Page 156 of Rut Bar

I swallow the excess saliva in my mouth and glare at him. I can’t look at that plate of cum covered toast because… because he’s right. My instincts want me to pick it up and eat it. To get that extra shot of protein in nutritious alpha cum.

My stomach twists with hunger as the scent of coconut thick with delicious pheromones invades my nose. My lips press together into a thin line as I glare at Anthony’s stupid, smug, handsome, smiling face.

I grab a piece of plain toast from the stack on the table and take a huge bite of it, ripping a chunk free and grinding it between my molars. Chewing takes effort. My mouth is dry, like it’s stuffed with cotton instead of bread.

“I’m starving,” Brendan says as he joins us, oblivious to the tension around the table. “Pass the bacon?”

Anthony hands the plate of bacon to him, then returns his focus to me. I refuse to catch his eye as I swallow the dry lump of plain toast in my mouth and rip off another chunk, chewing slowly as my jaw gets sore. It’s too dry and I’m too thirsty. When I reach for my glass of protein water, Anthony grabs it first. He cracks it and hands me the bottle.

“Dry mouth?” he asks with a knowing smile.

I glare at him while I drink and dislodged the dry toast stuck in my throat.

“Something wrong?” Brendan asks, one brow arched as he looks between the three of us.

“Vee doesn’t want to eat her high-protein diet,” Anthony answers.

“I’m not eating toast covered in cum!” I yell. I shouldn’t have to explain this. And he shouldn’t have been putting cum in my drinks for… “How long have you been feeding me cum in my food and drinks?”

“Food? Today. Drinks? I don’t know…” He scratches his jaw as he thinks about it. He shouldn’t have to think about it. Shouldn’t have to do calendar math. “A few months. Since your last heat.”

Months? As in plural? As in longer than we’ve officially been together? “You can’t do that! That’s fucked up, Anthony.”

The smile slips off his face into something inscrutable. “But you were fine with sucking our cocks and swallowing. What’s the difference?”

“It’s not the same thing at all and you know it.” I drain the last of my water and set the crinkling plastic bottle on the table. “I didn’t know you were doing it, and I didn’t agree to that. What you did was fucked up.”

“But you liked it, and it made you happier. Healthier.” His brow knits. “That’s what the care guides said you needed.” He fidgets in his seat, his eyes darting from me to Brendan as if he’s just now realizing how badly he’s messed up.

“You can’t put body fluids in someone’s food or drink without their knowledge,” Brendan says to Anthony in his soft dad voice. “Vee’s right, it’s a consent issue.”

“But—”

Brendan holds up a hand to stop Anthony’s interruption. “No. I don’t care that it’s what the internet forums say. There’s a lot of creepy weirdos on the internet. You don’t take relationship advice like that from strangers. Half of it’s made up of wish fulfillment fantasies and kinks. Understand?”

“I guess you’re not gonna be happy to hear that you drank some too,” Anthony says.

Brendan pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. “Okay… Going forward, you will not put body fluids in anyone’s food or drink without consent. And you won’t get Jamie to do it either.”

“I’m sorry, Vee,” Jamie says, looking sad with rounded shoulders and big, shiny eyes. “I thought it was helping. I didn’t know it would make you mad.”

“No more stunts like that,” Brendan says. “We’re a pack. You don’t make decisions like that for your packmates without discussing it first.”

“Fine, I hear what you’re saying,” Anthony says, deflating in his seat. “But it really did help. You were in a better mood, and why do you think your skin’s so clear and your hair is so shiny?”

I level him with a curdling glare. Excuses aren’t an apology.

Anthony splays his hands in front of him. “But you’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done it without asking or telling you. I thought I was giving you something you needed but wouldn’t ask for. But that doesn’t make it okay.”

My chest aches from Anthony’s side of the bond. He’s sad, embarrassed, and underneath that, afraid. So is Jamie, who sits there dejected and worried. The worst of my anger deflates, although I’m still mad at them. At Anthony for orchestrating it and Jamie for going along with it. Anthony’s got some groveling to do before I’ll fully forgive him.

Brendan studies the cum-splattered toast with a thoughtful frown. “Vee, are you sure you don’t want it?” he asks me, his tone gentle.

“Are you serious?” I ask.

Brendan holds his spread hands out in the air to ward me off. “Doing it in secret was wrong, but he’s right that it might help. It would ease you into solids so we’re not holding your hair back in half an hour. Is it really that weird compared to drinking it straight from Jamie’s cock or having it fed to you from your pussy?”

“That’s not the same thing at all. Those are completely different situations.” Embarrassed, I cross my arms over my chest. I shouldn’t have to explain to them why one is hot and the other is weird. I don’t want to eat congealing cum toast.

---