Chapter 6
Laying bound on the bed, Jenny swallowed tightly. She wanted to cry and scream at the same time. She hated herself so much right now that she wished she could wake up two years from now and have all of this behind her. Her chest ached with regret, and it was torture on top of everything else that was wrong with her. While Bishop had claimed her, he hadn’t collared or bound her, which meant their affliction was still in full effect.
It was a three-part process. She needed to be collared, which meant the gifting of the male Skin Walkers halo to his Angel. When gifted his halo, she would be rendered unconscious. Physiological mutation began transforming the mate instantly. For non-Walkers the ‘transition’ could last up to days, often leaving the individual with flu-like symptoms for weeks after they finally woke from the collaring. For Walkers collared by fellow Walkers, the transition wasn’t as severe. The physiological transformation—or binding—was less intrusive, so the period of transition was shortened. Walkers claimed by Walkers were rendered unconscious, but the state typically only lasted several hours.
After being collared and bound, being claimed followed. It typically referred to sex, but Jenny wasn’t so sure that sex without some type of bond would be enough. No, an Angel needed to be collared, bound, and claimed for the affliction to abate, but what she pushed Bishop into doing had been a Walker acting in desperation. There had been no sweet words, no vows of fidelity, no mutual adoration. He’d claimed her body, but there had been no bond. He still hadn’t given her his halo either, which meant she couldn’t be sure whether sex without commitment mattered or not.
Staring at the door and willing Bishop to come back had her eyes flooding with tears. She’d ruined everything for the both of them, and even now they suffered. There’d be no eating, no sleeping, only wanting…needing! And right now, she needed like a motherfucker! Her breasts were so swollen they felt like they’d pop and the ache in her womb was matched only by the incessant throbbing of her clit. She needed relief in the worst way.
“Why?” she bellowed into the empty room. Why hadn’t she just confronted Bishop and asked for his aid instead of deceiving him and using him? She would have never thought this is where she’d end up. Hell, yesterday she’d even tried to come clean. Sure, it’d only been because Monroe was getting close to discovering her secret, but still, she had intended on coming clean.
***
Jenny punched Lilly’s number into her cell phone.
Monroe’s personal secretary and one of the few humans employed at the Estate answered on the second ring. “StoneCrow Estates. Lilly Worthington speaking.”
“Hey Lilly, it’s Doctor Houlton.”
“Oh hey Jenny, what can I do for you?”
“Is Monroe in?”
“He sure is. One sec and I’ll put you through.”
“NO! I mean…that’s alright. I just wanted to leave a message.”
“O-kay,” Lilly’s tone was laced with suspicion. “What’s the message?”
“Can you let him know that I can meet with him today at noon regarding the results of the lab tests he was concerned with yesterday? Let him know I’ll be in the second-floor lab, and please ask him to come alone.”
“Okay. Come alone,” Lilly repeated as she jotted down the message. “I’ll see that he gets it, Jenny. Anything else?”
“No. Have a good day.”
Jenny stood on her balcony staring longingly at her untouched cup of coffee. She’d purchased the penthouse condo as a means of escape from her tedious existence at StoneCrow. While she spent the majority of her days at the suite provided to her by Monroe at StoneCrow Manor, she often relished in leaving the Estate and hiding here in her quiet and some-what normal existence. Her neighbors thought her to be a well-traveled surgeon who simply liked to keep to herself. For the most part, it was true, minus the well-traveled part. Jenny rarely left StoneCrow, let alone the state. She didn’t have time. She’d poured herself into the research she was conducting at StoneCrow. Not only did she not have time to travel, she also lacked any desire for it. What Monroe was creating at StoneCrow was Jenny’s once in a lifetime opportunity. Having so many Skin Walkers at her disposal was something she’d dreamed of for years.
Jenny sighed heavily before reaching back through the balcony doors and setting her full cup of coffee on a table just inside the doors. She rolled her shoulders and dropped her head from side to side to relieve some of the tension in her tight muscles before reaching in and locking the balcony doors before pulling them tightly shut.
Standing behind the sheer curtains that encircled her balcony, Jenny shifted then flew through the curtains and dropped the eight floors before she spread her wings and caught an updraft that shot her sailing high into the sky. For the first time in her life, she cursed the short flight to the infirmary at StoneCrow. She was terrified of facing the trouble she had created for herself, and she wished for more time to ready herself.
She hadn’t had a natural sleep cycle in months because of the affliction, but even if she could, she doubted her worry would have permitted it. She was afraid of what she’d done to Bishop and the trust she’d created with Monroe, but she was also afraid of the potential damage to her reputation. If word got out that she’d been experimenting on Walkers without their knowledge, she could be banished at the very least. Such acts were punishable by death, even if the party perpetrating the experiments had a personal stake. She was fucked, and she knew it.
As she soared over the small Montana town of Great Falls, she once again contemplated running. She could do it. She might even stay ahead of Monroe for months. But, while she was confident that Monroe might find her, Bishop definitely would. She’d have to face him, and what she’d done. The charade was over.
Sadly, a part of her had always known it wouldn’t last. She had hoped for success with her experimental manipulation of her and Bishop’s systems, but over the past few months, she’d realized that she couldn’t fend off their body’s natural pre-dispositions. She’d fought a hard battle and lost, and to compound matters, she’d been caught in the act of her treachery.
At quarter to noon, she swooped down to the roof of StoneCrow Manor and shifted a few feet above the roof, dropping down in human form. She straightened her lab coat and buttoned it down the middle before pulling long black hair up and twisting it into a sloppy bun at the base of her neck. Today was all business, and she’d need to look the part.
She found the door that led down to the main floors, and she made haste until she was seated behind her desk in her medical office in the first-floor infirmary.
She held a pen in her hand, tapping it nervously as she watched the door. Her heart was pounding in her chest as the seconds ticked by.
After a few minutes, she lifted a hand to swipe a few wisps of stray hair from her eyes when she noticed her fingers were trembling. Her poor system was a mess from all her experimenting, and now her body was having some adverse reaction to the withdrawal of the self-prescribed antibody she’d created and had been injecting. Her need for actual food certainly hadn’t helped.
At ten after, Jenny pushed back from the desk and crossed to the door before she jerked it open and peered down the hall. Monroe was never late, and he hadn’t forgotten. This was a power play, meant to set her on edge, and Jenny gritted her teeth in frustration because it was working.
Fuck!
Her muscles whined for relief from the tension and stress they’d been under. Meanwhile, her fear was sending nervous energy shooting through her. The combination mixed with her antibody withdrawals left her nauseated. She needed relief, even the slightest respite.
Jenny stalked back to her desk and grabbed a vial of the designer antibody she’d created. It was specifically designed to compliment her DNA; it would work on no other Walker but her. She’d been taking it for months, and while it seemed to provide some relief, it didn’t come without cost. She’d grown increasingly edgy and fatigued. It was no wonder Monroe had finally caught on. She’d been sloppy the past few weeks, she’d known it but couldn’t bring herself out of her crappy mood long enough to give a shit.
Vial in hand she left her office and found the nearest empty exam room. She rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a sterile syringe before she ripped it out of its protective wrapping and inserted the needle into the vial drawing the antibody into the syringe.
She’d grown to despise the antibody. What had started as a weekly injection had quickly escalated. Now, she needed the shot three to four times a day, and even then there were still signs that either the antibody was weakening or her system was assimilating. Either way, the antibody wasn’t as effective as it once had been. She felt like an addict that needed more and more of the drug just to get by, and to make matters worse, she was having a hard time hiding the tracks in her arms. Before she’d started the treatment she’d worn her lab coat only when she knew the lab was expecting visitors, now she wasn’t seen without it.
Jenny flicked a finger against the syringe before rolling up her sleeve and wrapping an elastic band around her arm. She searched for a vein and when she found one she inserted the needle into her arm just as the door crashed open. Startled, she jerked the needle free as her wide-eyes landed on Bishop.
He was enraged. Face a mask of feral intent, his blown out eyes locked on the needle in her hand and the blood racing down her arm where she’d inadvertently yanked the needle out and torn her flesh.
“Bishop! Wh-what are you doing here?” They hadn’t ever formally met. She shouldn’t know his name. Silently, she cursed her familiarity.
Her eyes darted to the door behind him, hoping to find Monroe, but he was alone.
Bishop’s eyes narrowed on the needle as he inhaled deeply. He was scenting the drug. When his head jerked up, and his eyes thinned to cruel slits, Jenny back up a step.
Fuck! He knows! “Bishop if you need something,” Jenny winced at the quiver in her voice, “I can have one of the Nurses...”
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out?” His teeth gnashed under the power of his jaw as he raised his eyes to her face and slowly approached her.
Jenny dropped the needle, and it fell to the floor with a slight ping as she held up her hands and slowly backed away. Her eyes transitioned from their normal gray to a dull black as she partially shifted. Wolf. She’d need cunning, speed, and strength to get herself out of this.
With the partial shift, she could scent his anger and…need! Both scents though were secondary to the overwhelming power of the resentment wafting from him. A Walker that felt betrayed was the most dangerous type. If she’d thought he knew what she’d done before, she was certain of it now.
As he steadily approached, Jenny back stepped, her lab coat catching between the metal rail of the infirmary bed and its footboard. When she dropped her eyes to jerk her coat free, he sprang.
Bishop’s hand wrapped around her throat and forced her back onto the bed. She tried to punch at his face as a whine left her throat, but Bishop caught her fist and pinned her arm to the bed in his vice-like grip.
It was so strange. Finally, his hands were on her, his skin making contact with hers but the elation she thought she’d feel was absent. His rage overpowered everything, and she couldn’t even blame him.
“How long?” He demanded through gritted teeth.
Jenny bucked and kicked, but Bishop used his body to force her legs apart, and he held her down with his weight centered at the cradle of her hips.
Jenny struggled, but with Bishop leaning into her and one arm pinned to the table while he held her down with a hand clamped around her throat, she had only one free hand to defend herself. Too bad that hand was occupied trying to pry Bishops fingers from around her throat.
He leaned into her harder, the blue in his eyes dulling to a matte black. “How. Long?”
“Six…six months,” she croaked, beyond lying to him now.
Bishop leaned in until his nose was touching hers, his lips pulled back revealing elongated incisors. He was barely controlling the shift she could see his beasts were trying to force.
“You’ve kept me from claiming what’s mine for six months?”
Jenny knew she was no match for Bishop’s strength. She’d have to try other tactics. “Please Bishop,” her voice trembled with the plea. “You need to understand.”
“NO!” he barked, “You need to understand. No one keeps me from what is mine.”
He released the hand that had been clamped at her throat, and Jenny’s hand instantly took its place, massaging her tender flesh. Her hand stilled though, eyes growing wide as she felt Bishop’s hand sliding up her thigh.
She cursed the short skirt she’d chosen to wear even as her hand snaked down and tried to wrap around his wrist. She couldn’t keep him from forcing his hand up her skirt and over the mound of one hip. She gasped and began to struggle when she heard and then felt the whisper of lace that was her panties being ripped from her body. Her eyes flew to his. “Bishop, no!”
She heard the buckle of his belt as it was being unfastened then heard the unmistakable sound of his zipper. She bucked against him and writhed under his weight. “Please, Bishop! Don’t do this!”
His hard hand went back to her hip, forcing her body to the table. When his eyes met hers they were fully black now, his inner beasts overtaking the man.
“It’s happening. I’m claiming what you’ve kept from me, what you’ve tried to hide from me…what you tried to take from me.”
She trembled under his hands, but it wasn’t in fear. She wasn’t afraid of the claiming. She was afraid of what it meant. She wasn’t even afraid of him. What terrified her was the knowledge that he would be bound to her and she to him forever, no say, no choice in the matter, and it’d be forced. She’d pushed him to this. Consensual, non-consensual, he was claiming her one way or the other. It had been what she’d been trying to avoid all along, the lack of choice.
Jenny was angry with herself because she needed to fight him, fend him off, but in her heart, she knew that she no longer wanted to. The beasts within her howled, begging for her to allow Bishop to claim her. Her instincts cried out for her to surrender to her mate. She met his eyes. He was waiting. Although he wouldn’t force her, he barely restrained himself as he waited. She had to make a choice, and she had to make it now. Even the slightest hint of acceptance from her and he would take her. He leaned into her, so the head of his cock was pushing for entrance, but he stopped just short of slipping inside of her. It wouldn’t have been hard to do. She was so wet, so ready for him.
Whether it was her or her beasts, Jenny didn’t know, but she stared at him for long silent minutes and then her head rolled back against the med bed exposing her satiny throat. Submission.
She heard Bishop growl before he thrust into her.
He filled her so fully and so suddenly that she cried out. His hands gripped more tightly to her hips like he was afraid she’d try to fight him. She wouldn’t. She couldn’t. She wanted him just as badly as he wanted her.
There was no hesitation, no slowly working himself into her. In one languid thrust, he was fully seated inside of her. Hips bumped up against her, his quickening pants hitched on a breath that he held as his eyes drifted closed. He took one deep inhalation like everything was right in his world and then his eyes snapped open, a renewed menace flickering in the depths. He glanced at her face only once before lowering his eyes to watch with a feral intensity as he slowly withdrew from the sheath of her body before slamming back in. Jenny gasped even as an animalistic sound left Bishop’s parted lips.
“You took from me,” he snarled as his hips set a punishing pace.
His hands left her hips to rip open the front of her dress. He made equally quick haste of shredding her bra and then she was bare. Legs spread around him, goosebumps rising all along her exposed flesh, Jenny felt the buds of her nipples tighten as his calloused hands found her breasts and squeezed.
Jenny arched, eyes pinching shut at the maelstrom of sensation sweeping through her. Her mate, her Bishop, was taking what was rightfully his. Even as she enjoyed having him inside her, his hands all over her, she felt a wave of humiliation wash over her. She’d forced him to claim her like this. He would hold her down until his seed spilled deep inside her, and it was her fault. She didn’t blame him. She’d deceived him, tried to keep him from knowing what they were to each other. She’d forced his inner beasts to assert their dominance.
His hips slapped against hers, the sounds of wet sex and her ragged gasps filled the small exam room even as Bishop snarled and released her breasts to grip her hips, his hands tightening almost to the point of pain.
She knew what he was doing. He was showing her that he was stronger, faster, and more dominant. He was taking his position as her Alpha, her mate. He was asserting his dominance and showing her that he’d no longer be denied.
She didn’t want to deny him. Jenny knew she shouldn’t be enjoying this, but how could she not. For six long months, she’d obsessed over Bishop Arkinson. Every waking minute was consumed with thoughts of him and the need to have him doing just what he was doing now. Yes, he was taking her in anger, in a desperation that she’d caused, and while she hated it, something about it felt right. She was being claimed by her One and even lacking soft words and murmured promises, a part of her felt whole.
Bishop’s eyes lifted to hers, and he didn’t take his eyes from her as he thrust deep and hard. He pounded into her so fiercely that with each thrust, the damn exam table slid until it was butted up against the wall. Bishop was leaving no question of the claiming.
Unable to stop herself, Jenny lifted a hand and clamped onto his arm as she arched her back and parted her lips. Her breasts jiggled with each driving thrust of his hips, his cock impaling her at an incredible pace.
For the briefest moment, Bishop’s expression softened, but then darkened just as quickly with feral intent. The sight of him above her, the feel of him inside her had a warmth filling Jenny as she realized the ache that had plagued her for the past six months had finally subsided. The connection between them had so many emotions flooding her, but the greatest was need. She needed him like she needed her next fucking breath and the thickness of him as he took her had her muscles already fluttering with impending release.
Unsure whether it was the human’s need for her man or her inner beast’s understanding of being claimed, Jenny’s world felt more right in this one imperfect moment than it ever had in her whole life.
Leaning over her, Bishop pushed the collar of her lab coat to the side and sunk his wicked incisors into her shoulder. He didn’t draw blood, the bite was only meant to hold her down, to cement his dominance. It worked.
Orgasm ripped through her and had her crying out, “BISHOP!”
He spilled his seed deep inside of her, his body convulsing with each aftershock until he was emptied. He wasn’t finished though. His hand clamped around the halo at his neck as his eyes collided with hers. The coldness she found there had a tear slipping out of the corner of her eye as Jenny lifted a hand to cup his cheek. “Bishop…”
He jerked away from her touch, roughly tearing his halo free before he thrust it toward her, stopping just shy of her throat.
Jenny watched as it trembled in his hand. Her eyes lifted to his face and her heart wrenched at the mask of anguished uncertainty she found there.
He was still buried inside of her, the act done. She breathed a watery, “I’m so sorry, Bishop. I never meant for it to be like this.”
Swallowing hard, he pulled out of her and tore his body away from hers before dropping to his knees. Halo still fisted in his hands, he threw his head back and unleashed an agonized roar.