Moonstruck

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “A party at my father’s house.”

  “Aww.” She folded her hands under her chest. “Did you see each other across a crowded room and immediately fall in love?”

  I smiled at the memory she was bringing up. Love, at first sight, wasn’t the exact description that I would’ve used but still the basic idea.

  “Something like that. Except the fall in love part.”

  I told her as much as I thought appropriate, leaving out the parts that should’ve remained between Orin and me or the ones that were too embarrassing to say out loud. Katrina shared with me that she knew in third grade that she’d marry Roman. It wasn’t arranged or determined by their families but still, she knew. She loved him even then.

  We were all giggles when we got to the grocer where she went in one direction and I the other to gather everything we needed. I put a small sack of flower in the crook of my arm then continued on for the other items. Turning the corner at the end of the aisle a man bumped into my shoulder. Hard. It would probably bruise.

  “Excuse me,” I said with a smile.

  He turned back grinning like that cat that caught the canary. Dark hair in his face, eyes narrow. I looked at him then away and slowly turned my back his way.

  “Not a problem, Mrs. Vilkatas.”

  I swung back toward him, already knowing I’d never seen that man before but there was something familiar about him. Something I did know. No idea how I could be sure, but this man was a werewolf. I was sure of it.

  Spinning around, I tried to run, to get away from him, to the other side of the store and Karina’s protection. But he was quicker. He roped an arm around my waist and slapped a hand over my mouth as I kicked and struggled to get out of his grasp.

  “Keep fighting and you’re going to get hurt,” he growled.

  I had the feeling I was going to get hurt either way so I didn’t stop.

  “Do you want me to kill the bitch with you?” he said into my ear after I got in a good kick to his shin.

  I couldn’t let that happen. Forcing myself to give in and stop fighting took every bit of willpower I had. But, I wouldn’t allow Karina to be hurt for me if I could help it.

  “So, we’re going to walk out and you’re not going to say a fucking word or I’ll tear the throat out of every person in here.”

  Right then a child of maybe six skipped by us and I closed my eyes.

  “Understand?”

  After I nodded, he slowly removed his hand from my mouth like he was just waiting for me to scream for help. But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. We walked out of the market and were met by two other large men outside. These were my mother’s people. They had to be. I didn’t know what to hope for. That they wanted me dead or just want to use me to breed.

  Dead would be better.

  Because the thought of someone other than Orin touching me so intimately made me sick to my stomach. He nudged me around the side of the building before I heard Karina calling my name into the void. The big guy who had his hand wrapped around my upper arm yanked hard to keep me moving.

  But I kept hoping and praying that they wouldn’t kill her. She couldn’t see me but I heard her screaming. Then two more large men turned the corner and came toward us.

  They stuffed me into the front of a truck with the original man driving, one of the others on the other side and the third in the back. The truck jerked to attention and jerked every single time he shifted. By the time we stopped almost an hour later, my neck was sore from the sudden movements. We stopped so deeply into the woods, next to a run-down house, that no one would even know it was there.

  Apparently, the Balodis pack was used to manhandling their women because the big guy yanked me out of the truck with one pull and pushed me roughly toward the house. My feet stepped and stumbled along the dirt.

  “I came here willingly. You don’t have to be so rough,” I said over my shoulder.

  “You haven’t seen rough yet,” he spat back. Something in his voice told me that I would not like the kind of rough he was alluding to. “Now keep moving.”

  Inside, the house barely had any furniture and what little of it there was, was old in need of repair. There were five men inside the house with me which set my stomach on fire. All the horrible thoughts in my head sure didn’t help.

  “This is her?” The older man nodded at me. “This is Thora’s daughter?”

  “Yes, sir,” the one who grabbed me said.

  The way everyone stood around this older man, the looks on their faces and the way in which they held their bodies made it clear that he was the one in charge. If anyone was in fact in charge. His dark eyes took inventory seeming to stall on my light hair and again on my blue eyes. I was the exact opposite of every other person in the room.

  “Do you know who I am?” The older man asked me, coming down to my eye level and much too close for my liking. I shook my head. “What did your mother tell you about her family?”

  “Nothing.” The voice that came out of my mouth didn’t sound like mine.

  He nodded slowly as if that was the answer he’d been expecting.

  “Is someone retrieving Thora?” he asked glancing around at each of the men who would not meet his eyes. None of them said a word so I decided to fill him in.

  “She’s dead.”

  He snapped his head back around to me.

  “She died giving birth to me,” I said.

  “Impossible,” he snapped. “She mated with a human.”

  “Sir, the men have mated with humans,” the first large one countered but looked extremely uncomfortable doing it. “Our women have never mated with a human before. We don’t know what would happen.”

  The one in charge gave me a hard look like I was supposed to hold all the answers.

  “I don’t know.” Fear took over again. “My father said she died in childbirth.”

  He leered at me intensely. “Well that’s neither here nor there, now is it? We have you now.”

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  “Thora was my daughter.”

  My mouth went dry. I’d never had another family member other than my father until Orin and now this man was standing there saying we were blood-related. Yet he didn’t pull me close the way a grandfather would. Instead, he was going to allow his pack to do unspeakable things in the name of producing a full-blooded werewolf.

  The murmuring started small, quiet and the words were inaudible. Until they weren’t. They got louder and they were talking about me.

  “Who’s going to get her?” One of them called out.

  Get me? My stomach clenched and acid rose in my throat. None of them were going to get me, I told myself. Orin will find me. Orin will save me.

  “Not you,” another threw back. A ripple of laughter spread like a wave.

  “I’d like a chance,” a man, probably a good ten years older than me stepped forward. “My family’s line has been strong. We could make it stronger.”

  “I think it’s obvious who will get the opportunity.” Another stepped to the front of this small group. Of the two, I’d take the first one. He at least looked a little kind. The second one scared me immediately. But neither was overly appealing.

  Each time one of them came closer, I moved away until my back hit the wall and I had no escape.

  “Not a chance, Gunther,” the first one said.

  “Who’s going to stop me, Mitchell?”

  “Maybe I will.”

  They stepped closer and closer as they argued reminding me of the argument Orin had with members of his family when they then broke into their other form. I pressed into that wall even harder and prayed that I didn’t escape one arranged marriage to be forced into another.

  The one called Gunther drew back then his fist connected with Mitchell’s jaw and a full-out brawl started right in front of me. But none of them shifted. They fought. Punches were thrown. A person was tossed onto the table. That’s when it became too much.

  “Enough!” Their leader, my
grandfather, bellowed and all activity stopped. He pushed his way in between the instigators.

  “All interested parties may submit said interest to me. We will decide who she belongs to.”

  Belongs to? That was almost too much.

  “Take her to her room.”

  The one they called Gunther, yanked me to him hard once again. I knew I’d have bruises on my arms from the battering yet still I struggled against. I didn’t care it wouldn’t make a difference. For a brief moment, I imagined all the ways Orin would make him pay for every single one of them.

  Hours passed with me sitting on the edge of a disgusting mattress that lay on the floor in the small room I’d been taken into. That room, up the stairs, first door on the right, I contemplated the idea of belonging to one of them.

  I’d been my father’s until Orin came along, then I was his. Orin didn’t make me feel owned, though, and he was who I wanted to get back to.

  There was a window. I tried to pull it open but it was sealed shut.

  I searched the room and the closet for something to break the glass with. Even if I did, they’d be on me so fast that I’d never get away. There were a couple of chairs in the corner but they were too heavy and the lap next to the bed wasn’t heavy enough to do any damage.

  I was stuck.

  I really wished I’d seen Orin that morning. Kissed him good-bye possibly for the last time.

  Before I could linger on memories of Orin, the key in the door lock turned and the door was flung open. One of the three who’d taken me entered, with a tray.

  “My name is Peter,” he said quietly. “I’m not going to hurt you. I’m just bringing you something to eat.”

  I watched him but didn’t respond. He said nothing else then left, locking the door behind him. Looking at the plate, it smelled a little like heaven since I hadn’t eaten that morning but the aroma also made my stomach turn. There would be no choking that food down.

  But I took the glass of water and drank all of it as the room had gotten hotter since I’d entered it.

  No one came back that I saw and at some point, I fell asleep.

  The sun was up when my eyes opened again. It wasn’t bright and oppressive which meant it was still early. Someone had come in to take the tray of food away because when I glanced around, it was gone. The thought of one of them being near me while I was asleep causing a chill up my spine and I became acutely aware of the fact that I needed to use a restroom.

  Listening by the door, I could hear movement in the other room. Without any other options, I had to get their attention otherwise I was going to have another, wetter problem. So, I pounded on the door three times then waited for the footsteps to get closer before stepping back. The face that peeked through was Peter again.

  “Do you need something?”

  “I need to use a restroom.” It was embarrassing to have to say that to him but I had no other choice.

  “Right.” Peter dropped his head then stepped aside so that I could slide in front of him. Then he led me down the stairs to another area of the house, off the kitchen, until I was finally in the bathroom. “You can’t lock the door. I can break it down anyway so please don’t.”

  “I won’t.”

  And I wouldn’t. The last thing I wanted to do was give them a reason to kill me before Orin even had the chance to come get me. Though that thought brought a lot of conflicted emotions with it. Someone else could get hurt trying to get to me. But in the end, I knew Orin would never let me go without a fight.

  After I was done, I took an extra second to splash some cool water on my face and neck. that room really was becoming unbearable and with the rising heat of the day, it was about to get even worse. Apparently, I was taking too long because Peter rapped on the door roughly.

  Worst of all I had to pass a group of them on my way back to my room. They leered. One licked his lips. It was like they’d never seen a woman before. Or maybe it was that they all knew what they’d get to do to me if they were chosen. Whatever it was, they didn’t speak as Peter escorted me through the room, putting his body between me and the group of horny werewolves. And I felt myself blush just thinking the lewd word but I didn’t have anything better to describe them.

  Then I was back in the stifling room that I was starting to think I was going to die in.

  “Um… is there any way to open that window? Even a crack? It’s hard to breathe in here.”

  Peter thought about that a moment then walked over and undid the latch, which of course was so easy for him, then pushed the thing up. A slight breeze blew the curtain and I knew at least I wouldn’t suffocate.

  “We have people all over outside. And I assume you know that we can hear everything you do so don’t bother trying to escape. You won’t make it.”

  “I know. Could I also please have a glass of water?”

  Without answering he left, closing but not locking the door behind him. I thought about smashing the lamp against his head but I needed to know my move after that. It was my only move. Moments later, he came back with a pitcher of ice water and a glass.

  “Anything else?” he asked.

  I shook my head and this time when he left, he did lock the door behind him. It was the first time I wished I actually was a werewolf. Then I could hear what was happening and I’d stand a chance of getting away.

  Alas, I was just a human surrounded by an angry pack of werewolves in heat.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  With nothing better to do, I curled up next to the window and folded my arms on the sill to rest my head. The leaves on the trees outside danced on their branches and I envied their freedom.

  The ability to move around for no other reason than I wanted to was a luxury I’d taken for granted now that I was restricted in this locked room. But those leaves weren’t totally free either. They were at the mercy of the wind and I was at the mercy of my mother’s family after spending most of my life at the mercy of my father.

  Then the lock disengaged and the door creaked open slowly. Peter appeared and dropped another tray on the floor beside me. My gaze jumped from the tray to look back out the window. It’d been over twenty-four hours since I’d eaten anything yet nothing he brought wet my appetite.

  “Eat,” he said.

  I didn’t even spare the food a glance. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched his jaw clench and his eyes narrow before he stalked over.

  Peter swatted down beside me and forced my head to turn him until I was looking into his dark eyes. “If we wanted you dead, you’d already be dead,” he said.

  I didn’t doubt that a bit.

  “You’re here to help repopulate the pack with fuller-blooded werewolves. If you’re dead you can’t do that,” he explained as if I hadn’t thought about that very thing. Then he walked away.

  After contemplating what he’d said, and realizing he was right that I was important to them, the pain in my stomach won out. I ate the sandwich and apple that sat on that tray without tasting them. As soon as a bit went in my mouth, it went down my throat. I ate so fast that nausea knocked me off my knees. Nausea from putting too much in my stomach too quickly.

  Then I waited.

  What I was waiting for I had no idea. For something, anything to happen. Then the voices on the other side of the door grew louder. Something slammed against something wood making me jump to my feet and wrap my arms around my stomach. I hated being in there alone not knowing what was happening on the other side. It gave me too much time to think. Too much time to imagine what Orin was going through.

  He had to have been losing his mind.

  Roman had told me that Orin had the worst temper out of all of the brothers but I’d never seen that side of him. If it was true, with me gone, things could get very, very bad. Longing crushed my heart.

  I wondered if he knew he’d never see me again. He’d never admit it. Instead, he’d spend the rest of his life searching for me. He’d never give up and I couldn’t either.

  When th
e door finally opened again, I thought it’d be Peter entering the room. He was the only one I’d had any real contact with. But the footsteps that crossed the room were heavier, louder, more menacing.

  Gunther.

  Scrambling to my feet, I didn’t know what I thought I’d accomplish but I knew I didn’t want to be on the ground while alone in a room with Gunther. I couldn’t be vulnerable when his eyes were on me.

  “Elizabeth Balodis… ” he sneered.

  “My last name is Vilkatas.”

  He smirked at my words. “Not for long.” He took another step toward me, a menacing glint in his eyes couldn’t mean anything good.

  His hand wrapped around the back of my neck, squeezing as he led me roughly over to the bed and pushed until I fell.

  My head hit the wall hard enough to make me cry out.

  Then his hands were everywhere. He was everywhere as he hovered over top of me switching between almost crushing me under his weight and barely touching me. His fingers scraped against my skin, trying to pull my shirt up. I kicked my legs and tried to push him away.

  He was bigger. He was stronger.

  His face was so close I could feel his breath against my cheek. My stomach churned. That food I ate earlier had been a mistake. But that was my chance. I dug my fingernails into his skin until I drew blood. He snapped back but not far enough for me to get away.

  “You’re just a bitch like the rest,” he spat then slapped the back of his hand across my face.

  I guess I should have thanked my father for all the times he’d done that because this one hardly registered even though it was much harder.

  “This is what you’re here for.” He collapsed back onto me using his knees to push my legs apart.

  I hated the way he was touching me, what it was he wanted to do to me.

  I slammed my elbow into his nose but that just made him even angrier but I couldn’t care. I would’ve rather they kill me than put their disgusting seed inside me.

  I was supposed to have Orin’s babies. Not a man I didn’t know but allegedly belonged to.

  “Get off of her,” Peter’s voice boomed into the room then Gunther was no longer on top of me. “What do you think you’re doing?” Peter released the back of Gunther’s shirt.