“I have to breed her while I’m in my fur form, all right?” Jake growled. “If I don’t, she could die from Royal Heat Syndrome—which Ani is suffering from, whether you want to believe it or not! Also, breeding her in fur form is the only way she’ll get pregnant and that’s what you want, right? For me to get her pregnant?”
Ophelia gasped and Sorenson gave us a grave look.
“If you’re telling the truth, this is a dark secret indeed. You know that knotting and breeding a female while the male is in his fur form is a serious offense! It’s one of the Unbreakable Laws.”
“Yeah, well so is incest but you haven’t let that stop you from putting me and Ani together and forcing her Heat Cycle into overdrive,” Jake snarled. “I’m telling you the truth—that’s the way Royals procreate. It’s one reason our line is dying out—most males aren’t willing to do it and most females don’t want to take it. But Ani has no choice—not if she wants to live!”
“Please, Jake,” I sobbed, right on cue. “Please, I need you in me!” I had no idea what he was talking about when he said he’d have to breed me in his “fur form”—I really hoped it didn’t mean what I thought—but I had to keep playing my part to hopefully get us out of here.
Sorenson watched us, pacing back and forth in front of the bed while he stroked his chin thoughtfully. I kept moaning and panting and Jake kept rubbing my shoulders and back and trying to comfort me.
“All right,” Sorenson said at last, coming to a halt. “You’ve convinced me—but we’ll be doing this on my terms.”
“What fucking terms?” Jake demanded. “Take the silver off me now so I can knot her and ease her pain!”
“No.” Sorenson looked up at the skylight, gauging the light outside. “No, the two of you are going to have to wait until the full moon—I don’t think the Royal Omega will die of neglect by then—especially since you’ve already bred her once.” He looked at Ophelia. “You’re sure he bred her? He filled her with his shaft and his seed?”
She nodded.
“I saw the whole thing—he did everything but knot her.”
“Very well.” Sorenson nodded and looked at Jake. “Breed her some more if you need to, in order to ease her pain. But don’t knot her until the moonrise—we’ll have a special ceremony then and you’ll learn my terms for removing those silver cuffs.”
Then he turned and left us, beckoning Ophelia to come with him. With a last anxious glance at us over her shoulder, she followed him down the wooden ladder, leaving us alone again at last.
TWENTY-SEVEN
“What does it mean for you to breed me in your ‘fur form?’” I asked Jake, the minute their footsteps receded down the hallway. “Is it really a thing that Royals do?”
“No, of course not—no Weres do it—at least they’re not fucking supposed to. But I had to find some reason to make him take these damn cuffs off.” He rattled the silver cuffs against the thick wooden headboard impatiently.
“But…what does it mean?” I asked uncertainly.
He sighed and raked his free hand through his thick, black hair.
“What do you think it means, Ani? It means I would be breeding you after I Shifted into my Wolf.”
“But…but that’s bestiality, isn’t it?” I asked, looking at him with wide eyes.
Jake sighed.
“Not exactly, since I’m completely sentient in my Wolf form—my body changes shapes but my mind remains the same. But it’s still considered a type of blasphemy since Weres believe that the ‘fur form and the flesh form shall not mix.’ It’s grounds for serious punishment.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows at him. “But from what Ophelia told me, it sounds like the, uh, regular Weres have orgies all the time. And if that’s happening under the full moon, aren’t there some, uh accidents?”
“A male Shifter is always in control of his Wolf,” Jake said firmly. “Having an ‘accident’ like that will get a male banished from the pack. It’s basically considered rape.”
“Rape?” I squeaked, looking up at him. “Why?”
Jake frowned.
“Because a male Were’s equipment is so much larger in that form. It can be… a problem. Even when a female is already stretched to receive the Were’s human equipment, she’s not often prepared for a sudden, intense size increase like that.”
I thought of how big he already was…and then remembered that he’d told me his Wolf was the size of a small horse. Wow—that would be a problem, even with the compounds his body made to help me open up!
I swallowed hard.
“But you told Sorenson you were going to do it to me? Going to, uh, breed me in your fur form?” I said, uncertainly.
Jake scowled at me.
“I’m not actually going to do that! Please—give me some credit, Ani.” He cupped my cheek in his free hand and looked into my eyes. “I care about you,” he said softly. “I would never hurt you or degrade you like that. But I had to tell Sorenson something that would make him remove these damn silver cuffs. The minute he takes them off me, I’ll Shift and we’ll get out of here. And that’s all that’s going to happen.”