Page 35 of His Pet

"How are they doing?" he asked one of the soldiers.

Sleepily, Trish turned her head to see who he was talking about. The couple from the museum, unconscious, were being picked up and carried out of one of the other cars. She recognized them from their clothes. The bodyguards, of course, were nowhere to be seen. Then Trish realized that she actually did recognize the couple—and not from the museum. Her jaw dropped.

17

That morning, Bella and Alex weren't taken outdoors, instead they were taken directly to the Wolf's main room. He was sitting behind his desk, but he looked up when they were brought in, a cruel smile sliding over his face.

"Ah, my Pet and Toy," he murmured, his eyes traveling over their naked bodies. Not like he didn't get to see them often enough, but for some reason he was looking at them as though he was enjoying the sight more than usual. "Good, I've been waiting for you."

Not the most comforting words, considering who they were coming from. Alex felt Bella tense beside him, as if she was sure something awful was about to happen to them. Was the Wolf going to make them forget everything now? They didn't know how far back the drug could mess with their memories, but if he did drug all of his captives before returning them to the Moon, then it must be very far back indeed.

The soldiers pushed them forward, and a few minutes later they found themselves in somewhat familiar positions. Bella was on the Wolf's lap, arranged so that her legs were over his and her head was most easily rested on his shoulder. Beside them, on the floor next to the desk, Alex knelt on a cushion. It was the closest he'd ever been to the Wolf's desk while Bella was on the man's lap. Normally he had to watch from afar; now he got a close-up view of the Wolf fondling Bella's breasts and pussy as he worked.

Soldiers came in and out with reports, mostly verbal, during which the Wolf would sit back in his chair, one hand on Bella's breast, pinching her nipple, the other slowly stroking between her legs. Bella kept her face turned away, into the Wolf's shoulder, almost as if she was cuddling against him, but now Alex could see how red her cheeks became, how she was hiding the increased pace of her breathing as the Wolf toyed with her. After their time with him, he knew exactly how to touch Bella to arouse her, and to keep her on edge without giving her satisfaction. Occasionally he'd reach out to run his fingers through Alex's hair. Once he smeared Bella's pussy juices across Alex's lips, as if to show that he hadn't forgotten that Alex was kneeling there.

There was the strangest tension in the air, Alex noticed after a while. The soldiers kept looking toward the door at the end of the room, the big one, as if waiting for something. He felt his own tension beginning to grow. So far today he hadn't seen any sign of Cora or her soldiers.

Finally, the mood in the room shifted, and—almost as if on cue—two soldiers ran up to move the Wolf's desk to the side of the dais, leaving Bella and Alex completely exposed to the room. The Wolf shifted Bella on his lap, so that her back was against the left side of his chest, ostensibly so that she was forced to face the front of the room. He kept his hand on her breast, but the one that had been between her legs slid over her thigh, wrapping around it almost protectively.

He nodded at a soldier who was standing next to the large door.

Tension in Alex's chest tightened. He hadn't been wearing the collar for days now, the thought of trying to actively attack the Wolf's soldiers had pretty much been dubbed a very bad idea at this point. As soon as the door opened, he almost wished he was still wearing it. At least then he would have an excuse for just standing there, frozen. It felt like he was being sucked down into a whirlpool, like water was rushing past his ears—but even through that, he was so attuned to Bella that he still heard her gasp of recognition.

At the other end of the hall, Ken and Lisa were pushed forward, naked and stumbling. Is that what he and Bella had looked like when they first arrived?

Jordan came in behind them, Trish at his side, his hand wrapped around hers. Alex was surprised to see her shoot a look of distaste at Lisa as the couple was ushered forward.

"I demand you tell me what's happening!" Ken shouted as a soldier came up and grabbed his arm, pulling him down the length of the hall. He was red-faced and practically vibrating with fury, his haughty tones making it clear that he still thought he was in control of the situation. "Do youknowwho my father is?!"

Idiot.

His own response surprised Alex—even though he'd thought Ken was an idiot before, he hadn't expected his own feeling of contempt for his former best friend. Contempt that had nothing to do with the fact that he was a cheater and a shitty friend. No, it was entirely due to looking down at Ken and seeing him as nothing more than a spoiled brat, outraged and unthinking, sure that his money and family's prominence allowed him to talk to others any way that he wanted—even if they'd stripped him down and were half-dragging him through an unknown room.

Lisa seemed a little bit more aware, unlike Ken. She looked up at the dais and seemed to realize immediately where they were. Her lips formed a soft "o" and then her face lit up. The same reaction that Alex had seen from Zander and Maureen, the day captives that the Wolf had procured. Hard on the heels of his contempt for Ken, came a disgust for Lisa. And again, it had nothing to do with her as a cheater. He'd known, from the media vids that the Wolf had allowed them to watch, that she and Ken were grasping at fifteen minutes of fame, but somehow he still wouldn't have thought that she would find herself in the Wolf's hall and be excited about it.

"Gag him."

The Wolf's voice rolled through the room and Alex winced. He'd forgotten about the particular acoustics of this room and the way it could be used to intimidate. It wasn't a trick that the Wolf used on an everyday basis. Ken protested, of course, but the gag was strapped around his head and his hands bound behind his back, to keep him from attempting to remove it, before he could say more than a few words. He didn't try to fight, he just seemed enraged and like he couldn't understand why no one was listening to him.

Alex almost wanted to snort. He might have been a bit of an idiot himself when they were first taken, acting out of instinct and rage, but at least he could feel as though he'd acquitted himself better than Ken currently was. If this was how captives from the Moon normally behaved when taken by the Wolf, he could sympathize more with the Wolf's and the soldiers' dismissive and contemptuous attitude for them. No wonder they'd all been so fascinated by Alex and Bella, and their apparently unusual reactions.

Caressing Bella, the Wolf turned slightly in his chair, to look at Alex. Everything about his demeanor said that he was almost bored by the display being put on in front of him. "So Toy, what do you think of your replacements?"

Both Alex and Bella jerked, as if his words had actually physically hit them.

A chaotic surge of emotions trampled through Alex as the implication of those words hit home.

They were being released...

They could go home.

Ken and Lisa would be left with the Wolf.

They weren't just day captives.

Bella was going to be okay.

What would happen to him and Bella when they returned to the Moon?

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