by Harte, Marie
But one mutant group, on the island, had rallied together around a breeding female. The males had viewed the female as their mate. Not a one-on-one, but more of a group bonding. He wondered if that was a mutation or something natural that would occur in new versions of the serum.
Duane continued. “Dr. Lang, from the report Caldane sent, it seems Bailey Duncan was ripe for mating. If Gideon and his group grabbed her, then they’ve no doubt taken hold of her.” Duane’s eyes glazed. “Probably doing their best to impregnate her. They won’t be gentle about it. Their beasts need that continuation, and since you sped up their mating timelines, we won’t have to wait years for progeny.”
Edwin lowered his voice and subtly grazed the collar of his shirt. The small sensor implanted in his collar kept his conversations private when he used it, as he did now.
“A good thing since Amelia needs more embryonic stem cells, hmm?”
Duane met his gaze then looked away, blushing. “Yes. She’s insistent that I not forget her research.”
“Good man.” Edwin smiled. Duane had a lot of uses. He did as asked without question. With Duane, ethics never got in the way of scientific progress. And his loyalty was without question. For the past twelve years, he’d given Edwin everything he’d asked and more. It didn’t hurt that Edwin’s tasks for Duane fell in line with the unassuming man’s personal proclivities.
Duane liked to hurt others. It satisfied the underdeveloped psyche of the child he’d once been. Though he’d never been abused by his mother, he’d been neglected. His father, on the other hand, had been an extremely psychotic individual, enjoying his son’s pain. Something he’d passed on to Duane, because harming others put Duane back in control, let him feel useful.
And that usefulness had totally shown itself with their current benefactor.
It had taken extensive research before Edwin had found a compatible backer for his research. Senator Ted Norton had been acceptable, for a while. But Amelia was his ticket to scientific freedom. How fortunate Amelia had latched onto Duane, the masochist finding her perfect partner in a sadist who reveled in sexual deviancy. One of Edwin’s more ingenious plans.
“How much longer can you put her off?” Edwin asked, still keeping his voice low. Amelia recorded everything that happened in the lab. He’d have thought less of her had she not.
“Not too much longer. She’ll need more of the skin kit, by next week latest.”
Edwin nodded and turned off the masking device. “Very well. That heart will do. Set it in the tray.” He nodded to the sterile tray on the table next to them. Thus far, they’d harvested a secondary heart and lungs, an abnormally large brain, and two phalluses from this particular mutant Circ.
The phalluses intrigued him, because one of them produced small spikes when the Fordyce spots were stimulated. Possibly a measure to increase the likelihood of penetration, to hold the organ in place while the male ejaculated. An intriguing idea that might help other Circs increase their reproduction efforts.
But it was the overlarge brain that truly concerned him. Indications of increased intelligence were a cause for alarm, especially in creatures with so little adherence to following orders. Edwin had been trying for years, but no matter how much effort he put into his creations, they never seemed able to adapt to blind obeisance. If anything, the Circs went in the opposite direction, a genetic predisposition to rebel.
He frowned, thinking of Gideon Spencer. Such a valuable subject, lost. And now possibly impregnating his most successful female Circ. Bailey Duncan had taken to the serum so smoothly he’d been stunned. Only one or two other females had adapted without issue. Unfortunately, he’d lost Katie Sheridan to the riot at U-Ground.
Talk about an ugly loss of research. After Alex and Gideon had absconded with Elijah and Carter, the government had stepped in, releasing that mess of mistakes in the basement level. A fire had been the only way to cleanse the problem, making right of a bad situation. But they hadn’t lost everyone. They still had the island.
Edwin focused again on the mutant before him, pointing out observances Duane catalogued. They removed several sections of the brain for Dr. Maynard to review. A few of the lesions in the frontal cortex looked promising.
“Dr. Lang, can I get you a cup of coffee? I noticed you haven’t had one today.” Duane sounded anxious.
Always so eager to please… Edwin smiled. “Yes, thank you, Duane. You know, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Duane smiled and scurried away to serve his mentor.
If only the new Circs he’d created felt the same. Edwin sighed. There had to be a way to get Bailey back. Now that she’d spent some time with Gideon and the others—which couldn’t have worked out better if he’d planned it—he needed to see how her body had reacted to the presence of their “pack.” Perhaps he should have started with them in the first place, instead of his plan to put Bailey with Sheer’s group.
He couldn’t wait to see what resulted in her association with the healthy Circs. Any fetus that did develop would belong to him, not Amelia. Because he had no intention of using the cells, not until the fetus had developed into a mature adult. He had the tools to speed the aging process. So excited at the prospect, he called for Duane to make his coffee with two shots of espresso.
“I love science.” Edwin beamed. “Peters, bring out our next subject.”
Peters wheeled him out, and Edwin looked over the severely damaged mutant. Shocking that the creature continued to live after all the serum had done to it. That and Edwin’s brutal testing.
The mutant still possessed a man’s form and straight spine, which for a mutated Circ already put him in the exceptional column. The skin had blackened, as expected, but along the palms and soles of his feet scaled patches could ooze a toxin as deadly as that of the inland taipan, which made sense since Edwin had borrowed from that very snake in the making of this creature.
Supposed to be a functioning member of the B Series, this particular subject had so annoyed Edwin during his stay in the lab that Edwin had set aside his plan to complete Sheer’s pack with a fifth male member. Instead, he’d experimented. And once again, God smiled on him, because this creature had gone from mundane and irritating to supremely fascinating.
Look at his exceptional will to survive. This one should have died long ago. Edwin checked the sutures on his eyelids, which remained in place. The subject had wakened, but he couldn’t look at Edwin. A good thing, because the creature’s stare could mesmerize. A lot like Carter Freeman. What to make of that?
He checked his notes. “Oliver Torelli. Let’s see what your cells have been up to lately.” He narrowly avoided the tail that whipped out to gouge him and waited while the guards rushed over to strap the thing on the table. “Peters, how did this get free?”
Peters rushed over, wringing his hands. “I don’t know, Sir. I strapped it next to his torso before putting him on the table. I swear, it was secured before you started. How did he get it out?”
“Maybe we’ll cut it off and see.” Edwin grabbed a bone saw and turned it on, and the screams of the saw and his subject blended together in a harmony that made him the luckiest man on the planet.
No man had ever loved his job more.
***
Bailey stared up at Gideon, shocked, sated, and aroused again. After their vertical mambo, he’d decided to take it horizontal and eased them onto a patch of grass next to the SUV. Not content to lay next to her, he once again pushed his thick—still hard—erection inside her.
He stirred while she milked him of more seed. He groaned and stared down at her in awe. “Fuck. That was amazing.”
Such a romantic declaration. She stifled a hysterical laugh. “Um, yeah.” Trying to wiggle free, she felt him shift and jolt against her sensitive inner parts. “Oh, wow.”
“Yeah.” Gideon continued to stare at her, and she felt subconscious. Silly considering they’d just fucked like animals and she barely even knew the man.
She t
urned her head away, surprised when he kissed her cheek, her throat, then nuzzled the crook of her neck.
“It’s intense, I know,” he whispered, pulled out of her, then surged back inside. “You get it up for a person you don’t even know. When you’ve never before been attracted to a guy, and then you’re deep, pushing into a fine ass when you’ve only ever wanted pussy.” Hearing him admit he’d been shocked into such intimacy made her feel better. “But it’s so good, and that beast inside you makes you want.”
She stroked his hair, listening with both parts of her, woman and beast, intent on more than his words. His energy also seemed to be trying to soothe her. And she liked it.
“You can’t help what you are now, sweetheart. Let it take you.” He raised himself up on his elbows, still joined to her, and pumped. No longer animalist fucking, this was something else. A gentle joining, and a reminder that he remained on top.
And then she noticed the men standing around them, watching them.
Oh my God. She tensed.
They men were naked, aroused, and watching her with Gideon. Watching Gideon fuck her.
“No, it’s okay.” Gideon rubbed against her sensitive clit, inciting a groan, and continued to saw in and out, his excitement evident.
“More than okay,” Eli said, naked and huge above her. Like Gideon, the man was cut. Muscular, hung, and not shy about showing it. His tattoos framed corded arms she knew wouldn’t hurt her.
Wait. Knew?
An internal, empathetic peek at the male showed a hungering for acceptance, a need to touch her, to feel her softness and share in it. Her beast wanted him. He would be hers to care for. To manage, alongside Gideon.
As Gideon’s movements grew faster, she tried to hold on, but her gaze caught Alex’s, and she let him feel her hunger.
“Shit. I— She’s sending emotion.” Alex groaned and held himself, trembling, then came all over the ground.
Seeing that, sensing his need to come again, overwhelmed her beast with arousal.
“You can do that?” Gideon asked while pounding inside her, then moaned. “Fuck. I don’t care right now. I’m coming. Hold on, Bailey.” He thrust one last time and shuddered, emptying inside her.
Before she could catch her breath, he withdrew, stood, and grabbed Eli. After shoving his face into the man’s neck, he took a long whiff then nodded. “Go easy, though.”
Eli nodded and blanketed Bailey before she could catch her wits. Then he was inside her. He fit, no question.
Eli closed his eyes, his face a study of carnal agony. “Oh fuck. You are so hot. And you smell so good.” He didn’t move, as if waiting for her signal.
Her beast liked that. A lot. So she drew her knees up alongside his hips and urged him deeper.
“Yeah, oh yeah, baby.” He started fucking her, deep strokes that weren’t gentle—and she didn’t want them to be.
Bailey had never been one for random partners or casual sex, but this was far from random or casual. She held on as Eli took her with a roughness and desperation she’d earlier felt with Gideon. He kissed her with seduction in mind, though, and she liked that he didn’t take her willingness for granted.
She held off her orgasm this time, needing him to finish so she could give Alex more, to soothe his pain.
Eli finished inside her, his climax beautiful because it was so honest, so pure. He ended with a kiss, but he remained hard. Before he could start again, Gideon pulled him off.
“I’ll get to you in a minute,” Gideon promised.
Eli glanced at Gideon’s heavy erection, at his own, then back down at Bailey. He sighed and smiled. “Yeah, okay.” He laughed. “Whatever you want, jefe. Fuck, I feel good.”
Gideon crouched beside Bailey. “You know we have to do this, right? You need to belong to all of us.”
Her gaze unerringly found his thick member pointing right at her, and she wanted to rise up and lick him. But Alex and Carter were waiting. So she nodded, accepting the claiming because she wanted it, not just because it was something they needed.
Gideon’s eyes crinkled. “I know. I heard her.” He leaned close to kiss her, then dragged Alex closer.
“Jesus, Gideon. I can’t…” He trailed off, staring down at Bailey, his eyes changing again, his pupils elongating. “I want you,” he said to her, then glanced at Gideon.
Gideon kissed him, and that sharing was hot. Gideon gripped Alex’s cock, priming him, until Bailed growled, “Mine.”
Gideon pulled back and raised a brow. He gave Alex one final tug before stepping back to drag Carter and Eli close. The watched while Alex lowered to the ground. But Bailey wanted more from him. She rolled him over to his back and settled over him before he could change his mind.
She read exhaustion, excitement, and grief all balled up, and the bitter smell of his sadness bothered her. She kissed him, letting Alex feel her affection, the belonging the others felt for him as well. He mattered, and as she ground over his fat cock, she knew he’d started to let go as he let her lead the pace.
“Oh, Jesus. Yes, more,” he growled as she kissed his neck, licking and nibbling down to his nipples.
He bolted into a sitting position, keeping her in his lap as she fucked him, then took over, guiding her hips while he dug inside her. Alex felt huge, and the need in him was gigantic. Though he’d come earlier, spending inside Carter’s mouth, she sensed his need to follow his packmates. To fill that sacred well of feminine Circ.
Alex panted, his eyes wild. “Kiss me. Suck on my tongue while I fill you up. Yeah, honey. Suck me.”
She loved his arousal, and she kissed him, feeling him swell inside her. Alex touched her with reverence as he jetted into her, and the scent of sex and relief made her dizzy. And hungry.
He thickened inside her, so she let go and embraced her pleasure as well. The orgasm drew out his emotions, feeding hers, and she gripped him as he continued to come.
Finally she eased off him, and he fell back to the ground, hugging her tight.
“I think she needs a break,” Carter said, watching while Gideon pushed into Eli’s mouth.
Watching Gideon take Eli, seeing the big man’s mouth over Gideon’s cock, reenergized Bailey’s need again. She couldn’t believe she’d had sex once, let alone…how many times? But Carter wasn’t yet hers. She needed to bond, to bring him closer.
“I’m not into women, Gideon,” Carter said, staring at Eli as he sucked Gideon off. “That’s what I want.”
Gideon groaned and ground his fingers into Eliot’s shoulders, his climax easy to see as Eli swallowed. “Is it really what you want? But who do you want it from?” Gideon eased out of Eli’s mouth while Bailey watched, entranced by the drip of come at his slit.
“What do you mean? Her? I’ll crush her.” Carter was adorable. Huge, dangerous, yet like a confused young man, not wanting to hurt what he so capably could.
“She’s Circ. You can’t hurt her.” Gideon shook his head. He drew closer to Carter and hugged the man close. Then he set him back, his gaze calculating.
Alex stood and drew Bailey to her feet. He hugged her from behind. “Thank you.” The kiss to her neck made her tremble. Emotion grew for the men now hers. He whispered, “He needs you,” and backed away.
Carter wouldn’t look at her. “I’m gay, man.”
“You’re Circ. You think I ever took it from a guy before? It’s not about gender, Carter. You know that. It’s about all of us, together. You feel her, don’t you? She’s part of this. She’s part of us.”
Carter stood still, tense, as she came to him. She felt them all watching, knew a sense of power. Of responsibility. Like the others, Carter had hurts buried deep. She could help him, she knew, and she’d make it easier. His identity in particular was tied to his sexuality. But as Gideon had said, it wasn’t about being gay or straight. It was about being Circ. And damn it, she’d come this far. She wouldn’t let it stop with Carter. He belonged to her too.
Time to bring him into the fold.
Chapter Eleven
Carter didn’t want to hurt the pretty blond. Bailey seemed sweet, and had his tastes run toward women, he would have given her a second look. But he didn’t want a woman. He wanted… He stared at Gideon and Eli, at Alex looking so relaxed. He wanted what they had. A sense of communion he could feel, had felt, but now seemed outside of that circle.
Because of the female. A woman always seemed to come between him and those he loved. Society’s fucking rules. Gays had no place in the world, at least not in the one he’d left. But here, with these Circs, there’d been no right or wrong with them. They’d fucked and held each other, and he’d been more.
Bailey, though, she— “What are you doing?” He stared with wide eyes as she went on her knees before him.
He sensed her beast, knew right then it wanted him, and he…settled. He shook his head, sought Gideon, and was surprised by the man’s smile.
“Come on, Bailey. Do him. We want to watch you make him lose his mind,” Eli teased. “She’s wicked hot, man. You’ll come so hard.”
Bailey ran her fingers up his thighs, her claws shorter than his, but no less sharp. The slight sting as she drew blood surprised him.
He liked it.
A fire started in his groin, his balls already tight from fucking and needing to release again. His cock thickened, the desire for sex and affection all bound up—but he sensed she knew that.
He looked at Bailey then, as more than a woman, but as the Circ who belonged to the group. The piece of the puzzle who’d been missing, though he had a feeling they hadn’t finished growing as a pack. His beast knew there were more out there. Bondmates for each of them, maybe.
Carter, the man, tried to take charge. But his beast—and hers—refused to let him. Gideon suddenly stood behind him, that fat cock nudging his ass.
“Open up, Carter. We need you.”
No one needed Carter. Except… He palmed Bailey’s head, feeling the soft strands of her pretty blond hair between his large fingers. “Suck me?” his beast asked, though Carter had meant to demand.