Chapter 20: Breed or Die

"To help you with your little trick, of course," Silas said brightly, rocking back on his heels.

Daemus’s jaw tightened, though he tried to maintain his composed facade. "I don’t know what trick you are referring to, Uncle."

Silas chuckled. He casually raised his right hand, pinching a folded piece of paper between his index and middle fingers.

Blair gasped, her heart leaping into her throat. She looked down at her empty hands. She hadn’t even felt when he took it.

"The Luna of the Blackwood pack is a very forgiving young woman," Silas began, pacing slowly around the room, waving the paper in the air. "She is deeply infatuated with you, Daemus. When her temper cools, she will take you back. And this human... well, she would simply be slaughtered in a duel to the death."

Blair felt all the blood drain from her face.

"So," Silas continued, pausing to look at Daemus, "I asked myself, why would my intelligent nephew risk a war with a powerful allied pack for a lesser? And then, I figured it out."

Silas pointed a finger at Blair. "You want to harvest her."

"Uncle, she isn’t a—" Daemus started.

"Don’t play coy, it’s brilliant!" Silas interrupted, his golden eyes flashing with pride. "The Wintercrest royal bloodline is known for its strength, our speed, and our unmatched battle prowess. But we are... academically challenged, to put it politely. You saw the human who beat the entire nobility on the exams, and you claimed her to inject those genius genes into our pack’s bloodline!"

Daemus opened his mouth to argue, to deny that she was a breeder, but Silas held up a hand.

"Either she is a breeder," Silas warned, "or I walk out that door and let your little secret slip to your father."

Blair bit her tongue so hard she tasted copper. A rebuttal was nesting in her throat, but her survival instinct pinned it down. She was a human. She had no rights here. If Silas decided her life was forfeit, she would be dead before the sun went down.

And, terrifyingly, being a royal puppy factory was currently her best and only alternative to being executed. She stayed perfectly silent.

Silas smiled, satisfied with their silence. He dramatically unfolded the paper, his eyes scanning Blair’s handwriting.

He paused. Then, he burst into a fit of loud, booming laughter.

"No kissing?" Silas wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye as he read the clauses. "No touching? Daemus, my boy, how exactly do you plan on getting her pregnant? Through Wi-Fi?"

Blair couldn’t take it anymore. The panic boiled over.

She dropped to her knees right there on the carpet. "Please!" Blair begged, her hands clasped tightly together. "I’ll do it! I’ll be a breeder for your pack, I swear! Just... just let me finish school first! Please!"

Silas looked down at her, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "Don’t be so dramatic, human. Beast pregnancies only last three months. You pop a pup out, rest for a week, and go right back to class. It will hardly get in the way of your studies."

Blair felt like she was going to throw up.

"She has to finish school first, Uncle Silas," Daemus stated. "It’s science."

Silas blinked. "Science?"

"Yes," Daemus continued. "Her brain is still growing. If she gets pregnant now, the genius genes won’t fully mature. If we want maximum genius genes transferred to the pups, her brain has to reach its peak capacity. She needs to graduate to lock the intellect in."

Blair stared at the back of Daemus’s calves in sheer disbelief. It was the most ridiculous, inaccurate, absolute garbage she had ever heard in her entire life.

But fortunately, the wolves obviously really did need the genius gene. Silas stared at Daemus for a long, silent moment, deep in thought.

"Ah," Silas finally nodded, tapping his chin. "Yes. That makes total sense. We wouldn’t want to harvest unripe genes."

Blair had to keep herself from gasping. He bought it?!

"Very well," Silas agreed, folding the paper and tucking it into his suit pocket. "You may finish your education, Blair Willows. And the day you graduate, you will begin breeding for the Wolf Prince of the Wintercrest pack."

Blair let out a shaky sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping. She had three years. Three years to figure a way out of this nightmare.

Suddenly, a hand clamped onto the back of her head.

Silas’s fingers tangled in her dark hair, yanking her head back so hard she let out a sharp cry. Daemus flinched, taking a half-step forward, but Silas shot his nephew a warning glare that froze the younger wolf in place.

Silas leaned down, his face mere inches from Blair’s.

"Do not think you can trick me, human," Silas whispered. "If you try to run from your fate, if you try to escape this pack... I will personally hunt you down. And I promise you, I will give you a fate so much worse than death. Do you understand me?"

Blair was trembling so violently her teeth chattered. Hot tears pooled in her eyes, spilling over her cheeks as she nodded frantically.

"Good," Silas smiled.

He released her hair, pivoting on his heel and instantly returning to his cheerful, upbeat self. "We will have to work hard to keep this quiet from the rest of the pack, Daemus! But I will handle your father."

Silas reached into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone. He pointed it down at Blair, who was still kneeling on the floor, crying, and looking utterly traumatized.

FLASH.

"My sister will be so thrilled to see what the future mother of her grandchildren looks like," Silas beamed, looking at the photo. "Take good care of her, Daemus. We are going to need hundreds of pups with those genes to fix our pack’s test scores!"

With a cheerful wave, Silas strutted out of the bedroom, pulling the door shut behind him.

The silence in the room was heavy.

Blair slowly sank back on her heels, completely drained of every ounce of life force she possessed. She stared blankly at the wall, the events of the last few hours crushing her into dust.

Daemus awkwardly cleared his throat. He stepped toward her, reaching a hand out. "Are you... are you okay?"

Blair slowly turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were wide, hollow, and haunted.

"A hundred pups?" Blair whispered, her voice cracking.

Daemus pulled his hand back, vigorously rubbing the back of his neck as a nervous, sheepish chuckle escaped his lips. "He... uh. He exaggerates. It definitely won’t be a hundred."

Blair stared at him. She didn’t believe him for a second. She slowly stood up on her shaky legs, clutching the hockey jersey tightly around her body.

She just wanted to go back to her dreary room and lumpy mattress and cry herself to sleep.