Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
“So…you’re all going to die if Jake doesn’t get me pregnant?” I asked at last, when she finally ran out of steam. “That’s terrible!”
“Yes, we fear it greatly!” Ophelia’s brown eyes were wide behind her thick glasses.
“I don’t blame you,” I told her. I hung my head. “I guess…I guess I’ve been kind of selfish, not wanting to let Jake breed me,” I admitted. “I just didn’t understand how high the stakes were.”
“They couldn’t possibly get any higher,” Ophelia told me. “But I’m glad you’re finally beginning to understand why allowing the Alpha Heir to fill your womb with life is so important.” She shook her head. “I just wish he could understand it as well.”
“I’ll tell Jake everything you said,” I promised. “Maybe I can make him understand. But, well…” I bit my lip, as though I wasn’t sure about something.
“Yes?” Ophelia urged. “What is it? Do you have another question?”
“Well, kind of,” I said. “See, I heard my mom and Jake’s dad talking about, er, conception—you know, getting pregnant? Anyway, my mom has this silver necklace she always wore that my dad gave her—my human dad, I mean.”
Ophelia looked aghast.
“She wore a real silver necklace?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh. Anyway, it upset Jake’s dad—I mean, the Absent Alpha. I heard him tell her that it would ruin any chance they might ever have a baby. Of course, they’re both kind of old for that and my mom doesn’t think it would be possible,” I went on. “But still, that’s what he said.”
“He did?” Ophelia looked worried.
“I nodded. So I’m just wondering…would Jake even be able to get me pregnant if he was still wearing those silver handcuffs you have on him? Or would having silver touching his skin inhibit conception, like my stepfather said?”
“I don’t know,” Ophelia said slowly. “But I’m sure Professor Sorenson wouldn’t order us to use anything on the Alpha Heir that might hurt the chances of fulfilling the prophecy.”
“Oh, okay.” I shrugged. “Well, I guess maybe I was mistaken. Or maybe it’s just something to do with the Royal line—my stepfather seemed to know all about it.” I frowned. “Professor Sorenson doesn’t have any Royal blood, does he?”
Ophelia frowned.
“No. No, he doesn’t.” She shook her head and I hoped that I might have planted a tiny seed of doubt in her mind. The next minute though, her face cleared as she looked down at the pee stick I had handed her.
“Oh—look at this! Your Heat Cycle is yellow verging on orange! In fact, it really is almost completely orange!” she exclaimed and grinned at me. “I bet you’ll be in the red for tonight! Just in time to get knotted and bred!”
I bit my lip. Oh, joy—it seemed that all of the “cuddling” between me and Jake had actually worked a little too well.
What was I going to do if my Heat Cycle really did kick all the way in and we couldn’t get the silver cuffs off Jake?
I simply had no idea.
TWENTY-TWO
“Well? How did it go?” Jake murmured to me, when I came back to the bed.
“Yellowish-orange,” I murmured back. “Ophelia is over the moon.”
Indeed, the Were girl had already clattered down the attic stairs, presumably to show the improved pee test to Sorenson.
“Orange?” Jake raised an eyebrow at me. “Your Heat Cycle really is ramping up.”
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I admitted. I wished I could dismiss this as a lot of nonsense talk, but since he had showed me his “partial shift” where he turned his hand into a wolf’s paw, I couldn’t do that anymore.
“We’re going to have to be careful,” Jake said, frowning. “I think all this ‘pretending’ we’ve been doing for Ophelia’s benefit is moving things along.”
“I think we might have to go even further, though,” I told him. “Though I’ve tried to plant some ideas in her head about getting rid of the silver.”
I gave him a quick rundown of the little story I’d told the Were girl about my mom and her silver necklace and how Marcus had told her to throw it out because it would inhibit conception.
“I told her I thought it had to do with the Royal bloodlines,” I finished. “And she seemed to swallow it, but then she looked at the test and got all excited about that. Oh, and I also pretended to believe their crazy prophecy and told her I would try to get you on board with it too.”
“Good work, Ani!” Jake gave me an admiring look. “That’s a lot to cover in one bathroom break.”
“All in a day’s work,” I said modestly and then gave him a serious look. “Jake, do you think this is going to work? I mean, are we going to be able to convince them to take those cuffs off you so we can get out of here?”