Pure Love (Hitoinu/Gaslighting)
Inside the nest, behind iron bars.
The next morning, sunlight stretched long through the window.
Elion slowly opened her eyes, curled up on the cushion.
Her whole body felt heavy. The whip marks still throbbed even after cooling overnight, and the weight of the restraints seemed to dig all the way into her bones. Her belly remained swollen, the lingering residue of semen sloshing inside. Around her thighs and near her tail, sticky fluids had dried hard and crusted over.
……This place…… the nest……?
Memories surfaced in fragments. The cabin, the man, Bolt, the forest, the wolves…… the endless knots and the heat of semen.
Suddenly Lowen appeared before her eyes. He sat outside the cage, a dog-food bowl in his hand. He was smiling the way he always did—gently, yet coldly.
“You’re awake, Eli?”
Elion flinched and shrank back. The mask had been removed, but the magic of the restraints still hanging on her meant that even when she opened her mouth, no proper words came out. No matter what she tried to say, the only sound that climbed up her throat was a dog’s bark.
Still, she looked at Lowen and opened her mouth.
“Woof…… woof-woof…… hic…… woof……”
Tears welled up. The moment a sob tried to break free, the magic twisted even that cry into a dog’s noise.
“Woof-woof…… hic-hic…… woof-woof-woof……”
A small whimper began. The crying grew louder, yet because of the restraints and the magic neither a real sob nor real words could escape. Only the choking sounds of “woof…… hic…… woof-woof……” repeated. The eyes she turned on Lowen were full of terror and pleading.
Lowen opened the cage door and stepped inside. He approached slowly and stroked Elion’s head.
“Why are you crying? Whimpering and barking while you cry.”
He lifted her chin so their eyes met.
“You had fun yesterday. You took so much from those wolves—crying about it now is just ungrateful.”
Elion shook her head and sobbed harder.
“Woof…… hic…… woof-woof…… woof-woof-woof……”
Proper speech still would not come, but the tears would not stop. She tried to bury her face against Lowen’s knee. Even while crying she trembled and tried to cling to him.
“Woof…… hic…… woof-woof……”
Lowen gave a short laugh and tugged her collar.
“Good girl, good girl. Was it that hard? Today I’ll be…… especially gentle with you.”
He made her rise onto all fours, then carefully lifted her and carried her to the bed that had once been Elion’s—now the one he used. This time he laid her on her back like a human, not on all fours.
Lowen settled his body over hers and met her eyes.
Elion looked up at him and moved her folded arms toward him as if begging for affection. Sensing it, Lowen slowly brought his cock to her pussy. Already soaked in that tender warmth, Elion accepted him gently. When he pushed in slowly her body gave a small shiver.
“Woof…… hic…… woof-woof……”
Lowen did not rush. Slow and deep, still face-to-face, he rolled his hips. Lowen’s face filled Elion’s entire field of vision. His gaze was cold, yet today it was soft.
Elion wanted to hold him. She moved her bent elbows this way and that. Because of the restraints she could not straighten her arms; her elbows scraped across the cushion, brushed Lowen’s side, tapped his shoulder. Just to get closer, just to hold him, she desperately worked those elbows.
Lowen watched the movement of her elbows and smirked. He gave her collar a light tug, lifting her head, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Cute little thing.”
He drew her folded arms around his own back as if wrapping them there. Her elbows brushed his back, and her body pressed tighter against him. Lowen moved his hips slowly, caressing her insides. Deep in, slow out, deep again. Elion’s walls clenched around him of their own accord.
“Woof-woof…… woof…… hic…… woof-woof……”
Elion kept moving her elbows. She tapped Lowen’s back, brushed his flanks, reached desperately toward the nape of his neck. Wanting to hold him, wanting to embrace him, she did everything her bound arms would allow. Tears slid down her cheeks. Lowen’s love—feeling so gentle even while she was restrained—melted her heart.
……Lowen…… Lowen…… Master… I love you…
Feeling her movements, Lowen thrust a little deeper. She sobbed yet surrendered her body completely. As climax approached, her whole frame trembled.
“Woof-woof-woof…… hic…… woof-woof-woof……!”
Orgasm crashed over her. Her folded elbows struck Lowen’s shoulders hard; her body shuddered. Lowen drove toward his own end. With a final deep thrust he poured hot semen deep inside her.
“……Good girl, Eli.”
Still in that helpless four-limbed posture, lying on her back, Elion nestled into Lowen’s arms. She gave soft, contented little barks.
“Woof… woof…”
Lowen held the affection-starved girl tightly. Elion felt sweetness in his embrace. Even if it was a lie, she did not want to be abused again. Lowen kept her locked in his arms for a long while. His hand stroked slowly down her back; every time her folded elbow brushed his side he gave a low laugh.
“Tired? You don’t have to sleep in the cage tonight. Sleep here…… next to me.”
At those words Elion’s half-lidded eyes opened again. Through still-sleepy, hazy vision she looked up at Lowen. The cage. Those cold iron bars, the crushing weight of the restraints all night, the chill of the floor felt alone. None of that existed today. As the realization slowly sank in, Elion kept tapping Lowen’s chest with her folded elbows, trying to express her joy—wanting to hold him, wanting to be held.
“Woof…… woof-woof…!”
An affectionate bark burst out. This time it carried no fear or shame, only pure gratitude and emotion. Sleeping outside the cage, in Lowen’s arms. In this moment it felt like the greatest gift in the world. She did everything her restrained body could to get closer. Lowen felt that emotion and laughed softly.
He tugged her collar lightly, lifted her head, and kissed her forehead again. Then he pulled her tighter. Elion buried her face against his chest and exhaled a trembling breath. This moment of sleeping without the cage was almost unbearably sweet and overwhelming.
……Lowen…… Master…… thank you…… woof……
She closed her eyes once more. Her folded elbows brushed Lowen’s back as she quietly woofed herself to sleep.
Only after confirming Elion was fully asleep did Lowen whisper in a low voice.
“Yesterday…… I asked whether it would be all right to raise the training difficulty at nine o’clock, but you gave no answer. Therefore the training stage has advanced.”
He brought his hand to her throat. Over the collar already fastened there he fitted a new, thin black choker. The choker was a slender band of leather and metal. Tiny electrodes were embedded on the inside, linked to a small remote in Lowen’s hand so he could deliver electric shocks from a distance. With a soft click the choker settled snugly around her neck. Lowen lightly stroked the nape of her neck and whispered again. From tomorrow it would be hard once more.
From the moment I dragged Elion to the cabin the night before, it had already been insanely fun.
“Get inside, you dog bitch.”
I yanked the leash hard and her body lurched forward. Watching her folded elbows flail through empty air as she scrambled clumsily over the threshold was both pathetic and adorable. Inside the illusion I had woven she truly believed she was being hauled away by a “stranger.” The reek of alcohol, blood, mold—every scent I had layered on with magic. The cabin itself, the filthy wooden tub, the rusted iron traps—all of it I had built with my own hands. Every piece of it was a stage designed to turn Elion into my perfect slave.
While pretending to wash her I rubbed her clit with my fingers; every time I shoved a finger into her ass I felt her body shudder.
“Look at this bitch’s pussy—getting wet even while I’m washing her?”
Speaking in an altered voice only made it more exciting. She had no idea who I was; she was tasting real terror and shame at being violated by a complete stranger. While I stuffed her mouth, fucked her ass, and toyed with her for hours, I kept laughing inside. Elion howled “woof-woof,” but to me those sounds were pure coquetry. Even when the golem I had crafted from her own mana—Bolt—mounted her, I watched from a distance. I shared every sensation she felt in real time as that massive hunting dog locked its knot inside her and pumped her full of semen.
The wolf pack was the same. Those three that appeared in the forest, surrounding her with wild growls and taking turns raping her—every one of them was a shadow I controlled by borrowing her magic. Each time her belly swelled and her body rocked I felt her sensations from afar and sucked my fingers. Until she fainted I never once touched her with my own hands. I only watched, directed, and enjoyed.
And the next morning, when I brought her back to the nest and laid her in the cage, the moment she opened her eyes and saw me she cried.
I listened to that crying and smiled. She believed every torment of the previous day had been the work of a strange hunter and a pack of wolves, and that I had rescued her. But all of it had been me. I was the one who deceived her, toyed with her, tore her open, filled her, and then held her again.
When I laid her on the bed and slowly pushed into her while we faced each other, still bound, Elion moved her folded elbows every which way trying to embrace me. She looked so lovable that I thrust even deeper. As she barked and trembled through orgasm I thought to myself:
This is the ending you ultimately want, Elion. Without me you would eventually choose a path that leads to ruin.