Tempting the Beast

by Lora Leigh

  d, she was going to come from thong friction alone. She was pitiful.

  Stepping carefully, she moved into the kitchen and jerked one of the beers out of the refrigerator. She twisted the cap, hearing the faint hiss. She turned the bottle up to her mouth, taking a long, cold drink.

  Then she held the frosted bottle between her breasts, taking a deep breath as she leaned against the appliance for support. This was bad. Really bad.

  “Where’s Callan?” Sherra stepped into the kitchen, her eyes narrowed as she watched Merinus drink from the beer.

  “In bed.” She would have shrugged if she could have handled the sensation of cloth rasping over her breasts.

  “How long since he fucked you?” Sherra asked bluntly.

  Merinus rolled her eyes. “Long enough to suit me.”

  Yeah. Right. Not in this lifetime.

  Sherra’s lips firmed.

  “It’s not a good idea to deny this when it’s so strong, Merinus. You know how bad it gets.” Sherra moved to the sink, pouring herself a glass of water and drinking it quickly.

  “How would you know?” she bit out. “I don’t see you crawling all over some man trying to get off.” Sherra looked away, her expression cool, but a glimpse of tormented eyes filled Merinus with remorse.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that, Sherra. But it’s my body, my decision,” Merinus bit out, then tipped the bottle up and finished the beer. It wasn’t enough. She needed something to chill her out now. She opened the refrigerator and grabbed another.

  She popped the lid quickly and took a long drink.

  “Dangerous, Merinus.” Sherra walked toward her, frowning at the drink. “We don’t know how alcohol will mix with this chemical reaction between you and Callan.”

  “Guess we’re about to find out then.” Merinus laid the bottle along her temple. It was cool and comforting against her flushed skin. “Can you turn the a/c down a little further, Sherra?” She asked. “It’s hot in here.”

  She closed her eyes, the appliance now supporting her as she breathed heavily. It was stifling, and only growing warmer.

  “It’s not the a/c, Merinus,” Sherra told her, her voice quiet. “It’s the reaction. The withdrawal. You need to go to Callan.”

  “I can control this,” Merinus said, more to convince herself than Sherra. “It will just take time.” She took another drink of the beer, finally feeling the effects of it beginning to penetrate the haze of lust.

  Mating frenzy, what a hell of a name to call it, she thought. She had never seen her damned cats act this way. They screamed and squalled and got it on and then were done with each other. This was ridiculous.

  “Merinus, the alcohol could have severe affects—” Sherra began to caution her.

  “So could sex with Callan,” she argued. “For God’s sake, Sherra, his little soldiers are counteracting the contraceptive you keep poking in my arm. His sperm is changing and becoming normal, and only God knows when I’ll start ovulating, if I’m not doing so on a daily basis. I do not want to end up pregnant by a man who doesn’t love me or need me other than to scratch some fucking chemical itch that’s developed between us. Why can’t you guys understand that?” Merinus could feel the anger raging inside her now. It did this before. She remembered that. That day in the lab, when Sherra and the doctor wouldn’t stop touching her, poking at her. She eased over to the table and sat down. The pain had come next. Great blinding waves of erotic pain that left her weak and gasping. Then Callan had kissed her. The taste of him, male and spicy, so hot, had made her crazy to beg him to fuck her. But it had eased the terrible craving. Maybe all she needed was a kiss?

  She could handle a kiss. His lips rough and hot, his tongue plunging into her mouth, caressing hers, mimicking the movements his cock would make later, driving her insane for more. Or his tongue plunging between her legs. That’s where she wanted it. Lapping at her, fucking into her needy pussy as he growled against the folds of skin. She finished the beer quickly.

  “I’m going to go lay down.” She stood up, sagged momentarily, but gathered her strength and toddled to the couch. Damn, a few beers had never affected her this way before.

  “I’ll sit here with you for a while,” Sherra sighed, following close behind her. “You should let me help you into bed at least, Merinus.”

  “Nope. I am not getting within three rooms of Callan. Damn him. A whole house isn’t enough space right now.”

  “It would be if you would stop fighting it,” Sherra suggested.

  Merinus collapsed on the couch. She tucked herself against the back, folding her body tight, feeling the waves of aroused pain beginning to build.

  “Go away,” Merinus muttered. “I don’t need this right now.” The first wave rocked her body. Merinus closed her eyes, fighting to relax against the heat, the hard slam of rushing demand that washed over her. She breathed deeply, feeling her vagina spasm in a harsh wave, and her juices ease from her body. Her panties would be soaked in no time, she thought with a depressed sigh.

  This was unlike anything she had ever known could exist. They should bottle whatever it was Callan had that did this. It could make a fortune. An aphrodisiac unlike any other.

  Sherra didn’t leave. Merinus was aware of her sitting quietly beside her on the couch, watching her closely. Like a damned germ under a microscope, Merinus thought snidely. That was how she was beginning to feel. Minutes later she was aware of Sherra rushing from the room. It didn’t take her long to return. Of course, she had her little basket of goodies with her.

  “Open your mouth.”

  Merinus groaned, but did as she was asked. A swab stroked over her dry mouth. What good it was going to do them, Merinus had no idea. Then she clenched her teeth, trying not to fight the next wave of lustful demand. It was harder than the last, pulling at her womb, tightening her cunt. Damn, she would strangle Callan’s cock if he got inside her now.

  “Vaginal sample.” Sherra moved towards her.

  “Try it and I’ll kill you,” Merinus gasped. “Leave my damned pussy alone. It has enough problems right now.”

  But she didn’t fight when the swab eased quickly past the leg of her shorts and swiped through the juices at her vaginal entrance.

  “I’m a fucking sex experiment,” Merinus groaned.

  “I really need a blood sample now,” Sherra worried. “It’s really important.”

  “You guys should have been vampires,” Merinus bitched, but she held her arm out as Sherra pushed the coffee table close to the couch for her to rest it upon.

  “I won’t touch you unless I have to,” Sherra promised

  “Damned good thing. But wait just a minute,” Merinus gasped.

  A shiver began in her womb, slowly working over her body, building, almost like a climax until Merinus was gasping for breath, her fists clenching as her body was rocked by a demand that took her breath.

  She heard Sherra curse violently as she moved back from her.

  Merinus wasn’t certain how long it lasted, how long she fought to breathe. Her eyes were wide, her vision fuzzy as the waves of pulsing lust swept over her again and again. It was going to kill her. She knew it now, she would die, a slow, miserable horny death right here and now.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Fucking stubborn woman,” Callan’s curse seemed to echo in her head.

  She was jerked from the couch into his arms, her breasts crushed to his chest, her thighs clenching around his hips. His lips covered hers, his tongue sweeping into her mouth as his flesh seared her. Her arms went around his shoulders, her hands spearing into his hair, fisting there, pulling him closer, unconcerned with any pain she would cause him. She wanted it to hurt. She wanted him to know what he was doing to her, wanted him to feel the violence rising inside her, the need, so sharp and agonizing it was like death.

  He carried her through the house, his lips hard on hers, grinding her lips against her teeth, his tongue a dominating force as it tangled with hers, licked at it, stroke
d her lips. His erection was hot, uncovered, pressing against the fragile barrier of shorts and panties as he stalked through the house. It was driving her crazy. She wanted his cock inside her, now.

  She arched against him, her hands still pulling at his hair as he dragged his lips from hers, stroked them down her neck as he bore her into the dark bedroom. His teeth nipped at her. His tongue rasped over her skin, the faint roughness making her press herself tighter against him, grind harder against his cock.

  “Stubborn bitch,” he cursed her breathless, his voice an animalistic rumble as his hand caught in her hair now, pulling her head back, making tingles of pain shoot through her head. Damn, that felt good. Too good.

  Then he released her. He tossed her on the bed, watching through narrowed eyes as she came to her knees. She faced him, breathing hard, heavy.

  “I won’t be gentle,” he warned her, his voice rough.

  “Neither will I.” She whipped the shirt over her head.

  Watching him, she licked her lips as her hands smoothed over her stomach, moved up, then cupped her breasts in her palms, groaning at the sensation, at the startled wildness in his expression. Her hands didn’t ease the desperate need for calloused warmth, but the expression on his face eased the terrible emptiness that had been building in her soul. He wanted her, craved her as desperately as she craved him. He could be tempted, teased as well as she could. He could be pushed to the limits of his lust, and she intended to push him.

  Her hands moved to her shorts, pushing beneath the waistband, stripping them and her panties off quickly. She tossed them to the floor, her eyes never leaving his face. She wasn’t willing to lay down submissively, a sacrifice to the reactions tearing her body apart. She wanted him, all of him. The man and the beast. She wanted to take him instead of leaving the control of their passion to him alone.

  “How wild are you?” she asked him, amazed at the low, husky sound of her voice.

  The fingers of one hand ran in a slow, teasing stroke from between her breasts, over her stomach, then between her thighs. His eyes flared, his face flushed as her fingers dipped into the heat and dampness glistening over the inner lips. His lips parted, his breathing rough and harsh.

  “Too wild for what you are attempting, baby,” he warned her.

  “I won’t submit.” She smiled teasingly as she brought her fingers to her lips, tasting herself as a hard growl slipped from his chest. “If you want it, you have to take it.” She extended her fingers to his lips then. They parted, the heat of his mouth sucking the taste of her body from them. He moaned, his fists clenching as he watched her. She arched her neck, allowing her hair to cascade down her back, her swollen breasts to tempt him as she brought her hands to them, her fingers raking over her nipples.

  “Why are you doing this?” he asked her, his tone dark, wildly sexy.

  “Do you want it bad enough to take it?” She went on all fours, staring up at him, her mouth now level with the straining length of his erection. “I do.”

  “Merinus, don’t make me hurt you,” he whispered, though instead of pleading, his tone was warning.

  “Don’t make me hurt you, Callan.” Her tongue stroked the bulbous head of his cock.

  A warning hiss erupted from his throat. Merinus smiled in satisfaction, her lips parting, one hand gripping the base of his wide cock, her mouth easing over the head, her lips raking the hot flesh as she swiped over it with hot little licks. She had read enough about oral sex, heard enough, that she knew the basics.

  She thought she could improvise the rest. Her lips closed on him and she began a deep suckling motion that milked at his cock, her tongue swiping over it lazily. Evidently she was doing something right.

  Callan’s hands tightened in her hair, his hips thrusting against her mouth jerkily. Her tongue probed beneath the head, feeling a curious pulse, a hard, harsh throb at the bottom of the head, beneath the smooth, sensitive skin. His cock jerked, pulsed harder.

  “God, Merinus,” he cried out her name, half growl, half beseeching groan. “Don’t do this. I can’t control the need.”

  Her hand gripped the base of his cock, the other cupped his tight scrotum, her grip massaging, caressing as she began to move her mouth up and down the bursting flesh, caressing with lips and tongue, glorying in his strangled growls as he fought to keep from impaling her mouth with his flesh.

  * * * * *

  Callan’s fingers were tight in her hair, pulling at it, rubbing the silken strands over his abdomen as he fucked her mouth. It was exquisite, the moist heat caressing him, her tongue stroking over him, caressing the hidden barb that would emerge when his orgasm neared. He could feel it throbbing now, fighting to override his control, eroding his need to worship, demanding that he dominate. That he fuck her mouth hard, as he would her cunt, hold her to him, shoot his semen into her mouth in the most intimate of orgasm. He had never done that. Never allowed a woman to suck him to climax. He wanted Merinus to. Needed it. Had to know that she was his in every way. He was tortured in that need, to take her, possess her in every way that a man could possess a woman.

  That need had only been growing over the past days. He fought it. Each time he saw her bend over, or watched her tongue lick her lips. He fought the visions of taking her, of fucking her mouth, her ass. That tight little forbidden hole beckoned him, just as her lips did.

  She was sucking at him now, drawing his balls tight against his body, his barb throbbed. He shook his head, sweat pouring from his body. Heat wrapped around him, stroked by his lust, fueled by her touch.

  “Merinus, enough, baby.” He couldn’t drag her from his erection, from her sucking pleasure. He didn’t have the control needed, and she was ignoring him quite well.

  She slurped on the hard, thick cock, drawing it to her throat, then back to her lips, and back again to her throat. Her tongue raked, caressed, drawing his climax nearer with each stroke.

  He couldn’t control it. He couldn’t fight the need, the hot rushing demand. He felt the flesh swell, the barb emerge, harden, tighten. She groaned over his flesh as her tongue raked it, her lips sucked it. His teeth clenched, his hands gripped her head. He couldn’t fight it, couldn’t fight her. God save him, he was the beast those bastards had created. His balls tightened, his cock jerked, then he cried out, holding her head still as he buried himself as deep, as hard as the hand wrapped around the base of his swollen flesh would allow before he erupted.

  He wouldn’t let her pull back, but she didn’t try to. Her lips were clamped on his thrusting cock, her tongue like a lash of fire over the bursting head. He felt his semen explode from the tip, splash into her mouth. Long, thick streams that ripped his insides apart with pleasure as a hiss of completion, then a hard, male growl echoed through the room.

  He was fighting for breath, his chest heaving, his body tight as he drew back from her, shaking as her lips drew snugly over his flesh when he pulled from her. She stared up at him, her lips damp, her eyes dark and glittering with sensuality.

  She was the most beautiful creature on the face of the earth. Inordinately graceful, even in her lust. Her hair was tangled around her flushed face, her lips parted as her tongue ran over them slowly, as though savoring his taste.

  He was still hard. His climax had eased the most pressing demand, but he needed more. He needed the taste of her, sweet and hot filling his mouth. Before she could fight him, he had her on her back, coming over her, his eyes locked with hers as he lowered his head, taking her lips in a kiss so hot it singed his toenails.

  His hands cupped her breasts, his fingers gripping the hard points of her nipples and pinching them gently. She arched tight against him, her hands in his hair again, wrapping the strands around her fingers as she held him to her.

  No, tonight she was no willing sacrifice to their frenzy. She was in no way submissive. She met each kiss with a greed of her own, stroking her body against his, moaning, crying out at each touch.

  “You will burn me alive,” he whispered at her neck
, his mouth rasping over the mark he had left on her earlier that day. She shivered at the caress.

  “We’ll burn each other then.” Her voice was husky, filled with wonder as her teeth scraped his shoulder in retaliation after his scraped her neck.

  He liked the feel of her teeth on his flesh, raking, feasting on him. Her tongue was like a stroke of silk across his skin. Hot, moist silk that made him mad for more.

  He moved lower on her body, his mouth moving to her breasts. He loved the sound of her breathless scream as he sucked the hard little tips of her nipples. The way her hands gripped his hair, holding him close. The way she rode the thigh he tucked in close to her wet cunt. He was starving for her. He couldn’t wait much longer to move lower, to lick down the narrow, closed slit, to plunge his tongue deep into the tight depths of her vagina as he drew all her silky cream into his mouth. There was nothing so intoxicating as the taste of his woman’s pleasure.

  “I’m going to eat you alive,” he growled against the swollen curve of her breast as he began his downward trek. “Shall I show you the torture you showed me, baby?” She moaned, the sound low and pleading as his lips skimmed her flat abdomen. His hands moved to her thighs, moving over the warmth of her skin, parting them wide as he lowered himself between them.

  He could smell her heat. It was unlike anything he had ever known. Sweet, just a hint of cinnamon, wild and elusive. He was a man dying for a taste of ambrosia, and she held the only source between those slender thighs. His head lowered, his tongue moving slowly through the slick essence that coated the soft inner lips.

  * * * * *

  The touch of his tongue was like a bolt of electricity searing her womb. Merinus gasped at the sensation, her body tightening, drowning in the pleasure that washed over her. There had been nothing like it in all her life. She bucked against his mouth, feeling his tongue circle her aching clit, his lips suckle at it. His hand parted the folds, his finger running through the juices that wept from her body, caressing a path from her hidden entrance then lower, shockingly lower, to the tight pucker of her anus. She jerked. He growled warningly into her flesh, sending vibrations of ecstasy echoing over her body. She arched. His tongue stabbed into her vagina, his finger slid a forbidden inch into the lower entrance. “Oh God, Callan.”

  She gripped his shoulders, her nails digging into the muscles as her vagina tightened, desperate to hold his tongue in place as she marveled at the feel of his finger lodged just past the entrance of her ass.

  It didn’t hurt. She would have thought it would. He moved it, pulling free of her body’s grip, his fingers moistening themselves in the juice that ran from her cunt, then returning to slide into the tight hole once again. All the while, his tongue thrust hard and fast inside her, driving her closer to completion, as his finger drove her closer to insanity.

  She tossed, bucking against him, her hands in his hair again, pulling him close as she felt the bite of sensual pain in her ass, the thrust and drag of his rough tongue in her vagina. Torturous need clawed at her insides, burning her alive as he fucked his tongue hard and fast inside her gripping channel.

  She was going to come so hard she knew she would die with the sensations of it. She gasped, burning, reaching, she screamed out at the agonizing pleasure and exploded into his mouth as his finger forged deep inside her ass an instant before her muscles clamped tight in orgasm. Fiery fingers of electricity sizzled her insides, as her hands anchored in his hair and he eased his finger free of her anus, before rising quickly over her.

  His cock slammed inside her vagina. Stretching her, filling her as they both cried out at the clawing, greedy lust that had taken control of their bodies. There was no time to ease into their race for completion. Their bodies were frenzied, locked together in a dance of agonized pleasure. His hips drove his erection deep, thrusting hard and fast. She felt the small thumb of flesh that began to grow tautly erect on it just under the head of his cock. It raked the gripping muscles that milked his shaft until with one last heavy thrust it fully emerged, locking him in deep, jerking, pulsing against the sensual trigger deep within her body as his sperm erupted from the head of his cock.

  Merinus saw stars. Her climax was like a ravaging beast as it ripped through her body this time. She couldn’t breathe, she could only convulse against him as his teeth bit into the skin between her neck and shoulder, just enough pain, just enough edge to drive her into madness.

  It was long moments later before she felt Callan collapse to the bed beside her, drawing her tight against his heaving chest as he dragged the blankets over their cooling bodies. He held her close to his heat, his hand pressing her face into his chest, his body wrapping protectively around her.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, his voice agonized. “Oh God, Merinus, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.” She pulled back from his chest, staring into the tortured depths of his golden eyes. She was sated, relaxed. Her body no longer throbbed, lust no longer clawed at her insides.

  “For what?” Her hand lifted weakly to caress the hard line of his jaw.

  “I hurt you.” He laid his hand over hers, pressing it close. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Hmm,” she murmured. “Hurt me again some more next time then. You must have found a cure.”

  “What?” His voice was shocked.

  “I can sleep now.” She closed her eyes to do just that. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, Callan.” She snuggled against his chest, feeling his arms come around her with a hesitancy that brought tears to her eyes. She kissed his chest weakly, then let the darkness and the incredible warmth of his body lull her into peace. For the first time since seeing his picture on her father’s desk weeks ago, Merinus was at peace.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  It was barely dawn when Callan brought Merinus quickly awake. With his hand over her mouth, his voice a quiet hiss in her ear, he warned her to silence. Staring up at him in surprise, Merinus nodded her head, barely recognizing the savage standing before her.

  His expression was hard, frightening in the dim light of the room. What was even more terrifying was the fact that he was dressed in dark fatigues, his hair tied back, his amber eyes glowing with an eerie light within the darkness of the room.

  “Here.” He jerked her shirt over her head as he pushed her shorts into her hands. “Dress quickly.” He was already dressed. As she dragged her shorts nervously over her hips, he handed her socks and her hiking boots.

  “Hurry,” he urged her as she pulled the socks and boots on and laced them with trembling fingers.

  As she rushed to dress, Callan was stuffing small boxes in a backpack, his movements hurried but controlled. Muscles bunched beneath the clothing, tight and hard, his body tense in preparation for danger. This was not a relaxing wake up call.

  “What’s wrong?” Confusion filled her voice, though she fought to keep it at a low whisper.

  “We have company. Soldiers.” He grabbed her hand when she tied off her boot and drew her quickly to the door.

  It was then Merinus saw the dull glint of the gun he carried in his hand. Small and lethal, the silver black color gleamed subtly in the darkness, reminding her of the death that always surrounded him. She took a deep, steadying breath, following him as he drew her from the bed. Keeping his other hand wrapped carefully around her wrist, he pulled her from the bedroom, heading cautiously down the dark hallway.

  Merinus couldn’t hear anything. She strained to detect any sound out of the ordinary, but all she heard was total silence, and the dull thud of her own heartbeat. They moved carefully along the hallway, staying flat against the wall as he drew her towards the kitchen. Drawing her down to a crouch, Callan moved her into the kitchen and over to the door that led into the garage. There, he turned the doorknob silently, standing alert as he inhaled slowly.

  He jerked the door opened and rushed her across the concrete floor to the hidden door. It opened before they could reach it. Sherra waved them in quickly, dressed in fatigues as well, a gun in her hand. />
  “Get her dressed.” Callan pushed Merinus towards Sherra as he headed to where the doctor was packing equipment in desperate haste.

  “Leave anything you don’t have to have. Samples and notes only, Doc.” Callan grabbed several cases of just that and rushed them to a waiting jeep parked at the end of the cavernous room. “We don’t have time for the rest.”

  “How close are they?” Sherra pushed pants and a T-shirt at Merinus as she glanced back.

  “They’ll be through the security system in a matter of minutes. It will take them no time to find the hidden door,” Callan barked. “Get your shit together and let’s get out of here. Taber and