Under a Raging Moon: Part Two

by Chambers, V. J.

  The shift was just as euphoric as the last one, but the guys weren’t as trusting of me this time, so there was no curling up all together in wolf form and falling asleep together. Instead, the minute we were back, we all shifted into human form. I was instantly hit by guilt and disgust for what we’d done. The wolf enjoyed killing animals, but I didn’t like the blood and violence. I was horrified with myself.

  If the guys noticed, they didn’t let on. They just shut me back up in the bedroom. Business as usual.

  Hudson was angry with me, and he didn’t speak to me, but Kale came by to let me out of the bedroom when I needed to go to the bathroom and to bring me water or food sometimes. He was kinder to me, but he didn’t make any promises when I begged him for help, which I did every day.

  It was strange, because I noted that they seemed to have shifted roles. When I first met Kale, he was standoffish and cold towards me, whereas Hudson welcomed me with open arms.

  But know that I knew them better, I realized it matched their personalities. Kale was slow to melt towards someone, but once he did, he was loyal. That was why it had taken a while to warm to me. He felt betrayal deeply, though. He didn’t quickly change from either a positive or a negative emotion, which was why he’d carried a grudge against Hudson for so long. Also, I thought it was obvious that Kale had a different view of women than Hudson, probably owing to the different socializations they’d had as teenagers. Kale’d had to pursue women, and he’d been rejected a lot. He valued women.

  Hudson, on the other hand, had been a campus stud. He was used to women throwing themselves at him, and he took it for granted. In fact, it contributed to his negative views of women. Not only that, but Hudson’s temper was hot and fast. He had taken to me right away, but turned on me just as quickly.

  The truth was that Hudson was more right about me than Kale was. I hadn’t come into their lives with pure intentions. I’d come as a thief, ready to rob and run away. I wasn’t really someone who could be trusted.

  But morally, it was a wash, I figured, considering what they’d done to me.

  One night, I woke up with a start, instantly knowing that I’d gotten my period. When I was young, just going through puberty, my mother used to make me clean my sheets and pajamas in the middle of the night every time I had an accident and bled all over them. She didn’t do it as punishment. She was just the kind of woman who believed in cleaning up messes when they happened, not putting them off.

  Anyway, the upshot of this was that I soon trained myself to wake up at the first sign of bleeding. I was so good at this that I pretty much always caught it before any blood even made it to my underwear.

  I got out of bed and checked. Yup. That was my period, all right.

  I banged on the door. “I need to go to the bathroom!” I yelled.

  It took several minutes before Kale came and moved things away from the door for me, so that I could get to the bathroom. Of course, when I got there, I realized there were no feminine products in the entire cabin.

  I stuffed a bunch of toilet paper in my underwear and swore a lot. It might be fine for now, but it wouldn’t make it through my heavier days. I was afraid to go back to sleep, in fact. This wasn’t going to protect me.

  I made so much noise that when I opened the door, both Kale and Hudson were standing there, looking bleary-eyed. I’d woken Hudson up too.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” said Hudson.

  “I just got my period, and there aren’t any tampons or pads or anything in this place.”

  Both of the guys flinched. Men were usually like that about menstruation.

  I put my hands on my hips. “You know what? This is what we were waiting for, right? This means that I’m not pregnant. So, why don’t you just let me leave?”

  “Now, hold on,” said Hudson. “You getting your period doesn’t mean you get to leave. It just means that you could choose one of us to have sex with from now on.”

  “I don’t want to choose either of you, you ass. I don’t want to have sex with you.” Well, that was a lie, because having sex with them was awesome, but he didn’t need to know that. I turned to Kale. “You promised me that you’d talk to him.”

  Kale looked at his feet. “Well, I will. But you’re not making it easier.”

  “You haven’t talked to him yet?” I couldn’t believe this.

  “I don’t talk to him a lot, okay?” said Kale.

  I folded my arms over my chest. “I thought you guys were friends again.”

  They exchanged a look which let me know that their truce had only been temporary.

  I sighed. “Please? Look, I can take the electric truck. Just give me the keys. You can say that I got it away from you, that I snuck out.”

  Hudson narrowed his eyes. “How do we even know you actually have your period? You could be faking.”

  “You want to see the blood coming out of my vagina?” I demanded.

  Hudson shrugged. “Maybe.”

  My jaw dropped. Then, fiercely, I started to unbutton my pants. “Okay, fine, if that’s what you want—”

  “Okay, okay,” said Hudson, holding up a hand. “I believe you.” He let out a huge sigh.

  “Let me go,” I said.

  “We can’t let you go,” said Hudson. “If we lose you, the conclave will mete out consequences, and they won’t be pretty.” He eyed Kale. “It might be okay for you. You’re pure blood. But my mother was a bitten werewolf, and I don’t have your pedigree. They could ruin me. Force me out of my job. Run me out of town.” He turned back to me. “Sorry, Piper, but you’re not worth it.”

  “Fine,” I said. “Just great.” I balled up a hand into a fist and drove it into the wall. “I still don’t have any pads, you know.”

  Hudson took a set of car keys out of his pocket. “I’ll drive out to the nearest town and get you some pads.”

  “Are those the keys to the electric truck?” I said.

  He smiled.

  I lunged for them, but he pulled them back at the last second, out of my reach.

  “I don’t think so, Piper.”

  I hated him at that moment. Despised him. Maybe that was why the next words ripped out of my mouth. Or maybe it was desperation.

  No. It was genius. I was finally using my head to get out of this situation.

  “If you’re going out, get me some Benadryl.”

  Hudson furrowed his brow. “Benadryl?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I need it. I always have to have some when I’m on my period. Trust me, without it, I’ll be a royal bitch.”

  “It’s for allergies,” said Hudson.

  “Yeah, I’ve never heard of using it for PMS,” said Kale.

  “It’s the least you could do for me,” I said. “You seriously going to deny me an over-the-counter drug? I really am a prisoner, aren’t I?”

  “Fine,” Hudson muttered. “Benadryl, it is.”

  “And some groceries,” I said. “I don’t want to shift anymore.”

  “You’re going to cook for us?” Hudson clearly didn’t believe me.

  “It’s better than shifting into a werewolf.”

  * * *

  I didn’t have much of a plan, but I knew that Benedryl knocked me out. I knew that I could take one of the pills and sleep for ages. The guys were a lot bigger than me, so I figured they were going to need more than one pill. I crushed up four for each of them, just to be safe.

  I could do that in the safety of the bedroom, away from their watchful eyes. I scooped the powdered pills into a tiny container and kept it in my pocket.

  The tough part was getting it into their food.

  Both of them seemed to be hovering a lot as I cooked. I was making burritos, even though Hudson had bought stuff for spaghetti as well, and they both asked me about it. Spaghetti was a one-pot meal, and I didn’t want to dose the entire batch of sauce, because I needed to eat some. I figure it would be much easier to get the crushed up pills onto their individual burritos.

&n
bsp; But they were both watching me like a hawk. I tried to tell myself that there was no way they were suspicious of my drugging them. But then I second-guessed myself. What kind of an idiot tells someone that she needs Benedryl to get through her period? That was dumb. Maybe that had seen through that.

  Maybe they knew exactly what I was doing.

  I was nervous all throughout the preparations. My hands shook as I tried to open the can of black beans, and I almost spilled it. I struggled to open the bag of shredded cheese, and when it did open, cheese went everywhere. But, somehow, I made it through all of that, and I got the meal made.

  Then, all I had to do was assemble it. I had the tortillas and the fillings all sitting out.

  Both of the guys were crowded around me, smelling everything and commenting on how great it looked.

  But I needed them gone so that I could sprinkle Benedryl all over their burritos.

  How was I going to get rid of them?

  “So, what are we waiting for?” said Hudson.

  “This looks amazing, and I am starving,” said Kale.

  I was waiting for them to go away, but I didn’t know how to get rid of them. I did some busy work, giving the beef strips another stir in the skillet, wracking my brain.

  “Um,” I said, “actually, can you guys give me a hand with something?” I was grasping at straws.

  “What?” said Kale.

  “Napkins,” I said.

  “Napkins?” said Hudson.

  I nodded. “Um, yeah, I’m sure I saw some in the pantry, and I feel like this is going to be a messy meal, so if you guys could just go look? Both of you, because I don’t trust either of your eyes individually.”

  They shrugged.

  “Okay,” said Hudson.

  And they both trooped out of the kitchen.

  Frantically, I got out their tortillas and sprinkled the crushed-up pills all over them.

  By the time they both came back—empty-handed, of course, because I’d made up the bit about napkins—their burritos were both half-assembled.

  “Piper, I think there are napkins in this cabinet,” said Hudson. He opened it and took them out.

  “Oh,” I said. “That must be where I saw them.” I shrugged. “Sometimes I’m a ditz.” I beamed at them both.

  We all settled down to eat.

  If they noticed anything off about their burritos, they didn’t say anything. Instead, they inhaled them and asked for seconds.

  I made them more burritos, but I didn’t have any more Benedryl, at least not crushed-up.

  They seemed fine all throughout dinner and when they helped with the cleanup afterward. In fact, if I hadn’t known better, I would have said that things were back to the way they’d been before the electricity had come back on. They seemed comfortable with each other, and they were both back to flirting with me.

  But all I felt was anxious.

  Wasn’t this going to work? What if the Benedryl didn’t make them pass out after all?

  I waited nervously, watching them for signs of tiredness.

  They didn’t seem to exhibit any.

  After dinner, they wanted to barricade me in the bedroom again, but I couldn’t let that happen, or I’d be trapped.

  So I plastered a smile on my face, hoping against hope that they’d fall asleep soon. “Oh, come on, we were having such a nice time. Let’s not ruin it now. We can sit in the living room together and talk.” I dragged them both out there.

  But the only piece of furniture in the living room was the couch. I sat down right in the middle of it and patted either side of me.

  The guys sighed, but they sat down.

  “Look,” said Hudson, “if you’re going to try to convince me again that I should let you go, you can forget about it. I’m not going to change my mind.”

  “No, let’s not talk about that,” I said. “Let’s just pretend things are normal between us, like we’re all on vacation together. I want everything to be pleasant.”

  Kale snorted. “Two guys on a vacation with one girl?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  They were quiet.

  Dammit. If I didn’t keep the conversation up, they’d find some excuse to barricade me in that room.

  But, to my surprise, Hudson spoke up. “We could maybe do that.”

  “What?” said Kale. “Go on vacation together?”

  “No,” said Hudson, swallowing. “I just mean… if things were different… maybe something like this would have worked out.” He studied his hands. “I don’t know why you’re so adamant to get away anyhow, Piper. You said you were running from a bad situation. What do you even have to go back to?”

  “Anything’s better than being a prisoner,” I said.

  “But what if you weren’t a prisoner?” said Hudson. “I mean, what if you were, like… our girlfriend?”

  “Our?” said Kale.

  Hudson leaned around me. “It’s the obvious solution, isn’t it?”

  “It’s weird,” said Kale.

  “But it doesn’t feel weird, does it?” said Hudson. “I mean, all the stuff we’ve done with her, we’ve both been there, and it wasn’t actually that bad.”

  Kale’s face reddened. “No, bad isn’t the word I’d use.”

  “I miss you, man,” said Hudson. He went back to looking at his hands.

  “So, what are you saying?” said Kale. “You saying that we’d tell the conclave we decided to share her?”

  “Um,” I said, “have you guys forgotten that I’m sitting right here?” But the weird thing was that I kind of liked this conversation, and I liked the idea of being… shared.

  Hudson leaned his head against the back of the couch. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “But neither of us could mate with her then. That’s a one-on-one thing.”

  “So, big deal. Neither of us was mated to Lila either. As long as she was pregnant, the conclave didn’t care.”

  “I don’t want to have babies,” I said. I was serious about that.

  “Not ever?” said Kale, studying my face.

  Hudson yawned.

  “Well…” I looked back and forth between them. “What you’re saying is crazy. It would never work.” So, why did I want it so badly?

  “It might be hard,” said Hudson. His eyes were closed. “But if I could share a girl with anyone, it would be Kale. And besides, you obviously want both of us.”

  I peered at him. Shit. The Benedryl was working. And now I… I almost didn’t want it to work. I wanted to keep talking about this. It was a stupid, ridiculous idea, but I couldn’t help imagining myself with both of them. I remembered the way it had felt to kiss them, moving my mouth between their mouths. I bit down hard on my bottom lip.

  Kale stood up. “I feel really tired.” He took a staggering step towards the hallway. “I should, um…”

  I stood up. “Just sit down on the couch.” Shit, shit, shit. Well…

  It was over now. They wouldn’t want to be my boyfriends after this. I had drugged them. Besides, I’d be stupid to stick around after this.

  Hudson’s mouth was open, and his breath had gotten slow and even. He was already asleep.

  I walked Kale back to the couch. Helped him sit down.

  Kale furrowed his brow. “Why am I so tired?”

  “Shh,” I said. “Don’t fight it. Just rest.”

  It didn’t take long before both of them were asleep.

  I surveyed them, feeling guilty for doing it, feeling sad for what might have been. But it didn’t matter now. I had to get away.

  Carefully, I went through Kale’s pockets, looking for his wallet. Between the two of them, I figured he was more likely to have cash to spare. I eased the wallet out of his pocket, and I opened it up.

  Easing my fingers inside, looking for bills, I found something else.

  I tugged it out.

  “No fucking way,” I muttered.

  It was Lila’s necklace, the same one I’d been looking for. Kale’d had it in his walle
t—on him—this entire time.

  I shoved the necklace in my pocket, and then I relieved Kale of the money in his wallet.

  Next, I got the keys out of Hudson’s pocket.

  He stirred a little bit when I touched him, and I froze, afraid.

  But he didn’t wake up, and I got the keys.

  I backed away from them, taking them both in. They were beautiful, so strong and firm and male. As bad as this whole situation had been, I really was going to miss them.

  And then I turned my back on them, and I left.

  * * *

  I drove through the night. I didn’t know where I was going, or where the hell I was, so I drove aimlessly. After a while, I hit some signs for the interstate, and I saw some names of cities that I recognized. I realized that I wasn’t that far away from the town where Kale and Hudson lived, and it was a relief to have my bearings again.

  I took the interstate to the city, where I ditched the truck. I didn’t want any connection to the dead workers who’d driven it, after all. I boarded a bus and got the hell out of dodge. I was leaving my car behind, but that was a small price to pay. Besides, once I got paid for this necklace, I’d be able to get another car. It would mean a few less months of time not working, but that was fine with me. I was just glad to be away from all of this.

  I really was glad.

  I told myself that over and over, especially when I was pressing my forehead against the cool glass of the window of the bus and thinking about Kale and Hudson, missing them.

  They held you against your will, I told myself. You don’t care about them. You can’t.

  I slept in the bus, and when I woke up, it was time to take another bus. I hopped from public transport to public transport, running through almost all of the money that I’d taken from Kale.

  But eventually, I made it back to my apartment.