Page 7 of Sanctuary After Dark

My brother looked over at Alec as he tried to control his anger. "Please tell me the fucker is rotting in a jail cell."

Alec nodded as he sighed. "He is. He's awaiting trial right now, but it's taking a while. You know how the court system is. They were also waiting for Elias to heal from his injuries and complete his rehabilitation program so he could testify. Jack was keeping him drugged, so he was more compliant. He had a lot to heal from physically as well as dealing with his addiction. Broken bones, internal bleeding, lacerations, old breaks that needed to be re-broken and set properly, malnutrition, detoxing… it was a lot. It took him three months in the hospital before he could start his program at rehab. That's when I started therapy sessions with him every weekday."

I hated hearing about what this poor boy had gone through, but I knew we needed to hear it so we could help him. We needed to understand all the ugly details so we knew which triggers to look for and how far we could push him with this. After taking another sip of his coffee, Alec continued.

"Once we started therapy, I really saw what had happened to him, and we started working on it. Jack had infiltrated the kink community that Elias was in, and he started grooming him. From the moment they met, Jack had been grooming him. He love-bombed him. Complimenting him and buying him gifts. Seemingly saying all the right things. Elias told me they entered a dynamic and a relationship after just a month or so, and the first year had been amazing. Jack was doting and caring. Was always spoiling him and treating him like a prince. He even asked him to move in with him, which Elias did. After the first year, things changed. Jack started criticizing him slowly. Pointing out little things and just planting seeds of doubt. He started making him distance himself from the kink community they were in and Elias's friends. He even made him quit his job. A few months into the second year, he hit him for the first time. Things only escalated from there until one day, he was forcing Elias to sleep with his friends, then it was strangers who were paying Jack. Elias told me he had tried to leave a couple of times, but each attempt landed him in the hospital until fear ultimately prevented further attempts. By that time, he just wanted an escape, so when Jack offered him drugs, he took them. Once he took them, Jack kept forcing him to take them. He started letting men abuse him and even torture him. One of the Johns strapped him to a St. Andrew's cross and whipped him with a flagrum, leaving scars on his back.

Throughout all of this torture and all the healing, he misses being a Little. He's a lifestyle submissive, and he misses the freedom and safety of being able to go into Little space. Which is why I suggested exposure therapy to him and thought of here. He'll be safe here, and with my office here, I'll be able to continue our sessions together. It's also peaceful out here, and he needs a place where he can just decompress and breathe. I'm not going to lie and say that I haven't gotten attached. He's like a little brother I never had, and I just want to see him happy and succeed. I know you two will monitor him when I'm not here and make sure nothing happens to him. He has extreme anxiety right now, for which I have given him a prescription. He also has trouble sleeping because he has nightmares. He's used to a routine with rehab and from years of being abused, so entering the real world is going to be tough for him, and I'm expecting setbacks. But, I think he can thrive here and finally heal."

After Alec finished speaking, I could only let out a breath and run my fingers through my short, black hair as I leaned back in my computer chair. We had to help Elias, no matter what. That was the reason Lincoln and I had opened The Sanctuary: to give people a safe place. There were so many horror stories about people getting into the lifestyle and ending up in dangerous situations. With the influx of interest in BDSM through books and different media, anyone could say that they were a dom or a sub, but not know how to do it properly, which led them to be hurt. Predators took advantage of people and tried to hide it behind the label BDSM, and it wasn't just doms; we had seen it with subs, too, who took advantage of people. We had seen doms and subs who were equally hurt, but subs were a little more vulnerable when it came down to it.

"We'll let him decompress for a few days and get familiar with being in a new place before we plan the first session. We'll also have him fill out the application and the kink and limit list, so we know what we can do and what we have to work on. Once that is done, the three of us can get together and plan an exposure scene for him to see. I'll talk to Gar and Raven and see if they can help with it. Something tame to start with, I think." I nodded as I ran through what would be the best way to go about this.

Planning something would prevent me from spiraling as I thought about all the horrible things Elias had endured. It pulled at my Daddy heartstrings.

"While he decompresses, we can set up a schedule for him, too. When he has to get up in the morning so he's not spending all day in bed, what time he has to take his medications, mealtimes, and bedtime. If he can't sleep, that's fine, but he has to at least try," Lincoln said from his spot on the couch.

I nodded, agreeing with him, while I eyed him. I could tell that he was hanging on by a thread right now. His knee was bouncing, and he kept cracking his knuckles. My eyes flicked to his tense face, where I could see him clenching his jaw. I needed to get him into the gym to calm him down before he blew up.

Alec let out a breath, and his shoulders relaxed a little.

"Thank you. I agree with all of that. I'll get the application, kink, and limit list printed out if one of you can make a schedule for him."

"You don't have to thank us, Alec. We're family, and that's why we opened this place. We'll all take care of him here, and even when he falls, we'll make sure it's a soft landing." Finishing my coffee, I stood up from the desk. "Linc. Come on. We're going down to the gym. You need to hit something."

Alec smirked and chuckled a bit, standing up as well. "I'll leave you two to it then. Have fun. Don't break anything."

Lincoln grumbled a little bit, which had me rolling my eyes while we all walked out of the office. My brother and I were moving towards the basement stairs, where the gym was, and Alec was going to his office to get things printed out for Elias. I was determined to help this boy. But I knew I would have to keep myself under control as well. Elias was just my brother's and my type, and he needed to focus on healing, not on two doms who found him beautiful and already felt protective of him.

Maybe I needed to hit something, too.

Chapter 4

Walking down the stairs to the basement, Luke and I turned right to head to the gym we had installed. We both enjoyed working out, and it just made sense to put one here for us and our members to use. There was different equipment for cardio and stamina, as well as weight training. We had punching bags hanging from the ceiling and an open space with a wall of mirrors for yoga, and even a barre for dance. My favorite part, though, was the sparring ring. While we had mats for usual sparring and training, I had a small fighting cage installed for more intense sparring when I needed my head to be quiet.

Grabbing the spare workout clothes from our lockers, we both changed into loose shorts. Luke and I didn't talk while we changed or as we walked over to the storage closet. I grabbed my four-ounce T3 sparring gloves and started pulling them onto my hands, making sure the velcro was snug against my wrists. Looking over at my brother, I had expected him to grab the focus mitts, but my twin was grabbing his own pair of sparring gloves and pulling them on. Reaching out for a mouth guard, I bit into it for a moment before turning to walk towards the cage, rolling my shoulders.

It wasn't often that Lucas and I sparred. Usually, he was the one holding the focus mitts while I hit him. However, after our discussion with Alec concerning Elias's experiences, I wasn't surprised that he wanted to hit something too. Anger raged inside me ever since we left our office. If that piece of shit wasn't in jail already, I would have gone to find him myself.

Opening the door to the cage, I stepped in and bounced on my toes a little while I rolled my shoulders and my neck, trying to loosen up a bit before we started. Reaching behind me, I grabbed my foot and pulled it behind me to stretch a bit while I waited for Luke to be ready. I pushed the mouth guard farther into my mouth until it fit against my teeth, then reached behind my back and grabbed my shirt to pull it off. Tossing it over the wall of the cage, I watched Luke walk into the cage as well.

Luke wasn't as hot-headed as I was. I was the more impulsive twin. I was the louder twin. The one who was always getting us into trouble growing up. I grew up hearing people say that I didn't have an inside voice, and honestly, they weren't wrong. Luke was not an angel, though, and he wasn't quiet either. He could be just as loud and boisterous as I was, but he wasn't that impulsive either. He was more analytical in his actions, while I was more instinctual. I acted out of emotion rather than logic, and that had gotten me into plenty of trouble before. Luke balanced me out and could pull me back.

It's honestly why I got into martial arts. It gave me a place to put all of my emotions. When I was fighting or training, my brain would quiet down instead of racing with all the thoughts and feelings I was having. It gave me an outlet, just like BDSM did. They both calmed my mind and body in different ways. They were both something that I needed. I put my all into both of them, and while I couldn't be a professional Daddy, I could be a professional MMA fighter. Until my injury, anyway.

Lifting my fists up as I got into a proper stance, Luke and I started circling one another on the mat. I could feel the tension radiating off both of us. The information we had gotten from Alec had set us both on edge, and we both needed this, it seemed.

Watching my brother as he watched me, I could tell the exact moment he was going to strike from the slight twitch in his left eye. Bringing my hands up, I blocked the kick he had aimed at my side and grabbed his ankle to twist him around and toss him to the ground. Lucas grunted as he landed before he recovered quickly and pushed up to his feet again.

It was on after that first strike. We were a blur of fists and kicks as we took our frustration out on each other. There was nothing technical about it either. We just took our anger out on each other. Just picturing the abuse that gorgeous boy had gone through made me sick to my stomach with rage. He seemed so sweet. He was shy, but I could see a little spark in his eyes when Luke spoke to him, apologizing for me. A brief spark of a fun and boisterous Little whom I wanted to draw out and get to know. Would he be a sweet thing, or a brat who pushes our buttons? With how closed off he was, there was no way to tell, but I wanted to find out. We had only just met him, but I knew he was special.

I also wanted to find his ex and beat the living shit out of him. Prison was too good for him for what he had done to Elias. I wanted to make him suffer. Drag it out and torture him the way he had tortured Elias.

Landing a blow to Luke's side, he grunted and retaliated with a hit to my stomach. Coughing from the hit and how it had forced the air from my lungs, I growled and lunged at him. Hitting him a few more times, I jumped back and growled.

"Goddamnit! A flagrum, Luke. A fucking flagrum! Do you know the damage you do with that?! That's not a kink, that's plain torture. Even extreme pain sluts don't use an actual flagrum! Fuck! I want to find that fucker and use it on him instead. He has no right to call himself a Daddy. No fucking right!"

My twin watched me as I ranted and yelled. Just the thought of that poor boy going through that had me seeing red. Elias was shorter than us and smaller. He was lithe and elegant, whereas Luke and I were broad and muscular from years of training. I admired him even more now for surviving something like that and still wanting to be in the BDSM lifestyle. The strength it took was admirable. This beautiful boy had lived through hell, and he was still here trying to be involved. Trying to find the beauty in submission as he did before. Trying to connect and open up to people who thought the same. I knew I would do everything in my power to make sure he succeeded.