by Eve Langlais
They went until he knew she could go no farther, and then he carried her, amazed at the fact she’d chosen him. Chosen him despite the fact he was a monster.
A part of him chastised himself for even asking her to run. What was he thinking, asking a nurse, a gorgeous one at that, to love a wolfman? He probably wasn’t being fair. Certainly not to her. He was taking her from everything she knew. Everything she was.
Yet, for all the danger and uncertainty, he’d never been happier.
She chose me.
And he chose her.
I love you, Flo. He’d protect her with his dying breath. Or walk for hours while she slept in his arms, and when she woke, they walked even farther until night fell again. But by the time the stars emerged, they were ensconced in a cave, long abandoned by whatever used it as a den in the past. A perfect spot to pile up some leaves. With the dark and cloudy night, and the cave so deep, he even dared to build a fire, the crevice at the back of the cave forming the perfect chimney.
In their den, they snuggled, Flo sitting between his legs, her head against his shoulder.
“Are you okay?” he asked when she sighed.
“Surprisingly, yes. You never told me you knew how to live off the land.” Referring to the rabbit he’d snared and cooked, the foliage he’d scavenged that was safe to eat.
“I know how to survive.” More than ever, he’d need those skills.
“Do you think we can really make it out of the mountains?”
“Yes.” He didn’t mention how long it might take, though, or how treacherous parts of it might be. And that wasn’t even adding in the fact Chimera would have his men looking for them.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, Flo.”
“Why? Why did he do that to you?”
“Because I said yes.”
She shifted and frowned at him. “You asked to become a wolfman?”
He Iaughed. “Yes and no. I asked for a cure and didn’t care if there were any side effects. I was tired of the pain. Of feeling less than a man.”
“Being disabled doesn’t make you less manly.”
“An easy thing to say when you’re not living it day by day. Remembering how it felt to run and longing for an end to the pain. There wasn’t a combination of drugs and booze that could truly make me forget it was there. So when Chimera gave me a chance, I took it.”
“The treatment…” She paused as if to find the right words. “It changed you.”
“It did. And before you ask, I’m not sure how it works.”
“He gave you wolf genes.”
“He did. Still don’t know why wolf instead of something else. I mean wolves aren’t close to humans at all. So what made him choose them for the treatment?” He shrugged. “Wolf isn’t even the only thing he used. It’s just what’s dominant inside me,” he said, remembering only the elation when he realized his body was whole again. “I didn’t even know there was something wrong until something made me mad and I growled that first time.” A deep low sound that frightened him.
“He found a way to make a legend true.”
“You mean make me a werewolf?” He chuckled. “Not exactly. I don’t completely change into a beast, although once my adrenaline gets going, I can get hairier and toothier.”
“Your eyes glow, too.”
“Yeah, I’m a fucking jack-o-lantern. Which is weird because wolves in the wild don’t glow in the dark. I’m pretty sure there’s more to the whole splicing thing than wolf DNA. Even after Chimera fixed me, he kept tinkering. I think he was trying to figure out why I stayed sane when so many others didn’t.”
“Those things in the woods…”
“Once people. Victims like me. They also got the treatments but didn’t do as well as I did. Many of the people Chimera treats die.”
“I’m glad you didn’t die.”
“Funny thing is, since meeting you, I’m glad I didn’t either.” He kissed her on the temple. “You’ve given me hope, Flo.” Even as he was more terrified than ever. What if his body and mind failed him? What if he turned into a mindless beast? Would he know enough in time to make sure he couldn’t harm Flo?
“And you make me feel alive.” She turned in his arms and straddled him.
“I’m afraid, though, Flo. What if…” He couldn’t say it.
She said it for him. “What if you turn primal?” She shook her head. “Not going to happen. I won’t let it. We’ll fight this. Together.” She snaked an arm around his neck and pulled him close for a kiss. A soft kiss that aroused every one of his senses, especially since it was their first real one. The one in his cell didn’t count because he was proving a point. The dream ones just weren’t the same.
This, though... This melding of lips caused a heat that left her breathless.
She pulled away, cheeks flushed. “I guess it’s not a good time to be doing that.”
“I think we’re fine for a bit,” he murmured against her mouth. He deepened the kiss, demanding more, caressing her and imprinting her feel and taste. Her lips parted, granting his tongue access. He slid it along hers, and when she returned the favor, he sucked it. She rocked on his lap, the core of her pressing on him, the scent of her making him dizzy with desire.
Their clothing dared get in the way of what he needed. Skin-to-skin contact.
“You’re wearing too many clothes,” he grumbled.
“We can’t have that, now can we?” she said with a laugh. Flo aided him in peeling the shirt from his back, and he made quick work of hers. She sat on atop him in her bra. Flick. The clasp came undone, and she slipped it off, leaving them both bare from the waist up.
Real-world, skin-to-skin rubbing was a whole lot more satisfying than the dream version. It had true texture. Scent. Taste.
He traced the line of her neck, feeling the rapid beat of her pulse. He rubbed his mouth over smooth skin to the valley between her breasts. He nuzzled her before he leaned her back, holding her that her breasts might present themselves to him, two delicious handfuls each topped with a dark berry.
His to suck. And suck he did, his mouth pulling and tugging the erect nubs while she tugged at his hair and made the most delightful fucking noises.
Her nipples weren’t the only things he wanted to taste.
He flipped her and lay on the pile of leaves and discarded clothes. Downwards his mouth travelled, his fingers hooking into her pants and tugging them lower that he might kiss the flatness of her belly. He paused a moment to circle his tongue around her navel, which had her squirming and yelping his name, “Luke! That tickles.”
She wiggled as he teased her one more time around the sensitive spot before moving, lowering, continuing his erotic exploration, nuzzling the soft fur covering her mound. He liked that she didn’t shave. He rubbed against it, letting the smell of her surround him.
The honey scent made his mouth water and his cock swell so fucking hard. He kissed the top of her mound and whispered, “Open sesame.”
She snickered, but her thighs parted for him, room enough for him to crouch between. He closed his eyes and moaned at the first lick. Actually, she moaned, too, but his was that of a man tasting the most decadent thing ever.
He lapped at her channel, his tongue parting her lips, tasting her honey. His thumb found the button of her clit and rubbed it, causing her hips to rise. Not far. He held her in his palms and continued to eat her.
To eat her until she came. His name on her lips.
“Luke. Luke.” Said more deeply. “Fuck me.”
Excuse me? He couldn’t believe she said it. He didn’t waste time. He shoved his pants down and put himself over her, taking her lips with his own, his fingers between her thighs, stroking her sex, which still rippled.
When she whimpered and cried, “More, give me more,” he slammed his cock into her.
Her sex clamped down around his cock, wet and hot. The sensation exquisite.
He threw back his head and held in a howl, not wanting to
scare her even as his primal side rode the surface of his skin. He fucked her harder than he planned, his body pistoning, and yet she welcomed his thrusts. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him close for a kiss.
Her hips moved in time with his. Her legs wrapped around his waist. She sucked at his mouth and moaned, the vibration running through him.
“Come for me again,” he encouraged with a husky murmur. “Come around my cock.”
She keened, and her nails dug into his skin as she clung to him, panting and matching his rhythm. His thrusts went deeper. Harder. Faster.
Her sweet pussy tightened. Milking his dick, making each thrust so fucking tight.
“Now,” she panted. “Now. Now. Now.” Said on a scream as she came
And he came with her, his hot seed spilling inside her for the first time. Marking her womb. Truly making her his.
He could hold it in no longer. He howled at the pleasure of their joining. Howled and kept coming inside her, spilling all of himself in her and making her come again. Her scream was surprised and sharp.
They collapsed in a heap, sweaty bodies skin to skin. Hearts thumping fast. Best of all, she hugged him.
Brushing the hair from her temple, he kissed it softly and murmured, “Love you, Flo.”
“You’d better because I’m putting all my trust in you.”
And he’d make sure she wouldn’t regret it.
Epilogue
It took them until the New Year, two months after they escaped, before they made it out of the mountains. Not that she minded. So long as she and Luke were together, they could brave anything. The man hunted a bear and made her a cloak from it—never explaining how he won with his bare hands. He always found them shelter. Crevices deep enough to build a warm fire. Shelters made of woven boughs for the times he couldn’t. They even spent a glorious snowed-in week in an abandoned cabin. He kept them fed, the late fall berries sweet for picking, the birds and small game he hunted filling. Despite the harsh living conditions, she was happier than she could ever recall.
But they were always watching for hunters. Knowing what she did, she believed him when he said Chimera’s people were still looking.
They’d spent some time discussing what they should do once they exited the Rockies. She argued they should go to the media and tell his story. Show them proof and shut down Chimera and his clinic.
Luke, on the other hand, wanted to disappear. His fear was the media would ridicule them as nutjobs, but someone would listen. Someone who was part of the cover-up. He worried she would suffer an accident and he’d simply disappear.
It seemed paranoid, and yet she couldn’t deny it worried her, too.
She stopped arguing the day she realized her period hadn’t come since they’d fled the clinic.
That night, under stars that shone brightly, she lay on her back beside him, using his arm as a pillow. She traced the fur on his chest, noticing it was thicker than ever. Would it keep thickening?
Would he eventually become more beast than man like those creatures in the mountains?
Maybe. Luke’s theory was those who escaped forgot their humanity while trying to survive. If that were the case, then it was up to her to ensure he remembered why he wanted to live.
Which was why she whispered against his skin, “I’m pregnant.”
His response was a kiss and a fiercely uttered, “They must never know.”
A month later, they were in South America, living off the grid and never going back.
Dr. Aloysius Cerberus sat across from Adrian, legs crossed, tired from a long day in the lab.
“I hear we lost another patient,” Adrian noted, leaning back in his seat.
“Not yet. But if I don’t halt the progression of the primacy gene, it won’t be long, I’m afraid.”
“There must be a way to switch it on and off.”
Aloysius shrugged. “Yes, but I’ve yet to find it.”
“We need to figure it out. The investors are asking for results.” Adrian stood and paced around his desk. “Here’s to hoping our other project pans out.”
“Where are Luke and the nurse now?”
“South America.” Adrian held up his phone and tapped the screen a few times. The monitor on the wall lit up, a large map of the world filling it. On it, blinking dots. Some clustered in Canada, the Rockies to be specific, which was their clinic. More in Europe and Mexico. Plus a few strays. The screen zoomed into a spot in South America where two dots pulsed.
“Is that them?”
“Yes. Their chips are transmitting their vitals twice a day when our satellites go past. They’ll have to be closely monitored.”
“Because?”
“She’s pregnant.”
Aloysius clapped his hands. “That’s wonderful news. When are you planning to bring them back in?”
“Not yet. I don’t want to make the same mistake we made with Samuel and Delilah.” That ended in a tragedy that saw them lose not only two viable subjects but the child, too.
“What about monitoring the pregnancy?”
Adrian tucked his hands behind his back. “We’re going to let nature do its thing and watch from afar. I didn’t put them through that charade to bring them back too soon.”
Because all along Adrian had planned for Luke to bond with the nurse. All of it, from their shared dreams, to their bond—which was chemically induced—to their escape, all orchestrated with one goal in mind.
Breeding.
Because much like zoo animals, the patients didn’t procreate well or successfully when kept in close quarters.
“What if the child proves dangerous in the womb?”
Adrian’s smile was tight and cold. “Then I guess we’ll collect our wolfman and try again.
It had been a week since Becky had seen Margaret. The woman had upped and disappeared overnight, as had her patient Luke. The rumor going around said they ran off. Management claimed she was let go for misconduct.
Whatever the reason, Becky missed her. Wished she’d been nicer those last few times because she could have used a friend. Especially now.
Becky stood on the shore of the lake, shivering despite the sun. For the past few days she’d been running a fever. A cold one, which made no sense. Her core temperature kept dropping, and her skin itched. Itched something fierce. And she craved water. Not to drink.
Nope. She wanted to soak in it. Took crazy long showers and still wasn’t satisfied.
Which was how she found herself on the shore.
The lake had always intimidated her. Yet it kept calling. Standing on the shore, on the only tiny section of shallow beach, she kicked off her shoes and dipped her toes into the water. The cold barely registered. So she waded deeper and deeper until the bottom dropped away. She went under, body, face. She sank, eyes wide as she suddenly realized her peril.
Panic clawed at her as her lungs tightened. And when she could handle it no more, she opened her mouth and let it in.
Find out what happens next in Guarding the Mermaid
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