Page 5 of His Pet

"Life would be so much easier for you if you didn't fight everything," Nurse Roche said, her smile turning more cruel just before pain lanced through him, traveling from his neck along the nerve pathways all through his body. Just enough electric shock to leave him gasping for air as his knees hit the ground again.

And before he could get control back over his muscles, Nurse Roche was already beside him, wiping a small area with a wet pad that smelled of alcohol and stabbing the needle into the big muscle of his left arm. Alex grunted at the slight pinch, more angry than pained by his swift defeat.

As she stood, he caught the hem of her dress. "Where's Bella?"

"Not your concern, Toy," she said, pulling her dress out of his fingers as she patted him condescendingly on the head. "For once, you've been the good one. Enjoy it while it lasts."

Dread and helpless fury engulfed him as she left without a backward glance, the soldiers following behind her.

3

The main hall was filled with celebrating soldiers chattering and drinking. For once they all ignored Bella as she was taken up to where the Wolf was. Cora and Trace were nowhere to be seen, something she was mildly grateful for. Hopefully whatever was going to happen to her wouldn't include them. While Trace had been almost kind in some ways, Cora frightened her even more after she'd seen the redheaded crime lord with Alex. She'd been far rougher with him than even the Wolf was.

To her surprise, the Wolf smiled with pleasure when he saw her. Ignoring the restraints on her wrists, he pulled her onto his lap, cupping one of her breasts while he laughed and told jokes with the men around him. It only increased Bella's inner tension to have her breasts and nipples played with, knowing that punishment was imminent. Even if he didn’t know what she’d done yet, he would soon. And going by Jordan's treatment of Trish, the consequence would be a rough one. How could it be anything but? She'd gone into passageways that she shouldn't have even known were there.

One by one, the men on the dais left to join those below, leaving her and the Wolf almost completely alone.

He pinched her nipple, making her shiver as the pain and pleasure tingled through her in tandem, an endorphin rush that was both addictive and frightening.

"So, Pet," he said, his gravelly, deep voice in her ear feeling like it was sinking into the very marrow of her bones. "I hear you've been bad."

Bella trembled. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." She couldn't think of anything else to say. Nothing that would help, at least.

"It was rather brilliant," he said, shifting her around on his lap so that she was angled sideways, able to look at him. Those hard green eyes seemed to bore into her. "Or it could have been, if you'd known where you were going. My room has the easiest escape exits, just in case I ever need them. If you'd kept going straight, all the way to the end, you would have ended up by the main entrance. Go all the way to the right, and it lets out into the woods." He smiled, almost conspiratorially. "I wonder if you would have dared to try opening anything from in there."

Staring at him, she couldn't help but feel her tremors increasing. Knowledge was power... but it was also dangerous. "Why are you telling me this?" she whispered, frightened of the answer but needing to ask anyway. Was she going to be the first fatality among the Wolf's captives for knowing too much? Or the first to be kept here forever?

His eyes softened slightly as his hand stroked her back, almost comfortingly. That was even scarier.

"Because, sweet girl, you're not going to remember."

The arm around her tightened as he simultaneously cupped her jaw in his other hand, something sharp pinching at her arm. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a white lab coat and what looked like a needle, the kind they used on the Moon during those rare occasions when someone needed a shot. Bella whimpered, not understanding, terrified of what they might be injecting her with.

"Bella, look at me." The use of her name made her eyes widen even as she focused on the Wolf's calm gaze. The older man stroked her cheek with his thumb, studying her. His voice was stern, insistent. "Don't forget. You don't have to stay trapped in a dome. There's plenty of space to fly free on earth. And cages are never as safe as the animals inside them think they are."

She opened her mouth to say that she didn't understand, but her tongue felt fuzzy, as if it was swelling up to twice its size. Trying to blink away the darkness that was suddenly clouding her vision, she found that she couldn't open her eyes again and she went spiraling... spiraling... spiraling...

* * *

Blackness gave way slowly to light. Not bright light, at first. Just enough to rouse the senses. Sounds began to trickle in, voices talking. Not softly, but not overly loud either.

Alex groaned as he tried to move his limbs. They didn't seem to want to work. The darkness obscuring his vision went away slowly as he blinked. He was disoriented. That much he realized, but he wasn't sure what he should have been expecting. Everything felt confused.

Fuzzy shapes slowly came into focus; soldiers in khaki, activity swirling around a dark- haired man at a desk. A large blonde man stood next to him, a small young woman with matching pale blonde hair and wearing a light-blue dress tucked under his arm.

And then he remembered.

The Wolf.

Jordan.

Trish.

Bella.

He was supposed to protect Bella and she was... she was... where?

Looking around, he couldn't see her and panic welled up in his chest. Danger... there was danger...

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