“Zane assures me that the cats will still be able to service me, even if it rules out Caleb. Four out of five ain’t bad.”
Jai shouted his objections to the deal, something I’d expected, and this seemed to seal the deal for Hollingsworth. He smiled, that mirthless twisted thing, then raised his control and let the glass around Jai slide down. I heard his steps, felt his arms wrap around me as soon as he was close enough. He tugged me back against him, his nose in my hair, on my neck, breathing me in.
“No, Shan…not this way. Not like this…”
Tears formed in my eyes at the sound of his pain. It was the twin of mine, and it felt good to show it. It made our jailer smile all the more, gloating in the power he perceived he had. Good, you fuckstick, I thought. Get lulled into a false sense of security.
“Very well,” he said with a nod. “Get to know your harem, then rut with them until you’re pregnant. That shouldn’t take long. The first heat ovulation is a potent one, but if by the end of your cycle you aren’t pregnant, greater interventions will be required. You will take daily tests, and if I see no progress made with any of the other shifters, I’ll take that as a sign you’re reneging on the deal. Have I made myself clear?”
“No, no…” Jai growled urgently.
“Crystal,” I said.
I didn’t shake Jai off until Hollingsworth had walked back up the stairs, and when I did, I ran back into our open cage and into the bathroom. My gown was yanked up over my head, the hot water slammed on, and I ducked underneath it, needing that steady beat on my skin. It pounded down, muffling Jai’s words when I put my head under it and slid to the floor, sitting hunched up under the water, blurring out the others when they appeared in the doorway. Jai’s growls, their replies, the feel of Caleb on my skin, the bright yellow gaze of Zane, the spurt of cum into sample pots… It all washed down the drain and away from me. I shivered, despite the punishing heat, shaking and shaking, until I trickled away too.
“I’m carrying her to bed.”
I was scooped up, my body limp as a doll’s, and held close to a hot, hot chest.
“You can’t keep us out. This is what she’s negotiated for. She asked for this. It’ll be her that he punishes if she reneges.”
“She’s my mate!”
“Which will only edge me as a wolf out. The rest? You’ll send her into a full heat. She’ll be mindless with her need for sex, and they’ll be lining up to give it to her. They’ll need to give it to her.”
“My people are coming. We just need to hang on until then. Then you can fuck off back to where you came from.”
“Yeah? So where are they? C’mon, pal, that incursion y’all staged was amateur hour at best. I’m not holding out for that. But her… I’ve never gotten a knot for anyone in my life. I had a girl I loved… I thought I loved her with my whole heart, but no knot, so she left me. I don’t know what fucking cruel twist of fate would have me responding to someone else’s fated mate, but I am. I’m gonna make the most of the opportunities given to me.”
“And the rest of you?”
“I wanna lick that pussy more than I want my next meal. Need it.”
“Your mate, she is beautiful, yes? We see it too. Beauty is a rare thing here. You cannot blame us for reaching for it.”
“She negotiated this to help us. She didn’t like being forced…or any of us being forced to perform for her, shooting cum into jars like animals. I can’t turn down an offer that generous. Any humanity… We have to take it.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll stay clear of her unless I have to.”
“Gaden?”
“If you collect some of her slick on a cloth, that’d probably be sufficient to produce a sperm sample.”
“Gaden…”
“My mate is dead, so my days of…‘rutting’ are over. I’ll keep that fuck off our backs, but that’s it. Dry her off. She’s starting to shiver.”
And then my world narrowed down to my skin, the steady drag of towels whisking all the water away, rubbing through my hair.
“Leave her with me for tonight.” I was laid down on a soft surface, still shivering, until more heavy soft things were pulled over me. I buried my face in the pillow, breathing in the scent of Jai, which was always able to slow my heart rate or speed it up. Exhaustion felt like a great smothering weight, forcing my consciousness away from the here and now, away from what might hurt me. Tomorrow, it promised. There was always tomorrow.
“For tonight then, but we’ll need to work out a way around this that will avoid conflict. I think that would hurt your mate the most.”
“It’s what stops me from ripping your fucking throat out where you stand. She’s what’s between me and you.”
“Then we agree. The beautiful one is the one we protect, yes? We work together for her.”
“For her.”
Chapter 31
Sleep was an ocean, and every time I started to surface, I dived back down again. That was, until Jai stirred beside me.
“You can’t stay here forever, Shan.”
I grunted my extreme disagreement with that statement.
“You set stuff in motion, Shannon. Now it's time to see it through.”
My eyes flicked open, and my heart felt like it went from zero to one hundred in twenty seconds.
“I’m sorry.” Those were the first words out of my mouth. “I’ve hurt you.”
I forced my eyes to open, to take in Jai’s expression, his reaction. I did this, and I was going to have to face up to it. But what I saw shocked me.
There was something terribly warm and intense about Jai, like a hot bath I could sink into. I frowned when I saw that in his eyes. No recrimination, no pain, just…love, a damn scary word if there was ever one.
“I’m sorry,” I repeated, as if that would provoke the right response, but his expression stayed the same as he rolled towards me, hauling me up close and pressing his mouth to mine.
“You don’t like hurting people,” he said between kisses. “You’ve never liked people, animals, anything being in pain. You feel theirs, don’t you?”
“The guys?” He nodded. “Sort of. Like Zane? I think his only pain is his blue balls, but Caleb? It was hurting him, them, the whole thing. Hollingsworth is using me as another means to torment them. They can’t touch me, they can’t connect with me. He’ll do it over and over again, every day that we’re here. This way, there’s a buffer, and the pace isn’t being forced. I can choose what we do or don’t do, at least for a little while.” I laid my head against his chest, keeping my voice little more than a breath. “You know I’ll only love you, right? You’re my mate. It’s always been you for me.”
His gaze didn’t change. If anything, it softened, but he shook his head slowly.
“I’ll never doubt that you love me, but I don’t think you realise the capacity of your heart. You connect with people all the time.”
“If it wasn’t for Janey, I’d be alone whenever I wasn’t at work!”