in a mood this week, so it’s been hard to stay out of trouble. Oh! But I have news…” Beth swayed slightly and was off balance for a moment. She reached her hand with the glass in it instinctively behind her to use the table to steady herself. Swan was too slow to reach her as her hand landed on the edge of the glass tabletop and put enough of her weight on it to tip it off it’s stand.

Swan watched in slow motion as the tabletop and all the glasses on it smashed to the floor with a loud crash shattering everything. Swan at least got an arm out to steady her friend before she fell into the glass shards all over the floor beneath them.

Every eye in the room snapped to the two of them. Swan heard Master Victor before she saw him, “What the fuck was that? What broke? Who broke it?” he demanded as he pushed through the crowd to them. When he saw Swan, Master Tristan and Master Sean, his face lit up with delight. Swan knew that joy didn’t mean anything good for anyone.

“Why hello! I hadn’t had a chance to find you all tonight. I’m so glad you could join,” as if the invitation to attend were something they could have turned down. “It’s Swan now, right? You look ravishing.” He looked her up and down, lingering on her breasts.

“Now what has happened here? What a mess! Who broke all this glass?” Master Victor demanded. Swan’s mind raced. If she turned in Beth, Master Victor would hand her over to Keeper Michael. He’d beat her badly and still probably dress her again and give her back to Master John. Swan couldn’t even imagine what Master John would do to Beth right after he knew she’s been punished. And then they would stuff her into her cage.

“I did it.”

Swan was shocked to hear her own voice for a moment. She looked at Beth and found her courage. “I did it,” she said again.

Master Tristan grabbed her hand on her arm, “What?” His eye burned. Swan knew everyone else would see his tone as anger, but she saw fear in his eyes.

She looked in his face and said, “I’m sorry Master Tristan. I lost my balance for a moment and accidentally knocked this table over.” She spoke calmly, surprised by her own calm. Shouldn’t she be panicking? Master Victor would surely use this somehow to hurt her and hurt her masters.

Swan looked to Master Victor, “I’m so sorry. I did not mean knock everything over and break it.”

“Oh, my dear, I completely understand. Accidents happen,” he said with oil in his voice. “However, our rules here are that the cost comes out of a girl’s hide and that is a lot of broken glass.”

Here it was, the trap. It wasn’t even a trap Master Victor set up. It was a trap Swan made herself and walked into. She looked at Master Tristan and then Master Sean, trying to beam her thoughts into their brains: I have to do this to save my friend! I’m sorry!

Master Tristan finally spoke, his voice cold, “Of course such destruction requires punishment. Lead the way to your Discipline room.” He stepped aside to make room for Master Victor to pass. Master Victor lead them out the back of the room down hallways and into a stark room lined with instruments of punishment all along the walls.

Swan was breathing quick and fast. This room had always held so much pain for her. She instinctively tried to let go of Master Tristan to kneel in the center of the room. But he refused to let her move from him yet. From the door on the other side of the room, Keeper Michael entered. This was more people than were usually in his Discipline room, but he spotted her and grinned evilly. Swan couldn’t break her gaze from Keeper Michael and backed up two steps. She hit Master Sean and he put his hands on her hips from behind.

“She broke a table and a dozen pieces of glassware,” Master Victor said to Keeper Michael. Swan knew there were no more than 6 glasses on that table, but she couldn’t get her voice to say anything. Keeper Michael sad down in the chair in the middle of the room and replied, “I’ve dreamed of this chance.” He patted his leg where he expected Swan to take her position. Swan gripped Master Tristan’s arm tightly, her fingers digging into him.

“Come now, Victor,” he said smoothly. “Do you think I would give your keeper the full pleasure of disciplining my bird? That I would stand aside and let him have all the fun? I’ll be dishing out this punishment myself.”

“But Tristan, it was my property damaged. Shouldn’t I have the honor of setting the punishment?” Swan realized incredulously that she was witnessing a negotiation.

“Certainly, you set the punishment, but myself or Sean will see it meted.”

Master Victor smiled widely, “But you see, if you deliver the punishment, we fear you may go easy on the girl.”

Her master’s face turned hard and dark, “Why would you assume I care to go easy on her?”

“There are some who suspect that you care too much,” Master Victor’s tone turned oily. “How would we know if it was only for show.” Swan understood enough to know that the three of them walked a tightrope. If Master Tristan continued to insist to be the one to punish her, everyone would assume it was a way to save her. But Swan knew he couldn’t bring himself to hand her over fully to them.

“You may deliver the punishment, but I insist on the front row seat.” Master Tristan practically lifted Keeper Michael out of the chair and sat down. He commanded Swan, “Get into position.” He knew Master Victor would expect them to follow his punishment rules, and it worked for implying that he and Master Sean used the same rules with the birds. Luckily, Swan knew what was expected.

Without hesitation, Swan put herself over Master Tristan’s lap spreading her legs wide and holding them straight behind her, tip toes on the floor holding her up. Her hands on the floor in front of her. She resolved to not move from her position until her punishment was finished. She would not give Keeper Michael any reason to punish her extra. Master Tristan pulled her dress up and over her Ass to expose her.

Master Victor crossed behind them to Keeper Michael, “No warmup, Michael.” The two of them went to the wall to select a paddle. Swan heard Master Victor say under his breath, “And don’t leave so much as a mark on the girl. I can’t afford to give Tristan even an inch to retaliate.” Keeper Michael nodded and chose a long paddle about 2 inches wide. Swan knew it was covered in silicon to prevent marking her Ass.