Luna's innocent question echoed in his head, as Mason walked away - leaving her stunned and scrambling to follow after him, seeking answers.
'What am I supposed to do?'
At dusk, the Pack gathered before Mason, who now sat upon his throne, and waited eagerly for the Initiation to begin. Luna stood in the crowd, and watched those around her shuffling from one foot to the other, somewhat impatiently, and chatting about what the Initiation would entail this time.
Luna didn't need to guess as to what, since she had trailed after Mason, and hadn't left him alone until he had told her what she needed to know. Which was, in order for Cito to earn the removal of his collar, he needed to bring back the head of a gatorclaw, as evidence of his combat skills and strength.
Suddenly and silently, Mason stood, his effect on the crowd was immediate, and resulted in a deafening silence.
"Cito." He said, barely raising his voice, and pointedly looking towards the center of the crowd.
Stepping forward, Cito glanced around him, as though he were searching for someone. After a moment, he returned to staring ahead of himself, and walked up the steps to meet with Mason near the throne.
The crowd remained silent as the dead, waiting with baited breath, their excitement building and charging the air with a kind of electricity. Luna could feel the Pack's energy, despite their silence and lack of movement. It was in the way they breathed, quick and short, and in the flick of their eyes, focused on their leader and yet seeing everything around them.
Finally, after what felt like ages, Mason clapped Cito on the shoulder, bringing the collared man close enough to butt heads.
"You'll soon be free." Announced Mason, grinning at the man before him. He turned back to the crowd, his hand clasping Cito's shoulder and bringing the collared man to stand at his side.
"You all know what he must do, to become initiated, but he does not. And because of that, I ask that none of you assist him in this task."
Mason had begun giving his speech about loyalty, and strength, droning on as Luna swiftly lost interest in his words, and found she was distracted by the fact that she needed to get out of the collar and escape, as soon as possible. The reality of her situation was all too clear now, for once Cito was a part of the Pack, Luna would lose all privileges and protections that had been afforded her, as his teacher. Her freedom was quickly dwindling, and Luna needed to come up with a plan fast.
As luck would have it, while Luna was trying to come up with a plan, Mason pulled a key from inside the waistband of his pants and showed it to Cito.
"...and once you return from the Safari Zone with a Gatorclaw head, that collar will be removed."
Luna watched as Mason returned the key to its rightful place, her eyes never wavering, for fear that if she broke the line of sight that somehow the key would disappear.
Already, the pieces to her puzzle were falling in place, and by this time tomorrow, Luna would be free of the bomb collar, and the Pack.
After the Pack gathering, everyone wandered back to their posts, and whatever they had been doing before, but this time it was with much more excitement and conversation. No one seemed to be paying attention to Luna, as she slipped into the shadows cast by the waning light, and into the backstage area. She quickly weaved between filthy sleeping bags and piles of garbage towards the other side of the room, where Mason's sleeping quarters lay.
It would be a few hours before Mason turned in for the night, which was just fine by Luna, as it provided her time to pack what few belongings she had, and to set up her plan of attack.
Once she had packed her things, Luna set out to find Cito, and give him a proper goodbye, fearing she may not get another chance before he left on his mission tomorrow morning.
Cito was sitting on a bench, near the cage fighting arena, beer in hand. He looked forlorn, or maybe just tired, Luna surmised. Approaching him slowly, she put on her best smile and sat with him.
Glancing towards her, Cito returned her smile halfheartedly.
Softly placing a hand on his forearm, Luna asked "What's wrong?"
"Mason wants me to fight a Gatorclaw," Cito's voice deepened with anger at this, but quickly turned to sorrow, "and bring back its head." He sighed, uncertain of his chances against the deadly creature.
Luna didn't dare voice her own concerns, worrying that he would take them on as his own, and his mood would take a turn for the worse. Instead, Luna grabbed the beer from Cito's hand and took a swig. He was startled by her sudden move, and gaped at her slightly, as Luna had never been quit confident to just do something like that.
It's now or never, Luna told herself. Gathering her courage, Luna ran her hand up Cito's forearm, towards his shoulder, in a light caress. She had always found Cito to be an attractive man, with his long hair, short beard, and muscled body - from years of surviving on his own.
"Come with me." She murmured, too shy to look up at his face.
Luckily for her, Cito didn't say a word, and did as she said, his trust in her far too obvious.
They stood up together, Luna taking his hand, and leading Cito backstage. They wound up in a corner, far from prying eyes, that was dark enough to give them some privacy.
"What are we doing here?" Cito questioned, confusion and concern evident in his voice. Luna didn't answer his question verbally, instead, she reached up to caress Cito's jaw, and pulled him down for a kiss. At first it was awkward, and she felt that she was trying far to hard, as Cito nearly jerked away from her at the touch of their lips. But soon, it became obvious that he wanted this just as much as she did, and had only been startled.
Cito's large hands gripped Luna's waist, smoothing around to her back and pulling her closer; their bodies pressed together.
Luna could feel a hard bulge growing between the two of them, pressing against her lower abdomen. Breaking their kiss, Luna needed to see where this bulge was coming from.
To her surprise, it was inside Cito's pants.
"Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" She teased, hoping to ease the anxiety she felt.
"What? I don't have a gun in my pants." Cito replied impatiently, bringing his hands up to Luna's shoulders and pulling her in for another kiss.
His enthusiasm surprised, and encouraged Luna, feeding the fires of lust that had grown inside her. With every passing second Luna had become more direct about what she wanted. Pressing and rubbing her core against his erection, running her hands down over his strong shoulders, snaking her tongue out to dance and entwine with Cito's.
Soon, the two were out of breath, gasping between kisses, and finding they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Cito began grinding his pelvis against Luna, anywhere that he could get it, finding that he felt most exquisite when it pressed against her soft, plush thighs.
Changing the angle of which his pelvis was grinding, Luna gasped when Cito's hard erection pressed against her sensitive folds, through their clothing.
Her cry spurred Cito on, as he pushed Luna against the wall, his mouth moving from hers to trail rough kisses and gentle nips over her jaw and down her neck.
Luna couldn't keep her hands from exploring Cito's hard body, dancing across his chest, down his solid stomach, and stopping at the belt holding his pants up. Her fingers fumbled with it for a moment before Cito broke his contact with Luna, to help undo his belt. Once his pants were loosened, he kicked them away and made quick work of Luna's - roughly pulling hers down to pool at her feet, before setting upon her again. Cito pulled one of her legs up to rest on his hip, granting him better access to Luna's most sensitive parts.
A sudden sense of urgency Cito felt quickened his motions, more than Luna would have liked, so it shocked her when his fingers had suddenly dipped into her wet cunt briefly, before being replaced with his hard cock. Cito's sheer girth made Luna almost scream in pain, but instead she bit her own lip.
Luna slapped and pushed at his chest, begging Cito to stop his vicious thrusting, for just a moment, to allow her to adjust to his size. But it was too late, Cito groaned audibly, grabbing Luna's hips and thrusting only a handful of times more before holding her as tightly to him as possible while he spilled his hot seed inside of her. For a few moments, he held himself inside of her, to the hilt, and only pulled out when he felt his cock begin to grow soft. Stepping back, Cito's quickly softening cock flopped out of her with a soft splop sound, and a mixture of blood and cum smeared across his groin and upper thighs.
Looking down at this, Cito became alarmed, "I hurt you! Are you okay?! Here let me see!"
He crouched down and reached a hand for Luna's hips again, to steady her while his other hand inspected the damage he had caused.
"No." Luna muttered, still in obvious pain. Her body felt as though it had been split in half, and filled with some kind of liquid, that now oozed down her thighs, mixing with her blood.
When he ignored her decline of help, Luna pushed his hands away from her most sensitive and private parts, and nearly shouted, "I'm fine! Okay? Just...just get me some water and a cloth."
Slowly, he stood up, glancing at Luna's face, with something that might have been disgust or pity, before turning to leave.
Once Cito left to find the water and cloth, Luna slid down the wall to rest on the cold hard ground. Sitting hurt in areas she had no idea even existed until now. And that blood...was I still a virgin? Does that mean Anders and I never...
Before Luna could finish that thought, Cito had come back with a carton of dirty water and a ragged cloth. He tried to help Luna with cleaning herself but she kept pushing his hands away, until eventually Cito gave up.
He stood and watched her slowly, tenderly cleaning herself, and then walked away. Luna glanced up to watch him leave, and felt somewhat remorseful for having pushed him away the way she did, but he had hurt her and she needed a moment to process what had just happened.
All she had wanted to do was say good bye to him, and give him something special before he went off to risk his life for his freedom. At least she had showed him, briefly, that she cared for him. Luna just hoped he wouldn't come to resent her, for whatever reason.
And if he came back alive, and she was still here, perhaps they could try being intimate again, she hoped. Although, perhaps he wouldn't be quite so rough with her next time. Luna already felt sore, and exhausted.
The hours had dragged on, as the sounds of yelling, laughter, and screams of quite possibly pain, rang out. The Pack had deemed it an appropriate time to begin the celebrations, despite there being no guarantee that Cito would return alive. That didn't truly matter to the Pack though, as they used any reason available to party like it was their last day on earth. And why not? Every day was someone's last day on earth.
Luna leaned against the wall, behind the open door of Mason's room, breathing a sigh of annoyance. For all she knew Mason would not return to his bed at all tonight, but instead spend it with one of his fellow female Pack members. He did have pick of the litter, after all.
After a few more minutes of waiting, Luna almost gave up, when suddenly she heard heavy footsteps in the main room, outside the one she was in. Luna held her breath and tried to remain still, so as not to draw any attention to herself - despite the fact that she was standing behind the open door.
Through the crack in the door frame, Luna could see that Mason was by himself, with a bottle of liquor in hand. He was looking at the ground as he walked towards his room, not paying attention to the shift of clothing behind his door.
Once inside, Mason began stripping off his clothes, hanging each garment over the back of a nearby chair. The sight of his pert, bare bum had Luna biting her tongue to keep quiet and still. The damn thing was perfectly sculpted, starting with thick strong thighs that were dusted with crisp springy hair, which met the bottoms of his cheeks, and ended with the taught muscles of Mason's lower back. And were those...dimples?
Biting down harder, Luna had to force her mind away from the beautiful man, and back to her plan of action. But it was as if those brief moments with Cito, only hours ago, had awoken something within her.
Mason turned to sit on the edge of his bed, placing his liquor on the table. He withdrew the key, that Luna needed, from his pants and tucked it down the side of his bed, between the frame and the wall.
Fuck!
Remaining where he sat, Mason picked up the bottle once more and downed the rest of the contents in one gulp, and the bastard didn't even cough or wince at the burn. Finished with that, he dropped the empty bottle onto the floor and rolled into his bed, pulled the covers up to his waist. He adjusted his pillow and position until comfort had been achieved, before settling down to sleep.
Luna waited, and waited some more until finally she could hear Mason's light snores, and even-breathing. Sneaking out from behind the door, Luna pushed it to an almost fully closed position, and quietly placed her small bag of belongings down, before tip toeing to the edge of Mason's bed.
He looked so peaceful, and young while at rest. He couldn't have been too much older than her, Luna thought.
Gathering her courage, Luna looked around to see if there was a stick or anything to aid her in her efforts of retrieving the key, from between his bed and the wall. Unfortunately the things in the room where not long, nor thin enough, to be of any help.
Luna resigned herself to doing it the hard way, leaning over and reach for it. The width of Mason's bed made things difficult for her, as Luna's arms were far too short to even reach the edge of the bed.
Standing back up straight, Luna looked at Mason's face apprehensively, holding her breath once more, in hopes that she had not accidentally woken him.
Her second attempt at getting the key was a little better, as this time, she used a hand and knee on the bed to help support her.
Sliding her hand back and forth, up and down, Luna struggled to find the key. Pulling her hand back, to try going at a different angle, Luna was caught by surprise when Mason suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled them into the hard floor with a thud, leaving her pinned beneath him.
"I figured you'd be coming for this." He said angrily. But Luna was too focused on the fact that he had caught her off guard, to comprehend his words. How had he woken up and reacted so quickly, without so much as a word or stir?
"Huh?" Luna replied, stupidly.
Snarling, Mason spat back "Oh, don't give me that. You came for the key, to free Cito, so he doesn't have to kill that Gatorclaw!"
Luna blinked and just stared at Mason, waiting for him to explain more.
"I saw the two of you humping away in that corner. I'm not stupid."
Biting her tongue, Luna wanted so badly to correct his theory. She only wanted the key so that she could free herself and escape. But if his theory kept him from finding out the truth, then she might very well be able to have a second chance at escape, as long as she wasn't watched too closely, for she feared he may kill her just for attempting to escape.
Snarling, Mason continued angrily, "I should slit your throat right now, just for this disloyalty, and attempted theft."
Luna was certain that he could see the fear in her eyes now, as he stared down at her. After a few seconds, he spoke again.
"No...death is too final. You should be punished."
Mason pushed himself back up to his feet, dragging Luna with him. Setting her on the bed, he knew he didn't have to keep a hold on her, for the collar around her neck was threat enough - if she still valued her life at all.
Digging through a nearby footlocker, Mason withdrew a pair of handcuffs, and looked Luna in the eye. She squirmed under his heated gaze, looking down, and away, unable to meet his eyes. She had just been caught red handed, trying to steal the key to her freedom after all.
Mason held out his open hand, palm up, and didn't say a word. He didn't have to tell Luna that he wanted her to place her hands out in front of her, as the handcuffs' presence was all too obvious.
Once cuffed, Luna's mood plummeted from hopeful yet wary, to downright hopeless and depressed. Her fate seemed as if it was already sealed, her punishment locked in. And then suddenly, Luna realized what she had to do.
Mason turned away from Luna, in order to shut the door, but he didn't get so far as two steps before Luna smashed the empty liquor bottle upside his head. The man dropped like a two hundred pound sack of potatoes.
Luna stood above him, cuffed hands still clutching the blood splattered, broken bottle, her chest heaving and heart racing. She watched him for a few moments before nudging him with her foot, just to be sure he was actually unconscious this time. All the while her ears strained to catch any sound indicating the rest of the Pack had been alerted to what had just transpired.
But no one came. Not one single person barreled through the door with an accusation on their lips and a gun in their hand. Luna dropped the bottle on the desk and turned back to footlocker that the handcuffs had come from. Digging around for a few moments, Luna had finally found the keys for the handcuffs and unlocked them. Thinking fast, she gathered up Mason's hands and cuffed them behind his back, hoping to slow him down if he woke up too soon.
With one final glance at Mason's prone body, his breathing steady, Luna grabbed her bag and the key to her freedom and fled in the dead of night.
