The scent of aromatic candles and the dull whine of a vibrating bed added a certain erotic atmosphere to the room. John did not know how to properly set a mood for carnal relations, though he did study the phenomenon and could utilize suggested activities as a means to bridge his experience gap.

However, what he did know was that the coming events were important for his current desires and the biological needs of his minions. No matter what indignities he must suffer in the coming hours, it was all for the sake of progressing forward in his goals. It was for the team, and for his future studies as a mage.

Magic required intense concentration and power in order to allow for the creation of major changes in the world. Everything he'd done for the last several weeks was specifically for the furtherance of his goal. He needed an occupation that would allow him to earn a significant income, enough to purchase books and supplies for self-study.

Further, he needed a position that would allow that sort of income to be acquired rapidly. Otherwise, he might lose his drive.

The life of an itinerant Demi-Human tamer might have been the dream job for some, but John saw it solely as a means to an end. The tasks of a man in his current profession were numerous. Some were more enjoyable than others. Unfortunately, what was about to occur was not something he anticipated as a form of enjoyment.

He was not raised with ridiculous beliefs regarding love and similar useless emotional conceits such as friendship. Instead, his father raised him to pay attention to fine details, and actively discouraged emotional undertakings.

A loud buzzing sound came from his door and John turned to face it. “Enter.”

The door slid open and Tera walked into the room. The sliding door shut and automatically locked behind her. She winced gently upon hearing the soft click. She could not leave the room now unless he allowed it, or an emergency situation occurred. The voice commands were keyed to his voice alone.

Tera smiled timidly then made a short little hand waving motion before looking away. “Hello, master.”

John sighed loudly then gestured for her to come to him. It was time to get this unpleasantness over with so that they could move on to more important matters.

The Blazine trudged over to him then sat on the bed upon his command. She tensed up when his hands touched her shoulders, but his next movements surprised her considerably.

“You are carrying a great deal of tenseness in your frame. You will need to relax your body before we begin. Remove your clothing and lie on the bed,” commanded John.

She snorted, but did her best to comply with his wishes. How could she be expected to relax on command?

Tera slid onto the bed and hugged a pillow to her breasts. Her greatest hope was that this unpleasantness would be over with soon. The entire ordeal was a singularly disturbing personification of awkwardness.

She listened in a half-daze as her master roamed around the room for a moment while he fiddled with a few things. Soft music began to play in the background.

Tera sighed again, but slowly began to realize something. She knew the song! It was a popular love song that she sometimes sang when she thought that no one was listening. It was a silly song, but it made her happy when she was sad. Why was he playing it?

Soft, confused, eyes opened in surprise when she felt a warm liquid sensation on her back. The scent of lightly heated massage oil permeated the air. What was he going to do? Was it what it seemed like he was going to do?

John’s hands slid along her back experimentally. He searched for the curvature of her muscles and the locations where muscles and tendons met bone. He studied her back as though there would be a test on the subject matter soon, and then began to locate her important nerve clusters. During his training as a mage he spent a great deal of time learning the various human and Demi-Human anatomical structures. It was necessary training in order to properly manipulate the body through magical means.

Tera gasped softly then bit the pillow. Elation and surprise coursed through her body. He was being so sweet, surprisingly sweet, to her. The bastard who tormented her for weeks was doing something that no one had ever done for her before now.

The sweet bastard stared down at her back. He ignored her soft moans and occasional squeal of happiness while he studied his craft. He realized that the time spent performing these undignified actions could be put to even better use than morale building for his team. Now would be a perfect opportunity to try out his nervous system manipulation spells.

John silently manipulated the mana streams. Using his arch mage level knowledge and intellect in conjunction with his abysmally low power, he was able to effectively elicit a response that might speed the taming process along with great rapidity.

Tera cried out in bliss as she felt pressure growing between her thighs. What unholy thing was her master doing to her? He never even touched her maidenhood, yet she could feel a powerful orgasm beginning to build.

Her master frowned, however. It was too much. The arousal and result were too great for his purposes. The taming response required a slow build-up of psychic energy between the etheric matrix of man and beast. If he unleashed her flood gates in this manner she would no doubt feel pleasure, but it would not meet the purpose of the exercise. If anything, it might prolong the overall session.

A loud moan and shuddering breath escaped the girl as John slid his fingers down to caress her supple ass. He needed to elicit an emotional response and not just a carnal one. That was the key. As he recalled, Kara had once reported that Tera responded favorably to having her anus massaged internally.

John was not even remotely interested in performing anal sex with the girl. He had to suffer that indignity frequently with Kara. However, he did have access to a bathroom. Never the squeamish type, John accepted what he must do now. He could wash his hands later, at any rate.

He coated the crevasse of her curvaceous ass with a line of hot massage oil then began to caress the puckered hole that winked lewdly up at him. Why did these creatures enjoy having things shoved into them in this manner? Did they not know that nature designed it solely as an exit?

Tera clutched tightly to her pillow and began to grind her thighs against the bed. The man she had hated for weeks was gently sliding his fingers into her ass. He was so sweet, so gentle. Where was this John during the day?

He made an annoyed face at her perky ass, and then turned his head to the side. How unseemly. He might never get the scent of her off of his fingers. She started to buck and moan beneath his skillfully deployed digits. It was a chore, but she did perform interesting movements that related the overall effectiveness of the technique back to him.

However, there was a problem. She seemed to be enjoying it far too much. She began to buck and rock her hips with too much force. His fingers started to slip out. If that happened, he would need to start the process from the beginning. Instinctively, he slapped his free hand down on her ass with a loud and decisive cracking sound, “No.”

Tera yelped loudly, her eyes wide in surprise. She gasped immediately afterward when she felt her pussy clench in response.

John sighed softly. This was taking quite a bit of time and effort. Still, she needed to be properly prepared. “Roll onto your back.”

No words expressed her thoughts, instead she rolled over obediently. Tera brought the pillow with her and clutched it to her breasts. Any other man would have seen her peeking over the fluffy barricade and thought she looked adorable.

John merely thought that she was performing some strange courtship ritual of species. He knew anatomy, but social customs were not really his strong suit.

He shook his head at her in a slow and decisive manner. He required further access. Her quirky customs would need to be abandoned.

Slowly, she pulled the pillow away. She turned her head to the side in order to allow her master to gaze at her, though she could not look him in the eyes. Tera was completely vulnerable now. Naked and unable to resist him after such tender caresses, she could do nothing but lie there and accept whatever he chose to do to her.

John’s eyes widened as his mystical senses noted the ebb and flow of her natural form, her spiritual energies. The way that her etheric pattern wove throughout her body was different than a humans’. It was different than Honey and Kara as well. He could not see it through clothing, and normally the flow of energy would remain only vaguely visible even with mage sight.

He was not that talented. He immediately realized that what he saw now was a direct result of his earlier work at stimulating her pathways. They glowed brightly now, brightly enough that even his limited senses could discern them.

Tera's natural form flowed in a round circular motion, a style known as curvature. It was common in Demi-Humans that projected energies frequently, but he'd never seen a mana flow was a finely attuned and efficient as hers this closely before. The way the lines curved and interweaved intrigued him as they were quite extraordinary in comparison to a human.

He stood there towering over her long enough for Tera to become embarrassed. “W-what are you looking at, master...?”

John answered honestly. “The extraordinary nature of your curvature and the fineness of your natural form.”

It was a strange thing to say by the standards of normal society, and of course she misunderstood. She immediately wondered if that was his way of calling her beautiful. “My... fineness. Is it really so interesting?”

“I have not seen another like it. Your curvature intrigues me, and I find your natural form quite fascinating.” It was true. He had never seen another naked Blazine before. Her energy pattern was something unique to his experience currently, and with her energies surging at the moment it was quite the sight to behold.

Her face immediately turned bright red and she tried to hide behind her hands. Who knew that the bastard could say such things! He even did it with perfect sincerity... almost like he meant it.

"Y-you don't mean that!" she blurted out.

"Of course I do," he said simply and without averting his gaze. "Your curvature fascinates me. Why lie about such a thing?"

Tera immediately began to blush and wriggle a little. Her hands moved crossed her chest and her nostrils flared. She babbled incomprehensibly, or at least it was incomprehensible gibberish to John.

He noted that she had begun to make strange hand motions once more. Clearly this was a signal to continue the mating ritual. He thought of what must come next.

Using his spiritual insight he decided to move things along by manipulating the energy center of her chest and the center of her womb. That would create a stronger current and cause her taming experience to become far more dynamic as underused energy centers would come into place. Her stimulation would increase dramatically. They might be able to finish sooner!

Casually, he slid one hand down to caress her vagina and the other moved up knead her left breast. Tera gasped loudly and began to moan.

After doing this for a full minute John frowned. The position was inefficient. He considered his options then slid into bed next to her. Tera whimpered a little at the sudden proximity, but John paid her no heed. It was no more than the chattering of an aroused animal after all.

He slid one arm under her back and then up under her arm so that his hand could grip her breast. The other hand slipped back down to stroke her soft, weft, slit. It was not perfect, however. He was forced to roll her body toward him a bit and then wiggle underneath her a little in order to achieve proper leverage.

“Master...” breathed Tera. Her voice was a low, sensual tone. She could not believe what he was doing, but she loved every moment of it! Who would have thought that her cold hearted bastard of a master would like to cuddle and caress her like this? Instinctively, she wiggled into his half-hug and sighed loudly.

John leaned in to ask her what she wanted, but slipped a bit and ended up pressing his lips to her ear. Tera cried out softly at the sudden pleasure she experienced.

Her master blinked at her, but quickly realized what had happened. He performed the same maneuver in order to test his hypothesis. She gasped again and started to squirm.

Was her ear truly that sensitive? He considered it briefly. Thoughts regarding nibbling reminded him of another fact. He recalled that sometimes these creatures enjoyed having their nipples chewed upon gently. John decided to apply that logic to her surprisingly sensitive ear.

Tera gasped and bucked the moment he began. He was nibbling her ear! The bastard was nibbling her ear. Between the soft caresses of his hand upon her pussy, and his strong masculine grip on her breasts, she had been brought to the edge. Nibbling her ear sent her over that cliff and plummeting past the precipice of feminine restraint immediately.

John felt a warm gush of fluid spurt around his fingers. Given the nature of the shift in her energy pattern he deduced that she had attained some sort of orgasmic release. That was excellent news! The timing was fairly appropriate and should aid greatly in taming the beast. She was quite ahead of schedule and seemed perfectly capable of continuing her daily routine if his senses told him anything legitimate concerning her needs.

“I will have to perform this often,” said the man succinctly. If she could be tamed with only this much effort, they he would do this frequently. There was no reason not to do so, and regular tamings would build trust between them.

Tera’s eyes widened and she could not prevent her reaction to that bit of news. She rolled over and kissed her master warmly on the lips. John blinked, surprised at her movements. However, to his horror she began to babble something about knowing that he wasn’t really an asshole. Why did she feel the need to speak so rapidly?

He tilted his head and stared up at the ceiling while she continued to talk. In fact, quite a bit of time passed as she rattled on and on about how she had never known such a sweet and caring master. Had he hit an inappropriate nerve cluster? She seemed incapable of silencing herself!

Unable to think of anything else to do, and tired of her constant prattle, he kissed her on the mouth. While she was distracted he began searching for the appropriate nerve cluster to quiet her down. Strangely, he could not determine what he had done wrong. He realized that he did not know how to end her continual desires for communication without disrupting her actual speech centers. Disrupting those nerves could cause permanent damage, and he did not want to lower her value. In the end, he snorted and pulled his lips away.

Tera looked sideways at him, her eyes glazed over with lust and some unreadable expression. A slow, sweet smile spread across her lips and she started to stroke the side of his face.

It was a strange sensation, being caressed by a tamed animal. Yet, John did not tell her to remove her offensive paw. She seemed content, and there was still quite some time before Kara would return.

He allowed her to caress him for a moment before he realized that this must be some sort of taming custom among her species. Of course, he should at least attempt to accept her customs to some small degree if he intended to use her as a tool to ascend to the heights of his dream. John reached out casually and began to caress her face as well, readily imitating her own movements. He even attempted to approximate her facial structure and smiled in a way that was reasonably friendly in appearance.

Tera’s face began to heat up and her soft smile widened. Her master truly cared for her! Why had she never seen it before! All the times he'd told her that she need only submit, and the fact that he offered to take her former master to court to sue him for breach of contract, he'd been telling the truth!

She slipped her arms around him suddenly and then held him close. "Please forgive me..."

John continued to ape her actions, and held her in a tight embrace as well. However, he was uncertain of her words. "Is there something to forgive?"

Tera drew back and looked into his eyes. His utter lack of condescension in his gaze caused her lips to part slightly. Tears began to form along the edges of her eyes and she sniffled softly.

"Master..." she whispered before pulling him close once more. Never before in her life had that word truly held a good meaning for her, but in that moment it was the best word she knew to speak. No truer word could be spoken.