To Command and Collar

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Synopsis

Working with the FBI, Shadowlands' dominant, Raoul Sandoval has managed to get an invitation to a small slave auction. Although what's going on there makes his blood boil, he manages to keep his emotions tamped down long enough to peruse the women up for bids, and he's surprised to find Kim, the best friend of Gabi, Master Marcus's submissive, who's been missing for months. Knowing that he wouldn't be able to look Gabi in the eye again if he didn't do something to save Kim, he decides to buy her freedom. Although it's not part of the FBI's plan and might backfire, Raoul manages to put on a good enough show to get a possible invite to a bigger slave auction. It would mean training Kim to be his slave, though, and Master Raoul isn't sure she's ready for something like that after all the abuse she's been through. However, the little submissive impresses him with her courage and spirit, earning his admiration and making him feel things he isn't sure he wants to. After one failed marriage that ended with his ex's betrayal, he isn't certain if he can allow another woman into his heart again.

Kimberly Moore was captured by slavers and has been held captive for months, brutally raped and abused by a man who bought her and later returned her to the slavers. Before that happened, though, she managed to stab her abuser, earning his ire. When Master Raoul shows up at the slave auction, he seems nicer than any other buyer who's shown an interest in her, but she doesn't dare to trust him until he purchases her freedom and tells her about his undercover persona. Kim can't help feeling guilty about the women who were left behind, so when the FBI asks her to train with Master Raoul so that they can try to save her friends and dozens of other women who've been enslaved, she bravely agrees. Because of her ordeal, the slave training is difficult for her, but Master Raoul is kind and compassionate while pushing her just far enough to get her ready for the next auction. Soon Kim is blossoming under his patient care and falling for her master, but while she's played at being a submissive before, she isn't sure if she can be the full-time slave he's looking for. Not to mention, her former owner is out for blood the moment he sees her at the slave auction.

Review

To Command and Collar is the sixth book in Cherise Sinclair's Masters of the Shadowlands erotic romance series that largely takes place in the Shadowlands BDSM club. In the previous book, Make Me, Sir, Gabi's best friend Kim had been kidnapped by slavers, but despite everyone's best efforts, she hadn't yet been found. This one begins with Master Raoul working undercover with the FBI. He attends a small event for slave buyers, hoping to get invited to the big auction so that he can lead the FBI to the slavers and take down their operation. That was his entire mission, but when he meets Kim at the event, he simply cannot leave her behind. Trying to maintain his cover, he buys Kim's freedom, while getting a possible in for the larger auction. Once he has her back home, Raoul tells her the truth about his real reason for being there, and after reuniting with Gabi, Kim can hardly believe her good fortune. However, the slaver known only as the Overseer has insisted upon a follow-up visit with Raoul to ascertain whether he's happy with his new slave. Raoul is reluctant to put Kim through any more, but the FBI agents, Vance and Gaelen, push to maintain the ruse with the slavers. After thinking it over, Kim agrees as a way to help out the women she had to leave behind, but it will mean living with Raoul 24/7 and going through enough training as his slave to pull off the undercover mission. Although it's a challenge to overcome all the abuse she suffered, in Master Raoul's care, she discovers parts of herself, which she didn't know existed and which confuse her. Kim never thought she'd want to be a man's slave, but Master Raoul brings her to heights of passion and pleasure she's never experienced before and that make her want to give him everything. When the sting operation is over, though, she struggles to make sense of her own feelings. For his part, Master Raoul has already been in one failed relationship with a woman who wasn't the kind of submissive he needed, and he fears having his heart broken again.

Kim grew up with a father who was emotionally and verbally abusive, and it seemed to her that her mother was practically a slave to her father's whims. Kim had done some experimenting in BDSM clubs but she'd always leaned toward the lighter side of the Dom/sub relationship, never wanting to be fully reliant on a man for everything. Then she was abducted by slavers and her whole life changed. During the months she's been missing, Kim has been brutally raped and abused, first by the Overseer and later by the man who purchased her and eventually returned her. When Master Raoul shows up at the slave sale, he seems nicer than the others, but she doesn't want to fall into a trap by trusting him. After buying her and taking her home, he finally lets her in on the fact that he'd been working undercover with the FBI, and reunites her with her best friend, Gabi. Kim would like nothing more than to never have to think about her time as a slave again, but she also can't stop thinking about the women she'd left behind, which is why she agrees to the FBI agents' plan to pretend to be Master Raoul's slave. It's challenging to get past her fears, but Master Raoul is kind and compassionate, carefully reading her while pushing her limits so that she'll be ready when the time comes. Throughout her training, Kim feels conflicted. A part of her loves the things Master Raoul does to her, while another part is confused, feeling like she shouldn't, especially after all she's been through. When the big day arrives, the couple work together to help the FBI take down the slavers, but once it's all over, Kim isn't sure if she can be the slave Master Raoul needs. Underneath her sweet submissive side, Kim is tough as nails. Despite being put through hell by the slavers, she still thinks of the other women and wants to help them. She's brave in letting Master Raoul train her in the fine art of being a true submissive, and later facing her greatest fear by returning to the slave auction. She's equally courageous in going after the man she's fallen in love with when he isn't sure he can let her into his heart.

Raoul is an engineer who has known for most of his adult life that he's a Dom. Several years ago, he fell madly in love with a woman, but it was a poor match, and she betrayed him in the worst possible way. In the three years since they divorced and she revealed his lifestyle to his family, his mother and sister have barely spoken to him. The Shadowlands Doms have been working with the FBI to get a bead on the slavers, so when an opportunity arises for Raoul to go undercover as a buyer, he doesn't hesitate. What he finds there sickens him. He immediately recognizes Gabi's friend, Kim, from a photo, and although he wasn't supposed to do anything but secure an invitation to the big slave auction, he can't just leave her behind. In order to maintain his cover, though, he must touch her and flog her, but he does his best to give her some choice in the matter and to not actually hurt her. Once he purchases her freedom and gets her back to Gabi, Raoul figures that's the last he'll see of Kim, but when the little sub bravely volunteers to train as his slave to go up against the villains, he feels a deep sense of responsibility toward her. He works with her, gradually earning her trust, and helping her discover her own limits, while getting her ready to meet with the Overseer again. Throughout their time together, Raoul begins to fall for Kim, but once their undercover mission is over, he thinks it's best to let her go. He's already had one disastrous relationship with a woman who wasn't what he needed in a submissive, and he doesn't want to have his heart broken again when Kim is so uncertain of what she wants and also needs to heal from her experience. Like all the Shadowlands Doms, Raoul is no pushover, but at the same time, he has a sweet side lurking beneath the hard Dom exterior. I love that he's an honorable man who takes the time to give Kim the consistency she needs so that she'll know she can trust him no matter what situation arises. I also love all the little endearments he has for her. While it might have been a bit frustrating for him to push her away at the end, I felt like it showed his vulnerability. He was afraid of giving her his heart and having it stomped on again.

To Command and Collar is one of the best books in the Masters of the Shadowlands series so far, and that's saying something, because I've loved nearly every one of them. Raoul and Kim are perfect together. I love how they take the time to learn and understand one another, so that they can work in sync during the undercover operation. Love kind of sneaks up on both of them, and while they aren't sure what to do about it at first, they figure it out with a little help from Z. This being an erotic romance, a large part of the story revolves around sex, and Raoul and Kim's love scenes are full of fire (both metaphorically and literally, since he's an expert at fire play) and passion. All that aside, though, the suspense subplot was extremely well done, too. We finally get the culmination of the FBI investigation into the slave ring that's been brewing for a few books now. That comes with a healthy dose of edge-of-your-seat suspense that climaxes with some great action sequences as Raoul and Kim must work together to fight off the slavers. Kim also gets to face off against the man who so cruelly abused her with satisfying results. The supporting cast was fantastic, too, with all the heroes and heroines of the past five books showing up in some capacity, as well as a few future ones. Master Sam meets Linda, one of the women who was left behind when Raoul freed Kim. He makes a major mistake, though, that results in her not wanting to see him again, so he'll have his work cut out for him to win her over in the next book, This is Who I Am. FBI agents and Doms, Vance and Gaelen, also meet sassy little sub Sally for the first time, and I can see how things could get very interesting for this trio in the eighth book, If Only. Everything came together to make To Command and Collar an amazing read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't wait to continue with the series.

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Themes

Tortured Heroines