the bright white tiles.
He just stared for a moment, giving me room to let a million fears rush in, doubts clamouring. He put out an arm and pulled me closer, more gently this time.
“You’re my girl…” he rasped. “You’re my girl.”
We cleaned up afterwards and found new scrubs in a cupboard in the bathroom, donning them before walking out. Intellectually, I knew the other shifters had to have heard what was going on, but that didn’t prepare for the actuality. We stumbled out, arm in arm, to find all five men standing in a ring at the perimeter of our cage. The walls weren’t up again, but they stood as if they were, not putting even a toe over the lines made by the wall recesses. Jai’s arm instantly tightened around my waist, a low growl escaping his chest.
“She’s mine.”
“We know,” Caleb snarled back, his hazel eyes now gone pale yellow. “We haven’t come onto your turf or made a move in respect of that but—”
“Can’t expect that to go unnoticed,” Zane said. “Damn, girl, you smell sweet.”
“Mate her. Do what you doggies do,” Kazimir said. “That will shut things down?” he asked Caleb.
“Should. Don’t know if it’s the same for cats though.”
“Do it,” Gaden said, his jaw flexing before he forced himself away.
“I couldn’t agree more.”
We all groaned when we turned to see Hollingsworth and his goons coming down the stairs. Jai pushed me behind him, much to my annoyance.
“Present yourselves to the glass, gentlemen,” the fucker said with a sharp snap. His flunky raised some sort of controller, assumably to ensure they did as asked, while Stuart came behind him, more focussed on his tablet than us. This was perhaps why. “Trousers down, please,” Hollingsworth said with the brisk tones of a school nurse, brooking no refusal. “Now.”
“No,” I said, my eyes flicking around the line of men, my heart sinking when I saw them move to obey. “No! This is a complete invasion… It’s sexual assault!”
“Don’t, Shannon,” Caleb said, head hanging low.
“No need to protest,” Hollingsworth said. “I’ve seen all I need of your Jai’s member, but I need to see evidence to confirm a theory in the others.” When his eyes fell to the men’s groins, there was something odd there. Well, odder than a psychopath that locked up people and forced them to show him their cocks.
Part salacious glee, his lips pursing for a moment, part…satisfaction. I could see that in the small nod of his head, in the way he looked over his shoulder to gesture Stuart forward. Wilson’s eyes were considerably more clinical, but even they widened at what they saw.
Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look, I told myself. Let the men have their bloody dignity.
But curiosity killed the cat and all that. My eyes darted down for just a second, and then I saw it.
Caleb was closest, and apparently, all shifter men were packing major heat, but I didn’t think it was the unsolicited dick inspection that got them so excited. At the base of his cock was a bulbous swelling, similar to Jai’s.
“Yess…” Hollingsworth hissed. “This is exactly what we need. Shifters in rut! This will give us the specimens…” His eyes slid over to me. “And the means to get them.”
Chapter 27
“No, no…” I backed away from the glass, from Jai, from the guys. “No, this is not… You can’t…”
“You’re not using Shannon for anything, you fucking bastard!” Jai shouted, slamming his hands down on the wall.
“Electrify the barrier,” Hollingsworth said to his flunky, “and remind our newest specimen of his place.”
The men stepped backwards, pants still part way down their thighs, seeming to know what was coming. All except for Jai. He was about to say something when his body went rigid.
“Jesus…” I cried, running forward to catch him as he fell in a dead faint.
There were no shifters to intervene this time, kept still with their cocks out for an even bigger dick’s edification, so that big, burly body went smashing into mine, flattening the both of us. The men’s heads whipped around as I fought to suck in breath, the wind forced out of me. Nero and Kazimir moved to help, but Hollingsworth stopped them with a click of his fingers.
“If you want the girl in one piece, you need us to help,” Nero said in a low, tense tone.
“Fine. I’ve seen what I need.”
I just stared blankly as the men jerked up their pants and clustered around me, two hauling Jai up, who groaned and then