Nathaniel couldn't have been
more shocked than if the table had gotten up and walked away. Here was
the man he had hated since August submitting himself to him. Nathaniel
shook his head in confusion. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.
He looked down on the man, collapsed
at his feet and suddenly felt sick. He couldn't believe that he had done
all that damage. Then shock set in. Had he said I was DOMINANT?!!! Nathaniel
let that word swim around in his head. Dominant. He had never been dominant
to ANYONE. What was he supposed to do now? Kill him? Help him?
The man laying on the floor had asked
him for protection. Had asked HIM to protect him...right after he had beaten
him to a pulp. Nathaniel looked down at Matthias and for the first time
he felt sorry for him. And he felt ashamed. What had Matthias done to deserve
this?
Still there was another feeling deep
down in Nathaniel's gut. Pride. He had fought for dominance and won. He
WON! Tyler would be proud of him, and Nathaniel wouldn't have to feel inferior
to Matthias anymore. He couldn't believe it. He had won!
He looked back down to the man crumpled
before him. Dominant. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do next. What
had he learned from Gabriel? Sex. That didn't seem right at this moment.
How would Anita handle it? She would have helped him...that was her way.
What about Tyler? Well, he would have doctored the man up and helped him
too.
It occured to him that he now had a
responsibility. He either had to accept the man's submission and render
him protection or he could deny it and be rid of him. He was severely tempted
for a second to do the latter, but Nathaniel, despite all the jealousy
and fear, was not an evil man.
He was being asked for protection...how
absurd that seemed to him...yet when it got down to the wire he knew what
he had to do...the ONLY thing he could do. With reluctance laced with a
hint of a pride he had never possessed before, he slowly reached down and
smoothed the hair on the injured man's head. "I am your protector, dominant
to your submissive. You will obey me, and I will protect and fight for
you. You are mine now."
Nathaniel stretched out beside Matthias,
ignoring his own injuries to pull the other to him, comforting him and
lending him support as they began the healing process. There, on the floor,
wrapped in each others arms, they lay for a good long while.
