In Play

Quroth sat back in the lounge couch that trailed along the wall of the VIP room in a tight U. The room was dimly lit with soft music playing, not the kind of thing that would normally get a club bouncing but the kind of stuff one needs when trying to entertain a very particular type of clientele.

Mere moments after his call with Primath, Valerie rang to ask Quroth a favor. A matter concerning two holdouts on the board who were exceptionally difficult to deal with.

Tialo and Shiva. They were the kind of engineers who were geniuses at their field but possessed tempers that made them unsuitable for leadership. They were the backbone of S2S’ modern projects, the true tech geniuses that Quroth’s Father took the credit from.

Tantrums and threats to leave to rival companies had granted them seats on the board. The Grand Duke regretted ever emancipating Tialo after purchasing him from Vulpeculae, at least then he would have been able to keep one of his geniuses on a leash with no questions allowed.

The music was soft, the ice was chilled nicely. A bottle of sparkling lemon cider in one of the ice-buckets and bourbon in the other. Shiva was very particular about chilling his bourbon but took deep offense to any ice actually touching his whisky.

The first of the hosts walked in. A blond human whose small breasts had tiny pink nipples. She was naked, save for a golden collar around her neck.

“Good,” Quroth beckoned the woman closer and ran his paws along her smooth skin. Pressing his nose against her neck, he sniffed. “No perfumes, good.”

Another walked in, this one was also blond though her breasts were a size larger. She quickly took her place in the seat, pressing her tits against Quroth’s shoulder as if he were their mate.

“You’re to focus on the others coming tonight, not me,” Quroth nuzzled the woman regardless. He wasn’t sure if the others were averse to sloppy seconds or some kind of group orgy but the engineers were very rigid folk and it was not worth risking going out of their comfort zone.

“Yes, master.”

“Get in position and be ready,” Quroth gave both of the slaves a pat on the shoulder.

Both of them flanked the entry to the couch and stood perfectly still, their smooth rears a welcome sight for Quroth’s eyes.

It didn’t take long for Tialo to arrive. A strange mixture of scrunched-up hatred and lust took over the gray Vulpeculan’s face as one of the girls took him by the paw and led him towards the couch.

“Tialo, pleased you could make it,” Quroth lifted his own glass of whisky, ice rolling around in it. “Sit, please.”

Tialo dug his claws into the slave’s breast, his tongue running along his lips as he stared at his prize. Quroth had warned the establishment that the clients might get rough, but was assured that Tialo was nothing that they couldn’t handle.

Shiva was the bigger concern and Quroth knew that he had arrived simply by the chill that had suddenly filled the room. The Regulian did not look like an engineer, having an artifically sculpted chest full of muscle implants and cold-branded fur tattoos running along his torso in some human alphabet Quroth couldn’t recognize. He wasn’t known to be violent but a Regulian of his size was a danger to any human even if only accidental.

“Excellent choice,” Shiva flicked his lips, grabbing the wrist of the host before she could address him. “Looks like Valerie.”

The choice wasn’t accidental. The engineers held the Grand Duke in contempt as he was, in their belief, a rich parasite who could never pay the true geniuses at the company their worth. As such the only person they hated more was the slave who they believed fucked her way into a place of power.

Quroth wasn’t merely giving them two attractive women, he was giving them the chance to indulge in a fantasy of putting Valerie in her place which was a little ironic as Valerie was giving the orders here.

“So,” Shiva unsheathed his left claws, the gold implants shimmering under the dull overhead light before he tapped them on the thigh of his host, “it’s not every day the family sends you out to entertain us. Someone must be desperate for our good graces.”

“It’s working…” Tialo had tucked himself under the table, his snout between his slave’s legs as she poured a trickle of cider down the curve of her stomach. Tialo greedily lapped as the stream reached her sex.

“Who would you rather have?” Quroth shrugged. “Dad’s out cold. You’d rather have Primath take you to some slave-free brewpub or Uloth…fuck, what does he even do for fun? Write poetry?”

Shiva grabbed the thigh of his slave and tightened his grip, “We’re just wondering why that human whore doesn’t come herself instead of sending a pet?”

“I look like I got a collar on?” Quroth pointed to his mane. “You see her lording above anyone here?”

“She’s not here,” Shiva said plainly.

The engineers were geniuses but skilled at picking up subtext they were not.

“The only girls like her here tonight are at your service,” Quroth pointed to the blond slaves. “Trust me, if she were behind this, she wouldn’t allow that.”

“Ahhh…” Tialo slinked up onto the couch and tugged at the slave’s collar, “...unless she’s secretly into us showing her what a real male can do.”

The engineers going beyond mere hate of Valerie and having a greater sense of gender chauvinism than expected was something Quroth had considered a possibility. That seemed far more likely now.

“Who does she think she is anyway?” Tialo took a sip of cider straight from the bottle. “I invented the most tight-knit traffic algorithm in history, Jolt would be as slow as shit without me, fuck, it woludn’t even run!”

“And who was responsible for shutting down all those Lacertan attacks?” Shiva pointed at a line of words cold-branded into his fur. “Me, naturally.”

“And that whore thinks she’s better than us just cuz she can spread her legs? Dream on!”

“So if you’re here to convince us to vote for her, you’re going to have to do a lot more. Hell, make us the CTO and CSO, that’d be a nice start.”

Not a fucking chance, Quroth thought. At the rate things were going, giving these two even a hint of more power would result in a sexual harassment scandal in seconds.

It was time to pivot.

“Again, who said anything about her?” Quroth kicked his feet up on the table. “What if I told you I had someone else in mind for CEO? And with the right amount of votes we could override that bitch?”

“Yeah?” Tialo rolled his brown eyes. “Who? Little Primo? Dude’s a fucking joke.”

“Me.”

The room was dead silent, even the soft, inoffensive music seemed to fade.

Quroth slowly wagged his tail.

“No response?”

“No offense,” Shiva wrapped his arm around the shoulder of the slave and sighed, “you’re kind of a fuck-up.”

“All the more reason to support me,” Quroth raised his glass of whisky and poured it onto the ground. “I got my life under control now, but my reputation still stands. Folks sure as fuck aren’t gonna see me as a visionary, god entrepreneur, and there’s no point in even trying to stoke that image. So…”

Quroth pointed to both of the engineers, “I’d need to credit my team first and foremost for all projects. All press conferences, interviews, and such…if you want to be there and take command of the questions, you can be there. You both will be the face of innovation in the company, not me.”

“What makes you think we should trust you?”

“Look, Valerie is just gonna give you a gift, butter you up, and then order you to vote for her…”

Because that’s what she told me to do…

“...But I’m offering you something more than money and even if I’m lying…well, there’s no other voting bloc. I will uphold my end of the bargain but it’s either me or her right now.”

“You bought the deluxe kink options?” Tialo suddenly asked.

Quroth resisted the urge to frown, “No violent ones, but yes.”

“Alright, on your knees,” Tialo pulled the slave assigned to him out of the booth and she immediately got down on the ground. “Call yourself Valerie.”

“I’m Valerie.”

Tialo pulled down his trousers, exposing his lack of underwear and his sheath. He pointed the tip of his sheath down and a stream of foul, yellow urine trailed out.

Quroth looked away. There was a lot of messed up shit he had done in his life, but now all of a sudden he didn’t feel like he hit rock bottom.

“Come on, watch me mark my territory and you’ve got my vote!”

Quroth looked at the Vulpeculan as he urinated on the woman who, despite her petite form, was taller and stronger than the engineer. It was a rare moment, he felt regret that he had gone with this plan.

Least I can do is tip them extra.

The woman sat silently until the stream came to a halt and remained so after. Tialo was grinning as he stepped back to the seat, pulling up his trousers. The poor ventilation of the room made everything smell like piss.

“Well, I don’t think I’ve got anything else to say,” Shiva shrugged. “We’re in.”

“Now it’s time for the real party to start,” Tialo rubbed at his crotch and looked down at the wet woman.