Tempting the Beast

by Lora Leigh

  n still seemed to cower behind Tanner and Taber. “Come out of there, little sister. Why would you still be frightened?” Because shadows and memories tore at her, tormented her.

  He knew well why she feared.

  She moved from the safety of the other two men, glancing back at Taber as though for reassurance.

  “Dayan is trying to force her to move in with him,” Sherra said as she began to help Doc pack their supplies. “His desire for her frightens her.”

  Dawn paled. Callan breathed a weary sigh. There were days he wondered if they would survive with their sanity in tact.

  “Take her home with you, Sherra,” Callan ordered. “I don’t want her left alone.” He ignored Dawn’s look of surprised thankfulness.

  “Keep her there,” he continued. “I’ll have my hands full running Ms. Tyler off. I need no other worries.”

  “Good luck,” Doc said as he studied a page from the thick notebook he had stolen from the lab years ago.

  “What have you found?” Callan frowned, easing closer.

  Jacob Martin shook his head worriedly, his lined face creasing into a scowl as he read the information he had found.

  “There was a case of this, with the first Leo created, about ten years before you. He was kept in another location. This occurred with a female scientist, actually.” He turned worried eyes to Callan. “It affects not just you, Callan, but the woman as well. The two of you are in a ‘mating frenzy’.”

  “Mating frenzy?” Callan asked carefully.

  “I must have missed this, because you’ve never displayed these symptoms before.” The scientist shook his head in confusion. “It’s just a small notation, really. The Leo and the female were destroyed, so there were no tests done regarding the phenomena. But extreme sexual distress, fevered conditions, heightened senses, the ability to scent the female’s arousal, were all notated. The scientist labeled it as ‘mating frenzy’. A condition similar to that of feline animals.”

  Callan sat down as he breathed out wearily.

  “No tests mean no way of knowing what will happen,” he said wearily.

  Doctor Martin shook his head. “There was mention that several scientists wanted to study it, see if the Leo could breed with the woman, but those over the project wouldn’t allow it. They destroyed the pair.” Callan braced his elbows on his legs, his hands hanging between his knees as he lowered his head, shaking it in horror. The decisions of life and death were made so easily within the hell they had been created in.

  “Someone has to keep an eye on the woman. I need those tests from her, Callan,” the doctor warned him. “We need to track this, for the others if for no other reason. If it happens with you, then it will happen with them. And we don’t know if the woman is in any danger from this.” Callan wondered if the night could possibly get any worse.

  “You need to check on her, Cal,” Sherra warned him. “Or let one of us.”

  “I’ll do it,” he growled, he wanted none of the other males around her. “I’m taking the cell. Doc, you and Sherra hang around here for now. I’ll contact you if she’s still—” He shrugged.

  “Horny?” Sherra grinned mischievously.

  “Aroused,” he bit out. “I’ll let you know when you can leave.”

  * * * * *

  Merinus was aroused. She lay on the sleeping bag within her tent, naked, her body sheened in sweat, pulsating, throbbing with a fever of lust. Her hands cupped her breasts, her fingers pressing against the hard nipples and she couldn’t contain her moan. It felt so good. Almost as good as when Callan had touched her there. She rolled the hard little points between her fingers, her head tossing. Her breasts were so swollen, so sensitive, they were nearly painful. Her skin tingled. One hand ran over the damp contours of her flat stomach to the smooth flesh between her thighs. Slick, wet heat greeted her fingers. Her clit throbbed, pulsed. She shivered at the feel of her own fingers glancing over the hard little button. Need arched like electricity over her body. Hungry, consuming. She wanted, needed Callan.

  She admitted she was in a hell of a mess now. Somehow, someway he had made her crazed for his touch, his kiss. That kiss had been so hot, spicy. The taste of his mouth lingered in hers, making her crave more of it.

  Her fingers slid down the thickly coated slit of her cunt. Her thighs tightened, her legs trembled. Oh, she ached. Her fingers tweaked at her nipples, pulling at them, tightening around them until she was moaning heatedly. Her hips bucked against her fingers as they circled her clit. Oh, that felt good. But not as good as Callan could make it feel. She wanted to feel his mouth on her clit, sucking, his tongue stroking it as he had her nipples.

  She panted for air now. Remembering the moist, heated warmth of his mouth. Her fingers moved more firmly on her clit, a moan working from her throat as heat swelled in her, around her. She was on fire.

  Dying. What had he done to her?

  “Callan,” she whispered his name tremulously.

  She would laugh, if she weren’t so hot. If the need pulsing through her body wasn’t so intense, so searing.

  She wondered where Callan was. Surely he had some idea what was happening to her? Was this his punishment for her daring to come out here and try to drag him into public awareness?

  This wasn’t working. Breathing hard, her fingers stilled on her flesh. She wasn’t going to climax, not the way she was doing it. Dammit, she knew she should have bought that damned book on masturbation.

  But no, she was convinced she could find some buff, muscled god to take care of the job for her. Here she was, stuck in bum fucked nowhere, so horny she was burning alive, and no muscle god to put out the fire.

  “Dammit,” she slapped at her sleeping bag, frustrated tears coming to her eyes. “I’ll kill him when I find him. I’ll let Kane neuter him. I’ll blow his balls off with my gun.” She groaned, turning over on her side, breathing roughly. She could get through this. She blew out hard, attempting to find some measure of control. She could do this, she thought. She really could make it until tomorrow, then she was stalking into that damned garage and Mr. Callan Lyons, Catboy Extraordinaire, was going to take care of this damned problem, one way or another.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “Sherra, get up here if you want those blood samples.” Callan’s voice was low, he could feel and hear the growl emanating from his chest. The ‘mating frenzy’ was building in him, but he knew Merinus was being tortured by it. He could hear her breathy moans, smell her heat.

  “Dammit, Cal, bring her to the cabin,” Sherra argued fiercely. “A tent is not the most romantic place.

  And it’s sure as hell not a good place to retrieve samples.”

  “If I touch her, I’ll lose control, Sherra,” Callan whispered.

  Admitting it took all his strength. He couldn’t touch her, couldn’t get close to her. He heard the silence from Sherra’s end, thick, tense.

  “Okay, pull back. We’ll come out there and get her. You stay out of range of her, Callan. We need her blood and saliva samples before you touch her again.”

  “Then you better get up here fast. If she threatens to neuter me again, all bets are off.” Callan disconnected the cell phone and moved further away from her camp. He couldn’t bear her moans. And the scent of her was making him crazy. His hands clenched into fists, his body tightened with his need. He could feel the small, minute protrusion beneath the head of his cock flaring. The barb. He knew it was there. He had seen the X-rays of it countless times, but never, in all the years he had been having sex had it flared to life. Now it throbbed. It pulsed with a life of its own; the nearly unbearable swelling of it was a demand in and of itself.

  How long he waited, Callan wasn’t sure. Time was measured in the throb of his cock, the beat of his blood through his veins, the lust that seemed to build steadily.

  “Hey bro,” Taber bent next to him as Dawn and Sherra moved quickly for the tent. “Tell me what to do.”

  Callan shook his head, sighing deeply.

&nb
sp; “Find a cure.” He grimaced with a harsh laugh. “Talk about a major complication here, Taber. Until then, you and Tanner scout the area, make sure we don’t have any watchers. I’ll follow Dawn and Sherra as soon as they get Merinus from that tent and headed to the house.” Taber nodded. He clapped Callan on the shoulder, a gesture of affection they all practiced, then moved quickly away. Callan leaned back against the boulder behind him and breathed a hard sigh. Dammit.

  Way too complicated.

  * * * * *

  “Merinus. I’m a friend of Callan’s. Can I come in?” The female voice was soft, incredibly gentle. Merinus jerked into a sitting position, pulling the sleeping bag to her breasts as she stared at the zippered door.

  “Where is that dirty bastard?” she cursed angrily, reaching out and pulling the tab down furiously. “I’m going to kill him.”

  The two women framed in the opening moved in purposely. The door was re-zipped and they regarded her curiously.

  “Merinus, we need to get you dressed and to Callan’s home. Our doctor is waiting there.”

  “There’s a cure?” She narrowed her eyes on them.

  “Sort of.” The blonde grimaced. “If you’ll get dressed we’ll explain everything on the way out of here.”

  “I don’t know if I can walk out of here,” Merinus bit out, anger unfolding in her again. “I don’t know what he did to me, but it’s not pleasant.”

  “Callan is in little better shape at this time. Now, my name is Sherra and this is my sister, Dawn. We’ll help you get dressed. My jeep got pretty close, so you shouldn’t have to walk far.” As Sherra spoke, Dawn jerked a pair of light sweat shorts from a backpack and a loose, sleeveless top.

  “Good, loose clothing should be better.” Sherra took the items and held them out to Merinus. “Do you need help dressing?”

  “No.” Merinus clenched the material in her hand. She had removed her clothes for a reason, didn’t they know that?

  Heaving an irritated sigh, she clenched her teeth together and dressed herself quickly. Moving wasn’t comfortable. But then again, breathing wasn’t comfortable. It didn’t hurt, exactly. The pleasure was just so intense that it was damned impossible to contain her moan when the light cotton material fell over her breasts, stroking her nipples.

  “Oh God, I’m going to kill him,” she mumbled, flushing with embarrassment.

  “You have my permission.” Sherra unzipped the door and moved out of the tent. “Can you make it? We brought a friend in case you couldn’t walk.”

  Merinus shook her head, embarrassment flaming her body now.

  “I can walk. Let’s just hurry up and get there.”

  Thankfully, Sherra was right. The jeep was much closer to the tent than Merinus had been able to bring her Blazer. It was still running and the air conditioner was blasting.

  “Hang on and we’ll hurry,” Sherra promised her as she bounced out of the parking spot.

  Oh, now that wasn’t fair. Merinus felt ecstasy shimmer up her spine as they bounced over rocks and ruts. She closed her eyes, holding tight to the steel bar beside her and the edge of the seat. Each jarring of her body only incited the fever raging through her.

  “Definitely need to write a story on this. What does he call it anyway?” Merinus asked. “I feel like I’m in damned heat.”

  “Close.” Sherra shot her a concerned look. “It’s called a ‘mating frenzy’. We didn’t even know it existed until tonight. We don’t have much research into it. It’s only happened once, before we were born.”

  The statement didn’t take long to hit Merinus’ brain.

  “We?” She turned to her in shock. “There are more like Callan?” Sherra nodded, watching the rough track she was driving over carefully. “There are five of us. Three males, Dawn and myself. The evidence towards us was destroyed in the lab. Only the files on Callan remained. Thankfully, the scientists were trying to double-cross their masters and didn’t tell them about their little side experiments with the rest of us.”

  There was bitterness and rage in the woman’s voice, not that Merinus blamed her. She could only imagine the horrors two young women would have endured there.

  “So, you have your own doctor then?” Merinus panted as they bounced over a succession of ruts. Oh, glory. She closed her eyes. If she didn’t climax soon, she was going to burn alive.

  “The only scientist left. He helped us in the labs, then helped us escape. He watches over us, makes sure everything is okay physically. Sometimes mentally.” Sherra shrugged. “He’s a good man. Kinda old now, but a good man.”

  “Oh hell, Sherra, please watch those bumps,” Merinus sighed dismally as the woman accelerated over a washboard road. “Oh, God. I’m dying here.”

  “I’m sorry, Merinus, we really need to hurry.” The Blazer shot forward.

  Despite the narrowness of the dirt track, the sheer drop from the side of the cliff, the woman pushed the jeep at an incredible speed, steadily climbing up the nearly impassable road.

  “We’re not far now,” Sherra promised her as they hit the top, then curved around and headed down another cliff. “Just a few more minutes.”

  A sharp turn again and they were running straight up the middle of the wide creek that ran through two mountains. Several miles up the creek, they turned again to a graveled road that led to a rustic, large log cabin. No damned wonder she couldn’t find the road, she thought. There was no road.

  “Just pull into the garage,” Dawn said from the back. “We need to take her downstairs.”

  “Doc has a little lab below the cabin, in a cavern we found when we first came here. The dry, cool conditions there are perfect for his work.”

  The vehicle bounced into a wide garage off the side, then came to a jarring stop.

  “Come on. Callan will be here in a minute, and I want you safely out of sight when he shows up.” Sherra led her to a door that opened to a cool stairwell.

  “I thought the point would be to get very close to Callan,” Merinus sighed. “I don’t like this, Sherra.”

  “Well, give Callan time and you’ll like it even less,” Sherra chuckled. “He’s bossy and arrogant. We love him, but he’s hell on the nerves.”

  “What about the bed?” Merinus followed the dimly lit stairs, close on Sherra’s heels as they curved and led into a large open cavern.

  The stone room was brightly lit, with assorted tables, computers, bright lights and complicated machines.

  “Where’s Frankenstein?” she sighed, coming to a halt and staring around in amazement.

  “I told you, he’s on his way.” Laughter echoed in Sherra’s voice. “Come on, meet Doc and we’ll get those samples we need.”

  Samples. Blood samples, saliva, even a swab of her vagina. Merinus lay back on the flat bed, a sheet covering her, her body damp with sweat. Sherra, Dawn and the grandfatherly doctor moved around her constantly. Even her sweat was being tested. It wasn’t comfortable, but compared to the raging lust zinging through her, it wasn’t bothersome.

  “Okay, I’m ready for the antidote now,” Merinus stated when she began to feel the deep, hard contractions of her womb, coinciding with the hard, throbbing pulse that attacked her vagina. “Time to do something here, guys.”

  Doctor Martin was bent over a complicated microscope, computers and gadgets whirring as he pressed in several commands to the keyboard, raised his head and checked his readout. He sighed, shaking his head.

  “Doc?” Sherra stood at his side, reading the display on the computer screen herself.

  “A mating,” the doctor muttered, running his hand through his thinning gray hair as he glanced up at Sherra. “Look at the results of combining his sperm with her vaginal secretions.”

  “Okay, it’s now time to explain to Merinus.” She heard the waver in her own voice and admitted to the fear that was becoming impossible to hold at bay.

  What did she really know about these people? They could be dangerous. This could be some elaborate show for their own expe
riments. She felt her body tremble, not just with lust, but with trepidation.

  “It’s okay, Merinus,” Dawn assured her, her voice soft, hesitant. “No one’s going to hurt you. I’m certain Doc and Sherra are almost finished.”

  Merinus looked up at the other woman, seeing sympathy, shadows of nightmares and pain in her dark, whisky brown eyes.

  “I think its time to call in the Amazing Seven,” she whispered, thinking of her brothers. They could fix anything. “My brothers,” she explained to Dawn’s confused look. “They’ll be really pissed over this. I’ve really stepped into it this time.”

  Kane, hard-nosed asshole that he was, would scream and yell at her, then he would likely kill Callan.

  Maybe that wouldn’t be the smartest route, at least not until this problem with her hormones was fixed.

  “Do any other sperm samples react to the excretions?” She heard Sherra ask the doctor.

  Oh Lord, this was bad. They were combining the samples taken from her body with other men’s cum.

  Merinus gritted her teeth.

  “Enough.” She didn’t wait for the doctor’s response. “Get me a phone. Time to call home.”

  “Merinus, it really is okay.” Dawn glided forward, her heart shaped face concerned as Sherra and Doctor Martin turned to her. “Just a bit longer and we’ll be finished.” Merinus sat up on the bed, intending to move to her feet. To dress. To leave. A hard shudder worked over her body then, her vagina spasmed and a fierce jolt of incredible need shook her body, forcing a moan past her throat.

  “This is bad,” she whimpered, bending over clutching her stomach. “Oh God, this is bad. Time to go home.”

  “Merinus.” Sherra rushed to her side as beeps and pings began to echo through the cavern as the machines, attached to Merinus’ body by electrodes, began to go off. “Just a minute—”

  “Time’s up.” Callan stood in the entrance of the makeshift lab, his hair flowing to his bare shoulders, his golden eyes glittering with lust.

  Merinus gasped as he came toward her. She had to touch him, had to have him against her. He looked big and hard and so warm. There was no hesitation in her when he reached for her, lifting her from the lab bed.

  She groaned aloud when his fiery skin touched her, his arms lifting her against his chest as he turned and stalked from the room. The sheet trailed to the floor, rasping against her skin as it slowly fell away.

  “Is it going to hurt?” She couldn’t keep her lips from his chest. She had to taste him. She bit at hard muscles, licked the small wound as his body shuddered.

  “Hell if I know,” he growled. It rumbled through his chest, a deep, predatory sound that had her shivering in pleasure. “And it’s too damned late to worry about it.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Callan carried her through the darkened house, his steps quick, stalking as he moved through a large kitchen, a rustic living room, then into a long hall. Then he was turning into a doorway, kicking the door closed as he passed it and moving to the wide bed on the far wall.

  Merinus didn’t have time to think and Callan didn’t make her beg. The moment her back touched the mattress he was moving over her, his lips taking hers, his tongue plunging forcefully into her mouth.

  He tasted so good. Eagerly, her tongue mated with his, the spicy taste of his mouth easing the incredible pain of lust that gripped her body. Like a drug addict in the first seconds of her ‘fix’, her body began to ease, the harsh contractions in her stomach to lessen. But she wasn’t taking chances. Her hands gripped his hair, holding him to her as his mouth devoured her. Lips and tongue mated with hers, hard, hungry, her response urging him closer, urging the kiss deeper.

  His arms went around her, blunt nails scraping along her back as she arched to him, her nude body twisting closer, desperate to mate every cell in their bodies together. His hard chest, with its fine sprinkling of golden brown hair rasped her nipples, engorging them to the point of pain. Powerful thighs parted hers, a hand at her back moved to cup her breast, and still he kissed her.

  He licked at her lips, nibbled at them, drew her tongue into his mouth and sucked at it before teaching her to do the same. More of the incredible taste of him. She arched closer, the bare flesh of her cunt jerking against the long, hot thickness of his erection as it lay against the soft flesh.

  “So good,” he whispered against her lips, the rumble of pleasure that echoed through his chest making her shiver. “Your kiss, Merinus, the taste of you, is exquisite.”

  “So taste more,” she gasped, her head arching back as that rough, rasping tongue stroked over her neck.

  Oh, that was good. Real good. Hot, with a gentle abrasion that had her panting as he moved slowly to her breasts.

  “Don’t tease me,” she begged, twisting in the grip of an erotic heat that was burning her alive. “Take me, Callan. I can’t stand it much longer.”

  “I want to taste you first,” he bit out, his tongue licking her breasts, his lips nibbling sporadically. “I want to bury my mouth in your cunt, Merinus. The smell of your heat is starving me for you.” His hand moved to her abdomen, stroking its way to her parted thighs. She almost screamed when his fingers, thick and hot entered the narrow, soaked slit of her pussy. She opened her eyes, seeing his grimace of pleasure, the raw lust that transformed his face. Then in amazement she saw his arm lift, his hand moving to his mouth.

  Two fingers glistened with the frothy cream of her body. She whimpered as he took them into his mouth, his eyes darkening on a sigh of ecstasy as he tasted her. His lashes lowered, becoming heavy with sexuality, his lips were fuller, his face tense, tight with the needs that surged through his body as well.

  “You taste as delicate as spring, as hot as summer,” his rough whisper sounded tortured. “I have never tasted anything so good, Merinus.”

  “Oh, hell. You like to talk,” she moaned. “Oh God, I never could stand that in movies. It’s too sexy, Callan.”

  He smiled, the curve of his lips tight.

  “I want you to know how hot and sweet your body is, Merinus,” he told her darkly, moving, edging lower along her body. “I want to tell you how I’m about to lick that sweet cunt of yours, eat that delicate cream from your body.”

  Her hips jerked involuntarily to the rough growl in his words, as well as the words themselves.

  “Ask me to eat you,” he demanded roughly. “Say the words for me, Merinus.”

  “Oh, God.” Her eyes widened as his face poised over the desperate, aching part of her body.

  He was watching her heatedly, his eyes glittering, savage, hot.

  “Say the words for me,” he repeated. “Give me permission to devour you.” Merinus licked her lips, panting hard as he spread her legs further, his fingers barely glancing over the moisture glazed flesh.