Gypsy Moon

Chapter Thirty-eight: ----

. . . . . . (mid July)

I was warm. That's new, the basement was always cold. Maybe the packhouse was on fire. That'd be a nice change of pace. But the ground was soft, maybe they left me outside again. I couldn't really remember the last couple days.

My body hurts. That's nothing new. I don't even have the will to groan about it. No one would hear, and no one cares if they do.

It's very noisy, several voices laughing and talking. I tuned them out. If they are happy, they aren't talking to me and it's none of my business.

My body rocked and I heard a door close. I'm in a vehicle. That means I'm being 'borrowed' again. A deep voice spoke, and the vehicle began moving. I can't remember hearing these voices before, new torturers, yay.

They traveled silently and I asked the Goddess to make one of them turn the radio on. I love music and these wolves didn't seem interested in hitting me while I was apparently asleep.

For the first time in my life, the Goddess must have heard my prayer, because a device made a chime and music filled the vehicle. The whole group began enthusiastically singing along and laughing.

A cool hand touched my forehead suddenly and I wasn't able to stop the reflexive flinch away from it.

"Oh!" The hand rested gently on my forehead again. "Are you awake sweetie? Can you open your eyes?" Oh man, not the kind that pretends to be nice first. I let my eyelids fall open.

"Oh my!" The vehicle was quiet for a long time. I didn't know what they were expecting. Sir usually told them my eyes were damaged. He'd burnt the left one with a silver brand, the right eye had simply been hit too many times, too often to heal correctly. Somebody sobbed. That's definitely not normal and I felt confusion flicker across my face. One of the males spoke.

"Is that a brand? On his eyeball?"

"That's..."

"You killed all of them, right?"

"Kyle!"

"No, I get it now. That's... Can I work on my laptop for a while? Kiddo here is more Sinah's territory right now." The deep voice from earlier spoke up.

"Yeah, go ahead man. I'm going to lie down for a bit. Bryce, let me know when you want me to drive."

A large warm hand covered the cool hand already on my forehead.

"You're safe. Relax and let the girls help you."

The voice had an Alpha tone and I nodded silently. This isn't the first time I've been told to play this game either. At least it usually gave me a few hours before they started hitting.

"Can you sit up? Can you drink something for me?"

I nodded and struggled to move, trying not to wince at the pain in my side.

"Oh, no no, gently, I am so sorry, just sit up a little so we can get you propped up."

"Here, the cook packed a tub of broth, it should be cool enough for him to drink a little."

"Thanks. Sweetie, please drink this for me, slowly."

My hands were wrapped around a heavy mug, the sides warm in my hands. I obediently sipped the broth. It was good, they were really going all out with this game. I'm glad she told me to drink it slowly, I got the chance to savor the flavor, even though it also gave them a chance to take it away again. They didn't, though. That was nice, I was allowed to drink the entire thing in peace.

"Perfect, now just rest okay. Selene wants to let that settle and you to get a little energy."

Oh yay, rest up before the abuse. I nodded and turned my face towards my lap. At least the music was still playing. They left me alone, odd, but I took advantage of the opportunity to doze as the music played.

I didn't realize I actually fell asleep until the rocking of the vehicle as it came to a stop jostled me.

"Oh, sorry pup." An almost lyrical male voice spoke at that time and a warm body passed silently by me. The group shuffled around quietly for a few minutes before the man with the deep voice spoke up.

"Lilian, Kyle, you guys hit the hay with Bryce, I'll give you a few hours before I ask you to take over, Kyle."

"I'll stay up here and keep Aiden company; I'll sleep with him when Kyle takes over." A second female snorted, and the first female laughed. "Get your dirty mind to bed." The voices split into two groups and parted company and the music was the only noise for a couple minutes as the vehicle began moving again. The male I assumed was called Aiden spoke softly after a while.

"Rhys can't hear his wolf, is Selene having any luck?"

"She tried; she says his wolf is too weak to communicate right now."

"So that probably was his first shift. It's the only way his body could have made the shift. It's amazing that he survived."

"All thanks to you finding him." He chuckled.

"Actually, I was hoping it was that guy from last week."

"Hey! Bryce told me I wasn't allowed to try to hook them up!"

"Yeah, he told YOU, he failed to tell me."

"You're an ass."

"You love me."

"Eyes on the road, mister." The pair laughed softly. The music shifted to some mid-tempo pop and the female hummed along to several of the songs. I let my foot sway idly to the beat and sighed softly, this has been a pretty good day so far. I'm almost getting bored of waiting for someone to hit me. I must not have sighed softly enough, the male seemed to have heard me.

"Hey pup, think you could drink some more broth for Sinah?"

Something dinged and a warm mug was pressed into my hands again by the cool hands from earlier.

"Here sweetie, slowly now, remember." I nodded and sipped the broth.

Okay, so 'Aiden' and the other male 'Bryce' call me pup, the female 'Sinah' is calling me sweetie, and I think the male 'Kyle' called me kiddo. The female 'Lilian' hasn't used a name for me that I could remember. It would have been nice if they had agreed on a name before they borrowed me. I can't stand the nice games. They always chose stupid things to call me. Like a little lie every time they said it, like it would make the pain less later on.

"You're so quiet, sweetie."

Fuck these stupid games. I snorted derisively, maybe they would just get it over with.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Whoa pup, easy there, she wasn't trying to upset you."

What? The f**k is wrong with these stupid wolves, just drop the act already. I huffed in irritation. The vehicle, which must be some sort of camper, changed direction and slowed to a stop. Finally. I tensed and waited for the hit.

"Hey. Pup..." Aiden's warm hand touched mine, hesitantly. "I ripped your alpha's throat out, personally. I swear to you, that asshole is dead and can never harm you again. I know you can't believe anything we say, but please."

"We won't push you sweetie. Talk if you want... or can, actually might be an option too."

"I didn't think of that, sorry pup." I felt him move away and his hand left mine. "I'm going to get us moving again, please let Sinah help you." There was no command in his voice. I huffed again, and he sighed softly. I heard him kiss the female and sit back in the driver's seat, and the camper purred back to motion.

An expensive camper. Good actors and fairly well off, Sir must have sold me. I sighed, like I'd been that lucky. I rolled my eyes, whatever, I'll play the stupid game. I turned my face towards the female, not bothering to hide my lack of belief. She sighed as well.

"Do you think you could handle it if Selene worked on you for a bit?"

I almost scoffed. They were trying way too hard; how could she even ask without laughing? I nodded snidely.

Her cool fingers touched my damaged eye with no more pressure than a whisper and a warm pulse throbbed through my skull. I jumped and scrabbled backwards a couple inches, my breath coming in quick gasps of surprise.

"I'm so sorry, did that hurt?" The voice sounded like the Sinah female's voice, but richer. Selene must be her wolf. I shook my head no. Ironically, that's what surprised me. I had expected it to hurt, not feel good. Her fingers touched my right eye again.

"Try to hold still." The warm pulse resumed, softer than before, I noticed. It was actually very pleasant, and I relaxed, letting myself enjoy the sensation as it rippled slowly through my entire body. I blinked when she moved her fingers away, interesting... the swelling had gone down around my eye and the blur now looked a little bit more blob like. I realized my ribs didn't hurt either. I tilted my head in clear confusion and the female laughed softly.

"That's all for now. I don't want to stress your body too fast. Rest now." I just sat there, confusion on my face until I felt her blow a breath softly in my face. Her breath smelled like cookies, and I passed out.

. . . . . .