To Love a Stray Ch. 13

PUBLIC BETA

Note: You can change font size, font face, and turn on dark mode by clicking the "A" icon tab in the Story Info Box.

You can temporarily switch back to a Classic Literotica® experience during our ongoing public Beta testing. Please consider leaving feedback on issues you experience or suggest improvements.

Click here
Mygypsy
Mygypsy
1,327 Followers

"Oh God no," I pray as I step towards her knowing the collar will choke her when she changes.

Alarm flares in Rosy's face as she launches herself at me. Her right hand connects with my face even as I turn my head to avoid the blow meant to break my nose.

My arms close around her and the scream that comes from her is barely audible as her body tries to shape-shift while I embrace her in my arms. There is the strong distinct odour of cat as I manage to turn her body in my arms so that her back rests against my front. Her body wriggles and bucks in my arms as it tries to shift to cat form. I close my eyes and let my legs fold beneath me as I sink to the floor.

My mouth and nose are close to the curve of her neck but all I smell is fear, pain and cat. It feels like she planted her feet flat to push back with her shoulders and arch back, fighting my hold. I allow us to fall onto our sides as her body twists and bucks in my arms.

Pain clamps down on my right forearm like burning pokers and I open my eyes to see she is bitting me. Someone slaps her roughly on the side of the head and I hiss with pain as it pulls on my arm. Again she is slapped but it takes three or four hits before she releases her hold and I see the puncture wounds left by her semi-formed canines.

I feel her body jerk and see her legs kick out wildly. Mitchell yelps and a faint groan comes from Rosy before she slams an elbow back into my ribs savagely. I can't help the grunt of pain that escapes me before I roll my body to pin Rosy to the floor beneath my weight. I don't loosen my grip but she still manages to kick and buck until we are half in a sitting position.

I can hear her struggling to breathe as I look around frantically. Wade should be here with the key by now, but all I see is fear and near panic in the faces of those who have ventured into the room.

Her entire body jerks as the smell of her cat becomes more pungent. Soft sounds of panic and pain come from Rosy as her raspy gasps become further apart and her struggles become weaker. The collar has tightened so much Rosy almost can't breathe and she arches her neck back as she gasps for air.

"Rosy!" I hear Mitchell's panicked yell. Rosy digs her heels in and arches her back once again but there isn't much strength in her struggles this time.

"Where's that God damned key?" I roar and Rosy jerks in my arms as her struggles weaken to little more than muscle spasms.

I shift my grip on her so I now cradle her body against mine. I can feel her chest working as she struggles for breath but I can't hear any air being moved above the rush of my own pulse pounding in my head.

"I'm not letting you go Sweetheart. I promise I won't let you go. Just hang on, we need you to hang in there," I beg frantically as I press my cheek against the side of her face. I don't know how long I sit there cradling Rosy against me.

"I've got the key! I've got the key!" I hear Mitchell shouting and then he is fumbling around behind the wrist of the hand I use to support her chin.

I don't want to let her go but she is dragged from my arms and I am too exhausted to do more than sit and watch as Malcolm, Mitchell and Sam lay her on her back on the kitchen floor.

I become aware of Steven checking my arm and Dwayne standing near where Sam is working on Rosy. I see the phone Dwayne holds to his ear and I realise he is talking urgently to Doc. Information is relayed back and forth and I slowly raise my eyes to Steven's face.

"Is Rosy alive?" I ask even though I am terrified I was unable to save her.

"She's breathing now the collar is off," Wade says quietly not far from me.

I get to my feet as I turn to face him. "Has she been punished enough for saving Jazzy's life now?" I demand with barely controlled rage.

"Are you challenging me?" Wade demands in a cold voice.

It is only knowing that now is not the time or the circumstances, that I would be forced to leave, that has me dropping my eyes and mumbling, "No Alpha."

"Wade," Dwayne interrupts. "I think Rosy should be okay but Doc says she needs to be put somewhere warm and quiet, away from others for the present."

"Someone clean Micah's arm up," Wade orders. "Dwayne help Sam and Mitchell get their sister settled in the containment room for strays in the stone shed. It should be warm and peaceful there."

"I'll take her over there," I say as I take a step towards her.

"You'll do as you're told, or are you above my orders?" Wade demands.

"No Alpha," I force myself to say. "I just want to do what is best for Rosy."

"You making sure that arm is cared for should be your first priority," Wade snaps.

"Show me your arm," Steven says as he approaches me. He takes hold of my arm and I get a good view of the bite for the first time. It does need some immediate attention.

"Someone grab blankets and a pillow for Rosy," Sam orders quietly. "I'll carry Rosy over there now while she is still completely under the sedatives."

* * * * *

I lay on my back watching the stars through the small skylight in the roof and I long for the breeze on my face. All I can smell is fresh paint and faint traces of sawdust while I long for the sweetness of forest smells. I hear the slight crunch as several walk on gravel and I roll so my back is to the bars of the door.

I am locked in the cell in the 'containment room' of the brick shed where I was locked after being sedated when Doc took a blood sample to check my relationship to Sam and Mitchell.

I hear faint footsteps enter the building and I listen for clues as to who they are. I don't have to wait long as they make their way to where my cell is; I remain motionless hoping they will think I am asleep.

"Just drop the mattresses here somewhere and you can head back to the quarters," Micah says at a normal level.

"Ok, see you in the morning," Mikkarl says and I listen to him walk away. Someone approaches the bars of the front of the cell and I hear the slight rustle of paper.

"Rosy we bought over your meal for you," Steven tells me

"Just leave it where she can reach it when she wants it," Micah says and I can't help noticing how tired he sounds. "If she's awake she obviously doesn't want to talk to either of us."

I listen to the faint sounds as Steven moves away and then the noises as they prepare for sleep. Soon there is only their breathing and I listen to them as I bite my lip to stop the tears of loneliness from overflowing. There is a hollow ache inside me. I feel abandoned, alone and unhappy. All my energy is gone and it is an effort just to breathe.

I can smell Micah and Steven but there is a distance between us I don't know how to cross. I long to feel Micah's arms around me but now I know what he tells me is a lie. I place a hand over my lower stomach and imagine I can feel a small ember of warmth within me.

I must have drifted off to sleep because I wake up sometime later. I look through the skylight and the stars have moved telling me it is somewhere between three and four in the morning. I sit up slowly and rub my hands over my face trying to dispel the lingering feeling of weariness.

Reluctantly I ease off the wide bed and walk silently to where a brown paper bag and a bottle of water sit just inside the bars of the cell. In my half asleep state I accidentally kick the bottle of water sending it through the bars and rolling out of reach. I snatch the bag with my food in it and I am just about to return to the bed when Steven tosses his blanket off and gets up to retrieve the bottle of water. He picks it up and carries it back to where I stand and just as I am about to step back away from the bars and out of his reach, he places the bottle where he had put it earlier. He hesitates a moment then moves to sit against the wall not far from where the metal frame of bars is bolted securely to the wall.

I hesitate a moment before moving to sit against the wall back from the bars like Steven. We sit there in silence while I open the bag and pull a cling wrap packaged sandwich from the bag and open it. The sandwich is still fresh and I bite into it hungrily making sure to chew it well before even trying to swallow it. My throat hurts but I ignore the discomfort as I take another bite. I am very hungry and I am aware of the fact I need to eat to nourish the child I carry.

"I guess you don't feel like talking," Steven says to me quietly and my sensitive hearing picks up the slight change in Micah's breathing telling me he is awake as well now. I don't reply or react in anyway as I continue to eat my sandwich.

"I'd offer to open the window and let the breeze in but it's quite cold outside now," Steven tells me. "There's a second sandwich in there if you're still hungry when you finish that one. I wasn't sure if you like mustard pickles on cold roast sandwiches so I only put it on one of them."

I don't answer him but the sound of his voice fills some need in me and I pause to pick up the bottle of water and open it to take a drink before finishing the sandwich. Steven has fallen silent and I guess he doesn't know what to say to me anymore than I know what to say to him now. I eat my second sandwich in silence and tuck the used cling wrap in the paper bag before rolling it closed and putting it against the bars. I take the half drank bottle of water to the bed with me and lay down with my back to the bars once again. I hear Steven get up and go back to his mattress before I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep.

"There's a blanket here for you if you're cold," Micah tells me. My temper ignites and before I even think about it the plastic bottle containing the water hits the bars with such force it breaks open spraying its contents on the two unlucky toms on the other side of the bars.

"Hey! What did I do?" Steven demands as he jumps up to shake the water off his blanket. I turn my face away as Micah gets to his feet slowly. I hear his annoyed grunt and the sound of a zipper before the familiar noises that tell me he is shape-shifting.

"Good idea," Steven mutters and I hear similar noises from him. Soon I hear two cats moving around on the other side of the bars. I pull my own blanket up around my ears and settle down to try to get to sleep. I hadn't meant to burst the bottle wetting the two toms. Heck I hadn't even meant to throw it; I just hadn't realised how much hurt and anger was churning around inside me until Micah had spoken.

I am alone when I wake some time shortly after dawn and I look around the cell as I feel the growing need to empty my bladder. Finally I see a plastic bucket sitting in a corner turned upside down and I hurry to use it before anyone turns up. I only have to wait ten minutes before Steven walks in carrying a covered plate as well as a bottle of water and a small bottle of strawberry flavoured milk. I get up and walk to the bars of the cell to take the bottles of drink then step back as he motions me back further before he unlocks a small door to slip the plate in and place it on the floor before shutting the door and relocking it.

"I hope you're feeling better this morning," Steven tells me quietly.

"Been better, been worse; no use complaining," I say before moving to sit down against the wall like I had last night. A strange apathy seems to be trying to envelope me, as if something is trying to drain all of my emotions from me.

"You scared the shit out of all of us when you lost your temper then lost control of your shift yesterday," Steven says worriedly as he moves to squat at the bars looking through them at me. "I don't know how Micah managed to hold you so you couldn't shift! Wade didn't believe the key was really needed and took his time walking over to the quarters with it. You were barely alive when Mitchell managed to unlock your collar."

"I don't remember much of it - only the pain of my cat trying to break free," I say as I stare at the food on my plate no longer hungry.

"I've heard you don't remember much more than that," Steven says gently. "Do you want to talk about what upset you so much? Was it Jazzy and Mitchell? He's still your brother you know."

"All of you lied to me. You tricked me into thinking you were my friends and when I came back to help Jazzy, you let Wade lock me up and then send Edwin in to me! You can't say you didn't know that would happen! Now you think you have what you wanted all along - a nice tame she-kitt who is pregnant and with no choice but to let one of you toms rut on me whenever it takes his fancy. Well think again," I yell as I get to my feet and throw the plate of food against the stone wall. My emotions come bubbling to the surface and spill forth like acid.

"I am not tame! I am not civilised! I am a stray. Not some milk-sop of a clan she-kitt!" I scream almost hysterically.

"You came back and pointed a gun at Wade! A lot of other Alphas would have had you killed for that. You revealed our existence to a human. That carries a severe sentence of at least a year in a cage and then a whipping with a cat-o-nine-tails! As for what happened with Edwin, if we had suspected it would happen Micah would have gotten into a fight with Edwin and been banished from the clan as a result. You'd be with Edwin now doing as he tells you when he tells you! Edwin is totally different to Micah and not necessarily in a nice way. And you're whining because Wade hoped a baby would help straighten your thinking out?" Steven turns away for a moment before looking back at me. "You're right about being a stray. You can't see past how everything affects you. Fuck everyone else! And you think everyone is out to get you. Wake up to yourself! Not everything is about the pathetic little bitch-cat you are!" Steven snaps before stalking to the door angrily.

"Ever stop to wonder what it was like for Micah to hold you like he did, knowing you might die in his arms?" Steven demands. "Or what it was like for your brothers and the rest of us to watch what was happening and know we were powerless to prevent it?"

I am left to stare after him in shock as he storms out of sight. Finally I turn and make my way to the bed where I lay down and face the wall miserably. I am left to think about the punishments I could have been given and suddenly Edwin doesn't seem so terrible. True, I hated him touching me and he had hurt me, but even before today I believed the baby was worth enduring what he had done.

I refuse to allow myself to think about what it must have been like for the others in the building to see me lose control like that. No one cared about me before; I was always just a means to an end.

I try several times during the morning to shape-shift but my inner cat refuses to co-operate and I am left exhausted and shaken. I end up laying down on the bed on my back with one arm thrown across my eyes blocking out the light, and I must have drifted off to sleep because I am woken by a sharp metallic click. I wake with a start and jerk my arm down to look over towards the bars. Micah is relocking the small door and I sit up to swing my legs over the edge of the bed. Steven is standing back several steps and watching with a closed look on his face as I walk over to collect my plate of food. Beside the plate is a dustpan and brush and I glance towards the mess I made earlier. I decide to eat before cleaning up the mess.

"Can you shape-shift yet?" Micah asks quietly. I hesitate a few moments before shaking my head as I keep my gaze fixed on my plate. I find myself wanting to reach out to him but I don't know what to do or say.

"Give it time. Just rest and take it easy for a few days. Give your inner cat a chance to forget being hurt then hopefully she'll co-operate for you," Micah says kindly. I don't answer; I can't find the right words to say to him. And after a few long moments it doesn't matter as he turns and leaves the shed with Steven following him.

I try to rest after eating and cleaning up the mess I made but it is not until close to dark that I manage to relax and I end up falling asleep. I am woken by the slight noise Micah and Steven make as they return much later with a plate of food and some bottles of drink. I retrieve the supplies and sit on the bed to eat while the two toms shift and then curl up on the mattresses in cat form to sleep.

The next four days pass in an indistinct blur of meals and resting or sleeping. I don't talk; I can't find the words in the vacuum inside of me. Micah and Steven make a point of being quiet and calm around me when they bring my food or come to sleep of a night. I try each afternoon to shape-shift but each time my inner cat cringes away and refuses to even try. I end up exhausted and quickly fall asleep after each session.

* * * * *

"Good morning Rosy," I say as I get up and begin to get dressed. I can see she is awake and she arches her back as she stretches, reaching her arms above her head. She rolls onto her side and lies facing the bars watching as Steven and I get dressed.

"Good morning Micah, and you too Steven," Rosy says.

"Hey Sweetheart," I say softly as I approach the bars. "Feeling better today are you?"

"Good day Rosy," Steven calls.

"What do you want for breakfast?" I ask.

"Pancakes and honey?" Rosy asks as she sits up. "With orange juice."

"You didn't have any nightmares last night," Steven remarks.

It is the first night we had not woken to her screaming or crying as she scrambled into the corner at the head of the bed. Each time it happened she cowered into the corner whimpering miserably, even refusing to come to the bars for comfort.

"No I didn't, did I," Rosy murmurs quietly.

"Do you feel up to Sam and Mitchell visiting you later?" I ask and Rosy immediately loses the faint smile on her face. Hurt flickers briefly in her eyes and she turns away to face the wall.

"No, no I don't," Rosy answers levelly.

We linger a few minutes to see if Rosy will open up again but she seems to be withdrawn once again. Unable delay it any longer I head for the quarters and the breakfast someone is sure to have started.

"How's Rosy this morning?" Mitchell demands as soon as I step into the lounge room. "Does she seem any better? Does she want us to come visit her?"

"She seems a bit better this morning. She was smiling when she said good morning, plus she asked for pancakes and orange juice for breakfast," I say as I head for the kitchen.

"She just wants to be mainly left alone at the moment," Steven says quietly not far behind me.

"Rosy say anything about what might have caused that the other day?" Sam asks with a quick glance at me, then Steven.

"She hasn't said anything to me," I admit unhappily.

"It's probably trust issues," Steven says and I glance at him before reaching for a frypan and mixing bowl.

"She's pregnant, and there was that damned collar," Steven says as he pulls a box of pancake mixture from the pantry and passes it to me. "And we don't even know if she still wants to be here after what happened with Edwin."

"Damn Wade to hell and back!" I snarl as I fling the box of mixture against the wall. "First he punishes her for saving Jazzy and leaves her in that God damned cage until she is nearly sick! And that collar he put on her nearly finished the job! I am going to kill Edwin for being too weak to stand up to Wade and just giving in to his orders to get Rosy pregnant!"

"Stop it Micah! Just stop it!" Jazzy demands tearfully as she grabs the mixing bowl I had been just about to smash in the sink.

"What would you have done if Wade had ordered one of the toms here into the cage? Steven your partner, or maybe his brother Mikkarl, or even your own brother Dwayne?" Jazzy demands as tears run down her face. "You would have killed whoever it was the moment they walked back in here, that's what you would have done! All because they followed orders."

Mygypsy
Mygypsy
1,327 Followers