Grayson's Gamble

Dawn Endeavor - 5

by

Marie Harte

Chapter One

Grayson Belle paced the soundproof office in the Pentagon, feeling like a wild animal in a zoo. The pressure threatened to undo his control. If the situation didn’t soon improve, he feared he’d pull his hair out by the roots. No, not his hair. The wild brown mane on that dickhead Decker would do one better.

To his boss he snarled, “Reassign him before I do something we’ll both regret. It’s been eight fucking months already. I’ve had enough.”

Admiral Geoffrey London smiled at the threat, and Gray snorted. Despite all the shit he’d been through in the past year, they both knew he wouldn’t hurt his superior, the man he thought of as an honorary grandfather, to make his point. But he didn’t intend to let his unhappiness go by unnoticed. When Gray continued to glare at the older man, Lonnie finally relented and took a healthy step back behind his desk.

He sighed as he sat down. “Now Gray, don’t you think you’re overreacting? You’re both doing so well together.”

“Well?” Gray stopped pacing and stared in incredulity at a man he’d always respected for his intelligence. “This is the third time in as many ops that I’ve had to pull Decker’s ass out of the fire. The idiot almost got his head shot off in Mexico. Seriously, Lonnie, the kid needs to be pulled and thrown back into training. Let Gunnar work him through his paces.”

Lonnie shook his head. “First of all, if I give him to Gunnar, he might get killed.”

“I know.” Gray smiled through his teeth. Gunnar was his brother-in-law and a badass who kept Gray’s sister in line. Any man who could do that could whip Decker into shape with ease.

“Secondly,” Lonnie continued, “that kid is twenty-nine. He’s only a few years younger than you.”

“He’s about as mature as a fifth grader,” Gray muttered.

“I think Sebastian has been doing a stellar job. The man’s been a Circ for just little more than a year. Remember how long it took the others to adjust. Not everyone is built like you, son.”

Gray clenched his jaw, wishing he didn’t have to restrain the temper building inside him. The risk of losing control was both foreign yet welcome from the sentience that lay just under his skin. That inner beast, that raw part of him that kept him safe from harm, seemed to encourage his rage. Where the hell had his legendary calm under fire gone? It seemed lately Gray wanted to beat the hell out of someone on a daily basis. Namely, his hulking partner. Until the bastard couldn’t move or utter one more smart-ass comment.

“Sebastian Decker might have been hell on wheels in the FBI, but he’s barely craptastic as a Circ,” he pointed out. “He can’t seem to control the change. Hell, last week he about tripped over his own two giant feet trying to save me. Me.” Gray shook his head, still stunned. “I’ve been working ops since I was seventeen. And I was born this way. Yet your artificial wonderboy thinks he can swoop to my rescue. Talk about delusions of grandeur.”

“And exactly why he belongs by your side. You take too many chances you shouldn’t. You don’t listen to your grandmother anymore, and let me tell you, it’s all I can do to prevent her from taking you out of action until your—and I quote—‘unsafe antics cease.’”

Gray swore. His grandmother, Alicia Sharpe, had serious pull in Washington as well as a host of other influential places. The woman played for keeps, and she didn’t screw around when it came to family. “She’s supposed to be occupied with Ava and the baby and the rest of the team. Why the hell is she putting her nose in my business?” Again.

“You might be family, but you’ll damn well speak with respect when you talk about my wife.”

“Oh come on.” Seemed like lately the admiral took any opportunity to brag about or defend his new bride. Not that Gray could rightly complain about the man protecting his grandmother.

“Boy, don’t press me.” The militant gleam in Lonnie’s eyes told Gray he’d pushed as hard as he dared about Alicia.

“Sorry. No disrespect intended.” Gray cleared his throat. “But the situation is serious. I’m so busy looking after Decker that I’m worried our missions may be compromised. He’s a liability, Admiral.” Maybe appealing to Lonnie’s rank and importance would help.

Lonnie studied him with an intensity that unnerved his beast. Gray didn’t trust the sudden smile that appeared on his face. Hell, he looked just like Alicia.

“I’ve seen Sebastian in action, Gray. I don’t know if you realize it, but part of your last mission was caught digitally. From what I saw, Sebastian saved you from being shot.”

Gray huffed. “I’d have healed in minutes.” Born with an ability to self-regenerate, to communicate telepathically, and to turn into a stronger, faster creature with an astonishing capacity to endure, Gray rarely needed protection from anyone.

“But you shouldn’t have to heal when you can avoid harm altogether. Damn it, you’re not listening.” Lonnie pushed down on a button. “Miss Preston, could you please send in Mr. Decker?”

“Right away, sir,” came the response.

Gray groaned. “Not him again. I’m here on my day off as it is. Is this really necessary?”

“I think we both know it is.” The hard-nosed admiral sat calmly while Sebastian Decker, the bane of Gray’s existence, entered the office.

Six feet five and barely contained by the broad muscle and tightly packed frame of a man in his prime, Decker had the nerve to wink at him before coming to stand before the admiral’s desk.

“Yes, Admiral?”

“Stand easy, Sebastian.” Lonnie smiled at him as if the two were fast friends. That in itself irritated Gray. But when Decker eased back and invaded Gray’s personal space, he barely contained a growl. Lately Gray had a hard time restraining his beast around the male. The damn thing wanted to fight, to prod and test Decker’s strength. He’d seen plenty of evidence that the bastard could and would fight to protect himself, but Gray had the sense Decker always held back when they sparred. And he didn’t like it.

Decker placed his hands behind his back and stood at a modified parade rest. In doing so, his hand grazed Gray’s arm. It was all Gray could do not to grow claws and rake them down Decker’s powerful chest.

Lonnie continued to watch them. Decker looked straight ahead, while Gray silently dared the man to make eye contact. Just once would be all it took, and Gray would… What? Gut him? Caress him? Kiss him?

Oh shit. Not those thoughts again.

Lonnie cleared his throat, and Gray blinked to focus on the admiral once more. He lived for the job. He just had to keep reminding himself of that. “Sir?” In private, Gray would address him with familiarity. But in front of a peer, he always afforded Lonnie the ultimate respect.

Lonnie, however, ignored him. “Sebastian, do you have a problem working with Grayson?”

“No, sir. Gray is legendary in the field. It’s an honor to work with him.”

Gray didn’t want to see where this questioning led. “Admiral—”

“Out on missions, would you characterize his performance as top-notch? Does he get the job done with minimal casualty?”

“Most of the time.”

Gray didn’t like Decker’s answer and glared at the man. “What does that mean?”

Decker turned his bright blue gaze in Gray’s direction.

Fuck, but the man has amazing eyes. His beast approved, rumbling deep inside Gray’s chest. Lonnie took no notice of it, unable to hear. But Decker’s eyes narrowed. His Circ senses, so attuned to the smallest change, must have heard the ultrasonic sound.

Decker’s lips twitched as he turned back to the admiral. “Gray will do anything to accomplish the mission, to include putting himself needlessly in harm’s way.”

“Needlessly?” Gray scowled. “I—”

Decker interrupted. “He thinks because he heals easily, he’s not at risk. But he forgets the enemy always has surprises in store for us, since it seems like everyone out there knows we Circs exist.”

“Bullshit.” Gray fumed.

The admiral stopped him from saying anything else with an upraised hand. “And his mood swings?”

“Mood swings?” Gray repeated, not understanding Lonnie at all. “I’m not moody. Christ, where the hell are you going with this?”

“Getting worse,” Decker answered. “But I can handle it, no problem.”

“Good, good.” Lonnie clasped his hands together on top of the desk. Then as if they’d never discussed mood swings or Gray’s alleged idiocy in the field, Lonnie briefed them on their next assignment. “I’m sorry to throw you two out there again, but we can’t ignore these reports of a rogue Circ. After that last batch we found in Mexico, I thought we’d contained the breakouts. But the file I have indicates another rogue, possibly the beginnings of a nest. Reports lead me to believe this one might turn mutant at any time.”

Before Decker could ask any of his stupid questions, Gray interrupted. “The rogues won’t be our worry here.”

“Rogues are always a threat, Gray. You constantly underestimate them,” Decker said in that uptight Northeastern accent that annoyed him.

“True,” the admiral agreed. “Like you, Sebastian, they were injected with the Circe serum and at first, turned Circ. Soldiers able to transform into bigger, faster warriors with claws, fangs, and hardened skin. They sense danger and can repel small-caliber rounds when changed. But because they’re rogue, their strength is doubled, as you’ve no doubt experienced in the field.”

“Exactly.” Decker nodded. “Superstrength too, so they’re not easy to take down, Gray.”

Gray didn’t need the history lesson. “That’s Circ 101, genius. But in the time you and I have been partnered, we’ve yet to run across a mutant. You don’t know what they can do.” He turned to Lonnie. “I thought they’d capped the last one in Brazil last month.”

Lonnie’s mouth turned grim. “So did I. The Circe’s Recruits team suffered a beating but managed to take care of a nest growing in the jungle. Problem is we have information that indicates the leader of this new group is turning fast. His name is Al Ross, and he’s gathering a following we don’t want.”

“Terrific, just what we don’t need. A gang of mutants.” Gray turned to Decker, conscious the man smelled faintly like cocoa. Though most Circs tended to have a unique scent all their own that any Circ could identify, Gray always detected Decker with little effort.

“So we have mutants.” Decker shrugged. “We take care of them like we handle rogues.”

Gray knew Decker had yet to face the real rough stuff, and he was curiously loath to subject the younger Circ to the ugly side of his condition. Which made little sense, so he forced himself to continue. “Mutants are rogue Circs who react even worse to the Circe serum. When they don’t satisfy their sexual urges with other Circs, the buildup of hormones mutates their genetic structure. So instead of looking like hulking weightlifters on steroids, they get seriously weird. Their skin grows black, their eyes turn red, and they kill everything in their path…after fucking it. Nothing much human about them except their capacity to destroy.”

“Hell.”

“Yeah.” Gray sighed. Maybe after this operation, he’d take a few weeks off. He was getting tired, exhausted by the constant cruelty he saw way too often in the course of his job. Lately, even time spent with his precious niece couldn’t nudge him from the depression settling into his bones. His beast felt restless, his need to shift into his more primitive, stronger form all-encompassing.

“Gray?”

He blinked at Decker, not surprised to see a measure of concern in the man’s eyes. “What?” he snapped.

Lonnie answered, “Your partner was asking if you needed to sit this one out. He said you took quite a hit saving him from a bullet—one he wouldn’t have been exposed to if you’d taken more care with yourself in the jungle.”

“Ah, I didn’t exactly say that, Admiral.”

Holy shit, Decker was blushing. Gray blinked, bemused at the sight of his partner looking less than reassured. If he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought himself attracted to the guy. But Gray had always favored women. Unlike most of the artificially created Circs, he’d been born this way. He didn’t undergo mating heats—periods of intense sexual arousal, when only sex with another Circ would do. The Circ way of perpetuating the species.

Lonnie pierced Gray with his stare. “You might not have said it, Sebastian, but we both know it’s true.”

Gray refused to agree.

“Very well.” Lonnie stood up and handed a folder to Decker. “I want you two to study up on your quarry. No picture, I’m afraid. This rogue was never part of an official project. But we have a name, his last location, and a few crime scenes. Your plane tickets are reserved for Friday, so you have three days to get yourselves together while we gather some last-minute intel from our sources out West.”

“Where West, Admiral?” Decker asked.

“Bend, Oregon. Center of the state, and in the Cascade Mountain Range. Lots of mountains out there for our guy to hide in. And lots of snow too.”

“In June?” Gray asked.

The admiral nodded. “Oh, and before you think about doing anything ‘we’ll both regret,’ you screw with this mission at all, you answer to Alicia from now on. You go by the book on this. My orders, my way. We clear?”

Gray wanted to stay far away from the matchmaking woman. Lately, Alicia’s answer to everything involved mating and babies. Gray had a career to think of, that and a life he chose to live. He’d be damned if he’d let some ancient mystic tie him up in fate and destiny with a great big bow. Even if she was his grandmother.

Gray left with the admiral’s blessing, but Bas—as Sebastian referred to himself—stayed behind at his superior’s request. “Sir?”

Personally, he liked Admiral London. The man had been straight up with him from the get-go, unlike the pricks at the laboratory where he’d been kidnapped and injected with that nasty serum that turned him Circ—involuntarily. He could only be glad he hadn’t succumbed as so many others had. The mating heat had never affected him, much to the bemusement of the admiral and the myriad doctors who’d studied him.

But he feared he might be more like the Circs of Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor than anyone thought. Lately he had…needs. Sexual needs that his beast wanted only one particular man to satisfy. The scent of Grayson Belle lingered like a fine cologne. Wild and earthy and uniquely male. A mug on the admiral’s desk trembled, a residual of Bas’s telekinetic energy escaping, and he hurriedly tamped it back down. Another problem he’d been trying to handle lately—his unstable and unwelcome psychic ability. Fortunately, the admiral didn’t notice.

“Tell me, son, how is he?” The older man nodded to the closed door through which Gray had exited.

“Honestly?” Bas continued when the admiral motioned for him to speak. “He’s like a time bomb waiting to explode. It’s like he’s craving the excitement. I can’t explain it, but I can feel him tensing, sizing me up, and it’s all I can do not to attack him first.”

He hadn’t wanted to share Gray’s problem, but he worried about his partner. Truth was he lusted after the guy with a hard-on that wouldn’t quit. That caramel skin, those hazel eyes, the black hair that kissed the nape of his neck and framed a face too wild to be classically handsome. Yet Gray captivated all the same. He was Circ to his bones. A fact Bas’s beast never let him forget.

“At each other’s throats, hmm? That’s good.” The admiral smiled.

“Sir?” Did the man want them to kill each other?

“We’ve been waiting for these reactions from Gray for some time. It’s okay, Sebastian. He’s not quite like you and the others. Gray is different, special. He just needs to release his beast every now and then. When you’re in Oregon, keep an eye on him but encourage him to let go of that wildness. It’ll help, trust me.”

Bas did trust the admiral, as much as he trusted the admiral’s wife, Alicia Sharpe. She had a presence about her that heralded great power and soothing peace. Beautiful, graceful, and never a hair out of place. And she was Gray’s grandmother. How could he not like the woman? Besides, his beast accepted her, and he heeded his beast’s instincts. They’d kept him alive on more than one occasion.

“Now go on. Make sure you two read that file before you leave the building. Oh, and I’ve found you a place to stay for the night. I know you have a place in Alexandria, but I want you and Gray to be tighter, to trust one another. Yes, I realize the trust issue is on his end, not yours. Still, if I order you two to get along, he can chafe, but he can’t refuse.” The admiral tossed another paper at him. “That’s the address and directions to your shared temporary lodging. I’m sorry about the suddenness of this new mission, but it’s necessary. Now track down Grayson and find our rogue Circ.”

Bas nodded. He gripped the folder and paper and left the room. It didn’t take him long to find Gray. His beast easily picked up the trail of anger and exotic jungle, that rare scent that made him ache in the most inappropriate of places.

Though at ease with his bisexuality, since becoming Circ, Bas had been more and more drawn to men, or one man, in particular. Grayson Belle had become his sole focus. He dreamed about him, to the point he couldn’t think the word sex without an image of Gray popping into his mind.

He found his partner in a nearby break room, empty except for Gray.

“Hell. Now what?” Gray asked. Another soul blinked at him through Gray’s eyes, and Bas let that creature see the inner beast chafing within himself. Like called to like, if only Gray would acknowledge the fact. But Sebastian’s partner had a bit of a chip on his shoulder when it came to Circs created outside of the government’s official projects. Circe’s Recruits and Dawn Endeavor were two teams of Circs who consistently—though unofficially—did Alicia Sharpe’s bidding. The admiral had entrusted Bas with the information when he’d brought him on as Gray’s partner. Yet Bas wondered how much Gray knew about those teams, or how Gray actually fit into the Circs.

“Well? I’m not getting any younger.”

Or sexier, Bas’s beast whispered to him. He couldn’t help a small growl, which further irritated his partner. In an effort to make peace, Bas held out the paperwork the admiral had given him.

“Our lodging for the next three days.” He nodded at the paper Gray glared at. “The folder contains the info on our next mission. So let’s study the documents then get out of here to—”

“Wait a second. This address. You sure the admiral gave it to you?”

Bas couldn’t mistake the suspicion on Gray’s face. “Yeah. Why? What’s wrong?”

Gray looked from the paper to Bas and back to the paper. Then he muttered a few choice swearwords under his breath. He grabbed the folder from Bas’s hands and breezed through it in a few seconds, then closed it and handed it back to Bas. “Take that back to the admiral and meet me at the admiral’s spot in the lot.”

Bas had questions, but the shuttered look on Gray’s face kept him silent. He left and scanned the folder before turning it over to the admiral’s secretary. Then he looked for Gray at the specified area in the parking lot, only to find Gray behind the wheel of a dark SUV.

“Get in,” Gray ordered through the open window.

Surprised at the curbside service, Bas entered. “Thanks.”

“Shut up.”

“And there’s the Gray we know and love.” Bas gave him an overlarge grin. For the life of him, he didn’t understand why Gray’s peevishness made him more attractive.

“Look. I don’t know if you and the admiral set this up or what, but let’s get something straight. I’m not into sharing.”

“Ah, o-kay.” What the hell was he talking about?

“So don’t even think this is my idea.”

“Right. Look, hero, why don’t you just tell me what the hell crawled up your ass and died?”

Gray clenched his jaw tight. Bas knew he absolutely hated it when Bas called him hero. Which was why Bas made sure to call him that several times a day.

“You do know where we’re staying?”

Bas sighed. “Long as it has a bed, I’m game. It’s been nearly eight months of nonstop action. I barely remember where home is. Honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass where we go. I want to sleep, eat, and take a nice long hot shower without interruption. Think you can handle that…hero?”

Gray growled at him, and Bas wanted to purr. Gray was so damn sexy when he scowled. All dark and broody. The power just bunched up inside him, waiting to be sprung free.

When Gray continued to sulk beside him, Bas slouched down in his seat. He closed his eyes while his partner drove, honest about being tired. The pace they worked had been incredible. Righting wrongs and cleaning up science gone wrong from Ecuador to Norway to Mexico had been more than tiresome, yet still exhilarating, being able to be so close to Gray. The man moved like the wind, had a mind that never quit, and the tenacity of ten bloodhounds. They’d occasionally routed rogue Circs but normally found themselves cleaning up drug wars. Only the drugs they found weren’t the illegal kind but the experimental kind.

Remembering how many times Gray had saved innocents and nearly gotten himself killed while doing so aggravated his beast until Bas reminded him that the man sat safely beside him, close enough to reach out and touch.

“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” Gray’s familiar voice rasped. “We’re here.”

They parked in front of a nice-looking brownstone in an upscale neighborhood. Expensive cars sat along the street, and the surrounding landscaping screamed money. A real step-up from the last hotel they’d stayed in.

“The admiral went all-out on our digs, eh?” Bas sat up, stretched, and bumped his head on the ceiling of the SUV. “Damn.”

“Just remember, inside, you break it, you bought it. And don’t even think of taking a step into the master suite. I’m not kidding.”

The way Gray talked about the place, he made it sound as if…

Bas followed him out the door of the vehicle and up the steps of the nearest building. Gray pressed a button on the keychain and locked the car door before using a different key to open the brownstone. “Wait here.” He slammed the front door shut after entering and then opened it a minute later. “Had to deactivate the alarm. Well, come on in.”

Bas blinked, amazed and excited to be able to see this more intimate side of Gray. “This is your place.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Well, come on. I’ll show you all the places you can’t be.”

Art from countries all over the world graced the walls. African masks, South American throw rugs, a German cuckoo clock. An eclectic mishmash that should have seemed thrown together instead looked sophisticated surrounded by dark brown woods and black leather furniture. On one hand, the place looked like a friggin’ museum, but on the other, Bas thought he could easily sink into the oversize furniture and not get up until the next morning.

He followed Gray around like a puppy, mentally thanking the admiral up and down. Finally, some alone time with Gray. One-on-one, in the man’s own home, where he’d feel more comfortable. Where he might finally relax enough to let Bas in.

Except the whirlwind tour stopped scant minutes after it had started. Gray forbade him from going down the hallway toward his room. “You can have the guest room. Here.” Gray nodded him toward a tasteful bedroom containing a queen-size bed and a dresser. “The bathroom is in there.” A hall bath done in blues and browns. Simple yet efficient. Very Gray-like. “Kitchen’s open and stocked. Had a friend of mine fill it for me when we wrapped Mexico.”

The surge of jealousy that hit Bas surprised him. His beast didn’t like the thought of Gray with anyone other than him. “Friend?” He coughed to cover a growl and forced a laugh. “I’d love to meet the person you trust with the alarm code to your house. A hot chick? Some smokin’ dude?”

Gray flushed, and Bas found the blush more than attractive. His dick hardened, and he thanked the jeans that kept his erection contained.

“She’s a friend of my grandmother, dickhead. Sixty-four and counting. Is sex all you think about?”

“Um, yeah. I’m a guy.” The surprising surge of lust that wafted from Gray urged him to take a step closer.

Until Gray set a finger tipped in a one-inch claw to his throat. “Let’s get something straight. I don’t have mating heats. I’m not like you manufactured Circs. I was born this way. I like women, not men. And if I catch you in my bedroom without an invitation, I’ll make you wish you’d never met me.”

“No way.” Bas stepped closer, feeling the bite of pain as the claw bit into his neck. “I could never be upset I’d met you, Gray. You’ve been so gosh awful nice so far,” he said in a bad Southern accent.

Gray just stared at him, those hazel eyes unblinking. And then the bastard laughed. The smile on his face was the most beautiful thing Bas had seen in a long time.

“Christ. You’re a serious pain in my ass.”

Man, I wish.

Gray stepped back and wiped his bloodied claw against Bas’s neck. The touch felt like a caress. Gray must have seen the heat in his eyes because his own narrowed, and he backed away in a hurry. “I’m tired. I’m going to catch some shut-eye. We’ll talk about the mission tomorrow.”

“But the case file, how do you know—”

“I read fast. It’s all in here.” Gray tapped his forehead. “Towels are in the linen closet. ’Night, Decker.” Then he spun on his heel and disappeared down the hallway Bas had been forbidden to enter.

Bas heard a door slam. He glanced down at his cock, trapped beneath unforgiving denim, and swore. “Another lonely fucking night. Just you and me.” He looked at his palm, then down the hallway again, wishing it might have been different.

His beast protested the entire time he showered and jacked off—twice—to images of Gray on his knees, sucking Bas to heaven. All in time, guy. Your foot’s in the door now. Just don’t blow it—at least not until he asks you to. His beast didn’t like the advice, but he took it all the same. And Bas slept a little easier, knowing the object of his affection lay just a short distance down the hall.

Chapter Two

The following morning, Decker continued to repeat everything Gray told him in the form of a question. “So the file said this Al Ross has been gathering rogues together for months?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“But I don’t get it. How the hell do you remember all the info in the folder? You glanced through it for like thirty seconds, if that.” Decker took another sip of hot chocolate. So fitting, and so annoying that the scent merged with the sweet smell of the man.

“It’s a gift. Eidetic memory.” A skill, like Gray’s telepathy, but he’d yet to divulge that tidbit to Decker. Gray had trust issues. And he didn’t much care for the Circs outside of the Dawn Endeavor team. His sister and grandmother, he loved. His parents as well. The Dawn Endeavor Circs he tolerated, mainly because one of them had mated his sister. But the others fashioned by science? He couldn’t help it. They just weren’t right. Inferior creations made by imperfect humans.

Which didn’t explain why he couldn’t stop himself from constantly thinking about Sebastian Decker.

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Decker grinned, and his eyes brightened like sapphires.

“You have no idea.”

“Yeah, about that.” Bas leaned forward and gave Gray a nice view of his square jaw that didn’t need a shave. Circs didn’t grow facial hair, an odd quirk that made Gray and Decker similar. Almost. “Something you said yesterday… What did you mean about being born this way? I thought all Circs were created in a lab.”

Gray cursed himself for revealing that much. Though he and Decker had worked together for nearly a year, something about the man constantly nudged him to caution.

“Oh, come on, hero. I’m not gonna tell anyone.” Decker leaned back from the kitchen table and grinned. “Don’t you trust me?”

“No.”

When Decker put on a wounded face and opened his mouth to speak, Gray beat him to it. “Shit. Fine. I was born this way. I’ve been in touch with my beast since I was five. It’s a part of me. No idea why, it just is.”

“Wow. No wonder you have such tight control.” Decker shifted, and a ripple of muscle caught Gray’s attention. Though Decker was Circ, he seemed more cut and defined with larger muscle mass than most Circs. And why Gray found that trait so appealing, he couldn’t say. He liked large breasts, a rounded ass, and womanly curves. Not the hard body of a man.

“Gray?” Decker’s smile faded. “Are we going to finally get this out of the way or what?”

“Huh?”

“You give me that look, and I sense a fight brewing. You want to hit me; I can feel it. I’ve tried to ignore it, but honestly, it freaks me out. Not me, my beast.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The way you—”

“And I don’t want to know. Let’s talk about Al Ross.”

Bas sighed. “Fine, hero. Have it your way.”

Gray gritted his teeth. You should call me hero after all the times I’ve saved your ass. Your tight, muscular, biteable ass.

The thought was decidedly feral, and Gray took a heavy grip on his beast and shoved the fucker back down. Fine time for the creature to turn sexually aggressive.

“Al Ross,” Gray continued, hoping he didn’t sound as breathless as he felt. Thank God the table concealed his erection from sight, because for damn sure his sweatpants would only call attention to it. “Seems Ross keeps calling others to him. We’re not sure how he’s doing it, but he’s amassed at least half a dozen rogues who’ve gone off the grid. A few have been found dead, but we have no idea what happened to the others. We only know about the dead rogues because we’d been tracking the experimental soldiers from the Circ plant down in Ecuador. It’s the one we shut down last year.”

“Our first op,” Decker said with surprise.

“Yeah. Apparently we missed a few rogues, because they resurfaced in Portland, of all places. One of our contacts spotted them and reported in before losing sight of them. Then more reports came in from an old friend of mine.”

“Name?”

“Jack Keiser. He runs a bunch of psychics in Bend, Oregon. The Cascades is near his area, and when he caught wind of a Circ in the mountains, he called the admiral.”

“Keiser.” Decker frowned. “Why is that name familiar?”

“Jack was a part of the Dawn Endeavor project a while ago. Then some shit went down he had to take care of, and he left. He was also apparently part of the Psychic Warfare Program long before its funding was cut.”

Interesting how Decker’s scent changed. His expression remained intent, but Gray caught a hint of the man’s unease.

“You sure you can trust the guy? I heard some stories about the assholes in that program.” Decker snorted. “A bunch of thugs with guns, forcing people to believe in ESP. Gimme a break.”

Gray raised a brow. “You’ve seen a lot of weird shit the past year. Circs aren’t normal. We change into creatures that look less than human. You know, claws and fangs and armored skin? Uh, not normal either.”

“Yeah, but genetics can be altered. I’m not into the mind freaks. The PWP was a total mess.”

Decker knew more about the psychic program than he let on. “What do you know about it?”

“Not much. Just rumors. Now about this Ross…”

“What are you hiding, Decker?” Gray had refrained from opening his mind and linking to Decker’s because instinct told him it would only bring them closer together. That, and he never trespassed without permission unless dealing with the enemy. But he was dying to know what Decker thought. “There are known psychics in the world today. For all you know, I can read your mind.”

Decker blinked, then broke into gales of laughter. Full chuckles that eased the tension in his frame and made him more than handsome but downright beautiful. “That’s rich. Reading my mind. If you could, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

Gray frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

Before he could blink, Decker stood and rounded the table. He shoved Gray back against the kitchen counter and caged him between strong arms. Holy shit. When the hell had Decker gotten so fast?

“How about I show you what I mean?” Decker kissed him with brutal force, mashing his mouth against Gray’s and groaning as he pulled Gray closer. The deep rumble of a purr vibrated through Decker into Gray, and the sensation of finding what he’d been missing for so long struck Gray hard.

Not used to being dominated by anyone, he pushed back. But Decker wouldn’t let go. Without thinking about it, Gray took charge of the kiss and changed in the same instant. He ripped through his shirt with claws that sprang out between one heartbeat and the next. Though he didn’t need to fully change like the man-made Circs, he’d been pretending to be one of them for so long he just naturally did it.

Gray’s body grew larger. Taller and with more muscle mass, his frame suddenly surpassed Decker’s for sheer brawn. His skin darkened to his mother’s natural brown, a fact that always pleased him, the connection to his African roots one he treasured. But he had no room now to dwell on family, not with his erection pushing him to find ease. When he stepped closer and muscled Decker so that his back hit the counter, he felt Decker’s answering hard-on.

He snarled and pulled back, pleased to see his partner’s bloodied lips, the hint of fangs and elongating pupils preceding Decker’s change. “Don’t ever try to push me around.”

Decker blinked, and Gray saw his beast, that beautiful animal he was so taken with, staring back at him. “Then stop being such a pussy and take what’s yours,” Decker growled.

Before Gray could stop him, Decker shoved a hand down Gray’s pants and tightly squeezed his cock. The firm grip promised pleasure Gray had only dreamed about. And then the pleasure turned to a hint of pain as long nails scraped the flesh of his belly. Decker eased into his change, growing out of a shirt that split open as he grew taller than Gray.

His skin color darkened but remained a few shades lighter than Gray’s. His eyes turned a dazzling light blue, the contrast of such bright eyes against his now nearly black and lengthening hair captivating. Decker continued to pump Gray while he grew, and Gray struggled to remain in control.

Only with this man did he lose himself to his beast. And the creature wanted more. It wanted a fight, a playful interlude he considered foreplay. As much as Gray didn’t want to see Decker as a sexual, attractive partner, he could no longer deny he’d been avoiding the truth for too long.

“Who are you calling a pussy?” Gray taunted. “You’re so big and clumsy, you trip over your own feet. In the time it takes you to change, I’m normally protecting you from getting your ass handed to you by the enemy.”

Instead of growling back, Decker grinned. “Where’s the enemy now, hero?” He tugged Gray’s cock. “’Cause you seem pretty happy to see me.”

Hearing the hated hero on Decker’s lips pushed him past reason. Gray roared and yanked Decker’s hand from his pants. Then he shoved Decker to the floor and landed hard on top of him. They grappled and fought, not doing any more damage than a scrape here, a bruise there. Until they lay on top of one another, chest to chest, groin to groin.

“Fuck.” Decker panted, his eyes wild, his body steel hard and hot. “Let me suck you off. Let me lick you down and swallow you whole.” Then the bastard added, “Please.”

Gray kissed him and dueled with his tongue while he shoved a hand between them. He found the wet front of Decker’s sweats and groaned, aroused anew that his partner desired him. Male Circs, when aroused, secreted a lubricant to ease penetration. By the amount saturating Decker’s pants, the Circ wanted Gray. Badly.

As much as Gray wanted him.

To Gray’s shock, his cock was slick as well. He’d never before reacted the way other Circs did. He didn’t have mating heats, and he didn’t grow hard and wet for his sexual partner. Packaged lube and condoms all the way with women when he went back door. Until this morning, with a man. With Decker.

His partner ripped his mouth away and growled, “Do it.” Then he bucked into Gray’s hand when Gray nicked his cock with a claw. “Oh fuck. Yeah, more. Make it hurt, Gray.”

Gray instinctively knew what Decker needed. He bit the man’s shoulder and scraped his chest with his freed hand, clawing rows of possession down Decker’s hard chest. With his other hand, he jerked him off with fierce tugs, making sure to graze his balls as well.

The scent of chocolate, need, and all-consuming lust saturated the area until Gray breathed Decker in and out.

“Yes. Yes.” Decker came hard, flooding Gray’s hand. “All of it. Oh shit, take it. For you,” came out in a raspy plea, the beast purring once more. “Rub it in.”

Gray took his partner’s cum and rubbed it over his own belly, liking the mingled smell of Decker over him. Circs didn’t worry about infection or disease, and with no risk of pregnancy with Decker, he had no need of a condom, making it pure pleasure to feel his partner’s seed over his skin. The scent permeated the air, drawing him closer, and increased his own need. He literally hurt, ablaze with the need to fuck Sebastian Decker. A mating heat he finally experienced for this one impossible male.

Decker lay passive beneath him. Then he turned his head to the right, a subtle surrender Gray accepted without hesitation. He let go of Decker and jumped to his feet. “Up on your knees.”

Hastily obeying, Decker didn’t ask questions. He wrenched Gray’s pants down and took his thick cock to the back of his throat.

“Motherfucker. Oh yeah. That’s it.” Gray couldn’t help thrusting as he stared down at Decker’s lips wrapped around his shaft. Large hands fondled his inner thighs and sac, and he nearly lost it. But he didn’t want it to be over so soon and forced himself to hold on.

“You’re good at this. So good.” He sighed and ran the tip of a claw over Decker’s cheek. Watching his mate—the man, he corrected his beast’s thoughts in a hurry—hollow his cheeks as he blew him was a sight he’d never forget. A carnal memory he’d take to his grave. And then Decker blew his mind. Literally.

He sucked harder and shoved one slick, human finger inside Gray’s virgin ass.

Gray roared and clenched Decker’s shoulders as he came down his partner’s throat. The orgasm blinded him, the rushing climax obliterating all thought from Gray, the man, until only affection and need remained behind in the beast.

Decker swallowed him down and licked his cock clean. Then he stood on shaky legs, still changed, and still Gray’s. Without thinking about the wrongness of it all, Gray heeded his beast.

“Go lie on my bed, facedown. I want that ass in the air. It’s time I showed you who’s really in charge.”

Bas trembled on his hands and knees at the edge of the bed, so far gone in lust and in love, he was beside himself. He’d been waiting for this moment for months. Years. Hell, forever. And he’d finally had a taste of Grayson Belle. Like heaven was all he could think while his lover waited behind him, his breath hot against Bas’s lower back.

“I love this ass.”

Bas had to remind himself this was no dream. His beast had forced him to make a move and finally prodded Gray into taking him. Well, almost. His sphincter clenched, his desire urging him to take control of the situation once more. But he’d submitted to the stronger male. Well, not necessarily stronger, but certainly more dominant.

And he loved it.

“I want to fuck you, Decker.”

“Bas. Call me Bas.”

Silence. “Bas.”

Light-headed at the acceptance he could almost taste, Bas waited while Gray joined him on the bed. The Circ nudged his knees wider and palmed his ass.

“Oh yeah.” Gray sounded hoarse, despite the gruffness of his beast’s vocal cords. “Such a tight, fuckable ass.” He pulled Bas’s cheeks apart and settled the tip of his cock at his entrance. “You have done this before, right?”

Bas could hear the need vibrating in the male, yet Gray would never intentionally harm someone he cared about. Even Bas, who annoyed him to no end, would never find true pain without pleasure at Gray’s hands, which was part of the reason Bas had fallen so hard for the guy.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Have you?”

Gray stilled behind him, and Bas wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. He’d suspected Gray had never been with a man before. Would the reminder he was supposed to be straight scare him away? Oh shit. Not now. Not when I’m so close—

He groaned as Gray slipped inside and stretched him out. The first push burned until his beast took charge and eased his flesh around Gray. The benefits of being Circ. The pain normally present at such a breaching faded quickly. And the ability to stay hard and come all night couldn’t be ignored either.

“Never fucked a guy before. Not until you.” Gray continued to move forward until he seated himself all the way, balls-deep, inside him. “Fuck, you’re hot. So tight.” Gray moaned and pulled out, then thrust in again.

“Yes,” Bas hissed. “You’re so big. I want to feel that cum heat me up inside. Give it to me.” Mate sat on the edge of his tongue. But even his beast knew it was too soon to spring that happy truth on Gray. So he rocked on his hands and knees as the best lover he’d ever had fucked him senseless.

Even the reach-around as Gray did him was perfect. Not awkward, despite their largeness or positioning. Of course, when Gray was on the verge of slipping out of him, Bas unconsciously used his telekinesis to keep him there. An instinctive move to continue the pleasure.

Bas came suddenly and shouted as he spent on Gray’s sheets. And Gray continued to milk him, pulling yet another orgasm from him. The seed covered Gray, but instead of wiping his hand on Bas, Gray pulled it away.

Then Bas heard the unmistakable sound of Gray sucking his fingers and clenched his ass tight.

“That’s it, baby. Keep me in. God, you taste good. Cocoa and butter. So damn sweet,” Gray whispered and came on a strangled cry. He gripped Bas’s hips hard as he pulsed.

Bas felt the bursts of semen bathe his sensitive rectum. The Circ ability to sense completion was like nothing he’d ever felt as a human. But what struck him most was that Gray had called him baby. He wondered if his lover realized what he’d said.

“Shit. You’re a mess. I’m a mess. My bed…”

“Is a mess,” Bas finished for him. “Go figure.”

Gray chuckled. “Still an asshole. No wonder you grew on me.” He pulled out and sighed. “God, I’m tired. So why do I feel ready for another go-round?”

Bas wanted to accommodate him, but weakness invaded his limbs, and he fell on his face. Embarrassed, he tried to make light of it, but Gray wouldn’t let him.

“Shit. You okay?” Gray turned him over and stared down at him with worry. “Damn. I’m sorry. Hold on.” With little effort, Gray carried him—like a friggin’ girl—into an oversize shower. Obviously made with Circs in mind.

“I’m good. Jesus, put me down.” Bas struggled until Gray set him on his feet again. “I’m okay. Just a little done in by that huge cock.”

Gray relaxed and grinned. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Thanks. So maybe you’ll let me gag you on it next time?”

Gray smiled but didn’t answer, and Bas didn’t argue when he took charge.

They both changed back to human form at the same time, their minds on the same wavelength, apparently. Gray tugged Bas’s head down and lathered shampoo in his once-again short hair.

“Nice brown. Rich.”

“Not as deep as yours.” Bas blushed, feeling like a virgin who didn’t know what to say, now that he’d given up the goods, so to speak. “Gray, uh, about what happened…”

“You were right. I was being a pussy.” Gray shrugged, but Bas could tell this was anything but comfortable for him. “My beast sensed something different about you from the first.”

Bas hoped it wasn’t because of his awful telekinesis. He’d just as soon forget about his ability, because those thoughts led him to remember being sequestered in the labs while asshole scientists experimented on him, forcing him to showcase his power. He supposed he should be thankful they’d turned him Circ, or Gray would never have looked at him twice. But he didn’t want Gray to think him a freak. As far as Bas was concerned, he was as normal as any other Circ could be. And that was weird enough.

“You all right?” Gray asked on a cough. “I mean, I’m new at this, and I might have been too rough.”

“No, no. I’m good.” Bas didn’t have to work for his smile. “Better than good, actually. I swing both ways, so I knew what we were doing. I’d have told you if it wasn’t okay.”

The soap ran down his legs, pooling on the floor with the water from Gray’s body.

The mingling scents of soap, Bas, and Gray—that thick sense of flora and heat and wildness—made him breathe deep.

“I know. Smells damn good.” Gray ran the soap over his own body, and Bas couldn’t ignore the hard-on that had returned as the water rinsed him clean. “Great to be Circ, eh?”

Bas nodded and knelt once more in front of Gray. He licked a trail over Gray’s belly and down, where Gray’s cock stood out with prominence, not hidden by any body hair. A true Circ. Hairless where it counted.

Bas chuckled. “Oh yeah. Gotta love our stamina.” Then he opened his mouth and made Gray moan his name. For the rest of the morning and well past noon.

* * *

She snorted to herself in amusement. Same enemy, different day. The rogues sniffed the air and nodded to one another. The snow in the mountains had finally started to melt, but enough remained to cover the scent and tracks of the female they’d come to claim. She could almost hear their thoughts.

She’d evaded the others sent to bring her back for testing. But she wouldn’t escape this bunch. Not with the strength abundant in the half dozen rogues selected to mate with her. And with one of the rogue’s skin starting to turn black, signaling his slide into becoming mutant, they’d have that much more of an advantage running her down. Or so they kept telling each other. Idiots.

“I can’t smell her.” Dave frowned. His long hair whipped around his face, framing his high cheekbones and feline eyes like a lion’s mane. He flexed his claws and breathed deep. “I don’t like it.”

Mike nodded at the two others with them, and they split up, leaving Mike and Dave together to hunt her from the southern perimeter around this particular finger of land. “Something’s off with her. I’m not sure what it is, but no way some fucking bitch goes this long without getting caught. She has to have help.”

Dave nodded. “A fucking year. No way.”

They spent the next two hours hunting for another trace of her on the air. In the brisk cold of nightfall, the sounds in the woods grew sharper, the smells more pungent. Yet neither male could catch a whiff of her.

Just the way she’d planned it.

Ali soundlessly watched from the mountain ledge two dozen feet off the ground. Trenton had sent a larger group this time. The prick. She didn’t understand why he and his rogues wouldn’t just leave well enough alone. How hard was it to understand? Hunt her and die. She’d sent two heads back to the laboratory on Whidbey. Yet the bastards continued to pursue her.

But this talk of a mutant’s signature black skin worried her. Rogues she could handle. She’d been handling them for over a year—since they’d located her—and all by herself. But a mutant changed things. Impossibly strong, driven, and uncanny in their ability to ferret out prey, mutants didn’t stop until they mated. She’d heard of one brief case of a mutant who’d actually managed to turn back the psychotic tendencies of genetic trauma with the right mate by his side. It looked like Trenton must have heard the same stories. Why else work so hard to track her? Just for breeding? He had other females for that. She wasn’t so special. Not now.

She glanced down at her forearms, unnerved at the black veins now visible through her tanned skin. Her hair remained long and nearly white with streaks of brown. The rest of her skin stayed Circ, not mutant. But every now and then, in the reflection of a mirror, she saw a hint of red in her eyes, a sign she’d begun to deteriorate faster than she’d thought possible. Her body had begun to decay, but her ability to camouflage herself, to blend into any environment, grew stronger.

Unlike the rumored Circ who could actually become invisible, she simply changed her skin patterns to match her surroundings. Not invisible, but she might as well be. Against the dark rock at her back, she looked like another shadow. And thanks to the lack of moonlight, she wouldn’t be silhouetted against the rock. Not even when she lifted her arm and pointed her Circ Special, a .45 caliber weapon designed with Circs in mind, in their direction.

She took a deep breath and released the pheromones she controlled. The perfume of female lust pushed through her pores and entered the crisp June air. She mentally thanked the last snow front that had hit just a week ago. Odd for this time of year, but the weather had been a blessing in disguise.

“Smell that?” she heard one of them say. Though they were some distance away, her Circ hearing made it possible to track them with ease. When they pushed past the small cluster of pines she’d been watching, she took aim and fired.

Mike went down with a hole in his forehead while Dave took cover, which she’d been expecting. She laughed to herself. They never expected Circ-piercing rounds, but she’d learned from the best. Ali could hunt and shoot years before they’d abducted her the first time. And hell, after her third time in the stews, she’d made damn sure to never be taken unaware again. Too bad Granddad Dill couldn’t be here to see her in action. But then, he’d been taken with her the last time, and he hadn’t survived the devil’s drugs they’d been injected with, not like she had.

She fumed at the memories and released more of her scent. Rogues had a hard time resisting the lure of a female in heat. And since Ali couldn’t—wouldn’t—relieve her needs with a Circ, she was more than potent.

“Damn. Hold on, bitch. I’m coming.” Dave took little care with his safety as he trampled through the snow to get to her. She took note of his Circ attributes. The claws, the fangs, the eyes. The dark, naked skin, and worse, the monstrous erection. “I’m gonna fuck you raw. Just you wait.”

Lucky, lucky me. Glad for her enhanced eyesight and night vision, she aimed her weapon for his cock and pulled the trigger.

His cry of pain was music to her ears. Knowing it would attract the others, she eased back onto the rock shelf upon which she hid and waited, gun in hand, hatred in her heart. She’d never be used again, not by anyone. The only good Circ was a dead Circ. And she aimed to make sure she took out as many as she could before biting the bullet herself.

Chapter Three

“Coffee’s on.”

“Thanks.”

Silence reigned until Bas clinked the glass of the coffeepot against the mug Gray had set out for him. He poured himself a cup and waited. He put the carafe back. He toyed with a spoon.

More silence.

Inwardly, he cringed. Their coming together had been building for months. But Bas wouldn’t have thought they’d go from nothing to twenty-four hours of marathon sex to awkward pauses the very next morning.

“Nice weather we’re having, huh?” Surely Gray would say something about his inane comment.

“Yeah, I guess.” Gray sipped from his cup and returned to reading the Washington Post. He wore dress slacks and a button-down shirt and looked like a stockbroker getting ready for work. One with a beast that gave Bas confused glances out of beautiful hazel eyes.

Yesterday morning Bas would have teased Gray. He’d have made fun of his fancy clothes and no shoes, the way he ground his beans and used a three-hundred-dollar coffeemaker like a yuppie from hell. But after that intimate connection the day and night before, he was loath to upset the man who’d wormed his way firmly into his heart.

He’d try sidestepping the issues Gray wouldn’t talk about and focus on their mission. For now.

“So this Al Ross. What do we know about him?”

Gray put the paper aside, finally, and looked at Bas. “Not much. And we leave the day after tomorrow for Bend. We’ll be getting in late, but Jack will make sure we have a place to stay for the night before we get to work.”

Bas didn’t like relying on anyone associated with that fucked-up PWP. He’d left them long behind, or so he thought. His agitation unfortunately manifested in the carafe that shot out of the coffee warmer and crashed on the floor, spilling hot coffee everywhere.

“Shit.” Gray jumped out of his seat and stared at the shards of glass. “What the hell?”

“Weird.” Bas leaned forward and pretended to be confused. But when he glanced up to meet Gray’s gaze, he noted the suspicion lingering there. “You got a mop, hero?”

Gray scowled. “In the closet behind you, junior.”

“Junior? That’s a good one.” Taunting Gray might not have been the smartest thing he could have done, but it had taken that untrusting look off his face. “So besides a possessed coffeepot, what else have you got?” He grabbed a dustpan, broom, and mop and got to work while Gray wiped up the excess mess that had spilled onto some lower cabinets.

“Got?”

“On Ross. Focus, Gray. Hell. For such a professional, you sure do lose track easy.”

“Dickhead.” Gray’s frown remained, but he answered while he cleaned. “Ross has apparently been keeping himself apart in the mountains for months. He’s rogue, and he’s killed.”

“How many?”

“Three. The rest we figure he’s made into his own little army.”

Bas finished cleaning up the glass and started mopping. “So while he’s amassing forces to do his bidding, he’s killing the opposition maybe?”

“Doesn’t feel right, but it’s what’s in the file.”

“That you got from trusting some psychic asshole out West.”

“Pretty much.”

It annoyed Bas that Gray seemed so unconcerned. How could he blindly trust those people? The psychics he’d met had put him through hell and back. Almost as bad as the scientists experimenting on him to see how he’d respond to different doses of the Circe serum. But the psychics… They’d hurt him deep down, where he thought he’d buried his fears.

“You okay?”

He blinked and saw Gray looking at him. But damn if he could read Gray’s expression. Man would have made a fortune playing cards. “Yeah, fine. Just tired from last night.” He leered at Gray. “Oh Jesus. Is that a blush?”

Gray, as usual, ignored what he didn’t want to hear. “So Ross is to be put down hard. No questions, no second chances. We find him, we take him out before he pulls in more rogues. It’ll be bad enough getting in undetected. Our job is to eliminate the threat and return home.”

“Ross, but not the others.”

“No.”

“Cut the head off the enemy and the rest will fall?” It made sense to Bas.

“Something like that. Mrs. Sharpe is convinced Ross is the key. Then she’ll send in a cleanup crew to handle the other rogues. But this Ross needs special handling.”

“Great. We’re just going to wander into the lion’s den and hope we find him before more of his rogue buddies find us.”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

“Gee, sounds like fun.”

Gray grinned.

“Almost as fun as yesterday.”

Gray’s smile disappeared. His eyes darkened. But instead of responding, he turned away. “Good point. After all that fucking, I didn’t get much sleep. You should rest up too. You’ll need your energy tomorrow.” Then he walked back down the hallway without a backward glance.

Bas wanted to hit something. His beast wanted Gray, and the creature made his head ache and his skin itch to feel more of the sexy Circ against him. Irritated, tired, and now smelling like a Starbucks gone wild, Bas felt himself slip again. Energy poured out of him in waves.

“Shit.” Gray’s loud yell had him racing down the hall. He burst into Gray’s room only to see Gray face-first down on his bed, unable to move. His legs were spread wide, his arms pinned above his head to the bed.

Perfect, his beast rumbled. Without meaning to, Bas started to change.

“What the hell is going on?” Gray snarled, the sound muted through the sheets. He managed to turn his head and caught Bas’s eye. “What are you doing?”

Bas wished he had more control. He’d be embarrassed about it later, but right now, his libido controlled his strings. “Need you. Too hot.”

Gray blinked. “Shit. You’re in a mating heat?” Between one heartbeat and the next, Gray’s pupils elongated and his hair started to grow. “Fuck. You just pulled me into it, you bastard.”

Bas stripped down to nothing in seconds and forced himself to change back to human, though it wasn’t easy. His beast complied because Bas promised him Gray. “Not my fault.” He wanted to speak in more than two- and three-word sentences, but he couldn’t. Not now. With brutal hands, he yanked Gray’s pants and underwear off, leaving him gloriously bare from the waist down.

“Why can’t I move?” Gray asked, but he didn’t appear to be struggling.

“You can if you want.” At the thought, his mental holds on Gray disappeared.

His lover sat up so fast, it made Bas’s head spin. And then Gray switched places with Bas and bent him over the bed to mount him from behind. No foreplay, no soft words or kisses. Gray’s slick cock shoved hard between Bas’s ass cheeks.

“Fuck, yeah. You need it? It’s yours.”

Not it. You. Bas could only take what Gray gave him, hoping it would be enough to strengthen their weak connection. Physically, they fit like a lock and key. But emotionally, Gray might as well have been on another planet.

Their rhythm grew frantic. Gray gave while Bas received. Each tug, each shove was returned with a shift of his ass, a jiggle of his hips.

“Bas. Here I come.” Gray came into him, and the warmth of his seed pushed Bas’s beast once more. “Oh no, you don’t. You don’t come till I say so. You think you can play mind games with me? Do you know who you’re fucking with?”

Gray knew what he’d done. Oh hell. Not good. As usual, when confronted with discomfort, Bas tried to joke his way out. “I know exactly who you are. A sexy asshole with control issues and a superiority complex.” Bas grunted as Gray continued to fuck him with brutal, orgasm-inducing strokes, that hard cock growing stiffer despite his climax.

“Okay, junior.” Gray panted. “Here’s the discipline you’ve been lacking.”

Bas didn’t know what the hell Gray meant, and then Gray pulled out and flipped Bas onto his back as if Bas weighed next to nothing. Apparently Bas hadn’t been the only one holding back when they’d fought.

Gray stared into his eyes as he ripped off his button-down shirt. So much for the stockbroker. The beast had returned wholeheartedly. “Open for me.”

Bas frowned, then panicked when he felt a familiar pressure on his mind. But before he could pinpoint the sensation, it disappeared.

“I said open for me.” Gray glared down at his legs.

Weak with relief that he’d only imagined a psychic assault, Bas spread his thighs wide.

“Arms over your head.”

Excitement made him more than hard and left him aching.

“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Gray murmured as his gaze slid over Bas’s erection. “Now move your arms wider. That’s it.” Gray leaned over him, dragging that thick cock against Bas’s belly.

Bas felt cuffs around his left wrist. Then his right.

“You need to be ridden hard, I think.” Gray considered him. “I normally do this with women, but you seem to need it more than most of my dates.”

Bas hated the idea of Gray with anyone else, but he refused to put himself out there more than he already had. “Gee, handsome. And here I definitely would have pegged you as a man’s man. A real bottom.”

Fury flashed in Gray’s eyes. “You don’t know when to quit.” Gray leaned close and…bit his shoulder.

Bas yelled out in pain just as he felt another shock. Gray moved like lightning. One minute he had his fangs buried in Bas’s skin, the next he’d managed to wedge his hips between Bas’s thighs and shoved the tip of his cock into Bas’s ass. But instead of ramming deep, Gray withdrew his bite and steadied himself on his forearms, his shaft moving with extreme slowness. The bastard took his time as he fucked him, making him feel every inch.

“Damn it.”

Gray chuckled, but the meanness didn’t leave his eyes. “Feel it. Every fucking inch. Coming inside you before was perfect. I needed it.” Gray glanced down at Bas’s weeping cock. “Bet you need it too, don’t you? Need to come all over me, to feel me slide deeper inside your hole.”

“Quit playing,” Bas snapped, while his beast delighted in the powerful male’s attention. The dominant Circ cared, offering a bonding even if Gray didn’t consciously realize what the bites and sex meant. Bas’s beast knew, and as Gray watched him while they fucked, new thoughts entered his mind. Of how good it feels to fuck Bas. But I wish I didn’t want the sexy, obnoxious Circ so much. I shouldn’t be so drawn to this unnatural creature. Shit, he’s a scientific experiment. But he’s so hot, and he feels so fucking good. I can’t stop myself. Why him? Why is he so different, so important to me?

Bas had a hard time understanding until the truth suddenly rushed through him. Shit. I’m hearing his thoughts. He didn’t want to hear any more. It hurt to know Gray saw him as something inferior, yet at the same time, it gave him hope that Gray couldn’t stay away. If what he heard from the man was true, Gray lusted after him with a hunger he’d never felt before.

“Stay with me. Right with me.” Gray ran a hand over Bas’s cock, and the dual stroking sensation, inside and outside his body, jolted a burst of seed from him. “That’s good, baby. Give me more. Put it all over my skin.”

Bas had a hard time holding it in. The love, the lust, the need. The anger. And then Gray leaned down to kiss him and clutched his cock tighter.

Bas groaned as he came and continued to come. The explosion rocked his entire world, and the intensity nearly made him black out. When he came back to himself, he saw Gray’s belly covered in semen. Then Bas shifted his hips. Gray’s face tightened, and his lips parted on a moan as he came inside Bas. A second, smaller eruption jetted from Bas’s cock.

“God, you smell so good.” Gray paused, blinked, and seemed to come back to himself.

The intimate connection that had all but joined them as one just seconds earlier faded, then disappeared. Gray withdrew from Bas, left the bed, and stood. “You good now?”

“Good? I’m great.” And confused as shit.

“Okay, then. I’m going to hit the shower and get some rest. You should do the same.” The look he shot the door couldn’t be mistaken. Gray wanted him gone.

Bas sat up, his chest tight, and his eyes burned with what he tried to tell himself was rage. For all that he’d initiated sex, Gray had been right there with him. “Sure thing, hero. I’ll take my unnatural, experimental ass back to my room. Away from your fucking ego.”

He leaped from the bed, ignored the twinge in his ass, and slammed the door shut when he left the room. Then he took a long hot shower in the other bathroom and wondered how the hell he could have fallen in love with such a prick.

The moment the door slammed, Gray shuddered and slumped to the floor. He’d never felt so weak yet so strong at the same time. It was as if Bas had left with a piece of him, and his odd parting words made a scary kind of sense. Unnatural? Experimental? Gray had been thinking that while they’d fucked.

When his first attempt into Bas’s mind had failed, Gray had retreated and hadn’t tried again. Though he had the power, he didn’t like abusing it. As much as he wanted to know what Bas thought, he’d never been into rape—of any kind. A violation of another’s mind was a strict taboo. The only times he’d done it in the past had been through his sister to warn her of mortal danger.

In any case, he didn’t want to read the man’s mind. That would mean opening up a connection that apparently already existed, because he’d swear Bas had somehow read his thoughts. An impossibility, or at least it should have been.

He sent out a telepathic knock, needing a conversation he knew his sister would keep quiet and private from their meddling grandmother. If his parents hadn’t been vacationing halfway across the world, he’d have asked them. But he didn’t want anyone even guessing at what he suspected.

“Ava? You busy?”

His sister answered right away. “Yeah, busy trying not to lose my friggin’ mind. This kid of mine is crazy hungry all the time.”

Great. Just what he needed. To think about his sister breastfeeding. He mentally scrubbed his brain. “I need you to do me a favor. Read my mind.”

She gave a laugh. “Yeah, right. You know I can’t do that. I’ve never been able to.”

“Just try.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Nothing. Tighter than a drum. But…”

“But what?”

“You seem different. And what’s with the chocolate?”

“What?”

“I don’t know how, because you can’t smell thoughts. But it’s like you’re coated in chocolate. Oh God. I hope that’s not a sign I’m pregnant again. I need some recovery time from Sophie.”

He heard the mental echo of a baby’s gurgle and sent a burst of love to his niece. “She’s like me,” he said with pride. “My little girl can hear thoughts.”

“You mean my little girl. You’re as bad as the others. Gunnar brags she has his strength and his bright blue berserker eyes. The others are claiming she mimics whatever they do, and Grandma is so proud, she’s about to burst.”

“Good. Keep Alicia busy and out of my hair.”

“Uh, about that. I heard her on the phone with Lonnie earlier. You don’t pull through on this mission, and she’s planning to put you behind a desk, bro. Be careful about this one.”

“Fuck.”

“Watch your mouth.”

He could feel her frown. “Sorry. Hey, at least the kid can’t understand words yet. Can she?”

Ava sighed. “I hope not. Because half the things Gunnar says would melt her ears clean off. Oh hell. She’s hungry again. Gotta go. Love ya.”

“You too.” He disconnected the link and tried not to jump to conclusions.

His parents could read each other’s thoughts. So could Alicia and Lonnie, now that his grandmother had finally accepted him as her mate. Gray had been gifted with an advanced telepathy from the time he could crawl. Any serious ties to a mate would be mental as well as physical.

He’d never before been so tuned into another person. With Bas, he felt physical desire. But did he also share a mental connection? He couldn’t be sure, not without looking into Bas’s mind. Tempting as it was, he didn’t think Bas would welcome the intrusion. Certainly they shared chemistry. But what if Bas had only wanted him to sate his needs? They’d worked together for months, but this was the first time Bas had shown any interest. Hell, up until this point, he hadn’t realized Bas liked men.

Though most Circs were bisexual, many preferred one gender to another, seeking other Circs more as a necessity than due to any real sexual preference. Bas had never displayed the typical characteristics of a Circ—the mating heats, the out-of-control rages, resistance to the change. From what little Gray knew, Bas was a rare individual who had adjusted to the Circe serum without a problem.

Until now.

Until he had his first mating heat. But why so late after becoming Circ? The nagging question remained, though Gray tried to ignore it. What were the odds he’d been thinking of Bas as an experiment and the man just happened to mention it in a fit before stalking out the door?

On shaky legs, Gray stood and moved to his shower, where he washed himself clean. Yet the bonded scent of himself and Bas didn’t fade. His beast stretched inside him, wrapping himself in the familiar, welcomed touch of Bas’s memory.

So not good.

Gray didn’t mind the thought of one day mating, but he intended to do it the right way. With a female Circ from home, one of those born gifted, like him, to produce children. He’d continue his family’s way of life, protecting the innocent while making sure society didn’t annihilate itself in the name of trying to make life better. Righting science gone wrong had been his grandmother’s agenda since he could remember. And she’d made sure he and his sister understood they had significant roles to fill.

Alicia could see the future, and she’d seen Gray saving lives. His importance in the grand scheme of things gave him purpose. He’d tolerated the unnatural Circs because they could help him where normal humans could not. But to mate at this early stage in his life, and with a male, no less, would ruin everything. No progeny to pass on his gifts. No easing into a more sedate life after the raw urgency of today’s crises. He’d have to drop everything now and cater to a male who needed tending, protection, instruction.

God. Sebastian Decker might be good-looking, hell on wheels in the sack, and as strong as an ox, but in Circ years, he was a toddler. The thought made Gray slightly ill, and he hurriedly changed his train of thought. Instead of dwelling on what might be, he needed to think about what was coming. Al Ross was a problem if Alicia had sent him on the man’s path. And if she planned on benching him if he failed, he had a bad feeling Ross would be more than just a mission, but one of those fucking tests his grandmother loved to throw his way.

He sighed as the hot water in the shower turned cool. No doubt Bas was soaking away his anger in the other shower, hogging all the hot water. The man might be a few scant years younger, but he seemed worlds more vulnerable. His sense of humor, his forgiving nature, his ability to smile when the shit hit the fan, made him not just a decent partner, but a person Gray actually liked being around—a truth he’d take to his grave.

The thought of Bas’s smile warmed Gray and alarmed him, because the notion of Bas forever in his life seemed right. As he let the water cleanse him, he couldn’t shake the idea that no matter what he did, he’d never be free of Sebastian Decker.

* * *

Friday afternoon, Ali pulled aside the curtains and watched the sun peer through the green pines and firs surrounding her grandfather’s—her—cabin. Once again she’d routed the scavengers sent to rape and torture her into submission. She glanced down at her scarred and healing arms, wishing she could just end her existence now. But until she took out the head of the labs who’d done this to her, she’d never know peace. Nor would her grandfather.

She shivered as a sensation her grandfather would have called Ross Intuition crept over her. The knowledge that change was coming settled into her blood and bones. The rogues she expected. But this feeling told her something new approached.

She glanced at her dwindling supply of ammunition on the nearby counter and sighed. If she wanted to survive the summer, she’d need to find more ammo. But that meant a return to the warehouse. A place that practically seethed with negative energy.

Granddad Dill had cursed her father up and down, but to no avail. Dan Ross had sold them out. His days in the army had amounted to little, except that his good friend Caleb Trenton had kept in touch after they’d both discharged from the military. Good old Caleb had given him a job, had even let him bring his daughter around after her mother passed. With childcare hard to come by with no money and no job, Dan Ross had been more than willing to do whatever Caleb said. He’d even allowed Caleb to test a special vaccine on his only daughter, his baby girl. She’d been a goner since she’d turned five. She just hadn’t known it then.

Ten years later, when her father had died and she’d gone to live with her mother’s parents, the shots stopped. But the damage had been done. And then in her early twenties, Trenton and his goons had returned with a court order to take her back to the labs. The first two sessions she’d spent there had been odd but not threatening. Months of tests, physical and mental, had bored her but not harmed her. But the last time, they’d kidnapped her grandfather as well. And they’d done…things…to her. Things she didn’t like to think about too hard, or the rage that made her blood mutate faster grew stronger. Her veins throbbed as the black disease spread to her forearms. The palms of her hands grew darker, and she drew in a deep breath and let it out to relieve the tension.

Peace. Find it. Own it. She could almost hear Granddad’s voice, and she smiled. Then the knowing came back full force. Danger, a new path, a new life. She’d have to make some choices in the next few days. And those choices would determine everything.

Tired of all the drama, she dressed, took a nice walk through the woods, and made sure to cover her tracks. She’d seen a few people near the area a few weeks ago. They weren’t like the odd tourist who sometimes wandered too close. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she’d known to steer clear of the big man, and a good thing. He could, impossibly, change his shape. He’d come in many different forms, but in each he smelled the same.

The others with him called him Jack or boss. She’d wanted him gone, but she’d made sure to secretly unleash her pheromones to steer him and his companions away from the Circ threat in her mountains. Now if only everyone would leave her the hell alone.

With a sigh, she trailed down to her favorite spot—a small lake partially buried beneath melting ice and snow. A copse of pines seemed to lean over her lake, as if the trees protected it for her.

She sat down on her sunning rock, where the sunlight cleared the trees and warmed the rock for hours on end. As she sat and contemplated her life, her gaze caught on the moss covering the base of one tree. The green and brown shades caught her attention until a flash of light startled her into looking at the water. It had appeared blue green a few minutes ago, but now the bright blue color meant something else. Something important…

Her stomach rumbled and reminded her she had yet to eat. Her beast chided her for forgetting, and then another part of her, that darkness she tried so hard to keep buried, scented a rabbit nearby.

It took everything she had to rein in the savage lust for blood and the kill. Running back to her cabin and ruining all the work she’d done covering her tracks, she hurried to her meager stash of food and ate. After she’d finished enough to satisfy her beast, she returned to the forest and erased her footprints. Then she hunted down the rabbit and killed it, no longer a slave to her bloodlust.

Unfortunately, though the kill would suffice as dinner after she cooked it, an odd sensation formed in her chest and belly. What felt like dread mingled with excitement.

They’re coming for me.

The thought grew stronger as the day passed into night, then blended into day once more. She couldn’t think of anything but what the future might have in store.

The breeze blew. The noon sun beat down upon the earth, melting more snow. Summer had come to the mountains. She smiled at the gentle heat warming the plant life to grow.

Then an unfamiliar scent hit her, a scent that promised paradise if she’d follow the trail to its source. Before she could, though, the rotted smell of rogue Circs intruded. Corruption, greed, and lust swirled like smog through the pure air. They shouldn’t have been back so soon. But Trenton must have sent another group to follow the first.

He grew more insistent, more treacherous. She had to kill the bastard.

Danger blanketed her world, and Ali drew on her instincts and her ability to hunt. First she’d take care of the rogues. Then she’d see what smelled so incredibly good. She only hoped she wouldn’t be forced to kill it before she’d had a small taste.

Chapter Four

As they scoured the mountains in their changed forms throughout the day and into the night, Bas did his best not to think about Gray. He’d taken the east side of the hill and Gray the west, and he kept telling himself he wanted the distance. Not talking to the arrogant bastard for the past two days served him right. Who the fuck was Grayson Belle to look down on him?

Top of his class in college and the FBI Academy, a decorated agent who always accomplished his mission, Bas had never been out of his element until he’d been kidnapped and forced to become something less than human. But even his time as a Circ had been measured with success. He took to the lifestyle, embracing his beast and the change while others turned rogue, mutant, or plain crazy. Not ruled by his beast, Bas controlled his actions. Or at least, he had.

He scowled and used his senses to guide him through the trees. The snow didn’t bother his bare feet. When changed, his skin was inured to extremes in temperature and surface. The claws on his hands and toes helped him with traction, and though he wore loose trousers and a sweater, he didn’t actually need the clothing to protect him from the weather.

In one hand he held a Circ2000 fit with a silencer. The weapon could pierce Circ flesh and bone without a problem. Attached to his belt was the radio Gray insisted he take with him. As if Bas didn’t know better than to go on a mission without a means of communication. The bastard.

Arrogant, controlling son of a bitch. Like I need him to play nursemaid. He’s lucky I answer to him at all—

The swipe of claws toward his face preceded the sudden smell of decaying flesh. Out of nowhere, a rogue in the process of turning mutant had appeared and roared at him. Bas avoided his jagged claws, and the thing took another swipe.

He’d seen pictures of mutants, but this was the first Circ he’d seen midtransformation, face-to-face. The rogue had hardened skin, dark and weathered, but black stripes highlighted his mutation. His fangs and claws were overly large, and his eyes, once normal for a Circ, now had black orbs striated with red, no pupil to be seen. The creature’s scent came and went, as if the thing had a faulty Off switch.

When it roared, it conveyed such a sense of unhappiness, pain, and fury that Bas wanted to kill it if only to put the creature out of its misery.

“You Ross?” he asked it as he dodged another blow.

“Need to feed. Hungry.”

It wore nothing but the hardened scales of interlocking flesh that made up its external armor. Bas could see its physical arousal all too clearly. To his disgust, the thing’s cock had spikes and seemed to grow under his study.

“Ah, right. Sure. You’re hungry.” Bas knew Gray wanted him to call the minute he had any trouble. But tired of listening to Mr. Perfect, Bas decided to handle this guy on his own. He looked like a monster, but Bas could handle him.

Unleashing the strength he normally held in check when he dealt with Gray, Bas let loose a torrent of frustration. They battled with claws, bites, and sheer strength, but in the end, Bas won. He pinned the thing to the ground with his weight and leaned hard on its neck.

“Gimme your name, and you can live.” He just had to confirm Ross’s identity before killing it; then he and Gray could leave this place. Bas loved the mountains, but he could do without all the monster battles. Or the relationship drama, as he now regarded his questionable interlude with Gray. He needed to return home and lick his wounds, then decide what to do about his stubborn, sexy, know-it-all partner.

“Need her. Want her,” the thing under his elbow croaked.

“Are you Al Ross? Answer the fucking question.”

The pathetic yearning on the rogue’s face tore at Bas’s heart, but he had to know.

“Not Ross. Want Ross. Mine.”

Not Ross, and thus not Bas’s problem. Despite the things he’d been ordered to do for his country, Bas wasn’t a murderer. They’d been trying to reform some of the rogues, and depending upon how far gone this one was, it—he, he reminded himself—might be capable of rehabilitation.

Bas planned to knock the rogue unconscious and call for backup when another rogue knocked into him and shoved him aside. He swore and rolled to a crouched position, ready to attack, when he noticed not one or two but four rogues looking at him with keen desire. For blood or sex, he couldn’t tell. And from the looks on their faces, neither could they.

Two of them looked like him. Normal Circs who’d gone rogue. The other two resembled freakish half mutants.

Let them have it, his beast demanded. And Bas did, because he knew the danger to him was real. With a hurried press to the radio, he shouted for help as the rogues attacked en masse. A coordinated effort he wouldn’t have credited these monsters.

Slashes to his midsection and back hurt, but he quickly healed. Unfortunately, the half mutants seemed to be playing with him. Shit. Gray was right. They were barely manageable one at a time. In a pack…deadly.

“Pretty.” One of them licked its lips, and a black forked tongue flickered before disappearing into its mouth.

Another growled, “But not her.”

“Who cares?” the other half mutant answered. “Smells good. Hungry.”

They rushed him without warning, and Bas sucked in a breath as two of them threw him into a tree, where he landed hard enough to break a few ribs. Before he could recover, they tore into him. He felt lips and teeth digging into his arms, his shoulder… Oh fuck. His neck.

The blood loss wasn’t as bad as the drugging paralysis invading his system. Fuckers are toxic, he thought as his vision grew hazy. But as one of the stronger ones shoved the others away and raked at Bas’s trousers, no doubt intent on sex, a tantalizing scent froze the group.

“Ross,” a half mutant hissed.

The others agreed as the arousal grew. Like a spring rain, the scent of a female Circ in heat drew Bas from his foggy pain to life once more.

“What is that?”

“Ross. Mine,” another half mutant screeched.

Two of the rogues started fighting with each other before the lead half mutant calmed them with a promise to share the female.

It took Bas a few moments to realize Ross and the female were one and the same. Holy hell, but they’d gotten some really bad intel. So what did the presence of these assholes and their female target mean?

He tried to reason it out, but he soon lost the ability to do more than lust after the woman.

Even the claws at his throat, his thighs, and belly didn’t disturb him.

And then everyone vanished, and she was there.

Dark brown eyes with slit red pupils, her orbs speckled with black, gazed at him with a curious detachment. She blinked as the wind shifted, blowing her dark blonde hair around her face like a silken veil. Full pink lips quirked to reveal small fangs, not what he would have expected of a female turning mutant. The black of her skin seemed to deepen and fade, as if her heartbeat reflected in the dark patches upon the skin of her forearms and neck, areas her thin T-shirt didn’t cover.

“Rogue?” he asked, his word barely audible past his swollen tongue. He tried again. “Ross?”

She didn’t answer. Instead she leaned closer and sniffed his neck. She licked him, and he felt her raspy tongue against the wound at his throat. The scratchy pain faded, and he could feel his skin knit, an amazing recovery that affected his thought processes as well. As if her saliva had an enhanced healing agent, her tongue had brought him back to full consciousness.

Enough that he knew he wanted this female. To mark her as his. To mate her, to share her with… “Hell. Gray.”

The female said nothing, but the dark look on her face warned him to beware. Before he could say anything else, she put her hands around his neck and squeezed. And he knew nothing more.

Ali couldn’t take her eyes from the rogue bleeding like a sieve all over the forest floor. After stepping past the dead bodies of the rogues and mutants she’d shot and killed, she neared her prize. The way they’d been fighting over him had shaken her, remembrances of her time in the labs not as dull a memory as she’d hoped.

She liked when they fought each other, but this seemed different. As did this rogue’s scent. The most delicious waft of chocolate, sex, and mouthwatering need drifted from his pores. She couldn’t resist. Not even when she sensed his own pheromones pulling her closer.

Good Lord, but the taste of him was enough to make her entire body come alive. She didn’t want him to die, but she couldn’t afford to play with him out in the open.

They sent more and more rogues after her lately. Worse, the ones turning mutant were no longer as dull-witted as the first batches sent to retrieve her. Either they’d evolved, or the labs had found a new way to leash their Circs. Oh joy.

With a low growl, she finished choking the male to unconsciousness. Then she hefted him over her shoulder, surprised when she staggered. As a Circ, she grew bigger and stronger than the strongest human men. Yet his size and weight stunned her. A solid male. A breeding male, her beast suggested.

The libido the doctors had tried so hard to start within her suddenly flared to life. And she knew. She’d been waiting all along for this male. She leaned her head closer to his and scented something more, a layered perfume that made her head spin.

She pulled her own scent back in and hurried, as best she was able, back to her cabin. Along the way, she wondered where to stash him. Her bedroom? The storage cellar? The cave nearby? Time to make some of those hard choices. Her intuition kicked in, and her beast increased the flow of blood to her limbs, releasing more oxygen so that she might move faster. She needed to make her choices before someone—or something—made them for her.

* * *

Gray didn’t know what to think. He had a terrible feeling about Bas moments before half a dozen humans with guns attacked. The dumb-asses didn’t realize their rounds wouldn’t penetrate his skin. It took him little time to knock them unconscious but not before reading their minds.

A part of the plan to delay him and Bas while they captured Al Ross. The humans were part of a security force combing through the mountains. Apparently the lab that had created Alison Ross wanted her back. A female Circ, hunted by rogues and men out to use her for what they could before she turned completely into the mutant they feared would make her unsuitable to breed.

No wonder the woman didn’t want to be found. But was she amassing a rogue Circ army, or was she a victim? The men didn’t seem to know.

And Gray didn’t care. He felt Bas’s pain as if his own, then a drugged need to find the scent clouding his mind. The thoughts came like the wind, there and gone. But as Gray raced miles to the eastern side of their perimeter, Bas’s cry came through the radio. Gray put on a burst of speed.

Only to be too late.

Four dead rogues littered one section of the woods. As did a patch of blood that smelled like his partner. Grief and rage brought his beast to the forefront, the notion his mate might be injured or near death intolerable. A loud psychic call to Bas’s mind came back empty. Using his preternatural gifts, Gray followed the barely there scent and subtle markings in the woods to a set of footprints. He followed the tracks that indicated a female, or a male with smaller feet, had taken something heavy with her.

Bas. His beast snarled. The Circ has Bas.

And then the trail just ended. No more scent. No more clues left behind in the woods.

He howled in fury. A warning and a promise to anyone stupid enough to come between him and Bas. Gray felt the vestiges of civilization leave him and gave his beast the head he needed. With another roar, he started a deeper search using his mind. One way or another, he’d find his mate. And death to the one who’d taken him.

* * *

Ali was glad she’d taken the time to mask her trail after stashing the rogue in her home. Not the safest place for her to take him, but it had the best security as well as restraints even a mutant couldn’t escape. Instinct told her to keep him close.

If he didn’t bleed out before she returned, she’d do her best to heal him and… Then what? Her beast provided her several detailed pictures of how best to take what she needed, and the heat in Ali’s body swarmed her from her core to the tips of her limbs. The need within her for a Circ overwhelmed, to the point she ached to be near him again. To touch him. She knew she’d eventually have to destroy him, but she could play with him for a bit.

Excited about the prospect, she returned to her home. Night had fallen, and she would make the most of the darkness and the soundproof sanctuary under the cabin her grandfather had left her. Once inside, she forced herself to take her time. No need to rush to the enemy so soon. Ali took a long hot shower and scrubbed the dirt and flecks of mutant blood off her hands. Though she’d shot three of them, she’d been forced to kill the fourth with a blade when the first bullet didn’t take, her bullet not close enough to the spinal cord to sever it the first time.

After lathering her hair with a lavender soap that made her feel at home, she cleaned thoroughly and left no patch of skin untouched. As she washed, her breasts felt heavy, her nipples sensitive. And there, between her legs. She throbbed.

The scent of the male filled her mind, and though she’d shifted back into her human form, her beast quivered at the thought of the strong Circ downstairs.

Ali toweled off and dressed in a loose pair of flannel pajama pants and a shirt, foregoing underclothes. Normally she’d wear a bra at least, but a part of her needed to flaunt her assets before the male, to seek his approval.

The foreign thought stopped her in her tracks. “Seek his approval?”

Angry at her beast for growing soft, she decided to leave him alone until morning. Better for her that he died tonight from his wounds, none of which she’d inflicted. Except she’d heard him call for Gray. Not just a color but a person, apparently. She needed to know if his friend would be joining them anytime soon.

Annoyed, she stomped to the rug covering the floor panel hiding the stairs and tugged on a loop. The rug and panel rose, and she walked down into the shadows and darkness. A few lanterns gave enough light to see into the tunnel that led to the sole room underground. From the room, an escape tunnel had been dug that led up a few hundred yards from the cabin. It too was hidden by a bookcase on the wall. Her last refuge should the bastards find her place.

“Gray?” The low drawl made her shiver. “Ross? That you?” He coughed and groaned, and she heard the rattle of his breath. An infection, most likely.

Her beast yearned to heal him. To taste him again and learn why this particular male smelled so right.

“I’m Alison Ross.” Ali left the corridor and entered the room, bathed in the low glow of the lantern on a nearby table. “Who the hell are you?”

“Sebastian Decker.” He coughed again, no longer a beast but human. The dryness in the air probably irritated his throat. Despite what most people thought when they saw snowcapped mountains, the Cascade Range and Bend weren’t wet. High desert lay to the east. If Ali didn’t drink enough, her feet cracked and her lips chapped something awful.

A glance at Sebastian’s lips showed him hydrated or new to the area. She bet on new.

The breadth of him shocked her. So muscular, even in his man’s form. He had dark brown hair, as rich as the earth in the mountains. Calluses on his hands warned her he wasn’t soft, even if she hadn’t noticed all the muscle on his frame. He had a nice mouth with full lips that would crook when he smiled. Handsome, boy-next-door good-looking, and physically fit. God, was he.

She met his gaze again and flushed. He’d noticed her study and seemed to approve. The bastard lay manacled on a bed, bound by his wrists and ankles. Yet he made her uncomfortable, and she didn’t know why.

Clear blue eyes widened as he stared at her, and it took him some time to look away from her eyes, which never looked human, whether woman or beast. But now his regard shifted to her chest and stayed there.

He licked his lips. “You’re Ross. I was told you were a male. Big mistake, that.”

She couldn’t stop herself from noticing the visible bulge between his legs. He wore different clothes from the standard Circ khaki the rogues normally arrived in. Stretchy material made specifically for men who shifted into larger beings.

Sebastian wore dark, ripped pants with cargo pockets that had been filled with ammunition she’d gladly helped herself to in addition to his pistol. A newer model than the one she had, it looked impressive, and she couldn’t wait to try it out.

After I try him out. Her beast purred in her breast, and Sebastian heard it.

He dragged his gaze from her stiff nipples and looked her in the face once more. “You’re different.”

“So are you.”

“I’m not a rogue.”

“No, but you’re Circ.” She shrugged. “Same difference to me. You come to kill me, I kill you first. Too bad Trenton still doesn’t get the message.”

“Trenton?”

She didn’t want to talk about her dead father’s friend. Prick extraordinaire, Dr. Caleb Trenton. She wanted to… Her attention caught and held on the sluggish drop of blood soaking the neck of his sweater. As much as she wanted to let him lie there aching, some part of her didn’t like him in pain.

“Where does it hurt?”

He let out a laugh, surprising her. “Where doesn’t it hurt?” An awkward pause as they both glanced at his cock that had yet to go down. “Well, there, I guess. God, this is embarrassing. I’ll never live this down.”

“You’ll be lucky to live at all,” she murmured, fascinated with his arousal. Unlike all the others, he smelled healthy, despite his wounds. No trace of infection as she’d thought before. No madness either, just warm, soothing, and sweet male.

“So do that thing and heal me, like you did before.”

She didn’t realize he’d understood what she’d done. “What?”

“When you licked me. You cleared my head and took the pain. Lick me all over, anywhere you want. I won’t mind.” The teasing sparkle in his eyes took her aback. He was erect but didn’t seem overeager to fuck her. Instead he used humor. To disarm her, maybe? Yet he didn’t seem to be anything but genuine. Very, very strange. He didn’t fit the usual mold of her enemy.

“Shut up,” she said, just to say something. He chuckled again but silenced when she flashed inch-long claws at him from her fingers. Dragging her nails against his sweater, she cut through the fabric with ease and pushed and pulled the material from his body. To her odd relief, most of his wounds seemed healed but for the few still healing.

“I’m close but not a hundred percent,” he offered. “Not like you.” His voice deepened. “You look perfect. Not a mark on you.”

He didn’t seem to mind the black streaks that pulsed on her forearms, or the hellish eyes that stared at her anytime she looked in a mirror. “Like feline pupils dipped in blood,” one of the rogues who’d once captured her had remarked. Right before she’d gutted him and run far, far away.

“Can’t say the same for you.” She didn’t like the blood all over him, because though most was his, some belonged to the rogues and mutants from the woods. Ali left him and returned moments later with a pot of hot water from upstairs. Solar panels gave her the luxury of electricity and hot water while keeping her free of a paper trail.

“Where did you go?”

“I’m right here.” Annoyed that she liked him asking after her, she found a clean cloth nearby and washed his chest.

He watched her as she ran the towel over his flesh. “That feels good.”

“Wonderful. I want you to feel great before I kill you.”

“So pleasant. You sure you don’t know Gray?”

“Who?” She frowned when he chuckled, feeling the butt of a joke she didn’t understand.

“You’ll meet him soon enough, I’d say.”

Silence passed as she washed him. She used a clean part of his sweater to dry him off. Then she trailed a hand over his skin, feeling the uneven break of a few ribs that seemed to mend right under her palm.

“Hurts, but it’s hot too. Right where you’re touching me.” Sebastian’s thick voice warned her to back away. “But you’re making it worse too.” He took a deep breath and inhaled, his nostrils quivering. “Oh wow. Alison, tell me what you’re wearing. You smell so good.”

His eyes changed and changed back as she watched him watching her. The urge to lean closer and taste him again tickled.

“Do it.”

She licked her lips, aware he knew her intent because she couldn’t look away from his firm lips. A subtle shove knocked her off balance and over his chest. She righted herself and found her lips an inch from his.

“Kiss me,” he ordered. All tied up, flat on his back, and growling commands.

“I will if I want to.” She paused, wishing she sounded more in charge and less breathless and in lust. “And damn it. I want to, so shut up and lie still.” To her surprise, he did.

But the minute her lips touched his, she knew she’d made the biggest mistake of her life.

Chapter Five

Bas had entered a kind of heaven and hell from which only one end would free him. So long as the minx kissing him let him come, he’d do anything she wanted. Anything.

He moaned under the onslaught of her lips, in charge and enslaved at the same time. He’d move his lips. She’d move with him, then take over the kiss. His tongue had invaded and swept through her mouth, licking up the sweet syrup of need that covered the unusual female. Only with Gray had he experienced such mind-blowing lust. And look at how that turned out.

And then he felt her nipples against his chest, the hard little nubs he’d been unable to look away from when she’d entered the room. Talk about a handful of soft, round woman. She made him remember why he could never commit to one sex over the other.

His ribs protested when she pressed against him, but his beast took the brunt of the hurt, turning it into an echo of need. Painful pleasure—the one vice that got him off as nothing could.

He’d broken a few ribs, but in the time since she’d brought him here and bound him to this bed, he’d healed. Slowly, but enough that only twinges of pain remained. He still didn’t know what she’d done to him. By all accounts, he should be much weaker than he felt.

Her little tongue swept over his again, and he sucked on it, loving the taste of wildness, woman, and hunger. It had to be her. Her magic, her Circ skill, whatever made her so special to the rogues hunting her. She’d healed him. She made him want.

But was it real? Was this desire normal or hormone-induced? He’d heard of a few female Circs with the ability to regulate their pheromones. It seemed Ali could do the same. Yet his beast told him there was more to her than that. She’d obviously begun mutating. But what on the other monstrous Circs looked hideous, on her only seemed vibrant.

He arched up, wanting her to feel every inch of him, needing to impress her with his size and stamina. Hell, his beast was half in love with her, the way he was with Gray. The creature wanted to keep her, to protect her, while at the same time he wanted to dominate her, to show her she belonged to him.

She moaned and angled her legs and hips so that she rode his cock. He could smell her arousal, and it fired him to use all of the assets at his disposal.

Though he couldn’t push past the reinforced restraints she’d used on his wrists and ankles, his mind had enough strength to bench press a truck. For the first time that he could remember, he willingly used his telekinesis, and it responded to his command. He yanked off his trousers and underwear while he pulled off her pants as well. He felt her smooth, wet flesh tease him before she settled down, clasping his shaft in her hot pussy.

He broke away from the kiss to look up at her. The red slits that were her pupils looked right at home surrounded by brown irises and the whites of her eyes. Like a sexy feline who needed a mate. Not a mate, a man, he tried to correct his beast, but the thing wouldn’t listen. Mate. Mine. The memory of Gray refused to fade. Ours.

She raked her claws over his chest and nipped his lower lip with dainty fangs. “Tasty.” She licked another drop of blood into her mouth. “And so big.”

As she rocked over him, he reveled in being taken. But he wanted to see more. He used his mind to rip her shirt over her head, pleased when she accepted his power as nothing to worry about and instead focused on fucking him.

He’d had women on top before, but now, watching her breasts bounce and her belly flex as she took him inside her and worked his orgasm, he couldn’t look away. She slammed on top of him, her clit meeting his pelvis with every jostle and slap of flesh.

“Yeah, come all over me,” he encouraged, wishing he had his hands free. Since he didn’t, he used his mind to help stimulate her. Not sure how he could continue to direct it when normally his power erupted at odd moments, he focused on her and used his ability to his advantage. He flicked her clit, rubbed and pulled it as she grew rougher, sucking him deeper and deeper inside her.

Then he slapped her clit and felt her seize on him like a vise.

She cried out as she came, and the feel of her pleasure induced his own. Bas’s orgasm took him to another plane altogether. The explosion sealed them tight, his seed rushing into feminine heat as it found purchase in a ripe womb. His beast sniffed and settled, releasing scent to layer over her, bringing both Bas and a faint touch of Gray into the mix.

Ali moaned and shuddered, her release long and overdue, Bas thought with satisfaction. The woman was so tight, so soft, and not as aggressive unless following his lead. He liked the thought of her not so experienced and wanted to slap himself in the head for it. Bas didn’t judge, and he didn’t care about a partner’s sexual partners, so long as they practiced safe sex.

Not at all like we just did, he reminded his beast. Though Circs couldn’t catch disease through sex, they could and did make babies. More. Yes. More Circs. His beast liked the idea. And Bas remained hard, raring to go again when she resumed her rhythm.

They made eye contact.

“Again,” they said at the same time.

Bas lost himself inside his female. He had a sudden flash of worry and frustrated male. With Gray on the periphery of his mind while Alison took him to new heights of pleasure once more, he passed on what he knew into the ether of a mind-link that shouldn’t have existed. But when she came around him again, he stopped caring about Gray finding him and focused on the pleasure swallowing him whole.

* * *

Gray nearly lost his legendary cool. Twelve hours later, and he still couldn’t find Bas anywhere. He’d spent the night searching for any trace of the female, or anyone else for that matter, only to come up empty. It made no sense. Gray could hunt better than anyone he’d ever met. He’d found dead rogues and mutants, even their vehicles and the backup truck they’d stashed.

After searching for more answers he couldn’t find, he’d destroyed the engines in the event he’d missed a rogue who returned to escape. Then Gray sought out the one person who might be able to help him.

Not inclined to meet downtown during the day feeling so out of sorts, Gray agreed to rendezvous at one of the passes still covered in snow.

He watched as a blue SUV approached and parked. Then a large man exited the vehicle. With his size and penchant for violence, Jack Keiser would have made a decent Circ. “Gray. Nice to see you.” As usual, the bastard remained closed off. Gray couldn’t read a hint of what Jack thought.

Gray nodded, hoping he looked more relaxed than he felt. “Jack. My partner has disappeared, and I’m having a hard time picking up his trail. You know anything about this person we’re looking for, other than that Al Ross isn’t the man you told us she was?”

When Jack didn’t react, Gray knew he’d been played. He moved in the blink of an eye and held Jack up by his neck. “What the fuck are you up to? Who are you working for?”

Jack said nothing. He stared down at Gray even as his face turned red and he lost the oxygen necessary for breathing. His freakish wolf-gray eyes never blinked, trained on Gray the way one predator watches another.

Gray released Jack and waited, more than annoyed for showing even that much emotion.

Jack rubbed his throat. “Two words for you. Just remember not to kill the messenger.”

“Spill it, Keiser.”

“Alicia Sharpe.”

“I knew it.” Gray fumed. “What the hell is that woman doing now? My partner might be dead. I’m after a fucking woman named Alison Ross, not Al Ross, along with armed humans and rogues turning mutant.”

Jack crossed muscular arms over his massive chest. “No idea what the old woman is up to. All I know is, I still owed her one from that mess a few years back.”

Meaning the occasion when Jack had been duped, along with the rest of them, into believing that the woman he’d gone undercover with in a Circ operation was really his wife. There was a reason mind control should only be used sparingly; Jack Keiser would certainly agree.

“So?” Gray prodded, needing to find Bas and that odd scent he’d captured yesterday for a few brief moments. The urgency to locate and identify the scent shocked him. The necessity felt off, the way he’d been desperate to fuck Bas. Too much mating shit to deal with at a time when he needed his head clear and rational.

“So I told your grandmother about the female in the mountains. I mentioned I’d heard reports of what sounded like rogues in the area. She told me to assist you when you showed, and not to mention Ross was a woman. No idea why, and I knew better than to ask.” Jack scowled. “When you go back, you tell her we’re square. I don’t mind saying that woman freaks me the hell out.”

And not much ever got to Jack, Gray knew. “Fine. But I need more to go on.”

Jack took a map out of his back pocket. “I didn’t give you this, and you don’t have it.”

“Another fucking stipulation courtesy of Alicia?”

Jack nodded. “But I don’t like being messenger boy. I’m done with Circs after this, you get me?”

“I do.” It went unsaid his grandmother would do whatever she wanted. Only she could get away with the things she did.

“That’s something I had one of my people draw up for you. My retrocog, my guy who reads the past? He saw this area the way it used to be. I have a feeling your girl is hiding in that cabin.” Jack pointed to the small circle on the map. “You can’t find it unless you know where to look or you were alive when the thing was built seventy-five years ago. She’s living off the grid, and she’s armed. Good luck.”

Gray held out a hand, shook Jack’s, and watched the man leave as if he’d never been there. A psychic like Gray, Jack and his people now resided in Bend doing God-knew-what for a living. Gray didn’t intend to ask. He wanted to find Bas, kill Ross, then disappear. Except his beast roared in protest at thoughts of harming a hair on Ross’s head. That she was a woman shouldn’t have mattered. The mission was to eliminate the threat.

But if she was being hunted by other rogues, she needed to be protected, didn’t she? Why the hell wouldn’t his grandmother send him out here to do the right thing by the female? No doubt the rogues and mutants after her would rape her as soon as look at her.

So why the order to kill her? Unless she orchestrated the rogues and mutants. Maybe she wasn’t innocent at all. So the intel was wrong, so what? Did his grandmother doubt his ability to do the right thing? Gray didn’t fail. Ever. He lived to protect, like the others in his family. He and his sister had been helping the government in one fashion or another for years. So why would Alicia suspect him of not being capable? Had his disappointment with the job shown? He was going through a down phase, so he kept telling himself. But to have shown any measure of poor performance… He cringed at the idea and turned back to the map.

After studying it, he pocketed the paper and resolved to find Bas today. No more wasting time. More rogues would come after Ross if they weren’t already working for her. If Gray weren’t careful, he’d lose his partner and fail the mission before he had the answers he needed.

He started running, intent on finding Bas and exacting some justice. He ignored his imagination—odd thoughts of Bas and Ross fucking like bunnies that didn’t belong with the danger so close—and hurried to save his obnoxious partner. God help Ross if she’d touched so much as a hair on Bas’s head.

* * *

After a full night and half the day spent playing with an insatiable Circ in bed, Ali stroked Sebastian—Bas, he’d told her to call him—with rough affection. Her beast wanted to dig her claws into him, to see his pretty blood run red. But Ali wanted to pet him in thanks for giving her peace. She felt a calmness she hadn’t felt for the past twenty years, from the time she’d first been taken to the hated labs at the tender age of six.

“That feels so good.” Bas purred under her. After an entire night of wild, bone-melting sex, he hadn’t made one plea to escape. Other than a request to relieve himself, which she’d allowed while she’d trained her gun on him, he’d been a low-maintenance guest. Prisoner. A low-maintenance prisoner.

It was too easy to think of him as a friend after sharing such intimacies. She’d never been taken with such thoroughness or tenderness. He’d let her do whatever she wanted and hadn’t been nasty or rough at all. Of course, the restraints holding him down might have had something to do with that.

“Why are you here?” she blurted, hating herself for needing to know. So much for killing him without a qualm after some fun.

“To find you.” He didn’t react except to sigh and enjoy her touch.

“You found me. Now what?”

An acceleration in his heartbeat alerted her to be wary.

“And then we figure out why there are so many rogues in the area. Not to mention the mutants.” He lifted his head, and she met his gaze. “Who is Trenton?”

“Like you don’t know.”

“I don’t.” He frowned. “I’d tell you if I did.”

“Sure you would. I admit, you’re different from the usual ones he sends. You’re prettier. You smell better. And you sure know what to do in bed.”

His smile blinded her. “Thanks. I aim to please.”

She snorted to cover a laugh, baffled at why she should find such joy with one of Trenton’s rogues. “Point is, I’m not going to breed with you. And I’m not going to let you kill me.” She studied him, curious as to what his reaction would be. Truth was, she couldn’t control her fertility the way some of the females could. But Trenton didn’t know that.

“Honey, I like you. But we just met. I’m not ready to play daddy. And I’m not going to kill you.” He said it with such finality, as if he meant it. But did he?

“Why not? You’re here to take me back, aren’t you?” She sat up next to him, uncaring of her nudity, though his gaze dipped low and stayed there. “I’m not going to volunteer to spread my legs there any more than I would here.” She held up a hand to stop his obvious rejoinder. “Yeah, I chose to fuck you. My choice. That’s the difference.”

“First off, we didn’t exactly fuck. We made love.”

Was he serious?

“Secondly, it’s funny you’re all about choice. Because seems to me I’m tied up and at your mercy, sweetheart.”

She definitely heard some zing in that sweetheart. Finally, the Circ dropped the act. He was annoyed and showing it.

“Yeah, Bas? Well, you might have been at my mercy, but you sure as hell enjoyed yourself. Don’t pretend you didn’t.” Yet she couldn’t help a flush of shame that she had forced herself on someone unwilling.

Memories flooded her. A glance at his manacles no longer made her feel safe. Instead she felt sick inside. Jesus, she’d done to him what they’d once done to her.

“I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it. But—hey, wait a minute. Where are you going?”

She darted off him and escaped down the corridor, back up the stairs into the cabin. Tears filled her eyes, and she let them spill. The beast that had taken great pleasure in having the male didn’t understand, and she couldn’t explain it. Not to a being that thrived on her id, on the basic drives that defined life. She wanted, she took. She hungered, she fed. She wanted sex, she raped a man.

Ali had turned into the monster she’d feared for so long. She hurried into the shower and scrubbed her skin raw. Then she dried off, dressed, and left the cabin in search of answers. She needed to know what to do, how to act. Never had she thought she might deserve the shit she’d been through. The constant invasions into her privacy. The examinations that left her feeling vulnerable and sick to her stomach. That one nightmare session spent with a much larger male, one who wouldn’t stop rutting until she’d been forced to kill him—with him still inside her.

The terror of that long-ago event had since faded, but the reminders of the brutal nature of the male of the species could never be erased.

And now the victim had become the abuser. How fucking clichéd.

She tried to tell herself he could have said no. That he might have refused her. He’d been with her every step of the way. All those “more” and “yes” and “harder” pleas she’d been helpless to deny. Yet she’d riled his lusts, enflamed the beast inside him. And like most rogues, he’d been lost to his hormones when she called on hers.

Not able to handle the blame and mortification snowballing on her psyche, she retreated under a wall of indifference. It wouldn’t matter what she’d done in a few more weeks. She just had to last long enough to infiltrate Trenton’s heavily guarded lab. Once she’d figured out how to get to him, she’d kill him. After that, she’d erase each and every one of the monsters still willingly working for him. A bullet for each one, then herself at the very end. Easy as pie.

Yeah, right.

Ali sighed as she trudged through melting snow. Reality wouldn’t go away just because she wanted it to. What the hell should she do with Romeo at the house? Should she kill him? Set him free? Fuck him again? Because damn if her libido would let her forget how good he’d felt inside her, even if he hadn’t exactly wanted to be there.

Shame again washed over her, and she snarled in denial. The sound of rustling to her left called on her fight-or-flight response, and like usual, she fought. Ali followed the sounds and changed without thinking. She filled out her overlarge sweatshirt and baggy pants, glad she’d thought to go barefoot, and hauled ass after what smelled like a doe. To the animal’s misfortune, it had been injured and didn’t have the speed to outrun her. Ali’s beast took her rage, lust, and confusion and funneled it into a new hunger. One for destruction.

She gave the poor creature a quick, clean kill and forced herself to ignore the urge to maul it. But all the while, her thoughts dwelled on Bas and that sweet scent that lingered over him, separate yet a part of him. She bathed in the doe’s blood to satiate the beast, and as she did, she wondered if her eyes matched the dark red of the doe’s arterial spurt.

* * *

Bas didn’t know what the hell had happened, but his beast didn’t like it at all. One minute Ali had been all over him. He’d been inside her, coming into sheer perfection. Her wildness had held him captive. Such carnal need, so much desire for him. Only with Gray had the intimacy been so close. Yet Ali needed him. All night long they’d kissed and caressed, touched and held. Her questions this morning told him more than anything that she’d been dealing with danger for far too long on her own. The urgency of their lovemaking—not fucking—told him something else. The woman was in a mating heat, whether she knew it or not.

And then he’d accused her of holding him captive. She’d bolted like her ass was on fire. He could still smell the bitter humiliation wafting from her when she’d vanished. His beast chided him for being less than sensitive. So what that she’d captured him? She’d rewarded him with that sweet pussy. She’d given him more joy than he’d had since… Well, since Gray. But that asshole was nowhere to be found. Probably out in the woods, cursing his name because Bas had disappeared, giving him more work to do.

Gray didn’t need him; Ali did. Unlike the sanctimonious prick who’d scorned Bas’s affections, he had no intention of rejecting Ali. When she’d petted him after sex, that awkward yet tender care had touched him deeply. Too bad he didn’t know what the hell to do now. She’d left him tied up and naked on the bed, the room once again bathed in silence.

Then a thought occurred to him—to use his telekinesis to search for a way to escape. For the first time that he could remember, he’d been in charge of his power with Ali. He hadn’t hurt her while making love. And when he’d mentally stroked her clit, he’d felt the pleasure all the way to his bones.

He needed to help her, to ease the hurt he’d unintentionally caused. Bas closed his eyes and felt with his mind. The woman hadn’t left a key anywhere that he’d seen, and she had two cupboards and a bookcase down here. Neither was locked. He opened his eyes and concentrated on his night vision, calling on his Circ senses for clarity. Once the room lit up, he flexed his mental muscles to open the cupboards and search through the bookcase.

No keys, no weapons of any kind, and no way to disengage the manacles. He’d have to break them. He changed, pushing against the stretching cuffs. Fuck. She had to be using some kind of Circ-proof bonds. But what had she connected them to? He grinned when he felt the metallic feet of the bed with his mind. After a silent count of three, he yanked the metal feet clean off. The bed slammed to the ground with a loud bang, but his manacles dangled free.

That no one came to investigate the noise reinforced the notion he’d been placed in a soundproofed room. The woman was smart, he’d give her that. But she hadn’t counted on a telekinetic Circ.

He rubbed his wrists and ankles, wishing he could take off the restraints. They trailed over the stone floor, announcing his presence to anyone within hearing distance. After failing to find anything he might use to clothe himself, Bas followed the same direction in which Ali had left. He walked down a short corridor and up a set of steps. After he pushed up on the trapdoor above him, he walked out into a cozy little log cabin.

Rustic yet homey, the place had braided rugs over wooden floors, a comfortable-looking couch, a bed in one corner, and across the room, a nice kitchen. To his surprise, a wood stove, sink, and functional bathroom appeared in working order. So much for a small footprint. Someone had to know this place existed when the utility bills came due. And then he spotted the wiring leading to solar panels above. Hence, her electricity, hot water, and lights.

He didn’t see a hint of Ali anywhere.

Annoyed, he looked through the house and found his trousers at least. He put them on. Then he found an overlarge jacket in the lone closet in the home. It smelled musty, as if it hadn’t been used in some time, and Bas’s beast approved. No male to contend with for the female. The jacket belonged to an old suitor or someone gone from her life.

A grunt of satisfaction he shouldn’t have felt emerged, and he licked his fangs. He needed to bite his female, something she hadn’t let happen last night. Instead, she’d kept him under her thumb, tied up. He liked the kink, being at her mercy. Bas always took charge during sex. Except when he’d been with Gray. And now apparently, Ali.

A stupid grin covered his face, and though he tried to stifle it as he went in search of the maddening woman outside, he couldn’t help being so happy about his time with her. She should have looked heinous. Instead her danger only added to her appeal. Not quite a mutant, but no normal Circ, she put him in mind of a panther about to strike. One who’d licked, sucked, and fucked her mate to rapturous exhaustion.

His hard-on returned, though he should have been too tired to want her again. His beast prodded him to seek Gray. To commence with the rest of the bonding they’d need to fully prepare their female to—

“Shit.” Bas had been trying to deny the truth since he’d been with Gray. Lust he could handle. But this love he felt, he didn’t like. Gray was an arrogant asshole at the best of times. Sure, he had a soft side, but he rarely used it with Bas. And still Bas wanted the male—his love, his affection, his trust.

Wanting Gray was bad enough. But connecting with a woman on the verge of not just going rogue but turning mutant? Did he have a secret death wish after all? Maybe those dickheads in the PWP labs had messed with his mind more than he’d thought. His fear of rejection, of not being enough, haunted him. So to make up for it, perhaps he sought to punish himself by choosing to love unavailable partners?

Bas scowled, wishing he could turn off the psychobabble inside his head. But his beast found the ideas interesting. Sebastian Decker, one of the few Circs with an intelligent animal who liked fucking with him as much as Bas liked fucking with other people. Laid-back yet firm, Bas called the shots by controlling his temper and easing others around him. All except for Gray and one sexy, blonde-haired vixen with the nicest breasts he’d ever seen. Held. Tasted.

He groaned and did his best to will away the iron bar in his pants. Instead, he opened his mouth and tried to catch her scent, tasting and smelling it now that he knew what to search for. To his shock, Ali smelled faintly like him. Otherwise, he would have had a hard time tracking her at all. The woman truly could control her scent, as well as her pheromones.

He wondered if he could apologize enough to get her to use them on him again today.

With a grin, he increased his speed. He needed to find her before anyone else did, and that thought wiped the smile from his face and the bulge from between his legs like nothing could. Now worry for the female overtook sense, and he plunged through the woods, seeking his mate.

He found her covered in blood just as another Circ readied to attack her. Bas flew between them, acting on instinct, and charged… Only to find Gray in his arms once more.

Chapter Six

Gray swore and disentangled himself from Bas. To his relief, his partner looked no less the worse for wear for his absence. A welcome sight, considering the female looked like a demon covered in blood, her fangs and claws exposed and no doubt aching to sink into his flesh.

Yet for all that Bas looked fine, his scent was different. More…enticing?

Gray blinked hard, his ability to concentrate overtaken by the sexiest, headiest scent. Lavender and spice, a mixture of honeyed sweetness he wanted over his tongue. Just before he shoved his cock in it.

He took a step toward the mutant and found his progression blocked by Bas. Gray’s beast took note of his mate’s good health, reaffirmed their connection, and approved of Bas’s obvious protection of the female. Baffling, especially since Gray had been trained from the cradle to eliminate danger to those he cared for. Bas, like it or not, was his partner. Gray should have been working to dispel the threat to him, but instead he wanted to protect a mutant?

Not partner. Mate. I’ve all but claimed him. And he’s claimed her. If only the stupid human would take notice. Gray stumbled at the insane thoughts of his beast, not pleased to be considered a “stupid human,” and prayed he’d made a mistake. Though he’d speculated on his closeness to Bas, he hadn’t accepted any mating nonsense. And he sure as hell wouldn’t align himself alongside a woman with red eyes and black skin who rolled around in a fresh kill, no matter how sexy she looked when changed. Her coloring could only mean she teetered on the verge of going mutant, if she wasn’t there already. And a monster as a mate didn’t factor into Gray’s planned future.

Yet as she glared at him, he liked the small yet sharp gleam of her fangs. On closer notice, her dark red pupils were surrounded by brown, not black. A slight ring of white kept her eyes from looking completely alien. And her hair. Such glorious strands of white blonde threaded with honeyed wheat and streaks of brown. Long and thick, her hair framed an intelligent face. But her body. Jesus, she had beautifully rounded breasts, a trim waist, and nice, muscular thighs he could all too easily imagine wrapped around his waist as he plowed into her pussy while Bas fucked her tight ass.

“Yeah, she’s lethal in more ways than one,” Bas murmured.

Apparently the woman heard him. “Shut your mouth, Bas. I didn’t take you for that big an asshole. Now move aside.”

So she knew his partner well enough to call him by his nickname, and she wanted him safely out of the way. Interesting.

“But if I move, you two will kill each other,” Bas protested.

Gray glared at him. “I’m not going to hurt her,” he said at the same time she said, “Hell, yeah. I’m going to gut him. He’s a killer.”

“So am I,” Bas argued.

“No, you’re a mediator with fangs,” Gray corrected him.

“Fuck off.” Bas turned and shoved Gray with a strength that still surprised him. “Keep talking, and I’ll let her have you.”

“Let me?” The woman laughed, a deep chuckle that sent shivers up his spine.

He realized the scent that had held him fast before had retreated enough so that he could think. But it was still there, a tempting fragrance that called him to come closer. He tried to shake it off but couldn’t. And then he remembered where he’d experienced that reaction before. Damn. She’d been controlling him with her pheromones, the way a few females on the Circe’s Recruits team, a Circ team he’d once worked with, were able to do. Had she wanted, she could have killed him easily while he lusted, unable to think beyond sex.

Intrigued at the many facets of this female, he kept his beast in check and let Bas lead.

Bas held up his wrists, and Gray saw the metal that had slapped into him when they’d wrestled. “Honey, I hate to break it to you, but if I’d wanted out of my restraints last night, I’d have gotten out. So yeah, let you.”

Gray eyed the cuffs with disbelief. “You tied him up?” he roared at the woman while his beast mentally applauded her. Strong female. Smart, sexy. Ours.

“Yeah. And you’re both lucky he’s still breathing, so shut the hell up.”

He wasn’t used to hearing anyone talk to him like that. Except for Bas, but the aggravating Circ did it all the time.

Before Gray could snarl back at her, Bas interrupted. “Ali, we both know you’re the lucky one. Just who was riding who last night?” He smirked the same way he had right before he’d kissed Gray that first time.

The remembrance shook him as much as Bas’s words shook her. “You had sex with him?” He turned to Bas. “You fucked her while I was marching all over the mountain looking for your sorry ass?”

Bas put on a sad face that didn’t fool Gray in the least. “I was tied up. She forced me.”

A glance at the woman showed her torn between anger and embarrassment. A rogue turning mutant would feel anger, but shame? She reacted like a normal woman would at having her sex life dissected before a stranger, though her looks were anything but ordinary. That being the case, no way would he even think about putting her down with a bullet. Not when he could see she wasn’t the enemy he’d been told to expect. And not when he had to know how she’d taste, just there at the crook of her neck.

But before he could take another step in her direction, Bas had him by the throat.

“What the fuck?”

“What do you want me to do with him?” Bas asked her, his grip like iron.

Alison Ross looked from Bas to Gray and back. She gave Gray a mean smile, and his beast fell in instant and utter love. Gray sputtered and tried to break free from Bas, but his beast took every ounce of his strength and sat on it, letting Gray struggle like a limp worm on a hook.

“Bring him along. But make it easy on yourself. Remember how I handled you.”

Before Gray could ask what the hell that meant, Bas squeezed his neck with both hands.

Gray blacked out.

When he came to, he found himself flat on a mattress that smelled like Bas, the female, and sex. His wrists and ankles were fastened to the corners of the bed in what looked like the manacles Bas had been wearing. They adapted to his size when he changed and changed back. Gray decided to remain in his human form, knowing Bas wouldn’t seriously hurt him.

He’d let his partner play his games. Maybe Bas thought that by pretending to go along with the woman, he’d earn her trust? Or maybe he’d been fucked so thoroughly last night, he’s caught by his cock. The uncharitable thought made a lot of sense, especially when Bas and the female—freshly scrubbed, her hair still wet—entered the room. She looked like a walking advertisement for rough, satisfying sex.

“Her name is Ali. Not the female,” Bas said offhand.

Stunned, Gray sent with his mind, “You can hear me?”

“Yeah. Unfortunately, I can.” The glare Bas shot him reminded Gray he’d thought some ugly thoughts about mating and Bas in particular not too long ago.

“Oh, come on. You can’t hold that against me. I don’t want to mate anyone. It’s not personal. And you can’t be mad that I’m telepathic, not when you used telekinesis on me. Yeah, I remember all of it.” Especially how damn sexy Bas had been.

He must have let that slip, because Bas’s scowl softened.

“Alison Ross is much more than she seems.” Gray stated the obvious. “Not the male we’d come to kill, then.”

“For God’s sake. Don’t tell her that. I explained we’d been sent to investigate rogue Circs. She’s barely trusting me as it is. Just play along, okay?”

Relieved he’d pegged Bas right in the first place, Gray played the part of angry partner. To Ali, he asked, “Why the hell am I here? Why is my partner, that asshole, helping you?”

“And this is why he has so very few friends,” Bas murmured to Ali. He turned back to Gray. “You can’t hurt her. She’s the one being hunted. Not the hunter. And she’s only killed in self-defense.”

Ali nodded. “But nothing says I can’t kill you two. I’m still not sure how you’re not right there next to him,” she said to Bas.

“Trade secret.”

“Yeah, right.” She huffed, but Gray noticed her body language. She leaned toward Bas, not away from him. A measure of trust existed, clear as day. “So what’s this prick doing here?”

Bas laughed. “You nailed it. He’s an arrogant prick who thinks he’s better than us because he was born Circ.”

Damn. Bas wasn’t supposed to announce to the world just how different Gray was.

“A Circ is a Circ in my book. Long as they’re all dead, we’re doing just fine.”

Bas frowned. “You can’t mean me.”

“Why not? Just because you’re pretending to care doesn’t mean you do. Sex is physical. You come, you’re done.”

“And that’s all it meant to you?”

Bas’s quiet alerted Gray to pay attention. Ali continued, but she didn’t answer Bas’s question.

“My point is that every Circ who’s come up into this mountain has had my capture and/or death in mind.”

“Yeah, I found your last boyfriends.” Gray tugged ineffectually at his wrists again. “Bullets through their brains. Nice shots.”

“Glad you approve.” She walked right up next to him, and Bas joined her.

Despite trying to hold it in, Gray couldn’t contain his arousal. He ached to bite, to suck, to kiss both of them until they moaned his name. Until they accepted his dominance and submitted. Bas had already offered him so much. Would Ali?

“See?” Bold as you please, she ran a hand over the bulge in his pants. “This is what you want when you come here.”

“Christ.” Gray forced himself to lie flat when every instinct demanded he arch into her palm to prolong the contact. “If you don’t want it, tone down the scent, woman.”

“I am.” She frowned. She glanced down at his cock and tightened her hand, and Gray wanted to fuck her with a violence that surprised him. A glance at Bas showed him glued to the play, his interest readily apparent. But Ali ripped her hand away as if disgusted with him.

Bas cleared his throat and drew her attention. “I’ll say this for him. He’s hell on wheels in the sack. But then he opens his mouth and ruins it.”

She chuckled, and Bas smiled back.

Gray liked their interaction. But he wanted to be a part of it. No, dammit, I don’t, he yelled at his beast. I want out of these restraints and to get back home. Then I want a long vacation away from everyone and everything.

Yet he couldn’t look away from the enticing Circs standing so close to him.

“So what now?” Bas asked.

“Yeah. You going to keep me locked up forever?” he sneered.

She ignored him and answered Bas. “I have to clean up. We left tracks.” She walked to a nearby cupboard and opened the drawer. Then she turned and shot Bas in the blink of an eye.

Bas took a confused step forward, then dropped like a stone. Gray yelled, “I’ll fucking kill you for that!”

“Oh, relax. It’s just a tranq.” She showed Gray the gun, pointed to the dart over Bas’s left pectoral, and his heartbeat returned to normal. “I wasn’t born yesterday. Bas is nice, he’s hot, and he’s perfect. Too perfect. Your partner’s about-face is cute, but I’m not buying it. You two want me back in the labs. I get it. Nice approach too. Tell Trenton I’m done playing. Once I dump you—”

“Wait. Trenton. Do you mean Dr. Caleb Trenton?” Gray stilled, his every sense on alert. “He was killed three years ago in Panama.”

She frowned, studying him. “We both know who he is. Don’t act surprised he’s alive.”

“Well, I am, because I’m the one who shot him.” Or I thought I had. “He’s a very bad guy. Almost on the same level as Elliot Pearl, the doctor who first came up with the Circe serum. Trenton served for a few years under Pearl before he left the service. Then he started his own experiments.” Gray looked at her and knew. “He made you, didn’t he?”

“You could say that.” Ali lowered the gun to her side. She paused and sniffed in his direction. “You’re not lying.” She sounded surprised. “You don’t work with him, do you?”

“No. My job, and his,” he said, nodding at Bas, “is to get rid of scum like him.” He scrutinized her from head to toe. She couldn’t have been more than thirty, probably a few years younger. “How long did he have you?” Gray’s voice softened as he imagined what this young woman had been forced to endure. Despite the mutations he could clearly see on her, a wounded innocence remained in her eyes. If he hadn’t seen that, he might have delved into her mind for answers. But he suspected she’d already been used in ways no woman should ever be.

“Since I was six.” Her gaze took on a faraway look. “My father needed work after he left the army, and he’d made friends with Trenton. I think he knew what Trenton did was wrong, but he didn’t care. They used me like a lab rat.”

“Even lab rats get better care than Trenton’s subjects.”

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat and focused on him again. “So fast-forward two decades. I’ve been in and out of those labs over the years. It was mostly innocent at first. Tests and more tests. At first I could go without issue. But when they started a weird breeding experiment two years ago, I became a prisoner instead of a patient.” She stopped for a moment. “After all their hellish tests, the first time didn’t take. I didn’t plan to let them have another go at me.” Her eyes hardened, and his beast felt her fury as if it were his own. “I’m going to kill Caleb Trenton and destroy his lab. And I’m taking out all of his mistakes.”

Including me, he swore she said to herself. His beast roared inside his head in denial. No way in hell he’d let that happen; Gray and his beast agreed completely. “Yeah, well, if you’d let me out of these, I’d help.”

She shook her head. “Sorry. No can do. You talk pretty, but I’m not in the habit of trusting Circs.”

Frustrated yet proud of her sense, he didn’t know what tack to take until he remembered how she’d treated Bas. She might not want to, but she liked his partner. Hell, everyone who met the big bastard liked him. Even Gray.

“So you won’t free me. Could you at least help him out?” He looked over the bed at Bas, crumpled on the ground.

She nodded. “You’re right, you know. He’s dangerous, but he’s no killer. Doesn’t have it in him. That’s why I…” She didn’t finish. Instead, she changed.

Darker, thicker hair. Skin that scaled in odd places where the black was most prominent—her forearms, her hands, parts of her neck—a thickened and taller frame. She reminded him of the wild women where he’d grown up, deep in the Amazon jungle. Strong, sturdy, and lethal. They hadn’t been raised in the soft environs of human society. Instead they’d grown up alongside predators and the rich flora of the jungle. Ali possessed that same edge. A hardness she tempered with the natural purity deep inside her. A little girl forced to become a monster to survive.

He understood her, and it floored him. Because he sensed a kindred spirit. A lot like the one he’d felt in Bas, only she had a stronger backbone. Dominant, not submissive like his mate—partner.

He watched as she managed to take Bas over her shoulder and dumped him half on Gray. She pulled out the dart from Bas’s chest and pocketed it. “Scoot over,” she ordered, used to being in charge.

We’ll have to break her of that. He and his beast agreed while he shifted to make room for Bas.

She didn’t tie him up but turned to leave.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“I have tracks to cover, mutants to watch out for.”

“No. Stay here. Don’t tempt them. Mutants aren’t—”

“I know exactly what they are,” she snapped and turned back to him. She held out her forearms. “Look at me. I’m the same fucking thing.”

“No, you’re not.” And he meant it.

She opened her mouth to respond but said nothing. Then she frowned. “I, well, it feels like I am.” She continued toward the exit. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back in a few hours. I won’t let you starve.” A pause. “And if you’re really who you say are, I won’t kill you. But you can’t stay here.”

She left before Gray could say more. He heard her on the steps, the sound of a door closing, then silence. So much for getting a bead on where she went or what she did next. Gray pulled and twisted, but the damn restraints didn’t budge.

“Woman is paranoid.” And smart. She could hold a Circ down here indefinitely if she wanted.

He turned to Bas. In sleep, his partner looked no less soft but strangely vulnerable. Bas’s head faced him, and his breath fanned Gray’s face. Unable to stop himself, Gray let loose his telepathy and tried to penetrate the fog around Bas’s thoughts.

“Bas? Answer me. You okay?”

It took some doing, but when Gray’s beast joined forces to push at Bas’s inner awareness, the stubborn man finally answered. “Gray?”

Relief made him light-headed. Though Gray had seen and believed Ali had only used a tranquilizer, who knew what she’d drugged him with. Not all chemicals worked on Circs in the same way.

“I’m right here next to you. Your girl knocked you out with a dart.”

“Smart, isn’t she?” Trust Bas not to be angry but amused by her.

Like Gray, but he refused to admit it aloud. “Yeah, smart enough that she knocked you on your ass and trussed me up like a Thanksgiving turkey. I need you to push the drug out of your system and wake up. Let me free, and I’ll—”

“Fuck it all up, the way you normally do.”

“What?”

“Gray, I love you, man. But you’re an asshole when it comes to people. Undercover, sure, you blend in. But as yourself, that arrogance just hits people the wrong way.”

Gray tried to get past Bas saying I love you. Had he meant it? Did that love extend to the romantic, or had he meant it more as a brotherly, one-warrior-to-another kind of way? And why the hell did it matter so much to Gray to know the answer?

“So what’s your plan?” he managed.

“Stay tied up. See her as she is. I spent one hell of a night with that woman. Yeah, she’s not your typical Circ. Then again, neither are we. You were born this way, Mr. Perfect. And I don’t react to the serum the way most of the rogues and Circs do.” Bas paused. “I’ve never needed another Circ before you. No mating heats, no weird urges. And I don’t want it with anyone other than you…and Ali.”

Gray knew what he meant, because he felt the same. “So you want me to trust this woman you just met. Excuse me, fucked. Because why? She made you come a few times?”

Bas chuckled. “You know, for a while, I was really mad at you. But I felt you freak out when you thought she’d shot me. We’re connected, hero. More than you want, but it’s there all the same. You love me, asshole. Admit it.”

Gray balked, not comfortable about the path his future seemed to be taking. “Why should I admit anything? For all you know, you’re still dreaming.”

“Nope. This is real. You love me. I love you. And we just found the last part of our happy little family, who just happens to be a mutant slash rogue slash Circ. How does that fit your five-year plan, control freak?”

“I’m not a control freak… Okay, so I am.” Gray couldn’t deny that one. “But I have important things to do, Bas. Alicia Sharpe is my grandmother.” There. He’d admitted what only a select few knew. A woman who’d lived for hundreds of years, a woman much less than normal and whom everyone thought of as a political powerhouse, was his grandmother.

“Yeah, I know. She told me.”

“She did?” Gray couldn’t believe it.

“Yeah. And I know she’s a lot more like us than she seems. She screams power. No biggie. I’m good with that.”

“You are?” Gray knew it couldn’t be this easy. “What about my telepathy? It freaks you out.”

“A little.” Bas opened his eyes and stared at Gray. Aloud, he added, “I had a hard time with the PWP. They did things to me. Fucked with my fears, made them sharper, pulled crap out of my mind I’m still dealing with.”

Gray didn’t know.

“No one knows, Gray. Well, maybe your grandmother. But it was never mentioned in any files that I know of. The ones I found, I destroyed. So no, I don’t like psychics.”

“But you are one. Your telekinesis? You held me down with your mind, Bas. I didn’t imagine that.”

Bas grimaced and leaned up on one elbow. “I didn’t mean to. I wanted you, and the power got away from me.” Bas toyed with Gray’s shirt and pushed his hand underneath it. The feel of that large palm over Gray’s belly made him shiver. Bas smiled. “The power got away from me with Ali too. But I didn’t hurt her. And I didn’t hurt you.”

“No, you didn’t.” Gray groaned. “Quit teasing me. It’s been three days since we fucked. I need you again.”

Bas shook his head. “Uh-uh. Made love, not fucked. You know, you’re just like Ali. Both bossy, mean, and sexy as hell. But my beast knows who you are. It knew the minute I set eyes on you. Her too.”

Bas stripped Gray of his clothing using his mind, his hands, and at one point, his claws to work around the restraints. “You still haven’t admitted it, hero.”

“Quit calling me hero, junior.” Gray flashed growing fangs at Bas.

“Then end the attitude.” Bas glared down at him. “I’m a Circ, same as you. I don’t give a shit if you were born this way or trained to become so hard. But the Christ complex you’ve got going isn’t pretty.”

Gray flushed, because Bas had said what his sister and mother had been nagging him about for years. “I can’t help it. My father’s the same way. We’re expected to be the best, stronger, faster. We’re here to do important things, Bas.”

“Well, so am I. You think it’s chance I happened to do so well in the FBI? That I’ve always been better than others? I’m not bragging; it just is. But I’ve worked for it, and so have you. I took to the serum, Gray. Think about that. I’m not rogue. And for all that Ali looks mutant, she’s not. I’ve never heard of any mutant who could reason and feel with more than their cocks. Or in her case, pussy.” Bas gave him a small grin. “We’re different but the same. And I don’t like being made to feel less than you because my dad wasn’t Circ.”

“And mom. Don’t forget her.” Gray couldn’t resist.

Bas scowled and wrapped his hand around Gray’s cock. “Little shit.”

“Not so little,” Gray choked before losing himself to the rhythm of Bas’s hand.

“Say it.” Bas let go to remove his clothes, then he moved over Gray and grabbed his cock again. “Admit what you feel. Don’t be afraid.”

“Not afraid.” His beast growled, but he knew the truth. To give over to that emotion was to submit, to surrender. To trust. He’d seen so much deceit in his lifetime, so much sadness and despair. Death, destruction. Hell, even Jack Keiser’s “wife” had betrayed him. And they’d all liked the woman before they’d learned of her treachery. Even Gray.

“Then let me convince you.” Bas rubbed his wet dick against Gray’s, slick with a Circ’s need, and Gray couldn’t help the cum that spurted, the need too intense to ignore.

“That’s it,” Bas crooned. He let go of Gray and positioned himself lower. With his mind, he angled Gray’s hips, tilting them upward.

“Bas…”

“No. Let me. Let me love you.” Bas didn’t stop. He rested the tip of his cock between Gray’s cheeks and kept his gaze on Gray’s. “Let me in, dammit.”

Gray didn’t want to. He needed to be in control. To protect everyone, most of all himself. But as he caught the sentience behind Bas’s human eyes, as he saw the man and beast who loved and accepted, the wall inside him broke.

Gray opened up his mind and his heart. And Bas entered—mentally, emotionally, physically.

The burn hurt, pain making it hard to breathe.

“Fuck, you’re big.”

“I want you. So much,” Bas said between pants. The effort to go slow must have been difficult. Sweat beaded on his brow, but he didn’t stop his thrust. Bit by bit, he seated himself deeper. Until he couldn’t move anymore. “Oh yeah. So good. You feel like heaven, Gray. God, I love you.”

I love you too. Fuck, but I do.

The brilliant smile Bas gave him only increased the sensation of fullness.

“We’re one, hero. Finally.” Bas pulled out and pushed back in, slower, then faster.

Electricity zinged through Gray as Bas touched a part of him deep inside. His cock felt like iron, so hard, so heavy. His balls ached, the need to release overwhelming.

“Need to come.”

“Yeah. Do it. All over me. Please.” Bas fucked him harder, the painful slide of that large shaft only escalating the pleasure. “Come now, Gray. Come hard.”

Gray had to obey, his body beyond his control. He swelled and came, his seed bursting forth in waves of drugging ecstasy that blotted out everything but Bas. He felt Bas stiffen, the heat of his semen filling Gray’s ass. That connection, that belonging he’d been searching for, brought tears to his eyes.

“That’s it. So good.” Bas ceased rocking and kissed him as he ground into him again. “You know you called me baby before? When you were inside me?” He kissed his way down Gray’s throat. “So can I call you baby, since I just took you?”

Gray chuckled, the man and beast pleased at such a worthy mate. “No fucking way. I let you take me. Had to prove to my softhearted mate we’re solid.”

Bas just looked at him.

“Oh hell. I’ll say it out loud too. I love you, you idiot. Happy now?”

“Ecstatic. And hard again.” Bas withdrew from Gray’s ass and rubbed his cock against Gray’s rising hard-on. “I love being Circ, you know?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“We should probably clean up.” Bas engaged in some good old frottage, but Gray didn’t care about the mess. He just wanted to come over Bas again, to rub his scent all over his mate’s.

“Later. After.”

“Yeah, after.” Bas covered Gray’s mouth again, and Gray let him play. The time would come to remind his mate—mates—just where they belonged. Just as soon as he came a few more times.

Chapter Seven

When Ali returned after verifying the absence of her tracks, she quickly reached for the rug hiding the trapdoor with an eagerness that baffled her. The sex had been fantastic with Bas, no doubt. And she had to admit, watching him choke out his partner, as if he were on her side, had been thrilling. She’d never had anyone stand up for her before, aside from her grandfather. So to have Bas, a man who’d made her body come alive and emotions rush to the fore, defend her? She’d been in heaven.

But she didn’t trust it. She had a bad feeling her pheromones still controlled him. On the one hand, it meant she had command over the powerful Circ. On the other, it made her question Bas’s trustworthiness, especially if she went away for any length of time. Then too, he might not be on her side. He could be acting, pretending to help her while planning something with his buddy.

Gray.

That sexy, wild Circ who made her nipples hard with a look. Holy hell, but where did they grow men like these? First Bas, with his warmth, good looks, and amazing scent. A dick that never quit, and the wherewithal to please her throughout the night. Then his friend Gray. Mean, a true predator, with a raw edge that appealed to the beast and mutant part of her nature. She wouldn’t worry about hurting Gray, not the way she might inadvertently harm Bas. Gray wouldn’t let her.

She stared down at her hand on the loop holding open the door in the floor. Bas had mentioned Gray was “hell on wheels in the sack.” She knew Circs had needs. She’d seen enough of them fucking in the forest, male to male, without issue. But the image of Bas and Gray going at it appealed to her like crazy. She didn’t enjoy watching other people have sex. For the most part, Ali considered herself a normal woman when it came to breeding. She didn’t like men, and she didn’t want them around her, let alone inside her, unless she wanted kids. Which she’d never planned to have, not like this.

Unable to explain why she’d been so attracted to Bas, she chalked him up as an anomaly. And then she’d seen Gray, smelled him, and knew he was that other scent she’d caught lingering over Bas.

The two were lovers. Oh my God.

Needing to see them both again, she wandered downstairs and smelled sex. Bas must have woken and mounted his partner. Instead of preparing herself to deal with an angry Bas after shooting him, her beast rushed her into the room to see if she might witness them fucking some more.

“There you are,” Bas said sleepily, lying half over Gray. Both were naked, their bodies muscular, masculine, and perfect. She had to work hard to swallow.

Gray opened his eyes, yawned, and looked over at her. Brilliant irises, green around a thin ring of brown, regarded her with lazy amusement. “About time you got back. I have to take a piss.”

Bas nudged him in the gut, and Gray let out an oomph.

“Sorry.” Gray cleared his throat. “You think you could let me out of the restraints to use the facilities?”

She looked from him to Bas and tried to collect her thoughts. “Ah, bathroom. Right.” She didn’t move, bothered by something. “You.” She pointed to Bas. “You escaped the restraints before. Why didn’t you let him out?”

Bas rose from the table, his belly sticky with cum. She did her best to ignore the large organ growing between his legs.

“I was waiting for you.” He smiled, and she melted inside.

I’m stronger than this. Buck up, dammit. She had to force a scowl. “Well, then, let him out and come upstairs. You can wash that mess off you.”

She left before she said something else stupid. Like, why don’t you two try me on for size? A few years ago, she’d seen one of the breeding female Circs being taken by several males at once. The sight had both fascinated and repelled her. The men’s urgency intrigued her beast, but she could never quite tell if the female really wanted them or was at the mercy of her hormones. The thought of her being used against her will had turned Ali’s stomach.

But now, with Bas and Gray, she’d be more than willing. Her beast had picked a fine time to act the whore. After climbing the steps and pacing in the living space, she chided herself. “Relax, will you?”

“Sure thing, honey. Just show me where to clean up first.”

She jumped when Bas’s voice intruded and could have kicked herself for not hearing him. “Through there. Only door in the place other than the exit.”

He nodded and entered the lavatory. He didn’t close the door behind him. Then Gray stepped out from the stairwell into the living room, carrying his torn trousers.

“I don’t suppose you have any clothes that might fit me?”

She did. “I sometimes take things I need from those sent to bring me back.” She pointed to a tall armoire. “See what you can find in there.”

She tried not to but told herself she had every right to keep an eye on a potential threat in her own home. Gray’s tight ass flexed as he walked. His total disregard for his nudity brought another level of beauty to the man with a flawless build. He had a few scars, what must have been nearly mortal wounds to remain on Circ skin, but they only made him that much more attractive.

He turned with a bunch of clothes in hand and saw her studying him. His expression remained neutral. A tough Circ, a warrior she’d have to remain on guard around.

“What?”

“Why are you here?” she asked him.

“There are rogues in the area. A high concentration of them that concerned us. So we came to see what was what.”

“You’ve seen. What now?”

“Now we clean up the rogues and mutants in the area.”

He didn’t bother trying to hide his hard-on. How he could think of anything but sex with that big thing waving around was anyone’s guess. To her horror, her beast wanted her on her knees, waiting and willing to lick him clean.

She told herself she was disgusted by the idea. But she wasn’t. “Count me out of your cleanup,” she warned.

He walked right into her personal space, and her stupid beast let him. “Sweetheart, I’ll do what I damn well please. I know my job.” He shocked her by lifting a finger to caress her cheek. “You’re safe enough. For the moment.” A flash of elongated pupils let her know his beast truly saw her. And he appeared to like what he saw.

He turned and joined Bas in the bathroom and closed the door behind him. The shower stall was big enough to fit two grown Circs, and she wondered if they’d shower together. Would they fuck in the stall?

Her pussy clenched, and she cursed herself for being ruled by her own hormones. And why the hell had her beast not challenged him when he’d walked right up to her like he owned her?

Snarling under her breath, she tried to think of how to handle the men. Bas she had covered. But Gray… She needed leverage on him. He’d reacted to her pheromones before. She’d have to use that to her advantage. One way or another, as pleasant a diversion as she found them, the Circs would have to leave. She had to find Trenton and kill him. She couldn’t do that with these two underfoot.

That they were in her safe zone didn’t bother her, and she didn’t know why. The house had become her refuge, her sanctuary against the enemy. She’d never brought another Circ or person here before, and she still berated herself for bringing Bas at all. She should have dumped him in the nearby cave. The area belowground was for emergencies only. And now it was no longer a secret.

Damn it.

Bas exited the bathroom wearing a towel too small for him. His hair had been toweled dry, but a few drops of water lovingly trailed down his torso. So biteable. She shushed her beast and waited for Bas to speak.

He did like to talk.

“Hey, honey. Can you point me to the clothes? Gray mentioned you had a few that might fit me.”

“You’re bigger than most of the rogues I’ve met, but look for yourself.” She pointed to the wall. “They’re in there.”

He walked to the armoire and found clothing. Then he dropped his towel and dressed right in front of her. Man, he has a fine ass.

“Like what you see?” he asked with a wink.

“You wish.”

“I sure do. I want inside you again.”

She took the leer he gave her as a compliment. “Really? ’Cause I’m thinking you were just inside Gray.”

“I was.” His broad grin woke the butterflies in her stomach. “But he’s Gray, and you’re you. I like you, Ali.”

Had anyone ever said that to her before and meant it? She didn’t know how to handle Bas. “Great. Now why don’t you and loverboy hit the road? I have things to do, and you’re in the way.”

“Loverboy.” He rubbed his chin. “Yeah, Gray will get a kick of out of that. I call him hero or Mr. Perfect. Drives him nuts.”

She tried not to smile. “Yeah? What does he call you?”

Gray yelled from inside the shower, “Junior.”

“Big ears,” Bas muttered. “He’s just jealous because I’m younger and sexier than he is. Don’t worry, Ali. You’ll like him in you just as much.”

She frowned. “Not in his wildest dreams. I’m still not sure why I bedded you. But I’m not riding the lust train anymore, and I—”

Bas burst into laughter. “Lust train? That’s classic.”

Gray exited the bathroom dressed in pants. He toweled off his hair. “And now you see why I find him so annoying. He never takes anything seriously.”

“Not true. Just because I have a sense of humor and people like me doesn’t mean I’m a fool. I like to live life to its fullest, that’s all.” The laugh lines around his mouth and eyes said as much.

Ali found Bas’s attitude refreshing. She’d never before met a Circ with a lightheartedness about him. Most of them wanted to fuck or kill, and not necessarily in that order.

“Yeah, well, I think it’s time we can the jocularity and find out all Ali knows about Caleb Trenton. I’d dearly love to see him again.”

“So would I.” Ali’s beast was in tune with Gray.

“Jocularity?” Bas looked pained. “Look, I’m with you two on gutting the guy. But Gray, could you use smaller words? You don’t need to speak all fancy-like to impress Ali. And you know I’m easy. Then again, I’m a little nobody. I wasn’t born a big bad Circ, like you.”

Ali watched the byplay, intrigued because Gray, for all his brashness, seemed suddenly unsure as he turned to Bas.

“Would you let it go already? Christ, I’m sorry. Okay? You’re just as good as I am, in every way.” The sensual curl of his lips made her shiver.

“Just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget how sorry you are.”

Ali liked how Bas took the dangerous Circ down a peg. How odd. The men acted like true friends. Like lovers who loved. A strange hollow feeling hit her hard. She’d never had that. Not in a romantic sense, anyway. And with her grandfather gone, she had no one left. Not that it mattered, she reminded herself. Soon as Trenton was gone, so was she.

Gray swung his head to hers and pierced her with his stare. His eyes looked more green than brown, his gaze like jade daggers, biting and knowing.

She frowned. “What?” She crossed her arms over her chest, more than aware of the weight of the tranq gun pressed against her back. She’d tucked it into the back of her jeans under her flannel shirt, easy access should she need to take out Gray or Bas in a hurry. Curiously, neither her beast nor the mutant inside her wanted to kill either male, even should she be forced to. And she didn’t know why.

“Let’s talk about Trenton.” Gray motioned to her kitchen table.

She let them sit but continued to stand, itchy and unsure. “Dr. Caleb Trenton has been around for at least twenty-one years. I met him when I was five. My father worked for him for years until he died. I don’t know what my dad did, only that it had to do with Circ research.”

“Rogue research,” Gray corrected. “Real Circs don’t kill for the hell of it, or because they want to. We live with our beasts. We’re not at their mercy. You’re talking rogues.” His gaze lingered on the black streaks on her forearms. “And mutants.”

“Well, bully for you. But as far as I’m concerned, we’re all the same.” She ignored Bas’s scowl. “Point is, Trenton experimented on me when I was a kid. Lots of shots that made me feel weird.”

“How?” Bas asked.

“Increased my senses, my physical abilities. I can hold my breath under water for more than an hour. Can see and hear things a normal person can’t. And when I want to, I…” She stopped herself before revealing everything, not sure why she felt she could trust these men she’d just met.

“Let me guess. You can release a scent that draws men closer? Circs and humans, I’d imagine,” Gray said quietly. “Some of the female Circs we’ve encountered can do the same.”

She felt better, knowing she wasn’t the only freak out there. “I can mask it too. If I don’t want to be found, I won’t be.” She directed that to Gray, trying to show the male she wouldn’t be caged. Bas already knew she could take control, as she had when she’d bound him. But Gray might not realize she didn’t need Bas to confine him.

Her beast urged her to show him in a more carnal way, to ride him the way she had Bas. To own the stronger male, to dominate.

She cleared her throat when Gray’s eyes narrowed, and hastily continued. “So Trenton, the man you thought you killed, is obviously alive. He’s holed up in a secret lab on Whidbey Island in Washington. I know where it is. He also has a warehouse he uses sometimes in Portland, because it’s closer to these mountains. I think he’s planning to capture me and a few other females, then set up a compound somewhere in the Cascades. It’s perfect, really. Not too many people out here in the deep mountains during the winter. They cluster around the ski slopes. There’s plenty of space to remain undetected while growing a Circ army.”

“A rogue army,” Gray said absently.

“That sucks. We’re going to need a lot more backup on this.” Bas strummed his fingers on the table. “Ali, when exactly did you first change?”

“As in, turn into a she-beast?” she mocked.

“No. I mean when did your eyes turn red? Your skin black? You seem like you’re in midtransformation, from Circ to mutant. But you’re rational. Too human for that.”

“That puzzles me too.” Gray moved as if to stand, but when she tensed, he sat back in his seat. “I’m not going to hurt you, Ali.”

Yeah, right.

“I can see you don’t believe me, and with what you’ve been through, I can understand.”

Incensed at his patronizing tone, she let the angry beast inside her break free a bit, to see how the mighty Gray would take it. A flash of heat entered her vision, the telling red in her eyes no doubt flashing. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. I was a normal kid, and then I wasn’t. I had urges no sane person should have and no one to help me understand but an old man I loved dearly, until Trenton and his fuckers killed him. I was handled and touched in places no young virgin should be. And then I was nearly raped by a Circ. By one of you. I killed him while he was inside me. And you know what? I liked it,” she growled, wishing he could feel the hurt, the anger, and the humiliation she’d endured. “So don’t tell me you understand. Because you have no fucking clue,” she spat, aching to rake her claws down his face and mark him.

The fury made sense, but the transposition of anger to lust unnerved her. She took a quick step back and put a hand on the gun behind her when he stood and kicked the chair away.

“I understand more than you think.” His quiet words were voiced with so much contained rage that he scared her. “I’ve seen women and children mauled by monsters. Girls raped and innocent men killed because they trusted assholes like Trenton. He’s going to die, this time by my two hands while I squeeze the life out of him.” He neared her so fast she didn’t have time to draw her weapon.

Gray’s arms wrapped around her, holding her tight. Helpless and in pain, she struggled. His lips pressed against her temple, and she froze.

“I swear. He’ll never hurt you again. None of them will. I promise.”

Bas suddenly stood at her side and put his arm around her back. “We promise.” He nuzzled her hair. “No one will hurt you while we live, Ali. No one.”

His beast peered out of somber eyes, and she didn’t know what to think.

These men didn’t owe her a thing. She didn’t know them, had no idea why she’d poured her heart out to them. But the venom that accompanied such thoughts, that pushed her into killing or hurting something after reliving her torment, didn’t come.

Shaken yet relieved, she stood there while they stroked her back and her hair, whispering words of comfort. Nothing sexual or twisted about the way they held her. And she blinked back the tears she should have been too numb to feel.

* * *

Bas watched Gray handle Ali with kid gloves. For all that Gray could be a complete jerk, when it came to protecting the innocent, he was in his element. To think Ali had been tortured and used like that made his skin crawl. He wanted to find Trenton and skin him alive. Then find the rest of the shitheads who’d hurt her and make them scream out in pain while he broke bones and slit throats.

His beast warmed to the idea as he figured the best way to get information to the admiral. They needed to flush out Trenton before he could escape and start fresh. Bomb the hell out of his labs and rescue any unwilling test subjects the bastard no doubt caged like animals.

Some of what Ali had said reminded him of his time with the PWP, when the scientists had tried to break him, to make him the rogue they wanted, an animal they could control. But he hadn’t broken, and neither had Ali. His beast warmed to the woman even more, glad he’d let her take him, because she felt comfort in their shared exploration. And he sensed she wanted more. He’d seen her looking at him when he’d dressed, had felt her sexual need and gloried in it even more now. Because after all she’d suffered, she hadn’t refused his touch.

“I need you to pass the info on to Keiser while I stay with her. I don’t want Ali left alone,” Gray sent him.

“I agree. But shouldn’t you talk to Keiser? He’s your guy. Ali’s not sure of you.” To his surprise, Bas didn’t feel a hint of jealousy at the thought of leaving Ali with Gray. He just wanted to make sure his mates would feel comfortable with one another.

“She needs to know me. And you need to know you can handle the PWP in any of its forms.”

Gray’s mild rebuke annoyed him. “I don’t need therapy, you jackass.”

“And I don’t need to be sensing your fear anytime we have to deal with psychics. Deal with it, Bas. Ali needs us now, and she needs us strong. Trenton won’t be easy to kill, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he has more rogues out in the forest. You need to watch your ass out there.”

Gray’s poorly concealed worry both pleased and annoyed him. “I’m glad you care, but I’m good. I can handle that fuckwad Keiser.”

“Then prove it.”

Bas scowled but took a step back from their group hug. “Ali, I’ll be back. I need to pass on some info. I’ll be fine. And I swear, I’ll cover my tracks. Don’t let Gray boss you around.”

Her brown eyes no longer flashed with red. The woman had yet to shed one of the tears pooling in her beautiful eyes. Trying to be so damn strong. He ached to hold her again but knew Gray was right. Gray had to earn her trust. And his senses were keener than Bas’s. He’d hear a threat before they attacked, no problem.

“Nobody bosses me around.” She huffed at Gray and put a measure of distance between them, reestablishing control.

Bas wondered how his mate, the ultimate control freak, would respond. Especially because Gray would do nothing to hurt Ali, which meant not scaring her with anything too rough. Bas wanted to be around to watch, but this wasn’t the time.

“Yeah, so take your laughing ass out of here. And like I said, keep your mind open to me. I mean it.” The snarl in Gray’s command amused him.

He left with a wave and a grin.

The moment Bas left, Ali felt the whole of Gray’s formidable presence. Without Bas’s easy nature to lighten the mood, Gray’s essence filled the room with intensity.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said softly.

“I won’t let you,” she replied, tired of feeling out of sorts. She didn’t like her vulnerability around these men. Bas had at least proven a measure of trust. Knowing he could have escaped before but that he’d allowed her to set the pace of their pleasure satisfied her beast. He was an amazing lover, a skilled yet tender partner. She had every intention of having sex with him again.

Gray would be a problem. He seemed too sure of himself. Too in command of the situation. She didn’t like that. Time to show him where he belonged in the grand scheme of things. And the sooner the better, because her blood seethed with a new need for violence. The urge to see and taste Gray’s blood continued to grow.

She kept the distance between them, conscious of the gun at her back. If she intended to use it, she’d have to be fast, because as quick as he’d moved, he’d be on her before she could fire if she wasn’t careful.

“About Trenton,” she began, keeping the kitchen table between herself and Gray. “If you want to help me kill him, I’ll show you where to go. It’s easy enough to avoid the Circs—”

“Rogues.”

She rolled her eyes. “Rogues out in the woods. But Trenton is mine to deal with.”

“And the rogues who hurt you?”

He seemed fixated on what she’d told him. Her beast couldn’t have been more pleased. The woman in Ali was mortified. She’d never wanted anyone to know what they’d done to her. “It was just one guy. I killed him, remember? Forget I mentioned it. I don’t like thinking about it,” she said gruffly.

He nodded. “Fine. But I won’t forget.” The dangerous gleam in his gaze tempted her to take a step closer. Her beast liked nothing more than a challenge.

She stood firm. “Look. I’m tired. You can sit out here and read or something. I need a break.”

She took two steps toward the door in the floor when Gray spoke.

“Does sex bother you?”

She stopped and turned to face him. “What?”

“Sex. Your beast craves it. Perpetuation of the species is a natural requirement of our kind. It’s also built into Circ programming. But the human part of you. Does it dislike sex?”

She blushed, not used to talking about it. Annoyed to have let him embarrass her, she answered in a growl. “No. It’s just fine. I fuck when I feel the need. Men are good for something at least. Other than that, I hate ’em. Is that okay?”

He smiled, showing a good deal of fang. “Works for me, so long as Bas and I aren’t in that category. We’re not men, though, are we?”

He moved like lightning, but she’d been prepared. She released a waft of pheromones when he reached her, and he slowed considerably, enough for her to put her hand on her pistol.

But Gray jerked it away from her and tossed it across the room. “No need for that. Not when I have some good, satisfying sexual therapy in mind.”

“Fuck you. I don’t need therapy.” She squirmed, alarmed to feel his thick cock through his pants against her belly.

He pushed her up against the wall. “Yeah, you do. But problem is, sweetheart, you don’t realize yet where you fit in.” He sniffed her neck and pushed her hair out of the way, using only one hand and his body weight to hold her in place. “Tell me to leave you alone, and I will. But the truth is, you want this. You need this.” Then he licked her.

She felt the fire all the way to her toes. “I’m fine by myself,” she shouted and yanked her head away when he moved to kiss her on the mouth. But she couldn’t make herself give him the words to let her go.

“Tell me no, baby. Just one little word, and I’m gone.” Gray nibbled his way along her neck. “I’ll never hurt you, not unless you need it. I’ll protect you, baby. I swear. But soft won’t work for you. I can feel it.”

Unlike in the past, when she’d been held down, Gray’s forcefulness didn’t imply anything more than rough, needed sex. He smelled so good, and his beast tangled with hers. Not hurting, not raping, but dominating with her traitorous beast’s consent.

He sucked hard on her neck and bit her, then licked her blood.

“Yes.” She arched into him, so lost in sexual need, she couldn’t see straight. Finally. Here was a strong, worthy male she could submit to. A male to whom she might yield all and find pleasure and satisfaction in the release. But she wouldn’t make it easy for him. She yanked her head back when his fangs slid out of her neck, and head-butted him right in the face.

His nose cracked, but he didn’t let go of her. With one hand, he pressed his nose back into place, and she watched as the swelling eased and the fracture healed right in front of her. Then his eyes changed, his round pupils becoming slits. His skin darkened; his hair lengthened. He hadn’t yet put on a shirt, and his chest stretched and grew into hard-packed muscle.

Gray ripped open the tab of his pants and let them drop to his feet. He stepped out of them and pressed his body against hers.

Chapter Eight

“Feel what you do to me. That scent is so ripe. I want to fuck you so hard.” Gray kissed away her protest, sucking her breath into his lungs before giving it back. He tasted wild, like jungle and sun and beast.

Ali wanted him the way she’d wanted Bas, but she couldn’t take. She could only wait for him to control her. She shivered but lay passive as he stripped her naked.

But her beast would be content with only so much compliance. Her mutant cells woke as well, needing to feel blood and sex as they coupled.

Ali changed between one heartbeat and the next. She grew, but still he dwarfed her. Yet she didn’t care. Her fangs and claws knew no bounds. She tore into his Circ flesh and moaned into his mouth as the sweet scent of his blood filled her head.

“So hot,” he murmured and nipped her tongue when she nicked his, allowing her to taste her own blood and his. A mixture of the mating taking form. “Now open for me, sweetheart. Give your master his due.”

She didn’t like hearing that and immediately rebelled.

“Oh yeah, that’s it.” Gray’s thick voice showed her he liked her defiance. The manipulator intended for her to fight back.

She gave him as good as she got, struggling not to be free but to show him she could take his roughness, even needed it.

He kissed her again and cupped her breast. His claws pricked her nipple, and she gasped. His tongue invaded. In the next breath, so did his cock. He hefted her up against the wall and held her ass with one palm. She opened her legs to wrap around his waist, to find purchase so as not to fall.

“Gray, please.”

And he speared her in one long, deep thrust.

So far inside her, he sank into her heat. And then he fucked her. Hard. Brutally. Without mercy, giving her exactly what her beast desired.

A true dominant, he mastered her body and then her mind. Whispers and pleas went directly into her head as he plunged faster. Sensation rebounded, her desire exponentially fierce as Gray took her. He rained kisses over her lips, her cheeks, and sucked again at her throat, biting, then licking the sting away. The rasp of his tongue made her crazed, evidence of his beast there in every swipe over her bloodied wound that healed in seconds.

The climax caught her by surprise, and she cried out and tightened around him, coaxing his pleasure. Still shuddering around him, she felt the hot rush of his seed as he jerked and ground against her. Her clit spasmed, and she came again, relishing the Circ who held her so tightly.

“Oh fuck. Oh yeah, that’s it. So good.” He pulled out, then slammed home again, leaving more of himself inside her. “All of me. That’s a good girl.” He blinked down at her, his gaze replete, his smile wide. “You are one sexy, bad-ass Circ.” He let go of the hip he’d been clenching to run his clawed hand over her hair. “I never thought I’d say this, but I like the red in your eyes and the black lines in your skin. That danger is sexy. Makes you wild, Ali. A woman who can handle me.” He seemed more than pleased with himself.

“Yeah, well, it’s nice to see you’re not as meek as you first looked.” She hooked her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss, muffling his chuckles.

His laughter turned to a groan, and he carried her, still joined, into the bathroom. Inside, he withdrew from her and turned on the shower. Then he dragged her in with him. “Change back.”

The order implicit in his tone she could have done without. But she had a feeling he wanted to continue their play. Watching him change while she remained her beast, she felt an odd snap inside her, as if a part of the shield holding her safe from the world had fallen. That a man as powerful as Gray would let his guard down enough to be so vulnerable while she held the upper hand stunned her.

“Well? I’m waiting.” He stood under the spray of warm water. But he didn’t do more than wait for her as he looked into her eyes.

She changed back and looked up at him once more.

“So sexy. No wonder Bas was loving his time as a captive.” Gray washed her thoroughly, his touch curiously gentle as he caressed her from her neck to her shoulders and lower. He paid a lot of attention to her breasts and between her legs. When he was done, he refused to hand her the bar of soap.

She watched him clean himself. When he moved to his cock, his shaft thickened, and he quickly let go.

“You’re always hard. You and Bas.”

He smiled, and the beauty in his expression took her aback. “Only around people I really like.”

She blushed again.

“God, you’re beautiful. Do you know that?”

She didn’t know what to say. And then she couldn’t have spoken if she’d wanted to.

Gray put the soap in the holder and kissed her. But this kiss was soft, gentle, exploring, with a wicked laziness as if he had all the time in the world.

She groaned and clutched his shoulders. But his kiss lingered until she grew light-headed, short of breath. He left her mouth and kissed her throat, her collarbone. Down the slopes of her sensitive breasts to her nipples. He sucked one, then the other, hard pulls that made her clit throb.

“I didn’t pay these enough attention, did I?” he rasped as he pulled back to look at her. “Oh yeah. She’s always there, your beast. I love that.” He returned to her breasts, laving them until she wanted to scream in frustration. As if she hadn’t had sex just a few moments ago, she needed to come again. And come hard.

Gray must have sensed she’d reached her limit, because he trailed his kisses down and sank to his knees.

“Gray?”

“Grayson Belle. At your service.” He winked at her before putting his face into her mound. He nuzzled her folds and spread her thighs wider.

She’d read about this, even had a few dreams about it. But she’d never experienced a man’s mouth on her. And oh God, what she’d been missing.

Gray licked and sucked her clit, sending her into a world of pleasure from which she never wanted to leave. She gripped his wet hair, immersed in him, his scent, his mouth.

“Gray, please.” She felt so empty, so needy.

“Come over my tongue,” he murmured and sucked harder. Then he shoved a finger inside her and pumped it in time with his magical lips.

“Oh yes. Oh yes,” she whispered and came, gushing into his mouth as he refused to ease off.

When she trembled on the point of pain, oversensitized, he let her go. But she didn’t like the thought of her mate hard and hungering.

She questioned her own choice of words when Gray distracted her. He stood, and his cock brushed her thigh. Up close, she could see his size, the thick stalk veined and wet with water. His slit filled with cream, the moisture there for her, because she made him want.

“Suck me.” He gritted his teeth when she circled his flesh with her hand.

This close, touching him, she felt small. Feminine. Desired. Not lusted after, an object of male need, but wanted as a lover, a woman Gray not only admired, but liked. She softened, her heart beating just for him.

“On your knees. I want to watch you suck me off,” he growled.

More than willing to obey for the first time in her life, she knelt before him and took him in her mouth. The foreign taste tantalized and thrilled her.

When he pushed more of himself between her lips, she opened to receive him.

“Fuck. Oh yeah, Ali. To the back of your throat, baby. So good. Take me inside you. All the way,” he said, breathless.

Overcome with emotion, Ali accepted the powerful male. She wanted to give back all the pleasure she’d received. She continued to catch snippets in her mind, his enjoyment, his affection for her, his complete enthrallment with Ali’s entire being—beast, woman, and wild mutant.

The discomfort she would have imagined she’d feel when he hit the back of her throat didn’t come, aided by her beast. She automatically changed just enough to enlarge her mouth and throat, and she licked and swallowed Gray’s small bursts of semen with eagerness.

“Here it comes. Just for you. All for you,” he said on a groan as a jet of cum filled her mouth and trickled down her throat.

She continued to suck and swallow him while he emptied himself inside her. To her shock, she purred, and he cried out as he came again, another burst of release she’d given him.

When he’d finished and his erection finally flagged, she pulled away.

Gray hauled her to her feet and kissed her. Then he hugged her tight, and they shivered together in the cooling water. “That was amazing. Thank you, baby. You were absolutely incredible. Damn. I can’t wait to do that all over again.”

When she just hugged him tight and said nothing, he pulled back to look down at her. “You okay? It felt good, right?” His gaze was searching.

She nodded. “More than good. I’ve never done that before. With my mouth, or yours, I mean.”

His frown eased into a smile. “You’re an innocent little thing, aren’t you?”

“I’m not that little.”

“You are compared to me. And Bas.” His smile remained, but she could feel him reach out to Bas with his mind, that surge of power impossible to ignore. “He’s okay. Bastard likes to think he’s better at people skills than I am, but he’s still unsure of himself when it comes to dealing with other psychics.”

That didn’t seem right, considering Bas had moved her with his mind. “He is?”

“Bas had a hard time not too long ago.” He reached behind her to turn off the water, but he continued to talk as he dried them off and dragged her with him to the bed. “Like you, he was taken against his will. That’s what made him Circ. He can move things with his mind, and he’s a real go-getter. Someone took notice and tried to mold him into what they wanted.” Gray snuggled with her under the covers. “But Bas kind of does what he wants. He’s good at following orders when he wants to and giving you the finger when he feels the need, too.”

“He follows you, doesn’t he?” She watched as Gray’s expression softened.

“Yeah, he does. Apparently he followed you too.” Gray narrowed his gaze. “You had your way with my mate, didn’t you?”

Not sure what his mean look signified, she tried to move away from him, but he wouldn’t let her. “So what? He invaded my land. My space. He’s mine.”

Gray nodded. “Yeah, but he was mine first. You too.”

“Me too what?”

“You’re mine now too. My mate. Bas’s mate. We’re one, baby. So don’t fight it, okay?” He kissed her on the head and yawned.

“Fight what?” Panicked and not sure why, considering her beast continued to purr in his embrace, she sat up. “We had sex. Big deal. I’m sure you do this all the time.”

“Nope. This pull, this amazing heat between us? Just with you and Bas. Humans can’t satisfy the need, and frankly, it’s annoying to always have to pull in my strength with them.”

“But you can’t mate me. I’m a mutant.” She held out her forearms, bemused to see the black of her veins so faded. Mates? The thought scared the crap out of her, mostly because she wanted what he said to be true. To belong with men who cared. Who wouldn’t hurt her or lie to her. Who would accept her despite all her deficiencies.

“You’re my mutant. That makes all the difference.” Gray shrugged. “You’ll get used to it eventually. No one fucks with me and what’s mine. No one will hurt you. And from what Bas told me of your abilities, you’ll fit right in with my team.” He nodded again. “Yeah. We’ll have to take care of Bas, because he’s softer than we are. But you feel right. Much as I hate to admit it, my beast knows better than me.” He sighed. “And don’t ever tell my grandmother this, but I’m glad as hell she sent me on this mission.”

“Grandmother? Wait, mates? Bas? This is a lot to take in.”

“Shh. Easy, honey. Just relax. Sleep on it. I can already tell you your beast likes the idea. Your rage and hungers are easy now, aren’t they? Because the mutant senses it has what it needs to be complete. Me. And Bas, of course. Can’t wait to try out both of you at the same time. Sex is going to be out of this world.” He wiggled his brows at her, and she couldn’t help thinking the same thing.

But his easy acceptance of this huge change annoyed her.

“So what? I’m just supposed to leave my cabin and mountains and join you? Where? When? How do we live?” Though the idea had appeal, to leave this place and the bad memories behind, she didn’t like the thought of the unknown. Every time she’d left her grandfather and their mountain, bad things seemed to happen.

“You let me worry about that.” His arrogance astounded her.

Angry and suddenly in no mood to sleep, she unleashed her pheromones, stunning Gray enough that she could leap out of bed and grab her gun before he could move. “Let you worry, my ass.” She shot him in the chest twice, enough to knock him out for a while. In the meantime, she’d figure out what to do about all this.

She dressed. Then she carried him downstairs and tied him up with Circ restraints. Asleep, he looked dangerous but boyishly cute. Darker where Bas was lighter, but just as sweet.

She frowned and left him only to return with a blanket. After seeing to his comfort, she returned to the house upstairs and straightened up, hiding signs of his presence. No one had ever found her here, but there was always a first time. And while she scouted her mountain again, Gray would be safe, undetected and out of sight.

Her beast whined about leaving him, but Ali didn’t trust her desire to remain. She thrilled at the thought of being kept by Gray and Bas. To feel that same love and trust they had for each other, to know that kind of joy. Her grandfather had felt it for her grandmother before the woman had passed when Ali was a girl. The older man had loved her as well, treating her like the child her mother would have loved had Amy Ross not died a few years after giving birth.

It seemed everyone Ali cared for died, and she was hesitant to admit the thought of losing Gray or Bas scared her. To have such affection—love—for two men she’d just met didn’t make sense. But her intuition told her she couldn’t ignore their appearance in her life. The changes she’d be forced to confront had found her. First Bas, then Gray. She just wished she knew if they were the last of it, or if she’d face more uncertainty.

Because really, why would men as handsome and together as Gray and Bas want her? She was a mutant, an unsophisticated woman no better than a beastly killer at the best of times with nothing more than a GED and a handful of unsuccessful waitressing jobs on her résumé. She’d had a few sexual, meaningless relationships and barely two nickels to rub together. Oh, and she was a monster.

Her beast snarled at her to quit her pity party and concentrate on stopping the danger she could feel drawing closer.

After grabbing more munitions and another gun filled with bullets meant to kill, Ali threw on a jacket and trudged outside. For three hours, she looked for danger while covering her trail. An unfamiliar scent struck, pine and danger and something else that seemed recognizable. The spoor of power mixed with insanity. She trudged deeper into the undergrowth to a small clearing very few on the mountains knew about. There, she came upon the one mutant she’d managed to avoid for years. Trenton’s right hand and a bastard too crafty to be caught unaware. He’d masked his scent, or she never would have gotten close to him.

She entered the clearing before she recognized him. Now that it was too late to do anything but persist, she put on a brave face and waited.

Freakishly huge, he’d tower over Bas. He had to be nearly eight feet in height and must have weighed four hundred pounds. His skin, like hers, had streaks of black over normal flesh. His hair remained long all the time, as if he was in a perpetual state of change. His eyes had no iris or pupil to be seen. Colored entirely of red, they looked like bloody beacons leading to hell.

“Watts.”

He nodded, his gaze calm, his manner unthreatening. Abnormally at ease.

His claws had turned black years ago, but his fangs remained white, sharp, and lethal. She’d seen more than one innocent die from having his or her throat torn out by those teeth.

“Alison. I’m glad to see you still alive.”

She scowled. “Save it, Watts. We both know you’re here for Trenton. His fucking lackey.”

He narrowed his eyes. “A lethal tongue you have there.” He smiled, showcasing not only the few fangs she’d seen before but a whole mouthful of them. “I can’t wait to feel it up close and personal.” He licked his lips, and she barely controlled a shudder.

She pulled out her pistols and aimed them dead center between his eyes. He might survive a shot to the chest, but he wouldn’t walk away without a brain. “Say what you want, then leave.”

“I wasn’t lying. I want you. You know that. I’m also done with Trenton. In case you haven’t heard, you’re not the only one on his most-wanted list.” He laughed, and the sense of evil ruffled her beast.

“So all the rogues and mutants combing the area?”

“You’re the reward, but I’m the real prize. I guess I’ve made a few enemies over the years.”

She snorted. “No shit. You’ve killed when you didn’t have to. And don’t think I’ve forgotten seeing what you did to those women in the breeding cells.” She hated Watts almost as much as she hated Trenton. Except Watts had been turned into what he was; Trenton aspired to evil.

He shrugged. “I’m a slave to my needs. But then, we all are.” He took a deep breath and blinked at her. “You have to be kidding me. Don’t tell me you were won over by that fucking killer pretending to be a do-gooder?” He laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound. “Grayson Belle. No shit. You let him fuck you, but you say no to me?”

For all that Watts was a monster, he didn’t seem that canny. Nor did he seem to be anything other than shocked by her choice of bed partner. “What do you mean?”

“None of us were ever sent out here to kill you. But he was. Him and that prick, Decker.”

She didn’t understand. “They weren’t here for me, Watts. They came to kill you and the other mutants in the area.”

“Tell yourself whatever you want, but the bastards came to kill mutants. Guess who was top dog on their list? Al Ross.” He dug into a pack by his feet and took out a letter. He crumpled it and threw it to her. “Take a look if you don’t believe me.”

Her hand shook, so she lowered one of the guns. She couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to. But it made so much sense. Why men like Gray and Bas might want her. Why they’d come to the mountain in the first place. There weren’t that many rogues on the mountain at any one time. But she’d been here for months.

She kept her eyes on Watts while she stooped to pick up the paper. He didn’t move.

“Go ahead and read it,” he growled. “You’re one of us, whether you like it or not. Those assholes don’t care who they kill. If it has red eyes and black skin, it’s a target. I thought you were smarter than that.”

He sat on a rock and waited.

She uncrumpled the paper and read a classified mission statement from one Admiral G. London to an Alicia Sharpe. A Pentagon missive. Some of the lines had been blacked out, but she read enough to recognize Agent Belle and Al Ross—the supposed threat—with the express order to eliminate said threat.

Shaken and trying hard not to show it, she dropped the paper. It fell onto the snow-covered ground as swiftly as her heart broke and crashed at her feet. When she felt she could speak without crying, she said to Watts, “This still doesn’t change the fact that Trenton is a walking dead man.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Watts stood, his power both impressive and awesome to behold. When he crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles bunched with lethal energy. “But sometimes enemies can become allies. I’m in hiding, and I’m fucking sick of it. Deer meat is stringy, and I’m not so far gone that I’m turning cannibal.” He sneered. “The mutants and rogues hunting you down aren’t nearly my caliber or yours. Pitiful challenges.”

“True.” She wanted to return to her home and put a bullet in Gray’s handsome head. Then she wanted to rail at him and kill him all over again. He’d been crueler than Trenton. At least the doctor had never tried to pretend he had her best interest at heart. He’d been all cold science, trying to better himself. But Bas and Gray had made her feel things. Hope that the future might not be so bleak. And they’d planned on killing her all along.

“Why didn’t they just kill me, then? They knew my name.”

“Fuck if I know. Though if it had been me, I’d have gotten my fill of you before offing you. Prime piece of Circ ass can sate a mating hunger. No offense.”

God. I’m so stupid. They would have killed her soon enough. She should have saved them the trouble and told them of her intentions. She’d never planned on a long life anyway. Mates. Ha. Her beast roared with inner pain, and the agony woke her mutant into a froth of brutal hate. It wanted blood, death, and destruction. And it wanted them now.

Watts watched her warily, no doubt sensing the kindred spirit awakened within her. “I propose we join forces. Once we kill Trenton, we can go back to being enemies if you want. You know I’m stronger and faster. I’ll kill you someday, Alison. But I’d rather not.” He tilted his head, studying her. “There’s something about you. More than your ripeness. More than that hot cunt I want.” He seemed confused, and she felt a moment’s pity for him, despite his crudity.

“Thanks, I think.”

He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be fucking you. If not now, then after Trenton’s dead. And I don’t particularly care if you’re willing.”

“Be hard to fuck me if I cut your balls off.”

“True.” He nodded. “But the thing is, we don’t have to be enemies. Once we kill Trenton, the larger threat to us is gone. We can erase evidence of our existence. Bring down his lab. Hell, we let the government in on it, and they’ll clean up the problem in two shakes. Once we’re free, we can be together. You and me. Live away from all this, or live here if you want.”

Watts wanted to live. He wanted freedom, and he’d kill again and again, hurting those around him because he couldn’t help himself. The mutant and beast in her knew the truth, and it knew she was just like him. She just hadn’t reached her limit yet, when she’d no longer be able to differentiate right from wrong.

With her world ripped out from under her, she had little choice in the matter. “Call me Ali, Watts. If we’re going to partner up, we might as well become friends.” She lowered her weapon. “Now let me tell you what I know.” She gave him the laboratory codes she’d used to escape, codes no one knew she had. They’d blamed another rogue and killed him for “allowing her to escape.” Or so she’d heard.

After some time, Watts nodded. “With that, and with what I know about the rest of his security, this will be a piece of cake. But don’t fuck me on this, or I’ll kill you, Ali. And I’ll make it last.”

Giving in to the inevitable, she held out her hand. “Same goes. Partners?” Until we kill Trenton; then I kill you. And finally, me.

“Partners.” His large hand dwarfed hers. A hint of lust appeared on his face, but he wisely took a step back. “Now let’s go hunting.”

Chapter Nine

Bas had a hard time functioning by the time he returned to the cabin. He’d done his best to mask his tracks, but the dread growing in his breast became impossible to ignore. Something bad had happened to one of his mates, maybe both. He’d already shifted into his beast to make the return trip faster, but he was too late. He’d been calling out to Gray repeatedly in his mind. Gray wouldn’t answer. And no matter how much Bas tried, he couldn’t sense Ali.

Though they hadn’t truly bonded together, he knew she was his. The way Gray was. But he and Gray had forged those emotional and physical ties. Bas and Ali hadn’t. Not yet, because they needed Gray to pull the three of them together.

He tore through the cabin and found it empty. So he headed for the area underground.

Gray lay tied to the bed, unconscious. Two darts were buried in his chest. Of Ali, there was no sign.

Sincerely freaked, he removed the darts from Gray. Then he grabbed water and splashed it in Gray’s face. He tried to waken him, the way Gray had pushed through to him before. He opened himself on every level and poured his heart and soul into Grayson Belle.

After a minute, his partner—his mate—woke.

“Thank God.” Bas kissed him hard on the mouth and dragged the key out of Ali’s hiding spot. After releasing Gray from the restraints, he carried him upstairs and placed him on the couch. He grabbed some leftover rogue clothes from her armoire and tossed them at his lover. “Well? What did you do to Ali?”

He hated to jump to conclusions, but the scent of sex, joy, and confusion, not to mention Ali, lingered over Gray like a perfume.

“Huh? Ali?” Gray called out.

“She’s not here.”

Gray held his head. “That little witch.” His growl turned into a roar as he stood and looked around. “She fucking held me with that scent. Then she tranq’d me. Again!” Gray pulled on the clothes Bas gave him, to include his own boots that sat in the bottom of her armoire. “You filled in the admiral?”

“Through Keiser.” Bas didn’t want to, but he had to acknowledge Gray had been right to send him. “He’s as arrogant as you are. And he’s hiding a lot behind those cold gray eyes. Secrets I don’t even wanna know about. But he’s solid. Gave me this sat phone and a bunch of supplies and a truck I left at the base of the mountain. Now tell me about Ali.”

“I don’t know. We made love, we bonded, and I told her we were mated. She seemed happy about it.” Gray frowned. “I think. Maybe she was a little annoyed.”

Bas groaned. “What did you say to her? Idiot.”

“Hey, I told her the flat-out truth,” Gray snapped. “We’re mated, and we’re going to be together. So she got a little touchy about the future. I told her not to worry. I’d handle it.”

“You handled it, all right.” Bas paced the living room, needing to find her now. “Think about it. The woman has been through hell with men, and Circs in particular. Then we come in here out of the blue to kill her. But instead we fuck her. Two guys she doesn’t know from Adam.”

“Her beast knows,” Gray argued. “Instinct doesn’t lie. You know our intuition is there to protect us, self-serving to ensure the survival of the species. I felt her, Bas. Ali’s beast is mine, as much as it’s yours. So’s the damn woman under all that mutant DNA,” he ended on a growl.

“Well, apparently the ‘damn woman’ doesn’t accept that yet. Asshole,” Bas muttered, knowing it was partially his fault for not warning his mate to go easy on the woman. Gray tended to take charge, and he didn’t have a lot of tolerance for those not following his orders. Bas knew that better than most.

“I’m not a child to be warned how to behave.” Gray glowered.

“Then don’t act like one. You should have used more patience. Admit it.”

“Maybe.” He threw open the door and lifted his nose. “Come on. Let’s find her so we can talk some sense into her.”

Except they didn’t find her. They searched for hours, until Gray and Bas caught wind of a dangerous scent that didn’t belong.

“Impossible. That smells like Bradley Watts. Another guy I supposedly shot and killed a year ago. What the fuck?” Gray snarled and tracked the small clearing, searching, while Bas did the same. “He was here.”

Fear spiked. “So was Ali.”

Gray bent over the ground to pick something up. “Oh shit. This isn’t good.” He handed the letter to Bas.

“Hell. You know she read this. That fucker Watts must have given it to her. The admiral has another leak in security.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. Now she knows we lied about not coming to kill her.”

“She’ll think we lied about the rest of it too.” Gray looked haunted. “We need to get to Trenton now. When she and I were together, I caught some of her thoughts, the ones buried in the recesses of her mind. She’d always planned on killing him, then herself. And if she’s as pissed off and hurt as I think she is, believing I lied about loving her, she’ll do something stupid.”

“You told her you loved her?” Bas couldn’t believe it. Then again, he could. He’d fallen hard for Ali the moment he’d opened his eyes and seen her.

“No. Not in so many words.”

Bas scowled. “In any words? No, of course not. I had to drag the confession out of you myself. Look, asshole, just because you feel it doesn’t mean the rest of us know it. Ali’s vulnerable enough. But even I could see how she responded to some tenderness. Then to have that ripped away, based on a lie? Shit. She won’t hesitate to put herself in harm’s way.”

“Let’s go.” Gray changed and ran faster than Bas could keep pace with.

Bas followed his scent trail and found Gray waiting for him in the truck, ready to go. The moment Bas joined him, they sped away from the Cascades.

Gray nodded at the sat phone. “Call the admiral and tell him to mount an assault on Trenton’s lab now. She has a good start on us, and no telling when we’ll get to him. But we have to nail his ass before she does. She won’t harm herself if she can’t verify his whereabouts.”

“But if we move too fast, we’ll miss rounding up his contacts and sources,” Bas argued for the sake of argument. He readily agreed with Gray’s decision to nail Trenton now.

“Fuck his sources. We need to save Ali. And God help Watts if he so much as breathes wrong around her.” Gray’s violence seeped into the confines of the SUV.

Bas did his best to remain in control, but he worried for Ali. He hadn’t had a chance to tell her how he felt. How much she meant to him, which even he had a hard time believing, considering what little time they’d spent together. But he knew. Love had no timetable. And he wouldn’t lose her now. He couldn’t.

“Hurry up, Gray. Put your foot on it.” Bas called the admiral. The mission was a go. There would be a plane standing by for them in Redmond to take them straight to Whidbey Island. God help Trenton when they got there.

* * *

Ali felt a curious sense of detachment as she and Watts tore through the rogues guarding the breeding facility. She’d freed several females while having to put down others who’d turned too aggressive to control themselves. She watched Watts enjoy the decapitations and mutilations as they grew closer to Trenton’s wafting fear.

They’d timed their attack just right, because aboveground, the government’s forces were tearing the security forces a new asshole. But it would be a while before anyone knew to check the subbasement levels that didn’t exist in any blueprint. Trenton had killed the laborers and engineers who’d built the place years ago. Only he and a select few scientists knew of this area’s existence. Well, and Circs like Ali and Watts, who’d been worked over down here.

“Some fun, eh?” Watts cleared a bloody path toward Trenton’s office. He smiled, his sharp teeth little points of delight he no doubt used to his advantage when he felt like biting to make his point.

The rage and frustration she’d thought she’d feel when taking her revenge paled next to the sadness deep within. She couldn’t believe she’d ever bought Gray’s lies. She had thought herself beyond hope for the future. How could she have let herself care, even a little bit, for two holier-than-thou Circs?

“Hey, Ali. Pay attention, would you?” Watts asked with exasperation as he tore a guard in two, ripping his legs apart like a wishbone. He tossed the remains aside, like throwing out the garbage. “Our prey is in here.”

“He’s armed.” She shot two more rogue and mutating Circs in the head as they tried to attack. The frothing mouths gave them away, as did the roaring cries of insanity.

Though the walls and ceiling were soundproof, she wondered if any Circs above might hear the noise. “We should make this quick, in case anyone upstairs can hear this mess.”

“Good point.” Watts seemed in good cheer, now that she was back in the game and on his side. He’d been nothing but solicitous once they’d partnered up. He couldn’t seem to help staring at her, sizing her up like his next meal, but he made no move to scare her. If anything, he gave her more space. “I’ll go in first. I can take a lot of hits. You wait till I’m down, then take him out. Trenton’s not expecting you.”

Since they’d disabled the security cameras before entering, he would have no reason to suspect her presence. She’d made sure to keep to the shadows and retain her scent as well, on the off chance his rogue guards had radioed ahead before Watts disarmed them.

“Go.” She reloaded her pistols and waited with her weapons drawn.

Watts pushed through the steel door as if pushing through paper. Then he went down hard, several Taser darts clinging to his neck while bullets bounced off him. Some Circ ammo failed when used against mutant skin. From what she knew of Watts, nothing had ever put him down permanently.

She didn’t waste his sacrifice. Ali popped the three guards, brutal enforcers she recognized who’d killed without remorse. Trenton cowered in the corner, covered in smatters of blood. He held a pistol and shot wildly, but she dodged his bullets while tucking her pistols back into the holsters under her arms.

After slapping the gun out of his hand, she dragged him to his feet. She’d changed before the attack and stood a few inches taller than the bastard. He’d always seemed so much bigger to her. But not so much now. The blue eyes she’d once found so cold and piercing now pleaded for clemency, and his dark hair was threaded with more gray than she remembered seeing. The pristine white lab coat he took such pride in had smatters of blood and gore on it, as well as a few tears.

“Pathetic.” She punched him in the gut and took pleasure in his wheeze of pain. “A bully who’s not so big without his guards and his weapons, now is he?”

“Please. Don’t kill me. I’ll do anything.”

When he started crying, she felt nothing but disgust. This same scientist had ignored her tears and pleas for mercy while he’d documented a huge monster molesting her. “You’re a piece of shit, you know that? You turned me into this. You made me a killer, you bastard.”

“I did. I know. I’m sorry.”

“For a long time, I just wanted to be left alone. But you wouldn’t let me be, would you?”

“No, no. I knew I was wrong. I wanted to leave you alone. I swear. But he wouldn’t let me.”

She frowned. “I’ve been dealing with your rogues and mutants for nearly a year. Why do you think I kept raiding your warehouse for ammo? Why I sent back your soldiers in pieces?”

“I liked that. Really liked that,” Watts said from behind her. He slowly picked himself off the floor and staggered, woozy from the electric assault. A few bullets had managed to penetrate his skin as well, and she watched as they pushed out of his body and his skin healed.

“Not me,” Trenton whispered, frantic. “Him.” He nodded to Watts.

Watts grinned. “Kill him, Ali. You know you want to.”

She withdrew one of her guns. But something about this was wrong. Trenton was a dick, but he didn’t lie. “What’s he talking about?”

“Nothing. Dr. Caleb Trenton is full of shit. Everything out of his mouth is a lie.” Watts shrugged. “Fine. You won’t kill him, I will.” He advanced until she sighted in on Watts’s head.

“Not another step. You’re good, and you’re fast. But if I shoot you in the right place, and at this range I won’t miss, I’ll put you down hard. Long enough to slice your neck from ear to ear and rip your head clean off.”

He froze. “I don’t know what the fuck you think you’re gonna hear, but go ahead. Let the little prick lie if it makes you feel better. Then I’m going to gut him and strangle him on his intestines.”

Trenton pissed himself. She dropped him in a hurry and wished she could feel worse about scaring the little man so much he lost control of his bladder. “Talk.”

“I followed his orders, to the letter. The breeding experiments, the shots, everything was all at Watts’s say-so. He’s a former colonel in the army. Your father’s and my superior. The lab was his idea—”

Watts lunged before she could stop him and knocked the gun from her hand. He turned to Trenton and broke his neck in an instant. “Happy now?”

She looked from him to Trenton, now a mess of bones and flesh on the ground. “But how could you be my father’s superior?” Despite his mutation, he looked only a few years older than her.

“The serum affects us all differently.” He didn’t deny it.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. She took a step behind a nearby upended chair, intent on keeping some distance so she could draw her remaining weapon.

Watts didn’t blink, staring at her with all the hunger he’d been suppressing for hours. “You were perfect. From that little girl Dan Ross first brought into the project sprang a beast with intelligence, beauty, and instinct. I’ve never seen a female better built for breeding.” He shook his head. “But Trenton wouldn’t hear of it. He tried to play power games with me from the first. Had a few secret files that he threatened to release if I ever killed him. So I let him be in charge, but we both knew who held the reins on this place.”

“I thought he injected you, made you what you are.”

He licked his lips and focused on her breasts. “At my order. I took to it like a cat to cream. Too bad the mutant recessive kicked in a few years ago. For a while I could pass as a normal Circ. Then I grew too big and weird to hide. Oh well.” He took a step closer, and she withdrew the pistol from her other holster. She shot past his head in warning. “And that’s what I like about you, Ali. You’re not afraid. You don’t flinch. Even when Trenton went behind my back and tried breeding his own batch of rogues, when he used you, you didn’t break. You killed the fucker on top of you. Good girl.”

For a while it had been silent outside the room. But now she heard movement in the corridor, the faintest sound, but it was there all the same. Rogues or government men, she couldn’t tell. But maybe she could distract Watts long enough to let them do some damage. If not, she’d die trying to kill him herself.

“I was saving you for myself. Until you reached your peak.” He inhaled and smiled. “Yep. Fertile little thing, aren’t you? I’m going to enjoy plowing you. Mating heats are a bitch, and frankly, men don’t cut it for me.” He didn’t hide his erection.

So she added to his discomfort. “I know what you mean. Try this.” She released her pheromones and saw the immediate effect on Watts. His face grew flushed, his cock looked even larger beneath his pants, and his eyes took on the glazed look so many others had taken before she’d ended them.

She fired as fast as she could while he ducked and roared. She managed to graze his ear but hadn’t counted on his strength or speed. Holy crap, Watts could move.

So she pushed her claws all the way out another inch and charged him, going for his groin or his eyes, whichever she could gouge first. The best spots to hit if she wanted to maim him long enough to kill.

She made contact with his left eye. As her finger shot deep, he broke her wrist and then her arm.

The pain made her cry out, but Watts didn’t try to kill her. He seemed fine hurting her, though.

“You bitch,” he swore while smiling and threw her into the wall. “Damn, I like you.”

Her head hit and rang, giving him time to haul her up and stab a hole in her side. His claws tore through her flesh. The scent of her blood stirred his bloodlust. She saw his eyes darken, swirls of black amid the red. Then he stabbed her again.

She did her best to stab him back, but the blood loss affected her timing. She managed to punch him in the face and break his nose, but it healed. He shook her like a rag doll, and her vision blurred.

“No!”

She recognized Gray’s voice and Bas’s scent at the same time she fell to the ground.

Watts must have dropped her. She blinked through a haze to see Gray and Bas punching, biting, and kicking at Watts until he fell. They almost had him, and then he pushed past them and put himself between them and her.

“Another step and I’ll crush her,” he slurred, obviously weakened. But he was close enough to do just that.

Gray shocked her by stepping away from Watts. Blood poured down his face from a gash in his brow. Bas looked little better beside him.

“Come on, Colonel,” Gray sneered. “Your pathetic attempt to be like me failed. Again. When are you going to learn you’re just a loser? A human wishing he was so much more. Too slow and too weak. You resort to fighting women? Please.”

Bas took a subtle step toward her while Watts concentrated on Gray’s insults. She didn’t understand why they’d cater to Watts at all. With him nearly dead and threatening to kill her, they’d kill two birds with one stone. Let Watts kill her, then kill him.

“Hold on,” Bas mouthed at her, worry clear on his face.

Were they seriously asking her to believe they cared? She coughed and choked, having a hard time breathing. Blood covered her lips, the coppery taste bitter.

“Fuck this,” Bas muttered and leaped between her and danger at the same time Gray threw himself at Watts.

She didn’t see what happened. Bas held himself protectively over her. Then darkness took over.

* * *

“Dammit. Don’t die. Not now. Come on, Ali. Wake up, baby.” The voice wouldn’t stop. Constantly badgering her to wake up, when she just wanted to sleep. “Please. I miss you. I’m sorry. I love you. I swear. So does junior. Bas, I mean.”

She knew that voice. “Gray?”

“I wasn’t lying. Yeah, we were sent to kill you. Al Ross, a supposed mutant who was killing humans,” he said in a rush. She swore she felt fingers over her hair. Familiar scents around her. A soothing voice, calming, entering and passing through her. “When we met you, we knew. Bas and I. We love you. Weird as it sounds. I wasn’t lying about being mated. You’re mine—ours—baby. Wake up.”

She didn’t understand, but her beast prodded her to move. Lying so still was a bad thing. She needed to see Gray. If anything, she needed to make him pay for his lies. And what about Bas? Her beast pushed her to anger. Love and hate, same but different. Not right if they aren’t punished, her beast snarled, stirring her enough to rouse herself.

“Oh, thank God.” Bas’s face came into view as she slowly blinked, trying to process her position in contrast to everything else.

The scent of home penetrated. That and Gray and Bas, so near, together. Her beast purred loudly, and Bas’s smile warmed. His eyes looked wet, as if he’d been crying. Stunned, she could only watch as he wiped his cheek and hurriedly dried his eyes.

“I can’t believe you put me through all that.”

She opened her mouth to answer and coughed.

“Hold on.” Bas left her side and returned with a glass of water. “Some quick answers. Trenton is dead. Watts is dead. We took care of the lab. It’s totally gone now. You’re here, recovering in your cabin with me and Gray.” A look passed over his face she didn’t understand. “We thought you’d be more comfortable here. And no, we didn’t tell anyone where your cabin is located, though one of our contact psychics has an idea about the whereabouts of the place. Guy sees the past, so he saw your great-grandfather build the cabin. Nothing I can do about that.”

“Bas?” She sounded weak. She didn’t like that.

“What?”

“What aren’t you saying?”

He fell silent.

Now that she took a good look at him, he looked leaner, haggard. Worried. “You look like shit.”

He laughed, and his joy made her feel better. “Thanks. First real laugh I’ve had in days.”

She tried to sit up and felt a jolt of pain.

“No, no. Lie still. You’re still recovering from a massive injury.”

“How long was I out? What happened?” Where was Gray? If he loved her so much, where the hell was he? The big liar.

“It’s been a week, and it’s been touch-and-go.” Bas stroked her cheek, his blue eyes impossibly bright. “Ali, I thought you were going to die. I love you. I didn’t say it before because I thought it might freak you out.”

“And you might have to kill me.” She felt better with each breath she took. Hearing the big lug say he loved her didn’t hurt either. But that didn’t mean she trusted him.

“Okay. I know Gray told you the truth. We thought Al Ross was a guy, a mutant or rogue trying to kill, or start an army. When I saw you, I knew I could never harm you. Even before you took horrible, sexual advantage of me, I was in lust and in love.”

“Shut up.” She didn’t want to smile but couldn’t help herself.

“Seriously. My beast knew you right away. You make me feel the way Gray does. Yeah, it’s gonna take time for you to trust us. And that’s okay. But we’re not going anywhere. Not without you.”

Her head started to spin. Bas seemed like he meant what he said. She remembered him putting himself between her and Watts. His worry, his kindness. “All this we talk. So where the heck is Gray?”

Bas frowned.

“Bas, where is he?”

“He’s downstairs in your room under the cabin. He’s been out of it since he used himself to heal you.” He paused. “Without him, you would have died.”

She didn’t understand. “He can heal?”

“No. But it’s different with you and me. Gray’s family comes from a long line of shape-shifters and shamans, apparently. He connected with both of us, and that mental and physical connection allows him to plug in to us, so to speak. He can share his energy to keep us alive, because without us, Gray hurts.” Bas smiled, but she could read his anxiety. “He’s fully healed from the wounds Watts inflicted. Bastard was on death’s door and still nearly tore Gray’s heart out.”

“Oh my God. I need to see him.”

Bas nodded. “Slowly.” He helped her sit up.

She hissed at the pain as he helped her to her feet, his arm around her.

“I know you’re still pissed that we lied. But we didn’t lie about loving you. Gray nearly died to heal you. And he’s not out of the woods yet. After you lost consciousness and he healed you, he’s been asleep. I can hear him sometimes, but he’s growing weaker. Maybe you can talk to him.”

They made their way downstairs, and with each step, Ali willed herself to recover. She still couldn’t absorb the fact Gray had nearly died for her. First killing Watts, then healing her with his psychic crap.

“He really means it,” she whispered.

“Yeah. He does. He’s conceited, bossy, and he’s a know-it-all. But when he commits, it’s all the way.”

They stopped in the room at the foot of the bed. On it, Gray lay still. A blanket was tucked around his waist, but his torso remained bare. No new scar marred his chest that she could see, but his breathing was too slow. His eyes didn’t flicker under his lids. She could barely detect the rise and fall of his chest.

“Okay, you. Wake up.”

Nothing.

She moved closer with Bas’s help and stroked his chest. “All healed up, aren’t you? Don’t think taking on Watts for me relieves you of that problem you have about telling the truth.” She felt tears well, the past connecting with the present. And her sudden future unfolded before her. “You say you love me? Well, prove it. Because if you don’t wake up, that’s just another lie, isn’t it? Wanting a future with me, but you’re too much a coward to face me.”

A stirring in her mind alerted her to Gray’s presence. “I’m resting, dammit. Would you two ease up on the maudlin tears and let a guy recuperate? How the hell will I fuck you both senseless if I’m still in recovery?”

His chest filled and released, and his mouth parted.

Bas hugged her tight. “I knew you’d badger him to wake up. Figures hero won’t answer when I call him.”

“Easy, junior. Soon as I’m up and running, we’re claiming our woman. Don’t think you aren’t going to answer to us for all your shit either. Boy, you need discipline.”

She and Bas looked from Gray to each other. Then she smiled wide, more than excited to do any number of the things Gray suddenly poured into her mind.

“Oh hell.” Bas groaned, but the sparkle in his eyes told her he looked forward to the same thing.

Chapter Ten

Lying on his back, Gray took a deep breath and eased her down over him. He’d been hard and waiting for too long. First his imposed coma had slowed progress. And then his interfering grandmother had shown up on Ali’s door to say I told you so and welcome the poor woman to the family.

It was now a full week since he’d heard Ali’s beautiful voice badgering him to heal. He’d thought he might die from his permanent erection. But they finally had the cabin to themselves again.

And now he and Bas would claim her for their own.

She’d wanted to remain in her woman’s form for the joining. He understood. Driven by her beast and her mutant blood for so long, Ali now reveled in feeling human.

“You feel so fucking good,” he whispered as he filled her with his cock. He had to work to remain still, because the urge to thrust up and come hard consumed him. Instead, he filled his hands with her breasts and played with her nipples. Her sultry scent flooded the small space underground, the only bed large enough to fit him, her, and Bas.

“Oh that is a pretty picture.” Bas grinned at him over her shoulder. “Her ass is perfection.”

“So fuck it already,” she snarled. Then she winked down at Gray.

Love seemed to fill the entire room. Gray couldn’t help but fall more into love with her every day. Her and Bas.

“Bossy mate. Both of you.” Bas grunted as he leaned over her. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m nice and wet for you. Sorry, but I’m bigger than Gray. So this may sting. But I have a feeling your beast will help us.”

“Come on, Chatty Cathy. Do it already.” Gray fought not to come, and the sexy Circ smiling down at him knew it. “Witch.”

She leaned down to kiss him and blew his mind. “Don’t lose it now, hotshot.” Her smile faded and her lips parted as Bas penetrated her ass.

“Oh fuck. She’s tight. So fucking tight.” Bas moaned as he moved, and he shared with them every delectable thought about how wonderful she felt as he thrust. “There we go. All the way in to my balls. So good.”

Gray felt him through the thin membrane inside her. The sensation was incredible.

“I’m so full. Stuffed with both of you.” Affection and lust permeated Ali’s being. She had yet to say the L word, but Gray knew it would come in time. They’d spent the week talking, relaxing, getting to know one another. And that downtime made this mating all the more powerful, because they all sensed what they hadn’t necessarily said. They loved one another. But more, they’d grown to trust each other.

“Move, Bas.” Gray felt his partner shift, and then he moved. They found a slow, steady rhythm that drove Ali crazy. She tensed between them, wanting more. Gray wondered if she knew what a treasure she was. How lucky he and Bas were to have her to themselves.

“I do. I do know,” she whispered as they fucked.

Bas groaned behind her. “I need to come. I can’t last. Oh shit. Now. Need to come now.”

Gray wanted to be mean, but he also wanted Bas to know pleasure. His mates’ enjoyment came before his own. Always, if he had anything to say about it. “Come, Bas. Right in that hot ass.”

“Fill me up,” Ali murmured, her voice thick and sexy.

Bas shuddered behind her, his bliss impossible to ignore. Then Ali ground harder against Gray’s pelvis, pushed there by Bas. “Oh yes. I’m coming,” she keened and scratched his shoulders when her claws popped out.

Her loss of control pushed Gray past his. He climaxed and continued to come, unloading all the lust, seed, and love he had inside him. The thrill of finally sealing the three of them together was his undoing, and his vision blurred.

“I knew you’d punk out,” Bas teased, watching him over Ali’s shoulder.

Ali lay sandwiched between them, sexy, unbreakable. Theirs.

Gray felt her energy snap into place with his and Bas’s. Love and contentment settled over the three of them like a warm blanket. So soft and right. He couldn’t believe he’d been so against taking a mate. Now he had two.

“And we’re not going anywhere without each other,” Bas reinforced, his low voice thready. “Admiral London agreed we need some time off.”

“And I want to meet other Circs. Your sister seems nice. She says you’re the best uncle.”

Gray groaned. “Ava’s a witch. Her husband’s an asshole, and her kid is… Well, precious, because she’s just like me. Still, we should stay far away from the Tersch family.”

“I don’t know, Gray. How about your grandmother? Alicia was here this week, and she’s the nicest woman. Not sure why you give her such a hard time—her words, not mine,” Bas added with a sly grin. “Her husband thinks the world of you.” He pulled out of Ali and lay next to her on the bed. They shared a smile.

“I like her too,” Ali agreed.

Gray frowned. “You would. The woman schemed to get me to your mountain under false pretenses. Because of her, I thought I had to kill you.”

Ali kissed him. Then she leaned over to kiss Bas, but Gray wouldn’t let her part from his body. His cock started to swell again.

“She explained all that.”

Bas took over. “Yeah. About you being too cocky, too sure of yourself. How you needed me to keep you straight and Ali to soften your rough edges. You need us, hero. And now you know it.”

Gray would have argued for the sake of it, but Ali’s and Bas’s concern reached him. “Oh hell. You know I love you both.”

Bas beamed. Then they looked at Ali.

“What?” She flashed her fangs at them. “I might love you too. Maybe. Well, if you’re sure you don’t mind a mutant in the family, I’m in.”

“Hey. He was born this way.” Bas made a scared face, but Gray could hear him mentally shouting up and down at Ali’s declaration. “I’m a telekinetic freak. I’d say you fit in perfectly.”

“And I know just how to cage all that fury.” Gray rolled her under him. Then he pulled out of her and rose to his knees, pleased at how his mates focused on his slick, thickening shaft. “First, you lick me.” He pointed to Ali; then he turned to Bas. “Then you stroke me.” Gray grinned. “And then you both love me.”

“We already do, hero,” Ali said in a soft voice. She and Bas laughed, and then they followed his orders. To the letter.

Life was finally perfect.

Content

Grayson's Gamble
Dawn Endeavor - 5
by
Marie Harte

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten