Page 14 of The Beast's Baby
Chapter 5 - Isobel
She stared at the fashionable woman next to her on the couch. Not a hair out of place on Cora’s head, not a wrinkle on that tightly fitting dress of hers. She looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine. She didn’t look like a scientist, and yet she talked like one. She talked like someone who knew their business, like someone who didn’t mess around because they didn’t like wasting anyone’s time. Especially not their own.
So, Isobel believed what Cora was saying.
“Is that why you took me off the tea?” she asked.
She could feel Jay’s gaze intensify. He hadn’t thought of that. She didn’t think he’d known about this aspect of her wolf either. He’d looked as taken aback as she had felt.
“Yes, it was,” Cora said.
“Wouldn’t it have been easier to tell me all of this before we began?” Isobel asked, trying to keep from bristling too hard as she could sense Cora wasn’t entirely human. There was no telling what might come of a challenge, whether Isobel’s wolf was free or not. Cora smiled.
“Would you have agreed?” she asked.
“So, you admit you coerced me?” Isobel asked.
“Well, I think it’s too late to try and deny that,” Cora said, smile remaining in place. “We wanted the chance to prove ourselves to you and we had a feeling that you wouldn’t be amenable if you could see the full picture straight away. Sometimes things that will change everything need to be looked at in sections.”
“I’ve had no contact with anyone for four weeks,” Isobel remarked.
“You’ve had contact with Jay,” Cora said. “Doesn’t he count?”
“He didn’t talk,” Isobel said.
“No, he didn’t, because you didn’t,” Cora replied, smile widening. “You see, this entire experience is designed around you. For you.”
“I don’t want to get pregnant,” Isobel said, getting to her feet. “How can this place be designed for me?”
“Because whether you wanted to or not, your wolf was going to go out hunting for someone’s seed,” Cora replied, a chilling note of truth in her tone. “It wouldn’t take, of course. Which is why female wolves have lost control of their heat cycle. Their maternal instincts drive them insane. You might even attack someone, though typically females don’t need to. There are plenty of men willing to… humor a woman’s whims, or whatever you’d call it.”
“Willing to fuck her, maybe?” Isobel offered.
She thought she heard a soft snort from Jay but wasn’t sure. She didn’t want to look at him, but he wasn’t far off to her right. She hadn’t stood in order to get closer to him and further away from Cora but that still seemed how things had worked themselves out.
“And you didn’t think I could handle this information, so you chose to keep it from me?” Isobel asked.
This woman—or whatever she was—was a piece of work, that much was for sure. She also appeared convinced that she could come in here with slick words and a smile and make Isobel fall in line.
“Sections,” Isobel said. “We’re choosing to let you know all of the information in sections.”
“But you have people chasing rainbows who are asking no questions,” Isobel remarked. “That’s what I was told you were hoping I’d be.”
Isobel exchanged a glance with Jay, then sighed softly, getting to her feet. Her demeanor changed in the blink of an eye, smile dying, eyes growing vacant in a different way to Jay’s. Jay had seemed intentionally distant, but this was Cora dropping the act to show her true face. And it wasn’t pretty.
“You’re going to get fucked by one of our other subjects,” Cora said. “It’s up to you whether you like it or not. Make the most of it. Perhaps you’ll get a good one. Wolves are known to be… attentive lovers. Encourage him to treat you well and he will. Say nothing and he’ll take you anyway. Those in your folders are all, how did you put it? Rainbow chasers. They’re here for the cash. They don’t give a shit about what they’re asked to do. And you’re beautiful. They’ll be happy to get the chance to ravage you.”
Isobel watched as Cora walked to the door. She wanted to say something biting, make some sort of comment, regain at least an ounce of dignity but she realized the jig was up. She had just been informed that they had tried to play nice and, if she wasn’t going to play along, the gloves would have to come off.
Fuck.
Had she made a mistake standing up for herself?
The door closed behind Cora and Isobel turned to Jay.
He actually looked uncomfortable. At least that was something. Perhaps this was one aspect of the job he couldn’t be quite so clinical about.
“Jay,” she said, his gaze landing on hers. “Please, help me.”
