“You… They…” I stared blankly at the room, seeing Hollingsworth, the men pulling down their pants, Jai falling backwards, and my jaw locked as each memory smashed into me. My fists balled, but they were so ineffectual. Small, weak by comparison to the men, and locked away behind the glass. I couldn’t even bloody the fuckhead’s nose. I couldn’t do anything.
“Babe…”
I felt Jai’s hands on my arms and flinched. Hollingsworth’s instructions… The samples… An unconscious Gaden on my first day here. Fuck, was Nick in on this? I shuddered.
“Sweetheart, I won’t let them—”
“Touch their dicks? Jai, they’ll fry their fucking brains and torture them until I do what they want! You haven’t seen it yet. Watching another person struck dumb and writhing on the floor while whatever it is they zap you with immobilises you, your body twitching and jerking…” Tears filled my eyes, blurring him out until all I could see was my memories. “Fuck this fucking place…”
“Shan…” He tugged me close, wrapped his arms around me, and rested his chin on my skull. “This is just a speed bump, love. It’s not the end for us. You gotta believe that.”
But right now, I couldn’t. The walls, the glass that seemed to defy the rules of physics to obey Hollingsworth’s will. My eyes flicked up, feeling like they were pushing down on me.
I pulled free of Jai’s arms, not able to take that soothing pleasure right now. My heart thumped as I paced the all too smooth floor, staring at the ground but not seeing it, until I bumped into the food cart. The abundance of luscious looking food felt like a personal affront, to organise such a bounty and yet feel justified in locking us up. He would have had to source it from somewhere. From the town? Did the good burghers of Harvest Grove know what the fuck was going on in here? Did they…?
Never let them know what you are. My grandmother’s advice reverberated through me. Your nan’s not here. Didn’t listen to her own damn advice at all, did she? People ’round here, the old timers, they knew what she was, what she did, Rob said in my mind. Stuart looking at me through the glass, listing all the ways I’d given away I wasn’t human.
“No…” I whispered. “No, no, no…”
You should have run. I told you that. The voice was Nan’s, but not her words. You were stupid enough to stay. Stupid enough to try and build something. You thought the rules didn’t apply. You thought you could have—
“Shannon?” Jai’s face swam into view, his hands cupping my face. “Babe, it’ll be OK. They’re coming, they’re planning, they’ll—”
“If they have the forethought to put this place together, to get the permission of the council, they’ll have plans for the pack. They know all about this valley and the shifters in it. We’ve just been fish swimming in our barrel and thinking everything’s been fine.” I pushed away from him, ignoring the pain there in his face. “We… This… We’re just playing right into his hands. We do the deed? You take me as your…”
Jai let out a low growl.
He was still my lover, I needed to remind myself of that, as his eyes hardened, the silvery night shine masking that warm gaze for a moment. He took a step towards me, then another, the slow prowl that of a predator, shoving all of my worries out of the way.
“You can’t wolf our way out of this,” I snapped, waving my hand at him.
“You’re my mate, Shannon. Nothing this fuckhead does changes that. Nothing.”
“And if we do? If you throw me down on the bed…”
They were the wrong words to use. His eyes slid to the expansive surface, then back to me.
“And then… How did you see that scenario playing out?”
“Uh…”
He was my Jai and I loved him, I knew that as sure as the heartbeat racing relentlessly in my ears, but that’s not what he looked like right now. He came to a standstill, arms crossing that bare chest, which should have been bloody illegal. How the hell was I to have cogent arguments about our current plight when there were biceps and abs popping all over the place? He seemed to sense that and smirked, his eyes trailing down my body.
“You’re wanting.”
“No,” I snapped. “Or rather yes. I want to find a way out of this fucking place. Somewhere where I don’t have to administer hand jobs on demand.”
The growl grew deeper. My skin flushed in response, a fine sheen of sweat pricking all over, despite the cool air-conditioned air.
“Don’t talk about anyone else’s cock here.”
He bit the words off, the -ck in ‘cock’ feeling like it echoed around the room. I swiped a hand across my brow, feeling the sweat beginning to drip. The feel of skin against skin, even if it was just my own, provoked a little shiver, something he caught with those alien eyes of his.
“Jai, tomorrow I’ll need—”
“I know exactly what you need.”
I remained stuck to my spot as he strolled over, his eyes burrowing into me. The silence rudely redirected my attention back to the here and now, as it no longer had an argument to distract it. Just him, looming larger and larger.
I could feel where his fingers had been. He’d left his mark on me, forcing me open, pulling one orgasm then another from me, and as soon as my focus was switched to between my thighs, my body promised a whole lot more. If I just… My eyes dropped down.
He was hard, a vaguely threatening shape in those ugly scrubs, hinting at a world of pain or pleasure, depending on how well I could adjust. But that was an intellectual reaction. My body just saw that thick girth and went damn, my cunt spasming, aching at the emptiness there, promising things would be so good if I let him scratch that itch.
“This is moving fast,” he said, the heat in his eyes dulling for a moment, a small frown forming then smoothing away. But then he took another breath in, and the fire returned.
“Jai…” I said, taking a step backwards. I didn’t want to do that at all. All of a sudden, I was keenly aware of the looseness of the gown I wore. It barely skimmed my naked flesh, and as I’d been given no underwear, I could feel the play of cool air on my overheated skin.
“Mmm…” he purred. “Keep backing up like that. You run? I’m just gonna chase you.”
“What? What the fuck is going on? Is this some kind of…” My words died away as I pulled the neck of my gown away from my skin, feeling like the cotton was starting to stick.
“Baby.”
The voice was low, rumbly, chiding, as if my questions were ridiculous. That silvery gaze softened for a moment, letting my Jai shine through.
“You’re ready.”
“What?” My eyes jerked down just in time to see his cock twitch in response to my attention. “No, no, no! Fuck, it’s hot in here. No, we talked about this.”
“We did. We said we loved each other. We’re mates, except for the formality.”
“Noooo…Jai, we can’t. What if I…? This’ll…”
He could have tugged me to him, bent me backwards, and smashed his lips down on mine, and I would’ve liked it just fine. Instead, he stopped just in front of me, cloaking me in that wild scent of his, the heat radiating off his body combining with mine to make me burn.