Taken by the Viking Ch. 15

Several days after watching Marek punish Laura, and one dinner with them which began awkwardly (at least on Trish's part) but ended with a strange sense of normalcy (well, as normal as things could get when normal was instructing the two women to kiss and fondle each other until the men couldn't take it anymore and pulled them apart to fuck them separately), Jordan dropped Trish off at Marek and Laura's apartment while he went to run "an errand" for the Wolf. Trish almost asked him what errand, but then she'd kept her mouth shut. It wasn't her business. Shouldn't be her business.

She shouldn't care what was taking him away from her.

The lines between them were becoming more and more blurred and she didn't know what to do about it. She had somehow become comfortable with Jordan, in a way. Subconsciously, she seemed to trust him or something. At least, she had no other explanation for why she cuddled up to him in her sleep, why her hands seemed to have a mind of their own when he fucked her now. More than once he'd left her hands free, although he'd hold her down by one wrist, or by her throat, and Trish knew he was hoping she'd touch him of her own free will again.

It was hard to be constantly on alert against leaning against him, against snuggling in when he cuddled her, against touching him when he was pleasuring her. Hard and exhausting. The only times it was truly easy was after he spanked her and she was feeling resentful, but Trish could only take so many spankings. Especially when spanking her definitely aroused him and then she was subjected to intensely pleasurable orgasms as the pain in her bottom melded with the pleasure of his skillful fucking, followed by feelings of shame for provoking him and the enjoying the aftermath of her punishment so much.

She felt like she was going a little crazy.

Especially because some part of her really did care that he was out "running an errand." Some part of her felt strangely... pouty... about being left out of whatever he was doing. About being left behind. Some part of her didn't like it.

And she didn't really know what to do about that part.

Although, at least spending time with Laura provided a distraction. Still feeling guilty over gossiping about Trish and Jordan, Laura was willing to answer any question Trish asked as long as it didn't have to do with anyone's personal lives.

She also didn't judge Trish for wanting to know what errand Jordan had gone on, although she did seem confused that Trish hadn't just asked Jordan before he'd left. Trish hadn't known how to explain wanting to pretend she didn't care where he'd gone, but fortunately Laura didn't actually ask her why she didn't know.

"I heard the Wolf wants some new Moonies to play with," Laura said eagerly, obviously happy to be able to answer Trish's question. "Jordan's always the one who recruits them. He's got a knack for picking out exactly the right kind of people to bring back."

"New Moonies?" Trish asked, as both hope and alarm rose within her. She tried to focus on the hope - perhaps she'd be back to her old life soon? - rather than the alarm she felt at the idea of returning to her old life. "To replace Alex and Bella?"

"Oh, I doubt that," Laura said, shaking her head. She readjusted her position on the couch so she was facing Trish more fully, crossing her legs in a comfortable position. "But the Wolf gets bored easily. Bringing new people in for a day or two is part of how he amuses himself. Plus, then he can release the day captives and everyone knows his current toys are okay and still alive. Keeps the Moon officials off our backs."

It also let their families know they were alive and still following the Wolf's normal procedure of doing things. A kind of reassurance most kidnapped victims wouldn't have. Trish was struck again by the strange combination of compassion, efficiency, and brutality the Wolf displayed.

The kidnappings and rapes were brutal... yet no one was ever returned physically damaged and they were all returned. Not only that, but the day captives being taken and released ensured both the authorities and the victim's families knew they were alive and as well as any of the Wolf's victims. Returning the victims eventually also kept the Moon officials out of the Wolf's business; for the most part, the officials insisted on waiting, since no one knew exactly where the Wolf held his captives or how many soldiers he had. Raiding a base filled with soldiers for two people who would eventually be returned... it wasn't a good investment.

But was that the real reason? Or did the Wolf returning his victims have something to do with the memory drug? All the little facts and pieces of information Trish had picked up over the weeks were niggling in her brain, starting to make a more cohesive picture. One which didn't paint the Wolf any better than he was, but it definitely made the Moon look a lot worse.

"It doesn't bother you?" Trish asked a little hesitantly.

Laura snorted. "Why should it? The little assholes are always just looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. They're thrilled to be part of it. And if they're not, well, then they got a taste of what it was like to live on Earth after their families deserted it and left us here to struggle. They know what they're risking just by coming to Earth, but they keep doing it anyway, don't they?"

Seeing the look on Trish's face, Laura leaned over and patted Trish's hand.

"You're different though, obviously. You're not like them. They're all spoiled brats who want a little thrill, and maybe they get more than they thought they would, but that's their own fault. Ugh, you should have seen the last two, whining and wailing the whole time, but then they went straight to the news vids, bragging for as long as people would pay attention to them and then making shit up when they started to lose the spotlight. Why, the girl-"

As Laura continued, Trish couldn't help but think... because she was different than the other Moonies who came to Earth for pleasure jaunts or adventure. She'd heard a lot of them joking about being taken by the Wolf, it was always said with a kind of excited disbelief, like they were secure in the knowledge it wouldn't happen to them but they liked to scare themselves with the idea it might. Trish hadn't been excited by the idea, but she'd come to Earth with that same disbelief, that same naive security that nothing bad would happen to her as long as she kept her head down and didn't try to draw attention. She hadn't thought anyone on Earth would care any which way about her; a nobody on the Moon, a nobody on the planet.

But yes, she'd known of the risk. She just hadn't thought it applied to her.

Had that been naivety or hubris?

The majority attitude among older Moonies was that the younger generations who chose to vacation on Earth and were taken by the Wolf got what they deserved. After all, it wasn't like everyone didn't know what might happen. Earth was a desired location for the younger generations because of its supposed savageness and unpredictability. Of course, reality was very different for the vast majority of visitors, but most of the visitors liked the little taste of danger, the tiny thrill of risk.

Trish had just assumed she'd be safe because she was a nobody and she was a student. She'd known the risks too, and it wasn't that she'd judged them to be a worthwhile risk, it was that she'd dismissed them entirely as not applicable. Which she could blame on the Moon, for making her perceived self-worth so low, but it was her own fault for buying into others' attitudes towards her.

Did that mean she deserved this? Did she deserve everything that had happened to her?

There were a lot of people on the Moon who would say yes. They didn't even care that she'd been taken, but she knew if she did garner any notice, they'd have the same attitude they did about all the Wolf's victims - idiots who had made a shitty decision and were paying for it. Plenty of people scoffed at the idea of the victims even BEING victims, saying they should have fought back or escaped or tried to assassinate the Wolf while they were down there. People who thought they'd somehow manage to do something heroic.

Thinking back to Alex's early attempts at just such maneuvers, Trish couldn't help but shiver. There hadn't been a moment, since reaching the compound, that she, Alex, and Bella hadn't been under guard. And Alex had still tried to fight. For his efforts, he'd been shock collared, tortured, and starved. She admired his bravery and stubbornness even as she thought he'd been an idiot to persist in such a futile endeavor.

Who was really smarter - the person who fought impossible odds or the person who waited for their chance at good odds?

And what was there to be done when the odds were all stacked against them?

She should feel buried under defeat, but Trish had trouble mustering that emotion anymore.

Her life here was, in many ways, much better than it had ever been. Or did she only feel that way because otherwise she'd be utterly crushed by the hopelessness of her situation? Sometimes she wondered. But she did acknowledge the ways in which her life had improved.

Actually, if she could continue getting her education - in a structured class schedule, not the little bits of information she read herself during the few times Jordan actually left her alone with computer access - she might even be some semblance of happy. There had never been a time in Trish's life when she'd really been happy. She'd never really had friends. Sometimes Laura said things Trish didn't like, but now that she knew Laura's backstory, she at least understood why Laura felt the way she did. Laura felt like her friend. The other soldiers and civilians at the compound knew who Trish was and they looked out for her, in a way that she'd never experienced until now.

She wasn't a nobody here.

She was Jordan's girl.

And she might not really know how she felt about being Jordan's girl, but it was obvious how everyone else around her felt about it.

******

The coffee shop was the same one Jordan had first seen Trish at. He was almost always drawn back to it whenever he was in the area.

People chattered and moved around him in a steady stream, secure in their place in the world. There was a reason Jordan always came back to the tourist areas to hunt for new Moonies to bring to the Wolf; not only were they easy pickings here, thinking themselves safe, but they were often the most pampered as well. The coffee shop offered discounts to the college students, but made everyone else pay through the nose for the kind of frou-frou drinks the Moonies thought were essential to their lives.

The bright color of her hair had caught his attention, along with her quiet beauty and the earnest expression on her face as she'd read the book she'd brought with her. She'd been so alone.

When he'd heard a couple talking about the girl with the "weird, white hair," he'd immediately been drawn into their conversation. They'd been snickering at her. Mocking her efforts to "better herself" when she was a "nobody," laughing at her useless efforts and her belief that she could change things for herself. They'd stopped laughing by the time they were introduced to the Wolf, but they'd made perfect day captives, despite all their whining. They'd made up some of the more outrageous stories Jordan had ever heard from day captives after their release in an attempt to keep their momentary celebrity status.

Unfortunately, he'd also realized a lot of what they said was true.

Trish wouldn't be given the opportunity to advance herself on the Moon. She'd had no powerful friends or allies and her interests had immersed her in Earth history and culture, something which the Moon had very little use for to their detriment. It amused Jordan to think how now she had all the powerful contacts she could possibly need, making her far more powerful than the two brats who had entertained themselves by mocking her.

He should make sure she had the opportunity to go back to school if she wanted to. Once he'd stopped working for the Wolf. Right now, things were too turmoiled. It was unlikely anyone would immediately connect her with him, outside of the compound, but even the smallest risk was too large in his opinion.

"OOoooo, look, they're showing it again!" An excited voice, trying to stay quiet, caught Jordan's attention. A slim young man with lean muscles and dark blonde hair was leaning towards an pretty little redhead. Well, what passed for red hair these days, which was usually reddish-brown, unlike Cora's brilliant locks.

Jordan followed their gazes to a vidscreen where the Moon had actors resembling Bella and Alex acting out the reporters' theories of what was happening to the real Alex and Bella. Despite the blurred out anatomy portions, it remained graphic, and several of the occupants of the coffee shop had their eyes glued to the vidscreen. Pathetic. He supposed to this was some new gimmick on the part of this particular news station to draw attention away from their competitors. The campy acting and over-exaggerated looks of reluctant pleasure on the actor's faces nearly made him laugh aloud.

"Do you think that's really what it's like?" the redhead whispered loudly, leaning into the blond, her hand on his thigh. It was obvious the two of them were aroused by the supposition.

Hiding his disdain, Jordan moved towards them and sat down in a chair at their table. Startled, the pair jumped upright, wide eyed and slightly annoyed at being interrupted - although they both blinked and their expressions smoothed out a bit when they got a good look at him. Jordan hid his smirk at their obvious decision not to try and take him on, when he was taller and stronger than either of them. At least they had some survival instincts.

"Do you want to know what's really happening to them?" he asked in a low voice, letting his eye slide to the left and right as if checking to make sure no one was listening, like he was letting them in on some special secret.

Immediately, both of them leaned forward, drawn in despite the wary skepticism dancing in their eyes.

"How do you know?" the redhead asked, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep the eagerness from her voice.

He let a secretive little smile spread on his lips. "I happen to have an in. I can even take you to them."

The blond frowned, his skepticism rising, although the redhead just looked more excited. "You can take us to them, seriously?"

Jordan shrugged. "You've heard about people visiting the Wolf's captives, right? I can get you in. But it's up to you."

He didn't always play things this way, but - despite his immediate impression of dislike of the couple - they weren't doing anything anyone else in the cafe was. Sometimes, if he particularly felt someone deserved it, he would just take them. Like those two assholes who had mocked his Trish. Other times, he'd just set the bait. See if they took it. So far, he'd only ever been wrong once.

Standing up, Jordan gave them a smile. The blond still looked skeptical, the redhead was clinging to him and biting her lip. She wanted to believe Jordan.

"I'm headed there now. You can come if you want." Dropping the bait, Jordan turned and headed for the door.

He was a little surprised when he made it out onto the street. They'd seemed the type to take the risk. Especially since it was well known they'd be back home by tomorrow morning. It made him dislike them just a tiny bit less.

Just as he was about to walk away from the coffee shop, find a new hunting ground, the door behind him opened.

"Wait!"

Internally, he shook his head. Maybe he'd overestimated their survival instincts.

******

"The Wolf wants you to join him as well," Zadia said, her eyes flickering to Trish with a kind of interest. Not sexual exactly but... there was something there that made Trish feel uneasy.

"No," Jordan said, wrapping his arm around Trish. His tone of voice was completely firm in his denial. "Not in the main hall."

"It's that or a camera," Zadia said, her eyes sliding back to Trish again. There was something of apology in them, but also a hint of disappointment. "The Wolf wants a full show."

Wariness suspicion filled Trish and she leaned into Jordan's side, hoping for his protection. On the other side of the room, the two Moonies he'd come back with were huddled together, whispering, their eyes wide as they stared at the guards on the door. They looked terrified and excited at the same time. The first Trish could understand, the second... not so much.

Jordan cocked his head, looking down at her. His fingers toyed with the end of a lock of her hair, his expression softening slightly as he looked down at her.

"Little girl, you have a choice - we can be part of the show in the Main Hall, or we can be part of the show on video camera, but with no one else in the room."

"Except Bella," Zadia added. "The Wolf wants her to be part of your show for some reason."

Shrugging, Jordan didn't take his eyes off of Trish, who felt like she'd just stepped into a whirlwind of confusion. Seriously? She had a choice? Except... it wasn't really a choice was it? She had a choice about being watched up close and personally again, or still being watched but having it at more of a remote difference...

It shouldn't make her feel touched that Jordan was leaving the decision up to her, when really it wasn't about whether or not they were going to have sex and be part of the Wolf's show for the day captives, but about how they were going to be part of the show. She shouldn't feel a tiny bit of softening in her defenses just because Jordan was asking her opinion.

Yet, she did. Stockholm's, for sure. That had to be it.

Although, knowing it logically did nothing to change the way she felt about it.

Both Zadia and Jordan waited on her answer.

Trish didn't want to be part of the show in the Main Room. Just having the two Moonies staring at her from across the room was making her skin crawl.

And, it sounded like her decision could save Bella from being part of whatever the Wolf was going to do too.

She might not be able to do anything to help Alex, but she could help Bella.

"Video camera, please," she whispered.

Jordan kept Trish away from the two Moonies, to her relief. Zadia escorted them out of the room, accompanied by the guards, leaving Jordan and Trish alone. He cupped Trish's face in his hands, tilting her head back so he could look in her eyes.

"You're going to have to do exactly as I say," he said calmly, his fingers gently stroking her cheek. "Once the camera is on. If you're a bad girl, you'll regret it. Immediately."

"Yes, Sir," Trish whispered. She wasn't sure why she called him that, just that right now he seemed almost remote, a little scarier than usual. Of course, this was also the first time they were really going to be on display for the Wolf and anyone else other than Marek and Laura. The first time anyone else would be able to see how they interacted sexually.

Constantly surrounded by soldiers, knowing it was pointless to fight back, Trish didn't ever give Jordan any trouble. Every so often, in private, she might try small rebellions. Shifting her position when he'd told her to hold still. Balking at the outfit he'd picked out for her. Shutting the door to the bathroom fully. Sometimes he seemed amused, but he usually spanked her, although not always very hard. The stern glint he got in his eye when they were in public, in front of the people he led, had deterred her from testing him there.

Bad enough when she earned a punishment, she didn't need a public one.

"You're going to lick Bella's pussy," he said, with the air of doing her a favor by telling her ahead of time, so she could get used to the idea.