Gifts of the Moon Goddess

Ch. 2

** Trigger Warning: R*pe. These next few paragraphs contain descriptions of r*pe. Please skip to the end note if you do not wish to read through this. **

When I woke again, it was from being dragged out of bed by my hair. The smell of alcohol and vomit assaulted my nose and I cried out in both pain and shock. Bryce immediately connected his fist to my face to shut me up.

It worked. My head was reeling from the shock of the impact and warm liquid gushed from my face.

Bryce dropped me to the floor and climbed on top of me, his weight on my hips making them feel like they were going to shatter under the pressure. I blinked away tears in time to see his fist pull back just before he smashed it into my face once more. I heard a crack from the impact and my vision danced, making me feel sick. I felt his fists beat down on me a few more times against my arms which I had thrown up in defense to protect my face and against my chest. It was hard to breathe. Everything hurt. I kept praying with every blow that one of them would be the one to end it. Maybe he would finally go too far and just kill me.

To my disappointment, the assault finally came to an end. My throat hurt from my cries and screams. I was barely hanging onto my consciousness. But when his hands ripped open the front of my nightgown, my heart leapt up into my throat and I was overcome by a whole new wave of fear. I had never been drunk before but I suddenly felt incredibly sober. His hand came down and roughly began to grope my breasts and tug at the peaks and I felt disgust pool in my stomach. The guttural noise that left his throat caused my hair to stand on end. Panic and adrenaline slammed into me at about the same time that Bryce's lips found my neck, sucking on the skin. It made my skin crawl all over. I struggled beneath him, weakly trying to claw at him or slap him or push him off.

None of my attempts seemed to bother him even in the slightest.

"Please, Bryce, please don't!" I cried out, my voice incredibly hoarse and coming out quieter than I had wanted. "You were my parents' friend! You knew my family!" I reminded him, hoping he'd sober up a bit and get off of me. "My mother wouldn't want this..."

At the last plea, he did finally stop. I couldn't see the expression on his face through my tears, but I prayed to the moon Goddess it was regret.

His weight lifted off of my body and I gasped several relieved breaths between sobs, but it was short-lived. Before I could recover, Bryce grabbed my legs and pulled them around his hips, his hands sliding up my thighs to shove the skirt of my gown out of the way. I could feel his skin against mine. His arousal pressed against me. My stomach churned dangerously. I cried out and tried to squirm away, but his hands grabbed me and pinned me hard to the floor by my arms. Despite being pinned, I thrashed around, twisting my body and kicking my legs desperately. No amount of wolfsbane or pain wracking my body could stop me from trying to get away from him.

A vicious growl erupted from his throat and I froze for a moment, fear gripping me. That moment was all he needed to reposition himself and, before I could really brace myself or force myself to move again, a pain ripped right through me between my legs as he penetrated me.

I screamed and cried some more, but he wasn't paying attention to any of it. He took me against my will right there on the floor of my bedroom. The very same bedroom that was supposed to be a place to keep me safe. How ironic that he claimed to do all of this stuff for me in the name of keeping me safe only to then become the person I needed saving from.

** End of Descriptive Scene **

When I finally came to again after he had finished with me, I felt dead inside. Broken. More than I've ever felt before. At some point during what was happening, I blacked out. Still, images of the things Bryce did to me filled my head and tears, too many tears, continued to spill from my eyes. It was starting to feel like all I could do these days was cry.

But could anyone really blame me? Even though most of my memories of the last ten years were more of a blur thanks to the wolfsbane, I still had plenty of good memories of my guardian.

I always knew Bryce didn't love me like family. There was never any love for me in his eyes, but there was never any hate, either. His wolf, Vayne, did love me, though. Like I was his own pup, or at least the closest thing to being his pup. Together, the two of them took good care of me once upon a time. He taught me to read and write, filled my room with toys and coloring books, read stories to me and tucked me in at night, fought the monsters under my bed and held me until I fell asleep in his arms whenever I was scared. Even in these days, he always made sure I ate three meals a day. Fairly often he'd even shift into his wolf, Vayne, and he'd let me lie against his soft brown and black patched fur for the night.

When was the last time I saw Vayne? Was it around the same time Bryce started locking my door?

I'm pretty sure around the time I started being injected with wolfsbane, Vayne started to show less and less. It's hard to say for certain considering my blurry and vague memories, but at some point he just never showed up again. It wasn't until a while after Vayne stopped showing, that Bryce started looking so sickly and drinking so heavily; and it was shortly after that he started beating me.

But never, ever, has Bryce ever even attempted to do anything like this to me after that very first incident. Not until now, anyways.

I could still feel the lingering pain between my legs, the feeling of something crawling under the surface of my skin. I couldn't stop myself from trembling there in my limp position on the floor.

Upon trying to move so that I could attempt to assess my injuries, I realized a weight over my middle and froze. Bryce's arm was slung over me, and the more coherent I became the more I noticed, like his chest against my back and his breath in my hair. The realization that he was here made my chest tighten and my stomach lurch. My breath caught in my throat and more trembles coursed through my body.

Despite the pain, I dragged myself away from him, scrambling for the trash bin beside my bed and emptying my stomach into it. There wasn't much to empty, unfortunately, so for the most part I just dry-heaved and gagged.

After several long moments, the heaving finally came to an end, and I slumped back tiredly. I took a peek over at Bryce's still sleeping form. He had turned over after I scrambled away from him and was now spooning one of my pillows that ended up on the floor at some point. The very sight of him made me feel sick all over again, but for the first time in a long time I could see him rather clearly. Too clearly. His ribs, his spine, his elbows. All sticking out too much from his skin. A huge contrast to the muscles I remember him having when I was younger. Back before my tenth birthday.

Maybe he lost his wolf, I thought. Losing one's wolf was supposedly like feeling half of yourself die. After what he just did to me, I also felt myself die. But it wasn't just half of me. It was all of me. I would never feel any sympathy for this man again.

I couldn't look at him any longer and turned my eyes downwards to myself. I cringed at the sight of what I saw. The top of my nightgown still draped from my shoulders by the sleeves, but the chest part was ripped open, revealing my now very bruised breasts and chest. The rest of the gown was intact for the most part, but the bottom half of the skirt of the gown was covered in my blood, as were my legs. The nausea rose again. Would I have to live like this forever?

As if beckoning me and answering my question at the same time, I heard the door creak just slightly, pulling my gaze from how ruined I was to the doorway. That's when the realization hit me: The door is open.

Bryce must not have closed the door when he came to attack me. He must have been too wasted to think to shut it, much less lock it.

A desperate feeling pooled in my chest and anxiety in my stomach. Bryce was still asleep. I could go for it. I needed to go for it. What's the worst that could happen? What more could he possibly do to me?

With a newfound resolve, I dragged my small self up off the floor. I had to bite down on my lip to keep myself from making any pained noises, afraid to wake him, but that hurt too. My lip must have gotten busted in the recent assault.

My legs felt like jelly as I slowly made my way to my open door, leaning on any solid surface I could for the support I desperately needed. The pain brought more tears to my eyes, but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. I don't know if I would ever be free from Bryce, but I would never forgive myself if I never tried.

Once I made it through the door, I gripped the brass knob and pulled it closed as quietly but as quickly as I could and twisted the lock into place. That familiar click made me tremble with both anxiety and gave me a sense of freedom. A sense of power. I knew he had the key, so it's not like locking the door would actually accomplish much, but if it could even give me one more second. If it could stall him for even a moment...

I quickly turned, regret slamming into me as a dizzy wave hit me.

Oh Goddess, give me strength, I prayed.

I pushed away from the door and stumbled down the hall. I was already breathing hard, and my cheeks were wet with even more silent tears. But I couldn't stop. My whole body was threatening to give up on me, but I couldn't stop. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to get to the stairs and dread filled me as I gripped the handrail for dear life. My body and my legs in particular may be too weak to carry me down the stairs. I forcibly swallowed the bile that rose in my throat.

Taking it slow, I descended the stairs with the least amount of grace possible. My only focus was getting down to the bottom of the stairs without making any noise and without falling over myself. My knuckles were white and aching with how hard my grip on the railing was as I descended down each step one at a time, growing more and more anxious with each. He could wake up at any moment. I was taking too long. I was far too weak to go any faster or even hold myself fully upright, but I still scolded myself for it. I took another step down, and then another and another. The constricting feeling in my throat and chest was pushing me a little harder.

I got a little more than halfway down the stairs when one particular step creaked loudly once I put my weight down on to it, sending a rush of panic through me. The panic threw me and I quickly tried to race down the remainder of the steps, horror gripping my heart. I'm not sure if I was even breathing anymore as I scrambled further down.

My foot slipped right off the ledge of a stair and pain crashed through me as I fell backwards, my ass and my back hitting hard against the stairs, a cry escaping me. I lurched forward in response to the pain, causing me to roll down the remainder of the stairs with a louder scream, and I landed against the floor at the base of the stairs like a discarded sack of potatoes. The world spun in my vision as I twisted to curl up on my side, loud sobs wracking my body. It hurt. Everything hurts. I didn't want to be in physical pain and emotional turmoil anymore. Why did this all have to happen to me?

Why didn't my parents come back alive? Why couldn't I have just died with them? Why was Bryce the one to find me and not one of the members of my parents' pack? What did I ever do in my five years of life before my parents died to deserve this life? Why did the Moon Goddess forsake me? Why did she continue to turn a blind eye to my suffering at the hands of this man?

"Kyssemi!" Bryce yelled furiously from up the stairs and down the hall.

His voice was like ice water, shocking me back into the reality of this situation. Adrenaline rolled through me in urgent waves.

I shoved myself up off the floor with considerable difficulty and made a break for the front door. I could hear him stomping down the hall. The sheer amount of fear that slammed into me nearly numbed me to the pain that my body was enduring. I threw the door open and stumbled out to the porch. Thick forests surrounded the little clearing the house was built in.

"Kissi!" Bryce screamed again, his footfalls loud as he raced down the stairs.

My heart felt like it might leap out of my chest and I pushed myself to try to run. Despite not really registering the pain, I was still very weak. My body still had limitations. The adrenaline was helping me somewhat to push past those limitations, but it was still a tremendous effort to keep dragging one foot in front of the other as quickly as I was trying to.

Still, I knew I wasn't fast enough or strong enough. He would catch me. Undoubtedly. However, I recall Vayne once telling me that Bryce's house was just outside the pack lands right on the border. I don't know where the borders to the pack are, but if I could cross them before he caught me there would still be hope. So I ran, pushing my jelly legs further, and I prayed I was going in the right direction. If I was going the right direction, the Alpha of the White River pack, whoever he is, would feel my presence as a trespass on his lands, since I was technically a rogue who didn't belong to any pack. Surely he would send his warriors out to investigate and maybe, if I was lucky, they would either kill me or save me from Bryce.

As soon as I broke past the tree line and into the thick forest, I had to slow my already slow pace considerably. I was stumbling around brush and uneven ground, rocks and trees. Tripping over myself. The forest dug into my palms and my feet, scraped and scratched at my arms and legs and sides, whipped at my face. My dress snagged on just about every branch and bush it could, ripping it or yanking the threads a bit here and there. I refused to slow down even more because of it, pushing myself to the limits of both my stamina and my strength to keep going.

I don't know how far I made it before I could hear Bryce behind me. His feet snapping twigs and beating down on the terrain while he chased me. The steps were getting louder, quicker.

I could barely breathe. He was going to catch me. Was I in the packlands yet? Goddess, please tell me I was in pack lands. Please.

His arms circled around my waist and yanked me back and lifted me up. My cry came out much weaker than I was expecting. Bryce spun me around and slammed me down onto the ground with a grunt, branches and rocks digging up into me. I gasped for the breath that just got knocked out of me and tried to twist away from him, but the sight of the house through the trees gave me pause. My blood ran cold.

I hadn't gotten even half as far as it felt like I had.

Bryce tugged me onto my back again and descended down on top of me, his hands gripping around my throat, choking me. I tried to dig my nails at his arms and struggle against him, but the adrenaline and the fight were quickly leaving me. I was exhausted and in pain. I writhed underneath his gray glare of hatred as my vision began to blur and darken, my lungs burning for air. I dug my heels into the ground, trying to buck my hips to at least cause him to become unsteady, but I'm too small. Too weak. He didn't even budge. Was his gaze always so full of hatred? The times I could make out his expression so clearly were all only before I started taking the injections of wolfsbane. Perhaps one day it did change, and I just never noticed it in my drugged hazes.

"You should have been mine..." Bryce growled, his fingers digging harder into my neck.

I couldn't really understand what he meant by that. I wanted to ask, but I couldn't. My vision continued to darken through the agonizingly long moments as he prevented me from breathing. My body writhed and jerked beneath him instinctively, desperate for a breath. Perhaps I would finally be free from this life. From him. I was going to die here.

You must live. A voice flitted through my mind.

I didn't recognize it. Was it my subconscious playing tricks on me? Did this voice realize that I wasn't exactly in control of whether or not I survived this situation? Either way, that was the very last thing I heard before everything went black. Everything went numb.

The suffering all finally stopped.