Read Online The Copper Horse #2 Pride by K.A. Merikan - Free Book Online

the
mask, trying to pull away from the choking. Anything but Hans and
his crude methods!
    “And now, you turn
back and go where your master leads you,” the bodyguard growled
quiet enough for no one else to hear. “Or it’ll be a wooden stick
up your cunt instead Bluefinger’s cock!”
    Instead of moving,
Reuben turned his head to Erik with a whinny, trying to get his
attention, but how could he if he couldn’t speak? Erik needed to
understand what was going on! It was becoming difficult to breathe
in the mask, and even though Reuben’s vision was partially
obscured, he could see people stopping to watch the spectacle. They
were laughing and pointing fingers at them.
    “Move, you little
fucker!” Erik growled in a voice so deep and low it barely sounded
like him anymore.
    Reuben couldn’t fight
the sob that tore from his lungs, though he was happy to at least
be hidden behind the mask. Hearing words like that from Erik was
far worse than being beaten for disobedience. It was as if his
master had no love for him anymore. Why else would he not listen?
Panic choked him almost to the point of fainting.
    Hans enforced Erik’s
order and pulled Reuben’s arm with no mercy. And there was Jacob,
watching him with a huge smile while his companion whispered
something straight to his ear.
    “Someone didn’t train
their horse too well, Mister Bluefinger!”
    After the first tear
streaked down Reuben’s cheek, he couldn’t stop sobbing, angry with
himself as much as with Erik. He wanted to disappear. Not be here,
not be himself. And with Hans by his side, Reuben had no choice but
to move and pull the cart along. He couldn’t believe this was
happening to him. That he was so humiliated in front of the man
who’d sold him into slavery. No, into an arena to die.
    “What a lousy beast
that is! Maybe you should have my brother trained! He’d be
willin’!” laughed a woman in the crowd.
    Erik was dead silent
as Hans forced Reuben to stand at a steel wall and used some of the
straps on his outfit to fasten him to one of the thick rings meant
for real animals, no doubt.
    Reuben trembled,
nervous and nauseated. The thought that Jacob saw him like this,
probably knowing it was him, humiliated him even more. It was far
worse than being raped. It was worse than being thrown into the
river after being raped.
    “Need some help with
the whip, Bluefinger?” asked a woman to his side as she approached
without any respect for his personal space.
    Reuben felt Erik
jumping off the cart, and then he was there, unbuckling Reuben’s
mask in careless, rough moves. Reuben’s knees softened, barely
holding him up at this point as he looked into the black goggles
that shielded his master’s gaze from sight.
    “It seems I have been
too easy on you, Copper,” Erik said through gritted teeth.
    “ No, no, no no no no!” Reuben mumbled
through the bit, panic sending his breakfast up to his throat. He
couldn’t believe Erik would do this to him when he knew how much
Reuben didn’t want to show his face in public! Reuben tried to pull
away from his master’s hands, already drenched in cold sweat, and
when that didn’t work, he changed his tactic and pushed forward,
making Erik sway backwards. Laughter filled the narrow alley, as if
it were a puppet show the people were watching.
    But it was no use, and
the moment the mask was off, Erik hit Reuben’s face so hard he saw
stars. His head spun, and the distinct, metallic taste in his mouth
had to be blood. “Bad pony! Stay!”
    Reuben gritted his
teeth over the bit, his face on fire. He was tied to a pole,
everyone knew what Erik was doing to him in the privacy of his
home, and worst of all, he couldn’t stop sobbing, half expecting
tomatoes to hit his face. Or perhaps someone’s piss. One of the men
who’d fucked him once pissed on him afterward, and Reuben had been
too drunk to stop him.
    And despite the way
Erik tore his heart into pieces, Reuben still whined after him,
afraid to be