by JaysonJax
Carter grabbed Ma’tic’s outstretched hand. “I do t—” Another pain came, robbing him of words.
A short time later, he felt a stick of pain in his upper arm and saw Aden injecting him with something.
“For your pain,” Aden murmured.
Minutes later, he felt a lessening of the pain he’d been feeling, but not all. “It still hurts,” he whimpered.
“That’s one of two,” the doctor said, showing another needle to Ma’tic. “This will relax him from mid-chest down, so he doesn’t feel us open him up. I need to inject this into his spine… and he must remain absolutely still.”
Ma’tic glared at the doctor a moment before helping Carter sit up. His mate held him close as Carter felt the doctor pressing along his spine.
“As still as stone,” the doctor murmured before Carter felt the needle pierce his spine.
Almost immediately, he no longer felt the needle.
Aden and the doctor continued to prepare for the coming surgery. A fuzziness slowly washed over Carter, and the pain lessened dramatically. “What was in that needle?”
“It must be taking effect,” the doctor said before moving closer. “Feel that?”
“Feel what?” Carter asked.
“Good answer,” the doctor said before lifting up a barrier that hide Carter’s stomach from view.
“I want to see what happens,” Carter argued.
“It’s best this way,” Aden informed him, sliding a tray of tools closer. “The baby will be here, soon.”
The heavy scent of iodine filled the air as he felt the cold liquid being rubbed all over his stomach and lower chest. Ma’tic’s hand grew even tighter, or perhaps he held on for dear life, he wasn’t sure.
The drug kicked in a little more, everything growing a little fuzzier. He felt pressure on his stomach, but no pain.
“Open the sack carefully,” he heard the doctor instruct Aden. “Be careful of the cord.”
Carter lifted his stare to Ma’tic, who was staring in fascination behind the barrier. “What’s happening?”
“They’re inside you,” Ma’tic murmured. “They have the baby.”
“Careful,” the doctor said to Aden. “Cut right there, just barely. I’ll take care of this.”
Ma’tic lifted Carter’s hand to his lips and pressed a kiss there as he watched the men work. A smile began to cross his face… and then Carter heard a baby cry.
Aden walked a little closer to Carter’s head, a bundle in his hands. “Meet Ma’tic Junior.”
Carter smiled, his vision blurring some, as he stared at their child. “A boy?”
“A boy,” Aden confirmed. “I need to check him over and clean him up a little. I’ll bring him right back to you.”
“Hurry,” Carter said. He lifted his stare and saw the doctor still working over him. “Almost done?”
“I’ve just got to close you up,” the doctor said. “Which would’ve been quicker if I had help in here.”
“You had help,” Ma’tic said.
“But now our patients are split. I’m the only one here,” the doctor said. “What if he starts bleeding out?”
“He dies, you die,” Ma’tic repeated.
The doctor mumbled something under his breath, and Carter was too fuzzy to hear it. He focused instead on the healthy cries of their son.
Their son.
A smile crossed his lips before the fuzziness grew into a darkness that swallowed him.
Chapter Two
Jaime trembled in the caveman’s hold. His wrists bound by one strong hand, he was thrust into a bedroom and tossed toward a bed. Heat flooded his body, his mind generating ideas of what he wanted to happen next.
As soon as he could get back to his feet, he rushed toward the caveman who’d held him and pounded a fist on the male’s chest.
A hard wall of muscle was more apt.
He lifted his stare and met the caveman’s. Sure he saw lust there, he licked his lips. His mouth went dry as he realized just how handsome the prehistoric man was.
Nothing like the Cro-Mags or the Neanderthals he’d watched through the glass. No, this was one little hop away from human on the evolutionary scale—or at least it seemed that way.
And there was more… an intelligence behind the eyes that he’d never seen in the others.
The male’s warm breath washed over him. Jaime inhaled suddenly, realizing the male smelled clean. He’d expected dirty and unkempt, but this man was well cared for in the scope of things.
Heat blossomed through every inch of his body, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps. He reached out to press his hand on the caveman’s chest, only to have his wrist caught in a tight, vise-like grip.
A moan nearly rose from his lips.
Take me… right here… right now…
The male leaned in and… sniffed him. Jaime bit him lip as the man leaned back, eyeing him the whole way.
He shook with the need he felt and hoped the caveman didn’t assume it was fear.
When he was released, he felt disappointment wash over him. It was then that he saw Drew on the bed opposite the one he’d been unceremoniously dumped on.
The two cavemen glared at them. The second one looked very much like the first—golden honey skin with dark eyes. Their hair was twisted into neat dreads that cascaded down their backs. They wore small leather pieces that covered their cocks. Both of their chests were bare, save for a few strips of leather braided together and bound around them almost like a BDSM harness.
When they turned to leave, Jaime caught sight of two of the tightest asses he’d ever seen in his life.
Blowing out a breath, he could only see those asses pumping as they drove into his body.
“What the hell is going on?” Drew demanded once they were finally alone. “What is this place?”
Jaime shook his head, trying to force the errant thoughts from his mind. He had no idea where to even begin answering Drew’s question. “I suppose NDAs are no longer a concern.” He sighed. “You know my father thinks himself part Indiana Jones.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, the other parts of him are Dr. Moreau and that old guy who built the first Jurassic Park.”
“What in the bloody hell are you talking about?” Drew asked, squinting.
“Before I was born, he built this facility. He brought in scientists and doctors and went about using cloning techniques to bring cavemen back to life.”
“Cavemen?” Drew asked, one brow rising with incredulity.
“Cavemen. He built walls and sanctuaries for each kind. He has Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals… and a few different human ancestors. I can’t remember all their names. I wasn’t into that shit, no matter how much he tried to shove it down my throat.”
“You’re serious,” Drew said after a moment of blankly staring at Jaime.
“I am. He got DNA samples from early bones stolen from archeological digs and they… made them. He explained the process to me once, but I wasn’t paying much attention.” Jaime chuckled, but he felt no humor in it. “Now I won’t ever be able to ignore him again.”
Drew was silent a moment. “I’m sorry about that, mate.”
Jaime should likely feel more upset than he was about his father’s death, but the man had hated everything he was. Jaime hadn’t had the same passions as his father, and when he’d come out of the closet at seventeen, his father had come near to disowning him. Had it not been for their public persona and the potential backlash, he’s fairly certain his father would’ve cut him off completely.
Instead, Jaime kept his distance and Sir Ian had pretended he didn’t exist.
While he mourned the chance of reconciliation they might’ve had one day, he didn’t quite mourn the man. To be accepted by the man who’d sired him would’ve been something. Now he’d never get it.
He shrugged as he caught Drew’s stare and realized he was showing a bit too much vulnerability. “Not like we got along.”
“But still.�
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Jaime smiled. “I guess that means all this is now mine.” He didn’t really care about things. He’d acted the part he was handed because it was almost expected of a billionaire’s son. None of it brought him any happiness, but it did well to piss off his father and keep them apart.
Too far apart.
“Was that guy actually pregnant?” Drew asked, helping to stop Jaime’s brain from traveling the path it was.
“That had to be fake.”
“Why would a man fake a pregnancy?” Drew asked.
Jaime shrugged. “I know my father’s baked up some weird shit down here. So who knows?”
Drew sat down on the bed opposite the one Jaime sat on in the small room. “You’re telling me that your father has made an island full of cavemen and we find out that island has been overrun. What happens next? Do they kill us?”
“They likely want information,” Jaime said. “Which I have very little of, since I wasn’t close to my father.”
“Close enough to know about this?”
“He brought me here one summer before my final year of school. I think he hoped to ignite some desire within me to take on science classes so I could come be his right hand. All I did was sit and watch the cavemen fucking. And jerking off whenever I could.”
“What?” Drew asked with a smile.
“They fucked like rabbits. Men with women. Men with men. Women with women. They’d hunt and gather all day, which was fairly easy because the technicians would send out a boar or a goat through this opening every so often and they have the sanctuaries filled with edible plants and berries. They’d kill the animal, butcher it, roast it up, and then feast and fuck all bloody night. I was gay when I got here, but I was super gay when I left.”
“Ahh,” Drew said. “The caveman roleplay at the club. It brought back some memories?”
“Yeah. Something like that,” Jaime said, feeling heat fill his face.
“A new fetish. Fucking a caveman.” Drew grinned. “Is that why you wanted to come? To play voyeur or sneak into an enclosure and bottom for a Neanderthal?”
Fucking a caveman… Jaime felt heat rushing through his body just at the thought. He’d come here for that exact reason, though he’d known it was next to impossible with the near prison they lived in. At best, he’d thought he could watch and get off on them fucking one another.
Now, with things upended, perhaps he could do more than watch.
Hell, he’d been close to doing more just seconds before.
“Come on,” Jaime said. “Don’t tell me you wouldn’t get off on some super aggressive sex-freak who didn’t hold back.”
“When you put it that way,” Drew muttered. “But aren’t they violent?”
“Aggressive, yes. A little violent? Maybe.” Was that the allure? A little pain wasn’t something he’d say no to.
“I don’t know if I’d want to be clubbed over the head and dragged into a cave,” Drew said.
“You saw those cavemen that dragged you in here. Don’t tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind.”
Drew’s eyes widened. “You got off on that?”
“A little,” Jaime said before the door was thrust open.
One of the big thugs stalked back in.
A bag was tossed onto Jaime’s bed.
“Eat,” the caveman spat before eyeing Jaime again.
Where did they learn to speak?
“Is it poisoned?” Drew asked, not realizing they shouldn’t be able to communicate at all.
The caveman frowned, glaring at Drew. Jaime wondered if the caveman knew what poison meant. “Is it safe?” Jaime questioned, hoping the man understood.
He gave a short nod of the head. “Food is… safe.”
“Who taught you English?” Jaime asked, curious.
“Ma’tic,” the caveman said.
Jaime frowned.
“My… friend,” the caveman added.
Jaime spied the other caveman who’d dragged them to the room peeking inside. He pointed to the man. “Ma’tic?”
“Tig’un,” the caveman corrected. “Not Ma’tic.”
Ma’tic must’ve been the one who’d spoken more clearly when they’d arrived. It made sense that was the caveman’s teacher, the more he thought about it. He lifted a hand to his chest. “Jaime.”
The caveman eyed him cautiously for a moment before lifting a hand to his own chest. “Na’ear.”
Jaime smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Na’ear.”
Na’ear didn’t respond in kind. He only glared at Jaime. Jaime took a step closer, curious about the man. There were so many question in his head, good, intelligent questions, yet the only thing to spring from his lips was, “So how long have you been here?”
He winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth. The caveman had always been here.
The caveman shook his head. “Eat. Now.”
He left the room, and the door was shut behind him.
Drew began to laugh. “You sucked at picking up men. Now you can’t even pick up a caveman.”
“Fuck off,” Jaime spat, eyeing the door. His chance to have a little prehistoric action had just left the room. He wouldn’t let the next chance escape him.
* * * *
Carter awakened to see Ma’tic standing at the foot of the bed, a tiny bundle in his arms. Ben’ab stood behind him, looking over Ma’tic’s shoulder. Seeing the two big, strong warriors holding and staring at the baby so gently brought a smile to his face. He sat up in the bed and winced in pain. Ma’tic stepped closer, concern on his face.
“Are you okay?”
Carter tried again to adjust himself into a more comfortable position, but hissed in pain. Ben’ab tried to assist, but looked unsure of himself. Ma’tic quickly drew a clear bassinet over and lowered the baby into it before turning to help lift Carter into a new spot.
“Thank you,” Carter murmured. He spied the babe, who’d just begun to cry. “Bring him to me, please.”
Ma’tic lifted the baby and placed him into Carter’s arms. Carter looked down at the newborn, unable to hold back his smile. One hand escaped the blanket swaddling him. Carter placed his finger under the tiny fingers and counted. Five perfect digits squeezed the tip of his. “Have you counted his toes and fingers?”
Ma’tic frowned. “Why would I?”
“To make sure he’s perfect.”
“He’s perfect,” Ma’tic assured him before pressing a kiss to Carter’s forehead.
Carter had to see, though. He undid the blanket and looked the baby over, quelling his own concern. When he was sure the newborn was in fact perfect, he tried to rewrap the wiggling limbs.
“Let me,” Ma’tic said. He took the babe and carefully swaddled the infant again.
“How’d you do that so easily?”
“Aden showed me how.” Ma’tic grinned before lifting the babe in his arms again and handing him over to Carter. “Soon, you will be a master.”
“I hope.” He stared down again, smiling at their son. “We never agreed on that name.” They’d been at odds. Ma’tic wanted a strong name from his tribe. Carter had wanted a more traditional one—Henry. “He doesn’t look as much like a Henry as I thought.”
“Can’om was our leader’s name,” Ma’tic said. “He taught me many great things before he perished.”
“Can’om is strong,” Ben’ab added. “Was strong,” he corrected.
Carter stared down at their son and nodded. “Can’om, it is.”
Ma’tic smiled widely.
The babe soon began to cry as he rubbed his face against Carter’s bare chest. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s hungry,” Ma’tic murmured. “I’ll get Aden.”
Carter looked away a moment, just before the infant suckled his nipple. “Ah, wrong part, sweetheart,” he said, trying to pull his flesh from the forceful suckle. He couldn’t get his nipple out. “How’d you get so strong?”
Ben’ab stared down at him, a frown on his face.<
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A weird sensation spread across Carter’s pec, a feeling of… dropping, of sorts.
“Aden’s coming,” Ma’tic said as he walked back in.
“Help,” Carter said. “He’s got me.”
Ma’tic walked closer. He pressed his finger gently against Carter’s skin, breaking the suction.
“You’re better at this than me,” Carter said, disappointed in his lack of skill thus far.
“Carter,” Ma’tic murmured, frowning.
Carter followed Ma’tic’s gaze and saw the drops of white fluid on his nipple. Ma’tic squeezed the tip and more of it dripped from his pec. “What the fuck,” Carter whispered.
“Oh, damn,” Aden said from the foot of the bed. “Is that what I think it is?”
Carter whipped his head up and stared at the man. “How?”
“None of the other men survived delivery. We didn’t get to this point,” Aden said. He paused, tilting his head some. “But lactating men is actually a thing. I remember seeing it online. I doubt it holds the right nutritional content, though.” Aden shook a bottle. “This does.”
Carter took the bottle and offered it to the baby. Can’om refused the tip, spitting it out. “He won’t drink.”
“Let me try,” Aden said. He took the babe and the bottle, but again, the babe refused it. Aden sighed before handing the babe back. “Try your breast again.”
“I have a chest, not a breast,” Carter insisted. The babe got ahold of him again, suckling away. He looked down at his feeding child and forgot to feel indignant.
“I’ll be right back,” Aden said.
Carter watched as his son took deep pulls, curious how far down this rabbit hole went. Aden returned moments later with a vial. “Switch sides.”
“Huh?”
“I’m not sure I can get a sample from that one if he hasn’t gotten the ball rolling yet. I need some milk so one of the docs can test it to be sure the baby’s getting what he needs.”
Carter switched sides and quickly settled the crying infant with the other nipple. Aden moved in and squeezed the bare one and captured the stream of milk that came out. “Ouch,” he winced.
“Sorry,” Aden said.
“Not you, the baby,” Carter said. “He’s got superhuman sucking skills.”