Chapter Twelve
Raven
My blood felt like it was boiling. Hot and simmering just beneath my skin. It took a concerted effort just to draw in air, to fill my lungs with sweet breath, and I moaned forlornly when it did nothing to calm the desperate beating of my heart.
Hot. Heavy. Needy.
Where were my mates?
My core cramped hard and then it rolled, forcing me to curl up in a ball in an attempt to find relief from the pain and rampant desire flooding my system. It was entirely too much, and I cried out in agony.
This was estrous like I’d never felt before. This was a medically induced heat, which meant it wasn’t natural. My body surged with artificial hormones, forcing my arousal to new and unfathomable heights. I couldn’t even attempt to fight the rise of pleasure in my body and I groaned as another painful cramp tore at my insides. Sweat beaded on my forehead and I didn’t even have the strength to wipe it away. Instead, I just clutched at my belly and tried to will the painful arousal away.
The steel door of my tiny prison scraped open and two large men entered the room. They gripped my arms and dragged me to my feet. I tried to struggle against them, but it was useless. They lifted me high enough so that my feet didn’t even touch the ground.
My clothing itched at my skin and I yearned to take everything off.
“Let me go,” I screamed, and they didn’t respond. They didn’t even seem to care.
I flung my head backwards and arched my spine as a particular harsh bolt of painful desire racked my system. My eyes rolled and my breath tore free from my throat, but there was nothing I could do. Then men dragged me out of the airship and onto the landing pad of what appeared to be a building at the perimeter of the city. Triss glared at me as she watched the men carry me along.
“Come on. We need to get her down below,” she muttered, before walking inside the penthouse entrance not far away. The men followed, bringing me along with them. They paused and I tried to look around, assessing my location from the top of the building.
I saw the Genwell tower miles away. After seeing a few other tall buildings that I recognized, I figured I was in the northwest corner of Tharia, a place where only the rich and powerful resided. These apartments were steeped in old money and as my eyes crossed back to Triss, things started to fall into place.
She’d grown up here. This was her home.
She could have hired the men who attacked us. She could have commissioned the building of her airship with the kind of money it took to live here. She had years to plan her revenge against me and now it had all come to fruition.
Everything surrounding us indicated money.
The men roughly squeezed my arms and I cried out in pain, left with no doubt that I would bruise from their strength. They followed Triss into a steam-powered elevator and we slowly descended to the ground floor.
When the doors opened, the number of people waiting was alarming. They shuttled me forward and somewhere along the way, someone bound my wrists behind my back. Another tied my knees and ankles together, taking away my ability to fight or struggle anymore.
The two men who had taken me from my prison forced me into the trunk of a private train car. They shut the lid over top of me, leaving me to my misery in the darkness. I couldn’t see anything for a while, until my eyes adjusted to the dark. Around the rim of the trunk, a tiny line of light penetrated into the shadows, giving me just a sliver of relief.
The train moved smoothly, the steam engine quiet, pumping us forward to whatever destination Triss had in mind. I had no idea which way we were going or where, but I couldn’t focus on it. Another surge of heat passed through me and I cried out, trying to think of anything but my mate’s cocks between my legs.
My pussy tightened with need.
I groaned, curling into a ball. My insides felt like they were burning from the inside out and I knew that the only thing that would give me relief would be my alphas.
The more I tried not to think about them, the more I did.
Alix. My protector and friend.
Wolfe and Ivan. The stern savages who demanded my obedience.
I adored them all.
I moaned when I remembered how Wolfe licked my pussy. My eyes rolled back in my head when I recalled how Alix had taken my pussy for the very first time. Then I fantasized about Ivan claiming my asshole as his.
I was lost in my passionate need.
I knew what was happening in my mind. My estrogen levels had peaked to an all-time high, had reached a level only possible with medical intervention, and now my body was trying to compensate for it. The drugs Triss had forced into my body inhibited the suppressant, leaving me with no hope for relief.
I was doomed to live through my estrous all alone.