Page 17 of Captive Heart

This time, it was anxiety trying to push them out of her eyes. Suddenly, it seemed as difficult to breathe as when Master held his bruising hands around her neck, or his cock jammed down her throat. She could feel her vision narrowing to a pinprick, familiar blackness encroaching around the edges, although she didn't understand why, since she wasn't being choked.

She tried to rock herself into some sense of comfort.

And then he was there, stroking her wild, knotted hair off her suddenly clammy forehead. Calming her, telling her to breathe and forcing the blackness away like some kind of saviour.

Yes! He was her saviour; she knew that without a doubt.

Did he have a name? She thought he might have told her, but she couldn't remember.

11

Damn it, Melody was on the verge of having a panic attack.

Micah dropped to his knees beside her and tried his best to bring her back from the edge, by whispering quietly to her and giving her some small, soothing, but innocuous contact to concentrate on.

As her eyes lost that wild, unfocussed look, he offered up the glass of water and held it to her mouth when her hands shook too hard for her to hold it steady for herself.

She took a sip and then another, and he could see her beginning to come out of it, making a concerted effort to free herself from the demons inside her own mind.

"I d-don't know what t-to do," she stammered. "I don't know w-what choices to m-make."

Her voice became stronger, but the panic that was still so close to the surface also rose with it.

"How will I know if it's the right thing? I never had to do anything for myself before!"

She gripped fiercely onto his arm, her ragged nails biting into his flesh, even through the fabric of his shirt.

"What if I get it wrong? How will I live? I don't know how to do anything!"

Her voice had reached a high-pitched crescendo.

"Calm down, Melody!" The Dom voice was automatic since it was an integral part of who he was, but Micah couldn't help but notice how immediately she responded to it - like it was also an integral part of her own conditioning.

Nevertheless, the relief rolling off of her as he took control was palpable, and Micah scrunched his eyes up tight as he made one of the hardest choices of his life and one that felt as if it was being wrenched from within his very soul.

Nevertheless, his misgivings were overshadowed by his need to help this poor waif…and maybe also by his own judgement of his past transgressions.

"Melody, from now on, you may think of me as your Master if that will help you focus, but only so I can guide you in how to move forward until you can regain your independence. It is still your choice. You will not be my slave, and you will refer to me as Micah."

"Oh! Thank you, Master, I would like that!"

Micah stifled his own reservations which were probably as great as Melody's relief.

It was clear that she found liberation in being controlled, so much so that he felt she had probably been inherently submissive, even before her obvious incarceration had turned her into nothing more than a captive slave.

"Micah," he corrected.

"Mi-cah," Melody repeated his name, drawing out the syllables as if she was testing it on her tongue.

He didn't want to like the way it sounded in her soft, lilting voice with the slight edge of hesitation that spoke to his dominant personality.

He was so full of misgivings at this moment, and that kind of reaction was a complication he really did not need! But he knew his response was purely a result of the unexpected strength of the obligation he felt toward her and the fact that he had agreed to be her master, no matter how grudgingly and transiently that arrangement was offered.

Well, that's what he told himself, anyway. It was just because there was something about her that reminded him of Sara, although there was absolutely no physical resemblance whatsoever.

Probably no similarity in their circumstances, either.

It was surely only that Sara was on his mind lately because of that dreaded anniversary he just couldn't forget. As if his subconscious was imploring him to provide reparation by helping Melody, to atone for the way he had failed Sara.

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