A Master's Ring: Book 01

"Can we invite a couple of people over?" Melisa asked with a little girl smile.

"If they can be discrete, I don't mind," I said. "But when Malia arrives, it's her decision."

Everyone nodded.

"What about Heather?" Melisa asked. "You're building a pool for Malia, don't you think Heather deserves something?"

"And what about us?" Doris Alex asked sitting up green eyes shining.

"You're getting cars," I said sitting back.

"What?!?" Melisa said nearly bouncing out of her seat.

I got used to having my own car quickly. Unfortunately, the Siblings stopped asking to borrow it and simply drove off with it whenever they wanted. The first time I walked outside to drive somewhere and had to walk was not amusing to me. I decided on the walk the issue required a reasonable resolution. I doubted her own car would not stop Melisa from taking mine, sort of like she thought my shirts were just ones I was breaking in for her, but it would give me one to use when she did.

I sat back and thought about the new Siblings. I liked Malia but Heather was the focus of my thoughts; brown hair, brown eyes, short, and thick with curves. I got hard thinking about her. I did not notice that Melisa and Michael left until Doris Alex brought me out of my thoughts by stroking my erection through my shorts. I looked at her.

"You're thinking about Heather," she said with a wide smile.

I nodded.

"Well, Melisa relieved your Janet horniness," she said grabbing the waistline of my shorts. "I guess I can do the same for Heather."

I lifted my hips and Doris Alex pushed my shorts down. She shimmied out of her bottoms and sat on my lap. She kissed me while placing my tip between her pussylips. She drifted slowly downwards enjoying each inch of penetration. I grabbed her hips and pushed up hard taking every bit of depth I could from her body. She gasped in reaction to the motion and wrapped her arms around my neck tightly.

She had been playing around the edge of her horniness so it was not long before her pussy opened for an instant and then tried to push me out. I lifted my hips and Doris Alex to take away any leverage her body had. She groaned excitedly and moved her pussy on me to drag out the last of her orgasm.

"God, I needed that!" she exclaimed when she finished.

I smiled at her.

"Can we take this inside?" she asked.

Spending the afternoon in bed seemed like a fantastic idea so I kicked my shorts off and picked Doris Alex up. She wrapped her legs around me. I fucked into her with each step towards my bed. She tried to stuff as much of my t-shirt into her mouth as she could to prevent the screams from escaping. I stood by the bed and decided that her reaction was too good not to continue enjoying it. Her eyes opened wide when I moved her up and down my cock with my hands.

Doris Alex promised me many things if I would never stop.

---

"What?"

Sometimes, Melisa surprised me at the wrong time. Personally, I think she took great joy in it.

"Yeah, Susan and Jeremy are teaching a summer seminar together."

"I'm in the class, Melisa," I said patiently.

Dr. Susan Lawren personally handed me the announcement that Professor Ryan and her would be teaching a joint summer seminar. I took it for what it was, a directive that I should make it a part of my summer plans. I needed something to do anyway so I registered.

Melisa gave me a hard look because of my tone; being a Sibling did not mean she was not a woman. I gave her a small nod in apology.

"I'm in the class, too," Rachel piped in.

Rachel had called to say that she needed to move in early because of a change in her summer plans. No one bothered to tell me until it was time to carry her stuff into the house.

Two surprises in one day, I was shocked Melisa was not purring.

The part that caused my initial question was Melisa referring to the class as if Rachel was in it. Rachel's admission proved my assumption correct.

"How?" I said looking at them.

"What do you mean how?" Rachel said putting the box full of her stuff down.

"Yeah, what do you mean how?" Melisa put her box down too.

I knew better so I kept walking. I carried the box into the house, up the steps, and into the huge double on the second floor. It was not a retreat, I was moving to higher ground.

Doris Alex was in the room moving boxes around. She looked up at me as I put the box on the bed.

"You might want to take a break," I told her with a smile.

Melisa and Rachel stormed into the room, and threw their boxes on the floor before turning to confront me. Doris Alex looked at them, then at me. I shrugged while she laughed knowingly. I stared at her for a moment; her laugh had an edge that had nothing to do with my situation as it stood. Catching the look I gave her, she walked out of the room.

"What the fuck do you mean how?"

Melisa came close to raising her voice in an all-out shout. We had a discussion about my hearing and her shouting previously. I told her I would never respond to shouting, yelling, or any other raised voice actions. She took that to mean she was free to yell, shout, and scream to her heart's content. She only lowered her voice when she was ready to deal with whatever caused her desire to get loud.

Sibling logic was definitely an adjustment.

I turned to the girls again. Rachel was looking at Melisa strangely. It did not prevent her from turning laser-pure blue eyes on me. I sat on Rachel's bed and leaned back. Melisa took a step closer, after a moment of thought Rachel took that step also.

I kept staring at them.

From up close, the differences between them were striking. Melisa's doll-like features almost painfully thin at first glance, and Rachel's California features. Both athletic but Rachel had more natural size in height and mass.

Rachel shifted her weight uncomfortably as I continued to study them. She had known that I wanted her since we met our freshman year. I never bothered to hide it; always willing to drop anything except major schoolwork if she needed something. She must have wondered why I never made a move. Everyone that knew me knew I wanted her. I kept my distance from the subject of being with her though. Sometimes, I wondered myself why I did not push the issue. Maybe the best explanation was that she never gave any indication that she saw her and I as a possible us.

She never acknowledged that I wanted her until publicly, Melisa had me.

Melisa cleared her throat and looked down at me. There was something in her eyes that I saw every time we spoke to or were with Rachel. Samantha and I had a few conversations since my exams ended and she told me not to try figure out the actions of Siblings, not even one I was close to.

I would just give myself a headache.

"Siblings and Brothers don't have the same needs. You can't understand why they need what they do, so you'll never understand their motivations. Without the motivations, their actions will never make any sense to you."

I knew Melisa was up to something but I could not fit Rachel's involvement into the puzzle. From my perspective, Rachel was competition for everything that Melisa wanted.

Had someone other than Rachel impeded my path to her...

Melisa kicked my foot. Rachel gasped and giggled.

"Well?" Melisa asked annoyed.

"Let's see, Melisa." I said counting things off on my fingers. "One, it's a level 400 seminar reserved for majors only. Two, Rachel is not a major, which means she requires special permission. Three, the only way to get permission is to be given it by professors whom she doesn't know, has never taken a class with, and are inundated with requests right now. Four, this class was announced during the exam period so how did she find out."

Melisa's blush was telling.

"Rachel, why the hell do you even want to take this class?" I asked, realizing my mistake of including Rachel in the conversation instead of cornering Melisa alone.

The class was on political writings: speeches, political editorials, pamphlets, judiciary decisions, etc. Part of the required work was the students going through the same goal-specific creative process.

"It fills my interdisciplinary and writing requirements," she said sitting down next to me.

"Shit!"

"I told you I took a hit. I talked to the Dean and she said that it would save me from having to take three or four extra classes."

"What?"

"I was busy taking languages and those don't count for the writing requirements because I didn't take the writing classes. Everything I took was in one discipline so I was screwed because I thought I would have time my senior year for 'bullshit' classes. YOU told me that taking classes that fulfilled multiple requirements was what I should do."

I remembered the conversation.

I remembered every conversation I had with Rachel. I cursed that Rachel was the only person I met in college who took my advice seriously.

"Rachel, it's not an easy class. It's a double summer session course and the writing is going to be tough for people in the majors."

"I talked to both of the professors. When they heard that I lived with you and Melisa, they said if you two helped me I would be okay. Dr. Lawren said her portion of the grade was based on group projects and a group paper so she would put the three of us in the same group. Dr. Ryan said it would be good for Melisa and you to have an academically unbiased viewpoint, whatever that means."

I sighed and threw my upper body back on the bed in frustration.

Maybe Samantha was right, I could see the pattern, but I did not understand why Melisa was weaving it. Professor Ryan was a fellow conspirator but he probably thought that 'an academically unbiased viewpoint' was a great idea. Dr. Lawren was a mystery. I could not think of a single reason she would let Rachel into the class. I talked to seven other students participating in the seminar. Not counting Rachel, Melisa and I were the only juniors and some of the others were graduate students taking the class because of the professors.

I got up from the bed and went downstairs to move the rest of Rachel's things to her new bedroom.

---

I walked into the classroom behind the girls. Rachel spent a nervous weekend. We bought the books and they sent her into a panic until Melisa calmed her down.

"It's only one book per week," Melisa kept repeating while stroking Rachel's forehead.

I stood around agreeing with whatever Melisa said. I still thought Rachel was biting off more than she could chew. Later that night, I talked to her making sure she understood I would be helping her as much as possible.

Professor Ryan was staring out the window. Dr. Lawren sat at the table looking through some of the books. She was younger than most professors. I heard she skipped a number of grades early in her education. She finished college and a couple of Master's degrees in five years. She looked no older than 25 and was being considered for tenure. The only problem was the professors that had been with the university longer were flipping out. Her books were well received by the academic community so her detractors were fighting a losing battle. The other people in the class were looking around nervously. I was sure some were there for the class work but most looked at Dr. Lawren and Professor Ryan with wanton lust for a good recommendation letter. I relaxed, noting that a few of the more obnoxious examples of wanna-be academics had not made the cut.

Melisa walked to the back of the class. Rachel and I followed in her wake. I saw a few people looking at Rachel; the men with some appreciation, but for the most part everyone wondered what she was doing there. I had resigned myself to the whole thing. A couple of the females said hello to Melisa as she passed by. She had always been aloof but not unfriendly so most of our peers were comfortable talking to her. She sat down and Rachel sat to her left. I shrugged and sat to Melisa's right.

Professor Ryan turned from the window as soon as we took our seats and picked up some folders from the desk. Dr. Lawren stood up, put her hands on the desk and asked us to form a circle. Professor Ryan waited as we loudly rearranged the chairs. Once we were done, he handed some of the folders to Dr. Lawren and passed them out to one half of the circle.

Dr. Lawren started handing them out from the opposite end. A quick count showed that she would be handing out my folder. I turned to face her and waited patiently. As she handed me the folder, she hesitated before letting go. I looked up frowning slightly. She smiled; I had taken her for other classes so I relaxed and smiled back. She pushed against my grip. The quick motion surprised me, and I looked at the folder. She was holding it strangely; in her right hand with her thumb underneath and four fingers on top. Two fingers were spread away from her ring finger and her pinky was spread away also. The grip worked to frame what I was meant to notice; a thick ring with a stone like a flattened pearl set in it. On the left side a man stood etched so purely into the metal that even with wrists chained there was arrogance in his stance and the angle of his head. On the right side, a woman with her wrists chained wore the same arrogance. The etchings were different than the ones on Melisa's, but this ring had the same significance.

Dr. Lawren was a Sibling.

She let go of the folder, turne,d and walked to sit behind the desk. I could hear Professor Ryan speaking to the class, but I continued to look at Dr. Lawren. She stared back. There was challenge in the tilt of her head as we shared eye contact. She was goading me into a contest I did not know the rules to.

I did know that a new spider had stepped onto the web.

I smiled at her and deliberately turned away to look at Melisa. She was staring at me, measuring, and waiting. I nodded with the same deliberateness I used to turn from Dr. Lawren in acknowledgement of the situation she had orchestrated.

For a second, I understood. Janet failed to impart the lesson Melisa wanted me to learn. Dr. Lawren and Melisa looked at each other with matching smiles.

My First had found it necessary to bait the hook with a better-targeted lure.

=====Chapter 18=====

I stared at Melisa, waiting for her to spill it.

Rachel had finally calmed down. Our first class inspired another panic attack. Melisa calmed her down as quickly as she could. Rachel had run into her room a few minutes before to start reading the first assigned book. Melisa and I read it for a previous class so we only needed to skim it.

Melisa tried very hard not to make eye contact. I wanted to know why Rachel was involved but it seemed a question I was not allowed to ask. I could get some answers about Dr. Lawren though.

I continued staring at Melisa.

"Why are the etchings on Dr. Lawren's ring different?" I asked.

"Susan is different from Doris Alex and me," she replied without looking.

"Continue."

"She likes to be dominated," she said somewhat unsure of her words.

I guess like Brothers, Siblings do not understand some Siblings either.

"Don't you?" I asked.

"I want to be with you," she said staring into my eyes. "Susan wants you to make her want you."

"A hunt through the woods with the hounds of desire calling their master to his prey."

She smiled widely and shrugged her shoulders as if I already understood Dr. Lawren better than she did. She stood up and walked over to kiss my forehead.

"Have fun!"

---

I sat in my room thinking about Melisa.

She planned every one of my movements in the preceding weeks: my introduction to the Brotherhood, her and I becoming lovers, Doris Alex and I coming together, Janet's temporary rejection, the threesomes, and now Dr. Lawren.

Even Gerald.

The Brothers thought that was Doris Alex's planning, but I recognized it as Melisa at her most subtle. She knew what Doris Alex would do and followed the redhead where she wanted to go anyway.

Someone who knew me better than anyone since Jason had handled me exquisitely. The scope of her manipulations would have been amusing if not for the danger inherent in giving someone like her that much control.

Melisa needed to learn limits.

I stood up and walked into the living room. Melisa, Doris Alex, Michael, and Rachel were socializing around a pizza and the television set.

"Melisa," I said dangerously.

Everyone turned to look at me.

"I'd like to talk to you in my room."

Doris Alex smiled an 'I told you so' at Melisa's back as my First walked into my room.

---

Rachel was pissed at me.

Melisa sat lightly in her chair when our second day of class began.

Professor Ryan could barely contain his laughter at the nervous glances that Melisa gave me. Dr. Lawren looked between Melisa and me with more than a touch of interest in her eyes. The class could sense there was something going on underneath the surface but no one could figure out how to get deeper.

I ignored all of them.

Professor Ryan announced initial appointment dates with our lead professor. We were working closer with them than in any class before. I was not surprised I was scheduled to meet Dr. Lawren later that day. Melisa confessed that a few things could not be changed so I accepted them; Dr. Lawren was the biggest of those. I looked at Melisa; she turned quickly towards Rachel to talk about their appointment times.

Rachel shot me an evil glare that I let slide through me.

---

I walked into the office after the voice invited me in. Dr. Lawren had a small office, maybe as payback for her popularity with students and certain members of the University administration. She reclined back and gestured at a chair to the right of her desk. I sat down and continued studying the room. It was exactly like her; organized, the stack of books showed a variety of intellectual interests, and with a backbone of femininity.

We entered a staring match, but it was not a contest. We studied each other at the same time. She was my height, short black hair, and brown eyes. She favored Melisa's build; compact, and slim with feminine curves. She was good-looking, but my attraction lay in the wealth of confidence she projected.

"As unfortunate as I might think it, you and I will not be, Mr. Feather," she challenged.

The fox saying 'no' to the hound? I thought foxes did not have a choices.

"Why not, Dr. Lawren?"

"I have a lot to lose should I be caught in, or should there even be a rumor that I am having an affair with a student," she explained with a smile.

Her words said no but the bead of sweat that moved slowly from her neck to the barely hinted at cleavage spoke differently. I closed my eyes and breathed her in.

Her excitement would be an easy scent to follow.

I nodded.

The rest of the appointment was spent discussing what was expected of me in the class.

---

Dr. Lawren was an experience in frustration.

I had not lacked in sexual relief so the mental frustration of wanting and not having was new to me. Dr. Lawren was a crystal globe that shone in the middle with gold coins, but I could not keep the coins if I shattered the globe.

Thinking I had to somehow prove myself, I tried everything.

I mean everything: flowers, good work, bad work, great work, an apple, making unnecessary appointments, etc. She let me do it all and made things worse by making sure my appointments were the last in her day.

She changed before I arrived. Sometimes subtle; two buttons loose on her shirt, her shirt pulled out from her skirt, or maybe her hair a little mussed. Sometimes, she trumpeted the change: a mini-skirt, perfume, or no bra where there had been one in class.

It was fairly embarrassing for me.

Our appointments went long and sometimes the summer darkness had begun when I accompanied her to her car. Those were the moments I thought I was close. As I stood holding her car door open, standing closer to her than I could get in her office, it felt like we were inches from a kiss.