had my head whipping around, seeing a pale eyed Gaden looking at me with quiet horror.
“That may be difficult to achieve,” Hollingsworth said with a smirk.
“Yeah, well, it's the best offer you’ve got on the table right now. You want my baby? Give me some latitude to get pregnant. I have to get to know the guys, see if I’m attracted to them—” Hollingsworth’s eyebrow jerked up “—to want to have sex. Give me some time to feel them out, get to know them, and relax enough that I can enjoy it.”
“And what of your ‘mate’? Are you proposing to put that on ice?”
“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