Chapter 327 Bark.

Chapter 327: 327 Bark.

Rhea nibbled nervously on her lower lip, her tail giving a slow, hesitant wag. "Well. There is... one specific thing, Miles."

"Yeah?"

Rhea pushed herself up from her ergonomic chair and shuffled over to a nearby, heavily reinforced console.

She typed a quick command into the keypad, and with a sharp pneumatic hiss, the top of the console slid open. Resting on a velvet-lined tray inside were four dull, grey bands. She carefully lifted them out and turned my way.

Curious, I reached out and took them. I instantly sent a low, sweeping pulse of magnetism through the metal to suss out their internal mechanics.

Holy hell.

They looked a lot like my standard iron bracers and anklets on the surface, but the internal engineering was leagues beyond anything I currently wore.

The variety of hidden catches, the geometric angles of the interlocking plates, and the advanced metallurgical makeup actually stunned me.

I was extremely used to working out complicated, heavy machinery with my powers, but these things were more intricate than a thousand-dollar Lego set.

"This..."

"Do you like them?" Rhea asked, bouncing on her heels. A bright spark of the old, enthusiastic Rhea resurfaced as she beamed at me. "I put a massive amount of off-the-clock work into them. When your old suit got damaged fighting Legion, I thought, hey, I bet my boss could use a serious hardware upgrade on those heavy chunks of iron he wears.

"So while I was patching up the backup suit, I also got to work prototyping this new model. The mechanics are a lot more complicated, so it took a while to perfect the deployment sequence, but I really think it’ll be a good change."

"I’ll say," I mused, turning one of the heavy bracers over in my hand. I could already think of a dozen different ways I could weaponize these things.

"Want to try them on now?" Rhea asked.

I glanced at her, then shrugged. "Sure," I said. I unlatched my old iron bracers and anklets, dropping them onto a nearby workbench with a heavy, metallic clatter. I slipped the new ones on, adjusting the fit and flexing my hands. "So I just—"

"Better take off your pants first."

I stopped, giving Rhea a very level look. "What?"

She smiled broadly, a deep blush rising to her cheeks as she wriggled in place. She looked equal parts eager and incredibly nervous.

"You know. To make sure your civilian clothes don’t accidentally get caught in the retracting mechanisms or anything. Just in case. It’s brand new tech, Miles. Gotta... you know. Fully calibrate things. Make sure it’s all fitting securely to your baseline measurements. Get me?"

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Yeah," I said, unbuttoning my dress shirt and shrugging out of the tuxedo jacket. "I’m pretty sure I do."

The expensive tailored pants went next. Unsurprisingly, I caught Rhea staring openly. It was always pretty flattering to be ogled by her.

Her golden eyes were wide, and so was her grin. Her fingers idly played with the frayed hem of her oversized work coat as I finally stepped out of the trousers, standing in the middle of the high-tech lab in nothing but my boxers.

"Great!" she said, practically drooling over me. It was a remarkably welcome ego booster after the exhausting corporate nightmare of a day I’d just had. "Just like that. Perfect. Now, if you could just deploy your armor like usual..."

I flexed my fingers, looking down at the new bracers, mentally mapping the intricate mechanics hidden inside.

There were thousands of microscopic folds and interlocking plates, all gathered up tightly in the slim metal bands like the dormant scales of a snake.

Nice.

"Excellent work, Rhea," I said.

I stretched out my arm and fed a surge of raw magnetic power directly into the bands. The response was instantaneous and buttery smooth.

Ridges of dark metal deployed flawlessly over my forearms and the backs of my hands, overlapping like perfectly machined layers of steel V’s. I flexed my hand, admiring the sharp, subtle metal claws that formed seamlessly over my fingertips.

Oh, yeah. That was the good stuff.

"Very nice."

"I’m so glad you like it, Miles," Rhea said, practically glowing with pride.

"I do. Good," I said, turning my gaze fully onto her. "Now strip."

Rhea blinked, her ears popping up. "Sorry?"

I glanced her way and let a slow, dangerous grin spread across my face.

"I said strip, Rhea," I repeated, taking a slow, deliberate step toward her. "As a reward for all your very hard work."

"O-oh," she breathed, her breath hitching. A fierce, incredibly dark blush rushed to her face as her eyes flicked rapidly up and down my armored form. She was intensely nervous, but deeply, unmistakably eager. "I um..."

"Clothes off, Rhea," I told her. I stopped directly in front of her, letting my height tower over her smaller frame. "Right now."

Rhea shivered visibly, her teeth sinking hard into her lower lip. I let out a low chuckle.

She absolutely loved it when I took charge like this.

Though she was shamelessly, openly kinky about her BDSM desires, what truly got my lead engineer off was the feeling of being utterly, completely dominated. The total surrender of control.

And what luck, I was really feeling the need for some control tonight. Thoroughly plowing your kinky mad scientist did absolute wonders for stress relief.

"I’ve been working under a massive amount of stress lately, Rhea," I said quietly. I reached out, resting my newly armored hands firmly on her shoulders.

The cold, heavy metal of the gauntlets made her flinch and blush even harder. "I could really use the relief of absolutely pounding my favorite subby scientist into her mattress until she woofs like a dog. So how about it, Rhea? Would you like to help me make that happen tonight?"

"I..."

"Or do I have to violently tear those clothes off you with my bare hands?" I growled, my grin growing sharp and openly playful.

Rhea let out a soft whimper, my commanding tone finally shocking her into motion. Eagerly, she reached up and yanked off her work coat, dropping it onto the floor.

She practically tore her crop top off over her head, her plush breasts spilling into the open, barely contained by her lace bra.

Before she could even reach down for her belt, I reached out and cupped the soft fullness of her pale breasts in my hands.

She froze instantly, a sharp gasp escaping her lips as the cold, unforgiving metal of my new armor tingled sharply against her very warm skin.

"Perfect," I growled. I leaned down, brushing my lips against her neck and pressing a hot, lingering kiss against her pulse point.

Rhea moaned submissively, tilting her head back to offer me more access.

She quivered against me as my magnetic powers silently reached down, gripping the metal buckle of her belt and effortlessly undoing it.

She twitched, panting heavily as her pants slipped down her thighs and pooled at her ankles, leaving her standing in the middle of the lab in nothing but her bra and panties.

My armored thumb rubbed slow, deliberate circles around her nipple through the lace, making the lovely dog-girl moan and quiver with raw, unadulterated need.

"Good girl," I whispered against her ear. "You look scared. Don’t be, you’re being so good for me."

"Ohhh... M-master," she moaned, her eyes fluttering shut.

I hid a satisfied chuckle against her skin. I must really be having an effect on her tonight. She only ever brought out that specific title when she was falling incredibly deep into the subspace.

My hands slid slowly away from her breasts, trailing down the soft curve of her waist, before reaching around to cup her plush rear.

My metal fingers squeezed her rump firmly, making Rhea squeak and jolt in surprise as I tugged her flush against my front.

"M-master," Rhea gasped, her hands coming up to rest on my chest. "I—"

With a sharp, completely effortless flick of my powers, I sent my discarded, heavy iron bracers and anklets whipping across the lab.

They snapped tightly around Rhea’s wrists and ankles with a deafening, metallic clack, locking her instantly in place.