by Marie Harte
An alien shriek pierced the air, but he couldn't see what happened. Weak, you're weak, he berated himself as he fought to remain coherent, to not leave his mate to a horrific fate. Instead he floundered in a sea of cold, dark hell, listening to inhuman screams while he imagined the demon killing the only thing he'd ever loved.
Olivia couldn't stand it. The monster was eating Jesse! The only guy to ever prove somewhat promising in the relationship department, and a reject from the Black Lagoon was devouring him.
“Hell no,” she yelled and gave in to the sudden well of rage boiling inside her. She used the creature's own hungers to foster a need to kill within herself. Screams and alien noise from all around her only added to the insanity of the situation. Jesse's large, tough body continued to bleed out as the thing tightened around him like a coiled boa.
On fire, Olivia pulled at her clothes and stretched with every cell she possessed. The pain was agonizing, but the mutant's fury fed her desire to destroy. When the ache finally passed, she clenched her fingers, aware of a subtle difference. Her nails were an inch long and hard as steel A glance down at herself showed her body to be darker, taller, and way more muscular.
She smacked her lips, called for the mutant, and had to avoid piercing her tongue on the long, sharp fangs in her mouth. Holy crap.
“I'm here, you prick,” she yelled to it again. The scent of its internal decay sickened her, but in a way she also felt a strange pity. The thing had no sense of self, only a lonely need for companionship. It broadcast like a radio tower, its feelings loud, all-encompassing, and pathetic.
“I'm here. Come to me,” she said more quietly and held out her arms.
It didn't break its stare at her as it released its hold on Jesse. He slumped on the ground while the mutant crawled to her. Before she could figure out what she intended to do to it, a dark blur flew in front of her, taking the mutant away once more.
Two more Circs entered her immediate space, and she crossed to hover protectively over Jesse. A glance at him made her wonder how she'd ever thought him a beast. He still appeared like himself as a man, but he was better, stronger, harder. The blood all over him bothered her, and she sent him a burst of heat, warning him with an emotional tug to heal himself.
“Christ, that's perfect.” Jules's sarcastic growl came from the large Circ to her right. He radiated power, and she couldn't help her instant attraction. The beast within her preened at having the leader's attention. “A female Circ out here to tease the rogues circling us like a damned hunting party. Talk about a helluva trip.”
Kisho blinked at her and cocked his head. “I didn't see this coming.” Bigger, like Jules, he took her breath away. Exotically slanted eyes, thick, long, dark hair, and muscles that gleamed in the Brazilian sun. Were it not for her mate, she might have tried claiming the others as her own.
But she needed to protect Jesse first. The rest of her new family could come second.
In the back of her mind, Olivia recognized her newfound thoughts and emotions as not quite a part of her, but right now she focused her attention on those directly within reach of Jesse.
The mutant uttered a hoarse cry before growing silent, its lack of noise a distinct warning that something much worse had joined them.
To her shock, she barely recognized Gunnar. He stood a head larger than Jules and Kisho.
Ripped with muscle, the tendons in his neck and arms stood out in stark relief. Veins bulged as he moved like a hulking bodybuilder who ate other bodybuilders for breakfast. But it was his eyes, bright blue blazes bathed in black that alarmed her. Nothing about him looked remotely human. His claws dripped with a black, oily substance, and his teeth dripped with the same stuff.
Not fangs, but sharklike, pointed teeth that could rip into a body and decimate his opponents.
He raised his head and sniffed and took a threatening step in her direction.
She pulled at his rage and snarled in warning.
He stopped and blinked and, to her surprise, began to shrink in size. He remained large but not so gigantic, and his eyes once again looked normal, the slit pupils declaring him Circ.
“Olivia?” he asked, his voice hoarse. He absently wiped the black stuff from his face and hands. “Fuck, you fully changed.” He stared hard, his gaze centered on her breasts as he licked his lips.
“Is Fallon okay?” Jules asked.
She didn't know, but when he moved forward to check, she growled at him to stay back.
“We don't have time for this.” Jules scowled. “We need to get you both out of here before the others find us.”
“Others?” Olivia knew it was Jules; she trusted him. But her beast didn't want to give up her mate's safety to anyone.
“Remember who's in charge,” Jules rumbled and released a torrent of vanilla that soothed her protectiveness.
“I—Sorry.” She shook her head and allowed Jules to pull her away. Hayashi rushed to Jesse's side. “I don't know up from down right now.” She rubbed her jaw, aware it felt heavier than it should. She should have been embarrassed about her nudity in front of the others, but seeing them all naked, in their natural forms, took away any sense of shyness from her.
Jules ran his knuckle over her cheek. “It's okay. The beast acts on instinct. Jesse Fallon belongs to me, but he belongs to you as well.”
She nodded.
“We have to leave. Rogues are unsafe, and as you saw, mutants are a real problem.
Hayashi, you and Tersch lead them away, then lose them in the jungle and circle back to the safe house, not the hotel. They'll be waiting for us there.”
“Right.” Gunnar waited for Kisho. “Olivia, listen to Jules. Protect your mate,” he growled, his eyes blazing.
“I will.”
“We'll see you soon.” He nodded at Kisho, and they left without a sound.
Jules bent down and hefted Jesse, who was no longer bleeding, over his shoulder. He gave her a grin that lifted her spirits. “Don't worry; we do this all the time. Our boy will be just fine after some rest. Now let's lose these assholes and stash you someplace safe.”
“Stash us someplace safe,” she corrected. “He's not ready for battle yet.” She glanced at Jesse, lying helplessly against Jules.
“Right. Don't worry, Olivia. He'll be swearing up and down at you in no time. Trust me.”
“I do.” She paused. “Or I would have ripped out your throat the minute you touched what's mine.” She blinked. “Did I just say what I think I said?” Jules chuckled. “I can see you're going to fit right in. You'll keep Fallon in line. Come on.” Fit in. Acceptance, family. Mate. Despite the extremity of the situation, all was right with the world. “Lead on, boss.”
Chapter Nine
Jesse woke to throbbing ribs and a pounding headache. He stared at a broad back and tight ass and recognized them as belonging to Jules.
“Olivia?” he croaked.
“I'm here.”
He pushed up from Jules's back and stared, amazed, at Olivia in shifted form. Dear God, she was perfect. Tall, lithe, yet packed with muscle. Her golden skin had deepened, not so much brown as tan. Her dark hair hung in thick black waves down her back. Her fangs peeked over full bloodred lips pursed in displeasure. And that body…
“Jules, he's awake and hurting. I can feel it.”
“So take some of the pain.” Jules didn't slow down.
She frowned at him, pleasing Fallon that she didn't like his leader as much as he'd feared.
Jealous bastard that he was, he wanted her affection all for himself.
Her blue-green eyes shone with energy as she absorbed some of his aches, leaving him with a hazy sense of wonder.
He smiled at her. “Nicely done, baby. Now how about a little kiss?” Her expression of joy made him hard in an instant.
“Shit, Fallon. Your cock is digging into my chest. Save it, would you?” He couldn't help it. Seeing all of Olivia in her nude, changed glory, aroused him. Her full tits were fuller, tipped with rosy nipple
s he intended to suck as soon as Jules put him down. Her long legs would wrap around his hips tightly while he pounded into her. So good, she'd take him as roughly as he wanted.
He couldn't wait.
“Fuck. Hold on,” Jules grumbled, no doubt smelling the heady scent of lust and mint mingling with cherries on the air. “We've been walking for hours. The safe house is another mile east, but I have a feeling you two won't make it that far. And who can blame you? A prime Circ female. Have at it, Fallon, but don't think I'm not going to watch or taste some of her when you're done.”
“I'll share. After I've had my fill,” Fallon growled, healing at a remarkable rate. Funny what lust could do for his beast, a sexual creature at heart.
The scent of cherries intensified. Olivia had picked up on his desire and mirrored it.
Jules pushed past the next tree and stopped in the small, enclosed, grassy field. He set Fallon down and sat back against a thick palm. Spreading his feet wide on the ground, he gripped himself and waited.
Olivia hesitated.
“Come, mate. It's time.” Time to claim the beast.
“I…ah…I don't know.” Her humanity had a hell of bad timing, reappearing right now.
Fallon didn't intend to allow it. Time the female knew her place. For days she'd fought him on one thing after another, striving to maintain an independence no longer possible for a Circ. As much as he respected her intelligence, the woman didn't seem to be firing on all faculties.
Circs had a pack mentality. Together, they thrived; alone, they turned rogue or worse. His beast had already claimed the woman. Now he needed her beast.
“I know. Come here.”
She frowned.
“I said come here,” he said again, his voice low, and projected his scent.
Her nostrils flared, and her eyes narrowed. Fallon glanced at Jules; he was transfixed by the byplay.
Olivia took a step, then another and another, toward him. Her nipples puckered, and the sweet perfume of her lust smacked him hard.
“Oh yeah. That's it, baby. Bring me my pussy. Open for me. I need a taste.” She lay on the ground and spread her thighs wide, giving him an intimate look at her flushed sex. Her clit was full, and he salivated at the sight.
“Tell me you need me. Tell me you want it.”
Olivia licked her lips, the hint of her fangs a clear tease. A part of him wanted to bite her, to mark her, and to feel her mark him.
“I want it,” she growled low. “I want you.”
“Mate. I want you, mate.”
“Jesse, please.”
He stood over her, holding out his dick, which had grown harder than the rocks beside them. “Say it.”
“I want you, mate. Please.”
He lowered and settled between her thighs.
“She smells so good, so ready,” Jules murmured, intent.
“She is. My pussy is wet,” Fallon rasped and buried his face between her legs. He licked and sucked, entranced with this spicy part of her he'd only hoped to experience.
She cried out and grasped his head, pumping her hips against his mouth.
He grazed her clit with his fangs and drank her honeyed cream, wanting nothing more than to sink inside her. He hurt, needing to unload his swelling balls, to fill her with his seed.
“Love me.”
He heard the whisper, wanting badly to follow it back, but he didn't want to scare her. This was the first time she'd initiated contact since learning she was Circ.
“Please, Jesse. Love me,” she begged.
“Yes, baby. I will. I do,” he admitted, aware he meant much more than anything physical.
Chemically, physically, he and Olivia were a perfect match. Her tits fit into his hands, even as large as her breasts now were. He held her as he ate her, pinching her nipples until they stabbed into the air.
He wanted to feel them in his mouth, so he let her go and covered her. His cock was slick with need, but he kept the tip of himself at her entrance and grazed her clit as he feasted on her breasts.
“You're big, Olivia. So sweet. Look at your nipples, hard for me.” He sucked one into his mouth and bit gently, ecstatic when she writhed and begged him to fuck her. Her descent into frank language turned him on like nothing else, because he knew she'd lost control.
He made her crazed. Not Jules or Tersch, not some Circ hormone. But Jesse. Him.
“I want to feel that cock inside me. Please, Jesse. Fuck me hard. Come inside me, all over me. My mouth, my ass. Everything you want,” she rasped and twisted underneath him, rubbing his cockhead against her clit. She thrust up, and he slid an inch inside her.
“This what you want?” he growled, giving her just his tip.
She cried out and bucked, but he wouldn't be rushed.
“Yes, yes! More.”
“I want more, mate.” He wanted the stubborn woman to acknowledge her importance in his life. He knew she had thoughts of slipping back into her regular life away from him, and his beast—and the man—found the notion unacceptable. Fallon wouldn't let her go. Not ever. He couldn't. Just the thought of it frustrated and saddened him and made him want to lash out in a fury.
She stilled. “What's wrong?”
Panting, he pulled out of her completely and glared down at her. “You're not leaving me, ever. You're mine, dammit. My mate, my woman.” He shoved her legs apart and speared her with one swift, hard thrust.
Crying out, she arched against him. Beyond them, Jules groaned.
“You belong to me, and you know it.”
“Yes, yes,” she mumbled, clutching his hips and gouging his flesh as he fucked her.
“You're family, Olivia. You'll carry my children, bear my burdens, as I'll bear yours.” He pistoned, undone, as he unloaded not just his seed but his fears and hopes and dreams inside her.
“I can't live without you, baby. You can't leave me. Not when you'll take my happiness with you when you go.”
He came inside her too quickly, caught in the warm hold of her tight pussy. Shuddering, he continued to admit a truth he could no longer deny. “We belong together. Feel me. Reach out and feel me, dammit.”
He opened himself fully, waiting for her psychic touch.
But she didn't reach out to him with her mind. Instead she angled her hips and mewled her satisfaction as she climaxed. And the grip on his cock stirred him to come again.
“Ah yes, shit,” he swore, pumping and unable to stop. “Come on, baby. Feel me.”
“I—Oh, Jesse.” She screamed and clenched around him. “So good. So good.” She shivered on the ground, caught in lust and something else, something he touched with his mind.
To his astonishment, the normal boundaries shielding her mind weren't there. As he pulsed inside her, he read the fears and worries she had about him, about being Circ, about her future.
She wanted so very badly to believe in him, but she'd been burned before.
Her hesitation made sense. As much as he wanted to push her into trusting him, he knew he needed time to build their connection. That, he could and would enforce.
“You're not leaving me. Say it.”
“So bossy,” she said with a breathless, sexy voice. “I'm not leaving you.”
“Good.” He ground against her and savored her telling reaction.
“Fuck, I'm done waiting.”
Fallon glanced over at Jules, surprised he'd forgotten all about his leader. Now, however, feeling Jules's heavy stare, his cock stirred to life once more.
“On her knees, I think.” Jules stood, his dick thick and shiny. Totally aroused.
“God, I want you both again. What's wrong with me?” Olivia asked dreamily. “I'm in heat or something.”
He and Jules shared a look and smiled. “Or something.” Fallon withdrew from his mate and turned her onto her hands and knees. He couldn't keep himself from biting her shoulder and nudging her ass with his erection.
She only moaned when his fangs pierced her flesh, but as he sucked a drop of h
er blood into his mouth, the scent of cherries saturated the area.
“I think your female wants it,” Jules said. “How do you want it, Olivia?” She trembled, and to Fallon's surprise took his hand and placed it over one full breast.
Fallon molded over her, cupping that perfect tit in his hand, and squeezed.
“Hmm. Yes, harder. Like that.”
“You want this in that ass or your mouth?” Jules asked, holding himself for her.
“My ass, while I swallow my lover's cum.”
They didn't waste any time. Fallon couldn't wait to feel her mouth over him again, and Jules wanted to sink inside a willing female.
Olivia tried to take charge, but Jules slapped her ass hard.
“Wait, woman. Let me first—Ah.” He moaned as he pried her ass cheeks apart and slid slowly inside her. “Oh fuck. This won't last long at all.” Fallon watched as Jules fucked his mate. The jealousy he'd thought to feel didn't form.
Instead his desire rose as he saw Olivia rock with every hard thrust. “That's hot. So sexy,” he rasped and joined them. On his knees, he guided himself to her mouth.
He didn't have long to wait. She opened her lips and took him to the back of her throat.
Purring, his mate licked and bit and sucked until he couldn't stop himself from plunging in and out of her mouth.
At first passive, then actively controlling the minx as she enraged his lust to an all-new level, Fallon quickly neared his end.
Jules raked his nails over her ass as he worked toward orgasm. “Yes, that's it, Olivia. Take it all.” He groaned and stilled, coming in heaving gasps.
The sight of his mate taking his friend pushed Fallon past his limits. “Swallow me, baby.
That's so good.” He poured into her mouth, pulsing jets of cum down her throat. The scent of his need entwined with hers.
