Beast of Dreams

by Cynthia Williams

  “I figured as much since you had brought that up earlier.”

  “Sirus was ten years old when Alexander and I found out that there was genetic research being done to infuse standard human DNA with the psi family of genes. The same genes that Alexander and two of his partners discovered about twelve years before. Sirus was one of the first, and certainly only one of a handful of humans who’d been successfully engineered.”

  “But…I’ve never seen Sirus demonstrate any psi abilities.”

  “Sirus’s abilities are subtle, and for a long time after he was rescued, he had no wish to use them.”

  “What happened to Sirus and how did he get rescued? I’ve always wondered about that period of his life.”

  “At the time, Alexander was experimenting with ways to make the psi characteristics more dominant, to ensure their inheritability. He used me as a research subject, because in my family, we carry the dream communication trait from generation to generation, unlike others, where it was very sporadic. In any case, Alexander took me with him to interview a family back on my homeworld that had a very strange tale to tell…seems that they had a family member, a cousin, who was multi-talented, in that he could read emotions and had the ability to find lost objects and people. Unfortunately, the cousin disappeared two days after he was interviewed by some other scientists, and not a trace was left of his whereabouts.”

  “So you and Alexander assumed that he was kidnapped?”

  “We really weren’t sure if he left voluntarily or not. Genetic research into psi talents was very controversial and some groups were being funded that were into some very unethical research. They were researching ways to create a super race of humans with strong psychic talents.”

  “How did Sirus fit into this?”

  “Alexander contacted your grandfather, Thomas Parker, who was very influential as a council member in the Conglomerate. He was able to narrow down the groups who might have been interested in interviewing the cousin, and where their facilities were located. By this time, we were both sick at heart, wondering what kind of research might be going on, and were determined to put a stop to it if we could. It was at the second place we visited that we found Sirus and some other young children, who supposedly were the offspring of the head scientist of the project, Dr. Howard Malfous.”

  “How did you determine—”

  “Dreams, dear. I’ve always been able to enter the dreams of others and Sirus’s were very haunted, indeed.”

  “Poor Sirus.”

  “From what we were able to learn, Sirus was the product of combining tigran genes with that of a standard human, with some engineering done to suppress some genes and enhance others. Genes that would have given him the obvious physical appearance of a tigran, like the coat of fur, fangs, and thicker nails, were suppressed. Other characteristics, like the ability to sense emotions or danger from others, were greatly enhanced. For whatever reason, the scientist in charge of the engineering work, Malfous, decided to try putting several talents into each of the zygotes. His theory was to take what he believed were the psi enabling genes from various subspecies like the wolfan, tigran, and vampan and combine them with genes from the famous psychic, Mae Gilland, who had a broad span of psi talents, when he made his human cocktails. Sirus did wind up with tigran empathic abilities, but adding Mae’s genes did not give him telepathic abilities. Instead, it magnified his natural empathic abilities to the point that sensing strong emotions from others was very painful and difficult for him to handle. When I went into Sirus’s dreams, they were all about the pain being inflicted on him from various experiments and of course, he was often punished severely, because he showed none of the telepathic talent Mae Gilland had, and the scientists thought he was deliberately holding back.”

  “How did you rescue him?”

  “Once we determined that Sirus and the other children were victims, no better than lab rats, your grandfather arranged for a surprise visit from council member Thaddeus Resman, a good friend of your grandfather’s and a very powerful opponent of misuse of council funding.”

  “That would have thrown them for a loop.”

  “Thaddeus secretly brought with him two agents from the Galactic Ethics Service, and they investigated while Thaddeus kept the scientists busy at a two-day meeting, forcing them to show their progress, claiming he was on a fact-finding mission to ensure that their funding wasn’t being misused. Of course, everything that they showed him was bogus and a cover-up, but it did keep them tied up while the agents tracked down the real financial records and expenditures, and interviewed witnesses. Late the second day, when the evidence against them was irrefutable, Thaddeus offered to give Malfous’ ‘children’ a chance to tour his deep space vessel, a new design that was creating quite a stir on the GWW at the time. Malfous was afraid by that time and was ready to agree to anything that might appease Thaddeus. As soon as the children were aboard, he took off, and afterwards the children were separated and put into loving homes with the hope that they’d recover from the years of abuse they endured.”

  “Sirus did well, Bethan, despite what I said about him creating a ruckus while in school. He was very loved by our family and to this day, seems very happy and in charge of his life.”

  “He was such a sweet boy and the look on his face when he first saw us broke my heart. He had abandoned all hope.” Bethan looked off in space for a few moments, her eyes becoming suspiciously moist. She grasped Amanda’s hand and suddenly smiled. “I also must tell you that of the other three children Sirus was with, two were much younger, strong telepaths who knew right away what we were up to. I don’t know how he did it, but he kept them quiet about it and convinced them that we would take them all away to a much better place. Afterwards, we had a lot of work to do helping the children find good homes, ensuring they each received therapy to help them recover. We also found the missing cousin, who’d indeed been kidnapped and was being farmed for his DNA. We returned him to his family, much to their joy. By this time, your grandfather and Sirus developed a strong friendship and Thomas asked Sirus if he’d like to join your family.”

  “Dad was happy he finally had a brother, after being an only child for twenty-nine years. It was kind of fun really, he said. I think Dad thought of Sirus as a son rather than a brother. I mean, he took him under his wing and spent the most time with him when Sirus was growing up.”

  “Do you understand why I told you about Sirus?”

  “I assume it has to do with Sirus being able to use his empathic abilities to help.”

  “That’s somewhat true. More than that, I don’t think Sirus is safe anymore. None of those children who were part of that experiment are safe. Either the Conglomerate will exterminate them so they aren’t a threat, or they’ll find a way to use them against the wolfan.”

  * * * * *

  Karrick observed Amanda’s eyes grow large and liquid as she watched a holovid of her father playing with him thirty years ago. There was an obvious affection for the young boy who, unbeknownst to him, would some day meet his daughter and fall in love with her. She reached over and grasped Karrick’s hand.

  She opened Karrick’s palm to put a light kiss on it, and leaned close to him to whisper in his ear, “Come visit me tonight.”

  He looked at her and smiled in affirmation. Amanda rose fluidly from her chair and announced that it had been a long day and now she’d best leave and go to bed. She stepped over to Alexander and Bethan and gave them each a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Thanking them and the rest of the family for a very enjoyable meal and company, she sauntered out the room, giving Karrick a quick smoldering glance as she left.

  Karrick started to get up and Carson bent over to put his hand on his arm, effectively stopping him. “Uh, Karrick, want to play a game of cards? Been a long time since we all played a hand of poker together…”

  “Yeah,” piped in Jadd, “I think a nice long game of poker would be lots of fun!”

  Alexander bit his lip, looking a
t his sons give Karrick a hard time, making it difficult for the wolfan to heed the siren’s call from his mate. Sympathy for Karrick warred with a natural inclination to rib his oldest son. Finally, valor won and he intervened on Karrick’s behalf. “Karrick is just recovering from loss of blood and some nasty neck wounds. Leave him alone, boys.” He got up and walked over to pat Karrick on the shoulder. “Get to bed, son, you need your rest.”

  Karrick shot him a grateful look before following Amanda out the door.

  * * * * *

  Amanda showered, enjoying the luxury of copious amounts of hot water sluicing soapy lather from her skin. Stepping out of the shower, she gasped as Karrick quickly wrapped a towel around her and pulled her into his arms.

  “God, I missed you. I didn’t like being away from you when you were mad at me,” he said before nuzzling her neck.

  “I missed you, too, Beast,” she replied in a breathy whisper.

  He lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He sat down with her in his lap. “First I need to dry you off,” he whispered erotically into her ear.

  He loosened the towel from around her and then reached down to grasp one of her ankles. He pulled it up to his shoulder, gently shifting her so she could now rest on her back while he sat on the bed facing sideways. He gently buffed her skin with the towel all the way down her leg, pausing as he reached the nest of soft curls between her thighs. He ran a fingertip over the crease of her mound. “No, not quite wet enough yet,” he teased.

  He then dried her other leg and moved himself down so that he could blow soft puffs of warm air on her mound. Amanda gazed at him, her eyes smoldering, spreading her thighs in an invitation for him to lick the soft folds. He smiled sensually at her and with a quick soft kiss to her mons, he moved away and rearranged himself against her so his crotch now rested against her mound and his face was just a few centimeters from hers. “I want to lick you all over first,” he whispered into her hair.

  He began by licking her neck with leisurely strokes of his thick, long tongue.

  Amanda gripped the sheets on the bed with her fists as he moved from her neck, down to lave at her nipples, taking as much as he could of one breast at a time into his warm, wet mouth. The tips of his fangs pressed against her skin and the feeling sent a shudder through her.

  As he let go of one nipple before sucking on the other, he growled, “After our cub is born, I want to taste the sweet milk from your breasts.” Amanda moaned as she focused on the visual of him drinking from her swollen breasts. She let go of the sheets and grasped his head closely to her, weaving her fingers into his thick mane and pressing her breast even further into his mouth. Amanda felt herself nearing an orgasm as he continued to take turns laving each of her nipples and sucking at her breasts. Karrick, sensing the growing fire in her, reached down and slid his fingers into her hot, wet pussy and stroked her clitoris and labia until she was at a fever pitch. She began panting as the climax rode closer and closer, and at the moment she came, he bit down with his fangs, sending her over the edge. She screamed his name as the climax shattered her into a million crystalline pieces.

  He climbed back up on her and rested himself between her spread thighs, slowly licking her neck and face as Amanda calmed from the intense orgasm she just experienced. “You’re so beautiful when you come for me, Amanda.”

  Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she pulled his face to hers for a kiss to thank him for the pleasure he had just given to her.

  Karrick reached under her to wrap his arms around her and pull her tightly against him. He gently thrust his tongue between her lips and lapped at the inside of her mouth in long, lazy strokes.

  Amanda sucked on his tongue, enjoying the erotic feel of his tongue and the heavy, warm, furred body resting atop of hers. As she again felt the heat build in her, she moved her legs to wrap around Karrick’s waist.

  Amanda’s shift in movement brought her wet pussy in direct contact with the stem of his hardened member. Karrick began rubbing his cock against her soft, warm pussy, intending to be gentle with her tonight. But as the head of his penis came in contact with the warm, moist opening of her vagina, a primitive need to bury himself in her overrode any impulses to be gentle, and he plunged into her as hard and as deeply as he could. He shuddered as he plundered her cunt with deep strokes, needing to feel the head of his shaft rubbing up against her cervix, readying itself to spurt hot semen deep within her core.

  Amanda reveled in the brutality of the heavy fucking he was giving her, his swollen balls pounding against her as he drove himself in repeatedly as far as he could go. He laved at the flesh of her neck, his fangs lightly scratching against her throat as he opened his mouth wide to take her neck in his jaws, a primitive wolfan need to dominate his mate as he subjected her to his sexual will.

  Karrick’s strokes slowed a bit as the knot in the base of his cock began to swell, and he stopped for just a moment to look deeply into her eyes, asking permission to embed his knot within her. Without words, she answered him by pulling his head to her and plunging her tongue into his mouth, signaling to him that she accepted his will, and wanted everything from him.

  With a roar, he plunged his entire cock deeply within her, including the huge knot that gave her a quick sharp pain as it slipped its girth past the tight opening of her pussy.

  Amanda shuddered and moaned from the intense mixture of pain and pleasure. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as he continued to plunder her and lave at the tender flesh on her neck. She felt his hips begin to jerk violently out of rhythm against her, and knew he was nearing the point where he would ejaculate. The thought of him filling her with his hot semen drove her past the edge of her control, and she cried out as the ecstatic waves of her orgasm shuddered violently through her. Her cries of release penetrated his mind and he bit deeply into her neck, marking her as his, before his cock erupted scalding cum deep within her.

  “I’m sorry, babe, I hope I wasn’t too rough with you.”

  “No, Karrick, I love it when you take me like this. Of course, as my pregnancy progresses, we’ll have to be more careful.”

  Her words thrilled him and he cuddled her close to him, pulling the sheet up over them. He left the blanket behind since he intended to keep her warm that night himself.

  * * * * *

  During the night, Karrick entered her dream, a dream where he found her contemplating their future.

  She stood looking out a window at the fields and buildings of the farm they had built together over the past few years. She still explored, but her expeditions centered on destinations to Eridani’s five continents, where she and others from their family searched out new plants that could be used in the growing Eridani pharmaceutical industry. Karrick walked in, carrying their child in his arms, a child that looked like the little boy in the holovid taken thirty years ago, but with green eyes like his mother. The boy leaped from his daddy’s arms and into hers, snuggling his face against her neck where she could feel the soft downy fur of her son as he deliberately tried to tickle his mom.

  Amanda knew in that moment that wherever she, Karrick, and their child wound up, she’d never regret coming to Eridani.

  Chapter 13

  Amanda’s days were filled with discussion with pack members on what they could do to help with the wolfan cause and with preparations for the bonding ceremony. During this intense activity, Murin and his twin brother, Mordock, came back to report that they found evidence Shodan had been injured and fallen to his death in a pit of quicksand. With regret that a wolfan who had once had so much promise was now irretrievably lost, many felt a mixture of sadness, and yet relief, at his demise. Karrick made arrangements to have the quicksand dragged for Shodan’s body after the bonding ceremony. Later they would have a memorial for Shodan, remembering him for the qualities that made him unique and special, and not the irrational bitterness that ruled him at the end.

  The day of Sirus’s return to Eridani approached and two days
prior to his arrival, Amanda asked Karrick if he would accompany her to the glade where Sirus was going to pick her up.

  They left early the next day, and as sunset neared, they camped at a spot near a pool fed by several cold springs, only a half kilometer away from the glade. Amanda wore her enviro-suit for the trek out, and glad to shed it for a quick dip in the refreshing pool, she left Karrick to set up the camp.

  She was floating on her back when she heard the simultaneous sounds of an explosion and a wolfan roar. Frightened that Karrick had somehow hurt himself, Amanda quickly swam to shore. At the campsite, she found him five meters away from her self-inflating tent, climbing back on his feet and kicking rocks at it.

  “What happened?” she panted, the hard climb from the shore affecting her breathing.

  “Your goddamn tent happened! Jeez, you should have told me that the goddamn thing explodes!”

  “Sorry. It didn’t occur to me that you’d run into a problem setting it up.”

  “I was rolling it out, trying to get it set up before you finished your swim…then I noticed the control panel with the button on it.”

  “I suppose you were standing on the edge of the tent when you just had to press it, right?” she said, sarcastically.

  “Well, yeah. Hell…what did you expect me to do?”

  “You’re right. I should have known better. You can’t keep your hands off of anything. You fiddle around with things, instead of just asking me how they work, and you have no idea what the hell you’re doing!”

  He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

  “Umph, what are you doing?” she demanded.

  “I’ve got a theory on how to cure you of your bitchiness and I want to try it out.”