The Primal's Kitten

Chapter Fifteen

I came to a few minutes later and Lish handed me a small cup of water that I could tell she had put sugar in. I sipped it, propped up against Gavin who was braced against my back. I could hear raised voices and noticed that the floor was cleared of people. Oh s**t, what was going on? Lish stoked my hair and tried to get my attention. “Hey, you with us lovebug?” I nodded a little and tried to smile at her, but my head felt so heavy and everything else felt heavy where it didn’t hurt. The memory of what happened started to come back but I was distracted by the sudden appearance of one of the Dommes with what looked like a medical bag. “Hey Rory, how are you feeling?” “I’m ok, my head feels fuzzy and everything hurts..” I was whining somewhat, I just wanted to go to bed and escape from this hell I had just endured. I spent the next several minutes being checked over and answering more questions, only at the end being introduced to my gorgeous savior. “I’m Layla by the way, I mentored Lish when she first came into the community. I want you to get some rest tonight, and I’ll check on you tomorrow, ok?” I nodded and winced as I lifted my arm to brush hair out of my face. Wait, the bracelet was still on. I looked around for John, thinking maybe he was lingering close by to check on me, but he was across the room arguing with a group of people. I started to cry, I couldn’t help it. A dominant was supposed to care for his submissive, and here I was in pain. Still coming around from passing out, and he was across the room arguing about why what he did was fine. 

“He has the key, I want this off!” I blubbered as I clung to Gavin while Lish got up and stalked across the room. I don’t think I had ever seen her this angry before, she looked like a force of nature all her own as she crossed that room and pushed directly into the middle of the group where she came nose to nose with John. He didn’t even look at me as she lit into him about his choices, his lack of care, and the fact that she’d make sure he never ran anything in the community again. He laughed at her, and I guess I wasn’t surprised because he was a leader of the discussion group and the local munch, I was just a newbie that let myself get caught up in things I shouldn’t have. Who was going to stand with me? I couldn’t keep watching so I buried my face against Gavin’s shoulder and let him get me up and into a proper chair, I could still barely stand and it made my head spin again when I was on my feet. I couldn’t stand to look at John, I just stared at my feet until Lish returned and took my wrist in her hand. She had the key, thankfully, and in a moment the bracelet was off and she was across the floor again. “Now you can get him out of here.” The noise in the room suddenly stopped and I finally peeked up only to see John being walked out of the venue by the entirety of the Dungeon Monitor staff. 

We waited until the staff came to tell us he had left the parking lot and driven away before we packed our things up, and made our way out. I stayed sandwiched between Lish and Gavin, still barely able to walk on my own, and kept my eyes down, not wanting to see the blame and pity in anyone’s eyes. I curled against the side of the Jeep in silence as Gavin drove, though Lish stayed in the backseat with me, a blanket over my shoulders because I had begun to shake. Once we were home, Gavin went to make tea and something to eat to keep my blood sugar even and hopefully bring me out of the awful amount of sub drop I was about to deal with. Lish helped me into a nice hot bath with plenty of Epsom salts and herbs and then sat with me while I soaked, it helped draw the pain out of my muscles and joints and I was thankful for the way she cared for me. When I got out, Lish helped me into some comfy clothes that wouldn’t rub against the welts and broken skin that dotted most of the middle of my body. I hadn’t even looked at myself until I was getting dressed, and winced at the sight of my skin. I wasn’t ready to talk about things, so we ate and watched a movie before Lish tucked me into bed for the night and set herself up on the floor. “Hey, go sleep in your own room.” She didn’t listen, of course. “Nope, I’m staying right here with you.” ‘Well at least get in the bed then.” I didn’t want her sleeping on the hard floor when there was plenty of room in my queen-sized bed. She gave me a look that was part pity and part understanding and reached up to squeeze my hand. “You might have nightmare’s and I don’t feel like being hit awake. I’ll be right here if you need me, ok?” I nodded and settled myself in, trying not to think too hard about it until the darkness of sleep takes me away. 

I slept hard that night, though I tossed and turned this way and that due to the pain I had been left in. My raw skin rubbed against the blankets and sometimes caught, making my wounds seep in the middle of the night. I didn’t even know what he had used on me to cause those, I never really saw it since I had squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. Lish was still there on the floor when I woke up, and already awake, sipping coffee. “Hey sweetness, how you feelin?” I rubbed my face and gingerly sat up, wincing as I did. Everything hurt. “I’m alright, sore, bleeding in places from the looks of things, but alright.” I was truthful with her at least, and Gavin appeared just then with a cup of coffee for me and some breakfast for the three of us. We ate sitting on my bed, wrapped in a comforting haze of food and coffee smells that made it easier for me to talk, so I told them everything. I started at the very beginning, and pausing to cry now and again, told them the whole story of what happened the times I was alone with John. Neither of them said a word, taking turns comforting me when I would have to stop because the sobbing was making it hard to speak. Once it was all out, and my tears had stopped for the moment, I looked to Lish. “What am I supposed to do now? He leads the discussion group and the munch, he teaches all over the place, no one is going to do anything to him for this.” It was a horrible thing to realize and my tears started anew. Between realizing that he would get off without a dent in his record while I was left to sort through my trauma, and knowing that I could never go back even if I wanted to, I let the desolation take me and fell again into a fitful sleep. 

I woke up when the sun was just starting to set, the smell of food wafting to the upstairs portion of the house. Perhaps that was what roused me. I sighed and got up, going to soak in the bath again. I wasn’t sure where Lish was, so I took my time soaking and then got out of the bath to head downstairs. Lish was at the kitchen table with her laptop, hastily typing away and then writing things down in a notebook laid open beside her while Gavin was in the kitchen cooking away. “Hey sleepyhead, feeling better?” Lish smiled at me gently and patted the chair while Gavin brought me a glass of wine and set a small vegetable tray on the table. I was thankful for everything he had done to care for me, and Lish too. He squeezed my shoulder and went back into the kitchen to keep working on dinner, which smelled amazing. Lish wrote another note in the open book beside her and I took a sip from my glass of wine before looking at her. “What are you working so hard on?” I was curious, of course, and there was a look on her face I hadn’t seen since we were seventeen and Lish had gone snooping and found the girl my boyfriend was cheating on me with. “I am using my super-sleuthing skills to help you, and the rest of the community out. So far I have found three other girls who John has done similar things to. He may have gotten away with it with them, but he won’t get away with it with you.” By the look on her face, John should be terrified, but he likely didn’t have a single idea of what he had done. Good. Lish put away her laptop and the notebook when Gavin announced that dinner was done, and then helped him bring dishes to the table. Gavin had really gone all out tonight, there was a whole plate of vegan chicken patties covered in melted mozzarella cheese, a big bowl of spaghetti noodles, sauce, the good texas toast with the cheese, and a small bowl of the good grated parmesan. He had only lived here a short time so I was sure that Lish had helped him with the menu, but I was grateful. 

We ate dinner and chatted about Lish’s plan to take John down since there was a whole party of people who had seen him. Those who helped get me down and escorted him out had already added their names to a growing list of people willing to take him on so that no one else would get hurt. I was scared, but I knew that Lish wouldn’t let anything else happen to me, I trusted her with my life. Normally, you’d go to the police for something like this, and we planned to once we had contact information for everyone who the police would need to speak with. I knew that was a big deal in itself, since in some places it’s still technically illegal to do what we do, even when all parties consent, and it would be putting us under a lot of scrutiny if this was leaked, but I was ready. I had hidden what John did to me for weeks, and once it was out, I wanted it all the way out. I couldn’t let him get the chance to do this to someone else, and maybe, if I was lucky, I’d get a little justice for those who experienced this before me. It wasn’t only John that would be taught a lesson though, it was all the men who preyed on new submissives, whether they lead a community or not, they would be held accountable. Besides, I had decided to take a step back from the community for a while, to gather myself and give myself time to heal, to decide if the lifestyle was something I really wanted to be a part of. Lish and Gavin were both supportive, as I knew they would be, and so when I fell into a dreamless sleep after dinner, it was with a glimmer of peace and hope.