The Elusive Prey

Chapter Three-1

Chapter Three

“Well, what do you think of the place so far?” Barbara asked as she came out of the bathroom, toweling her long blonde hair. She was wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe and barefoot.

“The hotel? It’s pretty nice,” replied absently. She was lying on one of the beds in their suite, her head propped up on a pillow, her hands clasped behind her head, ankles crossed, clad only in her sports bra and panties. Their packs had not arrived yet.

“Uh-huh.” Barbara nodded, sitting down on the bed next to her. “You know what I mean. What do you think of the whole town?”

closed her eyes. “It’s going to take some getting used to,” she said. “It’s…more than I’d expected. How about you?”

Barbara continued toweling. “It’s more than I’d expected, too,” she replied after a moment. “More…organized. It’s funny…”

“What’s funny?” opened her eyes and sat up. Every time she closed her eyes, she could see Mr. Quinn and his angry, angry captive, and it was distracting.

“It’s funny because…well, because it feels kind of safe. They seem to know what they’re doing here.”

“Yeah,” agreed. “But do we know what we’re doing? I thought that after last year, I had a kind of handle on things. Now I feel just like I did back at the beginning, completely lost.”

“Maybe Mr. Quinn can help find you.” Barbara teased, nudging her lightly in her ribs. “I saw how you looked at him.”

laughed weakly. “Did you see how he looked at me, too?” she responded. “I felt…”

“Horny?” Barbara suggested. hit her with the pillow. Hard.

“Okay, okay…” Barbara held up a hand. “Tell me how you felt.”

“I felt small and naked and helpless,” answered. “Just like I did last year.”

“That bothers you?”

smiled at Barbara wryly. “That would depend on how you define ‘bothered’. It’s funny…” she went on, lying back down. “After my little adventure last year, I was pretty sure that now I knew what I wanted. I was SO sure of that, that it never occurred to me until I got back home that I had no idea how to go about getting it in the normal world.”

“‘It, as you put it, can be just a phone call away.” Barbara pointed out.

“Yes, I know…but it isn’t the same that way… not after last year, anyway…and it could get kind of expensive. But that’s beside the point I was trying to make.”

“So what is your point, then?” Barbara reached up to run her fingers through her hair once and went back to toweling. The bathroom had a hair dryer, but she would never use one. As thick as her mane was, it was also very fine, and she firmly believed that hair dryers damaged it.

“What’s my point…” sighed. “My point is, say you meet a guy, and there’s some real chemistry between you. Say that after a couple of dates you’re both ready. You go back to his place, or he comes back to yours. Now, just how do you tell him what you like without maybe scaring him off or think you’re seriously deranged?”

Barbara chuckled. “Well, gee…I usually stretch things out until he’s about ready to pop all by himself. You’d be surprised how willing a guy can be to accommodate you then.”

“Uh-huh.” nodded. “That works for you. I can’t quite do it, myself.”

“Why not?”

“It just seems kind of unfair, is all. And…” she sighed loudly “What I’d REALLY like, what I REALLY want, is for HIM to suggest it to ME. Or maybe not suggest it at all, just go ahead with it. It’s a little difficult to find a man with enough self-confidence to do that, who’s also into it, you know?”

Barbara patted her on the shoulder. “I know. And I understand, believe me.” She laughed again. “But you left out one more qualification.”

“What’s that?”

“He’s got to have the self-confidence, he has to be into it, he’s got to be attractive too. You wouldn’t do that for just anybody now, would you?”

laughed too. “Yeah, you’re right, but you just made it all sound a lot harder.”

Barbara smiled. “I think it won’t be all that hard here. Mr. Quinn looked like a pretty good candidate, and we hadn’t been in town for more than an hour.”

smacked her with the pillow again, knocking her over on to her side, and left her lying on the bed. Barbara’s laughter followed her all the way into the bathroom. It wasn’t until after she’d shut the door behind her that began giggling, then laughing, herself.

The shower felt great. It was roomy, all black tiling and chrome. There were spray nozzles on three sides of the stall, at different heights. There was also a hand-held one with an adjustable spray on the end of a metallic hose. began to experiment with it. She was still feeling a bit…edgy…after their visit to the slave pens and the encounter with “Mr. Quinn”. She could picture herself in one of those cages or on the auction block. She could almost picture herself in the clutches of Mr. Quinn. But as she closed her eyes and let the fine, stinging spray wander up and down her torso, the face…and the body…that she pictured were Alpha’s. Was he here, somewhere? She thought it unlikely. More probably he was hunting another woman through those piney woods. She shivered as the spray brushed her n*****s. Did he ever think about her? She hoped that he did. Actually, she kind of hoped that he laid awake nights, thinking of his lost Elf-Girl. She moved the spray down across her belly, across her thighs, and shivered again. She’d actually looked into the possibility of going back to those woods to be hunted just by Alpha. The woman she’d spoken to had been polite but firm. Such things were simply not done, not for anybody.

So…maybe Alpha was lost to her forever, after all. Or maybe not…she could still hope, she thought with a grin. She gave the head spray one tiny little adjustment and began running it up her inner thighs. Her free hand gripped a vertical rail that seemed to have been installed for just this sort of circumstance. She had to clench her teeth to keep from crying out.

Barbara might not use hair dryers, but had no problems with them at all. Her own honey-blonde hair might look as fine as Barbara’s, but it was actually stiff and a little coarse and hair dryers did not damage it at all. Cut as short as it was now, it also dried quickly. She ran her fingers through it one last time. There was no point in combing it when it was this short. It would just arrange itself into a cute tangle of loose curls no matter what she did. She looked at herself in the full-length mirror one last time, turning her head to one side and then the other. She’d always been sensitive about how her ears looked. They tilted noticeably backwards, had almost no earlobes at all, and came to blunt points at the tips. But last year, because of them, Alpha had named her Elf-Girl. He had also discovered that her ears were wonderfully sensitive in their own right. He had used them as the key to unlock her. Now, she was proud of how they looked. As she inventoried the rest of herself in the mirror, she saw nothing to be any less proud of: nice legs, just enough in the way of hips, breasts…well, okay, they were a little on the small side, but they suited her frame quite well, and her slightly-upturned n*****s made them look perky. She crossed her wrists behind her, as if bound. If she pulled her shoulders back a bit, they looked even perkier, she thought.

Ever since last year, she had kept her pubic tuft carefully trimmed into a cute little triangle. Now she ran a hand between her legs, feeling for any stubble along the edges. She shouldn’t need to do anything for several more days, she thought. Finally, she turned around, looked back over her shoulder, and wiggled her rump experimentally. She grinned at the result. Still nicely rounded, still nicely firm. She resisted an urge to giggle at her antics, but she couldn’t keep herself from grinning at her reflection. After that nice, long…ahem…shower, she felt wonderfully relaxed and loose and ready for another adventure. She donned a bathrobe, a twin of the one Barbara had used, and went out of the bathroom. Dinner wouldn’t be for several more hours, but maybe they could order something to eat from room service.

Barbara was sitting on her own bed, propped up by pillows between her back and the headboard. Their packs had been delivered. One sat on a folding metal frame at the foot of each bed. And there was someone else in the room, sitting on the bed near Barbara.

“Oh…hello!” smiled at the newcomer, unconsciously tightening the cloth belt of her robe.

The woman stood, smiling. She was an older woman, maybe forty, dark-haired, tall and elegant-looking in a snug-fitting knee-length black skirt and black blazer. Beneath the blazer, she wore a blindingly white blouse, all ruffles and frills down the front. Low black heels completed her outfit. Well, no, not completely. As she came forward, hand outstretched and still smiling, noticed that her blouse was opened halfway down the front…or was it just made to be worn that way? But through the opening, she could see that the woman was also wearing a wide, black leather collar with a large O-ring dangling from it. She couldn’t help staring as she shook the proffered hand.

“Ah…sorry!” felt her face reddening. “I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s quite all right. I’m used to it. Please call me Joanna. And you must be Miss Jacobsen…or should I call you Elf-Girl?”

laughed. Her face still felt warm and red. “ will do…or even Kim,” she replied.

Joanna’s smile seemed to warm up a little bit from its polished professional glaze. “I am afraid I am not allowed to use first names, Miss Jacobsen…at least, not under these circumstances.”

“Circumstances?” frowned. “What circumstances?”

“As I was explaining to Miss Kingman,” Joanna nodded towards Barbara, “As long as you are guests of the hotel, I cannot address you by your first names. I’m afraid I shouldn’t have referred to you as Elf-Girl either, but it is such a unique name, and it suits you so well. My apologies.”

Okay, this must be another one of those must-follow rules here, thought. Still, Joanna had slipped up a little in calling her Elf-Girl. It was nice to know people here were human enough to do that occasionally. “No apologies necessary,” she said. “But I have to ask…who are you and why are you here?”

“Shall we sit?” Joanna suggested, indicating the round table and four chairs in a corner of the suite. “The hotel will be sending up a complimentary meal soon. I am here to answer any questions either of you might have, and to attend to the last little details of your registration.”

Last little details? wondered what those could be as she followed Joanna towards the table. The mention of a meal, complimentary or otherwise, had energized Barbara, who all but leaped off of her bed in a swirl of snowy-white robe and a flash of long, trim thighs and hastened over.

“I have one question right now,” said to Joanna’s back. “Why are you wearing that collar?”

Joanna stopped and paused a moment before turning. Her professional smile was back. “Part of my job requires it, Miss Jacobsen,” she answered. She said nothing more, and decided to push the issue just a little. It seemed that Joanna would answer direct questions, but wouldn’t volunteer anything. This ought to be interesting.

“Another question.” smiled sweetly as they sat down around the table. “What part of your job requires you to wear that collar?”

“You are persistent, Miss Jacobsen,”

“Please answer the question.” Kimberly leaned forward, still smiling. “I’m dying to know.”

“Very well.” Joanna seemed to redden a little. “Put most simply, on occasion I can be…ordered…from room service. Some times, I am also called upon to assist in…the training of some of the women who have been captured as slaves.”

had already suspected something along the lines of “room service”. It was easy to picture a man wanting to try out such an attractive older woman, especially if he’d noticed the collar. The second half of Joanna’s answer, though, took her aback. Maybe it would be wiser not to tease this woman, she thought. She would just as soon not have a ticked-off Joanna doing any kind of assisting in any kind of training she might come in for later.

“All right.” held up a hand. “I’m sorry. Let’s get on to those last little details you mentioned.”

“Very well.” Joanna’s smile warmed up again.

They were only a little ways along on the details when someone knocked at the door. “That would be room service,” Joanna said.

“I’ll get it!” Barbara announced, almost jumping out of her chair. Her hair, loose and fully dried now, flowed along behind her like spun gold as she hurried over to open the door.