Page 10 of His Mate

“That’s irrelevant,” he said, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a pair of latex gloves. He snapped them on with a practiced flick of his wrist, the sound making my skin crawl, and then he picked up a stethoscope from the tray beside him. “Take a deep breath for me.”

I stared at him, my throat tightening, but I forced myself to breathe, sucking in air that tasted like bleach and metal. He pressed the stethoscope against my chest, the icy cold exterior sending a shiver through me, and listened, his eyes flicking to the clipboard. The woman scribbled something down, and then he moved the stethoscope lower, over my ribs, then to my stomach, taking his time as if I were just another patient in a routine checkup.

“Your heart rate is elevated,” he said, and I almost laughed, this strange, hysterical sound bubbling up inside me.

Of course it was. How could itnotbe?

He ignored my reaction, moving to check my blood pressure, wrapping the cuff around my arm, and pumping it until I could feel my pulse throbbing in my ears. I didn’t like the sensation and I immediately wanted it off.

“Elevated as well,” he murmured, more to himself than to me, and the woman wrote it down, not missing a beat.

“What did you expect?” I muttered, and he glanced at me, one eyebrow arched, but didn’t respond. He moved on, pressing his fingers against my throat, feeling the pulse there, and then he ran his hands over my arms, checking my joints, my muscles, as if he were cataloging every inch of me.

When he reached my breasts, he took my nipples in both hands and pinched them hard enough to make me cry out. I hated how my nipples stiffened in his harsh grip and I tried to choke back the sounds coming out of my mouth. Eventually, he loosened his hold, and I was able to pull in a breath. My breasts ached from his roughness, but there was nothing I could do to comfort them, not with my arms bound like they were.

“Her response is normal,” he said, his voice still strangely clinical.

When he reached my legs, I flinched, trying to pull away, but the restraints held me in place, and he glanced up, his eyes narrowing slightly.

“I told you to be still,” he said, his voice carrying a faint edge of warning, and I bit my lip, forcing myself to nod.

He reached for the stirrups then, adjusting them, and I felt my skin flush with heat, every nerve screaming in protest, but Icouldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything but watch as he slid on a fresh pair of gloves, snapping them into place, and then leaned over me again.

As he looked down, my face heated. He was looking straight at my pussy and there was nothing I could do to make him stop.

I wanted him to stop. I didn’t want him to look.

Sure, Lia and Mariah had seen me naked before, but this was the first man to look at me like this. Back home, there were men in my sector, but they were forbidden from touching women before they were taken for breeding. The punishment for such a crime was death.

It wasn’t a kind death either. The wolves always made bloody examples of those who broke their rules. I shivered just thinking about it, but it was hard to keep my mind on anything else other than the man between my legs.

“We’re going to proceed with the internal examination now,” he said.

“What does that mean?” I asked softly, trying to understand what was happening because maybe that would make it easier to bear. Honestly, I was just hoping to distract him from continuing whatever this was so maybe there wasn’t enough time to do what he needed to do, but my hopes were dashed in an instant.

The woman handed him an instrument—something metal and shiny, and I looked away, staring up at the ceiling, focusing on the tiny crack that ran along the plaster. I felt the object, cold and slick, press against my entrance, the sensation invasive, and I clenched my teeth, trying not to cry out.

And then he pushed it inside of me and I did cry out because it hurt.

I tried to push away my rising shame, but my face reddened anyway. I knew my ordeal wasn’t going to be easy, but I hadn’t expected anything like this.

I told myself that this was normal, just something I had to get through, that the wolves put everyone through, but that did little to quell the raging emotions inside of me.

Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.

I kept repeating it over and over in my head, like a mantra, but it didn’t stop the pain, the humiliation, the sense of being utterly, completely powerless as this man violated me with whatever metal torture device was currently shoved inside of me.

I ignored how my pussy clenched.

He worked quickly, efficiently, asking me questions about my health, about my cycle, about things that felt so absurd, so normal, in this setting that it was almost surreal. And all the while, the woman scribbled notes, her pen scratching across the clipboard like the sound of insects skittering across the floor.

I hated every second of it.

I felt something deeper then, something that made my entire body tense, and I couldn’t stop the small gasp that escaped my lips. The doctor paused, glancing up at me, his face expressionless.

“Relax,” he said, as if that was even remotely possible. “It will be over soon.”

But it wasn’t.

---