by Aja James
He could only see the ceiling given his position and immobility. There were a couple of air vents and two blinking lights.
Cameras, he would bet.
He stared into the black disk directly above him and bared his teeth in a I’ll fucking rip you apart when I get out of here glare.
The small red light blinked uncaringly back at him.
Getting out of here was the problem. The most immediate one that Maximus focused on, rather than the one that stabbed him with awareness in the back of his head, as well as corroding his heart.
Shifting didn’t work. Every time he tried, the needles in his head zapped him with debilitating electricity.
Sheer muscle was no use. He was bound by steel cuffs and bands that were half an inch thick and welded into the table. There weren’t even screws to work loose.
How the fuck did he get here?
Unfortunately, that thought led to the problem he’d been trying to avoid.
Ariel.
The last memory he had was of her pointing the rifle at him and firing.
Not the first but the second time she’d shot him in the chest.
Once was more than enough.
One minute he and Goya had been double-teaming against a turned, powerfully enhanced Paladin, about to drive him off the cliff of the plateau, and the next Maximus had rushed to protect Ariel from the soldiers who’d been closing in on her.
It appeared he shouldn’t have bothered.
She was one of the enemy.
Acid flooded his chest cavity, and he closed his eyes against the overwhelming pain.
Dark Goddess, but it hurt.
He’d trusted her. He gave everything to her.
He led her straight to Goya and the animals.
All this time she’d deceived him. She’d been using him.
She’d fucked him but good. In more ways than one.
And the worst part was…
The worst part was that he couldn’t stop loving her.
It was insane!
Fucked up!
But he was shredded. His mind railed at what she’d done, but his heart refused to let her go. Stupidly refused to give her up.
A soft click sounded as the door to his prison, or observation room, or den of torture—whatever suited his captors’ fancy—opened, and just as quietly closed.
He didn’t need to see her to know that Ariel was the one entering his cell.
At the unique scent of her body, his cock leapt to life, without any permission to do so transmitted from his brain.
He gritted his teeth and willed his erection to die a speedy death, but to no avail. His body hardened everywhere, his muscles thickening, his musk deepening, his blood churning to Nourish her.
She was his Mate, no matter which side she was on. His body, heart and soul recognized no other.
She didn’t say anything, and her silence grated on him.
No explanation. No excuses. Not even some words of contrition or regret. Faked though they might be.
He didn’t say anything either.
What was the point? Her shooting him twice should have made her intentions toward him abundantly clear.
He wasn’t going to give her—give them—the satisfaction of knowing how eviscerated he was inside.
He fully intended to get out of here. It was only a matter of time. He’d hunt the fuckers down who did this to his clan and rip them apart with his bare claws.
But the revenge and deliverance of justice wouldn’t close the wounds she’d gouged into his heart and soul, never mind heal them.
He heard some rustling and realized that she was taking off her clothes.
Fucking hell!
She better not be here to do what he thought she was here to do.
His mind rebelled and recoiled even as his cock all but thrummed with anticipation for the clasp of her sex.
Without a word, she mounted the table and then him, seating her naked core directly on top of his stone hard erection.
He couldn’t prevent the hiss that escaped his lips. He couldn’t even struggle, couldn’t budge so much as an inch.
Only his fingers clawed uselessly into fists, his throat convulsing on a furious, anguished swallow.
Mercifully, she didn’t take him inside her. Not yet.
Instead, she spoke the first words since entering the chamber.
“Turn the cameras off,” she called out to the room at large, her voice emotionless, her tone cold as the steel Maximus lay upon.
There were a few moments of cloying silence.
And then, “How do I know—”
A disembodied voice came through invisible speakers, but Ariel cut her off.
“I’ll be full of his seed when I leave here. You’ll know without a doubt.”
Maximus shuddered involuntarily beneath her, his heart twisting at her careless, matter-of-fact words.
Goddess above, why couldn’t he be numb?! Why did he still care!
Or if not numb then filled with hate and vengeance?
But even now he knew that when he took his revenge, he’d never hurt her. He just wouldn’t physically be able to.
Despite everything, he didn’t want to.
“Do it now, or I will tear them off the walls myself. I don’t need to be babysat to complete my mission.”
Again, her voice held nothing but cold, hard logic. Though her words might have conveyed annoyance, she was simply stating facts.
Surprisingly, the blinking red light went off, Maximus saw on the camera directly above him.
With a snap of her fingers, the lights went out too, the room going pitch black.
They were totally alone. Just the two of them and the four walls.
She bent her torso over him, her naked chest against his, and laid her face close beside his.
He felt her fingers flutter upon the contraption around his head before stroking lightly down his cheek and mouth.
He couldn’t avoid her touch. He couldn’t stop any of it.
It killed him that she did this to him, the inside of his chest burning with a fiery pain.
It was the only way, Mad Max.
What?!
His eyes snapped open.
I had to shoot the tranqs into you. If I didn’t, the soldiers would have shot real bullets and you’d be dead rather than captured. There were still more than six of them that I could see, and the Paladin besides.
You and Goya were severely injured. They didn’t have to capture both of you. They needed only one live subject from each species. One of you was targeted for elimination.
He wasn’t imagining it. Ariel was communicating to him through their link, her words swift and urgent.
Look, it’s my fault we’re in this mess. It’s my fault they found us. I didn’t know what my program was until I woke up from the tranquilizer. And before you ask, I was dosed with an anti-serum from the start. The tranq only knocks me out for ninety seconds.
Program?
He couldn’t help but ask in his head. He knew he shouldn’t fall for the same trick twice, but his instincts overruled his logic.
I told you I was genetically engineered. What I didn’t tell you is that I was made right here, in this lab. Not for the U.S. government but for Medusa’s army.
Shit.
But unlike the rest of her mind-controlled minions, I have a special program. Every action I take, every thought I have, is driven by that program. That doesn’t mean I know what my program is. I simply take actions that follow its logic.
Maximus concentrated hard to follow. His gray matter was still a bowl of mush.
In retrospect, I suspect I was programmed to set you up in an ambush and win your trust so I can find the animal spirits through you.
How did you know about me? He asked.
I told you I’ve researched your Kind, and you in particular, for over a decade. What did you think I was doing in all that time? I knew there was something other about you, something special about your link
with your familiar.
Simca…
Based on what she was telling him, she’d essentially led Simca to her death.
You could look at it that way, she pushed the thought to him quietly. But Simca didn’t have to die that night. She’d leapt at me and into the line of fire on purpose. I remember what she did just before that. She stabbed your heart with her canines, right?
It was true. She had.
Maximus had assumed she’d been trying to stop the vampire-killer bullet from exploding his heart.
Yes, that had been her intention. But her blood was on her fangs when she punched them into you. She’d bound your life to hers, and when she released her soul into me, she bound you to me.
Holy shit!
What did that even mean? Maximus could barely comprehend it all.
She overrode my program, Mad Max. She gave me her soul. She made me me.
Ariel released a long breath against his cheek, her thumb brushing across his lips.
And I—Ariel Simca Pain-In-Your-Ass Kyles—love you.
Maximus’s chest depressed in a deep exhale, the burning knot inside of him uncoiling by slow degrees.
He felt the truth of her words in his mind, his heart, his soul.
An animal did not lie.
Ariel—his black-panther-human Mate—did not lie.
She brushed her mouth quickly over his when she felt him accept the truth.
And then she was all business.
I have a plan to get us out of here and blow this place to kingdom come. Are you ready?
Chapter Fifteen
The researcher scrutinized the specimens one by one in their respective cages on the screen of her tablet.
With shock collars gouged into their necks, all of the animal spirits were in their humanoid forms.
Naked. Chained.
Docilely awaiting their fate.
At least, that’s what it appeared to be.
Well, it wasn’t as if they could bang their bars in a fit of rage, as tightly bound as they were. But their feral eyes gave them away.
The meekness was only an illusion.
Within each of their fragile, fleshly shells seethed a monstrously powerful beast. Ancient and primal.
Only an idiot would mistake their stillness as good behavior. They were waiting to pounce. Even chained and caged, they would never lose their predatory aggression.
These animals would never be tamed.
First, the researcher stopped by the lion’s cage to get an up-close-and-personal view.
Each compartment was encased in steel-reinforced concrete. Twelve cubic feet of space. Enough room for its inhabitant to lie down, stand and stretch out. That was all.
The front steel door only slid open when she pushed a sequence of codes in the panel outside. Behind it were thick bars two inches in diameter, spaced two inches apart, as well as a bullet-proof and sound-proof wall of glass.
Perfect for observation.
When the door was closed, the cage was secured on all sides in an airtight seal. Small holes in the ceiling supplied just enough oxygen for the animal to not pass out, but not much more beyond that.
Once locked inside, they couldn’t hear anything on the outside, but they could see the researcher peering back at them through the glass wall.
Wan’er was pleased with the design of the cages. They didn’t come cheap. They were specifically constructed for their current occupants.
Only the strongest cages could hold the most powerful animals on earth.
This cage held a massive lion-male.
Impressive to behold, but looks weren’t everything.
The base form of the male with yellow eyes, bulky, muscular build and tawny skin was most likely Dark, if the fangs he revealed as he curled his lips in a snarl were any indication.
She made a note on her tablet.
She’d taken several pints of blood from him already, while he’d still been unconscious, as well as pumped him of his seed. The next step would be to collect tissues from every organ in his body, including his epithelial cells. She might delegate this task to one of her mind-cloned assistants.
The lion wasn’t all that interesting. No need to make a personal effort.
Among the big cats, male lions, in particular, were mostly for show. Shave them of their regal mane, and they’re little more than kittens. They were lazy, arrogant and not terribly bright. The “dogs” of the cat world, to the researcher’s mind.
She continued on to the next cage, or rather cell.
This particular cage held the snake-man. He met her gaze with slitted black eyes.
His base form was likely human, which was rare. Animal spirits preferred Pure and Dark base forms, as those were the strongest.
She might have to dissect this one after she’d taken all of the live cultures. Maybe harvest some organs to see if she could replicate his creation in the lab.
He didn’t need both kidneys, after all. She could remove chunks of his lungs and liver, and he still might live.
Medusa would want to have some alone time with him, however.
The serums and poisons the researcher had been supplying the she-devil with were losing efficacy. She needed something more.
The next phase of her “evolution” was stalling for a start.
Sexual intercourse tended to trigger chemicals in the body the researcher hadn’t fully isolated or explained, but it certainly couldn’t hurt as a way to jump start Medusa’s transformation.
The researcher would have to wait to dissect the snake-man then. At least until after Medusa finished with him.
She moved on.
The next cell’s occupant made her pause and admire, which was rare, since she hardly ever had female “urges.” The last time she’d felt any attraction to the opposite sex was with the Pure Ones’ General.
It didn’t end well.
For him.
The eagle-man looked back at her expressionlessly. He favored his right shoulder but tried to hide it. He sat facing the glass wall with his knees drawn up, one arm casually draped over them.
She flicked her gaze to his cock.
No chicken-pecker there. All of these animals were extremely well-endowed.
She might want to save this one for a bit of fun. It had been near forever since she’d had any.
When she looked back into his eyes, he sneered, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
The killer gleam in his eyes said, “Why don’t you try it? I’ll give you the ride of a lifetime.”
Because he’d end her life during or afterwards, she was certain.
She’d have to keep a close eye on this one.
Both eagles and snakes were one in a million, or a hundred million, in the animal spirit world. These were the only two live samples she had. Potentially the only living representatives of their Kind on earth.
There were a couple of dead ones she kept in storage, but that would only get her so far. The others were all feline. She had to be extra careful with her handling of these rare specimens.
She continued to the next cage.
The Tiger King.
He stood facing the glass wall, only a few inches away from her on the other side.
Tall, lean, beautiful in the extreme.
She would have known him for who he was even if Medusa’s minions hadn’t reported the same. There was a lethal grace and a palpable air of command about him.
And something else that none of the other animals had: a savagery and raw power that only belonged to Beasts.
He was all animal. All magnificence.
Her mouth filled with saliva just beholding him, her sex pulsing with unfiltered lust.
Any female of any Kind would have such a reaction; the attraction wasn’t specific to her. This was the effect Beasts had on the opposite sex, especially the ones who were un-Mated.
If he saw her pupils dilate with sexual hunger, he didn’t show it. He simply stared back at her with a deadly calm.
He was obviously not the type of male who made promises he couldn’t keep. Or threats he couldn’t realize.
“Finished.”
The researcher was so startled by the voice behind her that she dropped her tablet to the floor.
Ariel Kyles bent to pick it up and handed it back to her.
“Do you want to examine me, or shall I simply incubate?” she asked the researcher tonelessly.
Wan’er looked her up and down.
Agent Kyles didn’t appear at all as if she’d just rutted with the other tiger, the Commander of the Dark King’s Chosen.
No hair was out of place; no flush upon her cheeks.
Well, the researcher supposed that the act of extracting the male’s seed against his will wasn’t exactly rutting. Or even fucking.
It was a clinical procedure, really. But if she’d been Agent Kyles, she’d have at least gotten off a few times on a nice big cock. What was wrong with the woman for not even trying?
Oh. That’s right. She was just a program. She probably didn’t feel horny beyond strictly physical cycles.
But just to be sure, perhaps the researcher would go through her memory log tonight and see for herself.
Something was off about Agent Kyles, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“He cooperated?” the researcher was slightly skeptical.
“You saw him harden before the camera went off,” Agent Kyles reminded her. “Animals have no control of their urges. He fucked me before. It didn’t take much to make him want me, at least physically, again.”
Wan’er looked her over with consideration.
The fact that Agent Kyles volunteered to be examined convinced her that it was unnecessary at the moment.
“Incubate,” she finally decided. “If no seed takes, do the other tiger next.”
“Why wait?” Agent Kyles questioned. “I can do him now. Or are you sequencing events for research purposes? I thought you wanted to get an embryo no matter the combination? I’m ovulating. May the strongest seed win.”
The researcher chewed on this.
It was true. She simply wanted an embryo for now. She needed the stem cells.
Natural fertilization had far higher success rates when the male and female were healthy than in vitro methods. If Agent Kyles was ovulating right now, the best chance for her egg to get fertilized was within the next few hours. Or they’d have to wait for the next cycle.
