The Demon and His Plaything

16| Uncovering

What do you know? Samantha sat on her bed. Those black vans, the messages from Godrick–she knew he had to know something.

Godrick: Can I call you?

She called him immediately, putting her headphones in.

"Are you okay?"

She exhaled. "Yes, but Godrick… did you know? Did you know what was going to happen?"

He hesitated. "No–I knew something was happening but not what. It wasn't your pack, was it?" His voice was tight.

"No. It wasn't." She was quiet for a few seconds. "Why? Why would Demons and Warlocks slaughter an entire pack?"

She heard him take a sharp breath. She heard muffled talking. He came back, "The entire pack?"

"Fifteen hundred people."

"Oh god," Godrick breathed.

"Is this what Demons do?" She felt small. She felt dumb. Was he the worst possible choice for her to make? All she could think of was what if her pack was next. They had many more pack members, would that be enough to fight an attacking force? Or would the enemy just send more forces against them.

"Samantha–I–" He took a breath. "Sometimes. Yes, Demons do do these types of things, sometimes."

She felt sick to her stomach. "I just don't understand the motivation. The Half Moon Pack wasn't even a wealthy pack. They have a lot of land but that's all…"

Something tickled her brain as she said that. But she couldn't understand what was bothering her about everything.

"They were working for Werewolves," Godrick said quickly.

That made her heart hammer. "What?"

"I don't know who they were but it was Wolves that paid for the attack."

"Rogues?" She aired the thought more to hear it herself.

He was muffled again before he came back on the line. "Whoever they were, they had a lot of money."

She frowned at that. Rogues weren't known to be very liquid… and while it seemed plausible should they have the money, if the aim was to clear the land and take it they'd need to be a big enough pack to withstand the inevitable retaliatory attack and take over from a border pack, like hers or the New Moon Pack, which shared a western border with the now wiped out Half Moon Pack. She thought about the New Moon Pack. Could they be behind this?

"Did you see them?" She asked.

Godrick was slow to answer. "Yeah…"

"I need you to speak with my father." She became animated. "If you can describe them we can work out where they are from… Godrick, what if they come for us next?"

She thought of her brother, imagining a bus taking him away to another pack, his family gone. Or worse.

"I'll do whatever I can. Samantha–”

She felt a link from Derek. "I have to go. Talk tomorrow."

~*~

Derek dragged his feet. His guard duty had been canceled and he was very grateful. He felt drained.

He mindlinked Samantha hoping she was awake. He didn't want to stay at his parents' place. It reminded him too much of Tracy.

"Hey." She opened.

"You up?"

"Come up."

She met him at the front door, quickly leading him to her room.

"I haven't assigned anyone to your apartment." She let him know. "I'll ask for volunteers from the pack tomorrow."

He stopped her and pulled her into his arms. He felt like he was falling. She wrapped her arms up high, cupping the back of his head.

"I can't process anything anymore," he mumbled.

"Come to bed." She led him further into her room. "Or did you need to shower first?"

He nodded and let her lead him into her ensuite.

She turned the water on first, testing it. Derek pulled his shirt over his head, watching the way she looked at him. Her face was unreadable.

"Do you want to shower alone?"

He shook his head. Finished undressing, he stepped under the stream, raising his face to the full flow. He turned in time to watch Samantha remove her clothing.

His face dropped as he saw the bites that were still visible on her and the bruising that would take a day or two because of their severity.

She lifted her arms as she came towards him, encircling him under the stream of water.

After a few seconds, she gently stepped away from him and proceeded to soap up her hands. He stood there as she washed him, driving pressure into his muscles as she did.

"Why did you give in to him?" He asked. The question popped into his head for the first time and he spoke it without any thought. He recalled the way her wolf had submitted to his. How she hadn't fought back although she could have stopped him.

She froze, her hands stilling. "Because I deserved it."

She continued her journey across his body, her hands working across his shoulder blades and neck.

"I don't understand."

"Now's not the time–"

"I don't understand!" He cried.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to console him. "You've been through enough today. I'll explain, but not today. And probably not tomorrow."

He felt his anger rising. He pushed her arms away from him and exited the shower. He grabbed a towel and started to roughly dry himself.

She followed him, cutting the water. She grabbed a towel for herself.

"I feel like I don't even know what I got into," he snapped. He grabbed his clothes and tried to turn them the right way so he could put them back on. His hands fumbled in their exhaustion, only twisting them more.

"Derek, stop," she said it softly. It wasn't an alpha order. Her voice was soothing, coaxing.

He looked at her. He could see the bite across her shoulder still and the one at her forearm. He touched her face. "I only want to love you."

"I know."

He pulled her into him, kissing her. A moan escaped him as his mouth moved against hers.

He lifted her, wrapping her legs around his waist. He felt confused. The hurt and grief mixing with his guilt. His frustration with her seemingly always holding something back from him was overtaken by his awe of her and that she chose him.

He walked to her bed, keeping her in his arms as he moved them up and into the center.

He laid her back, still in between her legs. Pulling back to look at her face, he spoke just above a whisper, "I don't want to hurt you."

She nodded. "I don't want to hurt you either. But I will."

He shook his head in confusion, too tired to ask for clarity again. Instead, he kissed along her injured shoulder to his mark on her, flattening his tongue against the puncture marks. She moaned in response. He had been gentle but concerned it hurt too much for her he eased off, his kisses moving to his mark instead.

He pulled back again to look at her fully. "Can I..?

"Yes." Her voice was breathy. "Use your fingers first."

He wet his fingers and moved them down and into her. She gasped and he could feel a little tremble from her. He watched her face and saw how her forehead creased as he moved his fingers inside her.

"Does that feel good"

"Yes. Oh, Derek." She started to move against his hand.

"...does it hurt?"

Her eyes flashed at that. "Yes."

He found her n****e, Samantha responding to the added sensation. He wanted all of her. He removed his hand and adjusted himself. "Is this okay?" He asked as he guided into her.

She arched her back as she cried out, "Yes!"

He slid his arms up and gripped her shoulders, pressing himself harder into her. She hissed at the pain in her shoulder. He moved his hand, trying to find purchase. His hand glided across the back of her neck but he remembered the bruising and instead grabbed her knee and lifted her leg, pushing it back against her.

They both gasped as he hit her deeper. His release was quick coming, hearing her moans and feeling her along his length. Her body shuddered under him as he released in her.

He shifted to her side, her pulling him so his head rested on her chest and wrapping her arms around him.

He rested his hand on her stomach, the back of his naturally suntanned hand contrasting with her white flesh.

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought he heard her speak but he was too far falling into slumber and by the morning he didn't even remember what he might have heard.

"Do you see me too?"

~*~

Samantha lay awake for a long time, finally able to start to process the day and even the night before.

She had been foolish to meet with Godrick earlier in the evening. She had already been worried about how Derek's wolf would react to her, sure it could sense things Derek was either blind to or ignored because of his love for her–the fact that she also carried the mark of another, the scent of him–no matter how she scrubbed–she could only imagine the rage it would have caused him. Her submissive wolf had bent to him immediately, taking all the punishment she'd earned.

She feared Derek's reaction when she told him about Godrick–she knew she couldn't keep it a secret. It was unusual for a mate to reject after marking–she didn't know how it worked, but if that was what he wanted she would find how to release him. She was surprised by the pain she felt at the prospect.

The attack on the southern pack was an added concern piling onto her personal woes. She didn't understand the point to it. They didn't seem to have taken anyone, trafficking of Werewolves was not unheard of. Their physical strength and increased healing compatible with forced labour. But they had killed practically everyone. Rogues wouldn't have anywhere near the manpower to keep any packlands once they got them unless they were going to keep their Warlock and Demon weapons...

She needed to speak with her father, get him to talk with Godrick. She was working through the lie she would have to tell him. How she could explain how she knew him?

~*~

All usual work and training was cancelled so she rushed to her dad's office first thing in the morning, hoping to catch him before he was too busy, having missed him before he'd left their home that morning. He'd not been responding to her links.

"Dad!" She called, seeing him about to get into the lift.

He stopped and waited for her. She could tell he was frustrated with her having stopped him. He looked exhausted still, his usual clean and shaven face rugged with stubble. "I have to head out, what do you need?" He asked impatiently.

Samantha jumped into the lift with him. "I've been thinking about the attack and I have a friend–a kind of friend–" She was stumbling over her words but her father cut her off.

"Drop it, Samantha. You don't need to worry about any of that."

"But–

"I said NO!"

Samantha flinched and drew back. Her father had never used his alpha command on her. She looked at him wide eyed. She felt an itch to bite back but she held it.

He softened seeing the startled look on her face. "We've got it covered Samantha. This is too dangerous–I want you left out of it."

She wanted to say something else but she just nodded and said she understood.

The door opened to the ground floor and her father exited the lift. He looked back at her once. She forced a half smile to show she was okay. He shook his head as he walked away. She stayed in the lift and pressed the second-floor button.

She spent the morning with her mother. They finalised the short-term arrangements for the displaced pack. "We'll need to check in with them all and see how many want to stay here. The sooner we can swear them in the better. We don't know if the attackers had any inside help…" She said it absently.

Samantha licked her lips, worried this would come back to her dad. "I might have someone who can help. I found a chat room and met this half-demon–

"Sammy!" Her mother snapped at her. "You what?" She stood angrily. "Every time I think you've grown up you–" She stopped herself and took a breath. "Don't you dare speak to this person again! Understand?"

Samantha nodded, mouth dry as a bone at her mother's reaction.

"I can finish all this myself today. Just–go and rest for the day. You can help me speak with the families tomorrow."

Samantha got up to leave.

"Honestly Samantha. Even online chatting with a Demon…"

Samantha felt a lump in her throat. Two for two. Her parents never raised their voices at her. She knew it had been a stressful twenty-four hours but she wanted to help. She took the stairs to her room.

Plan B, she messaged Godrick.

Godrick: Okay. And what's plan B?

She had no idea.

~*~