The Unclaimed Human Luna
Chapter 31

Eliza POV

She woke well rested for the first time in weeks, actually slept all the way through the night, rolled over in her bed and looked around the room, sat herself up and looked at the time. It was just after 7. She’d slept soundly for well over 12 hours, no wonder she felt well rested. Got up and used the bathroom before checking her phone.

Had half a dozen text messages waiting for her, a couple from yesterday afternoon, Marlo trying to chat to her while she’d been out swimming. And two already this morning, she texted him back that she was just getting up now.

Listened to Cordi’s voice message and text her back as well, ‘Sorry Cordi, I took a swim yesterday and got caught in a rainstorm. Swimming across the lake might not be the best option. It didn’t go down so well either. Conner and Adam yanked me from the lake.’

She got herself dressed as her phone dinged, it was Marlo. ‘Come downstairs. I got the whole day planned. We’re going out, a bunch of us.’

Sighed, he surely was trying where she was concerned. She’d told him more than once she didn’t want a boyfriend. She’d meant it. But he either just didn’t get it or didn’t want to get it.

‘I don’t know Marlo, it was a long day yesterday.’ She tried to put him off.

‘That’s why a day out of the community will do you good. Get your butt down here.’

She shook her head and pulled shoes on. ‘Let me eat first.’ She sent. There was no point in arguing with him. He was persistent and a little pushy about getting what he wanted, knew if she just said no, he’d likely just come knock on her door and tell her she was going. Though she took her time making and eating breakfast, nearly an hour.

Headed downstairs to meet him, he was in the foyer with his friends. She smiled and waved at them. They all greeted her. None of them seemed to be unhappy about having to wait that hour for her. She’d kind of hoped they’d left already. No such luck. Hayden even walked over and apologised to her for not realising she was swimming out there in the water when the rain hit.

She told him not to worry about it, she had just been lazing about out there, hadn’t realised she’d gone so far out. Marlo stated “They’ll be better behaved next time when I’m not there. Or I’ll be beating them all senseless, nearly did, for you nearly drowning.”

“Why do you all keep saying that? I just swallowed a little bit of water and was just tired is all. I didn’t nearly drown.”

“Conner said, you nearly drowned. He would know, wouldn’t lie about something like that.” Marlo told her. “Now let’s go.”

“I don’t even know if I’m allowed to go out, Marlo.”

“You are, dad said, as long as you got someone with you, it’s fine. So, who better to hang out with, than me all day.” He grinned right at her “I’m not about to lose you.” It was a full dig at his friends.

She was hopping in his car when she saw Conner and his three friends walking towards them, found that man’s eyes right on her, and then they moved to Marlo. He didn’t look happy, but then when did he with her around. “Not out all-day Marlo.” Conner comment as he walked past “You’ve got training this afternoon.”

“What? Since when?” Marlo asked as he closed the door for her.

“Since today.” Conner commented, “So be back here by 2 at the latest. Your friends will be joining you, all of them.” Then he moved on.

She watched Marlo get in the car. “Training? For what?”

“I don’t know.” He muttered “Conner can be a pain in the a*s sometimes.”

“I know.” She stated and she did. “Guess that screws up your plans for the day.”

“Only the afternoon, we can still go out tonight.” He smiled right at her. “We’re all going out to a local concert. You’ll love it. A picnic dinner, music and dancing if you like. Lots of fun, out under the stars.”

“Sounds nice, who else is going?” she asked. She was hoping it was more than just a few.

“All of us.” He smiled at her. “What, are you afraid to be alone with me?” his tone was light and teasing.

“No Marlo, but you know I’m not looking for anything, we’re just friends.”

“I know.” He smiled as he drove them away from the community for his planned day out.

They spent the first 2 hours of the morning attending the walking sculptor tour of Utah State University. It was nice to be doing something that she really liked doing. It seemed Marlo had gone out of his way to organise things to do that she liked.

They got coffee and snacks along the way, but Marlo told her they’d been going to take a day trip down to Salt Lake City for shopping. But they couldn’t now because of the training they all had, they wouldn’t have the time. Apologised to her for that, she just shrugged. It was nice to be out of the gated community though. They all headed back after some lunch and he and all his friends excused themselves. He told her he wasn’t sure how long their training would be. He’d call or text her when he was done.

“I’m sure I can entertain myself, Marlo.” She smiled at him, and he’d chuckled.

“Sorry El, I just like spending time with you is all.” He’d said and was gone a moment later. It was only just after 1, she had the afternoon to herself.

Headed upstairs to change into shorts and a tee-shirt and a pair of hiking boots, it was a nice day for some exploration. She was going to walk the trail down to the lake, have a real good look around down there by herself. Maybe wander and look at the area itself. She knew they didn’t like it when she walked in the woods, but it was daytime so there shouldn’t be a problem with that. This was the first time she’d been out alone since she’d gotten back as well. That was nice, didn’t mind her own company and it gave her time to think about her escape plan as well.

El strolled out of the complex and headed off into the woods on the eastern side of the gated community, just casually strolled along she was in no rush, didn’t want to look suspicious either, just in case Logan was having her watched. Her mother had said it would take an hour to walk down to the lake on the path. She was going to test that out. She might need to know how much time to allow, if she did have to use the lake, how long it would be before they knew she was missing.

She saw several paths that crossed the main path to the lake, ran right across it going in both directions, and some smaller ones that just meandered off to the right or left. She would pick one and follow it today on her way back if she came back this way. She’d seen one or two paths while down there on the lake that headed off into the woods.

Had asked Marlo where they went, he’d smiled and murmured “well one goes off to a nicely secluded cabin,” winked right at her and she’d shaken her head, knew what he meant. Had told her the one closest to the lake, which looked very well used and was wider than the others that she’d seen out there.

It ran the boarder of the community, it went all the way around, was a long way, would take all day and well into the night for her to walk it, likely a good 24 hours, maybe more, advised her not to. But that had gained her full attention and she’d asked how big the place was. To which she’d gotten ‘large we run up into the mountains here, that’s why it would take you so long to walk it. But it’s best not to go into the woods on the north side, lots of wolves out there.’

It was not the first time she’d heard that either. Logan had told her about wolves, as had her mother, and Conner for that matter, and she’d come across that one when trying to leave that first time. Heard several over the course of being here as well.

It took her only 40 minutes to walk down to the lake, and that was at her standard pace. Her mother just didn’t like walking, she guessed. El strolled along the water’s edge, there were a few families down there she noticed, the kids playing in the water. She smiled and nodded to them, they nodded back, and she moved on. Was using her phone to track her walk, as she strolled along.

It rang an hour into her walk around the lake and she frowned down at it. Logan flashed on the caller ID. Was tempted not to answer it, she stared at it and muttered “What now?” but was playing at being the good stepdaughter. So took a breath in and picked it up, “Yes Logan.”

“Where are you, El?”

“At the lake.” She answered “Why?”

“I was concerned you might be wandering off out of the gated community, is all? Where on the lake are you?”

Eliza turned and looked around her, back the way she came, and then in front of her “I don’t know, I am just walking along the lake path,” she looked at the time. It was only just after 3 “I’ll be home before dark.”

“I think you should turn back, El.”

“Why?” she asked out of pure curiosity now.

“Because I think you’re likely out of the community, I’d much prefer you were inside it.”

That gained her attention. “Really?” she smiled to herself, she’d managed to get out and didn’t even know it.

“Eliza, please turn around and come back.” He stated.

Realised as she looked around, that man had to know exactly where she was, otherwise why would he call her all of a sudden and ask her to come back? She moved her eyes to the path, then up through the trees, someone was watching her. He had to be having her watched in order to know where she was. “Are you watching me?” she asked him outright.

“No, but the edge of the gated community is monitored, so I was not watching you, but you were seen walking just near the edge of the boundary.”

Wondered just how far outside of it she was? If this was the outside, she could just walk out of the community, though even that was a long walk around the lake, could possibly go the other way, she thought to herself.

“Alright.” She hung up before he could say anything else and headed back. She didn’t want to be on his radar, so just turned and strolled back the way she had come. Somewhere along this path was the edge of the community. She clearly wasn’t allowed out by herself. They’d said she could with others, anyone she chose, but not on her own at all. Guess they were going to enforce that rule.

Saved that walk into her phone, and continued on her way back, he didn’t call her back, he must have been informed she was back inside his community. She kept a nice leisurely pace, there was no rush. Was still trying to build some trust, and was actively following orders right this minute. Saw a path about 30 minutes later that led off into the woods. Turned up it and hiked along it, to see where it went. She was wearing her small backpack and was carrying water and a few muesli bars as well.

Walked for hours uninterrupted, though she did note there was no service on her phone, the sun didn’t go down around here till almost 9 at night. There was plenty of time to get back, she’d said before dark. It was only 5ish. She’d also seen a few narrow paths that led west, which she knew was where the centre of the gated community was.

The forest itself was nice, cool under the tall trees and there was not much sunshine getting through the canopy, though it wasn’t what she would call dark and foreboding. Just a nice dense forest that was cool and comfortable to walk in, lots of shade and peace and quiet. She could hear birds chirping and see them flying about. It was nice out here.

She’d always liked being out in the woods, so had her father, the man, had loved being out in nature. He could name just about any tree he came across, was good at tracking smaller animals and hunting, not that she’d been allowed to hunt with him. Had to stay back in their camp while he hunted out their dinner when camping. She never really minded, liked the sounds of the forest, with the water running next to their camp.

They always camped by rivers or lakes, with fresh water nearby. He’d never been gone long either, an hour or so at the most. Being out here in the woods made her feel closer to him, smiled to herself at one point “I miss you dad.” She sighed out loud. Touched a tree and took a moment just for herself to remember him, the times they’d spent together out there in the woods. Just the two of them. Before walking further along the trail.

El took the next path that she saw and found herself at a full crossroads of paths that splintered off in 5 different directions. All the paths looked well used, though one more so than the others and it was the one that was heading west still, so she strolled along it herself. Figured that it would likely take her back to the edge of the town and about an hour later she could see the apartment complex through the trees, she had not been wrong and had found her way back with ease, it seemed.

El walked right out of the tree line and onto the large, grassed area behind the apartment building, where there were many picnic tables dotted around. She heard her phone start dinging with messages, as she came back into a serviced area, shook her head. There were texts from her mother, from Logan and from Marlo as well.

El stopped walking and stood on the edge of the forest line to read them. All were of the same basic type, “where are you.” Heard footfall behind, someone coming towards her had been out on the forest path as well. She turned to see Conner strolling towards her, in just a pair of shorts, no shirt, he was bare-chested, and those shorts only reached mid-thigh on him, bloody man was muscled up all over. He was not even wearing shoes, she noticed, walking around the forest barefooted.

“Eliza?”

“Conner?” She mimicked him and then turned her eyes away from him and headed off towards the apartment complex.

He fell into step with her, “Out walking in the woods, were you?”

“Am I not allowed to?” she stated without looking at him.

“I’d prefer that you didn’t, this close to night-time.” He stated right back.

“Why? you’re out here, what’s the difference?” Looked him over. “I’m at least dressed for it.”

Saw him smile right at her, missed a step and stumbled a little, he never smiled at her out where anyone could see it. Shocked her more than a little. Lit his whole face up, kind of really didn’t look like him, and the surly man he always showed to her, shook her head and focused on where she was going. Didn’t need to see him so bloody handsome.

Heard him chuckle softly “Why El, are you looking at me?” he murmured softly. She caught the underlying tone of his voice.

“No.” she shot at him. “Why would I?” she muttered and stalked off away from him or tried to. He was much taller than her, 5ft 5inches, and his strides easily matched hers with little effort.

“I like to run in the woods, this is generally what I wear when on a run.” he sounded fully amused to her.

“I don’t much care at all, Conner. Wear whatever you like.”

“I’d run naked…but, I think my father wouldn’t appreciate it.”

Her jaw tightened and she wondered if he was doing this on purpose, putting images of him naked in her mind. It was bad enough she couldn’t say no to him, he just had to go and remind her of it as well.

“I’m sure your girlfriend would like to watch you,” she muttered, and found a hand on her arm near instantly. Turned and glared right at him “I won’t tell her, feel ashamed myself.” She shot right at him, and yanked her arm from his hand “Leave me alone Conner.” Turned and walked off.

Saw Marlo coming from the back of the building, his eyes moved from her to Conner and then back to her. “I’ve been looking for you. I was worried you were lost.”

“Not lost, just hiking and getting a look around. I’m hungry though.”

“I haven’t eaten yet either. I got that picnic dinner ready to go for tonight’s concert.”

“That would be nice.” She nodded and walked inside with him. “I’ll quickly run up and get changed.” She smiled at him, anything to get away from Conner and his half nakedness, or the warmth that his touch brought to her skin.