Luminous

by Noelle Marie

  A bemused frown pulled at Katherine’s mouth. “So... where do you get all this stuff?” she asked, pushing herself up from where she sat in the corner of the hut and walking over to look at the heap of clothes piled near Serena.

  Serena crinkled her brow. “What do you mean?”

  “These clothes,” Katherine clarified. “No offense, but your pack doesn’t exactly make education a priority.” Serena had already explained to her that they didn’t have a formal school like Haven Falls did. “Why do you have a university sweatshirt?”

  “Oh.” Serena winced. “Well, Gerard and some of the others lift them from the hikers and hunting parties that get too close to camp. I mean, I know stealing is wrong,” she hastily acknowledged, “but at least they aren’t hurting anybody.”

  Right.

  If they were just stealing, Katherine would willingly lay down and let Gerard take her. She remembered what Lukas did to that poor, old man – Oliver Hampton – in order to commandeer his car. It was very likely that the original owner of the sweatshirt Serena was holding was dead.

  Serena, of course, refused to see what was right in front of her, and anger on behalf of whomever had once owned the sweatshirt filled Katherine as the girl attempted to hand it to her.

  “Do you want it?” she asked.

  And just like that, the anger deflated, swiftly replaced with sadness – pity, even. Katherine just shook her head at the misguided offer. She was still wearing the same outfit Melanie had given her at the motel in Vanderhoof, but she wasn’t about to put on something that belonged to some murdered college student. She’d rather wear the tattered clothes she was in until they fell off.

  Katherine wandered back over to the corner of the hut where she liked to lurk – she made it a point not to go near Gerard’s bed unless he ordered it – where she sat and pulled her knees up to her chest.

  Serena was still doing laundry when the sudden sound of footsteps approaching the hut caught Katherine’s attention. She braced herself for Gerard’s company, but when the flap door was brusquely pushed to the side, a man Katherine had never seen before strode into the room.

  If Katherine had to guess, she would say he was in his late thirties. He was lean, but not particularly tall, with grime clinging to every exposed part of him. The hair atop his head was wild, sticking up every which way, with a sloppily cut beard on his face to match.

  Serena immediately pushed herself off her knees and stood at his presence. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. “You know no one is allowed in here without Gerard’s express permission.”

  “Where is he?” the man barked, not even pretending to acknowledge Serena’s words. “Lukas is causing trouble again, skipping out on firewood duty to entertain that tramp he brought back with him from the so called important mission your cousin sent him out on. He’s been taking more than his fair share of the rations, too. If Gerard doesn’t do something about him, I’m going to-” he paused, his voice trailing off when his gaze suddenly landed on Katherine.

  “Well,” he muttered, taking a step towards her.

  Katherine hastily got to her feet.

  “Well, well.” His eyes caught sight of her protruding belly, and they widened in a manic sort of glee. “What do we have here?”

  Katherine wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach. “What? Never seen a pregnant chick before?” she snapped at him.

  He offered her a crooked smile. “Not one so pretty.”

  “Stop,” Serena demanded sharply when he took another step towards Katherine. “Leave her alone, Blake. She’s Gerard’s, and the reason for Lukas’s extra rations. He’s being rewarded for bringing her to him.”

  The man – Blake, apparently – didn’t recoil at the new information. His smile, however, did slide from his face. “I was forced to offer forth my mate when he first began his quest for an heir,” he spat. “The least Gerard can do is share his new pet with me.”

  “She’s here for the express purpose of conceiving Gerard’s offspring,” Serena argued.

  The man shrugged. “Well, then maybe she can have mine after.”

  “Stop,” Serena repeated her earlier order when he took yet another step towards Katherine, but her voice shook with nerves. She shifted uncertainly on her feet, like she didn’t know what to do. “I’m going to go get him,” she announced abruptly, apparently having come to a decision. She shot Katherine an apologetic glance before fleeing, leaving her alone with the strange man.

  He continued to stare at her. “It’s just like Gerard,” he complained, “expecting us all to share everything we have with him while he hoards all the best things for himself.” He shook his head, his resentment palpable. “Honestly, hiding you away in here like some greedy hog.”

  Katherine didn’t have time to respond to that before one of the man’s hands shot forward. He grabbed her by the bicep and pulled her close to him. “Let go of me,” Katherine snapped, slapping at him with her free hand, but he merely caught her by the wrist, twisting it behind her back and forcing her chest to press against his. “So pretty,” he muttered, his breath hot on her face.

  Katherine kneed him in the groin.

  Blake released her with a grunt, his hands immediately going to his bits. “You bitch!” he roared at her.

  Katherine made to dart around him, intent on reaching the exit he was blocking with his body, but the man threw himself at her, grabbing her by the waist and knocking her to the ground. Katherine only just managed to throw her hands out in time to catch her fall. She clenched anxiously at her belly, and Blake took advantage of her momentary distraction by climbing on top of her, forcing her stomach flush against the ground as he straddled her. Katherine stiffened when she felt him grind against her from behind. “This is only a preview of what’s to come,” he promised, leaning over and hissing the words into her ear.

  Then he was abruptly torn off her.

  Katherine wasted no time scrambling to her feet.

  Serena had returned with Gerard, and the latter was holding Blake by the scruff of his shirt, forcing him to stand on his tip-toes as he stared him down nose to nose. All the boisterous daring was wiped cleaned from Blake’s face at Gerard’s obvious rage.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Gerard asked, his voice deceptively calm as he slowly annunciated each word.

  Blake twitched in his grasp. “I just... you see... she-!”

  Gerard raised a hand in the air, calling for silence.

  Blake snapped his mouth shut.

  “I’ll give you one chance to explain why you think it’s okay to touch my property.”

  Blake’s mouth worked up and down. “I don’t... I mean, it’s just that... I didn’t know she belonged to you,” he finally finished lamely.

  It was an obvious lie, and there was no way Gerard didn’t know it. Regardless, he lowered Blake to the ground, releasing the grip he had on his shirt. “Okay.”

  Blake blinked, like he couldn’t believe his good luck. Katherine couldn’t believe it, either. “Okay?” he repeated dumbly.

  Gerard nodded. “Okay.”

  “Oh, thank you, Alpha! I swear, I-”

  Gerard’s eyes flashed yellow, and he lashed out, his hand transforming mid-swipe into a furry paw. His jagged nails ripped into the fragile skin of the other man’s throat. Katherine froze, completely stunned, as blood splattered on her shirt.

  Blake collapsed, more of the red substance pooling in his throat.

  “I detest liars,” Gerard informed the man calmly as he choked on his own blood. Less than a minute later, he was dead.

  “Come here,” Gerard bit out, roughly grabbing a shell-shocked Katherine by the arm. He hauled her forward with one hand, dragging the lifeless body of Blake carelessly on the ground with the other as he exited the hut.

  It was the first time Katherine had been outside in nearly a week, but she could hardly relish the experience. Cold snow bit into her feet, and a harsh wind whipped her hair around her face. She�
�d just seen a man die.

  It was Katherine’s first look at the western colony – or what used to be the western colony, anyway. She was in too much shock to take in much detail, but counted at least a couple dozen huts built similarly to Gerard’s. They were all stationed around a massive fire pit, its flame climbing high into the sky.

  A few men near the fire wore furs like Gerard’s, but everyone else meandering outside were in threadbare jackets and hats.

  Gerard roared.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing, directing their attention to him. Faces peeked out of huts. A child who had dirt streaked across his rosy nose and was riding his mother’s hip, stared at them – at her.

  They all stared at her. She even spotted Lukas and Melanie looking their way from where they sat near the massive flame.

  “Apparently, I should have made introductions earlier.” He thrust Katherine forward. “This here is Katherine. She’s mine. And this,” he said, throwing Blake’s lifeless body to the ground, “is what happens when you touch what’s mine without permission.”

  A fair-haired woman across the fire shrieked at the sight, nearly collapsing onto her knees, but the heavy-set woman standing next to her wrapped her arms around her and kept her upright. She glared at Katherine as she comforted her weeping friend.

  “Lukas, take care of this,” Gerard ordered coolly before yanking Katherine out of everyone’s sight and dragging her back towards his hut. He pulled open the flap door and tossed her inside.

  Katherine landed on the ground, and she was thankful for the soft fur that broke her fall or her hands and knees would have otherwise been skinned. She must have still been in shock, because when she opened her mouth, the stupidest thing tumbled out of it. “Well, I’m glad to know I’m to be your personal sex slave and not the community one,” she snarked.

  Gerard didn’t laugh. To be fair, neither did she.

  Something akin to panic blossomed in her chest, though, when she noticed he was unclasping the belt that held his pants up. “What are you doing?” she demanded, a hysterical edge to her voice as she attempted to climb to her feet.

  Gerard grabbed her by the back of the head, his fingers winding themselves in her long, dark hair as he pushed her down and forced her to remain kneeling. “Stay there, and don’t move. I should have done this the first night. It’s bad enough that you reek of that mate of yours, but now you smell like that little piss-ant, too.”

  He held her still as he pulled himself free from his pants.

  “No, wait! S-stop!” Katherine demanded, choking on the last word as he fondled himself, but Gerard didn’t listen. Soon, a hot stream of urine was soaking the shoulder of her shirt, running down her arm and torso. Her entire body was shaking by the time he was finished.

  Gerard hardly cared that she felt more violated than she ever had in her life. He merely released her hair and abandoned her trembling form on the floor. He stomped out of the hut, leaving Katherine alone with Serena, who’d quietly bore witness to the entire ordeal.

  As Katherine sat there, clenching her hands together in an effort to stop them from trembling, she realized something: the real reason Gerard had yet to force himself on her. It was because of her pregnant belly, but not for the rationale he’d claimed. He didn’t care that her pregnancy meant she was currently infertile, but the physical evidence that another man had been with her not only turned him off, it enraged him. Gerard was as possessive as he was cruel.

  As evidence by the heavy smell of piss in the air.

  What would Bastian think?

  Katherine allowed the tears that filled her eyes to fall for the first time since that first night.

  Serena rushed over to help her up from the floor, and when the girl offered her the maroon sweatshirt, this time Katherine took it. Better to wear a long dead man’s shirt, she told herself, than one soaked with urine and a freshly dead man’s blood.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Day six of captivity.

  Or, Katherine thought it was day six, anyway. The days were starting to run together.

  Like it had so often lately, Katherine’s hand rose of its own accord to trace the claiming mark on the juncture of her neck and shoulder. Brushing her fingers over the small indentations there worked to calm the anxiety that constantly buzzed under her skin. It also served to reassure Katherine that no matter what Gerard or anyone else did to her, she didn’t belong to them. She was Bastian’s alone, and Bastian was hers.

  “Where is he, then?” a wicked voice whispered in the back of her mind. She banished it from her brain.

  He’ll come. Katherine knew he would, and she refused to think otherwise.

  Her hand dropped back down onto her lap when Gerard abruptly entered the hut. Serena shot her a concerned sort of glance from where she sat, stoking the fire. Katherine had been in a subdued mood since Gerard had humiliated her three days before. Shockingly, Gerard had been rather reserved as well, actually allowing Katherine her space. He didn’t antagonize her beyond making her share a bed with him at night at any rate.

  Katherine watched as he approached the water basin near the fire, peeling off his fur tunic and throwing it on the floor. It was covered in blood. He was covered in blood.

  The red substance was spattered across his face and in his beard, streaked up and down his muscle-bound arms. His hands were stained with it.

  Katherine’s sense of horror was dulled, trapped beneath a surface layer of numbness and practiced sarcasm. “Who’d you kill this time?”

  Gerard shot her an annoyed look. “Don’t be dramatic,” he scolded. “I took down a bear.”

  Yeah, he had sprayed her with another human being’s blood a few days ago and assuming he’d gone and killed another person when he returned to the hut covered in blood was her being dramatic.

  Because that was fair.

  Gerard scooped a handful of water from the basin and splashed his face. As he wiped the excess water on his hands off on his chest, he eyed her contemplatively. Katherine didn’t like it.

  “You know,” he said, a sly smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, “if the blood bothers you that much, you’re certainly welcome to wash it off me.”

  Katherine stiffened, pulling her knees up to her chest – as much as her protruding stomach allowed, anyway. “No, thank you.”

  Gerard’s eyebrows rose to nearly his hairline. “Did I word that as a question? Silly me. You don’t have a choice in the matter, lovely. I think I’ve let you mope around here long enough. Serena, go fetch us some clean water, then you’re excused.”

  Serena bit her lip at the order, but got to her feet, and after nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot, grabbed the basin and headed outside. Her eyes wouldn’t quite meet Katherine’s when she returned to the hut, the basin full of snow that she set to warm by the fire.

  Gerard snatched a rag that was hanging on the back of one of the table’s chairs. He threw it at Katherine, where she had yet to budge from her place on the floor in the corner of the room. The scrap of cloth hit her in the face. Gerard sat on a chair, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Well,” he demanded, “don’t get shy on me now.”

  Katherine grit her teeth, but realizing she had no real choice in the matter, pushed herself up from the floor and hesitantly approached the man. She took her time lifting the basin of already melting snow up onto the table. Then she dipped the rag in the icy water, rinsing it before hesitantly bringing it to his arm, wiping away the blood that was crusted there.

  Gerard hummed his approval, slouching back further into his seat as she mechanically cleaned his arms and bare chest. He’d gotten his face well enough before, so she left that alone. By the time Katherine was finished, the rag and the water still remaining in the basin were colored dark pink.

  Before Katherine could hand Gerard the rag and retreat back to her corner, however, the man grabbed her by the waist, pulling her onto his lap in one sharp yank. Katherine tried to jerk away from him, but G
erard’s grip on her hips was ironclad, his fingers digging brutally into her skin as he forced her to sit. “You forgot something,” he teased, jutting his chin out, where she spotted some red still speckled in his beard.

  Katherine bit the inside of her cheek in annoyance, but nonetheless, reached forward, and with the rag she still held in her hand, she washed the blood away. Gerard released the hold one of his hands had on her waist to capture her wrist. His long fingers easily circled around it, and he dragged it down his muscled chest, past the ‘v’ that formed over his waistband, and down lower still. He forced her to palm what lie between his legs.

  Katherine tried to wrench her hand away, but he kept it there over the outline of his manhood. Not knowing what else to do, Katherine remained absolutely still, clenching her eyes shut and pretending what was happening... well, wasn’t.

  Gerard, though, just laughed at what his demented mind perceived as shyness. “No need to be intimidated,” he mocked her. “I know it’s impressive, but I promise to be gentle when the time comes.”

  When he finally released her, Katherine wrenched her hand away and scrambled off his lap. She didn’t know what possessed her to open her mouth. “I’m hardly intimidated,” she spat. “What you have packing is an embarrassment compared to what Bastian has to work with.”

  Gerard stared at her for a solid minute.

  She didn’t know who was in more disbelief at her at blatant insolence: him or her.

  Then he grabbed the rim of the basin and doused her with the cold water.

  It soaked her. Gerard stood, ignoring the way Katherine’s wet hair had plastered itself to her face and taking her roughly by the chin. “Bastian, hm? I take it that’s your mate’s name.” He bent down and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers in a display of mock affection. “Say it again,” he dared, “and I’ll make good on that promise to track him down. After all, it won’t be difficult, especially now that I have a name to work with.”