Amnesia - The Matlock Pack: Book One

**Author’s note: This chapter contains incidents of sexual assault. If this is a trigger for you, please proceed with caution.**

Friday 25 December

~*Bells’ POV*~

I froze when I saw Tatum sitting completely at ease in the seat next to the sofa with a glint in his eyes.

My mind scrambled for purchase. “I thought you were getting a lift back home with Mum.”

“Someone kindly gave me a lift back here when I explained I needed to give you your Christmas present without Mum around.”

My mouth went dry as my mind raced. They had sent all the campers home for Christmas. The floor was practically empty, only Cody and Nat in their apartment, and me and Tatum in this apartment. Who could have given Tatum a lift back here?

There was no need to wonder about the Christmas present, though. “I’m sure Mum would be upset to know that she missed out on the fun.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Tatum drawled. “Some presents are best given one on one, don’t you think?”

Through sheer force of will, I forced myself to walk towards my bedroom. “I don’t have time for this, Tate. I need to get Mum’s car back to her.” Closing my bedroom door, I thought I had shut the conversation down.

I hadn’t moved fast enough.

The door tore out of my hand, slamming into the wall behind it. I heard the plaster on the wall give way as the handle smashed into it. Tatum stood in the doorway, almost filling the entire frame, menace exuding from his every pore. I couldn’t stop myself from taking a step backwards, even though I knew it made me look weak.

“You let our secret out, Bells.” Tatum’s voice was low, dark, and dangerous. “Why’d you do that, brother? I thought we had an understanding.” He took a step towards me.

Uh oh.

This was new. Tatum always taunted me, always forced me to raise my hands against him. He never fought me back. Now, though… Now, he looked like he wanted to be the one to throw the first punch. I stepped back to match his advance. “You need help, Tatum.”

“First you went to Cody.” He ignored me, taking another step into the room. I matched him again, stepping back. “I let that slide because she’s a friend.” He toyed with something on my chest of drawers. “Plus, it amuses me when she gets drunk.” He had taken his eyes off me, but I knew without question that he knew exactly where I was in the room.

I chanced another step back, anyway.

He immediately lifted a finger and shook it at me. I froze again. A small smile grew on his face, even though he still wasn’t looking at me, but at whatever he had hold of on my drawers.

“But then, you went and spoke to that whore of a mother of hers.” He picked up the item and started tossing it in his hand, then took another step towards me.

Once again, I matched his step with one of my own. I realised he was corralling me into a corner, but I knew I could still jump over the bed that was on my left to escape if I needed to. I stared at the item he was throwing and catching, finally recognising it as the cricket ball I had brought with me from home. Playing with it helped me think. Some people paced while they thought. I flipped a cricket ball into the air.

Now, all I could see was a weapon that Tatum had hold of.

“I can’t talk to you anymore, can I?” he asked, my eyes on the ball rising and falling in front of him. “We used to have such good chats.” Up and down, the small, hard leather ball went. “I always enjoyed them.”

“You were the only one who did, Tatum.” My voice was steady, but cautious, my hands lifted slightly in front of me as if to push him away. He took another step forward. I took another step back.

He grabbed the ball from the air and held it as he used the same hand to point a finger at me again. “That’s a lie. You enjoyed beating me. You thrived on the control it gave you.”

I shook my head, still watching the hand that held the cricket ball. “I never wanted that, Tatum.”

“Bullshit.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “You wouldn’t let yourself be talked into it if you truly didn’t want to hurt me.” He started tossing the ball again. “Face it, brother. You get off on hurting me.”

“No.” I stepped back again when he took another step forward, but this time I felt the wall behind my back.

“STOP LYING TO ME!” Tatum roared as he threw the ball at my head. I felt it brush past my ear as it slammed into the wall behind me, lodging itself into the plaster.

Wasting no time, I pushed off the wall, jumped over the bed and ran for the door. Tatum was too quick for me, though, barrelling into me from the side. The impact from the collision sent us both crashing into the sofa in the lounge room.

I struggled to get away from him, trying desperately to get the sofa between us, but Tatum grabbed at my ankles, pulling me down to the floor again. He scrambled over the top of me, pinning me underneath him.

He leaned down, his mouth so close to my ear I could feel his breath as he panted from the exertion. “You changed the rules, Bells.” I turned my head away from him as I continued to struggle for purchase underneath him. “It’s only fair that I change the rules in kind.” He lifted a clenched fist and punched me solidly in the stomach, forcing the air out of my stomach.

I gasped, trying desperately to get air back into my system. I tried everything I could to get out of his hold, but we had always been evenly matched. He knew every move I made.

Or did he? As he pummelled my torso, my brain went into overdrive, sifting through all the new moves I’d picked up from Nat during our sparring sessions. Was there something there that I could use? Nat excelled at defence; that’s all I needed to get out of this.

Somehow, I got my hands free from his hold, as his focus was now entirely on beating me to a pulp. I created cups with my hands and smacked his ears hard with them at the same time. He swayed and howled from the impact. I used his distraction to get out from underneath him, flipping our positions so I was now on top of him, pinning his arms to his sides.

He started laughing. “Oh, yeah, Bells. Now we’re getting somewhere.” Normally, this would be where Tatum would relax and let me at him, but not this time.

“Tatum, enough!” I struggled to keep him in place.

“Merry Christmas, brother!” His laughter turned evil, like he had been possessed. He threw his head at mine, head-butting me backwards.

Momentarily dazed, I let my grip on his arms loosen. He immediately wrestled me off him and rolled away. He got to his feet and as I tried to crawl away, he kicked me in the stomach, laying me out on the floor once more.

“Oh, this is so much more fun!” Tatum sang. He danced around me as I struggled to get up. “Deck!” He landed a kick to my legs. “The!” Another kick to my stomach. “Halls!” A third to my side. “With boughs of holly!” Yet one more to my stomach, hard enough to flip me over and on to my back. “Fa la la la la, la la la la!”

“Tatum, please…” I coughed, trying desperately to get up, but the pain was getting to be too much.

He jumped over me, his knees straddling either side of me. I yelped as he let his full weight bear down on my badly bruised stomach. He backhanded me across the cheek, my head flung from one side to the other as I felt my cheekbone crack. I howled from the impact, yet all I could hear was his laughter.

He leaned down. “Oh, brother, there’s no-one around today.” He cackled. “There’s no-one that can hear you.”

A tear fell to the floor as I realised he was right.

“There it is,” Tatum crowed. “That’s what I wanted to see.” Another backhand on the other side of my face. “Let it out, brother. Let me taste those tears.” He leaned down and slowly licked the salty trail on my cheek. “Mm… So delicious…” He moaned with delight into my ear.

I shuddered in disgust, still struggling to get out from under him.

“What’s the hurry, brother?” His nose brushed my cheek, almost with affection. “This doesn’t do anything for you?” I leaned my head as far away from his as I could. “It’s doing plenty for me.”

He grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him as he rolled his hips on me. Only then did I feel his very hard dick press into my stomach. My eyes widened in horror.

“Oh, yeah…” Tatum sighed with pleasure as he watched the realisation come to my eyes. “That’s the stuff. Right there…” The darkest smile I had ever seen cross his face appeared, and he started cackling once more.

My struggles became more desperate. I needed to get away from him, and I needed to do it now.

Laughing manically, Tatum let me break his hold, and allowed me the freedom to scramble for the door, joyfully calling out from behind me as I fled the apartment.

“Merry Christmas, brother. I hope your present was as good for you as it was for me.”

~~~

I pounded on Nat and Cody’s door and kept pounding as I stared behind me, praying that Tatum hadn’t followed me. Finally, the door opened, and I darted inside, grabbing the edge of the door and slamming it shut behind me. I put my back to the door and slid down until I was on the floor and leaning against the timber to ensure it didn’t open again.

With my hands covering my eyes, I sobbed; heaving wails where no matter what I did, how hard I tried, I couldn’t catch my breath. I heard footsteps dart off, a door opening, a name called, then more footsteps coming back to me.

Two shadows fell over me, a hand dropping to my shoulder. I recoiled from the touch, scrambling to the side of the door into the nearest corner where the kitchen cabinet met the wall.

I could hear voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. One of the shadows walked away and started pacing, while the other one knelt before me.

“Don’t let him in…” I stared up, unseeing at the shadow in front of me. “Please, I beg you…” One of my hands grabbed at the figure, the other still holding my aching cheek. “Evil…”

Long, slender fingers carefully held my hand that was clutching at them. Pulses went through my skin; the tingling sensation that I was now all too familiar with.

Nat.

I looked up at her through watery eyes. Her gorgeous light blue eyes were staring at me with worry. I could see her mouth move, I heard her say something, but I couldn’t understand. I just stared at her eyes, using them as lifelines to drag me back to reality. “Nat?” My voice cracked with uncertainty.

More words were spoken, but I still couldn’t understand them. I felt more pulses as her palm softly cupped my bruised cheek. I leaned into her and suddenly my head was on the move with tender hands bringing my face to her chest. Sitting in front of me, she held on, wrapping her arms around me while I let go. I clutched onto her like the anchor I needed and just sobbed, feeling her rock me slowly from side to side.

I heard the door open and flinched, but Nat had a good hold on me and didn’t let me move far. Another feminine voice joined the two that my brain had been tuning out. A second face appeared in front of me, an older one. Through the tears, my mind struggled to comprehend who I was looking at, but all I could make out were flashes of red hair. The older woman kneeled next to Nat and me, and reached out to touch the cheek that wasn’t pressed into Nat’s body. I winced when I felt pressure on the cheekbone that I had heard crack earlier.

More mumblings reached my ears, my mind now letting the odd word through.

Fracture. Concussion. Trauma.

I closed my eyes and tried to focus.

“… me what happened?”

“… need to take him to the hospital?”

“It’s okay, Bells. I’ve got you.” Nat’s quiet voice cut through the noise and let me focus.

I took a deep breath and let it slowly and ever so raggedly out. “He let me go. He allowed me to leave.”

I felt Nat take a sharp breath in and felt her head move above mine to look towards the woman in front of my face who I now recognised as Auden. Auden looked up to her right and when I followed her eyeline, I found Cody pacing around us.

“What do you mean, Bells?” Nat asked. “Who?”

I held on to her tighter as Auden answered for me:

“Tatum.”

I flinched at his name, burrowing my head into Nat again.

“What?” I heard Nat say, confused. I’d forgotten that she didn’t know anything about this.

“Bells? What did he do?” Auden was all business, her focus laser sharp on me, her voice steady as a rock. I heard Cody talking to Nat, but tuned it out, consumed with the need to tell Auden everything.

“Punched… Kicked… Sung carols…” I moved one of my shaking hands to lift my shirt to show Auden my torso.

Her jaw clenched as her eyes surveyed whatever damage was there, but she said nothing.

“Licked me…”

Auden’s eyes flicked to mine and held them. I heard the other voices grow silent.

“It turned him on…” I stumbled over my words, forcing them out of my mouth through clenched teeth. “Felt his erection…”

Auden closed her eyes briefly, while I heard gasps from Nat and Cody.

“Bells, judging by the bruising that’s already appearing on your stomach, it looks like you may have internal injuries,” Auden said softly. “I need to examine you and take some x-rays. Do you think you can get up?”

I felt my eyes widen in terror. “He’s still out there,” I whispered. “We were in our apartment.”

“Where would he go after this?” Auden glanced at Cody. “Would he stay here? Or go to Zelda?”

“I don’t know, Mum.” Cody started pacing again. “Surely, he wouldn’t stay here, right?”

“Only one way to find out.” Auden stood up and went to open the door.

“No!” I struggled in Nat’s arms to stop Auden from going out there. “He’ll be waiting.”

“I hope he is.” Auden’s eyes turned glacial, along with her voice. “Cody, don’t open this door for anyone but me, okay?” She waited for Cody to nod before she turned the doorknob, took a step, and shut the door behind her.

“What is she doing? He’s out there.” My horrified eyes flicked from Nat’s to Cody’s and back again. Nat rubbed my back, trying to soothe my panic.

“You don’t worry about that, Bells. Mum can take care of herself.” Cody knelt in front of me. “Do you remember how terrified he looked of her at the cemetery?”

Slowly, I nodded.

“Right now, she’s the best person to help you.”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes before we heard Auden call out from the other side of the door: “Cody, you’re right to open the door.”

Cody got up, opened the door and Auden walked in with a bag stuffed full of my clothes. Spence stood in the doorway, looking down at Nat and me with narrowed eyes. We were still holding onto each other in the corner next to the door.

“He needs to be brought in, Spence. You saw the state of their apartment, the damage that was done.” Auden placed the bag on the kitchen bench. “As acting Alpha, it’s in your authority to call any member of the pack in for a disciplinary hearing.”

“And I told you, Auden,” Spence’s voice was flippant. “I’m not convinced that this is anything other than a regular old brotherly squabble. There is no need to call anyone in for something so trivial.”

Auden knelt in front of me and lifted my shirt. “Look at him, Spence! Look at his face, his stomach, his clothes. He’s been beaten.” I could hear her pleading with him. “Badly. By his brother.”

“I’ve seen worse in the sparring sessions at camp.” Spence folded his arms over his chest and shifted his stony stare from Auden’s eyes to mine. “Bells, I expected more from you. If you truly want to be accepted into the Warrior Training course, you need to start acting like a man.” He swung his gaze back to Auden’s. “And stop letting females fight your battles. It’s pathetic.”

A growl reverberated through the apartment, but at first, I didn’t know where it was coming from. It wasn’t until I felt the rumbling in my cheek that I realised the source was Nat.

Spence narrowed his eyes further at Nat and grinned. “Bring it on, little girl. You’ll be out of Matlock so fast; the wind won’t be able to catch you.”

Nat made a move to stand up, but Auden pressed a hand to her shoulder, using the leverage to push Nat down while she stood up from her kneeling position.

“You absolute arse,” Auden spat. “First the memorial, now this?”

“Neither are worthy of my time, Auden. There are plenty of other things that remain more important for an Alpha to focus on than a stupid memorial for people long dead, and a family disagreement.” He turned around and walked away.

“You’re only temporary Alpha, Spence,” Auden called after him, making him pause for half a second. “You best remember that.” She shut the door. “What a fuckwit,” she muttered under her breath.

“Mum!”

“What?” Auden looked at Cody, who was staring at her Mum with an open mouth. “He is.”

“Yeah, but you’re supposed to be the responsible adult in the room.”

I choked out the start of a laugh before I groaned from the pain. “Sorry.”

Auden knelt in front of me again. “Okay, best get you moving, mister.” With Nat’s help, she hauled me up. “Let’s get him to one of your beds. That way I can check his mid-section more easily.”

“Your room, Nat. My bed is covered in clothes.”

“Okay.” Nat helped Auden haul me through the lounge area and once we were in Nat’s room, they carefully lowered me onto the edge of Nat’s bed.

“Alright girls, clear the room,” Auden ordered from her standing position in front of me.

“I’m not leaving him,” Nat said immediately, sitting down next to me, her hand reaching for mine.

Auden raised an eyebrow and looked at me for instruction.

I felt my hand pulse from Nat’s contact and thought about how much better I felt when I was touching her. “She can stay.” I brought her hand to my lips.

“Okay,” said Auden. “Cody, out.” She pointed to the door. Cody followed her Mum’s instructions, shutting the door behind her.

“Bells, before I examine you, I need to know.” She knelt in front of me and stared at me with cautious eyes. “Did he violate you in any way that was sexual?”

Nat took in a sharp breath.

Auden glanced at her. “I have to ask, Nat. If this is going to upset you, you know where the door is.”

I gripped Nat’s hand to get her attention. “It’s okay if you don’t want to be here.”

“No, it’s okay.” Nat swallowed nervously. “I’m here for as long as you need me to be.”

I nodded, then turned my attention back to Auden. “No. He beat the shit out of me, then sat on my stomach. He ground his pelvis into my stomach to make sure I felt his dick, but then he let me go.” I still couldn’t figure out why he let me go. It had to be another power play, didn’t it?

Auden nodded as Nat let out a relieved sigh.

“I’m going to need you to remove your clothes so I can get a clear picture of your injuries, okay?” Auden said carefully. She looked at Nat. “Do you have a spare towel he can use to cover himself?” Nat nodded and got off the bed to go to the ensuite.

“If you’re uncomfortable with Nat here, I can ask Cody to look after her,” Auden whispered to me.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I feel better when she’s around me.”

“Okay.” Auden nodded. “If that changes, just say the word.”

As I nodded, Nat reappeared with a towel and lay it at my feet.

“Let’s give him a minute,” Auden said to Nat, before turning back to me. “Call out when you’re ready. I need you lying on your back.”

“Okay.”

They both left the room and shut the door. I carefully undressed as per Auden’s instructions. My whole body felt stiff. I looked down at the bruises that were already forming. I was longing for a hot shower to ease my muscles once Auden had finished doing what she needed to.

Once I was positioned the way Auden had instructed, I called out to them.

Auden came in first, with Nat hot on her heels, closing the door after her. Nat sat on the bed next to me and held my hand, while Auden poked and prodded my entire body, watching my reactions closely, and asking questions now and then.

When it was over, she stood next to the bed. “It feels like it’s all just bruising. I’m worried about your cheek because of the swelling, but your vision is fine and you’re talking okay. I’d like to take an x-ray just to be sure, but at worst it’s probably only a hairline fracture which will heal on its own.”

“Okay.” I gripped Nat’s hand again as I sat up, my back to the bedhead and the towel draped over my middle. I looked guiltily at Auden. “Is it okay if I hold off on the x-ray? I don’t really feel safe right now leaving this apartment.”

Auden smiled warmly at me. “Not a problem. We can do it tomorrow.”

“Thanks Auden.” I closed my eyes and let out a grateful sigh. “For everything.”

She patted me on the shoulder. “You’re very welcome.” She looked at Nat. “Look after him tonight. Don’t give him anything to eat that’s too hard to chew.” She raised a knowing eyebrow at both of us and grinned. “And no strenuous exercise.”

Nat blushed while I grinned. “Don’t worry Auden. A shower and a movie are about all I feel up to tonight.”