by Lora Leigh
“Callan…”
“Enough questions about Maria. I’ll solve that when the times comes. How are you feeling now?
Merinus sighed roughly.
“Callan, you have to do something soon,” she whispered. “You can’t keep hiding.” The bright, golden brown depths were filled with sadness, arousal, and regret as he watched her. His lean, tanned face was striking in its sheer maleness. His eyes, despite the dark emotions, were so beautiful they made her heart clench.
“When I can hide no more, then I’ll leave here, Merinus. It’s all I can do.” He shook his head at the futility of her argument.
“We could help you, Callan.” She tried to stem the tears, but they only fell harder as she felt her heart breaking not just for him, but for Sherra and for herself as well.
“No, Beauty.” He grinned at her, though there was no humor in his smile. “No one can save me and we both have to accept that. I’ll ensure your safety, and that of the others, but they know about me. There is no safety for me.”
“But Callan—” He stood from the table, halting her words.
“If you’re finished eating, then I promised Sherra I would bring you to her. They need those samples and I need you soon before I die.”
He pulled her from her chair, his lips going to hers, his tongue swirling into her mouth. Merinus groaned.
The kiss was hot, so tempting, his taste alone enough to nearly make her peak.
“I wanted you for lunch,” he whispered as he nibbled her lips. “Right across the table, Merinus, with my head buried between your thighs. Your taste is enough to make me drunk.” His teeth scraped her neck, his hand roaming beneath the dark blue, soft shirt he had loaned her.
His hands clenched on her buttocks, parting the flesh, his fingers tucking into the crevice as he pulled her closer. Merinus gripped his shoulders, moaning low and deep as his mouth whispered over her skin, moist and hot. Then he was kissing her again, drawing her tongue into his mouth, possessing her, making the heat in her body rise, the need between her thighs pulsate.
“Callan.” Sherra spoke behind him, her voice firm. “We’re waiting on her.” He raised his head, staring down at Merinus while she shivered in his arms.
“Hurry, Sherra,” he warned the other woman as he let Merinus go slowly, reluctantly. “I’ll wait up here for her.”
“Come on, Merinus. It shouldn’t take us long,” Sherra promised, casting Callan an impatient look.
Merinus sighed. “Damn it. Sex wasn’t supposed to be this complicated.” But she followed the other woman anyway, determined to hurry and get it over with, and get back to Callan’s arms.
CHAPTER TWELVE
By the time the tests were completed, Merinus was nearly in pain, the arousal was hitting her so hard again. She could feel the moisture glazing her inner thighs, the heat and need building in her cunt like a volcano preparing to erupt. The pressure was tremendous. But on top of that was another problem. As hours ticked by, Sherra and the doctor both began to wear steadily on her nerves. Or more to the point, the touch of their hands, even protected by the latex gloves, did. It made her literally sick to her stomach, made her skin crawl, made her want to shrink from them as they came near her.
She couldn’t fully explain the sensation, even to herself. She knew though, if she had to tolerate one more minute of it, she was going to be sick. And she needed Callan. She was desperate to touch him, to feel the incredible warmth of his skin, his hands stroking over her. She was cold, aching, frightened.
“No more tests,” she informed them as she dressed, buttoning Callan’s shirt with shaking fingers over the throbbing mounds of her breasts. “I can’t stand it anymore.”
“The tests are necessary, Merinus,” Sherra told her with a sigh.
“Look, I cannot fucking tolerate being touched anymore,” she snapped, almost in tears, her skin still crawling from the sensation of someone’s hands, other than Callan’s on her. “Do you understand me?” Shock crossed Sherra’s expression, bemusement filled the doctor’s.
“How do you mean, Merinus?” Sherra’s voice stayed soothing, but Merinus heard the confusion in her voice.
“Just what I said.” Merinus fought her tears. “Where’s Callan? He was supposed to come for me.” She had to find him. Her body was going crazy, rioting. Tiny fingers of sensation were washing over her skin, leaving her shuddering, shaking.
“Callan’s upstairs, just as he promised he would be.” Sherra reached out to touch her, but Merinus jumped back, flinching away from the contact. “Merinus, something else is evidently happening. You have to let us help you.”
“Get away from me.” Merinus shook her head.
“Sherra, get Callan down here,” Doctor Martin had watched the byplay silently, but his voice now became commanding. “Get him down here quickly.”
Merinus gripped the side of the bed. Her legs shook as she fought to stay upright.
“I want to go home,” she panted, suddenly terrified by a thousand different feelings and sensations assaulting her. “Make them take me home, Doctor.”
“I will discuss it with Callan, Merinus,” he promised her softly, but she heard the indulgent tone of his voice. He was merely placating her. Lying to her.
She shook her head, fighting to stay upright.
“Where the fuck is Callan,” she cried out, disoriented now. She was sweating heavily; she could feel the moisture running down her face, between her breasts. Her heart was beating hard, laboring, her lungs fighting for breath. “What did he do to me?”
Her fists clenched as she felt herself collapsing against the bed.
“Let me help you, Merinus.” The doctor reached for her.
She felt his hands on her arm and jerked back, fire seemed to lance her skin, searing her flesh as she fought to get away. She stumbled over the bed, going to her knees, feeling the scrape of the hard floor as she fought to right herself.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed out.
She was crying now, her stomach cramping. She clasped her abdomen, bending over, rocking against a pain she had never felt before. She was terrified. So scared that her entire body was shuddering now.
She was cold, shivering, filled with dread and on the edge of hysteria.
“Merinus.” Callan’s shocked voice echoed around the room.
Seconds later his hands gripped her arms, pulling her against him.
“What the hell is going on?” His voice was raised, furious, the dangerous growl rumbling in his touch.
“Withdrawal,” the doctor bit out. “I believe, Callan, your woman is in withdrawal.” Callan felt fear course through his body. Merinus was clawing at him, fighting to get closer to him, crying, hysterical with fear or pain, he couldn’t say which.
“From what?” He lifted her head, staring down into her face.
She was pale, her eyes dark, nearly black with shock.
“From you,” Doctor Martin stated roughly. “I don’t know what to do for her now.” Callan cursed.
“Help me,” she whispered desperately, her tears hot on his flesh, her body shaking, her skin cold and clammy. “Please, Callan. Please help me.”
He lifted her quickly into his arms, his lips going to hers, his kiss swallowing her cry as he turned from the others. His tongue went to her mouth, tempting hers, mating with it. He knew when the need had been at its height the night before, his kiss had soothed her, eased the clawing need. God help him and her if it didn’t now.
He kissed her desperately, aching, hurting for her as she twisted in his arms, fighting to kiss him deeper, her lips and tongue mating with his, a hot moan of need whispering into his mouth, making it nearly impossible for him to control his own lusts now. But she eased. Slowly. The hard shivers that coursed over her body lessened, her whimpering cries became moans of desire.
“We need the saliva sample now.” He heard the doctor at his side. “We cannot touch her, Callan. I need your help.”
Moving his lips from hers, Cal
lan laid Merinus back on the cot. She was watching with dazed need, like an addict needing a fix. Dear God, what had they done to her. He gripped her jaw gently.
“Easy,” he whispered as she flinched back, seeing the doctor. “It’s okay, baby.” The swab went around her mouth quickly.
“Your turn.” A clean swab poised at his mouth. Callan allowed the swab, watching Merinus carefully.
“No more tests,” she whispered. “I can’t stand their touch.”
“Then let me,” he asked her, his voice soft, cajoling. “We must find a way to stop this, Merinus.”
“I need another vaginal swab and Sherra needs blood. Now, Callan.” The doctor’s voice was imperative.
Merinus was shaking her head.
“Shh,” Callan moved to her side. “Concentrate on me, Merinus, and it will go quickly. Hold onto me, baby.”
He wrapped one of her arms around his neck, the other he stretched out on the bed for Sherra, clasping their hands, holding her still. Then he lowered his mouth to her. She had the softest, sweetest lips, her tongue branded his when he touched it, her kiss made him weak, made his cock throb.
He felt her jerk when Sherra inserted the needle into her arm, but she didn’t fight it. The same when the vaginal sample was taken again, she endured it, focusing on his kiss, his touch, rather than the degrading tests that were required.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered against her lips when they were finished.
He picked her up in his arms, striding quickly now from the lab. Damn them. Him, Sherra, the doctor.
What had they done to Merinus? Withdrawal, somehow she had become dependent on whatever primal drug his kiss released into her system. Dammit, they didn’t even know what it was, didn’t know how to control it.
His arms tightened around her. He couldn’t stand this unbearable knowledge of what he was doing to her, the futility of trying to find a way to ease it.
“Now,” she whispered desperately as he entered the main part of the house with her. “I need you now, Callan.”
Her fingers were digging into his shoulders, her voice weak, pleading.
He couldn’t make it to the bedroom with her. Her body wasn’t the only one affected, she wasn’t the only one steadily losing control. He laid her on the couch, ripping the damp shirt from her body then quickly shedding his jeans, before going to his knees between her spread thighs.
His erection was steel hard, hurting from the need. Her scent was like a brand to his senses, hot and seductive, just as addicting as their kisses, as the need for orgasm. He knew she was still sensitive, still sore. He fought for control. How he found it, he would never be certain.
He slid into her, moving back to watch narrowly as the smooth folds of flesh parted around the width of his cock. Her vagina hugged him, sucked him in. His fingers smoothed over the silken flesh of her cunt, his eyes going to hers slowly.
“You wax?” he whispered, drawing his finger over the glazed skin until he could circle her swollen clit.
The pearl pulsed beneath his finger, begging for his attention.
“Yes.” Her head tossed as he touched the sensitive flesh, as his cock slid in to the hilt, throbbing at the entrance to her womb.
“Why do you do this?” he asked her, gritting his teeth against the tightening of her inner muscles over his flesh.
Her eyes opened, dark, seductively, her lips parting as she moistened them with her tongue. His hips bucked against her.
“A friend convinced me to try it,” she panted, grinding against him, her breasts arching to his hands, her breathing harsh as he caressed her swollen nipples. “I like it.”
“Why?” he gritted out. “Tell me why you keep it like this.” He slid nearly free of her body, his teeth clenching, perspiration dampening his entire body as he slid into the tight depths once again. Her muscles clenched, hot, milking his flesh. He had to keep his sanity. His control.
“It feels better,” she gasped. “Freer.”
“I feel nothing but hot satin against me, Merinus,” he gritted out. “You destroy my control like this. Hot velvet inside, silk and satin out. You make me mindless.” He leaned over her, the fingers of one hand sinking into her hair, his lips nibbling at hers as he drew back, then inched in slowly.
“Oh, Callan.” She shivered against him, her hands clutching at his back, her nails biting into his flesh. “I need you harder. Please, do it harder.”
He resisted temptation. He wanted her slow and easy first. He wanted to take her to the edge of madness where he seemed to teeter each time he touched her.
“Feel how tight you are, Merinus,” he groaned against her neck, his tongue lapping at the perspiration there. “Feel how my flesh stretches you, fills you. You were created for me alone.” Her cunt tightened on him, her muscles spasmed as he whispered the words against her neck. He pulled back, his hand tightening in her hair, the other holding her hip, keeping her still as she fought to buck against his body.
His lips tracked to her breast, swollen, curved so sweetly, her nipple poised like a ripe little berry atop it.
He licked it, allowing his tongue to rasp it, his teeth to grip it as she jerked against him, trying to force a deeper contact. And all the while his cock moved slowly inside her, pushing past tight, slick muscles, pulling back, dragging the emerging barb across her tender tissue.
“You’ll kill me,” she panted. “What in the hell is that, Callan?”
“What does it feel like?” he murmured against her breast. He was terrified to tell her, afraid disgust would ride the heels of her desire if he did so.
“I don’t know. Intense.” She gripped him hard, making him grimace as he dragged his flesh nearly free of her, then pushed forward again. “Firm,” she panted. “It feels like a little finger raking over—me.” Her cry of pleasure electrified him as he felt the barb emerge further.
He wouldn’t last much longer. Control. He stilled, deep inside her, fighting for breath until he felt the small protrusion relax marginally. Damn, this was killing him. The sheer pleasure of the elongated growth scraping over her flesh was almost soul destroying. There had never been anything like it.
“Why did you stop?” she whimpered, pressing against him as he drew her nipple into his mouth for a quick taste.
“Slow and easy, Merinus,” he growled.
“No.” She shook her head. “Fast and hard. Oh God, Callan. If I don’t come soon I’m going to die.” She was dazed, beseeching, clenching around him, her soft cream sliding over him. He wouldn’t last much longer. The barb was pulsing, a demand of its own, his cock was throbbing, demanding action, demanding the fierce hard friction that sent him spiraling into climax.
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He kissed her breast again. “I know you’re tender.”
“No. I’m dying.” He felt her legs lift, encircle his hips and his control disintegrated.
Merinus cried out as the thrusts began. Hard, hot, driving into her. The thick expanse of his cock stretched her, biting at her flesh, whatever the hell that little thumb of silken torment located on his erection was doing to her, would kill her. It scraped over the walls of her cunt, caressing nerves she never would have known existed, swelling against her, pulsing, separating from the driving flesh of his erection.
Her legs tightened around his hips, driving him deeper within her as she fought for breath. It was so good. His scrotum slapped at her buttocks, the flesh of his lower abdomen raked her swollen clit. She felt fire in her vagina, in her womb, burning her, searing her. Her muscles clenched around him, loving the feel of the rough rasp of whatever it was that stroked the inner walls of her. It was hot. Oh God, it was killing her with pleasure, like a hard tickle. That’s what it was. A strength destroying tickle that locked her muscles, stole her strength.
“Merinus, baby,” he groaned against her breast. “I can’t control—” The little thumb lengthened, raked, locked his cock deep inside her, then impaled the ultra sensitive tissue in the very depths of her cunt
. It moved, pulsed, tickled and stroked until she exploded. She screamed, feeling the hard jets of his semen as she climaxed around his flesh, her hips arching, her clit erupting in pleasure, lava thundered through her veins, bubbling with the fierce ecstasy as she pulsed around him, milking his cock, soaking his flesh.
His hips jerked against her, his rumbling growls vibrating against her breasts as he breathed harshly at her shoulder, groaning in the throes of his own frenzied release. Then slowly, she felt the pressure ease.
Once again it was only his cock, thick, softening only marginally as he pulled free of her.
“Once I rest,” she said drowsily. “You’re gonna tell me what that was, Callan.” She snuggled against his chest as he collapsed beside her, dragging an afghan from the back of the couch and wrapping it around her, her breasts cushioned against the incredible heat of his chest, her body languid, sated for the moment.
“If I have to,” he whispered at her ear, somber.
“Hm, you have to.” She yawned. But first, a nap. Her eyes closed, her body relaxed against his heat and she drifted quickly into rest.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“I have work to do.” Merinus kept her voice carefully controlled, calm, as she sat at the kitchen table the next morning, staring down at her untouched cup of coffee.
Breakfast had been completed in silence, despite the amount of people who had ranged around the table. There were six of the Breeds as they called themselves, Merinus and the doctor. The sheer scope of the story she was now looking at terrified her. Not because of the implications of it, but due to the part she now played in it.
The others had left after eating. The other three males disappearing outside, Sherra, Dawn and the scientist returning to the lab while Callan stayed and watched Merinus in concern.
“What work do you have that doesn’t require you to be right where you are?” His broad, bare shoulders lifted in a shrug, as though her forced confinement here was not a problem.
“Where’s my cell phone?” She ignored his question. “And I want you to take me back to camp. I have interviews to do—”
“If I am your story, then why would you need to do other interviews?” he asked her curiously.
“Your mother’s death—” she began.
“Is not part of this story, Merinus,” he finished for her. “Her death was not at the hands of Council members, I have told you this already. And it is a mystery you cannot solve. So let it go.” His voice was quiet, smooth. He watched her with those golden eyes, still hot with lust, but shadowed with demand.
“I have a life, Callan, a job,” she told him firmly. “I have to get back to it. And I need my cell phone back. I have to talk to my family, let them know I’m okay.”
“What will you tell them?” he asked her, his eyes showing an amazing degree of genuine confusion. “You cannot tell them the truth, Merinus. Not until we have this figured out.”
“They’ll worry. And if they worry, all seven of my brothers will head out here and start kicking ass until they find me,” she warned him. “It would be easier if you would just let me call them and let them know I’m okay.”
“I have no problem with you calling them.” He shrugged. “I have problems with what you might say. I will not have a team of scientists or Council killers following on their trail. I’ve had the two who attacked you taken care of, do not bring more down on our heads right now.” Shock scattered through her system.
“Taken care of?” she whispered. “How did you take care of them?” Irritation flashed over his features. “I slapped their hands and sent them home to their mommas,” he bit out. “How did you think I was forced to do this, Merinus? They are killers. They would have raped and tortured you and given no thought to your pain or your life. Why does it matter how I took care of them?”
He stood to his feet, stalking to the sink with his empty cup.
Merinus pushed her fingers through her hair, breathing out roughly. Anger rose in her as the situation began to overwhelm her.
“Did you kill them?” she asked him furiously.
He had his back to her, staring out of the kitchen window, his shoulders tense.
“I had no choice.” Heavy, cold, his voice whispered through the room.
“Then you are no better than they are,” she bit out.
“There is where you are wrong.” He turned on her, his eyes blazing, his mouth pulled into a snarl that revealed deadly incisors. “I did not ask them to create me, Merinus. I did not ask for the DNA they coded into my body, nor did I ask them to train me to kill. I did not ask them for any of their ‘gifts’. I most certainly did not ask them to stalk me, torture friends and make my life hell because I would not slaughter innocents for them. And I will not tolerate them sending their soldiers out to destroy me, nor what I hold as mine, Merinus. It is the law of nature. Only the strongest will survive.” Rage trembled along his body, in his voice.
“This isn’t the jungle,” she yelled back at him, standing to her feet as she placed her palms flat on the table. “You wouldn’t have to kill if you would let the world know what is going on.”
“God, such innocence,” he growled, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “Fickle public that America possesses. We would likely be burned at the stake as monsters.”
“Get real, Callan, it’s not the middle ages anymore,” she burst out. “Don’t you think the public has a right to know? To be aware of the atrocities going on? Show them for the monsters they are and it will ensure your safety.”
“It will not do this,” he bit out, shaking his head roughly. “You have no idea of the men you go against, Merinus. Men whose social, financial and political resources span not just America, but also other nations, other pocketbooks. You will not take these men down. You cannot stop the killing.”
“You won’t even try,” Merinus argued fiercely. “Look at you, Callan. Hiding, never knowing what the hell is going on with your own bodies, unable to get the help you need, when you need it. This isn’t living.”
“This is the best I can do.” His eyes were blazing. “Let me tell you an alternative, Merinus.” Her name was a curse on his lips. “An alternative is living in a structured lab, taken out only for tests and training, or breeding purposes. It’s cold and sterile and a worse hell than you could ever know. At least here we are free.”
“As long as you kill?” Her fists clenched as she fought to understand the life he lived. The war raging against him, through him.
“If they would cease to try to kill me, then I would no longer kill them,” he informed her coldly, arrogance settling over him like an aura of danger.
“You can stop it,” she bit out.
“As can they,” he told her as she watched him fight for control. “I would not kill their damned mercenaries if they would cease in sending them out.”
“Go in. Father can help you.” She couldn’t understand his need to hide when help was being offered.
“I am not a freak for your tabloids to ponder my humanity over.” He shook his head sharply. “I have as much right to live as you or your brothers. I will not have that questioned, nor will I leave it up to a fickle public to decide my fate.”
“This isn’t how it happens.” Merinus clenched her fists angrily. “The public will help you.”
“Only if your ‘spin’ on the story is better than that of my enemies,” he bit out. “And trust me, Merinus, you are good, as are your brothers. But they will bribe your scientists, you