The Luna's Forced Mark

Chapter 7

Catarina’s POV

Jeff and I were talking outside of the restaurant after my date with the twins. Although I don’t know if I would call that a date. These two were confusing me. I wanted to love them and god did I want to sleep with them but I also slightly wanted to kill them because that is what I was born to do. Ivy also wasn’t talking to me and I was staying at Jeff’s because he was afraid that they would come to my place.

I just broke down and started crying. Once I got control of my emotions, I looked up at Jeff, who was watching me.

“Cat, are you ok?” He asked me.

“No, I am so confused.”

“I know, but it will be ok. We will get rid of them.”

I just shrugged at him because I don’t know if I wanted to do that. Something was stopping me from having the rage to kill them as I would normally have.

“I just want to go home.”

“Let me go get some wine and we can have a few drinks back at home and we can discuss a new plan for this weekend.”

“OK.”

We turned and headed towards our cars. I got in my car and took off toward Jeff’s house. Once I got there and went inside, I tried to call Ivy for like the hundredth time today and, of course, she didn’t answer. I was about to go to her work and make sure she was ok when Jeff came inside.

“I got your wine,” he yelled out.

“I need to talk to Ivy. She is at work and she won’t talk to me.”

“OK, be fast. We have a busy day tomorrow.”

I headed back outside and drove to the hospital. I hopped out of my car and went straight to the ER, where I found Ivy sitting at the triage desk.

“Cat not right now. I am still mad at you. He hasn’t called me.”

“I’m sorry. Can we please just talk for a few minutes? I need to tell you something.”

She got up and pulled me into an empty room.

“You have five minutes,” she said, looking at her watch.

“I am sorry, ok. You are right, I don’t work in marketing and I never have, but I can’t tell you what I do. It’s dangerous and if you don’t hear from me by Saturday, I need you to go get Mr. Whiskers. I have to leave and I don’t know when I will be back. I am hoping I will be home Friday night, but it might take longer.”

She said nothing, but threw her arms around me and cried into my shoulder.

“Why are you crying?” I asked her.

“Because I knew you were lying and I can’t imagine what you do, but I have a feeling I know, and please, whatever you do, don’t hurt him and don’t get yourself hurt. I can’t live without either of you.”

“What do you mean, you can’t live without him?”

“I don’t know, but I am going crazy and I can’t get a hold of him and I am worried sick. It’s literally killing me being away from him, but I don’t know where he lives and we have not admitted him to the hospital here. Trust me, I checked.”

“He will be fine and will call, I am sure of it,” I told her. I know I didn’t kill him because when I aim to kill, I don’t miss. I hit him in a vital spot, but with early medical care, he wouldn’t die.

“Look, I have to go, but I love you and please promise me that if you don’t hear from me by Saturday night, you will take care of Mr. Whiskers.”

“Of course. Please be safe.” She said with tears in her eyes.

I hugged her, then left and went back to Jeff’s house. He poured a glass of wine for me after I pulled in. I walked to the couch and grabbed the wine and sat down.

“Cat, we need to leave early. We need to be hidden before the sun comes up. Did you pack your camo?”

“Yes, and the twins let me know they were going to be out of town this weekend. Maybe we can get the beta out of the way with them gone.”

“Yes, but do you know who that is?”

“No, but he won’t be hard to spot.”

“Alright, let’s get in as close as we can.”

“I agree, and we could spend most of the weekend there.”

“Yes, and if we’re going to do that, we need to get a good night’s sleep,” he said, getting up.

“Good night Jeff.”

“Good night Cat, don’t drink too much.”

He left me there on the couch with my wine. I finished the glass and poured another. I couldn’t get the twins off my mind. They seemed to know about me but wanted me to tell them. I couldn’t and they knew that. We were all in a tough position. I was born to hate them and kill them and they just wanted to protect their pack. After drinking my second glass of wine, I went to bed. I didn’t sleep well and tossed and turned all night until my alarm went off at three am.

I rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom, and took a quick shower. Once out, I pulled my hair up and put it in a bun, and walked to my bathroom to get dressed. Once I was ready to go, I went out into the living room and found Jeff waiting for me.

“Ready to go Cat?”

“Yup.”

We left the house and grabbed a cup of coffee for the trip. An hour later and we were pulling up to our parking spot. He got out and hide his keys. That way, if something happened to one of us, the other could still escape with the car.

We took off into the woods and hiked a good three miles. I found myself a tree and climbed up while Jeff found some good coverage in a bush. He didn’t like heights. We were a respectful distance apart, so we didn’t give each other away if something happened. The sun was rising and people were mulling around the pack grounds.

The patrol had passed by us a few times, but I had yet to take notice of the beta. It was all warriors at this point. Evening time was rolling around, and we had seen no one that was a ranked member. Maybe all of them had left for where ever the twins were going this weekend. I looked over to see if I could get Jeff’s attention and that’s when I noticed that there was a wolf that was walking around the bush that he was hiding in. The wolf was growling and snapping their jaws at him.

Jeff jumped back, brought his gun up, and fired it. The wolf dropped where they were. It was time to leave. I scurried down from the tree while Jeff took off running. We both knew when this happened it was to get yourself to safety. Every man for themself.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, I ran, but I could only take two steps before something hit me over the head and I lost consciousness.

I woke up sometime later and where ever I was; it was dark and cold and smelled horrible. The cot I was lying on was uncomfortable. I started searching myself to see if they had found all the weapons I had hidden on me, and they did. They even took my boots off me. I don’t even know if they were still in here. They found the one I had put in my hair as they had taken my bun out. I was as good as dead. How could I be so stupid? I fell for them going out of town.

I just laid here on this cot waiting for the pain to subside in my head. Still not sure what they hit me with, but it f*****g hurt and I had a giant goose egg on my head. A door opening brought me out of my thoughts and had me sitting up on this cot, pulling my knees up to my chest. I just had to hope that they would end me quickly. There were two sets of feet walking this way. I knew it was twins, and I had to put on a brave face. I pretended not to be scared. The closer they got, the faster my heart beat. They finally got to my cell and stopped in front of it.

“Well, look who woke up,” Dax said.

“Ya, well, if you wouldn’t have hit me over the head so hard, it wouldn’t have taken me so long to wake up,” I snapped at them.

“Well, we had to be sure that you were out for a while. We needed to find all of your weapons. Smart girl, really. Silver knife in your bun and cutouts in your boots for more knives. The guns were a little over the top, though. Three pistols and a rifle,” Axel said.

“Now baby, you are not really in a position to keep lying to us, so I suggest you tell us who you are, and you better do it fast,” Dax said.

“f**k both of you,” I yelled.

They both laughed and then opened the cell and they both walked in. This was it. This was the end of me. I wouldn’t go out without a fight. I lunged at Axel as he was the first one in the cell. My fist connected with his face. His face whipped to the side, but I heard the crack of my hand. I quickly brought my hand up and cradled it.

Axel was quick to grab me around the throat and push me up against the wall. He squeezed my throat just a little, but didn’t cut off my oxygen supply.

“Now baby, that’s not how we treat each other. We just want to know the truth,” Dax said again.

“I am not telling you to s**t,” I growled at him.

Axel threw me on the cot and stormed out of the room, while Dax came and stood over me for just a minute. I could see his eyes flashing black and back to his natural blue color.

“Tell me this one thing. Why can’t I smell you?”

“I’m not telling you shit.”

He brought his hand down and placed them on both sides of me and brought his face down to my neck and inhaled deeply and then growled lowly. Fear kept me from moving. He finally got up and walked out of the cell and locked the door and disappeared again.

Walking over to the cot still cradling my hand because it was throbbing, I sat down and let the tears fall. When I hit him, I knew it broke some of my bones. I for sure that they would kill me for that but they didn’t. I don’t know if it had to do with the mate bond that Jeff explained to me.

Crap, I forgot about Jeff. I hoped he made it out safely. I knew if he did, he would try to find some way to get me out, and although I doubted it would work and he would get killed.

I laid down and tried to get as comfortable as possible, but my hand was throbbing so badly that I couldn’t get comfortable. A few hours later, someone was coming. This time, it was only one person. My cell door opened and in walked Dax.

“Sit up,” he growled at me.

I did as he said and he gently took my hand and wrapped it up with a bandage and kissed it afterward. He walked back out of the cell and grabbed something and came back to me.

“Some dinner and pain pills,” he said before walking out of my cell.

I quickly pulled the lid off the tray he brought me and it smelled amazing. Roast and potatoes and some carrots and an enormous bottle of water. After I ate a little of everything, I was full. I opened the bag that he said had pain pills in them. There were four of them when I removed them. I took one, not knowing what they were.

Whatever they were, they were great because within ten minutes; the pain had subsided, and I was getting sleepy. I closed my eyes and welcomed the sleep, but it didn’t last long because my cell door was being opened again. I looked up and saw Axel standing there.

He walked over to me and dropped a blanket on me and an ice pack and walked back out without another word. I pulled the blanket over me and placed the ice on my hand, and went right back to sleep.