“Doc tried to get your father to stop the project, but he wouldn't. So Doc left with us and has been helping us ever since. He's an expert in all things Circ.” He gave a wry grin, pleased when she returned it.
“He's dying to meet you, Paige. He never knew you existed, had been told you died at birth with your mother.”
By that asshole, Pearl
. “Doc's had a hard time of it, lately. He took the news of your father's death hard. And then to find out he has a niece he's never met? He's worried sick and anxious to meet you.” Hale turned on the charm, gratified by McKinley's continued silence. “I promise I'll take you to him myself. He just wants a chance to get to know you. He'll help you in any way he can. Doc's a great guy.”
He’s nothing like your father.
Paige looked from him to McKinley and clutched her boyfriend's sleeve. “I…I don't know. There are things I have to do.”
“So do them. You won't be under house arrest. Doc just wants to meet you.”
“No.” She shook her head, her hair sweeping her face as the wind increased. “I can't. Not now.”
“Yes, now.” McKinley shocked the hell out of him by agreeing. “This is the perfect time. You can't keep hiding, Paige,” he said softly.
The look on his face was tender. These two had a relationship, of what kind, Hale wasn't certain. Not sure he liked the thought of McKinley and Paige together, he tried to emotionally distance himself from the couple and focused on his reason for this visit.
“He's right. You can't keep hiding,” Hale reiterated. “Look, just meet with Doc.
Pick any time and place. Just talk to him. Then take off, move to Bermuda if you want, whatever. But give the man some peace. He's a good person, and he'd never try to hurt you. He only wants a chance to get to know you.” He could see her wavering. He almost had her. And then a feeling of wrongness struck. He looked all around him and noticed car lights approaching from the western avenue toward the park.
McKinley swore. “Paige, go with Rogers. I can't be seen. And you can't afford to get caught. Not now. Go. I'll meet up with you later.” He pushed Paige in Hale's direction. “You'll be safe with Doc. Go, Paige.
Now
.” McKinley turned those inhuman eyes on Hale. “You hurt her in any way, I'll tear you apart. And then I'll start in on your friends.”
“Fuck off,
Robbie
. She'll be fine. But you touch any one of my friends, I'll carve your fucking heart out.”
McKinley had the audacity to smile in challenge, and Hale took a step forward, responding to the dare despite the danger fast approaching.
“Oh, for God's sake.” Paige pushed between them.
The minute her hand fell on Hale's chest, he stilled. A sense of recognition passed through him, followed by a wave of heat so intense, he nearly stumbled to his knees.
His cock was on fire, his senses aflame.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he croaked, alarmed to appear so vulnerable in front of Paige and her monstrous boyfriend. “Fine. Let's go.”
He did his best to get himself under control. McKinley darted away from the direction of threat, and he and Paige followed. They rounded the corner of another building and stopped, watching as McKinley raced in another direction. Hale called on his discipline and willed his aroused body back to normal. When she would have touched him again, he jerked away.
“No, don't.”
I can’t handle this right now. Your scent, the dreams. It’s too much.
“I don't understand.” She frowned and moved closer.
“Look, Paige, you touch me again and I'll forget everything but getting inside you.
You know about the mating heat, right?” If she was indeed Subject 31, she knew what he was talking about.
She blushed and immediately put distance between them. “I, oh. I'm sorry.”
“Yeah,” he breathed, grateful she understood. “Follow me, and I'll take you to safety.” He didn't wait for her to answer. He turned from the building and began running, ultrasensitive to her presence right behind him. He'd parked several blocks away, and when they reached his car, he hurriedly unlocked it.
Once they'd both strapped in and were on the move, Hale made several turns, not driving in any particular direction but to avoid the threat he could feel just on the periphery, out of sight. Finally on the road out of town, he turned onto the Garden State Parkway and made a decision. Taking the northern route
away
from Doc's compound, he drove several miles until he found the back road he'd been looking for. Once on it, they continued to ride in silence. Paige's scent wrapped around him. He could feel the heat of her body even though a good two feet separated them. A glance at her showed her just as stiff, just as uncomfortable.
The tension in the truck built, until he couldn't take it anymore.
Hale pulled off the road behind an abandoned shack, grateful for the clouds that covered the moon. He yanked off his seat belt and jumped out of the SUV. Rounding to her side, he yanked open the passenger door, unbuckled her belt, and dragged her outside.
“What are you—”
Unable to wait, he plastered his mouth to hers. The taste of cherries invaded his mouth, his senses. Their parted jackets allowed the press of her breasts against his chest, and her nipples stabbed into him. Surprising him with a sudden aggression, she opened her mouth wider and thrust her tongue into his mouth.
Between one heartbeat and the next, Hale lost his damned mind.
Hale devoured her. Ignoring the chill in the air, he focused on the heat in front of him. Paige's height made his reach easy, and he found her breasts underneath her shirt, encased in a lacy bra. Pulling down the material, he pinched her nipples and deepened the kiss.
Yes. Yes! This is what I need.
She moaned into his mouth, her scent magnified with desire.
Hale pulled away from the kiss to run his mouth over her neck and back to her ear. He nipped her earlobe, then snaked his tongue into the canal.
She trembled and arched into him, pushing her tight nipples into his greedy fingers. “Oh my God. What are you doing to me?” She squirmed, then wrapped her hands around his neck to pull his head closer.
Hale returned to her mouth, wanting to consume her. Her skin felt as soft as he'd imagined, but it was her taste that floored him. The more he sampled, the more he wanted. Never before had he desired anyone on this level. As if she'd injected him with some drug, he was addicted to her.
He continued to fondle her breasts with one hand as he trailed the other down her belly. Beyond any thought of stopping, his beast demanded he take what was his. Hale unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans. He slid his hand beneath her panties, through the soft curls of her mound and between those full, pouting lips protecting her sex. Stunned at the heat he found, he broke from the kiss and stared down at the angel in his arms.
“
Oh, fuck
. You are so damned wet,” he breathed. “Paige, I have to… I don't think I can stop.” He did his best to warn her, aching to the point of pain in his need.
To his immense satisfaction, she was as gone as he was. “Don't stop.” She ground her clit against his palm as he thrust another finger inside her, widening her tight channel. Paige gasped and closed her eyes, moaning his name.
Too far gone to think about what he was doing, Hale released her to free himself from his pants. He hurriedly removed her jeans and underwear. Lifting her ass in his palms, he prodded her pussy with his dick and inched inside.
“Yes,” she cried as he seated himself balls deep.
“Christ.” He couldn't catch his breath as the need built. Burning from the inside out, he fucked her without mercy. Rough and thorough, he pumped inside her past her orgasm. His beast recognized the female's surrender and still wanted more. He sealed her mouth with his, licking into her wet cavern as he pistoned his hips, wanting to fill every inch of her with his cum. He could easily see her bent over, dripping with his seed from her pussy, her ass. Her mouth wide open as he shot between her lips.
“More,” she growled, her voice lower, more sensual, more…
Circ.
He swelled inside her, swallowed by her warmth. She was so slick, so perfectly tight around him. Then she clawed him, painfully digging into his neck with her growing nails.
“Paige,” he breathed as his balls drew tight. He groaned as he spewed inside her.
He couldn't stop coming and pumped as hard as he could. She bounced over him with each thrust, taking more and more until she cried out again, squeezing him even tighter.
Hale closed his eyes, nuzzling her neck as bursts of scent drenched him in ecstasy.
Though finally done, he continued to stroke inside her, the urgency gone, but not the need.
“Again,” she demanded.
He opened his eyes to see hers completely
changed
. She was so damned beautiful, so raw and primal. He kissed her, licking past her lips and tongue as he claimed her once more. His next orgasm was less intense than the last, but it exploded from him just the same. Filling her, he remained joined, unable to move away from her.
As he pulsed, she ground against his pelvis and climaxed. Every ripple of her vaginal walls milked him dry, until he was spent, exhausted, and too worn-out to care that he'd just come inside a woman he'd just met.
“I've been dreaming about this,” she breathed, her eyes once again human, her voice an echo of the beast that had just before demanded his all.
Hale blinked down at her, caught in the haze of drugging pleasure that obliterated all else. Yet as he stared, he realized a hard truth.
Nothing would ever be the same again.
* * * * *
McKinley didn't like the fact he'd had to send Paige with Rogers, but he instinctively knew the man would keep her safe. As much as McKinley pretended to know little about Circe's Recruits, he actually knew quite a bit.
He raced away from the PPA combing through the park. Wondering just who the bastards were really after, and how they'd found them, McKinley made sure not to be followed as he returned to his car. He did a thorough sweep of his vehicle. Convinced he wouldn't be tracked, he drove back to Pearson Labs, where he needed to check on a few things.
Four months ago, someone, or some
thing
, had killed Elliot Pearl. At the time, he'd thought Paige might have done it. She had no love for the man who'd made her life hell. Five years ago when he'd first met her, she'd been out of her mind. In pain, wounded, alone. They'd connected, bringing him back from the black hole of depression he'd settled into. Being different had weighed hard on him for years, forcing him into a bleak life on the fringes of society. But Paige gave him a new direction—a goal in life and a chance to right the wrong done to him long ago.
He'd suffered because of Elliot Pearl. He'd lost his family, his life, hell, his face.
McKinley stroked his cheeks, still unsure as to how he'd survived the car wreck that had killed his parents. By all rights, he should have died. Instead, he'd woken up alone, in the woods, with a different face, body, and inhuman abilities. His eyes had never returned to their natural green, but at least he didn't have to go through the
change
so many other Circs did.
He used to think of the odd genetic enhancements as monstrous, but after seeing Circe's Recruits in their altered states, McKinley had changed his mind. To his shock, his instincts recognized Hale Rogers the same way they recognized Paige. And he
wanted
, a bad, bad thing for a beast like McKinley.
He viewed sex as a necessity, another hunger to be fed. Except his needs were dark, depraved. He worked hard to hide his sickness from Paige. So good, she lit up his life, taking him away from the daily drudgery of his existence. As long as he sated himself regularly, he could tolerate Paige's nearness. He loved the woman so much it hurt, and not sharing that love physically took its toll. But he refused to harm her.
Leaving her tonight had been his only recourse. If the PPA ever got their hands on her again, she'd wish for death.
He mulled over thoughts of the PPA as he drove back to the place where the nightmare continued—Pearson Labs. Pulling into the underground parking lot, he left his SUV and accessed the private elevators leading to the top floor of the building.
A place very few had access to, the fourth floor housed those at the top of the organization. Now that McKinley knew who was really pulling the strings around here, he could plan the labs' destruction. He rode the elevator to the top and exited, only to run into Simon Dunn. On the surface, the man looked like he had it all. Charm, good looks, a fat bank account. But something was missing inside Dunn. The man had been born without a conscience.
“McKinley.” Dunn nodded, guarded yet excited. McKinley could smell it on him.
“We've been looking for you. The big man wants to see you. He's not happy.”
Dunn's slow smile warned McKinley to tread warily. He said nothing, just stared at Dunn until the man walked away.
McKinley shored himself and strode down the hall. He passed a few promoted scientists, men who tried but could never match Elliot Pearl's genius. For all that Elliot had done wrong, few could match his ability to understand and manipulate genetics.
With the recent failure to control the mutant rogues, McKinley had a feeling the big boss wanted a replacement.
Elliot's death had not been planned. McKinley still didn't know who'd ultimately killed the man. At first, he'd thought the killer had been Circ. Elliot's eyes had been plucked out of his head, after all. But the notion didn't fit. He didn't know how he knew, but McKinley sensed Elliot's killer had intentionally staged his death to look as if Circs had done it.
“McKinley, come in,” a deep voice called out with authority. The CEO's office door stood slightly ajar.
Opening it, McKinley walked through, stunned to see General Harold Kohl and Senator Richard Kuntz huddled together over something on the large desk. Kuntz had become a regular at the lab. But this was the first time Kohl allowed anyone else to see him in charge. For years he'd been the man behind the curtain.