Chapter Ten
Bailey needed to get closer. She growled into Gideon’s mouth, warning that she didn’t like the clothes separating him. When he didn’t do anything to remedy the problem, she clawed at his clothing, not caring if she took a bit of flesh too. He rumbled back and gripped her hips tighter, keeping her where he wanted while he ground against her.
He’d gotten that part right. He’d found her sweet spot, and his thick erection dug into her sex. But it wasn’t enough.
Frustrated, aroused beyond thought, and furious he wasn’t giving her what she wanted—what she deserved after so much craziness the past week—she shoved him back and planted her feet on the ground. Ready for a fight or a fuck. Since he hadn’t helped with the clothing issue, a fight it would be.
Gideon had the nerve to grin at her, his fangs sharp. But she had them too, and she snarled, showing them right back.
“Strip,” he ordered, as if he had the right to tell her what to do.
“Fuck you.” She let the beast overtake the human side of her, still merged with the creature though, and dove for his waist. She planned to tackle him to the ground, then take what she wanted.
Except Gideon didn’t move. She hugged his hips, pushing and getting nowhere. She felt foolish because she must have looked like an idiot shoving against an immovable mountain.
When he dared laugh, she raked her dagger-like claws over his ribs. That ended his amusement. And his patience.
He took her to the ground and put his all of his weight on top of her, making it hard to breathe. “What do you want, Bailey?” He continued to grind that massive cock against her, and frustration rode her hard.
Not worthy… Not…
He kissed her, taking charge of her mouth, her body, as he shoved her arms above her head and held them there with ease. Every time she tried to move, he added more weight, keeping her still. But his lips, his tongue… He continued to ravage her, his kisses going straight to her head. Straight to that needy place between her legs.
“So wet,” she moaned. “Need it inside.”
“No. You need me inside.” He surprised her by jumping to his feet, away from her. But that didn’t last. He ripped through her shirt, threw her sneakers right and left, and yanked off the rest of her clothing. She would have fought back, but her beast wanted to help, finally getting what it wanted—a strong, fit male to take charge.
Bailey wanted him too, yet she didn’t. Her world had changed so much in so little time. It was all so overwhelming…
And like that, the beast took over, shoving the frightened woman to the back of her mind.
Gideon tore off his own clothing while she stood there, naked, staring at him. Then he picked her up and carried her back to the SUV. She kissed him all over, leaving teeth marks to show a claiming. Good mate. Smells right. Like fire and light, pure power.
He slammed her against the vehicle once more. She didn’t feel the cold, her epidural cells shifting, tightening, rebuffing all sensation but what she wanted to feel—Gideon, finally, deep inside her.
Wrapping her legs around his waist, he positioned that massive cock at her dripping core. So focused on finally having what she wanted, her beast tried to take charge.
“No. Look at me,” he said in thick voice, one deeper than she’d heard before.
She glared at him. When he remained still, she let him feel her wrath, cutting into his sides, enjoying the sluice of blood over her fingers, the scent of his power lingering, mixing with the sexual need in the air.
“I want to see Bailey. You want a fuck? I see her.”
The beast froze, blinked, then smiled, ecstatic Gideon saw the real her. She eased back to let Bailey come out, poised to take over once more as soon as he was satisfied.
Bailey stared at Gideon, felt him nudging her clit, his strong chest brushed up against her sensitive nipples. He felt so good. Yet a fear lingered, and she wasn’t sure why. She’d been content in the dark, protected by her beast. Protected from this?
“Yeah, there you are.” Gideon looked wild. His pupils had expanded, desire on his taut face visible to see. “Let me in, Bailey,” he murmured and kissed her, softly, not at all like the grabby Circs who’d tried to force her before. And his smell…
She inhaled and sighed, loving the scent of authority, of power. He’d keep her safe, but more, he’d respected her enough to ask for permission. She pulled back. “What if I don’t want to let you in?”
He groaned, his fangs hotter than hell. “Then you’d better get that ass back in the SUV the minute I let go. And don’t let me in. I gotta—”
She toyed with the nape of his neck, and he tensed, his powerful shoulders bunched, his thighs clenched. She eased over his cockhead and licked her lips. “I said ‘if.’” She drew his face closer and kissed him, licking a fang. “I need you.”
He didn’t blink, staring into her eyes before giving a small nod. Then that wicked grin returned. “Yeah, okay, but I’m still in charge.”
He yanked her down, impaling her in one swift, hard surge.
She gasped as he started pumping, then could do no more than moan when he kissed her again. She sucked his tongue, mirroring the way her body gloved his shaft. He grew more excited. So did she. Unable to help herself, she clawed his sides, reopening wounds that had already healed. But her beast liked it, and so did his.
Every glide of her claws had him hammering harder.
Worries about the future paled next to the carnal need swelling like a bomb inside her.
He broke from the kiss and shoved his face into her neck, sucking before biting and drawing blood. He’d ground against her clit for too long, and her body coiled to spring.
“Gideon,” she keened and exploded when he shoved so hard he felt as if he’d joined her as one.
The orgasm took her from everything, bonding her with the male so deep inside her. More than sexual, the connection gave her insights into this strong yet vulnerable creature giving her such joy. He’d lost so much, felt rudderless at times, but vengeance drove him now. That and an affection for strangers he’d come to think of as his new family. Alex, Eli, Carter, and now her. They were pack.
She hugged him tighter and continued to seize, her ongoing climax another gift from the beast within her.
She’d stabilize the group, she knew that. She had a place if she’d take it. Her mind made the leap while Gideon pumped inside her, his seed taking root, not physically—there would be no conception from an initial joining, her beast had decided—but mentally, emotionally. She had a way into him now. Not anyone’s second, Bailey and her beast were the female alpha. And this joining was glorious.
Stroking his shoulders as Gideon continued to come, panting and moaning as his release calmed him, she heard him purr and felt an answering need to rumble.
They stood, together, a mess of fluids under the moonlit black sky. And Bailey had never felt closer to anyone in her life. Her beast agreed, and this time they settled into a partnership, one they knew would only get stronger with Gideon and the others by their side.
***
“Do you think the female has copulated yet?” Edwin Lang asked Duane as they studied an unfortunate mistake on the exam table.
Amelia Norton’s secondary lab far exceeded the one they’d used at U-Ground. Edwin wondered why she hadn’t allowed them to use it in the first place. Most likely because the annoying woman liked keeping secrets. And she liked power.
She loved having Duane under her thumb. Stupid woman. Lang shook his head. Sad that so much money had fallen into the hands of such an inferior female.
Duane looked up from the dissected mutant, holding the creature’s secondary heart in his hands. “I do think Bailey’s been sexually compromised. And I wonder how long she’ll last. We know that Circs, particularly the new ones, don’t bond like the first batch Dr. Pearl created. Most of them act like competitors when it comes to bringing in a female. Look at Sheer’s group.”
Edwin nodded. “Good point.” Sheer and the others took females for their own, with no care for the female’s health. A few fetuses had developed, but not enough to protect the species as a whole. He’d seen the same competitive courtships in most of his other successful Circs as well.
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 turned 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.