Independence

A/N Enjoy the chapter!


Chapter 3: The Viewing (part 1)


Dominants were slowly flooding into the hall, making Lex wish he had never woken up in the first place. It was downright embarrassing to not only be ‘displayed’ but to be ‘displayed’ naked. Lex turned around to stare at the mirror behind him, as far as mirrors went this mirror was nothing if not huge. It covered the whole wall behind him reflecting his back and certain lower parts of his body, namely his ass.

Seeing his most private parts reflected for anyone who so much as stood at a five meter radius around his box to see made him want to shape-shift into his animal form and scratch their eyes out. Being kept there in that box naked and exposed was degrading. It made him feel cheap like some wanton street whore looking for customers to thoroughly screw their brains out.

Lex sighed in frustration, the dominants would be here soon and he didn’t want to show them more skin than what was necessary. He couldn’t cover everything without looking like he had semblance as to what was decency. It would give himself away and that was the one thing he didn’t want to do. So with throwing a last glance at the awful maroon pillows he would have used as covering any other day besides this one, he slowly backed towards the huge mirror-wall and sat against it, efficiently covering his naked ass from any lustful gazes.

Carefully adjusting his form to one of wariness and fright, he waited for the dominants to approach. To anyone who saw him from the outside, it would make them think that he was trying to back away as far as possible from the dominants. The other submissives around him were doing about the same, so it wouldn’t look unusual.

Lex glanced around, catching sight of the fearful expressions and frightful whimpers coming from the other Ri’s as they scooted as far away as possible from the front of the box at the sight of the approaching number of dominants.

‘Yup, nothing unusual,’ Lex thought in satisfaction.

Now he wondered if glaring would make him look any less submissive-like because really, he couldn’t stop with the glaring.

It was an automatic reaction.

Nobody could blame him, really. Anyone in their right mind would be doing the exact same thing if they were caught in the same position. So what if he looked like a feral animal? It was still considered as submissive behavior wasn’t it?

Well, maybe not but it was a reflex action and he couldn’t help it!

The sight of a few dominants stopping at Angel’s box made him growl in agitation. Angel was still hiding under the maroon pillows but as the pillows were altogether too few to hide his whole body, his brother’s small rounded ass remained sticking out from under his hiding place. Lex knew the dominants could see it too and the leering looks his brother was getting from the dominants definitely proved it.

Lex wanted to smack them all for eyeing his brother but with his current state of being trapped in his little prison cell, he settled for glaring hatefully at them. As the glass box wasn’t sound-proof, he could hear them making lewd jokes and laughing loudly all the way from his own box. Lex curled his fists into the carpet, plotting their ‘accidental’ deaths in his head as he mumbled words like, “bloody”, “suffer” and “pain” from under his breath.

Didn’t the have they have even the slightest bit of respect for Ri’s? Were all Ri’s doomed to be treated like sex pets by their dominants?

‘And they wonder why Ri’s prefer to remain secluded from dominants,’ Lex thought with a huff.

The sight of a few dominants coming to a stop in front of own box, made Lex turn away from his inner musings and stare up at their large forms. They were smiling down at him as they studied his form with something akin to amusement. Lex glared harder hoping to wipe the smirks off their faces.

To Lex they were definitely not smiling but leering at him smugly. His stubborn mind saw it that way and that was the way he chose to see it. Dominants were nothing if not arrogant.

“Look at him,” said one of the dominants with a wave of his hand in Lex’s direction.

“He looks ready to pounce,” echoed another as he laughed.

“He seems a bit more spirited than the others, doesn’t he?” asked the first dominant, as Lex glared harder at them.

“Has a sense of wildness to him,” agreed the other.

“Wonder if he’s wild I other areas as well?” asked a dominant to his left and the others snickered at his comment.

It was at that moment Lex really wished that he could shape-shift into his animal form. He pictured himself attacking them with his claws and sharp teeth. Oh, how he would have enjoyed hearing them scream at that very moment.

Every four years there came a time when submissives were forced to remain trapped in their human forms for about a week. In one of the books written by his kind, Lex had found out that the inability to shape-shift during that period of time was due to the alignment of the planets and the sun. Nobody really understood why it happened only that it did.

There was never really a fixed date every four years for when it happened due to the ever-changing alignment of the planets. And the only ones who knew when it would happen were astronomers and a couple of his kind who had expertise in that field.

Lex attributed being caught to his very serious case of bad luck. How was he supposed to know it was that time of the year?

He glanced around, seeing more and more dominants coming to surround him. Dominants were slowly filling up the hall from all sides and as the submissives were really the main attraction in this little event, Lex prepared himself to face the leering he would surely receive from the thousands of dominants that had been chosen.

Lex turned to check up on how his brother was doing at his end. It looked like Angel had finally come out from under the pillows and was now edging towards the front of his box in curiosity. His brother was kneeling up on the carpet with both his hands placed on the glass wall in an attempt to get closer to the strange people that were surrounding his box. There was a shy playful glint in his eyes as he stared up at the interesting-looking strangers who were leering down at him.

Lex felt like banging his head against the nearest hard surface. His brother looked ready to roll over and play fetch with the bloody dominants. Of course, the dominants looked like they wanted to play roll over too, if only for a different purpose. Lex nearly cried out in frustration.

Didn’t his brother know not to trust strangers? (Especially dominant strangers at that.)

‘Apparently not,’ thought Lex the moment Angel smiled happily and pressed his body further against the glass wall. His brother was making bloody puppy eyes at the dominants and batting his eyelashes adorably.

Lex really didn’t know who to kill first, the dominants or himself. He should have warned Angel not to trust anyone, humans or dominants.

Lex sighed inwardly, promising himself to give Angel a stern talking to once they got out of there. What did it matter if his brother would not understand a word a he would have to say? His innocent little brother was bloody displaying himself to the dominants! That was enough cause to put him into ranting mode for days.

Knowing he could do nothing about it at the moment, Lex simply continued glaring at anything and everything.

(break)

“I heard we’ve encountered quite a bit of a drought this year,” came the random statement.

“What?” asked Lucien, making sure he had heard right.

“The submissives. They found only a few this time in comparison to the last,” continued Mathew as they strolled towards the center of the hall where the submissives were being kept.

“How many?” Lucien asked. He had never bothered listening to gossip before. Most of the time he relied on his right hand man who only bothered him with information he thought to be important.

But then again, when your closest friend was Mathew Deepwater, you really didn’t need to hear anything else from gossipers.

Mathew paid him the occasional monthly visit, sometimes just to talk about all the gossip he had heard throughout the month. It didn’t matter if Lucien was listening to him or not, Mathew would keep talking and talking until there was really nothing else to say. Of course, Lucien’s opinion to that matter never really seemed to register into Mathew’s brain.

‘What are friends for, after all, if they aren’t there for you to talk nonsense to?’ Mathew had said to him one day.

Although Lucien would definitely say otherwise, he mostly kept silent, allowing Mathew to do whatever he liked. He would never really hear the end of it if he contradicted Mathew. Mathew was someone who could argue that the sun rose from the west and still win.

Lucien really couldn’t be bothered to deal with his long time friend when it came to arguments. It was safer sometimes to just nod and give the occasional “hmm” in agreement.

“Eight. Only eight this time,” replied Mathew as they passed by throngs of ‘admiring’ dominants who moved out of their way, bowing slightly.

“That few?” asked Lucien as they arrived at the first box.

Lucien really wasn’t expecting anything from this year’s ‘catch’. There were really too few submissives this year. Usually there were at least fifteen or more and Lucien knew the small number of Ri’s this year would only make this year’s competition tougher than it usually was. Of course, if he wanted to he could surely win. Ever since he had been born, he had always gotten what he wanted.

He wasn’t clan leader for nothing after all.

Inside the glass box was a small chestnut haired male. His large blue eyes were staring up at them from where he was kneeling and he gave them a small shy smile as they approached.

Lucien guessed him to be rather young, roughly abut fifteen summers, judging by his small stature. But of course, he could be wrong. You could never really tell with submissives, they were all rather small and petite anyway.

“He’s rather cute, isn’t he?” remarked Mathew as they studied the tiny submissive.

“Hmm,” answered Lucien in agreement. Yes, he was cute. Just like all the other submissives in the world, really.

Lucien felt that instant urge to dominate that little submissive and he was sure all the other dominants felt the same way. It was a normal reaction. Nothing unusual, nothing new. It was just another year of looking through submissive after submissive.

Mathew, noticing Lucien’s rather sullen mood decided to drag him along to another box.
“You must be the pickiest dominant in the world,” said Mathew after they went through the first row of submissives.

“You should be worrying more about yourself, Mathew. After all, I’m not the one who’s here for the hundredth and twenty sixth time,” remarked Lucien with a smirk.

Mathew merely gave him an indignant, “hmph”, and they moved on towards the second row.

(break)

Amused chuckling made Lex look up at the dominants who had gathered around his box to ‘admire’ the ‘display’ or so to speak. There were even quite a few of them he recognized.

There was no doubt whatsoever that many of his kind were some of the most influential people in the world. Dragons were known for their knowledge and intellect, as they lived for a long time, so it was not a surprise that dragons were some of the most successful people in the world. Company Directors, politicians, great inventors, and some of the most talented people in the world mostly came from the Dragon race.

Growing up, Lex had come to know many of these people from books and magazines. In school he had learned about them in many of his classes such as history and science. Even now he could recall doing show and tell in school on many of these people he had greatly admired. Of course back then, he had not known that they were really dominants. Once had found out though, he had been more than upset, to say the least. It had been like having your dream heroes turning to the dark side and becoming villains. It had been devastating, but with time he had grown to ignore their heritage and pretend dragons really didn’t exist. You couldn’t hate something that didn’t exist after all.

But now though, some of these great figures he had grown up with were currently standing in front of him and studying him from behind a glass wall. Somehow, Lex didn’t know if he wanted to run for cover or rush up to them demanding for an autograph. His humiliation was now one hundred percent complete. To be seen naked and put on display, was not how he imagined his first meeting with these well known figures. He wondered if this was really all just a nightmare he would wake up screaming from.

“Reeve, look at what you’ve done,” said a tall red headed dominant as he threw a teasing grin at his companion standing beside him. They were one of the few who had just approached his box. Most of the earlier dominants had moved on to ‘admire’ the other submissives in the hall, while some others had stayed near his box.

“What have I done now, Damon?” asked Reeve with a sigh, as he ran a hand through his dark hair. Reeve, as he had been called by his companion, was one of the most heavily-built dominants Lex had seen amongst those of his kind. Short dark locks framed his stern looking face and as he ran a hand through his hair, Lex could have sworn he had seen a large jagged scar running down his neck and disappearing into the neckline of his clothes. Lex shivered, knowing he wouldn’t be challenging that dominant to a fight anytime soon. He didn’t look like one of the body-builders Lex had seen in magazines per say, but the amount of muscles he had would make anyone think twice before challenging him.

“Why, you’ve scared him, of course. Just look a him, I swore he had been glaring earlier but now, he looks almost ready to bolt out of there,” answered Damon still grinning as they both turned to look at him.

Damon, his companion, was an intelligent looking dominant with long red hair and dark brown eyes. His red hair fell in loose waves down his back reminding Lex of some olden day warrior he had once seen on the cover of a fantasy novel. Lex could almost picture him in a shiny armor, carrying a large sword in his hand. And although he did not carry the same body mass as his dark haired companion, he had the same large frame that all dominants were bestowed with.

“And how you do suppose I’ve scared him?” asked Reeve as he too noticed Lex fidgeting from where he sat crouched against the mirror.

“By coming near him, of course. Admit it; you’re not exactly the picture of warm and fuzzies. All you have to do is look at someone and they’ll start shaking in fear,” Damon replied playfully.

“Very funny,” retorted Reeve, studying Lex who was staring up at them and looking like he had just seen a ghost.

“I thought so,” said his companion, grinning as he too studied the submissive currently backed up the furthest away as he could get from the front wall.

Lex didn’t know if he should want to faint now or faint later. The two dominants studying him were some of the most well known figures in the world.

‘Reeve Blackforest and Damon Winter,’ his mind supplied.

Reeve Blackforest, the founder and head of the largest private military organization in the world. The number of members of the organization amounted to at least the population of a small country. Blackforest Private Military owned some of the most high-tech and deadly weapons known to the modern world. With highly trained personnel and the latest technology at their beck and call, mission success rates have boasted to be over seventy percent.

Lex then turned to look at the other dominant.

Damon Winter, the founder and owner of Winter Industries. Winter Industries specialized in the research and development of weapons and transportation. Jets such as Winter Jets, which are currently labeled as the fastest flying machines of the modern world, are some of its most famous productions. Winter Industries had always worked hand in hand with Blackforest Private Military, supplying the organization with the latest and most top notch weapons and military transport the world had to offer.


Lex could remember being at the age of ten, when all the boys his age had dreams of joining Blackforest Private Military and making their parents proud. It had been every boys dream back then, and like many of the others, Lex had dreamed of joining the private military as well. Of course the other boys had laughed when he had said that out loud. With his small stature and rather reserved personality, they had made fun of him and then ran off to play war-games with each other. He had given up then, heart broken by their teasing and decided to look for another dream.

But now, seeing THE Reeve Blackforest with his very own eyes made him want to run up to him and shout, “You’re my hero!”

Of course, that would really blow his cover and besides, being a dominant made him ‘enemy’ so Lex decided to just sit there and stare.

The dominants didn’t seem to want to move on and Lex wondered how long he could take their studying him before he freaked out. It was a nail-biting experience and he really wanted it to end. He just wanted them to go away and not witness this humiliating situation he was in. And it didn’t help that they were eyeing him like a piece of meat.

“He looks yummy,” said the red haired inventor, seemingly to have read his mind.

All of a sudden, Lex’s automatic reaction kicked in and he glared at them. Yummy? What was he, lunch?

“Think he heard you,” said his larger companion, chuckling as they studied the glaring submissive.

When Lex heard that, he panicked. Were they on to him? Had he given himself away? Did they know that he was faking? Were they going to expose him? What if-

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt when he saw all the dominants surrounding his box suddenly step back. They moved to the side, parting a small way at the front his box to allow entrance to him an easier task. Lex cocked his head to the side in curiosity. Even Blackforest and Winter had moved to the side.

Who had that much influence to provoke this sort of reaction?

Two figures entered into his line of sight and Lex looked up only find himself staring into smoldering grey eyes. It was at that moment, Lex knew that something had changed.


A/N I liked how this chapter came out. Much better than the last, actually. Not sure why….Oh, well…

Anyway, I’d like thank all my reviewers, you guys rock! Thank you for all your support. You guys were like the background cheerleaders when I was typing this chapter. Lol.

Till next time.Toodles.