Page 24 of His Pet

Alex's voice was hoarse, rough. She turned, feeling strangely guilty, snatching her fingers away. Looking rumpled and yet still attractive, Alex was staring at her from the center of the bed, his gaze caressing her body as if he was looking her over for any signs of injury. Warmth bloomed inside her chest as she moved back toward him, wanting to feel the false safety of his arms around her.

"Trying to remember something, I think," she said, as she crawled back onto the bed. It felt so natural, so right, to just snuggle up next to him, ignoring the soreness of her nipples as they pressed against his hard chest. Maybe if she remembered something, he would too. "Something about the sigil."

He frowned and glanced over at the wall. "That thing? It's all over the place."

"I know... I just... I don't know. Maybe it's nothing." Especially if Alex couldn't remember, because whatever they'd been made to forget, both of them must have known.

He hugged her tightly, stroking his hand over her hair. "I think I figured something out."

"What?" she asked eagerly, hope sparking in her chest.

But it wasn't about the sigil or about their memory loss, it was about the Wolf. The way he manipulated the people of the Moon, using the captives as a red herring to deflect attention from his other activities and the other criminals who controlled Earth. Listening to Alex, it was like puzzle pieces coming together in Bella's head.

It all made so much sense. It even explained why no one had picked up on the connection between the Wolf and the Moon at any point, how easy it would be for him to hide his involvement with someone in the Moon government. Even if someone did find out, they would probably assume that the Moon official was trying to get the captives released. Everything everyone thought about the Wolf always revolved around the captives and the debauchery.

Only Bella, Alex, and the other captives who were held for long periods of time were in a position to see the truth, and they were definitely in the minority. Still...

"Why hasn't anyone spoken up before?" she murmured into Alex's chest hair, her fingers stroking over his skin as she thought.

"Maybe they didn't figure it out. Or maybe it's the memory drugs," Alex said tightly. His voice roughened. "We're going to get out of here, Bella. Before he can drug us. We're going to get out of here and expose him."

He made it sound so simple that for a moment Bella truly believed him. But then she remembered the Moon documents, the mystery still surrounding that. Somehow she had to figure out what was going on before they left. Not that Alex was any closer to finding an escape route.

The sigil flashed in her mind again and she shook her head to clear it.

* * *

They were left alone all day, which was a relief to Alex. Soldiers came by with food and the cream that they applied to each other, sighing with relief as the healing balm immediately soothed their soreness. In the afternoon, the vidscreen flicked on, showing them the news for the second time since they'd been captured.

The excitement coming off the screen, from the reporters, as well as Maureen and Zander, was palpable and it made Alex feel sick to his stomach, even as anger rose up in his chest. They confirmed that Bella and Alex had been taken by the Wolf, and glossed over exactly what had happened during the orgy, describing it in vague terms meant to tantalize. The way the Moon worked, someone would end up paying them for a more detailed description that wouldn't appear in interviews but would be disseminated throughout the population.

Sheep, all of them, with the Wolf as their shepherd. An antiquated notion for people on the Moon, but there were still herds on Earth.

Bella watched, sitting on the bed with her knees up to her chest and her chin resting atop them, her face stoic and pale. Alex found that he couldn't sit still. He was too angry, too disgusted. Especially since there was still no mention of Trish, and he knew very well that she'd come from the Moon as well. Why the disconnect? Was it only because his and Bella's families were so prominent?

Even worse was when they finally interviewed their families. They were relieved to know that Bella and Alex were alive and, basically well, and begged the Wolf to release them soon. Then the program switched over to Ken and Lisa, who said that they had "come together" in their time of distress and they didn't blame Bella or Alex for anything that they'd been forced to do in captivity. Alex sneered.

"Oh stop," Bella said quietly, in response to Alex's growling curses against his ex-girlfriend and former best friend.

He seriously hoped his parents didn't believe that bullshit for one second. "Who cares what they say anyway?

You and I know the truth."

"The truth is that there's something seriously wrong going on," Alex said shortly. It burned him to know that he'd never realized how wrong, never even looked at it, until the situation had affected him directly.

"With the Wolf?"

"No, with our fucking society!" Alex waved his hand at the screen. "With that! They're excited, can't you feel it? They're feeding off of this, not just the reporters, but everyone who's watching it. They don't care about what goes on down here on Earth, as long as it doesn't affect them."

Bella watched him pace for another long minute.

"We were the same." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"I know," Alex said, bitterly. It was the truth, and it chafed him, but he wasn't going to be a complete hypocrite and deny it. "I tell myself I wasn't as bad, because I didn't care about learning every detail, but in some ways that's almost worst. Indifference instead of interest. The Wolf is acting like some ancient Roman dictator, and we're his gladiators. We're his circus. It doesn't just distract and entertain his people, but ours too."

"When we get back to the Moon, we'll do something about it," she said, although her tone was uncertain. Because, of course, they didn't know if anyone on the Moon was involved, or what kind of hold the Wolf might have over the Moon's government. They knew that there was some kind of connection.

They just didn't know how important that connection was.

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