All Chapters of Beneath The Master's Shadows (M×M): Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Before he could hear Marcia say anything, Bryce was already walking out of the room.**Minutes blurred into hours, hours stretched into days, and before he could catch his breath, two full weeks had crawled by since that night with Dom.Bryce hadn’t seen him since. Not in the hallways, not in the common rooms, not in the shadows where he half-expected the man’s silhouette to appear. And for that, he was grateful. Grateful in the kind of way a prisoner might be grateful for a reprieve before the executioner’s blade.Aside from a few of the women who circled him now and then, throwing sly smiles and brushing close as though testing his boundaries, Bryce was left alone. He learned to ignore them.But the academy wasn’t quiet. Not at all. The halls buzzed with a steady rhythm, whispers and lectures, warnings and promises. Every orientation for the new students carried the same thread, preparation for the auction.The word carried weight. It rolled from tongue to tongue with ease, but no

The auction hall was drowned in silence. The scent of blood still lingered in the air, heavy, metallic, suffocating. No one dared to move, no one dared to breathe too loudly, afraid the same fate might befall them if they uttered a careless answer. The once-boisterous gathering of masters now sat stiff as stone, each pair of eyes lowered, each throat tight with fear. That was the end of the lively aunction.Only Marcia’s face betrayed anything beyond that silence. Pride curved her lips ever so slightly, a cruel glimmer lighting her gaze as if she had longed to witness this kind of scene. To her, the hall stinking of death was not horror, it was power.Dom sat down slowly, his movements quiet but commanding. And in that instant, the oppressive silence deepened. It was as if even the torches lining the walls flickered lower in deference. His shadow stretched long across the polished floor, a reminder that in this hall, no voice dared rise above his.“I said to calm your nerves,” Dom’s

Draco’s footsteps were sharp against the marble as he approached Dom’s chamber, his face a mixture of apprehension and caution. “Master,” he said through the intercom, voice low, “about Bryce… he…attacked them. The guards that..wanted to punish—“Draco?” Dom called, cutting Draco off, “Skip the explanation,” Reclining in his chair, he didn’t look up. He already saw what happened in the hall between Bryce and Kaden. The air around him was heavy with quiet menace. Draco had expected a roar, a curse, perhaps a display of wrath so immense the room itself might shudder. But Dom merely exhaled, slow and deliberate, as if weighing something invisible.“Send Marcia over and get the boy to the infirmary,” Dom said finally, his tone calm but carrying the weight of absolute command. “Khalifa will accompany him. Make sure he’s tended to properly.”Draco’s brow furrowed in disbelief. “Yes master—, he—”“No,” Dom interrupted, voice even, cold. “Just do as I say.”Reluctantly, Draco bowed and lef

Bryce froze in surprise, his breath catching when Dom’s voice rang in his ears again.How’d you feel?The words made him falter. For a heartbeat, he didn’t know whether to laugh, flinch, or answer. The question felt like mockery and sarcasm laced in velvet, because Dom was the one who had placed him here, stripped of choice, stripped of dignity. And now, as though feigning concern, he asked how Bryce felt.But before Bryce could even form a response, Dom’s tone softened, gently this time, but still carrying the weight of command.“Get down. On your knees.”The shift sent a shiver through Bryce. His body reacted before his mind could catch up. He sank down, knees pressing against the cold floor, his head bowed in instinctive obedience. He waited, pulse quickening, and already anticipating the next order, because he knew what it would be.Dom stepped closer, his presence filling Bryce’s vision. He loomed above him, shadows stretching long across the room until all Bryce could see and pe

Dom’s eyes, sharp as blades only moments ago, flickered with something unexpected at the sound of Bryce’s name. For a heartbeat, his mask slipped. He was surprised. The kind of surprise that carried weight, the kind that forced his body to tense as though the ground itself had shifted beneath his feet.“Bryce?” Dom repeated, his tone low, and cautious, as if the very syllables threatened to betray too much. He straightened in his seat, bracing himself, the commanding aura around him thickening. “What does he have of yours, Derick?”Derick chuckled, the sound dry, and mocking, “Tch. You mean you’ve never wondered, brother? Never thought it suspicious that out of all the souls in this wretched world, Bryce would suddenly stumble into your family? Into your path? You, the merciless Master, no one dares approach.”Dom’s jaw clenched, the muscle twitching under his skin.Derick stepped closer, his grin spreading wider, his words dripping venom with every pause. “He didn’t come to you by c