Episode Nine Obey

A lliana

Heat blazes through my body. That's odd. I haven't felt shame since shortly after my sixteenth birthday when the reality of taking orders from men took on a whole new meaning.

I haven't experienced this level of betrayal since the day my father took me to see the President as a present. I thought it would be a treat, a great honor, until the man pulled his penis through his open zipper, threw me on the bed, spread my legs, and gifted me with the most pain I'd ever experienced.

Shaking my head, I try to force that memory out of my mind as I try to think my way out of this. What are my choices? Run out the cave opening and into the unknown wilds of Down Below?

Luka is the kindest male I've ever met. My body has responded to his in a way I never believed possible. He's held me and rocked me and taken my body to paradise all night long between naps.

"Luka. I don't want to… be with your brother in that way," I whisper. "I definitely don't want him to get me ready for Mirron."

"We are a family, Alliana, a pack. Mirron is the leader. He's been generous, letting you share my furs all night long. But you belong to all of us now." He looks so sweet, so sincere. It's as if he thinks what he just said is normal.

My heart stutters in my chest as I turn my face into the pelts and convulsively swallow. I thought I'd lost the ability to cry years ago, but tears haven't just gathered behind my eyes, they're trailing down my cheeks and into the fur.

Women do what they're told. I knew that. Why did I think things would be different Down Below from how they are Up Above? I'm just a thing to be controlled and ordered about and fucked.

"It will be alright," he croons. "Deklan saved me when I was a kit. The male kept me alive. He's compassionate. He's the best male I've ever known. He'll be kind."

I flip over and watch Deklan. Although I pull one of the furs up to cover most of my face, I'm not really hiding. He sees me watching him and flashes me the tiniest smile.

Wolven, that's what Mirron called him when the monks were still here. The male is covered with black fur that's longer than either Luka's or the minotaur's. His face is humanoid with canine ears. You'd think it would be ugly, but he's handsome in a… wolven kind of way. His bushy tail is thumping happily.

He's not with his pack. Yesterday, he was ready to fight them when they came for me. His loyalty is here, with the male he calls his brother, Luka, and to the enormous minotaur he looks at with love.

I've never seen a human who loved another human. Never seen someone look at anyone else that way except on old-time vids. I realized what I was watching was fiction, make-believe.

I thought it was sweet when I watched him and Mirron having sex. They truly seemed to care for one another.

Maybe I don't understand anything. How could the minotaur say he loved Deklan in one sentence and then tell him to have sex with me a minute later?

It doesn't matter. I'll do what I've always done—follow the orders of whatever male is in charge of me. At the moment, it looks like it's Mirron. Until he gets tired of me and gives or trades me to someone else.

As my father always said, I don't have to like it. I just have to obey.