Page 10 of His Pet

After their time outside, they were brought back into the compound, heading for the main room where the Wolf so often held court, and Bella couldn't stop the fine tremor that went through her. She clung even closer to Alex. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him glance down at her before he wrapped his arm around her again. On another day, it might have made her feel weaker, but today she needed it.

The Wolf was on the dais, along with Jordan, Cora and Trace. It took Bella a moment before she saw Trish, kneeling beside Jordan's chair rather than being on his lap. She had her head on his lap, his hand stroking through her hair. But her eyes were on Bella, her expression a combination of so many different emotions that Bella couldn't even begin to interpret. Did some of her missing memories involve Trish?

She had the feeling that they did, but she couldn't tell if it was just because of what she was picking up from looking at the other woman, if she had actually retained something during those lost hours, or if it she was just imagining it.

When Cora looked up at them, her slow smile made Bella's trembling increase.

The soldiers led them over to the side of the Wolf's dais and Alex immediately pushed Bella behind him, onto the cushions that were there. He sat on the edge, blocking her from the view of most of the room, including those sitting on the dais, with his larger body. Grabbing one of the pillows, Bella held it against her stomach, curling around it as if it was the stuffed bear she'd slept with every night when she was a child.

"It'll be okay," Alex murmured, his hands smoothing over the top of her head in much the same way that Jordan stroked Trish's.

To her relief, they were mostly ignored, other than the soldiers who were obviously keeping an eye on Alex and the occasional glance from Cora or Trace. No one seemed to be keeping an eye on her. Alex let her cuddle up to him again, one hand on her leg as she leaned against his back, but he didn't put his arm around her again. Doing so would prevent him from keeping his big body between her and the rest of the room, so she just leaned against his back, resting her head against his smooth skin and tucking her leg up where he could easily hold onto it.

The room was abuzz with noise from the rest of the soldiers at their tables, but because of the acoustics it was still possible to hear occasional snippets of conversation from the dais. Enough that Bella picked up that yesterday's mission had been successful, they'd gotten everything they'd wanted from the raid—including the drug that had been used on her and Alex—and that there was something else they were waiting for from it.

Bella wondered what the drug was actually for... and why one of the side effects was memory loss. Unless... no. Even if someone on the Moon was helping the Wolf, why would the Moon need memory-loss drugs? That made no sense. Maybe to help someone forget a trauma?

She rubbed her cheek against Alex's back, as if that could help ease the strange, sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Too many things about the Wolf and the Moon didn't make sense. It felt like she was seeing lots of little puzzle pieces, but couldn't find any two that fit together.

It wasn't until Alex tensed and his fingers sank into her thigh that she realized how deep in thought she'd been. She'd completely stopped listening to the conversations around her. Startled, she jerked her head up, looking over his shoulder, and her heart sank when she saw Cora looking back at her. Not at Alex. At her, specifically.

"No," Bella whimpered, so softly that the only person who could possibly hear her was Alex. It was an instinctive reaction, one without hope.

"Did you have a particular choice in mind?" asked the Wolf, standing up and looking over at them, his eyes glinting appreciatively as Alex shifted, the muscles in his shoulders rippling. "I do believe Toy wants to play."

Was the Wolf trying to direct Cora? Because it was fairly obvious to Bella who Cora wanted. And she didn't think she was just being paranoid.

"Toy was quite a bit of fun," Cora started to say, just as Alex picked up a cushion and hurled it at them.

* * *

"Alex, no," Bella whispered behind him, shock threaded through her voice.

But it was too late.

Throwing a cushion was stupid. It would never hurt anyone, it couldn't even be constituted a threat, but it did what it was meant to do. Cora's eyes locked onto him, and she raised her eyebrows, looking both amused and intrigued. His skin crawled as both the Wolf and Cora focused on him, but he’d taken their attention away from Bella, which had been the goal.

"If Toy wants to play so badly, then I think we should oblige him," Cora said, with a smile that made Alex's fists clench, as if in preparation for a fight. Behind her, Trace scowled and leaned down to say something in her ear. Cora turned and patted his shoulder, saying something back to him.

With another wistful look toward Bella, Trace turned and loped off down the dais and into the crowd where two women immediately latched onto him. At the same time, Cora and the Wolf both refocused their attention on Alex.

The Wolf gestured to the soldiers nearby. "Take Pet to her room. We'll bring Alex to Cora's."

Even though they were being separated, Alex felt a spurt of relief. Unfortunately, Bella looked more upset than ever, tears filling her soft brown eyes as she grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

"I'm sorry, Alex, I'm so, so sorry," she whispered as the soldiers came closer.

"Worth it," he whispered back, planting a kiss on her forehead before the soldiers pulled her away.

When he looked back up at the Wolf and Cora, Cora had already turned away, but the Wolf was still watching him. There was no expression on the older man's face that Alex could read but there was something about the man's stance...

And then he turned away and the moment was lost.

Cora's room was huge. Decorative. Completely different from the room Bella and Alex occupied. As if he'd needed more indications on where he and Bella ranked in the scheme of things.

To his surprise, there was some obviously masculine clothing scattered around the room. Large masculine clothing. Was Cora sharing the room with someone? Was this why the Wolf hadn't been by the last few nights?

He hadn't seen all that much sexual tension between the two of them; even now they were both definitely more focused on him than on each other.

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