“It does to me,” he growled.
She glanced at him, alarmed to see his eyes a bright, vibrant green, the pupils slitted—inhuman—before he turned back to the road.
“Sweetheart, I've been through a lot of mating heats. What we just did was something a helluva lot more. But if it makes you feel better to treat it like scratching an itch, consider me your permanent scratching post.” Her inner beast thrilled at his challenge, but the sane pragmatist that had survived so many years under Elliot Pearl's indomitable will argued. “What about Robbie?” she taunted, wondering why she did so. Hell, she'd been dreaming about Hale on and off for months. Now she'd finally had him, and he was so much more than she'd expected.
Why couldn't she just shut up and revel in their shared closeness, even if it was just physical?
“McKinley can kiss my ass.” Hale shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “Why do you call him Robbie?”
“That's his name.”
“Robert McKinley?”
“I guess. I've always called him Robbie. My Robbie.” Her heart beat faster at the thought of him. But Hale's presence aroused her just as much. A puzzle, but one she had no intention of trying to solve at this point. She needed to concentrate on surviving, one day at a time.
“Your Robbie.” He snorted. “He's been working for Elliot Pearl, that pr—” As if remembering to whom he spoke, he broke off midsentence. “Let's just say there's a lot about your boyfriend I don't think you know. Or do you agree with everything your father's ordered done to you and the poor mutants slowly dying from the inside out?” She glared at him. “I hate Elliot Pearl. He's no father of mine in any sense but the biological. I can't help genetics.”
He paused. “You got me there. But you
can
choose who you spend your time with.
Robbie's a poor choice, if you ask me.”
“I didn't ask you.” She fumed. It figured she'd have the best sex of her life with a man she couldn't stand as soon as he started talking. “Where are we going?” He looked relieved at the change of subject. “Ah, I thought I'd take you to the compound. It's a little over thirty acres of private land. There's a main house, a few smaller homes for the others, a gym, a garage, and a few odds and ends for Circs. You'll like it.” He must have seen the panic on her face because he gentled his voice. “You'll be safe there, Paige. I swear it.”
She didn't know why she should trust him. She didn't like the way he talked about Robbie. But he hadn't hurt her so far. Her beast liked him, and since it had kept her alive this long, she surrendered to instinct. “Fine. But I'm only staying long enough to get the PPA off my tail. An hour or two at most.”
“Well, that should be just enough time to introduce you to Doc.” She started at mention of Doc. Evan Dennis.
Her uncle
. She'd overheard Elliot mention him once or twice. Not with hostility, but with respect, which she'd found surprising. Her father didn't hold anyone but himself in high esteem. He certainly hadn't seen her as anything more than a means to further his research. No hugs or kisses, no tender words. Cold hard questions, physical tests, and needle upon needle upon needle. Elliot Pearl had never qualified for Father of the Year. She wondered how Evan Dennis compared.
“Paige?” Hale asked quietly.
She sighed. “Just drive.”
They finished the trip in silence, her anxiety growing as they neared the compound. Though she'd spent years avoiding Pearson Labs before her inevitable time there, she kept abreast of her father's doings, unbeknownst to him. She knew Circe's Recruits had no love for her father or Project Dawn. But she didn't know how extreme the group was in regard to managing their own Circs. Robbie wouldn't tell her much.
He thought that by keeping her away from other Circs, he was helping her.
And perhaps he had the right of it, because she hadn't been this unnerved in a long time. Even her brush with the mutants in her house hadn't worried her as much as a meeting with her uncle did.
Yet by the time they pulled into a driveway, Paige could barely keep her eyes open. She knew she should be more anxious, but her body refused to acknowledge the tumult inside her. It was as if she'd simply shut down. She didn't stir when Hale opened the garage, nor did she move when he pulled in and finally stopped the car.
Paige felt his hand on her head, his fingers sliding through her hair, stroking with a gentleness that soothed her.
“You've had a long day, sweetheart.” He exhaled a long, deep breath. “Let's put off what we should do today until tomorrow.” He left the SUV and opened her door.
Taking her in his arms, he carried her as if she weighed nothing, no mean feat for a man only a few inches taller than herself.
Strangely content, she snuggled deeper into his embrace, giving over to the strong male carrying her. He smelled right, and when she instinctively licked his neck to sense more, she felt as if she'd come home. Vibrations lulled her into a trancelike state.
“Holy hell, you're purring.” He hugged her tighter. “That's it, Paige. Settle next to me. I'll keep you safe.” Hale walked with her in his arms and murmured, “God, you smell good.”
So do you
. She nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck and surrendered to sleep as her worries faded into nothing, her mate by her side.
* * * * *
McKinley hadn't come this far to falter because he couldn't keep his hormones under control. He forced himself to ignore a svelte prostitute eyeing him like her next meal. He wanted to take what he needed, to fuck her hard right there against the wall no matter who watched or how much pain he caused. Her tight little ass swayed back and forth as she strutted down the alley being trolled by the darker side of life. By people like
him.
He adjusted the glasses hiding his eyes and walked faster toward his destination.
A quick phone call had guaranteed they'd admit him. Ignoring the dull pain in his ribs and the burn in his thighs, he made several more turns on the off chance anyone had managed to still trail him. He'd run hard these last few miles after ditching the car. But now he was in the clear and able to take care of business, as he hadn't been able to before. He made a left onto a nearly deserted street in this bad section of the city, toward what looked like a dilapidated brownstone.
Christ, he needed a short respite from his iron-hard cock. The urge to thrust into something, to pound and pound until he came, was excruciating. As much as he longed to have Paige in his arms and in his bed, he knew it could never be. Just the thought of taking from her what he needed made him ill. Sweet, gentle Paige would never talk to him again if he did to her what he really wanted to.
Perverted, unclean, deviant.
Shaking off his self-disgust, he focused on sating the demon raging inside him.
Though he never
changed
, he too suffered from an extreme type of mating heat. Oddly enough, being around Paige simultaneously exacerbated and pacified his hungers. He craved the feel of her pussy gloving him, while he took comfort in just holding her close. His inner beast loved her, recognized her as his, no matter that his body couldn't.
He had recently satisfied his urges, but this last visit by Rogers and Paige had to be stirring him. Add the recent excitement of nearly becoming another mutant at the labs, and it was no wonder his hormones were all over the place. The beast that owned him demanded a cease to the constant struggle for dominance. Sexually, the beast ruled.
And McKinley knew better than to delay the inevitable.
He rubbed his aching cock as he ascended the small set of stairs leading to the building he sought. Before he'd reached the door, it opened into darkness.
A huge man encased in leather waited until McKinley entered, then he closed and locked the door behind him. “The basement. Room two.” McKinley had been here before, when too many visits with Paige forced him to desperation. He passed unfamiliar faces, smelled the stench of stale sweat, fear, and blood, and felt more than dirty as he trudged down the stairs. He found room two and entered, closing the door behind him. Three large, naked men stood motionless, their feet shoulder-width apart, their eyes glued to the ground. They were extremely well hung, clean—a mandatory requirement—and muscular enough to withstand the night's play.
A part of him cried out not to do this, not to degrade himself again with humans who couldn't really satisfy him. But he was too close to temptation. His beast locked on to the sexual prey before him and refused to leave. Time to start the show.
“You three think you can take me? That you can fuck me into submission?” he growled. The challenge.
“Yes,” they said as one.
“Show me.”
They rushed him en masse. The blond men moved too quickly, their steps jerky as they telegraphed their movements. McKinley would have enjoyed their dance more if he weren't so damned hard. He allowed two of them to hold him while the dark-haired male, the most dangerous of the three, hammered him with blows and stripped him to nothing, including his sunglasses. None of them mentioned his odd-looking eyes, probably used to the fetishes and strange costuming of the men who enjoyed this particular club.
He waited while the others took their turns beating him until he bled. The violence relieved a small part of his hungers, but it wasn't enough. It was never enough.
When the dark-haired male ordered him to his knees, McKinley took action. “No,” he growled and shook free of the men on either side of him.
The leader dealt him an open-handed blow to his face. McKinley tasted blood and grinned. “Is that all you've got?”
Angered, the leader motioned to the others and the fight commenced in earnest.
Reveling in the brutality he let loose in small starts, McKinley ended the fight all too soon by knocking one of the blonds unconscious. The other lay on the ground moaning, favoring his ribs while he stroked his cock, amped on the pain. The leader's left eye swelled, and he already had bruising on his thigh from a particularly tough hit McKinley had purposefully pulled too late. He also had the hard-on from hell, like McKinley.
“So it's just you and me,” the man said, still crouched on the balls of his feet. He studied McKinley, shifting his gaze to McKinley's monstrous cock. “If you think I'm taking that up my ass, you're out of your fucking mind.” McKinley gave him a closemouthed smile, hiding his extending canines. The man's wet cock said otherwise. He'd been stimulated by the aggression they'd shared, and he wanted more. But first, McKinley needed to sate his beast so he wouldn't damage his opponent beyond repair.
Moving quickly, McKinley feinted right and stepped left, hitting him hard enough in the temple to temporarily knock him unconscious. He placed his opponent belly down over a raised table and spread his thighs wide. The table was the perfect height, high enough to reach McKinley's hips. Attaching cuffs to the man's ankles and dangling wrists, he clipped the cuffs to the chains already mounted on the floor. A warrior's prize, waiting to be tasted.
A groan from behind him took McKinley's attention. Leaving his prize for the moment, he sought the other two. The unconscious blond stirred. Not wanting to deal with him, McKinley hefted him easily over his shoulder. He opened the door to his room and signaled for assistance. In seconds, two of the management arrived to take the groggy male off his hands.
Used to such sights, they left quietly with the man in tow. McKinley returned to the room, his wounds already healing.
“Your ribs sore?” he asked the blond trying to rise to his feet.
“Yeah.”
“No, stay there.” McKinley tossed a nearby pillow at him. “Kneel on that.” For a moment the man froze, eyeing McKinley's swollen dick. Then he licked his lips and pulled on his own shaft, and McKinley's raging beast receded. Waiting for his conquest to do as ordered, McKinley stood watch. Finally satisfied when the male appeared willing to follow orders, he approached and loomed over him, at one with his dominant nature.
“Suck me. My sac, my dick. Eat it all. I want you to choke on it.”
“I will,” the man said with a crooked smile. “Shit, man. I've never seen such a huge cock.” He opened his mouth and ran his tongue up and down McKinley's shaft.
Moaning as he did so, he grabbed hold of McKinley's thighs and held tight, stroking his legs to get closer to his balls.
“Touch me harder.” Always harder, never soft, like the press of Paige's lips over his cheek when she greeted him. Nothing loving or tender about this sex. He needed the pain, the intensity of such physicality, to reach fulfillment. And even then the gratification didn't last but a few seconds. The urges would return, though not as strong.
The feel of a softer human hand yanking on his balls pulled a groan from McKinley. The man added teeth along the ridge just under his crown, and he instinctively thrust, shoving his cock past the man's cheek. Shit. It wouldn't take more than a few hard sucks before he lost it.
“Come on. Suck my cock. Put it to the back of your throat. Lemme hear you gag,” he rasped as he shoved his hands into the blond's hair. Not as thick or as shiny as Rogers's, nor as long and lustrous as Paige's. But McKinley could stare at the top of his head and fantasize.
When a warm mouth covered his cockhead, he pushed. He rammed his cock past the man's tongue to the back of his throat, conscious that only half of him was inside.
Still, to hear the blond choke, to feel the man try to resist, amped his arousal higher.
He shoved between those lips in hard, sharp bursts, pushing faster and deeper.
His beast loved the gagging sounds, the helplessness of his prey, who couldn't handle much more. Letting go of the blond's hair, McKinley wrapped his large hands around the male's throat, squeezing.
McKinley thrust in and out, loving the man's bite as he tried to close his teeth over McKinley's shaft. “Not so easy to make me stop once I've started,” he growled, near the edge. “Be a good boy and swallow. Don't worry, you won't drown in it.” He laughed on a groan, as his balls drew tight and a climax rushed through him. “I'm going to spew. Swallow it,” he rasped as he jetted an enormous amount of seed. He shuddered, coming down the man's throat. He pulled out and continued to thrust shallowly, filling the man's mouth.