A Summer Under Our Moon

Ch 6- Lessons Learned and Gowns (WARNING: Intense Content)

~Faith’s POV~

I woke up alone. It made it feel like a dream, to be held and loved for a night. Was I Cinderella, was my carriage a pumpkin now? I struggled but I was able to sit up. I had to go to the bathroom, I wanted a shower. All my things were in here. I eased myself up and walked over to where he had organized my things. I smiled at the thought, how kind that was to organize my things too. A note lay on the dressed. It wasn’t a dream. The note promised he would soon be back but that he had things to attend to and to call him if need be. Silly boy, I didn’t have a cellphone, I couldn’t call him. I grabbed clothes and toiletries and walked into the enormous bathroom.

The tub and shower were separate. The tub was big enough for 4 people it seemed, and the shower was a modern one with rain shower features. There was a walk in closet, with a special spot for clothes, shoes, accessories. It even had a small linen closet. On another side there was a vanity with Hollywood bulb lighting and a cushiony spinning chair. This bathroom was the most glamorous thing I’d ever seen and here I was, this was my room for the day. I walked into the shower and figured out the controls pretty easily. There was a bar I could hold onto. I still felt really sore and weak but I was thankful that I could walk and stand. Gotta love the whole immortality thing with us wolves.

I stood in the shower and felt the hot water hit my aches and pains. I felt it run over every inch of my body from my bruised face down my back, my neck, my chest and down tender, broken abdomen. My bruised legs felt sweet relief too. I was in there for another 15 minutes or so washing off and I was about done when I felt a wave of dizziness wash over me. I held on to the bar and slowly lowered myself to the bottom of the shower. I felt so weak again. I felt sick. I put my head between my knees and tried to breathe. Then I heard a knock on the door. I couldn’t get up. Then the door unlocked and someone stepped in.

“Ryder is that you?”, I called out. I hoped it was so he could help me up and out.

“Yes it’s me, is everything okay?”, he said right outside the bathroom now.

“Yes and no. I’m in the shower and I need your help, will you help me?”, my voice was meek sounding. I was suddenly a little embarrassed. I was naked and wet and I needed my boyfriends help. What are you doing, you just called him your boyfriend! I was surprised at myself.

“With pleasure”, he said. Oh good grief. I hoped he was only joking. He came into the bathroom and scanned the room before his eyes landed on me, in the shower, sitting down, arms wrapped around legs and body. He raised an eyebrow and walked over to me. “What happened?”

“I tried standing up and it went alright so I decided to shower and I think stayed in here too long. I got dizzy and I didn’t want to fall so I sat down”, I said looking at the ground. I couldn’t meet his eye right now, he was seeing my body.

“Have you been waiting long? Why didn’t you call me?”, he said turning off the shower. He grabbed a towel and came back over to me.

“I don’t have a way to call you, I don’t have a cellphone”, I said grabbing the towel from him. I was about to wrap myself up when I remembered that he was in there with me. But when I looked up he had turned around to give me privacy. My heart sang the song of a girl who was being shown respect. I wrapped myself up. “Thank you, I’m good now”.

He turned around with a strange look on his face. “You don’t have a phone?”, he asked.

“No, I don’t have money and when you’re a servant you don’t get things like that. I work for free here, I’m sorry”, I said. For some reason I felt ashamed. You’re just a servant, why would he want you? You’re nothing. You’re worthless. The negative intrusive thoughts are hurtful. But they aren’t true and I can’t listen to them.

“I guess I never realized that, I’m so sorry. We’ll get you one today I promise. We need to be able to communicate and you deserve your own phone for f*ck sake. I’m growing more and more angry about the way you’ve been treated. The simplest of things are huge for you because you didn’t have anyone to take care of you like a normal kid. I’m so sorry babe, I don’t know what to even say right now”, he reached out a hand to help me up. I grabbed his hands and began trying to stand when I slid a little. I gasped and Ryder’s arms slid under mine and held me up. His arms were strong and steady. I was trying so hard not to cry. He helped me walk over to where I laid my clothes down. “Uh, so are you going to be able to put your clothes on yourself or do you need help?”

I realized I would probably need help but how could I ask him, someone who doesn’t know me intimately, to help me get dried off and dressed. “I don’t .. Think so”, I said quietly.

“I can help you without like, staring at you or anything. Is that okay?”, he said cautiously. I looked up at him and his eyes looked so sad at me. Was he sad that he said those things to me or sad that my face looked like this? “I promise, I won’t touch you or anything”. I gulped. I had never been intimate with anyone before, nobody had ever seen my body. This wasn’t us having s*x or hooking up or maybe it’d be less terrifying.

“Yea, that would be alright”, I said. And so he did. In the most respectful way possible, he helped me to sit down and he helped me dry my hair off and my body. Then he helped me put clothes on and he carried me to the couch that was in the sitting area of my room.

“My father wants to talk to you, but don’t worry. He’s not mad at you. He’s angry with the school and with Zeek’s family”, he said. My breath caught. What would he say to me? I imagine he’s not pleased about me and Ryder. “Don’t be nervous, I’m here for you”. He let his father in who came in and sat down on the couch opposite of me.

“Hello, Faith how are you feeling?”, he asked me.

“I’m sore and tired but otherwise I’m okay”, I said looking down. “I’m really sorry, I’ll be able to work soon I promise, sir. Zeek said uncalled for things to me and I returned some jabs at him so I aggravated him. I’ve never had this much trouble with people, please forgive me”. I began tearing up a little bit.

“Faith, I know you didn’t start trouble with anyone. I’m just concerned that this happened and wondering why I didn’t know til now”, he looked at his son who looked down at his feet, “and worried about your well-being. Don’t worry about work for right now. We’ll take care of him and his friends. Tell me what happened”.

“Okay. I was in the cafeteria when I was tripped. I fell, I got up and looked and it was his friend Jason. The boys laughed at me. We exchanged a few words, he got mad at me. I tried to walk away and he hit me in the back of the head with a meal tray. That’s when he became enraged and started chasing me. He kept swinging his fists at me, and kicking me in the sides. He wouldn’t stop. Until Ryder and Jameson stopped him. I don’t remember much after that”, my voice was shaking. I hoped he would believe me. Ryder sat down next to me and put his arm around me and I froze. What would Alpha Robert think?

“I just don’t understand, why nobody would intervene. Does this happen often?”, he asked rubbing his chin. He was choosing to ignore how close Ryder was to me it seemed.

“I’ve had my fair share of bullies but nobody’s ever physically attacked me at school. I keep to myself. I do my work. I don’t provoke anyone. He does this to guys sometimes but never to any girls”, I said. I looked at my feet. It felt strange to be getting so much attention. I didn’t like all of it, I didn’t want anyone to make a big deal about this. I wanted to forget it.

“He’s going to be dealt with. It’ll be discussed at the council dinner tonight. Ryder, you will be there correct?”, he turned to him.

“Yes sir, I will be there. With Faith, if she would accompany me”, Ryder said to me, smiling. I felt butterflies.

“Do you think that’s really a good idea?”, Alpha Robert looked at him with narrowed eyes. “We already discussed this”.

“Sir, I choose her. Please dad, don’t be like this”, Ryder said. My heart squeezed. I didn’t want to cause problems. This would obviously be a problem.

“I cannot support this. You already know why. Faith, this is nothing against you. You are a nice girl I’m sure, but you are housekeeper and you know your place. Son, I won’t tell you again. You know what you need to do. You are both young. Your mates will come along. Don’t cause an upset like this”, he said calmly. Ryder was anything but calm. He stood up and looked at his dad for a moment.

“I’m not changing my mind. I meant what I said. I’m going to love this girl til the day I die and there’s nothing anyone else can do about it. She’s been treated horribly here and I will spend the rest of my life undoing what a life here as a servant has done to her. And she will be with me at the council dinner tonight where I will introduce her”, he said. His voice held so much passion and love. My heart beat so fast I could hear it in my ears. I would choose him too, right now I choose him.

“Fine. Do what you want, but just remember you can’t stop Goddess from her will. I want you both to understand what you’re doing. We can’t go back from this. There’s nothing wrong with being an orphan or a housekeeper or the help but this is crazy. You’re an alpha, Ryder, don’t forget your place in this pack, just as Faith should also not forget her place in this pack”, he stood. He was an honorable Alpha. It was easy to see this is where the guys had gotten their cold nature.

“From here on out her place is right next to me. She is not a slave”, Ryder said. He looked down at me with loving eyes, he reached out a hand and I stood with him.

“Faith you’ve been quiet. Surely you’re under no illusion this will work”, the Alpha said to me, sneering at me.

“Sir, with all due respect to you, I feel the same as Ryder. I don’t know what this means for us. I’m going to stand by him, I’ll spend the rest of my life doing what I can. But I do know that I will do my best to do right by your family and your son”, I said looking him in his eyes. Ryder squeezed my hand lightly and kissed it.

“Very well then. I hope you don’t regret it. I’ll see you later. Take care”, Alpha Robert said and with that he left. I finally let my breath out.

“Do you really mean that?”, he looked down at me with adoring eyes. My heart skipped a beat.

“Yes I do. If you are brave enough to show the pack how you feel then I’m brave enough to push aside my fear. You are putting everything on the line for me”, I said. He was risking it all, the least I could do is return the sentiment. I felt the same about him and I would show it too.

“You have no idea how awesome this is!”, he said picking me up and spinning me around before he set me back down. He held my face in his hands and pulled me in for a kiss. My heart fluttered as I put my arms around his neck and he drew me in closer. He was rock solid, he didn’t even have to try when he picked me up again and my legs went around his middle. His hands were holding me under my a*s and he gently patted it. His tongue lightly parted my mouth open and his tongue entered my mouth, playing and intertwining with mine. He sat down on the couch still holding me. He pulled away from our kiss to touch my face. I looked down, I was so shy. “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. We are going to have an amazing life together”.

“I have a question”, I said. He nodded at me to continue, “It feels like this began overnight. What changed?”

“You want the truth? I’ve felt this way for a long time. There is something about you, Faith, that draws me in. I picked on you so much because it was an excuse to be near you and I always had your attention. Something clicked in me yesterday when I saw Zeek hit you and I knew then that I would do anything for you. I wanted to kill him. I still do. But I have dreamed of this for like forever honestly”, he said smiling. “I mean I’m not an emotional guy. I keep my cool, I don’t entertain anything that’s a distraction to my duties. But with you I can’t keep my cool. I’m distracted all the time. All I can think about is you, loving you, holding you, caring for you.” I gasped a little. Did he just say loving me?

“I have always found you so handsome. Even when we were kids I found you to be handsome. But you were always so mean to me, I never thought about being with you”, I said looking down into his eyes. He was hurt by what I said.

“I’m so sorry for how I treated you. You deserve the world and I will give you the world”, he told me.

“I forgive you, I know you’re not the same boy anymore, you’re a man”, I said to him as I played with his hair.

“Here let’s go get you that phone we talked about. Do you have any nice dresses? I didn’t see any in your room but I wasn’t sure if they may be elsewhere”, he said grabbing his own phone to look at the time.

“I don’t have any formal clothes, just plain street clothes, sorry”, I said biting my lip in fear.

“Okay so let’s go shopping then too, gotta get you some new clothes and sh*t. Isn’t that what boyfriends do, spoil their girls or something?”, he said smiling and holding my hands. I giggled. I could so get used to this. His phone rang. He picked it up and talked for a moment to someone saying thank you, and agreeing with a few things before he said meet us at the mall in town. “Jay’s going to meet us there. Are you ready? Let’s take your meds before we go”.

“Sure, let’s go”, I said before gulping down the pills with water. Then the thought hit me- I had never bought a dress before, this would be interesting.

~Jameson’s POV~

I was walking through the hallways in the basement of the pack house, dragging along a kicking and yelling Zeek. When Alpha Robert asked me to bring him in, at all costs, I knew what he was really asking for was for Zeek to be caught by surprise and to kick him around a bit on our way to his office. There was a lesson to be learned here and I was the teacher’s assistant who would lead the first part of the lesson plan.

Don’t get the wrong idea- we don’t abuse our people. But what Zeek had done was woefully wrong. This was a place of peace, harmonious living. When a member of the pack couldn’t be harmonious it was a problem. And if that member acted on their ill will it became an Alpha problem or council problem. Because his father, and soon he himself, were holding a council position, this would be dealt with by the Alpha and his men directly. Alpha Robert’s Beta is David, his Gamma is Jacob. An Alpha would always need his men in hard times. I would be happily accepting Beta for Ryder, and our other friend Koda, who was Jacob’s son, would be the Gamma. This wasn’t the first time he had asked me to do something like this. I was something of an intimidating man. They sent me when they wanted to send a message. I had been doing this for some time. My phone rang interrupting my thoughts. It was Kate. I quickly texted her letting her know I would need to call her back soon.

I got the elevator I was looking for and pressed the 3. Zeek began looking pale.

“I-I know what happens when you’re sent up here. My father is going to be livid when he learns of this, you hear me Taylor, you hear me?”, he yelled as I dragged him on the elevator car.

“The Alpha is enraged right now, Rutgers. I don’t think I’m the one who should be worried”, I said raising an eyebrow at him. He swallowed and didn’t speak. Probably the best.

When the elevator arrived, we opened a closet door into the office of the Alpha. There waiting was the Alpha and his men. And in front of them waited Sean Rutger, Zeek’s father. And he was not at all pleased.

“Sir, I have the person you’ve called for”, I said as I politely guided Zeek into the room.

“Son, this is quite the mess. Care to explain?”, Sean said to his son. His face was tight with rage, his hands gripping the chair with such force that his knuckles were white. I grinned, this would be very interesting.

“Jameson, thank you son, you may go now. Let Ryder know we’re taking care of this. We’ll get to the bottom of why this young man over here thought it necessary to harm his mate”, said Alpha Robert with a wicked grin. The color drained from both of the Rutgers faces’. Father looked to son and son looked to father in shock.

“Son .. What have you done?”, Sean said through his teeth.

“Faith is a nobody, a servant, a housekeeper. She is worthless! There is no way she is Ryder’s mate”, Zeek spat.

“Oh but there is. She will be on Ryder’s arm at the council dinner tonight where she will be introduced as Ryder’s mate”, I said to them. “And for the record, she’s not worthless. She is a great help, a hard worker, and is worth more than your crummy opinion. She’s Ryder’s heart and soul. And you hit her. Good luck, bud”.

I nodded to my elders and leaders, smiled at the Rutgers, and left out through the elevator. Once I got to the basement, I called Kate back.

“Hey dear, how are you?”, she asked. She sounded anxious, Kate was never anxious.

“I’m good, had a busier morning. How are you? You sound stressed”, I asked.

“I’m alright, I’m just looking through my closet and I think I need a new dress for the council dinner tonight. I can’t find a single dress that fits me right, nothing is looking okay”, she said huffing.

“Well Ryder asked me to meet him at the mall, do you want to come with so you can grab something?”, I suggested.

“Oh really, that would be so great! I’ll be ready in 5, thank you so much!”, she sounded so happy and so relieved. The simplest things could make females so happy, and I didn’t mind doing them for her.

And so I went over to her house and picked her up and we headed out to the mall. Something was bothering her but I didn’t press the issue.

When we got there Ryder said he was down by a shop on the formal wear end of the mall, which was where we needed to go anyways. When we got down there Ryder smiled at me and then he saw Kate and his smile faltered a bit.

“Hey Jay, Kate. How are you two?”, he asked looking around.

“We’re good, how are you?”, I asked him. Why was everyone acting so off today? He should be happy right now, Faith’s assailant was being taken care of today. Oh sh*t, the realization was hitting me- he was nervous because she was in the store, and here I was with Kate.

“I’m good. I didn’t know you were coming, Kate”, he said politely. Oh he was upset.

“I needed a new dress for tonight so here I am, too. Why are you down in this section, searching for a date?”, she asked in a snotty tone. Ah, there she was.

“Well actually ..”, he trailers off as someone approached us.

“I’m not really sure, honey, are you sure that I should go with the pale pink gown? It seems to be a bit much .. Oh, hi everyone’, Faith faltered as she came around the dressing room corner in a pale pink gown and saw all of us together. She looked terrified.

“Oh. My. Goddess. Ryder. What are you doing?”, Kate’s jaw dropped. I cringed, I mouthed sorry to Ryder. He rolled his eyes.

“Kate please don’t do this here. It’s really not that big of a deal. Faith and I are together, don’t make this weird”, Ryder said waving her off and pulling Faith closer. “Baby I think you look beautiful in that dress”.

“Listen we’ll talk about this later but that dress is horrendous. The cut is all wrong, the lace is gaudy. I mean seriously Ryder, why would you let her put this on?”, she touched Faith’s dress and circled it. “Okay let’s go find a dress.” She grabbed Faith’s arm to her fright and they went back around to the formal dresses and disappeared.

“I’m sorry I should’ve warned you. I just didn’t have time to”, I apologized to Ryder.

“It’s okay, let’s just hope things go well. Faith is still feeling sore and weak. I’m worried about her. She almost passed out in the shower this morning”, he told me. “You don’t .. You don’t think they’ll get into trouble do you?”

“I’m a little worried about that yes. Should we go in there?”, I asked cautiously looking towards where they had walked off to.

“No. Absolutely not. This is a girl thing, we can’t intervene”, he said, breathing out in a sigh of what seemed to be fear and confusion.

~Faith’s POV~

I was terrified, simply put. Kate was dragging me by the arm back to the dressing area. I was still not 100% and began stumbling. She looked back and gave me an odd look, then made a face like something was dawning on her.

“You’re still sore, aren’t you?”, she said slowing down.

“Yeah, I’m still hurting a bit”, I said. My face was mostly cleared up but my body was still so tired.

“I’ll go easy then”, she said awkwardly. Was she being nice to me? Dear Goddess send help. “So we need to find a dress suitable for this dinner. A simple gown, nothing too gaudy. Something elegant. Something .. Like this. Sleek, sophisticated.” She held up a beautiful, long black gown with a sweetheart neckline, and a sash that went over one shoulder. It had some dark green colored beading on the bodice and a slit up to the thigh on one side.

So I took it and tried it on, and it fit like an absolute dream. I walked out in it and her eyebrows went up. “Wow, Sanders. You got bod. Here, I grabbed these heels for you. They should match”, she said passing me a pair of shoes. They were low so they wouldn’t be too hard to manage. I tried them on and they looked so good with the gown. Deep green to compliment the beading.

“I have never felt this gorgeous in my life. I’ve never had anything this nice before”, I said as I turned in the mirror.

“It’s amazing what a nice dress will do for ya. Alright let’s find me a gown”, she turned around and began flipping through the rack. She found a lovely olive gown that had a high neck and an empire waist. It had a keyhole cut out on the chest, a great mix of elegance and suggestive. “This is the one”.

I changed into my clothes and waited outside of the fitting rooms. Kate stepped out with her gown in hand shortly after me. “Ready?” She asked. I nodded. She grabbed her phone and texted and then shortly Jay and Ryder appeared.

“I take it things went well?”, Ryder said as he kissed my cheek in greeting.

“Yes, I found a gown! It looks so beautiful. And she picked out shoes to match. I hope it’s not too much”, I said to him. I know he said “whatever I want” but I didn’t want to abuse it.

“Whatever you want, I got it”, he said winking at me.

“Alright let’s get going, she’s going to need to time to do her hair and makeup”, Kate said moving towards the line.

“Uh, I don’t really have ..”, I said trailing off. I was embarrassed. I didn’t have makeup or hair styling tools.

“Wait. You don’t have any makeup do you? You don’t have any beauty tools. Alright, I’ll do it as a favor this one time but Ryder you need to buy her some sh*t to do it herself next time”, she said rolling her eyes. I put my gown on the counter and Ryder paid. He squeezed my hand. Everything would be okay.

We stopped by the phone store and I got my first cellphone, Kate said she would teach me how to online shop later on. She was trying to be nice to me, and her help was welcomed.

We finally got back to the pack house where we parted ways and Kate said she would come down in a couple hours to help me get ready. I told Ryder I wanted a nap.

We curled up together on my bed to rest, his arms were around me again.

“Do you think this will be okay? Will they be mad?”, I asked into his chest where I was resting my head.

“Things will be just fine Faith, don’t worry so much”, he said. He kissed my head again and we fell asleep together once more.