“But…but what if he doesn’t?” she whispered.
McCain shrugged.
“Well then, you’ve just got to take it. Just remember it’s your duty to do your best to get a big belly tonight, no matter how you get it. These Open Breedings are about strengthening the pack and filling our town with more Weres. And you need to do your part—all of you,” he added, pointing at each girl in turn. “Remember—you’re not done until you’ve been bred, knotted, and sealed and your belly is filled with an Alpha’s seed. You got that?”
“Yes sir, Chief McCain.” The girl with green eyes nodded timidly, not looking at all reassured—for which I didn’t blame her. His words and the images they brought up made me want to retch.
“Good. So then, if y’all all do that—just get on your hands and knees and submit as soon as an Alpha catches you—you should be fine. Now get out of the van and strip—the Alphas should be arriving any minute.”
Obediently, the single women began filing out of the van and stripping off their clothing, which they folded in neat piles and left in the van. I was damned if I would take off my own clothes so I just stood there, glaring at the proceedings. I couldn’t believe how docile these women were—how willingly they agreed to be stripped and run down and fucked in the middle of a secluded forest clearing at night! What was wrong with them?
They’re brainwashed, I told myself. They believe all the crap McCain is telling them because the men in their life have been telling them the same shit all their lives.
Already I was beginning to push back the memories that had been crowding into my mind earlier, sweeping them back behind the locked door in my mind. My childhood was better left shrouded in mystery—I didn’t want to remember it. And I didn’t want to take part in this sick ritual, either.
But then McCain turned to me.
“All right, girly—it’s your turn.” His eyes were gleaming with lust and again I remembered my foster father’s piggy little eyes, the way he used to watch me…
No! I pushed the thought away with all my strength.
“I’m not going to strip for you,” I said coolly. And then, having a new thought, I added, “How can I when your deputy cuffed me like this?”
I held up the handcuffs to illustrate my point.
McCain’s eyes narrowed for a moment, then he nodded.
“Okay—not like I need you cuffed to catch you. I can run faster in my Fur Form than any bitch—especially a nice curvy bitch like you, sweetheart. Go on, Boyd,” he said to the other man. “Uncuff her—I wanna see her naked.”
Only he pronounced it ‘nekid.’ Again, I felt like retching.
“You got it, Chief.” Shrugging, Boyd came over to me and inserted the little silver key into my cuffs. After a moment, my hands were finally free.
My plan was to run into the moonlit clearing and disappear into the surrounding trees as soon as the cuffs came off and I tried—I really did. But McCain was faster than he looked. He caught my upper arm in his big, meaty hand and dragged me back.
“Don’t think so, girly,” he snarled, grinning savagely at me. “Now are you gonna strip or am I gonna strip you? It’s the same to me, either way. Actually, I might enjoy doing it myself.”
I saw from the way he was looking at me that he was telling the truth—he really would derive pleasure from stripping me against my will. And either way it looked like my clothes were coming off.
“Fine.” I lifted my chin, trying to hold back the swelling despair that was trying to fill me. I had no idea how I was going to get out of this situation which kept getting worse and worse. Still, the longer I could stay in control of my own body, the better. “I’ll take them off myself,” I said. “Just take your hands off me.”
“All right.” McCain loosened his grip and crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s see it, girly.”
“Yeah—I wanna see if her titties are dripping with nectar yet.” Boyd was looking at me with eager lust I didn’t like a bit.
“You can look but don’t touch,” McCain told him sternly. “I’m the Alpha who killed her Daddy—she’s mine by right.”
“Yes, Chief.” Boyd nodded. “I’ll pass the word to the other Alphas—look but don’t touch.”
I felt sick all over again at the mention of my father’s murder, but there was nothing I could do but start stripping. Refusing to meet either set of lustful eyes, I slipped out of my black pencil skirt and jade green silk blouse. I had been dressed to impress today—wanting my great aunt to like the looks of her long lost niece if I found her. I wondered grimly if she could see me from the afterlife and if so, if she had any idea how much trouble she’d caused me.