Mercury's War

by Lora Leigh

  and faced him then. “Actually, they should have done much less, in order to fully protect themselves. I’m a hybrid, Mercury, and not even a particularly effective hybrid. My talents are simple, my instincts regressed. For all intents and purposes, I’m merely human. They risked themselves in what little they did, and I’m grateful for it.”

  “They didn’t love you,” he growled.

  She smiled sadly at the accusation. “They loved me, Mercury. And they love me now. I didn’t tell you what I was because I’ve never forgotten the value of silence. My lover died in front of me. Begging me for mercy. Begging me to stay Dane’s wrath. Because my lover betrayed me. He risked my capture, as well as the Leo’s, Elizabeth’s and Dane’s. My bad judgment could have destroyed us all. And it never will again.”

  The limo door opened as she finished speaking. Drawing her jacket closer around her, she never felt the cold as she stepped out into it. All she felt was the heat, clawing at her insides. She had waited too long and she knew it. Sating the horrific arousal tearing her apart wouldn’t be easy. Nor would it be gentle.

  Mercury escorted her to the cabin, stepped inside ahead of her and waited as she entered. He closed the door slowly, then locked it.

  The sound of the click was like a bomb going off inside her mind. Her knees weakened, and her tongue began to itch. She closed her eyes. She didn’t have the glands beneath her tongue that Mercury did; she didn’t have the hormone needed to induce mating heat. But she could still feel the anomalies in her own body. She had felt them since the first time she had come in contact with him.

  “What was his name?” Mercury asked her.

  Ria knew who he meant. She shrugged out of the leather coat before sitting down and unlacing her boots.

  “His name was Jason. He was the son of one of Leo’s contractors. They never realized what happened to their son. Dane had his body flown back to Jo’burg and placed where he would be found. It appeared an act of random violence.”

  “He deserved it, Ria,” Mercury growled.

  She turned to face him slowly. “He didn’t deserve it. I could have saved him. Dane looked back at me before he killed him. He gave me the choice and I remained silent. Because I knew if I stayed his hand, Leo, Dane and the Breeds they had rescued over the years would never be safe again.”

  The choices Dane had been forced to make broke her heart. The choice she had made that day had never broken her soul.

  “Which doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell your Breed mate that you’re a Breed,” he pointed out, and though his voice was calm, she could feel his anger.

  “Because I no longer consider myself a Breed, hybrid or otherwise,” she said. “And I wouldn’t have, as long as I could have kept that part of me in submission. There was no reason to tell you, simply because I had no intentions of allowing it to be free.”

  His lips lifted in a silent snarl as he paced to the other side of the room. He didn’t try to touch her. She was burning, in agony; the pain that swept through the arousal was killing her.

  “Are you regretting the mating?” she asked him then. She had expected this, but that didn’t mean she welcomed it.

  He turned back to her slowly. “Have I said I do?”

  “You haven’t touched me. All day.”

  His expression transformed. It became hard, savage, relentless.

  “You want it, you’ll take it. No excuses. Claim what’s yours or you can suffer for it. Knowing what I know now, I’ll have no mercy, Ria. You’re a Breed, and whether you like it or not, the instincts of that animal are inside you. You can use them, by God, or we’ll do without all that wild, hot sex we’re both dying for.”

  She stared back at him in surprise. “You’re not serious, Mercury. Breed males don’t wait for their mates to make the first move. When did you lose your senses?”

  “When you screwed up my mind and my soul with every emotion I swore I’d never feel for a woman,” he snarled back at her. “When I realized you’ll walk away before you’ll fight for any damned thing you want. A man has his pride, and a Breed has even more. You want it, mate? Come and get it.”

  CHAPTER 25

  Ria’s eyes narrowed on Mercury. Those leather pants cupped and loved the erection straining beneath them. The heavy boots made his legs look more powerful, stronger than ever before. The T-shirt made her mouth water at the way it stretched across his chest.

  Her mouth watered period. She needed his kiss. She needed the mating elixir filling her senses, taking her down that dark path of sexual hunger and need. It was a craving. A greedy addiction. Her nails curled at the thought of taking it, of tasting it, becoming gluttonous with the taste of him.

  “Take your boots off,” she warned him.

  His brows arched, but he obliged her. He sat down on the couch, releasing the buckles and pulling the boots off before he leaned back and stretched his arms over the back cushions.

  Ria’s breathing became heavy, laborious.

  “Anything else?”

  She licked her lips nervously. “The shirt.” She paced closer to him, her lips parting as she fought to breathe.

  The shirt came off, teak flesh became available as she felt a moan rising in her chest. Dazed hunger began to assail her; the pain in her womb had her gasping, her hand pressing to her stomach as Mercury suddenly frowned, his eyes narrowing.

  “You let yourself go until you hurt?” he asked her, his voice dark, heavy.

  “Take the pants off. Now.” Her voice strengthened as she gripped the hem of her shirt and all but ripped it as she tore it free of her body.

  The red lace push-up bra framed her heavy, swollen breasts. Her nipples pressed into lace that barely topped them, did little to contain them. Her fingers tore at the snap of her jeans as Mercury shed the leather.

  She shimmied out of the jeans, leaving them where they dropped as she crossed to him, straddled his lap and slammed her lips down on his.

  “Gimme,” she moaned, nipping at the lower curve, so hungry now, pain lancing through her as his flesh touched hers.

  His lips slanted over hers, his tongue impaled her mouth, and she was waiting on it. Desperate for it. Wild lust filled her mouth, rose inside her mind like a haze of red and had her suckling at him, greedy. The glands beneath his tongue were heavy with the hormone now, and it spilled to her mouth. It infused her senses like a storm infuses the land, and had a smothered cry tearing from her chest.

  She had waited too long. She had known she was waiting too long even as she pushed herself, refused to take what she needed. Because taking meant she was accepting. It meant she was allowing that careful hold on what she allowed herself to slip.

  The animal took what belonged to it. It was the woman that had always held back. The woman who feared she belonged nowhere.

  It was the woman and the animal that took now. The beast she had come to know as a child stretching indolently and hissing in hunger as the mating hormone began to rage through her.

  Her hands stroked his shoulders; she wanted to lick his flesh, but not yet. Not until this need was sated.

  Between her thighs she felt his erection where it rose between them, pressing into her mound. He was so thick, so hard. She needed him inside her. But not yet. She needed other things with greater desperation and she would have them.

  The kiss inflamed her; the erotic images that swept through her mind, hungers she had never allowed herself to sate before, began to cascade through her imagination. If she was going to take, then she was going to take it all.

  Mercury could feel the desperation in her kiss, and now that they were alone, and that incredible control she possessed was slipping, he could sense the physical pain brought on by the need to mate.

  He’d wondered about it through the day. Why he hadn’t sensed it. Because he would have never allowed her to hurt through her own foolishness. There had been no indication of it, no scent of it. Uncomfortable, yes. A bit angry sometimes. Frustration. But none of the pain he knew mated f
emales felt if they didn’t sate the need to be with their mates.

  Damn her. He forced himself to leave his arms at the back of the couch, to let her take the lead, to let her take. He pumped his tongue into her mouth, feeling the liquid lust spilling from the glands beneath it, filling her mouth, her senses.

  He could smell her heat now like an addictive drug, fueling his senses. He could smell her pain, her need, the emotions tearing free of her control, and sweeter than anything else, he could smell the luscious scent of a Breed female taking her mate.

  There could be no more arousing scent in the world, he thought. It was more arousing than the scent of her burning for him just as his mate, and he had believed nothing could be hotter, sweeter than that. Until now.

  A Breed female burned with a special scent. Equal parts of him and her, and a heated, underlying subtle scent that made him wild.

  He clenched his fingers, fought to hold on to something, anything, rather than grabbing at her and ripping those pretty panties from her body before burying himself inside her.

  He couldn’t take her. This was for her. Her taking. Her claiming. She was far too strong to ever submit, to accept pretty phrases or reassurances that she was his. No, to claim her mate, this Breed female would have to establish her own, innate sense of strength.

  And damn was she establishing. After the first frantic moments suckling at his tongue and the hormone that flowed from him, she slowed. The movements of her mouth became more sensual, more sensuous. She began to relish the taste, to draw it in, let it linger on her tongue before returning for more.

  She twined her tongue with his, rubbed against it, stroked it and made him crazy. Growls were coming from his chest, deep rumbles of pure pleasure as she took him to the edge of madness before drawing back.

  She licked her lips. Ran her tongue over them as her hooded, drowsy gaze had him clenching his jaw, wishing he had more to give her.

  “I didn’t think I would make it,” she whispered, but the sound was more a feminine purr of pure pleasure as her hands stroked over his shoulders, her nails scratching at his tough hide.

  “You waited too long.” He tensed, pleasure racing down his spine to stab at his balls at the feel of her nails. “I should spank you for letting yourself hurt like that.”

  She undulated against him, rubbing the lace of her panties over the sensitive shaft of his cock and pressing her clit into the heat and hardness of him.

  “I wanted to rub against you all day.” She leaned forward, her nipples searing into his chest as she did just that, rubbed against him as he watched her eyes darken, the iris turning nearly black as her lips moved to his neck.

  Mercury could have never imagined he had the self-control to sit there and be tortured like this. The damp heat of her pussy was like a brand through the sheer material of her panties as she rubbed against his cock.

  Her touch was exquisite. Her lips over his shoulders, her hands stroking down the corded length of his arms as her hips undulated against him.

  “Keep teasing me and I might not make it until you get to the taking part,” he groaned.

  She nipped his neck in retaliation.

  “Damn you!” He tilted his neck to give her better access, cursing the pleasure that had his hips arching against her, his cock head pulsing in delicious torture.

  She nipped him again, then laved the little pleasure/pain center before her lips went lower. Tilting his head, he watched her, watched her expressive face, so filled with pleasure as she licked at his flesh, raked her teeth over it.

  When her hot little mouth covered the hard disc of his male nipple, he swore he was going to come. Every muscle in his body tensed to hold back. His balls ached. His cock flexed, throbbed, and a vicious groan tore from his throat.

  That didn’t stop her. He saw the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth as she sucked the hard disc into there and flicked her tongue over it. Her expression was mesmerized, mesmerizing. Flushed and filled with sensuality. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid his eyes on.

  “Are you ready to take me yet?” She kissed to the center of his chest, pulling back, going to her knees on the floor as he stared down at her, nearly helpless with anticipation.

  “That wasn’t the deal,” he groaned.

  “We had a deal?” She nipped his stomach, just above the throbbing crest of his erection.

  “Understanding?” He gasped.

  “Maybe I don’t understand why.” She lifted her lashes and stared back at him, and he saw the vulnerability in her gaze, the hint of confusion.

  “Then maybe you need to figure it out.” He stared back at her, implacable. He wouldn’t be moved from this. No matter how much either of them hurt for it. No matter the stubbornness he could see raging inside her. She had to understand whom he had mated. Whom his soul belonged to. To do that, she had to choose to accept, to take what was hers. Just as he had taken what was his.

  “Breeds are stubborn.” She lowered her head and blew a damp breath of air over the too-sensitive crest of his cock.

  “You should know,” he said hoarsely, then nearly gave a shout of agonizing pleasure when her mouth covered the flared, engorged crest and drew it into her mouth.

  “Ah hell,” he snarled as his hips jerked, plunging his flesh deeper into her mouth. “Ah God, Ria. You’re killing me.”

  She was drawing on him, her mouth hungry, her tongue a lash of heated pleasure against the overly sensitive head. His nails dug into the couch cushions. He was certain fabric tore. His thighs bunched, and he felt consumed by her. He was consumed by her. His heart, his soul, the heat of his cock, and he wasn’t going to last long if she kept this up.

  “Ria,” he groaned. “Baby. I’m too fucking close.”

  He pressed his head back along the couch, fighting for control. But she didn’t ease up. She sucked and licked, her hands, sweet soft little hands, pumped the hard flesh of the shaft.

  “Ria. Dammit. I’m going to fucking come.” Yep, the cushions tore, the foam inside shredding beneath his nails. “Son of a bitch!”

  A ragged yell tore from him as her mouth enclosed the head, only the head, sucked and drew the pulsing, streaming jets of release from him.

  Agony pierced his balls, the underside of his cock heat. The barb throbbed beneath the flesh, the milking motion needed to draw it free absent as she consumed the wash of his semen. She sucked and licked and he was panting, a sweat sheen on his body as his cock seemed harder, more viciously aroused than ever before.

  He was seconds from insanity. Adrenaline raced through him, his vision blurred, hunger tearing through him with a force he couldn’t seem to control.

  And he could smell her need. It filled his head, drawing deep-throated growls from his chest as his head jerked up, watching as she rose over him, straddling him, the head of his cock tucking against the soft, curl-shrouded folds of saturated flesh.

  She began taking him. Her eyes locked with his as he felt her moving, liquid-tight heat surrounding the tortured flesh, working it inside her.

  And her eyes. So dark. They were filled with pleasure, pain, with possessiveness. He snarled back at her, seeing that, pleasure and pride tearing through him as he saw what she still yet refused to admit. That she was claiming him the same as he had already claimed her.

  “What do you do to me?” she whispered as she worked his flesh deeper inside her, her nails digging into his shoulders. “Mercury, what do you do to me?”

  He couldn’t move his hands from the cushions. If he touched her, if he dared allow himself to feel the heat of her skin, then he would take her.

  “I fill you, Ria.” In every way. In all ways. He would always fill her, fulfill her, hold her and warm her. With her permission or without it.

  He was a Breed male. The game he played now, to force her admittance that he was her mate, he played only because he was certain of the outcome. Otherwise, she would never get out of his bed. Never step foot from his sight until she realized i
t.

  “I’m filling me,” she panted. “You’re just sitting there, Mercury.” Her moan was hoarse as she took more of him, working herself on the thick intrusion as he strained against thrusting.

  God, he wasn’t going to last much longer. The feel of her snug grip, the slick, wet glide of her sex over his erection, was killing him.

  He could feel sweat trickling down his neck, and even that wasn’t left alone. Her head lowered, her tongue licked, and his hips jerked when her teeth raked against him.

  He buried himself an inch inside her before he could stop, but the whispery whimper of her pleasure at his neck was worth it.

  Her lips increased in speed, working over him, sucking more and more of him into her as the heat began to surround them like flames.

  The cushion shredded beneath his grip; control was lost as with one deep cry Ria impaled herself fully on the hard rise of his cock.

  Okay, she had him. She took him. That was it.

  The growl that tore from him was pure male animal. His hands clamped on her hips as he began thrusting, meeting her hard downward strokes and falling into a pit of such ecstasy that he never wanted to be free.

  Ria was entranced by the sight of Mercury. She stared at him—the way his lashes brushed his cheeks, the complete sensuality that washed through his expression. Not that she had enough mind left to do anything but ride the hard length of his cock.

  The pleasure was tearing through her. Need was like a vicious, ragged wound at her clit, in her womb. Her muscles clenched, and wildness shuddered through her.

  But she had to watch him. She had to hold on to something because everything inside her was rushing along the roller-coaster ride that this pleasure was turning into.

  Her hands moved desperately over his shoulders, her nails raked against it; the tough, heavy density of his skin didn’t break, but the welts would be clear for hours. A testament, a brand. But not enough.

  “Mercury!” She was crying out his name.

  Her teeth clenched. She wouldn’t bite. She wasn’t going to bite. She had bitten once, but she had managed to restrain herself. Managed not to break the skin, not to place her brand on him.

  She shook her head.

  “Do it, damn you!” His eyes opened, artic blue flaming with gold pinpoints. “Do it!”

  She cried out his name, impaling herself furiously on him, fighting the need, fighting the obsession, the compulsion.

  “You’re mine!” he snarled. “Another man touches what’s mine and I’ll kill him. I’ll shred him, Ria. Anyone dares try to harm you, and insanity will be the least of my strengths. I’ll destroy. You’re mine.”

  “No!” She couldn’t stop. She thrust harder against him, pleasure pouring into pain, pain pouring into pleasure, sensation building and compulsion growing.

  “My mate!” His hands tightened on her hips as he took her hard, pounding into her and she lost the will to fight. No, she gained the will to fight, she felt it pouring out of her, heard the female hiss of animalistic ecstasy and her head lowered, and she bit.

  She bit hard. Blunted canines latched onto him with a force that barely pierced the flesh. But it pierced. She tasted blood; she tasted her own saliva, wild, filled with the hormone he had fed into her, and she fed it back to him.

  His head lowered to her shoulder; his teeth clamped tight to her, pierced her; he sucked and licked, taught her to mark and she marked. Marked as her orgasm tore through her, raced over her, and her nails raked down his arms.

  With a roar Mercury surged inside her again, his release just as fierce the second time, pouring into her as the barb extended, caressed over her inner muscles, and the animal inside her responded in ways that had her screaming in shock and Mercury growling in rapture.

  Internal muscles clenched, tightened, and there, where the barb pressed into her, spilled its shimmery release, she felt pleasure erupt again. Her flesh surrounded it, tightened around it, latching onto his cock harder, massaging it with a force that had them both crying out in response.

  Another orgasm tore through her. She felt his release pulse inside her again, and their cries, his and hers, echoed through the cabin.

  As the last agonizing bolt of sensation eased in her body, Ria collapsed against him. He was still hard inside her, still thick. The barb slowly receded, but the heat remained.

  She had waited too long, much too long, and easing the overriding hunger for him would take hours. She had helped Elizabeth in the labs, she knew the signs, she knew the research, and she knew she wouldn’t die if she lost Mercury now. She would kill.

  Ely paced her quarters. They were small; she had preferred small. Until now. Now the walls seemed to be closing in on her, and fear was driving spikes through her brain.

  And she was crying. She wiped the tears away before wrapping her arms across her breasts and pacing the room again.

  Jonas had taken blood. He had come to her himself, by himself; at least he had done that. He had said something about codeine. Breeds couldn’t take codeine; she knew that. She would have never requisitioned codeine for any Breed. She didn’t even give it to humans.

  And something else. She shook her head, trying to remember the medical name for it. All she could remember was the lab tag name for it: They called it Mental. Simple. To the point. Because it messed with a Breed’s mind. She would never order that either.

  What had he said? She lifted her head, clenched her hands over it and snarled.

  This was Mercury’s fault. The feral displacement. Jonas’s loyalty to Mercury was going to get them killed.

  He had to be confined.

  There was a cell beneath the labs, padded, where the Council had kept the Breeds they had experimented on when they owned the estate.

  A cell and a special lab.

  She stopped, staring into the past, sightless. That lab—the memories of another lab identical to it were horrifying. And she couldn’t block them. Breeds strapped down on tables, their bodies paralyzed by the drugs pumped into them, their chests open, and she watched. The heart, the lungs, the internal organs protesting the agonizing pain each Breed was enduring.

  Blood coated her hands as she stared at the scalpel she was holding, then into the eyes of the Breed staring back at her. Rage. Inhuman rage reflected in his icy blue eyes. Pinpoints of gold flared in them, like stars, ricocheting with rage.

  A growl tore from her throat, then a throttled scream. No, she wouldn’t do that to him. Just the cell. That was all. They could treat displacement. She knew how. She would treat him.

  But first she had to get past the Breed stationed at her door.

  She moved to the small kitchen, jerked a bottle of water from the fridge and popped back a handful of aspirin. Her head was splitting. It felt as though someone were digging it out with a blunt instrument.