Europa, one of the six moons of the planet Jupiter, was covered in a layer of ice, but years ago, it had been colonized by the Alliance and underneath the ice they had found liquid oceans, full of oxygen. Alliance scientists were fascinated by the amount of life they found in the oceans and built science stations beneath the ice, where they explored the oceans for many cycles. The huge underwater complex had been abandoned after a while and for almost a hundred cycles it lay empty, until an enterprising group of businessmen purchased it from the Alliance and made it into a recreational destination. Bars, hotels, clubs and brothels soon sprang up, free of the much tighter restrictions on Earth. It was a place where anything went, a rough and dangerous place where even a big Lycan like Konnor would be afraid to go alone. The idea of his sweet mate in that den of iniquity made his stomach clench with fear.

Chapter Four

Ethan stuck his hand in the bucket of hot, sudsy water, thinking about Konnor, just like he had for everyday of the past two weeks since he’d run away from his handsome, perfect alpha. He sighed and watched a teardrop fall from his face into the sudsy water, knowing he had no one to blame but his own stupid self. He had been in such a panic when he first ranthat he hadn’t stopped to really think things through, and now he found himself in his current mess, and he had a feeling he wasn’t getting out of this one nearly as easily. He was stuck doing menial chores, like today, scrubbing the floors on his hands and knees, instead of learning a trade like he’d been promised. Worst of all, he was doing it all on camera.

He had to be naked while he did his chores, with cameras catching every move he made as he scrubbed away at the wooden floor, his ass in the air and his dick swinging under him as he moved back and forth with the large brush. He had a whole series of these little jobs he had to do while Mistress Katya’s film crew got it all on camera. Things like washing windows, cleaning toilets, and doing dishes, all while he was naked and wearing a slave collar. Later they would splice it all into a film advertising him for sale. The film would show not only Mistress Katya putting him through his paces as a submissive sex slave, but also his value as a decorative domestic slave. Mistress Katya had been confident this combination would raise his price considerably.

Within minutes of his arrival on the moon Europa, Ethan suspected he had made a horrible mistake, and had jumped from the cooking pot into the fire. He thought about how his life might have turned out had he not run away from his alpha. The gorgeous Lycan would have trained him at least, like Mistress Katya was doing now. How much more pleasurable it would have been if Konnor Balenescu had been his master. The only saving grace for him so far was that his mistress was not sexually attracted to men at all, so while she made it look as if she were being serviced by the handsome young omega, there had been almost no real sex involved. She did let her servants handle him frequently, but there had never been any penetration, only embarrassing intimacy that made him cringe. That would, of course, all change once he was purchased. Then his new owner would be able to use him any way he liked.

As he continued to scrub at the floor, the director yelled at him to tilt up his chin, straighten out his body more and push his ass up higher in the air. Meanwhile, he was freezing on this cold floor, despite the hot water. In fact, the water was cooling off at a rapid rate, and he was then left soaking and shivering so the director could get the shot he was looking for.

Finally, the director yelled cut, and his mistress, who had been watching him came over and snapped a leash to his collar, pulling him to his feet. “Come, boy, you have a potential buyer coming to see you tonight. I want you to be ready for him. I think I’ll put you through your paces once more today before I’ll let you go and get some rest. This buyer has very deep pockets, and I’m hoping you’ll please him.”

Ethan nodded, keeping his eyes on the floor like Mistress Katya had taught him. His training had begun almost as soon as he arrived on Europa. Katya had met the transport and clipped the slave collar on his neck as soon as she saw him. When he looked at her in shock, she struck him across his cheek. “Don’t look me in the eye! How impertinent. A good slave never looks his master or mistress in the eye unless he is invited to do so. And stop pouting! You belong to me now, Ethan, and don’t forget it.”

He wa sn’t given much chance to forget. Using pain sticks to control him, she also whipped him that night, and for several nights after that, not because he had displeased her, but because she said she was training him to endure pain. She never broke his skin, of course, because she said she didn’t want to lower his price, but she raised welts on his sensitive back and buttocks and even on his penis and scrotum. He wondered if this was what his life was to be from this time on. If it was, he’d have to find a way to kill himself and end it. For now, he was watched like one of the predatory birds on Randgus 7 by his mistress and the men who worked for her. She called them her boys. At night, Ethan was tied in his bed until he was released the next morning. One day began to fade into the next, a haze of pain and humiliation, until he could sometimes go for long periods of time when he was not completely aware of his surroundings. It was like a small world he’d created for himself, one that was infinitely safer than reality. Sometimes, he would be there, looking at Ethan with his smoldering wine-colored eyes. Those were the best times, the ones he looked forward to the most. If only he could stay in that world forever.

“Ethan, stop daydreaming ! We have very little time to prepare you before the new buyer comes. Now present yourself!”

Ethan struggled to arrange his body the way she had taught him. “Is this how I’m supposed to be, Mistress?”

Katya looked his body over carefully. His feet were wide apart, his shoulders squared, and he had his hands clasped behind his back. His blond head was bent over, his eyes lowered demurely to the floor. “Very nice, Ethan. Stand up just a little straighter,” she tapped his thigh. “Good. That’s how you should stand if I tell you to present yourself, but you can look up at the client just a bit. Some masters don’t like their submissives to make eye contact, but put your chin up. You have quite pretty eyes, so you’ll have to gauge what your master wants to see. Always start with your eyes firmly on the floor, and you may look up through your lashes if he asks you to.”

Ethan felt the heat of a blush on his cheeks.“Will this buyer bid on me tonight, Mistress?”

“If he likes what he sees, I expect a bid, yes. But he is very sophisticated in his tastes. That’s why he’s coming personally to see you. He will expect perfection, and I expect you to give it to him.”

“I’ll try my best, Mistress.”

“See to it that you do.” She walked over to sit down, dragging Ethan behind her and puffing a little. Katya was fat, her figure having long passed the point where euphemisms like plump or overweight could be used to describe her. Big rolls of flab cascaded down her body, pooling at her ankles, and she was no longer able to walk without a cane. The electrified cane served a dual purpose, doubling as a pain stick. She wore a platinum blonde wig piled high on her head and falling to her shoulders in ringlets. Her dresses were all sequined, as if she were about to go onstage somewhere. She wore black, pointy-toed shoes that might have looked attractive with a higher heel. Hers were flat, however, because high heels hurt her feet and there was no way she could walk in them. She used the pointed toes to her advantage though, digging into Ethan’s body with them when he displeased her.

She threw a pillow on the floor beside her and tapped the floor with her cane. “Down on the floor, boy.”

Ethan quickly sank to his knees beside her chair, his hands behind his back and his right hand holding his left wrist. His back was straight and his knees apart. Again, his eyes were firmly on the floor. He had practiced this stance the most because at first he’d had a hard time staying on his knees for any length of time. He was able to do it now for over an hour after having practiced it so often. He had learned the trick of letting his mind sink into that other world he’d created for himself while he was on his knees, the one where nothing hurt him.

His mistress had also taught him how to walk at heel or on a leash. He’d spent one whole day walking behind one of her boys at the end of his leash, stopping when they stopped, starting up again when they did, all while never raising his eyes from the floor. He had learned the trick of watching their feet, and predicting when they were about to take a step or come to a stop. It didn’t take him long after he learned that every time he failed or stumbled, he got a stripe on his ass from a whip the man was holding.

Katya signaled for a servant to bring her a dish of fruit and she practiced feeding Ethan. He had been taught to be careful never to touch his master’s fingers with any part of his mouth, but merely to allow the food to be placed on his tongue before he swallowed it. His head was to be lowered at all times in this position and he was not to make eye contact unless his master allowed it. Of course, it went without saying that he had to swallow every bite put on his tongue, whether or not he liked it.

After she’d practiced with him for a few bites, she sighed and glanced down at the digital display on her wrist. “Well, I suppose that’s as good as we can do. Some masters don’t like their pets to be too well-trained, in case they have ideas of their own. Go and get a nice hot shower, and I’ll be in later to check you and get you ready.” She gripped his hair in her hands and brandished the pain stick at him. “I need this sale, Ethan. If he doesn’t buy you after tonight, I can promise you that you’ll be very sorry.”

“Yes, Mistress,” Ethan whispered, and she gave him one final menacing gaze before she released him. “Go. Make yourself presentable. He’ll be here in two hours.”

One of her boys came for him, jerking his leash impatiently and led him to the preparation room. He unsnapped the leash and gestured toward the shower, already bored by his assignment to watch Ethan until Katya arrived to inspect him. Knowing what was expected of him, Ethan stepped into the shower and turned on the water as hot as he could stand it, before using the floral scented soap Katya preferred to wash his body. He was careful to scrub himself all over, using the removable shower head and a rough sponge to clean his backside carefully. That would be the first place Katya would inspect when she returned, so he had to be squeaky clean or she would direct one of her boys to clean him again. Ethan’s cheeks burned at the memory of the last time she’d subjected him to such a thing.