In Her Heat - Ainsley's Story

In Her Heat - Chapter Twenty Six

It was almost time.

A week had passed since the incident with Cade and Gabe and I hadn’t seen either since. Kat and Reese stayed in the house with me, and I’m pretty sure it was Kat who kept them away.

I was still tied down to the bed, which totally sucked. Every morning, Kat would come in and change the sheets from underneath me, which were drenched with sweat and other fluids. She sponge bathed me every few days which was unbelievably awkward and uncomfortable. Even with the baths, I knew I looked a mess. I’d caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror one time and felt like passing out. I looked horrible, like a walking nightmare.

I could not wait to have this mating over with.

Shaman had taken to coming to visit every day to check up on me. Each time he finished his little check-up, he would nod and say, “It is almost time.” After him saying that for six days, I began to wonder what his definition of “almost” was compared to mine. It sure seemed like his version was a lot more time-consuming. Even still, I enjoyed his visits and often tried to find ways to make him stay. He was great company, but something about his presence soothed and stilled my heat until it was nothing more than the annoying itch it had begun as.

But finally, on the seventh day, he said, “It is almost time. Tomorrow.” My heart jumped into my throat at the last word and a flurry of butterflies made their home in my stomach. Shaman sensed my feelings and patted my hand reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It is not so bad. You will be very very happy afterwards.” I could only hope.

However, there was still one discomforting thought niggling in the back of my mind. “Shaman, there is one thing…”

“Yes, child?” He asked. He was the only person I allowed to refer to me as a child, and he smiled every time he said it.

“I am really not okay with this whole, public mating thing. I mean, I would rather not do it.”

Shaman sighed. “I am sorry Ainsley, but you have no choice. This is the way the mating is done. Ask the other mated women. It is not as bad as you probably think it is.”

“Shaman, please. I mean, there must be some other way to do this mating, right? We couldn’t always have done it this way. If there is any other way to get the mating done, I’ll do it. I really will.” Shaman hesitated for a moment and I pounced. “There is another way, isn’t there? Tell me, Shaman. Please! Let me do it that way.”

“You do not even know what it is,” he said with a soft smile. “This way of mating has not been done in a very long time. The last time it was done was when I was a young baby, many many years ago.”

“Why did they stop doing the mating this way?” I asked.

“Many weres were not, stable enough, to survive the mating.”

I gasped. Maybe I didn’t want to mate this way after all… “What do you mean, stable enough?” I asked.

“Centuries ago, weres were much stronger than they are now. There were no negative influences like pollution and junk food for weres. This made them stronger, more virile. Also, we did not know about mating. So, as humans did – as they do – we would marry. Now, there would be cases in which a were would marry a human. In some cases the human was their mate, in other cases they were not. But, they would marry and have children. The human’s blood would dilute the potency of the were’s blood and you would end up with half-weres. The ones with more were blood would be able to shift, but would not have the full qualities as a full were – duller eyesight and hearing, less speed, etc. The children with more human blood in them would, technically be were, but not possess the ability to shift.