She definitely heard some zing in that
sweetheart
. Finally, the Circ dropped the act. He was annoyed and showing it.
“Yeah, Bas?
Well, you might have been at my mercy, but you sure as hell enjoyed yourself. Don’t pretend you didn’t.” Yet she couldn’t help a flush of shame that she had forced herself on someone unwilling.
Memories flooded her. A glance at his manacles no longer made her feel safe. Instead she felt sick inside. Jesus, she’d done to him what they’d once done to her.
“I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it. But—hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?”
She darted off him and escaped down the corridor, back up the stairs into the cabin. Tears filled her eyes, and she let them spill. The beast that had taken great pleasure in having the male didn’t understand, and she couldn’t explain it. Not to a being that thrived on her id, on the basic drives that defined life. She wanted, she took. She hungered, she fed. She wanted sex, she raped a man.
Ali had turned into the monster she’d feared for so long. She hurried into the shower and scrubbed her skin raw. Then she dried off, dressed, and left the cabin in search of answers. She needed to know what to do, how to act. Never had she thought she might deserve the shit she’d been through.
The constant invasions into her privacy.
The examinations that left her feeling vulnerable and sick to her stomach.
That one nightmare session spent with a much larger male, one who wouldn’t stop rutting until she’d been forced to kill him—with him still inside her.
The terror of that long-ago event had since faded, but the reminders of the brutal nature of the male of the species could never be erased.
And now the victim had become the abuser. How fucking clichéd.
She tried to tell herself he could have said no. That he might have refused her. He’d been with her every step of the way. All those “more” and “yes” and “harder” pleas she’d been helpless to deny. Yet she’d riled his lusts, enflamed the beast inside him. And like most rogues, he’d been lost to his hormones when she called on hers.
Not able to handle the blame and mortification snowballing on her psyche, she retreated under a wall of indifference. It wouldn’t matter what she’d done in a few more weeks. She just had to last long enough to infiltrate Trenton’s heavily guarded lab. Once she’d figured out how to get to him, she’d kill him. After that, she’d erase each and every one of the monsters still willingly working for him.
A bullet for each one, then herself at the very end.
Easy as pie.
Yeah, right.
Ali sighed as she trudged through melting snow. Reality wouldn’t go away just because she wanted it to. What the hell should she do with Romeo at the house? Should she kill him? Set him free? Fuck him again? Because damn if her libido would let her forget how good he’d felt inside her, even if he hadn’t exactly wanted to be there.
Shame again washed over her, and she snarled in denial. The sound of rustling to her left called on her fight-or-flight response, and like usual, she fought. Ali followed the sounds and
changed
without thinking. She filled out her overlarge sweatshirt and baggy pants, glad she’d thought to go barefoot, and hauled ass after what smelled like a doe. To the animal’s misfortune, it had been injured and didn’t have the speed to outrun her. Ali’s beast took her rage, lust, and confusion and funneled it into a new hunger.
One for destruction.
She gave the poor creature a quick, clean kill and forced herself to ignore the urge to maul it. But all the while, her thoughts dwelled on Bas and that sweet scent that lingered over him, separate yet a part of him. She bathed in the doe’s blood to satiate the beast, and as she did, she wondered if her eyes matched the dark red of the doe’s arterial spurt.
* * * *
Bas didn’t know what the hell had happened, but his beast didn’t like it at all. One minute Ali had been all over him. He’d been inside her, coming into sheer perfection. Her wildness had held him captive.
Such carnal need, so much desire for
him
.
Only with Gray had the intimacy been so close. Yet Ali needed him. All night long they’d kissed and caressed, touched and held. Her questions this morning told him more than anything that she’d been dealing with danger for far too long on her own. The urgency of their lovemaking—not fucking—told him something else. The woman was in a mating heat, whether she knew it or not.
And then he’d accused her of holding him captive. She’d bolted like her ass was on fire. He could still smell the bitter humiliation wafting from her when she’d vanished. His beast chided him for being less than sensitive. So what that she’d captured him? She’d rewarded him with that sweet pussy. She’d given him more joy than he’d had since… Well, since Gray. But that asshole was nowhere to be found. Probably out in the woods, cursing his name because Bas had disappeared, giving him more work to do.
Gray didn’t need him; Ali did. Unlike the sanctimonious prick who’d scorned Bas’s affections, he had no intention of rejecting Ali.
When she’d petted him after sex, that awkward yet tender care had touched him deeply.
Too bad he didn’t know what the hell to do now. She’d left him tied up and naked on the bed, the room once again bathed in silence.
Then a thought occurred to him—to use his telekinesis to search for a way to escape. For the first time that he could remember, he’d been in charge of his power with Ali. He hadn’t hurt her while making love. And when he’d mentally stroked her clit, he’d felt the pleasure all the way to his bones.
He needed to help her, to ease the hurt he’d unintentionally caused. Bas closed his eyes and felt with his mind. The woman hadn’t left a key anywhere that he’d seen, and she had two cupboards and a bookcase down here. Neither was locked. He opened his eyes and concentrated on his night vision, calling on his Circ senses for clarity. Once the room lit up, he flexed his mental muscles to open the cupboards and search through the bookcase.
No keys, no weapons of any kind, and no way to disengage the manacles. He’d have to break them. He
changed
, pushing against the stretching cuffs.
Fuck
. She had to be using some kind of Circ-proof bonds. But what had she connected them to? He grinned when he felt the metallic feet of the bed with his mind. After a silent count of three, he yanked the metal feet clean off. The bed slammed to the ground with a loud
bang
, but his manacles dangled free.
That no one came to investigate the noise reinforced the notion he’d been placed in a soundproofed room. The woman was smart, he’d give her that. But she hadn’t counted on a telekinetic Circ.
He rubbed his wrists and ankles, wishing he could take off the restraints. They trailed over the stone floor, announcing his presence to anyone within hearing distance. After failing to find anything he might use to clothe himself, Bas followed the same direction in which Ali had left. He walked down a short corridor and up a set of steps. After he pushed up on the trapdoor above him, he walked out into a cozy little log cabin.
Rustic yet homey, the place had braided rugs over wooden floors, a comfortable-looking couch, a bed in one corner, and across the room, a nice kitchen. To his surprise, a wood stove, sink, and functional bathroom appeared in working order.
So much for a small footprint.
Someone had to know this place existed when the utility bills
came
due. And then he spotted the wiring leading to solar panels above. Hence, her electricity, hot water, and lights.
He didn’t see a hint of Ali anywhere.
Annoyed, he looked through the house and found his trousers at least. He put them on. Then he found an overlarge jacket in the lone closet in the home. It smelled musty, as if it hadn’t been used in some time, and Bas’s beast approved. No male to contend with for the female. The jacket belonged to an old suitor or someone gone from her life.
A grunt of satisfaction he shouldn’t have felt emerged, and he licked his fangs. He needed to bite his female, something she hadn’t let happen last night. Instead, she’d kept him under her thumb, tied up. He liked the kink, being at her mercy. Bas always took charge during sex.
Except when he’d been with Gray.
And now apparently, Ali.
A stupid grin covered his face, and though he tried to stifle it as he went in search of the maddening woman outside, he couldn’t help being so happy about his time with her. She should have looked heinous. Instead her danger only added to her appeal. Not quite a mutant, but no normal Circ, she put him in mind of a panther about to strike. One who’d licked, sucked, and fucked her mate to rapturous exhaustion.
His hard-on returned, though he should have been too tired to want her again. His beast prodded him to seek Gray. To commence with the rest of the bonding they’d need to fully prepare their female to—
“
Shit.
” Bas had been trying to deny the truth since he’d been with Gray. Lust he could handle. But this love he felt, he didn’t like. Gray was an arrogant asshole at the best of times. Sure, he had a soft side, but he rarely used it with Bas. And still Bas wanted the male—his love, his affection, his trust.
Wanting Gray was bad enough. But connecting with a woman on the verge of not just going rogue but turning mutant? Did he have a secret death wish after all? Maybe those dickheads in the PWP labs had messed with his mind more than he’d thought. His fear of rejection, of not being enough, haunted him. So to make up for it, perhaps he sought to punish himself by choosing to love unavailable partners?
Bas scowled, wishing he could turn off the psychobabble inside his head. But his beast found the ideas interesting. Sebastian Decker, one of the few Circs with an intelligent animal who liked fucking with him as much as Bas liked fucking with other people. Laid-back yet firm, Bas called the shots by controlling his temper and easing others around him. All except for Gray and one sexy, blonde-haired vixen with the nicest breasts he’d ever seen.
Held.
Tasted.
He groaned and did his best to will away the iron bar in his pants. Instead, he opened his mouth and tried to catch her scent, tasting and smelling it now that he knew what to search for. To his shock, Ali smelled faintly like him. Otherwise, he would have had a hard time tracking her at all. The woman truly could control her scent, as well as her pheromones.
He wondered if he could apologize enough to get her to use them on him again today.
With a grin, he increased his speed. He needed to find her before anyone else did, and that thought wiped the smile from his face and the bulge from between his legs like nothing could. Now worry for the female overtook sense, and he plunged through the woods, seeking his mate.
He found her covered in blood just as another Circ readied to attack her. Bas flew between them, acting on instinct, and charged… Only to find Gray in his arms once more.
Gray swore and disentangled himself from Bas. To his relief, his partner looked no less the worse for wear for his absence. A welcome sight, considering the female looked like a demon covered in blood, her fangs and claws exposed and no doubt aching to sink into his flesh.
Yet for all that Bas looked fine, his scent was different.
More…enticing?
Gray blinked hard, his ability to concentrate overtaken by the sexiest, headiest scent. Lavender and spice, a mixture of honeyed sweetness he wanted over his tongue.
Just before he shoved his cock in it.
He took a step toward the mutant and found his progression blocked by Bas. Gray’s beast took note of his mate’s good health, reaffirmed their connection, and approved of Bas’s obvious protection of the female. Baffling, especially since Gray had been trained from the cradle to eliminate danger to those he cared for.
Bas,
like it or not, was his partner. Gray should have been working to dispel the threat to him, but instead he wanted to protect a mutant?
Not partner. Mate. I’ve all but claimed him. And he’s claimed her. If only the stupid human would take notice
. Gray stumbled at the insane thoughts of his beast, not pleased to be considered a “stupid human,” and prayed he’d made a mistake. Though he’d speculated on his closeness to Bas, he hadn’t accepted any mating nonsense. And he sure as hell wouldn’t align himself alongside a woman with red eyes and black skin who rolled around in a fresh
kill,
no matter how sexy she looked when
changed
. Her coloring could only mean she teetered on the verge of going mutant, if she wasn’t there already. And a monster as a mate didn’t factor into Gray’s planned future.
Yet as she glared at him, he liked the small yet sharp gleam of her fangs. On closer notice, her dark red pupils were surrounded by brown, not black. A slight ring of white kept her eyes from looking completely alien.
And her hair.
Such glorious strands of white blonde threaded with honeyed wheat and streaks of brown. Long and thick, her hair framed an intelligent face.
But her body.
Jesus, she had beautifully rounded breasts, a trim waist, and nice, muscular thighs he could all too easily imagine wrapped around his waist as he plowed into her pussy while Bas fucked her tight ass.
“Yeah, she’s lethal in more ways than one,” Bas murmured.
Apparently the woman heard him. “Shut your mouth, Bas. I didn’t take you for that big an asshole. Now move aside.”