The tiger’s gaze had locked onto the enhanced eyes of the buck as she stood behind him. “Please; No. After all the good you’d done earlier in your training, you go and say a fool thing like that.” She scolded him. The woman sighed and put her face in her paw shaking her head. “He really does have a knack for picking the most innocent and unwilling ones does he not?” She growled to herself as she then in a flash had snarled and grabbed the back of the buck’s neck and slammed him hard against the cross. “I do not make the rules, and you do not get to choose the ones you follow!” She roared out at him pinning the deer to that cross as he was too terrified to move now.


It made no difference if he moved on his own or not now though. Her size betrayed her strength as she expertly handled slaves larger than him on a daily basis. So even had he struggled, there was no contest to be had. She soon had his wrists lashed to that cross and then his ankles. She went to the backside of the cross and pulled on the chains from the backside, a retention mechanism holding the chains just as taught as she made them. 


The buck was trembling and looking her in the eyes as she adjusted those bindings to stretch him out as sternly as she could. A tear of fear rolled down his cheek as he stuttered out. “F-forgive me... Mistress... I,... I’m sorry...”


She caressed his cheek and looked into his eyes with a mixed emotion of both empathy and a sternness that was required for her job. “A wise person once told me that all pain is growth. And that punishments free the soul of the burden of guilt. I am not sorry for what I have to do to you. And soon, you will no longer be sorry either.” She grabbed a whip from the back of the cross that held many tools and the like for its use.


The tiger hybrid patted his cheek and stepped away from his view moving behind his exposed back. Her hand traced along his body before removing the chain from his waist and letting it and his silks fall to the ground leaving the entire back of his body bare to what felt like a freezing gale that was her presence. Once more she grabbed his tail that had been held down against his ass sternly this whole time in fear, and hoisted it high. She said simply “Lesson one.” as her footsteps could be heard walking away. 


She called “Tail, what boy?” there came a near silent whimper from him as he tried to speak but only managed to let out a squeak. This made her roar “TAIL, UP!” And with that came an ear piercingly loud crack as a welt instantly started forming across his back from the ultra fine tipped whip she now brandished. This was met by a deep sharp inhale from the buck before he trembled against those binds and shuddered making the chains rattle from his motions. 


The call came again “Tail?” to which the buck managed to stammer, but did so loudly “U-up!” Another loud harsh crack came and filled the empty room as it reverberated so loudly that it stung his ears almost as much as the line across his back. “UP, MISTRESS!” She roared back at him.


The first line across  his back had started to bleed in places lightly, and since there was no safewords in place, he had no way to back down, no way to beg or say this was too much. But it was a punishment. It was her will what happened here, and not his. Though she may have been hard on him, she knew she’d not break him. She also knew it’d not be pleasurable. And that was the goal for now. A true punishment and not a thrill.


The call came once more, her voice calm with the first call, every time. “Tail?” It was followed by the buck shouting loudly back “Up Mistress!” Once more there came a crack, this time across his ass, though not nearly as strongly, having backed down to a point it’d no longer break skin with the strike. The two lashes at  his back where not so fortunate, having a red and now partially furless X across his back.


And again, “Tail?” “Up mistress!” And once more echoed through that room a crack. As harsh as the last and no harsher. Leaving the fur on his ass intact and not drawing blood now that he started to learn the lesson.


Four more times it came and went, the call “Tail” The swift shouted reply “Up Mistress!” And the crack that left the buck’s ass in searing pain.

She stopped then and said “Ten lashes for failing to remember poses. The easy part is done.” The latter half of that statement sending shivers down his spine as he whimpered out “E-easy part?” The woman walked back over to him and he’d feel a cool moist spot on his back start to trace those two deeper lashes that had drops of blood along their path. Each time it hit a bit of open flesh it stung like a burning needle as the alcohol cleaned the wound, only to have it feel like ice-cubes stayed there as the second part of the medication kicked in and reacted with the blood in such a way that it formed an instant scab over the wound, perfectly sealed and cleaned. Unbeknownst to him she also used this to clean her hands and in particular her claws for what was to come.

“Yes boy. This was going to be fun for you after that bit... but you straight to my face told me no. You can not do that. Not now, not ever. For that, you will be branded.” She sighed and placed her paw at the back of his neck, only for him to feel a single claw below that newly installed data port. “Remember your breathing boy. In, two, three, four, five. Out, two, three, four, five.”

That claw dug into his flesh deep enough to draw blood as the buck tried his best to breath feeling that sharp stabbing pain. He took a deep sharp breath with it, but then tried to maintain his breathing. He trembled helplessly at the bindings as she kept counting with him, helping him breath, but leaving the claw at the base of his skull. Oddly, the sensation changed from a sharp stabbing pain to a new curious pain that felt like a thousand needles where poured into that fresh wound.... And the horror was when he noticed that the pain was now expanding, traveling straight down his spine. Her claw had turned to a frozen knife of sorts, both slicing a quarter centimeter or so into his skin, splitting his dermis entirely and then freezing it in a way as to ensure it would be branded like such.


The buck trembled hard against those chains, pulling hard enough on his wrists that his hands went numb and cold as he shouted loudly in pain. Those shouts turned quickly to a mantra  of “I’m Sorry Mistress! I’m Sorry, I’ll never tell you no again!” shouted over and over for a few repetitions. Leaving her claw there between his shoulder blades now the tigress reached over and grabbed a bite-bar muzzle that was hanging on the back of the rack. She quickly slipped it over  his maw and he more than happily accepted it biting down on the rubberized bar as hard as he could. 

The tigress slowly carved a line straight down his spine while the buck cried heavily and bit that bar so hard he swore he heard his teeth cracking. But thankful for him the sounds where more the shackles and chains settled some and his over-frantic mind twisted that into something worse.


The mistress' work was slow, steady, deliberate. This was his first permanent mark, something he would always remember for the rest of  his life. She wanted to make it as clean, as straight as possible. She remembered as she was doing this her first mark, and how she wished it was as gentle as ice. Beneath the fur of her right wrist, the one now carving her mark into him, hidden under a lovely silver wrist cuff, was a lattice of electrical scorching. She’d taken a swing at her Lord in her early training and he caught it, and fried her wrist. It seemed to never end and for weeks after the burnt skin had to be meticulously cleaned and cared for. 

While she was freezing this trail down his spine it would be only partially for added pain. She wanted to give herself time to apply the proper medical care afterwards, and a frozen wound is temporarily cauterized. As such even though she was slicing through the dermis entirely there was little to no blood at all even now a bit after she’d started. She slowly made her mark right down to his tail, and even split down the top of his tail now, finally slowly finishing off his mark. 


The buck was on the verge of passing out so he thought, that pain, that intense mind altering pain, the fear, the focus on breathing, the feeling of having wronged his mistress. What he didn't know is he was instead on the edge of something so much more deep. Something more terrifying to some, but absolutely beautiful to those who knew the truth.


She caressed the buck’s back and ass lightly leaning in and kissing his neck before whispering in his ear. “You are forgiven boy.” And with those words it was as if a spell was cast as he seemed to go entirely limp, and get lost in himself once more, but this time not by his choice. Instead he was driven to this new place in his mind by his mistress, her words, her actions. 


She undid the shackles first from his legs, then his arms, catching him as he fell limply into her embrace. She carried him over to the bed that had emerged beside the window overlooking the bio-dome. 


She cradled him for a moment, petting him and comforting him as she spoke quietly. “Your tasks for the day are done, and you have grown so much in such a short time. Your mistress is proud of you.” Deep down in the depths of his mind, he heard these words that seemed to come from his mind like before,... but they where spoken aloud. He was lost in this void between worlds, not asleep, but not awake. His mind was flooded with somany natural chemicals that he’d hit a natural, but forcefully induced high known as ‘Sub-Space’.


In this trance-like state it was critical that the dom who was there with him cared for him. If pushing harder they had to know the limits, but in this case, as she’d pushed him there at the end of their session, this ment doing a little therapy and after care. She knew this well and was more than versed enough to handle it. She pet and cradled him for a moment, the buck clinging to her in that bed and sobbing loudly. She removed the bite-gag and with it came a flood of emotions, mostly the buck whimpering out “I’m sorry mistress” Over and over and over in endless repetition.This was met with soft words of reassurance, and gentle petting of his head. “Shhhhh, it's all over boy. You’ve been absolved of all your wrong doing. You are forgiven.” 

The emotions shifted as they where confronted as well, the buck now going on about “I- I just wanted to make you proud.” Though now it was clear that these where not directly tied to what happened today, but instead this was one of the greater inner demons that plagued the buck’s mind likely since childhood. “And you have boy. You’ve made me and your master very proud.” She cooed to him as she started to tend to that slowly thawing wound on his spine. She used a type of medical gun on it that seemed to slowly fill the wound with a foam that was actually  designed to adhere to the skin, and then as the agents in the foam dissolved it would bring the wound tighter together before either gluing it shut, or making a barrier out of the glue that stretched over the wound like in this case where the cut was so deep.


The buck whimpered and cried, not able to even feel what was going on in the overworld at this point, not that it mattered as the remedy was painless. His sobs carried on as he kept apologizing for things, some of which made no sense. All things from his past as he was forced to relive those memories that haunted him. In sub-space, all of one’s emotional barriers are broken. Trauma, fear, pain, all of the demons one locked
 away in daily life where brought to bear here. And under a skilled overseer there was no better therapy. 


“Shhhh, rest boy. Remember your breathing.” She purred out as she finished patching up the damage she’d done to the poor buck’s back. She kept telling  him to remember his breathing, as it was a gauge for how deep he still was. And since she’d been careful she had only sent him into the shallow end so the recovery would not be long. Soon, his breathing took on that familiar rhythm after a gentle reminder, and she knew he’d surfaced. That paired with those eyes looking up at her still filled with tears as he clung to her, no recollection of how he got here, and only a vague memory of what had gone on since the rack.


Sniffling, he asked her “I... is it done?” To which the tigress simply nod and pet over his cheek and head, smoothing down and fondling an ear as she did. “Its all done. Your punishment is over. You owe no one any remorse, no grief, no pain. You’ve done no wrong in my eyes as long as the lessons have been learned. And should they not be, we will simply repeat the lesson until it is. That is the way of your life now. The way of our lives.”


She slid off that silver cuff from her right wrist and held it up to show the boy the hidden scars. “Master taught me these lessons as well. You never outright refuse your Master or Mistress. Instead, if you want to decline, you must offer alternatives, or ask if there is any other way. If not, then you must accept your fate. Never rise against them, or raise hand to them like I did...”


The buck asked a simple question that seemed more straight forward than it had any right to be. “W-why don't we get told these rules? Why do we need to figure them out like this?” She smirked and tapped the boy’s nose. “If you read it in a handbook, would it have had anywhere near this impact?” She held a paw under his chin, keeping his eyes looking up at her own. “The rules should be common sense if you are dedicating yourself to this role. Fully accept your new role and you will figure things out without having to be told them.”

She smirked that same devilish shit eating grin she’d given  him when they first met. “And because you never asked. We do not give things freely. They must be asked for.” This garnered a simple nod from the buck as his chin was let go and she instead pulled his face in against her soft bosom. He was not often aroused, but.... Something about being nude, laying in bed with a beautiful woman and  his face planted against her chest... well lets face it most men would have been aroused much sooner. 


She could not help but notice  his arousal, but called no attention to it, letting this be a tender moment and not get spoiled by the carnal desires of the body. Another lesson, for another day.