Breeders, page 4
The microwave had just beeped when the sound of a key jingling in the lock made me jump. I slammed the button, popping the irritated microwave open with a squeal, and grabbed the hot bowl in my bare hands. Hissing in pain, my fingers went slack, and the bowl clattered to the ground. Luckily it didn’t break, but the sound drew attention to my location. Somewhere behind me, a light switched on, illuminating the room and nearly stopping my heart.
Oh, shit, shit, shit. I looked up in alarm as guys began entering the room, laughing and ribbing each other. Where were the other women? Surely there were other women in this housing arrangement. There were supposed to be. The ratio was something like one woman to every three men, but there were definitely more women here other than me, right?
The laughter stopped when the guys saw me watching them with wide eyes. A handsome man with a chiselled face and a swagger smiled at me, showing a set of too straight pearly whites. He sauntered over, his head of shaggy blonde hair swaying at every step. He wore khakis and a soft-collared grey shirt with green stripes across his chest—a clean-cut look at odds with his unkempt hair.
Although, on further examination, his hair wasn’t shaggy, it was intentionally cut to appear shaggy. The man’s green eyes twinkled merrily as he looked me up and down. His gaze lingered on my breasts, like someone had left him a present and he couldn’t wait to unwrap it, and I shifted uncomfortably. He looked like the sort with a speck of alpha blood—a leader.
“Welcome, welcome. You’re Cassie, right?”
I couldn’t answer. More and more people began trailing in behind him until they crowded the door, and every one of them seemed to stare into my soul. My eyes grazed the sea of well-dressed men, but I couldn’t focus on any of them, not with my flight or fight kicking into high gear.
Nodding quickly, I ducked down, scooping the chicken back into its flowered bowl. Mr. Green Eyes came around the counter and offered me his hand to stand up.
My gaze dropped to his hand. It was large, the fingernails dirty—no doubt from roaming the forest floor. Had I seen this hand before? Had it held me in place while he pounded into my lust-crazed body? Not knowing was maddening.
I shook my head quickly, securing the fried chicken in its flower prison with two well-placed thumbs.
“I have to go to bed now,” I squeaked, avoiding his inquisitive gaze and fixing my eyes on his impractical brown loafers. Who even wore those out for a run?
Hurrying away, I dashed down the hall, ignoring the calls of my name from the others. Luckily, my room was easy to find. A sign dangled from twine wrapped around a single nail, with my name written in stark white chalk.
At least they’d spelled it right. With a free hand, I slammed the heavy door behind me, heaving as I leaned back into it. I worked to control my breathing, counting down from ten before pressing my ear to listen at the door. I could barely hear a thing.
They must’ve installed soundproofing in the rooms, probably to give privacy to those who wanted it. Were all the rooms like that, or did they know the thought of communal sharing terrified me?
Hell, the idea of taking a lover here, outside of my heat, terrified me. Only, I was kidding myself if I thought those twinkling green eyes and those large hands hadn’t awoken something in me. That my core didn’t pulse even now, knowing the kind of pleasure those men could give me. It was as though something inside of me had been sleeping, and my heat had awakened it. A carnal desire I hadn’t known I was capable of—one that threatened to consume everything I thought I’d wanted before coming to this place.
While the main room had the latest gaming system and a huge wall-mounted TV, my room was bare, with only a nightstand, tall dresser, and double bed. The message was clear: they expected us to socialize. And if we wanted to bring someone—or someones—back to our room, there was enough space in the bed for everyone to fit. I sighed, standing while I dug into the now cooled chicken, not quite ready to test out the bed.
The chicken was pretty good. Even reheated, it was decently crispy and had a spice to it, but I’d foolishly forgotten to grab a bottle of water to bring back to my room. My mouth was on fire, but my belly was full by the time I’d eaten every delicious piece in the bowl, chewing off the precious gristle around the bones.
Stomach sated, my attention turned to the others, and I took up my vigil by the door, pressing an ear against it. Whatever soundproofing they’d used in here was surprisingly effective—the sound of voices barely audible. The tightness in my chest eased when a woman’s laugh rang out. So, there were at least some other women here. Thank god.
Hopefully, they’d go to bed soon, and I could sneak out for a drink of water. Moving back to my bed, I stretched out, staring up at the popcorn ceiling to pass the time, and trying to make the swirling patterns make sense like I’d done as a kid. But after my heat, I’d downed four bottles of water, and I was starting to feel it. Of course, they wouldn’t include a bathroom off the bedrooms, not if the goal was putting us together at every opportunity. Oh, damn, damn, damn.
Wrapping my arms around myself as if it would help, I danced from foot-to-foot until I couldn’t stand it anymore. My mouth was on fire, and my bladder uncomfortably tight by the time the voices died down. There would just be a few people out in the main area, or maybe they were all just busy doing other things with their mouths. Ugh, my bladder spasmed, and I squeezed my legs tighter. There was no choice.
I flung the door open, banging it into the wall, and dashed out like a shot. Looking up and down the hallway—yes, there! At the end of the hallway was a bathroom. I could make it, maybe without saying a word to anyone.
Just a few quick paces and I was almost past the hall of bedrooms—nearly embraced by the brightly lit white tiles that meant my salvation—when a door to my left opened, revealing an entirely too cut naked man with sleep-ruffled blonde hair half covering his eyes. I stopped short, my bladder forgotten as I gaped at him.
Damn, it was the guy from earlier. The one who seemed like he must have alpha blood. He smiled with recognition as he took me in, rubbing his stubble thoughtfully.
Don’t look at his dick, don’t look at his dick, don’t look at his dick. But it was too late. It was on display, and I couldn’t help myself.
My eyes drifted down, and shit, was he ever well endowed. The guy clearly manscaped, his cock standing out proudly among the trimmed hairs. Had I seen that cock before? Who the hell knows. Those men could’ve been fucking me with a metal rod, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed.
“Hey, Cassie,” he said with a smirk, his green eyes twinkling playfully as he leaned one arm over his head on the doorframe. “How you doin’?”
Did he just forget he was naked? The way he spoke to me certainly seemed so. Only the smirk gave him away.
“Good,” I squeaked out. He wasn’t exactly blocking me from the bathroom, but I would have to walk past him to get there. And going back to my room to pee in the flower bowl was starting to seem like a much better idea.
“Okay then, have a good night.” Oh, thank whatever deity looked after shy women. He headed back inside, stopping to look back at me briefly. “I’m Jace, by the way.”
Jace, okay, that was actually a really nice name. I nodded, giving him a watery smile. His entirely too sexy lips curled up, and he shut the door behind him.
Before any more gorgeous, naked men could appear in my path, I hurried the last few steps into the white-washed bathroom and closed the door quickly behind me with a loud shlock sound that made me cringe.
With a sigh, I leaned back against the door, wishing I had a friend to talk to. I thought of my mother, and her brief explanation of what I could expect. She hadn’t been able to express how alive I would feel in this place, how it would change me and make everything so much scarier and exciting.
She’d had me and settled down in the family unit. Done her duty. Talking with her about how she’d never chosen to go back, her voice had been filled with a longing I didn’t understand, only now I did.
Now, I understood the appeal only too well.
I pushed away from the wall and took the time to really look around at the bathroom. Everything was crisp white, from the long double vanity to the oversized shower. There was only one reason you would need a shower big enough to fit five people, and I noted there was only one knob to operate three showerheads. You’d have to shower with a few other people or waste a ton of water—something the higher ups could be rather strict about.
Apparently, we were supposed to eat, sleep, bathe, and do basically everything together while we were here.
I took a few deep breaths through my nose, counting to ten. Jace came unbidden to my mind. He was hot and nice, even if boys did still seem like a foreign species, but the worst part was not knowing who had visited me in my heat state. Had Jace? He’d certainly make some beautiful babies. I took a moment to imagine what they might look like with his unruly mess of blonde hair and my freckles. They’d be so damned cute.
Now that the adrenaline was fading, I remembered my too-full bladder and my burning throat. I took a moment to appreciate the fact that there were individual stalls before making a break for it.
Between my agitation and the heat, it had been well over forty-eight hours since I’d slept. The bed here had some kind of thick foam with a gel pad on top that supported every inch of my body and made me feel like I was resting on a cloud. It was so much better than the old spring-filled ones we had at the family compound, and my aching body sank into it gratefully.
I’d never slept so long or so well in my life, and when I woke up, the light slanting through the blinds was strong enough that it could only be midday.
Midday. My mother would think I was sick if I ever slept this late. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and yawned, stretching my arms over my head and flexing my sore muscles. Everything hurt like I’d been pushing myself too hard during a harvest, but it was nothing some food and rest couldn’t cure.
That would mean leaving the safety of my room and finally meeting my new roommates. Something I was not prepared to do.
A peek outside my door revealed someone had dropped off my large black duffel. Busying myself, I emptied it and put my things away in the set of brown wooden drawers provided for me. My drawers back in 7C stuck, making every opening and closing a stuttering fight, but this one glided as smooth as butter. Everything here was so much nicer than my stuff back home.
Drifting over to the window, I got my first real look at the field outside the building. It was well maintained; the grass cut uniformly short, with the wildness of a forest brushing up against its edges. This place really was a dream, or it would be if I could find a way to relax.
I blew out a breath, selecting a set of blue jeans and a long-sleeved, grey knit turtleneck. The thought of exposing my skin to these people made me uncomfortable. Never mind it was warm in the apartment and I’d be sweating bullets in no time.
Reaching into the side pocket of my duffel, I pulled out a hair tie and secured my hair into a high and tight ponytail. On my days off back home, I liked to wear my long blonde hair down, letting it curl just past my shoulders and enjoying the heavy weight of it on my back. Here, I had no idea what I was about to walk into. Tying it up seemed the right choice, like I would be better prepared for whatever I would find when I left my room and joined the others.
My stomach growled, the sound echoing in my empty room. I felt refreshed after sleeping in, but my stomach still played catch-up, and the spicy chicken was long gone.
Okay, okay. I can do this. With a steeling breath, I stalked over to the door and pulled hard on the knob, intending to swing it quickly open. Only, I lost my courage partway through the pull and it ended up creaking rather slowly when it gave way. Damn it, I really needed to develop a backbone if I was going to live here for the next however-many-months it took to conceive.
I crept down the hallway toward the light coming from the main room. A deep pounding music played, the kind where somebody had jacked up the bass and you could feel the music rattling your bones. As soon as I rounded the corner, I understood why.
Oh. My. Right on the couch where I’d played video games earlier—that easily wipeable pleather couch—a tall brunette was taking two cocks in her pussy, her hole stretched to the extreme as one man lay beneath her and another on top. Her mouth was put to use too, and somehow, I knew the guy making her gag on him while he held her hair to keep her in place was Jace well before he turned and smiled at me.
He stood there, fucking her mouth and smiling at me. But I couldn’t move, couldn’t say anything. I was frozen until a sound from the kitchen drew my attention.
I’d been right about the counters here. A trim blonde sat atop the counter with a red-headed man standing between her legs. Her body jiggled with the force of the man’s violent thrusts while two others stood around her, touching her breasts and whispering to her. She moaned her pleasure while I stared, unable to look away.
Only now they noticed me, just as Jace had, like they had some kind of sixth sense for fresh meat. Shit, shit, shit. All three of them were gorgeous, but I tried not to look. I wasn’t prepared to take in any more naked flesh today—I’d seen my fill. My mouth gaping open, I was still frozen when the sound of someone coming up behind me made me nearly jump out of my skin and shift into my wolf form right there in the common room.
“Hey, are you okay?” The words followed me as I spun and raced back to the safety of my room. Third on the right, but I checked the nameplate to be sure. If that was what they did in the common room, something told me a whole new kind of fuckery was going on behind closed doors. I’d never been so happy to see my name in my life, and I yanked the door open like my life depended on it, rushing in and closing it behind me. With my back to it, I sank to the floor, hugging my knees.
I was never going out there again. I’d still do my duty to the pack and emerge during my next heat, but I refused to take part in the debauchery going on in the common room.
Chapter 4
It was difficult to fall asleep with a grumbling stomach, but somehow the soft mattress lulled me into a fitful rest. When I awoke, it was to the sound of a polite knock on my door. Just the lightest of taps, but it sent me into a panic. Flinging myself off the bed, I hid behind it on the far side of the room. There I waited, eyes wide and unable to do anything but stare at the damned thing like it was going to swing open to reveal a whole gang of naked men at any moment.
Only the door remained firmly shut, and the knock didn’t come again. Hesitantly, I crawled around the bed, wincing at the pain of the hardwood on my aching knees. Staying near the ground felt safer.
When I reached the door, I pressed my ear against it and listened carefully. No sounds reached me. The music from last night was absent and there were no voices I could hear. I stayed in that position, ears straining, certain I would hear the person outside my door shuffling about. After a few more minutes of absolute silence, I turned the little nub lock on my door handle and pulled it open a crack.
The scent hit me before I saw the plate of food, and I gasped. Resting on a dark cedar tray was a plate piled high with eggs, taters, and thick slabs of glistening bacon. My empty stomach growled hungrily at the divine aroma tickling my taste buds. Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled the door wide and grabbed the tray, bringing it inside with a furtive look in either direction.
They’d even given me a glass of orange juice, and I smiled at the sight of clinking ice cubes floating in the pulpy liquid. Whoever it was, they had gone through some trouble to prepare this for me, and the gesture was kind. I thought of Jace whistling away while he prepared my food in the kitchen and carefully placing it outside of my door. No, it just didn’t seem like him. Something about the predatory way he’d watched me while getting his dick sucked last night made me think he wasn’t one to woo his women. Chase them, yes. Woo them? No.
The bacon was so damned good, and I moaned as the greasy salt hit my tongue. I made quick work of it. Before long, I’d eaten the whole plate of food. Rubbing a finger through the grease stains, I eked out every last trace of my gift from some mysterious stranger.
I’d still need to go out there at some point, but for now, I could stay in here longer, blissfully alone with my thoughts as I worked through what to do next.
“Why the fuck did you bring her breakfast?” Jace gaped at me, clearly confused by my actions, and of course he would be. Even though he was my squad alpha and half-brother, Jace had been in the breeding program a few times over the past couple of years. He was a favourite of the women here, participating in every bit of play—no matter how deviant—and always trying to convince me to do the same. To relax and have fun. Yeah right, as if there was any chance of relaxing here of all places.
I enjoyed the sex, sure, but I wasn’t ravenous the way Jace was. And I definitely didn’t have his easy confidence or charming smile. Mostly, I settled for his leftovers—the girls who couldn’t get enough of Jace but who had been forced to move on when something sparkly caught his eye.
I wouldn’t let that happen to Cassie. Couldn’t let her become another one of his puppies, following him around the apartment and banging on his door while he ignored them. There were more men than women here, but it was always him they fell for.
But Cassie had been scared last night when she’d finally emerged from her room and walked into one of our nightly fuck parties. Her face had gone such a sickening shade of white that her freckles had stood out against her pale skin, and I’d been worried she was going to faint. It was all I could do to stand there, gaping, and once again, not talking to her but wanting to. Fuck, did I want to.
