Chapter 8

The crowd's gasp echoed through the quiet room. However, Reed took it all in stride.

"Okay… But are you going to take your ring or not?" he prodded her with uncanny calmness.

"I just didn't want to say yes, then throw this all on you. If you wanna back out now, I'll understand. It's a lot to take in," Mia babbled out.

"I'm not going to back out now. Just please take your ring," he pleaded.

"I don't want to trap you," she insisted.

"Mia, how can you trap me when I proposed to you?" Reed pointed out in exasperation.

"I just don't want you to feel-"

"MIA!" he finally shouted, getting her to shut up.

"Yeah?" she answered back, still looking panicked.

"Take the damn ring. It doesn't matter to me that you're pregnant. I wouldn't even care if you suddenly had the urge to open a zoo. I love you and I want to marry you. Now please take the damn ring and let me get up," he demanded.

"Oh!" she exclaimed and grabbed the ring.

He finally got up and let out an aggravated growl before pulling her into his arms.

"I love you, sub. Please be my wife?" Reed asked gentler.

"Yes, Master Reed," she whispered dutifully.

He swept her into a tender kiss as the room broke into excited applauds and whoops of joy that seemed to go on forever.

As soon as Reed let her go, Lizzie and Vie swooped in to get a good long look at her ring. With all the excitement, I stepped further away feeling out of place in the celebration.

I loved my friends with every beat of my heart but watching them all fall in love and bind themselves to these men while I was still trying to figure out how to pick up the pieces of my life was really hard.

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?!" Lizzie exclaimed suddenly.

Mia's cheeks flushed as she looked up at Reed with a slight twist of her lips. He raised an eyebrow as if asking the same question.

"I'm sorry," Mia replied, addressing them both. "I just got it confirmed today. I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure."

"Why didn't you tell me you suspected?" Reed demanded in a hard tone.

"Yeah! Ditto!" Lizzie practically shouted.

Reed gave Lizzie an exasperated look that made her back down immediately and seek the shelter of Jack and Jordan's arms.

"I wanted to," Mia admitted in a small voice. "But I was worried. Our relationship was so new and still reeling from the problems at the start."

Mia's shoulders slumped like she had the weight of the world on them, and Reed's anger vanished as he hurried to comfort her. She looked up at him with a small smile of gratitude.

"I just didn't want to cause any more problems. I guess I messed that up," Mia admitted tearfully.

Reed brushed a hand across her face. "Not irreparably, little sub. But you will be punished for not trusting your Master with something as important as this."

Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones kicking in or temporary insanity, but she put her hands on her hips and challenged him.

"What the hell are you talking about? Did you not hear I was pregnant?! Your child is in me, and you honestly want to talk about punishments!" she shouted.

The whole room grew eerily quiet as everyone and everything stilled, waiting for the blowout. Reed's eyes flashed with anger, and an evil smile spread his lips. In a snap, he grabbed the long red hair that was tied behind her head and forced her head back to look up at him. Her breath hitched in fear as she found herself nose to nose with an enraged Dom.

"Yes, I did hear, my darling little sub," he said in a sticky-sweet voice. "And I had planned on it being more of a fun punishment since this night had double the reason for celebration. But you… had… to push me, didn't you?"

"No, Re- I mean, Master. I really didn't mean to. I'm sorry," she pleaded with him.

"I can tell by the anger in your eyes still that you aren't really sorry. But you will be," Reed swore.

Mia gave an extremely convincing growl as he grabbed her wrist and drug her across the room towards the rooms in the back. She had been found out and was not happy that he did not believe her.

"Sorry, everyone, but I think my sub needs to be reminded of who is the Master. Please feel free to use any of the equipment or rooms, just be sure to put the red flag up so the cleaners can clean up in the morning," Reed called back over his shoulder.

Mia kept cussing at him as he dragged her away from the bar. He stopped briefly and whispered to her... I don't know what he said to her but, she paled and finally quieted down.

After all the excitement between Mia and Reed, the official collaring of Lizzie seemed tame in comparison. Jack stepped forward and held out a silver heart with a loop at the top of it.

"Elizabeth, you are the heart of us both and I would be proud if you would wear my symbol next to Jordan's," he said softly, his voice unusually thick.

Tears welled up in Lizzie's eyes as she nodded then hoarsely said "Yes, Master."

Jack wasted no time unhooking her necklace and adding his little symbol. The moment the necklace went back on he and Jordan swept her off further in the building with barely a goodbye to any of us.

Before the group completely broke up Master Kevin asked Vie if she wanted to do a more ceremonial collaring, not wanting her to feel left out. But Vie turned him down as her usual shyness took over once again. She was not one to be the center of attention, and so a private collaring would be more her style.

With that being the end, everyone coupled up and dispersed. Trev and Vie began to walk around the play area, discussing the equipment and its uses. Vie's cheeks blushed several times during the small tour, but the smile on her lips said she thoroughly enjoyed whatever they were discussing.