The Awakening by Alexx Andria Page B

your hunger, Cassandra,” Jandin
warned, motioning for Koris to come forward with the plate. “Your
body needs the sustenance to survive.”
    “Survive what?” she asked.
    “The breeding.”
    “I don’t want-“
    “Hold her down,” Koris instructed and Jandin
grabbed her hands and held them above her head. She tried to scream
but her voice was weak and unable to do much more then mewl with
fear. But as much as she struggled, the smell from the meat began
to do weird things to her resolve. Suddenly, it smelled like heaven
even though it looked repugnant. Koris plucked a juicy chunk of the
raw meat from the plate and brought it to her mouth. “Eat,” he
commanded sternly. Her eyes filled with tears but her mouth
reluctantly opened. He placed the meat in her mouth and her jaws
snapped shut as she closed her eyes in sudden relief. Her body
leapt at the blood and meat sliding down her throat. Strength
returned to her limbs and the pounding in her head receded. “More,”
Koris said, pushing more meat into her mouth, which she eagerly
accepted. He continued until the plate was empty. Cassidy eyed the
pooled blood remaining on the plate and Koris smiled at her
plaintive look in her eyes. He tipped the plate and blood trickled
into her mouth. She lapped at the liquid with cheeks burning with
shame but she almost felt normal again. Her hunger pains had abated
but she was wholly conscious of the fact that she was naked and
alone with two handsome men.
    She writhed against the bed, unable to stop
herself. The heat in her body was rising again. “What’s wrong with
me?” she asked, her lower region aching and pulsing with a strange
need that she couldn’t define.
    “We’re running out of time. We need to get
her back to the clan,” Koris said, concerned.
    Jandin released her hands and felt her
forehead. “Damn,” he swore softly under his breath. “She’s already
gone into second phase. She won’t make the trip.”
    “I told you we should’ve grabbed her last
week,” Koris growled.
    “We didn’t know if she was going to phase,”
Jandin shot back. “Some breeding females never actually reach their
Breeding Time, you know that!”
    “Don’t talk over my head,” Cassidy said,
groaning as another wave of aching desire washed over her. “Help
me! Bring me more meat!”
    “More fuel is not what you need,” Jandin said
grimly. “You need to be bred.”
    “Excuse me?”
    Koris, the rougher of the two, looked angry
at Jandin’s admission but he agreed. “Breeding females go through
three phases before they pass out of their Breeding Time.”
    “I’ll just wait it out then,” she said,
almost deliriously. She didn’t want to breed. She was waiting until
marriage to have sex. But both men were beginning to look as good
as that raw meat. A different sort of hunger was twisting her
inside out.
    “You’ll die,” Koris said bluntly. “Breeding
females who haven’t been bred, die soon after. It’s an evolutionary
protection. As long as there is a breeding female, another will not
take her place. But once you are gone, another breeding female will
be born. They are rare for a reason…we must not overrun our
resources.”
    She groaned, barely understanding what they
were saying. “Make it stop,” she pleaded, her nipples hardening to
the point of delicious pain.
    “We must take her,” Koris said but Jandin was
reluctant. “The Alpha will understand.”
    “You know our brother has never been the
understanding sort,” Jandin said.
    “It is preferable to her death. He will
understand that simple truth even if he is not happy about it. We
haven’t had a breeding female in sixty years.”
    “We must do it properly or she will remain at
risk!”
    “There is no time!”
    Koris stripped his shirt, revealing rippling
muscles of pure steel beneath bronzed silk. Cassidy gasped and her
legs fell open as if in invitation. She felt as if someone else
were taking over her body, causing her to act like a