2. Cherry
Cherry
Acry escapes me as I yank against the cuff around my wrist.
“Please don’t!” I yell, even though I know it will do no good.
Dr. J turns toward me, a smug grin on his stupid face and a syringe in his hand. “Come now, zero zero three. This won’t hurt, just a little pinch.”
“I’m not worried about the needle,” I say in anger as I claw uselessly at the metal cuff around my wrist. “I’m worried about what comes after.”
“Don’t you care that you’re helping advance science by being here?”
“No!”
“You know, you’re being an ungrateful little brat,” he says, his smugness dropping only to be replaced by annoyance. “Do you know how many people would give their left arm just for a chance to help with what we’re doing here?”
“Then why don’t you strap one of them to the bench?” I yell at him.
“They aren’t special like you.”
“I told you, I’m not special,” I say for what feels like the hundredth time.
“And I’ve told you that simply isn’t true.
I’ve been searching for you for a long time.
And thanks to you, we’re going to change the world.
” He surprises me by backhanding me across the face, sending my head flying to the side, and uses that moment to jam the needle into my neck, then quickly steps back before I can recover.
“There,” he says with a pleased nod. “Let’s give that a few minutes to start working, then we’ll get to work.”
Panic claws its way up my throat as I scratch uselessly at the cuff, my nails breaking and leaving small traces of blood from my fingertips. But that’s nothing compared to what’s coming. As soon as the stuff he injected me with takes effect, paralyzing me, that’s when the real pain begins.
My body grows heavy, and I lie on the bench, not wanting to bash my head on it like I did last time when I lost the ability to stay sitting upright.
Each of my limbs starts to grow numb until I’m left lying there, unable to move.
Dr. J steps up to my side and smiles down at me as he holds up a large, empty syringe. Silently, he sticks it in my side, giving me a pinch of pain as he starts to take my blood. He doesn’t stop at one vial, though; he takes six large vials, leaving me dizzy and seeing spots.
Tears leak down my cheeks. I just wish this would end, but I know I’m not that lucky. He never just takes blood. That’s only the beginning.
He sets the vials aside before coming back to look down at me. “That blood is going to help us more than you know.” He takes a second to assess my body, then reaches over and grabs something off the nearby table.
“Now that’s out of the way, it’s time for a new experiment.” The grin he gives me is pure evil, telling me this is going to be beyond bad. “I want to see how long you last without your heart.” He lifts a large scalpel, and I try to scream, but it comes out as a howl.
“Shit! What’s wrong?”
“What’s happening?”
“Cherry! Wake up!”
My eyes fly open and my howl cuts off. I bolt upright and look around with wide eyes, panting heavily in my wolf form as I try to figure out where I am.
“Calm down, sweetheart. You’re okay.” I feel a small bite of alpha energy come with that, making it more of a command, and I have to blink my eyes a couple of times before I realize Maddox's face is in front of me, and he’s holding mine in his hands.
“There you are,” he whispers, letting out a deep breath.
Someone strokes my back, and I turn to find Hunter sitting beside me on the couch.
“Did you have a nightmare?” I think for a moment, then nod.
But I’m unsure if that was a memory or a dream.
I don’t remember Dr. J telling me that my blood was being used to help others before.
I think I was around fifteen in that nightmare.
That was nine years ago, and it’s hard to know what’s real or imagined at this point.
It takes me a minute to reorient myself to the present and what happened. Did I die again?
“Here, drink this,” Gage says, distracting my thoughts as he holds a bowl of water in front of me. I greedily drink half of it before lifting my head, dipping my chin in thanks.
“Cherry?” Hearing my name in Bain’s deep voice has me shuddering as I turn to find him sitting at my other side. “Eat,” he orders me, holding up a small cube of cooked steak. I take it, unsure if it’s because I’m starving or because I’d probably do anything he asked me to.
He continues to feed me piece after piece until I can’t take anymore, then they all take me into the backyard to relieve myself. It’s a sunny day out, and I wonder how long I’ve been unconscious this time.
I think I remember Maddox telling me Kane is dead, and—
My head whips around to the five men close by, watching me. Closer than usual. No. Not men.
Mates.
How could I forget what happened behind the waterfall? That was the single best moment of my life. For some reason, the Moon Goddess has given me five mates. And not just any mates, the five most perfect men in the entire world.
Maddox is standing the closest, and he’s staring at me with such intensity that my back legs grow weak. Knowing he’s my mate has me desperate to be close to him again, wishing we could complete the bond. With a sudden surge of determined strength, I run straight toward him.
He frowns but doesn’t move, other than to squat down and open his arms to me, making my heart leap in my chest. I barrel into him, letting him hug me tightly as he presses his cheek to my head.
“You’ve remembered,” he says with a sigh. I let out a small whine in answer as I try to press closer. “Mate,” he whispers, and I try to nod against his chest. “My beautiful little mate.”
When he pulls his head back to look at me, I realize the other four have moved in close. They are all looking at me with a longing I feel deep in my bones. It’s a need to connect, to touch them with my human hands, then to seal each bond, cementing them to me forever.
“We were wondering if you felt up for trying to shift again?”
I turn back to Maddox as I try to figure out what he means, then I remember I shifted. Twice. Is their touch really the antidote I need? Did that mean to stay human, all five of them would have to keep touching me?
Is that the worst thing in the world?
I dip my nose, and he smiles. “Let’s get you inside, shall we?”
He stands and I trot at his side toward the back door with the others surrounding us.
When we step into the living room, I start to feel nervous. I’ve been dying to shift and talk to them for so long. What do I tell them first? What do I ask?
Chase sits on the couch in only his boxers and makes grabby hands at me, so I jump up and sit sideways in his lap, leaning against his large chest. I tilt my head to look at him, and he smiles at me as his pink hair flops into his eye.
Bain sits in front of me on Chase’s right, and Gage sits on his other side, at my back. Maddox and Hunter sit on the coffee table directly in front of us.
“Okay, are you ready?” Maddox asks as Gage presses a hand to my back and Bain reaches out and grabs my front leg.
I nod, and Hunter reaches forward, placing a hand on my shoulder as I turn to watch Maddox, the final connection, reach out and place his palm on my back leg.
I gasp as my body shifts into my human form. Several sets of wide eyes stare at me in shock, then I squeal, yanking my arms and legs in as I turn to Chase to hide my nakedness. Immediately, I shift back to my wolf form and realize I’d pulled my arm out of Bain’s grasp.
I keep my forehead pressed to Chase’s chest in embarrassment over being naked, but also my reaction. They are my mates, and they’ve been naked around me dozens of times, even if I have made an effort to never look at them when they are like that.
Chase’s chest starts to move up and down, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s laughing.
“Don’t laugh at her!” Gage tells him.
“I’m not laughing at her. I’m laughing at the situation. How is it that none of us thought about the fact that we were about to have our naked mate in front of us for the first time?”
“Here,” Maddox says, and I turn to see what he’s doing.
He pulls his T-shirt over his head and leans forward as he holds it above me.
“Sit forward a little, sweetheart.” I pull my body away from Chase, and Maddox pulls the shirt over my head.
Bain and Maddox proceed to pull it down over me, pulling my front legs through the sleeves.
It’s huge on me, and I imagine it’ll be at least down to my thighs in human form.
“Did that tire you out?” Gage asks. “The shift?” I shake my head.
“Are you ready to try again?” Maddox asks, looking amused. I nod, and this time, they all reach out at once, the change happening faster than I expected.
I feel Chase’s hand move to pull the bottom of the shirt a little lower, and I turn my head to look at him.
“Thank you, Chase,” I tell him, my voice a little rough from not being used.
He smiles at me. A huge, full-face covering smile, and I have the urge to touch it.
Realizing that I finally can, I reach up with my hand that isn’t held in Bain’s and gently run my fingers along his jaw, through his stubble.
“Mate,” I whisper, feeling the need to say it out loud.
“Yes, that’s right. I’m your mate, pretty girl.”
He lets me explore, my hand moving up into his hair, desperate to confirm it’s as soft as it looks. And for anyone wondering, it is.
There are a million questions I planned to ask as soon as I shifted, but for some reason, the first one that comes out of me is, “Why is your hair pink?”
He laughs and lifts a hand to cup my face, and I press my cheek into his touch as I watch my fingers move through his hair. “I wanted to do something different, something fun. You like it?”
“I love it,” I tell him honestly. “I think it’s my favorite color.”
His grin gets even bigger as his thumb strokes my jaw.