Tempting the Beast

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

She beat him. Merinus snickered as she scampered past the spare bathroom, hearing Callan still involved in his shower. He must have been delayed getting in, which meant he had been up to something before he started. She frowned. He was going to have to learn to be a little more forthcoming than she had a feeling he was.

Dressed in a pair of sweat pants and one of his big shirts she headed for the kitchen. She could at least get breakfast on. She was starved, and morning was starting to shine brightly outside the heavy curtains that covered all the windows.

A second of panic filled her at the thought of the coming day. It wouldn’t be easy, letting Callan stand before the world to announce who and what he was. She knew how he treasured the solitude of his life, the peace he found when he wasn’t being hunted. He would never know that again.

She flipped the light on as she entered the kitchen to dispel the deep shadows of the room, then came to an abrupt halt. Her heart jumped in fear at the man standing before her. But what terrified her most was the gun aimed at her stomach, and burning rage that seemed to flicker with dark flames in his brown eyes.

“I knew he would bring you here,” Dayan smirked, his handsome face twisted with horrific fury as he approached her. “He thinks no one knows about this place, but I did. I know he comes here to hide, and I knew he would bring you here.”

Merinus watched him approach, backing away from him until they entered the connecting living room, praying she could get him into a position where Callan could jump him when he came downstairs.

“Do you want to die, cunt?” he sneered.

She shook her head desperately, watching the gun nervously.

“Are you breeding yet? Gut wounds hurt real bad whore, and they would kill the abomination you’re likely carrying by now.”

Merinus covered her stomach with her hands, an instinctive reaction she wasn’t able to halt as his eyes followed the action knowingly.

“Please—” she whispered. “Don’t do this, Dayan. Callan will kill you for it.”

Dayan sneered. “My dear, Callan is going to die as well. I won’t let him destroy everything I’ve worked for since we escaped those labs.”

Merinus swallowed tightly. She could feel fear drumming through her veins in time to the harsh beat of her heart. Her chest tightened as she fought to breathe past her panic, to find a way to think clearly and help Callan. God, this would kill him. Dayan was his family.

“Callan risked his life to save you, to keep you and the others hidden,” she gasped. “How could you betray him like this?”

Merinus couldn’t understand the depth of evil that it took for Dayan to do this.

“Because he betrayed us.” Dayan’s voice rose in fury, and he wasn’t even aware of it. Merinus prayed Callan heard it. “He’s going public, and the others will follow him like the mindless children they still are. Like he’s King. Like he is the last word. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. I told that stupid bitch Maria and she wouldn’t listen. So she had to die for it. She almost convinced him last year. I won’t let him do it. I won’t let him destroy everything like this.”

“What do you suggest he do then, Dayan? The Council won’t stop.” She edged around the room, moving carefully beside the dubious protection of a chair. If only she could protect her stomach, protect the child that may or not be forming even now.

“He should have gone back for us,” Dayan raged. “I could have led the Pride. It was my right. I suffered the most for them. I should have led and he should have let them capture him.”

The furious words made Merinus sick. She remembered the reports she had read of the labs. The barbaric tests, the training to condition Callan to kill, to be no more than a disposable weapon. The women that were brought to him to breed, then killed when he refused. The horrendous pain he suffered in their punishments when he refused their orders. Only a twisted, evil mind could even consider that he should have gone back. Only a monster could have killed the woman who helped raise him for trying to secure their safety, such as Dayan had done to Maria.

“You weren’t strong enough to lead, evidently,” Merinus bit out. “Only an animal would have suggested he do such a thing. How did they create you, Dayan? How did they manage to finally succeed in the creature they were after? Perhaps Callan should have sent you back.”

Pain and fury vibrated through her body. Callan had nearly given his life countless times for this bastard, only to have him turn on him, betray and deceive him.

“Oh, they succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations,” Dayan laughed. “Only, they have no idea how well they did succeed. I’m their dream child, Merinus, and once the Pride is under my control, Sherra and Dawn breeding my cubs, then I’ll let them know. They will agree to my every demand in exchange for the services I can provide for them.”

Merinus stared at him in disbelief.

“Dayan, what makes you think you can do this? The breeding isn’t voluntary; you know that from Callan and me. It’s hormonal. If Dawn or Sherra were your mates, you would know it by now.”

“No.” He shook his head, a maniacal smile crossing his face. “See, I know something you don’t. The women don’t go into heat like you did, Merinus. They don’t mate like Callan mated you. When they ovulate any bastard can breed them, your brother and Sherra proved that.”

Merinus blinked. “What the hell does my brother have to do with this? Which brother? Dammit, I have seven of them and every one of them will skin your ass alive and tack your hide on their wall for a trophy if you don’t stop this shit. That is if Callan leaves anything left of you.”

He smirked at her, the gun never wavering.

“Brother Kane was a soldier at the labs, Merinus. He was chosen to rape her when she went into heat the first time, and he did an admirable job. Even planted a cub inside her. I, of course, had to rid her of it. I can’t tolerate another man’s offspring within my Pride.”

Merinus wavered in shock. She felt her knees go weak.

“You’re lying,” she gasped. “Kane wouldn’t do that. He would never hurt an innocent woman.”

Dayan shook his head in pity.

“But he did Merinus. Didn’t you ever wonder how Kane knew about a supposedly Top Secret experiment before your father received Maria’s box of evidence? How he knew when everyone associated with that lab was dead? He survived my attack somehow. Survived my rage. But he’ll pay for it soon enough, for good.”

“I don’t believe you.” She believed Kane might have been there, but not for the reasons Dayan said, and sure as hell wouldn’t believe he had raped anyone. She knew her brother too well for that.

He frowned at her darkly. “I have no reason to lie.”

“You have every reason to lie,” she told him angrily. “You’re a traitor to your own people, Dayan, there’s no honor in you. You couldn’t be trusted to give the weather accurately.”

“You have a smart mouth, bitch,” he snarled. “If I weren’t already determined to kill you, I’d kill you for that alone.”

“And you’re a fucking prick with some real faulty illusions of grandeur.” She glimpsed Callan’s shadow moving slowly along the steps from the corner of her eye. “The others will take you apart themselves. You won’t be able to hide the scent of Callan’s blood on your hands. Their senses will pick it up, Dayan. They’ll know.”

She saw the glimmer of uncertainty enter his eyes.

“They won’t know,” he bit out, but his protest wasn’t as strong as it should have been.

“They can smell blood. They know the scent of their own, their DNA ensures it. Do you think you can wash away the scent of their deaths from your body? Do you really think they won’t know?”

“Only Sherra and Dawn will be left.” He shrugged. “I’ll kill Taber and Tanner myself.”

Merinus laughed at him, shaking her head as Callan moved closer. She had to keep his attention on her.

“You won’t get within a mile of any of them,” she told him mockingly. “They’re smarter than you are—”

“Callan wasn’t,” he denied. “I caught his woman.”

“Have you?” she asked, jerking back, falling to the floor as Callan’s roar sounded through the room.

She scrambled around the chair as she heard the scream that erupted from Dayan’s throat. The gun went flying when Callan tackled him. Merinus grimaced as it flew in the opposite direction of the chair. Breathing roughly, watching the struggling men carefully, she began to crawl around the room.

Feral growls filled the room, crashing furniture, flying fists. Dayan was like a savage animal, but Callan more so. With feet kicking out, fists hammering into flesh, the two men fought around the room, vying for supremacy. As Merinus reached the gun, she heard a scream of resounding pain that sent a chill down her back.

Callan had managed to tackle Dayan, maneuvering the other man in front of him, his arms locked around his neck. As Merinus’ eyes widened in horror, Callan gave a final, savage wrench. The sound of the other man’s neck breaking had bile rising from her stomach. Dayan’s eyes were wide with surprise and defeat, horror washed over his dying expression as Callan allowed him to drop slowly to the floor.

Merinus raised shocked eyes to her lover. He stared at her, his expression cold, brutal. He never blinked, he offered no apology, but she saw the misery and grief in the glitter of unshed tears in his eyes.

He was covered in blood. His bare chest marked with the scratches of Dayan’s longer, sharper nails. He wore only a pair of blood splattered sweat shorts. His feet were bare, his legs marred with ugly cuts and bruises, splayed apart, the muscles still tight, taut with the danger that pulsed in his body.

Merinus was breathing harshly, her heart pounding in her chest, her hands clutching the forgotten gun.

“Fuck, you need another shower now,” she whispered as she swallowed tightly, then grimaced at the inane comment. “Oh God, Callan—”

Her hand went over her mouth as she fought the sickness rising in her throat. Dayan stared at her, his eyes vacant, wide in that last second of horror as he stared at her. She dropped the gun, her body shaking so hard she could feel her bones trying to rattle.

“Merinus.” Suddenly he was kneeling beside her, not touching her, his voice broken with his grief, his regret. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head desperately, fighting her tears.

“Oh God, how do I help you?” She turned to him, heedless of the blood that marred his body. His blood and Dayan’s.

His arms came around her hesitantly as she threw herself in his arms.

“Help me?” he whispered, his voice rough as he touched her hair, her back, as though frightened to embrace her. “You’re safe now, Merinus. It’s okay.”

She shook her head against his chest, the tears finally falling from her eyes, humiliating her with her weakness in the face of danger. She was such a wimp, she thought. He had saved both their lives, scarred his soul with the necessity of taking his brother’s life, and she needed his comfort. She should be comforting him instead.

“I’m so sorry,” she gasped through her tears. “I’m so sorry. I’m so weak, Callan. I’m so weak.”

She clutched at his shoulders, too weak to stand, fear still echoing through her system, the horror of the violence quaking through her system. As Callan tightened his arms around her, the sharp sound of the front door splintering tore them apart.

Merinus screamed as the door flew inward. Callan shoved her towards the chair, his sharp order lost amid his growl of rage as he dove for the gun Merinus had dropped.

“Merinus. Callan.” The harsh voice of her brother had her swinging around in time to watch Callan come up in a lithe, graceful move to his knees, the pistol gripped in both hands, his face a mask of rage.

“Callan.” She fell toward him; terrified he wouldn’t stop in time.

He was ahead of her. The gun went up, his finger falling quickly back from the trigger.

Dazed, breathing hard from shock and reaction she watched the way he crouched as the room began to fill with the presence of others. Her brothers and father, even her uncle, Senator Samuel Tyler was there, along with the vaguely familiar near dozen men who followed Kane. Taber and Tanner, Sherra and Dawn and Dr. Martin brought up the rear. Everyone but the Senator and the good scientists were armed to the gills, weapons showing, bodies taut and ready.

“God. Talk about fucking testosterone overload,” Merinus groaned as she collapsed on her ass, staring around as her brothers and Kane’s military group swept through the room, upstairs, making certain of security, she assumed. Shit, she didn’t know what the hell those black clad strangers with hard cold eyes were doing, let alone her brothers.

“Don’t touch her.” Suddenly Callan turned furious, feral eyes on whoever had dared to move behind her.

Merinus glanced up in time to see Kane raise his hands and step away quietly. Callan moved across the space of only a few feet and jerked Merinus in his arms. His body was blazing with heat, his muscles tight with tension.

“Give him a few minutes to cool off.” Dr. Martin moved among the men commandingly. “Get away from them. Get Dayan’s body to another room away from him now. Let him settle down or he’ll never find his control.”

Merinus looked back at Callan. His face was flushed, his eyes closed as he held her close.

“Callan?” she whispered.

“I could have lost you,” he answered, his voice ragged, harsh. “If it had been Council soldiers, if it had been anyone else, I would have lost you.”

His hold tightened as he fought for breath. “God help me, Merinus, I can’t lose you.”

Merinus breathed out deeply. She struggled to turn in his arms, finally succeeding as he loosened his grip only marginally. Her arms went around his shoulders, her head cushioned on his heaving chest. Around them, people moved, spoke, asked questions and demanded answers.

“How were we found?” Callan suddenly jerked his head up, his eyes blazing in suspicion as he looked at those around them.

“Kane had a tracker on Merinus’ cell,” Sherra answered him coolly. “I didn’t know, Callan, until this morning when he tried to call and his readout indicated the phone had been destroyed.”

Vaguely, Merinus remembered seeing the broken remnants of the phone on Callan’s desk. Dayan must have destroyed it, thinking he would keep them from calling for help. Callan had no phones in the house. No way to track any communications he made.

Callan took a deep, steadying breath. Merinus felt his control slowly reassert itself. His body relaxed marginally.

“Callan, you need to get cleaned up.” Kane stood several feet from them, staring down at them broodingly. “We’re going to call the police in on this one, do some damage control. Uncle Sam,” he nodded to the Senator, “came out here on the midnight flight to personally escort you back to the Senate hearings on genetic altering and DNA engineering. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Callan rose slowly to his feet. His arm wrapped around Merinus, refusing to let her go.

“Merinus can stay here with us,” Kane told him forcefully.

“I don’t think so.” Merinus didn’t trust the cold smile Callan sent her brother. “Merinus stays with me, Kane. Period. You can talk to her after we both clean up.”

Merinus rose to her feet alongside Callan, watching the two men stare each other down, both intent on having his way. They were like two pit bulls getting ready to fight over the same bone, but for different reasons. Kane wanted to hoard her, keep her a child, his innocent sister forever. Callan wanted the woman he had made and he was damned determined to keep her.

Kane opened his mouth to speak. Merinus knew whatever came out of it would only make the situation worse.

“Don’t start, asshole,” she bit out, seeing the mockery that flashed across his eyes, an indication that something stupid was getting ready to come out of his mouth.

He flashed her a dark look. Merinus took a deep breath.

“I need another shower, anyway, and so does Callan. Do whatever you guys have to do to get things ready to go. I can’t deal with it right now.”

Her mind was too dazed, shock and fear and fury still running through her veins. Adrenaline overload was turning into a bitch.

“At least try to hurry.” Kane raked his fingers though his short hair, impatience tightening his body. “We have to get a story together and get things started here, Merinus. I need you for that.”

He speared her with a commanding look.

“You’ll just have to wait,” she told him, accepting the arm Callan wrapped around her as her legs trembled beneath her. “I can’t right now, Kane. I just can’t.”

She was aware of the concerned, worried looks on the faces of her family. She should have been more eager to reassure them then she was to find a moment alone with Callan, to soothe the beast that still fought for release.

“Come on.” Callan turned without addressing the other man again and drew her from the room.

When they reached the stairs, he didn’t make her climb them herself. He picked her up in his arms and carried her to the big bathroom off their bedroom. He didn’t speak, his expression didn’t soften. But he was hard. His cock was like a poker, steely and hot against her hip. His eyes blazed with lust. He locked the bedroom door behind them, then with a simple jerk at her pants, bared her from the waist down.

“I can’t wait.” He backed her up to the wall, lifting her, pushing her pants free with one foot.

He spread her legs then plunged his cock deep. Merinus gasped, unaware how ready she had been for him. Her vagina clasped his erection with a hot, slick grip as tight as a fist as he buried himself inside her.

Her head fell back against the wall, her hands gripping his scratched bloody shoulders as he bent, buried his head in her neck and began to pound into her. He was groaning with hoarse pleasure with each thrust. His erection was hard, scalding hot, driving her into a passion as natural and as deep as love itself.

Heat and fire seared her body, pleasure rushed over her in a tidal wave of sensation, sweeping away any doubt, any residual fears left in her. His hands gripped her hips, her thighs clasped his and his cock buried itself over and over inside her. Stretching her, he filled her, burned her with his need. This was no hormonal demand, no kiss to encourage the heat, no preliminaries, just hard, honest passion.

His teeth bit at her neck in the place he had marked as his own. His rough tongue stroked her. Callan grunted harshly as Merinus’ moans rose in intensity. She could feel her climax building, gathering inside her, the explosion only moments away.

Fighting for breath Callan increased the pace of his thrusts. Wet flesh slapped together, her cunt made suckling sounds as his cock slid easily inside her over and over again. Then she trembled, shook, she fought her scream, and managed to keep it down to a loud cry when she felt the barb emerge, lengthen, harden until it locked him deep inside her. That hot caress sent her careening over the edge. Her orgasm struck hard and deep, tightening her body as she felt him spurting his release inside her, distantly wincing as his satisfied roar echoed around them. Boy, Kane would definitely have problems with this.

Below, Callan’s sexual roar was clearly heard. Sherra grimaced as eight men flushed with anger, glancing at the stairs, their bodies stiffening with outrage.

“She’s not a child,” she informed them all. “You may as well get used to it now.”

John Tyler turned to her with a fierce frown.

“Young lady, that is my child,” he bit out.

“No sir, right now she’s Callan’s mate,” she argued tightly. “Her life was nearly lost and his DNA demands he reassert his claim. Get used to it, get over it before he gets down here, because if all of you crowd him, with your male pride all upset, you will merely force his instincts to the forefront. He’s just claimed her, let him get used to that before he has to deal with your possessiveness.”

Sherra ignored Kane’s sneer. She had been doing that for two days now.

“We have other problems here,” Samuel Tyler spoke up, distracting brotherly and fatherly outrage. “Let’s get our priorities straight and go from there. Four hours till the press shows, we have plenty of work to do.”