Wolfe snorted in disgust, but the look he gave Faith was filled with compassionate fury. “They drugged her.”
Jacob’s heart thumped hard in his chest.
“Drugged her?” He glanced at her again, watching as she bit her lip, pulled her knees closer to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs defensively.
Jacob bit off a rough, violent curse. They gave the women they brought to him and the others an aphrodisiac to ensure their arousal and their ability to accommodate the width of a Breed’s cock, which was thicker than normal. But never had they dared to bring one so young.
Their sexual training had begun at an early age, as part of their education in defeating whatever enemy they came up against. Faith was the oldest female, but they hadn’t begun such lessons with her yet. He had dreaded the day they began. And he feared he was to be the first in a line of lovers for Faith. Fury rose inside him. He would die now before allowing another to touch her. He knew his rage would be like the bloodthirsty beast Bainesmith lusted for if another dared to touch her after he took her as his own.
“What is the point behind this?” he questioned Wolfe furiously. “Why would they begin her training in such a way?”
The Pack leader growled in irritation. His lips lifted, displaying sharp canines as his anger rose as well.
“It’s not training, Jacob,” he bit out. “Bainesmith is convinced she can force Faith to conceive. That all it will take is the aphrodisiac to force her ovaries to produce, and in turn she believes the minute amount of normal sperm we possess will fertilize it.”
Jacob watched Faith’s expression as Wolfe spoke. Pure terror glittered in her black eyes as her body shuddered.
“They want me to rape a child and impregnate her?” He laughed mockingly. “What do they think will force me into this?”
The scent of Faith’s arousal was thick in his head, and his body responded to it, but he controlled who he f**ked, not the malicious doctor whose schemes for grandeur drove her. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to give her a child of his to torture.
Wolfe snarled. “The aphrodisiac was potent, Jacob. Would you see her suffer? And it’s not as though we both don’t know that Faith would have been willing had you approached her.”
Faith’s face flamed. Jacob shot his Leader a disgruntled look but received only a resigned shrug in return. They were all aware of Faith’s fondness for him, she had made no secret over it in the past months as her body matured. She had flirted and teased him openly several times, as she tested his attraction to her. An attraction he would not have acted upon until she was older, and the danger of Bainesmith’s fury did not exist.
Fury arced through him. She was a virgin, and despite her flirtatiousness lately, she was shy and timid in her interactions with others. There would be no way to hide his taking of her. No way to protect her modesty. He knew the soldiers, knew Bainesmith, and he knew this night would be used to torment the girl in every way possible.
“I do not want this,” she bit out, finally speaking as Jacob watched her in compassion. “I did not want you out of pity, Jacob.”
Violence throbbed in her voice, along with the unwanted heat of arousal. Tears sparkled in her eyes, on her lashes. He could see the tormented desires, the ache of emotion in her eyes. He grimaced, fighting the need to howl out in fury. What demon could have spawned something as evil as Bainesmith? God help them all, but he was being forced to destroy Faith’s innocence, and her last measure of kindness. She would know nothing but shame and fury from this night after the scientist was finished tormenting her with it.
Jacob glanced at Wolfe again. What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to protect her now? Wolfe knew his softness for her, knew his worries. What in the hell was he supposed to do?
Wolfe turned from him, shaking his head in resignation as he disappeared into the only private sector of his cell. Jacob turned then to Faith’s brother, seeing his fury in the dark swirls of thunderclouds that were his eyes.
“Jacob,” Aiden’s voice was a hard, warning growl. “You hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”
Jacob raked his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“Dammit Aiden, do you think I would willingly hurt her?” he asked him angrily. “What would you have me to do?”
Aiden’s gaze went to his sister, and in it, Jacob glimpsed a helpless rage, an impotent need to protect that surged through the other man’s emotions and his body. Jacob knew the brother’s fury because it was similar to the cold, hard core that lodged in his own chest. Faith would suffer for this night with him, and he knew this.
Jacob felt his jaw knot as he fought a particularly vile curse. His hands were nearly trembling with his need to touch her, but his heart ached, shredded at the thoughts of what would come tomorrow.
“I would have you protect her, however you must,” he said furiously before turning and disappearing into the private bathroom.
There would be no way to muffle her cries, but at least she would be assured that those who cared for her would not witness the act. They gave her only the appearance of privacy to ease her though, knowing the shame that would fill her come the next morning.
And Wolfe knew how he was feeling. Only hours before, Bainesmith had dragged her own daughter from Wolfe’s cell after trying to force him into breeding her. Her own daughter. She was a demon, spawned from hell itself.
Jacob sighed wearily. His c**k was thick and hard, engorged from the scent of Faith’s arousal as it never had been before with the other women brought to him. But Faith had attracted him for months. He knew her, desired her anyway. She was a part of his Pack, and a part of who he was. He would have eventually taken her. Jacob had known for nearly a year that the time would come when Faith would lie beneath him. He would have preferred to give her the choice, to have allowed her an arousal she could attempt to control. He would have eased her into the mindless needs, not have her thrown into it.
Damn Bainesmith, he cursed silently. How was he to protect the gentleness of this woman through the savagery of the world she had been born into?
“Faith.” He moved closer to her, kneeling on the mattress as he stared into the overly bright eyes that watched him with such vulnerability. “I am sorry.”
She bit her lip, staring up at him, and Jacob felt his heart clench at the emotion in her gaze. He laid his finger to her lips before she would have spoken, expressing those emotions. She likely believed in love, in happily ever after, despite the reality of her life. He could see the dreams in her eyes, her belief that he would make it come out all right. What was he to do when he could not protect her, could not save her from the misery he knew was coming to her?