Tempting The Beast (17 page)

“You aren’t a beast,” she told him, her voice soft as she glimpsed the regret in his eyes.

It bothered him, she knew, these needs, the domination he fought to keep from exerting over her, the control he fought to hang onto. He didn’t like the instincts raging at him, any more than she liked those raging at her.

“But I am, Merinus,” he sighed, looking down at the bottle he held for long moments. When he looked at her again, there was remorse, and acceptance. “I don’t deny what I am. To do so would risk my sanity. And you can’t either. You can never forget that the animal is there, lurking beneath the surface. It’s dangerous to do otherwise.”

The problem was, the beast within him didn’t frighten her nearly as much as it seemed to bother him. She felt her inner muscles tighten, her womb clench with the heated memory of his loss of control. How much more dominant could he become, she wondered, then shivered at the thought.

“Merinus, don’t do this,” he told her, his voice tormented now. “You are denying yourself and me. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She heard the plea in his voice. She wanted to give in, she wanted to turn to him, to ease the fire ripping through her body, but she couldn’t. Not now. Not yet. It wasn’t a need to tempt him, or even her curiosity in the face of the lack of control he warned her about. She no longer controlled her own body, and she knew this was the root of her problem. She needed that control. She needed to dictate when she wanted to fuck and when she wanted to cuddle, not her body or this chemical reaction driving her insane.

“Not yet.” She closed her eyes, fighting her tears, fighting her body.

It was her body, dammit. It had a mind of its own lately and it was killing her.

Callan watched her a moment longer, then with a sizzling curse stalked from the room again. Merinus sighed, her breathing rough now that he was no longer in the room. She couldn’t control the soft whimper that escaped her lips. She was only thankful the television masked the sound.

She was breathing hard, fighting to draw air into her lungs as her inner flesh clenched, demanded relief. Her clit actually throbbed and her nipples were torturously hard, aching for the warmth of his mouth. Her hand moved, her fingers running over the hard points lightly, her body trembling at the incredible pleasure the action brought her.

Her head ground into the pillowed headrest. She felt her juices pool between her thighs. Suppressing her groan, she sat up on the couch, bracing her elbows on her knees as she raked her fingers through her hair. Her fingers dug into her scalp. She shivered again. Even that tiny pain was exciting.

She could control this. She took a deep breath, reining in the madness that threatened to whip through her. She could make it. Self-control, that was all it took. If a person could get through drug withdrawal, surely she could get through Callan withdrawal. It was just a matter of controlling the urge. That was all.

She nodded firmly. The action shifted her shirt again, raking her sensitive nipples and she bit her lip to hold back her moan.

Something cold to drink. One of Callan’s beers. Hell, he had a whole fridge full. She stood to her feet, a shudder working over her body as her panties pressed against her clit. Oh God, 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, stroked 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.”