Wonderland

I want to thank Mikothebaby for editing this chapter for me. You're a blessing, chica!

As always, thank you readers for giving me the kick in the tush that I so desperately need. You guys rock and I hope you enjoy this chapter of Wonderland!

Comments, feedback, and (nice!) words of how to improve are always appreciated. Xo, Lily A.

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When I woke up again, I found myself back in my hut. My mouth felt sticky and hot, a definite contrast to my clammy cold skin. I sat up stiffly and shivered as the cool air from outside blew in, bringing the last person I wanted to see along with it.

"You're awake," Talon murmured, sounding relieved. "I brought breakfast."

I eyed the tray in his hands that was overflowing with fruits, meats, and a thick puffy roll of bread. My mouth watered at the sight of the meal, but at the same time, my stomach rolled as I remembered the man who used to make and bring me meals.

"He forced me into unconsciousness," I told my knees.

Talon hesitated but approached anyway. He set the tray down in my lap and handed me a glass lined with a thick animal skin. I eyed the glass and saw it was juice. Taking a tentative sip, I set the glass on the tray.

"He did what he had to do," Talon replied after awhile.

I tore at the roll with a snort. "Coward."

Talon said nothing.

I swallowed the bite. "Thanks for bringing me breakfast," I said slowly, manners not a courtesy I was willing to extend, least of all to Talon.

"Of course," Talon said quietly. He stood up without another word and left the hut, tugging the furs back over the door as he left.

I ate my breakfast without tasting it, each bite weighing like a pound of lead in my stomach. When I was finished I set the empty tray aside and crawled back under the covers, pulling the furs high over my head.

For the rest of the week, I followed this same pattern: eat, sleep, pee, and then repeat. Not once did I have any visitors, for no one entered the hut except for Talon, and he only stopped by to change out food trays. Finally I relented in his request that I bathe, but as soon as I was finished, I was back in the hut, sleeping the rest of my life away.

Soon the days began to blur together. One week blended into three, then five, then eight. It was the start of the ninth week when I was woken up for breakfast in a slightly different fashion. A bucket of ice cold water was dumped on my head.

"What the hell was that for?!" I yelled, shooting up out of bed.

"Time to get up," Talon quipped shortly, his voice laced with a growl. "Breakfast is at Lennox's hut in five minutes. If you aren't there, we'll eat without you and you can wait until dinner for food again."

I rubbed the icy droplets out of my eyes and peered up into Talon's face through slits. "I hate you," I grumbled as I threw my soggy furs in his direction. Talon caught them and tossed me a dirty look, but said nothing as left my hut.

I fumed briefly before standing up, shivering as the cold water trickled down my skin. Quickly I went to my "closet" (actually just a stand where my clothes and furs were folded up), pulling out a new outfit before hurriedly stripping out of my old one and changing before the water could freeze on my skin.

I tossed the wet clothes into my rickety hamper on the way out, just barely stopping short of the strong blue-grey chest that barred my way.

I looked up at Talon, squinting against the sun and the blindingly white snow. "I'm ready," I said flatly, peering through slits up at him, though this time not out of anger but to make sure I didn't go blind.

"I gave you two months to mourn," Talon said slowly, his voice a little rough. "That's all you will be allowed. From now on the only time you go inside that hut is to sleep or change before meals."

I shook my head in disbelief, my anger rearing its ugly head. "Unbelievable... So, what? You think that since Thatcher's gone

you

get to boss me around now? That I'm subservient to you or something?"

Talon caught my arm as I brushed past him and tugged me closer to him. "We are

leaders

, Tempest," he growled quietly, his eyes flashing silver with anger. "Táxim asked that we take command of the Elites, which I have been doing,

by myself

, since the day he left."

"Do you want a medal or something?" I snarled as I tried to free myself from his grip. "Gods, Talon, I just want‒"

"To curl up into a pathetic ball on your mat and pretend that there isn't a greater evil out there than someone rejecting you? You

did

that, Tempest, for two months. It's time to quit being a child." Talon released me and I stumbled away from him, nearly falling on my face in the snow. I straightened up and glared at him, brushing the falling crystals off my coat.

"You are not the only one who has been rejected by someone they love, Tempest," Talon said quietly as he passed me. "You should take care to remember that."

I watched him move through the crowd of Lunar, his wings and tail twitching with irritation as he walked. Part of me rebelled at Talon's final quip, but the other part, the more sensible side of me, told me that he was so fudging right.

I swore under my breath and tromped through the snow after him, ignoring the whispers and looks the Lunar gave me as I passed. The closer I got to Kynan's hut, the more I began to realize that in my hurry to get dressed, I hadn't taken a good look at myself to see what horrible figure I must've cut. But the looks Saoirse and Georgina gave me when I entered Kynan's hut said it all. Both women jumped up from their places at the large table and hurried towards me.

"When was the last time you brushed your hair?" Saorise hissed as she ran her furry fingers through the strands, getting only two inches away from my roots.

"Um, I'm not sure..." I muttered in embarrassment. Georgina clamped a hand over my mouth.

"Well, we know when the last time you brushed your teeth was," she told Saoirse as she shook her head slowly in dismay.

"We can take her to my hut and at least do something about her‒" But Saoirse was cut off by the hoarse barking laughter of her husband. She eyed me apologetically before pulling me by the wrist towards the table that was bowing under the weight of food and people.

I stumbled into a seat beside her and instantly my eyes went to my bare wooden plate in front of me. Gradually the murmurs of conversation hushed. I could feel the gravity of twenty-three pairs of eyes on my face and I wished in that moment that I could fall through the floor.

"Why, Tempest! Surely it is a ghost at my table?"

I swore internally as I looked up and to my left in the direction of Kynan's voice. He was seated at the head of the table, flanked by his sons on his left and Talon on his right. His tone was teasing, but even I could see that the Luna herd leader was surprised.

"No ghosts here, I assure you," I replied in a voice hoarse with disuse. I cleared my throat and dropped my eyes with embarrassment when I saw Talon arch his eyebrow at me.

"I am glad to see you out of your hut," Kynan continued, adding more salt to the wound. "Lennox and I made bets that we would see spring before you came out of your furs again. I daresay we both lost." Scatters of laughter around the table lit up a few faces, but I couldn't manage a smile.

"My wife needs help mending the uniforms for our scouts and warriors. She will be glad to have your pair of hands to help, won't you my love?" Kynan asked her, already knowing the answer.

Saoirse smiled wanly at her husband. "Yes, I would be very grateful."

"It's settled then," Kynan said as he gestured for one of his serving girls forward. "You'll report to her for work. Now, enough chatter. Dig in, everyone!"

Cups filled with milk, sweet freshly made juice, and even the Lunar's version of beer clanked together before being downed by their respective holders. I ducked my head down and put food on my plate, speaking a word to no one. Clearly my place in the herd was one of servitude, not of leadership like Talon had said. I couldn't quite blame Kynan – I knew that I could contribute little to running the camp. I was more aware now of my lack of skills than I ever had been before. In the human world, I was a genius with computers and I read any book I could get my hands on, making me knowledgeable in a little of everything. But here, in this world that had become outdated well before my time, I was practically worthless. I was too weak to do manual labor. I only knew enough about growing crops by theory, not practice. I didn't know how to prepare skins or food for that matter, and I knew nothing about war or training others in self-defense. Books and cleverness and the ability to animate a dinosaur in a computer program meant nothing here.

By the time I had finished brooding, breakfast was over and the day was already in full swing. I followed Saoirse through the maze of camp to a nondescript structure that was already bustling with older Luna females. Each lady was bent over on her respective stool, hard at work to make the tiniest stitches in the skins. One area of the small hut was reserved for the piles of to-be-mended uniforms, and another area was strictly for the leather and woven furs for making new uniforms. Baskets filled with decorative metal pins rested at each woman's feet.

I instantly felt out of my element here, but that didn't matter to Saoirse. I was given a chair, a pile of uniforms, and a needle paired with a thick spool of metallic thread and put to work. It wasn't but forty-five minutes later when I realized how menial of a task this was. If I had to keep at it, I might stab myself in the eye and call it a day.

Thankfully Georgina saved me from committing eyeball suicide. She needed help in the armory dividing up the shields, swords, and the weapons before stacking them away for future use. I gladly put down my pathetic attempt at making a uniform and escaped with her.

"Thank you!" I gushed as soon as we were out of earshot from the hut. "I thought I was going to go insane! Saoirse made me start over on the uniform I was massacring

three times

– she was about to make me do it a fourth."

Georgina chuckled and tightened the band around her long ash-blond hair. "Any time, Tempest."

I have to be honest. When I thought Georgina was taking me out of one hell, I didn't realize she would just be sending me into another. Sorting and dividing the armory made me use muscles that I didn't even realize I had to begin with. After three hours of dragging metal breast-plates, swords, helmets, and huge battle weaponry from the large piles on the floor to their places in racks, I was ready to collapse.

Finally a brief break was called for lunch. A group of women came by each bearing a basket with a different part of the meal: one basket was lettuce wraps filled with spiced meat, another basket was bursting to the rim with sweet bread rolls, and the final was a small cooler-like steel basket filled with a thick porridge-like substance that Georgina said was to be the filler served in large goblets. I drank two of those.

After that, it was more work in the armory, though this time the weapons were lighter – bows and arrows. Georgina explained that these weapons were meant as back-ups; all Lunar scouts made their own bows and weapons, even their own swords and daggers. The uniforms and generic swords and the like were just surplus, meant for the common folk to have if it came to a battle. Georgina promised me that once I was stronger, she would show me how to make my own bow and arrows, as well as teach me how to shoot. I knew she was just trying to make me feel better from being so freaking out of shape and exhausted, so I just nodded and agreed that would be loads of fun.

When dinner rolled around, I couldn't have been more relieved. I ate with the girls by the large fire in the longhouse that served as the great hall, far from where the men congregated up on their tables surrounded by the servant girls who, according to Georgina, often brought more than just drink and food to the men. When she told me this, I eyed Talon to find one serving girl in particular was straddling his lap, smiling coquettishly down at him with her abundant chest brushing against his chin. His large hands rested a bit high on her hips for the hold to be intimate, but he wasn't in any hurry to remove her from his lap either. Talon heartily accepted some of the beer Lennox poured him, roaring with laughter at something the future herd leader said.

It was when the Luna serving girl stroked Talon's tail intimately and in a suggestive fashion that I decided I had enough.

"I'm calling it a night," I told Georgina, immediately standing up and walking out of the longhouse.

A sour coating of bile had lined my throat and mouth at the sight of Talon and the girl, but I knew I had no right to feel as disgusted as I did. I was in mourning over another man, which automatically gave me little right to feel jealous. But why did I feel like stampeding back into the longhouse and dragging that serving girl off Talon's lap by her hair, if not because of my own misplaced jealously?

I shook off the thought and ducked into my hut, fishing for the packet of matches in my pocket. I stumbled around the hut lighting candles before I began to prepare water for a sponge bath. I could go down to the hot springs set in the forest for a proper bath, but if I had to move another foot further I knew I was going to collapse on my face out of exhaustion. So sponge bath it is.

I washed and gathered up the new folded pile of furs from the end of my mat before blowing out the candles. I had just buried myself under the furs when a cold breeze filtered through the hut.

"Tempest."

I internally groaned and straightened up stiffly in bed, lighting a candle again. Talon stood in the doorway, a fresh dusting of snow clinging to his hair. He looked menacing somehow, his expression dark and closed off.

"What is it?" I asked him, suddenly feeling nervous.

Talon tilted his head slightly, casting half his face in shadow with the movement. Both eyes began to glow silver in the candlelight. "You left dinner early."

"I'm tired," I said honestly. "And I didn't realize I needed to run my whereabouts by you, Talon. Is that what this is about?" I regretted my words the moment they were out, but it was too late to take them back now.

Talon's jaw tightened. "You know it's not."

"Actually," I laughed tiredly, rubbing my face to make myself more alert, "I don't know what

this

is. I'm going to bed."

"Not yet. We have to talk, Tempest."

I sat up on my elbows and threw him a weary look. "Talon, I'm exhausted. And besides, I don't know what you could possibly want to talk to

me

about. Don't you have some serving girl to keep you company? She'll talk to you all you want."

Suddenly Talon darted forward and pulled me up out of bed, holding me up high enough that my toes barely could touch the ground.

"Are you manhandling me now?" I choked out, struggling to find purchase with the mat. "Put me down, Talon!"

"I think I like watching you squirm," Talon bit out roughly. "At least now I know you can feel

something

."

Just as quickly as he had grabbed me he dropped me. I hissed at the pain in my side and glared up at him as I sat up stiffly in bed. "What the hell is

wrong

with you?" I demanded, wincing as I sat on one tender butt cheek. "You're acting like a jerk."

"I guess that'll be another reason why you can't stand the sight of me?" Talon laughed bitterly. "Another reason why that

rat

is better for you."

Instantly, it dawned on me. "Are we arguing about Thatcher?" I asked Talon in disbelief. "Is that why you're treating me like this? Because of him?"

I laughed long and hard until tears ran down my cheeks, shakily standing up when I could control my giggles. "Wow, Talon. Really...this is...I can't believe it."

"You're

jealous

," I told him, chuckling in disbelief. "You're jealous of Thatch."

Talon roared as he charged towards me. The air was knocked out of my lungs by Talon's collision as we fell hard to my mat. I gasped in pain when his teeth, sharp and unexpected, came careening down on my neck. I cried out as Talon began to drink from me in long, harsh pulls, his arms sealing me to him so tightly that I could barely catch my breath.

"T-Talon!" I finally choked out. "Talon, you're hurting me!"

A menacing growl escaped his chest, rattling in his throat. Slowly Talon began to slow his feeding, his teeth no longer scraping harshly against my skin but almost seductively nibbling at my neck. Talon gently released my neck from his grip, his rough tongue sliding over the bite marks that I knew would be huge obvious bruises come tomorrow morning.

Talon released me from his death grip and I weakly nudged him away, my limbs as limp as noodles. Talon rolled to his side on the mat, his breathing heavy.

"You...you never gave yourself to him?" he asked hoarsely.

I looked over wearily at Talon. "What?"

"You are still untouched," Talon stated, his voice firmer as he got his breath back. "I assumed when I smelt him on you that he had lain with you. But your memories never show you giving yourself to him. Why?"

"Talon..." I began, suddenly uncomfortable all over again.

"Tempest, I need to know," he said harshly, propping himself up. I warily pulled the furs higher up my body until they were at my chin. He rolled his eyes and sat up, positioning himself at a distance from me. "Why did you not give yourself to Táxim?" he asked again.

I swallowed hard and briefly looked away from his intense gaze. "Thatcher did not like me in the beginning," I explained slowly as I recalled the memory. Gods, it seemed like ages ago. "He was just pretending to be my friend so he could get information about you. Falling in love with one another wasn't exactly planned." Talon scowled at that but said nothing, so I took the opportunity to continue. "He was doing that courtly love thing, out of respect for the both of us, I think, but..." I eyed Talon and shook my head. "I really don't want to talk‒"

"Tell me," Talon demanded a bit gruffly, his eyes flickering silver. I swallowed and nodded, knowing better than to get on his bad side again.

"I thought you had just abandoned me, and Thatcher said that the bond you had made wasn't real," I said with a sigh. "He told me about how you 'played the field' to get what you wanted, and I wasn't any different. So...so when he decided that 'loving me from afar' wasn't going to cut it anymore...I didn't say no."

I sat up a little, feeling my face heat up when Talon's warm hand slid around the back of my neck and tilted my chin up with the knuckle of his thumb so our eyes could meet. "Go on," he said quietly, removing his hand from my chin long seconds later.

"We decided to be more than friends just a few days before we found you," I admitted. "And Thatcher was more concerned about getting me to safety after Wonderland was attacked and helping you than..." I trailed off, hoping Talon caught the hint.

He did. "But you've mourned him for two months. Clearly you feel strongly for him."

I flushed in embarrassment and looked away. "Thatcher is my best friend – my only friend. I've never really had one of those before." I swallowed my nervousness and met Talon's gaze again. "He was always there for me, more than my parents were. He took care of me, he listened to what I had to say, he taught me so much...and he protected me. I felt like I didn't have to be someone else when I was with him."

"He is not the man you think he is," Talon said quietly.

I didn't break his gaze. "That's what he said about you."

Talon narrowed his eyes slightly. "Tempest, I will admit that I used the females of other tribes in order to win favor and alliances and for my own pleasure. But do not think I took any joy in that. I was...a commodity. A toy. And I did not bond with those women as I have with you."