Moonchild Read online

  “You don’t have to…”

  She laughed. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not doing it for you. Of course, if I find out what’s what, I’ll tell you. But I’m doing it for me.” She stretched her arms over her head and cracked her knuckles. “I’ve always wanted to be a detective. Funny how I ended up on the other side of the law.” She laughed again, then motioned for me to follow her.

  The yard was huge. Dark Moon Prison had to provide enough space for the werewolves. In our human form, we looked more or less normal. The Alphas and some of the Betas were taller and larger than most humans, especially the males. From what I could see, Roz was an exception. The other Beta females weren’t as big as her, nor as scary. The Alpha females were strong and athletic, with small breasts that were barely visible and chiseled abs. As for the Alpha males… They were humongous! And ugly as hell. Most had deep scars etched into their cheeks, foreheads, jaws, uninspired tattoos of skulls, guns, and wolves on their arms, necks, and even faces, and I even saw an old Alpha who was missing an eye. As I followed Roz dutifully, I kept my head down. I could feel their eyes on me as I passed, could hear them smack their lips and call after me, ask me if I was already taken, mated to some poor fellow outside of the gates. Not that they cared. A massive Alpha with a prosthetic leg followed me a couple of steps, all the while sniffing me and asking if I liked it up the ass. He didn’t want to put his pups in me, he said, he just wanted to have fun. I picked up the pace and caught up with Roz.

  “They won’t do anything,” my cellmate reassured me. “The guards won’t let them because they want you for themselves.” She winked.

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

  She chuckled. “Well, the guards are cleaner than the inmates, aren’t they?”

  “Does everyone fuck everyone in here?”

  “Who’s going to stop them?”

  “You know, I heard humans have prisons where relationships between guards and inmates are forbidden. If they’re discovered, the guards lose their jobs.”

  She laughed out loud. “Funny story, doe. Well, this isn’t a human prison.”

  “They aim for the rehabilitation of the inmates.”

  “Yeah, no one aims for our rehabilitation in here. We’re the scum of werewolf society. If we get out, we’re considered rogue, and no pack will ever accept us again. We’re also forbidden from forming our own rogue packs, did you know that? Dark Moon Prison ruins you for life. But most won’t ever get out of here, so… why think about it?”

  “How much do you have?”

  “Life.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to ask her what she’d done, but I was afraid it might come off as rude. I had no idea whether it was acceptable to ask another inmate what had landed them in prison.

  “I killed my Alpha mate, if you need to know,” she offered in a calm, even tone. “And then I drowned my pups. There were three of them, newly born.”

  I touched my hand to my throat, feeling like I couldn’t breathe. As an Omega, I had high empathy for wolf pups, regardless of whether they were mine or someone else’s. My fingers felt the collar of silver and steel. The skin underneath it was inflamed, itching like crazy.

  “They weren’t mine,” she continued. “That’s why I killed them, and that’s why I killed him, too. The bastard had replaced them. I’d given birth just the day before, fell into a deep sleep, and when I woke up, he’d replaced my pups with some ugly ass pups that reeked of another female. He refused to admit it. He said I was insane, that the difficult pregnancy and long labor had messed with my head. But a mother knows, I tell you!”

  Betas could have pups. The only female wolves who couldn’t give birth were the Alphas, but the Betas could get pregnant if they wanted to, and they usually formed families with Alphas who didn’t have the possibility to mate with an Omega, – because Omegas were rare, and their families usually married them off to ensure pack alliances, – or Beta males who were never allowed access to Omegas, anyway.

  “They fucking smelled like another bitch’s cunt. They weren’t mine! So, I slashed the bastard’s throat, then I took the imposter pups to the lake and drowned them.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What are you sorry for?” she barked at me.

  “For what happened to you. You deserved better.”

  Her jaw clenched. “Damn right I deserved better.”

  We stopped in front of a fenced area where about half a dozen inmates were allowed to enter at once. It was the only place where we could shift in a controlled manner. The moment an inmate was motioned inside by a guard, the guard pressed a button on a remote, and the collar around the inmate’s throat hissed as its field of energy was lowered. Then, the inmate could shift, but the collar was still activated at a lower frequency, enough to keep the wolf weak and subdued. The inmates weren’t allowed more than twenty minutes in their wolf forms. Two males shifted back and exited the fenced area, and Roz grabbed me by the arm and dragged me inside.

  “It’ll do you good.” She started removing her clothes, folding them neatly and placing them on a bench. “Twenty minutes of sprinting around and sniffing the grass. It’s not much, but I’ll take it.”

  Once naked, she shifted in seconds. The crack of bones as they snapped and rearranged themselves made my heart beat faster. I could feel my own body begging me to pull at my muscles and stretch them until they took the shape of my wolf. I looked around me, and sure enough, Officer Stone was on the other side of the fence, remote in hand, watching me intently. I didn’t feel comfortable stripping in front of him, but if I wanted to shift, it was unavoidable. I doubted they would give me another set of clothes if I ripped these to pieces. With a sigh, I turned my back to him and started getting undressed quickly. Even with the horrible collar weakening my powers, I could move fast enough. Not at flashing speed, but if I made an effort, he wouldn’t get to see much of my body before I shifted.

  The process was slower than what my body must have been used to, because it hurt a little. When I fell on my four legs, my paws sinking in the fresh grass, I felt a familiar joy spread inside my chest and my stomach. Flashes from my childhood – as a pup, I wanted to be in my wolf form all the time. I wasn’t big enough to hunt any significant prey yet, but I could take down a rabbit or a squirrel from time to time. I loved sleeping under the stars and sending my small, feeble howls to the moon. My mother always had a hard time convincing me that I wasn’t supposed to spend too much time as a wolf, otherwise I’d be in danger of forgetting my human side. For werewolves to live in peace with each other and with the humans, it was necessary to achieve balance between our animal and our human soul.

  I sprinted after Roz. She was bigger than me. The Alpha males and females that were inside the fence with us were almost as big as horses. I was the tiniest one here, and my yellow fur peppered with streaks of pale silver set me apart. My claws weren’t as long and sharp as an Alpha’s, and my fangs were significantly shorter, too. For someone to see me in my wolf form and think that I’d slaughtered an entire pack of werewolves that were bigger and stronger than me would have been insanity. Or stupidity. Or both. I turned around to look at Officer Stone. His dark brows were furrowed, and his jaw was set. I couldn’t read anything in his eyes. I bowed down to sniff the grass under my feet, my gaze never leaving his. One second, I was feeling happy and free, confident that even Officer Stone could see how ridiculous the accusations against me were, and the next, a heavy body was slamming into my side, sending me sprawling. I whimpered as I hit the ground with a thud. I looked up, and two Beta females were growling over my shivering, weakened body. One was completely black, and the other one was gray. The gray one bared her fangs. Saliva dripped down the sharp tips. I knew what they wanted. In wolf form, werewolves were unable to speak, but they could communicate through a sort of telepathy. It was more like reading each other’s body language, along with the growls and grunts we made. And these Beta bitches wanted me gone. Dead or disfigured. The black one raised her humongous paw, and my eyes widened. Adrenaline shot through my veins, and I managed to scramble away before she got me in the face. I jumped to my feet and sneered at them. If they could laugh, they would’ve, because compared to them, I looked like a damn pup. My legs were long and elegant, built to run and prance around, not fight. My body was thin and graceful, not a single muscle bulging inelegantly. They could easily knock me down again without even trying too much. They took a few steps toward me, and I took a few steps back. I stole a glance around me, looking for Roz. She was in a corner, watching the show without a care in the world. She wasn’t going to come to my rescue. The gray wolf lunged at me, and even though I jumped aside, she managed to sink her teeth into my shoulder. I howled in pain. She let go, and blood sprung out of the wound, splashing on the ground.

  “Enough,” I heard Officer Stone yell.

  The collars on the two Betas buzzed, and they whimpered as they lowered themselves to the ground. Soon, they were shifting back, and I could only guess Officer Stone had upped the energy in their collars so much that pure pain had made them comply. The black wolf turned into a tall woman in her forties with dark skin and short hair, and the gray wolf turned into a woman that was even older. It was odd, but as I towered over them, still in my wolf form, I felt powerful and proud. They were too old and uninteresting to get Father Rivera’s attention. Maybe he’d fucked them once or twice for lack of better options, but there was no way he’d prefer them over me – beautiful, young, graceful. These women had attacked me because they were jealous, and now Office Stone was coming to my rescue, jumping over the fence and rushing to my side.

  “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he yelled in my face. “Shift the fuck back. Now, or else…”

  A small whimper escaped me. Why was he angry at me? I hadn’t done anything wrong. I moved my tail between my legs, and when he waved the remote control in front of my eyes, I shifted into my human form as fast as I could. I didn’t want him to hurt me like he’d hurt them.

  “I didn’t do anything,” I whispered as I tried to cover my breasts and the triangle of blond hair between my legs with my hands. “You saw what happened. They jumped me.”

  “Save your sad story for someone who cares, mut. You’re an instigator. This morning in the showers, now this? Here? This is the only place where the inmates find some joy, and you ruined it for everyone. A few days in solitary will do you good. It’ll teach you how things are run around here and that rules must be followed.”

  “N-no… Please… I didn’t do anything.”

  He grabbed me by the arm, his rough fingers sinking deep into my skin. I had no choice but to follow him. I pulled my long hair over my shoulders, trying to cover my pebbling nipples with it. Everyone was staring at me. We rushed past an Alpha male, and the erection between his furry legs was so obvious and obscene that I decided to keep my eyes on the ground. Officer Stone almost didn’t allow me to get my clothes. I managed to grab them in a hurry, but he didn’t let me get dressed. I squeezed them to my chest with my free hand, terrified at the prospect of being dragged naked through the whole prison.

  And that was exactly what happened. Guards and inmates laughed at me, spat in my direction, and made crude gestures. The female inmates called me a slut, a whore, and a bitch in heat, and the male inmates shouted obscenities at me, asking me how I liked it, telling me what they were going to do when they got their paws on me. Officer Stone ignored them, letting them spill their hatred and erotic fantasies in my direction. He didn’t care, and that hurt more than what these people were shouting at me.

  Down in the underbelly of the prison, he opened a door, threw me inside, and locked it behind me. A cell with no windows, no bed, no sink, no toilet. It looked… oddly familiar.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Officer Stone

  Of course I knew it wasn’t her fault. I wasn’t blind. I also wasn’t blind to the looks of utter lust the Alpha inmates were giving her. I couldn’t punish them for staring at her like she was a juicy piece of meat, but I could punish her for being a juicy piece of meat. A piece of meat I wanted a taste of. She was safer in solitary, anyway. Out there, someone would have cornered her at some point, when I wasn’t looking. The warden had told me to keep an eye on her, but it was impossible when she was stalking around like a fucking Omega princess, moving her hips enticingly, showing the males what they couldn’t have, and the females what they could never be. It was her first day in prison, and she was already locked up in isolation. “Good fucking job, mut! Couldn’t stay out of trouble, could you?” I put her in the same cell in which Garrett and I had tortured her last night. Since then, the staff had scrubbed it clean, which hadn’t been an easy task, since an Omega’s slick could permeate the air for days. I left her in there, naked and scared. To make this work, I needed to bring in some things. Normally, when inmates were thrown into solitary, they only got a bucket for their bodily needs, and no water to wash themselves. They were fed once a day, and the meal usually consisted of bland rice or old beans. Only one glass of water, no more. After all, they were in there to learn a lesson, not live like fucking kings and queens. But I wasn’t going to treat Wisteria that way. I wasn’t that cruel. I had every intention to take her out to pee, if she needed it, and give her a shower, too. I was good at giving showers… Too bad she couldn’t remember.

  I realized… the thought of having her completely dependent on me excited me. She would only use the bathroom when I allowed her to, and I’d be right there to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. I’d clean her, dress her, brush her hair… Oh, a few days in solitary wouldn’t only do her good, but would also be a real treat to me. I deserve it. I’d served Dark Moon Prison with all I had for so many years. It was time for that bonus I’d been promised but never received. It wasn’t money, but that was fine. It was better than money. It was an Omega’s virgin pussy.

  I returned to her cell carrying blankets and pillows. From experience, I knew she’d refuse to build a nest, but I had something hidden in the pocket of my uniform, something that would soon force her to do just that. A grin spread on my lips as I thought about what I was going to do to her in just a few minutes.

  As I dumped the load on the floor, she stared at me with those huge, purple eyes.

  “I don’t understand, officer. You saw what happened. You saw it with your own eyes. You can’t put me in solitary. It’s just my first day, and… and… shouldn’t you give me a strike or something?”

  “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do,” I growled. The cell was cramped. I walked over to her, backing her against the wall. She’d put her clothes back on, and I found that annoyed me. “You did this to yourself. You should have kept your head down.”

  “I… I did…”

  I wasn’t interested in what she had to say. Not unless she confessed, but that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. The final goal was still to get a confession out of her, but in the meantime, I wasn’t going to stress over it. I grabbed her wrists, pulled her arms over her head, and secured her to the wall with two pairs of cuffs that I attached to the metal rings which were there specifically for this purpose. Everything was made of silver and steel. Sometimes, inmates would manage to shift in solitary, and that could become a mess. This was a safety measure that, gladly, I hadn’t had to resort to in a while.

  “What are you doing?” She breathed. “Why? What have I ever done to you to deserve this?”

  “Oh, you don’t know what you’ve done to me, huh? What you’re doing right now…” I parted her legs with my knee and rubbed myself against her. Her eyes widened when she felt the hardness of my cock. I smirked. “Starting to get it now?”

  She pursed her lips. With her arms pulled high above her head, her back was slightly arched, her chest out and proud, her breasts round and inviting under the rough fabric of the ugly clothes she was wearing. They had to go. I traced my palms up her sides, cupped her breasts gently, then covered them with my hands, squeezing roughly. She let out a small moan that went right to my crotch.

  “When was your last heat?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered.

  “Of course you don’t. What do you know, then? I keep wondering… What do you know?”

  I grabbed fistfuls of her clothes and pulled once. The gray overalls, along with the sweater and bra she wore underneath, ripped like paper. I continued to rip out her pants and panties, pulling at every piece of fabric to remove it completely. Soon, she was naked before me, only in her boots. I wanted to see her cute little toes, though, so the boots vanished just like her clothes. She tried to close her legs, but I stopped her.

  “Don’t. Ever. Do that,” I hissed in her face. “You will keep your legs open for me, do you understand? If you don’t, I will just cuff your ankles. And that won’t help at all when you’ll want to wrap your legs around me.”

  She didn’t say a word to that. She only stared at me like a deer caught in the headlights, barely blinking, afraid that if she blinked, she might lose even more control over the situation. Not that she’d had any to begin with.

  “Good girl.”

  I pulled the syringe out of my pocket and showed it to her. She shook her head, her eyes pleading for me to not do it. She didn’t even know what it was.

  “Take a guess.”

  She shook her head again.

  “You’ll see soon enough.” I sank the needle into her thigh. She yelped, then went limp against me. “Shh… I’ll take care of you, Wisteria. I’m here. Will always be here for you.”

  Her fever was rising. Doctor Sylvan had consulted her the night before, poked her everywhere, and took more samples than he probably needed. He’d been unable to explain the fever that seemed to come and go randomly. At first, he thought she might be in heat, but it was clear that she wasn’t. No Omega in heat could resist an Alpha, and she’d put on one hell of a fight. Not anymore. What I’d just injected her with was going to ensure her compliance.