“Hang on a moment.”

Dr. Axell turned to his colleague, eyebrows raised in question.

“You saw how 351 acted around her on the video surveillance,” the beta male said as he gave me a coldly calculating look. “He seems interested in her. Perhaps, if Miss Dorne is certain she would rather find another solution to this predicament she’s put us in, she would be willing to test out the theory she suggested during the mating trial she overlooked.”

I blinked, my brain taking a few moments to zero in on what he was referring to. Then I remembered my thoughts on them trying to force a mating bond. “You’re kidding? You think he’d claim me?”

Dr. Urwin shrugged. “Perhaps. Perhaps not. I’d be curious enough to test it out to perhaps overlook your transgressions, seeing as no other female has had any non-sexual, positive reaction from 351 yet.”

“Hm, that is a good point,” Dr. Axell conceded. “It would at least be worth a trial, now that the opportunity has presented itself.” He looked down at me. “But of course, if you don’t want to…”

“No, I’ll…” I swallowed thickly and forced the images of Gloria tied to the breeding post out of my mind. Whatever happened in that room, it would be better than going to Ezban. “I’ll do it.”

OceanofPDF.com

8

“We had another female employee in the early stages of the project,” Dr. Urwin said when I handed him the signed contract allowing SilverCorp full discretion over my body for the next year. It stipulated that I was to allow matings with alphas of the research team’s choosing, and that I agreed to not hold SilverCorp or its agents responsible for any and all bodily harm that may occur under their care.

Despite its content, I didn’t hesitate to sign it. Not even when I read the part where a “successful bonding” meant the contract would be extended indefinitely.

“She also got swept up in her feminine emotions and tried to smuggle pictures of what goes on here out to the press,” Dr. Urwin continued as he looked over my signature. “It was before we had an easy supply of female inmates for our alphas, so we struck a similar bargain with her—her cunt in return for not turning her in to the feds. I must say, it is a disappointment to see an educated mind lose all sense of reasoning to irrational emotions. It makes it hard to argue against the alphas who suggest your gender belongs at home, barefoot and pregnant.

“And then you go and prove them right again, after Dr. Axell hired you against his better judgement not to take on any more females for this project. I guess he was right—no amount of accolades can make up for the softness between your legs. He’s been watching you, you know. The security cameras in 351’s cell captured all your sweet little moments with him. When we saw you tending to him after his failed mating, we knew it was only a matter of time before you betrayed SilverCorp.”

“What happened to her? The other woman?” I asked. Taking his bait wouldn’t help me now.

“Oh, it was very unfortunate.” Dr. Urwin motioned with one arm for me to walk out of his small office. I obeyed, following his directions down the narrow corridor until we came to another locked steel door. “It was before we began forcing heats on our female subjects, or tying them down. So instead of submitting to her first alpha, she tried to fight him off. Stupid woman. He predictably went into a rage and killed her before we could intervene.” He gave me a small smile devoid of emotion as he swiped his access card over the lock and pushed the door open. “But you have nothing to worry about. We have had no fatalities since we implemented the heat treatments.”

I blanched as he stepped aside to allow me into the room, and I finally saw what was inside. It was a small room, clad in tiles and white paint, with a fluorescent light flickering in the ceiling. And by the far wall stood a narrow, padded examination bench with leather restraints attached.

Dr. Urwin scoffed at my obvious horror. “Don’t give me that look. They’re to keep you from hurting yourself once the drugs set in. We’re not barbarians.”

I arched an eyebrow at him, but if he even saw the irony, he ignored it. Apparently, in his mind, violating a tied-down woman yourself versus letting a feral alpha do it was entirely different.

He sat down by a small desk I hadn’t even noticed, seeing how the bench and restraints took up my whole focus, and rummaged through a drawer for some paperwork. “Please take off your lab coat and roll up your right sleeve before you lie down,” he said as he began making notes on the form he’d procured. “I’ll be with you in a moment.”

I took a deep breath, steadying my thudding heartbeat before I walked over to the bench and shrugged out of my lab coat. There was something poetically final about seeing the white fabric pooling on the floor—almost like a metaphor for how I’d thrown away my life to help the alpha who’d made my conscience resurface. I wasn’t a scientist anymore. I was a test subject.

But at least I’d done everything I could to help. No matter what happened to me during the next year, I knew I could live with myself once they finally released me. If I hadn’t tried to save him, I would never have been able to look myself in the mirror again.

Even if he was a war criminal.

At least I knew there was no chance he or any other alpha they’d make me mate with would claim me. It was just one year, and then I’d be free. And who knew, maybe if I was smart enough, I’d somehow be able to gather enough evidence during my time as a test subject to take them down once I was out.

Once I was lying stiffly on the bench, Dr. Urwin rolled on his chair across the concrete floor to my head. In his now gloved hand was a syringe containing a yellow liquid.

“I’m going to inject you with a heat trigger now. Depending on how your body reacts, in one to four hours you will begin to sweat and you will experience vaginal and uterine cramping, as your body begins to prepare for mounting. Most females will continue on to the next stage on their own at this point, but some require further stimulation. If that is the case for you, I will provide you with alpha-scented cloth. The next stage is marked by a flush of slickness from your vaginal opening, and often aggressive behavior if a mounting isn’t imminent.

“This is also the stage when I will restrain you, to keep you from causing harm to yourself or others. You may or may not feel the need to start nesting, but since this is a clinical procedure, we unfortunately cannot allow our subjects to engage in such urges. Needless to say, you will be very aggressively searching for an appropriate mate at this point. Because 351 will be incapacitated for at least the next six to eight hours, regrettably this stage will be prolonged.

“Once he is deemed ready to complete a mating, I will lead you to the breeding room and the trial will commence.” Dr. Urwin reached for my upper arm, quickly wiping it with rubbing alcohol, and then jabbed the needle into my skin.

I gritted my teeth to not flinch away, but he clearly had a lot of practice. He’d pressed the plunger down and removed the needle before I’d even fully processed everything he’d explained.

“Nesting?” I asked. It was the only part of a woman’s biological response to her chosen alpha I wasn’t at least somewhat familiar with. It wasn’t a subject I’d studied in great depth, but there had been a class or two back in my early days of college about what happened if a woman Presented to an alpha. Of course, I certainly hadn’t had any classes about forcing a woman into heat. It wasn’t exactly something polite people discussed.

“Some women get the urge to prepare a space for the offspring her body assumes will be produced after tying with her alpha during a heat. Some don’t. We haven’t seen it much here—the circumstances aren’t exactly ideal, you might say. Mostly it happens for a Presenting woman if she is already in the comfort of her own home, with an alpha she has established an intimate relationship with beforehand.” Dr. Urwin rolled his chair back over to his desk, his gaze already on the papers there. “May I suggest you try to relax until the drugs kick in? You won’t get the opportunity again for a while.”