Page 22 of Despair

He listened to her slow breathing, finding the sound of it soothing over the general noises from the lab and the chattering from the cell next to theirs. They’d brought the same female back to the alpha, and she was talking at him. 351 was too focused on his own female to care much for what she was saying, but her tone had lost some of its initial fear.

“The next time… don’t fight them,” his mate whispered. She turned halfway to look up at him, though she didn’t move from her position with her back against his chest. Not that she could have, with his arm around her waist. “The next time, there will be more alphas. And more. And more. Don’t… don’t fight them, Zach. They won’t stop until they find your breaking point. You can’t… you can’t save me forever. At some point, there’ll be too many, even for you.”

He growled, a rush of anger at her suggestion drowning out his sense of calm. Did she really think he would ever stand back and let others rut his female?

Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes as she brought a hand to his face. “I wish I could make you understand. I don’t want you to get hurt again, when the end result will be the same.”

He growled again and rolled her over to her front. If fighting off five other alphas wasn’t enough to prove to her that he was strong enough to keep her safe, he would show her another way.

His cock rose hard and proud between his thighs as he took up position between her legs. Her cunt was still flushed red and open from their previous mating, but she didn’t resist him when he reached down to manipulate the little nub that made her ready to take him.

She even arched her back for him when he penetrated her, easing the push into her swollen depths.

He rutted her thoroughly, until she could have no more doubt he was strong enough, virile enough, to keep her all to himself, wringing orgasms from her fitfully spasming cunt that had both of them howling.

After, he lay with her, knot locked safely in her warm pussy as his cock drenched her inners with his seed, and listened to the alpha in the next cell mount the female locked in there with him.

It didn’t come as a shock to him when, as the female howled in pain from taking the knot, the sound of teeth tearing into flesh mixed with the sounds of the final stages of sex.

His mate, however, jerked half up, wide eyes locked on the concrete wall. “Oh my God! W-What was that? What did hedo?”

“Claimed,” he grunted.

She shot him a quick look over her shoulder. She probably hadn’t expected him to speak.

“You mean… that sound was himbitingher?” She winced as she touched her own mostly healed claiming mark. Then her hand fell. “Wait, so he… he actuallyclaimedher? Like… like you did me?”

The low sobbing from the female behind the concrete wall was underlined by a deep, pleased purr from the alpha.

“Yes,” 351 grunted, tightening his grip on her hips to still her movements. His knot had softened significantly, but it was still uncomfortable when her swollen channel tugged on him.

“But…how?I thought…? When you claimed me, before even… Isn’t a bond meant to be… special?”

He could tell she found the notion of his neighbor claiming a female upsetting. She was probably worried for the woman—his mate had a soft heart. He brushed his nose against the back of her neck, pressing his lips to her claiming mark to calm her. She would never understand the desperate loneliness every single man in this cursed cell went through. How most of them would do anything to end it, even claiming a woman for life purely because she offered them some kindness.

“Sometimes… just available,” he murmured, unable to fully explain the complexity of alpha bonding with his limited vocabulary.

“Oh,” she whispered, and he felt an uncomfortable twang in their bond. But before he could investigate, commotion from the lab diverted his attention. He covered his mate with his body as the scientists chatted excitedly outside his neighbor’s cell and the alpha growled furiously. 351 was unable to feel sorry for the dumb fuck so long as the scientists’ attention wasn’t onhisfemale.

The fog surroundinghis mind only lifted enough for him to remember why he wasn’t supposed to mate his female the next day.

He watched her awkwardly wash his scent from between her legs and swallowed thickly at the thought of his seed catching. If she became pregnant, his life would be forfeit.

But… it was already. He sighed at the twang behind his ribs. He’d give his life for her alone, and the evil pricks holding them captive knew as much. And there wasn’t anything they could do to prevent matings when his mind was overtaken by the drugs—he was fully in his instincts’ control then, and his instincts wanted nothing more than to rut her full of babies.Constantly.

He palmed his once-again hard cock, groaning low at the need to be inside of his womanagain.Judging from the stiff way she was moving, she needed rest. Besides, it wouldn’t be long before their captors would bring breakfast, and then another day of testing lay ahead. More than likely, she would get mated again before the day was over.

The thought of yesterday’s test made his stomach churn—it was only sheer force of will, and the magnitude of his panic at seeing those five ferals try to mount her, that had allowed him to defeat them. And it had been a close call—despite her tending to his wounds, his body was still battered and sore today.

Then he remembered what she’d said while they lay together in the cell after, and his heart sank.

She was right.

They would keep pushing to see how much it would take before he broke. They wouldn’t stop until he failed, and she would suffer the consequences.

The sickening knowledge that they would make him watch his mate get raped took care of the last remnants of his persistent erection.

“Breakfast.”

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