Accepting His Human(13)

It seems a little far, but as I've never had to take a cab anywhere  before, I don't really know." Ailean's finger over his lips made him  stop the flood of words. Yeah, Drake knew he tended to ramble when  nervous.

"You'll come with me to the hospital for now. I'll call Detective  Stryker on the way over there, and he'll take you to Declan's." He  pressed a quick kiss to Drake's lips. "As much as I'd like to linger in  bed with you, I can't." Ailean kissed him again before drawing away with  a groan and landing a stinging smack to Drake's butt. "Get dressed."  Drake froze in surprise at the unexpected smack. It sent tingles over  his skin, almost as nice as the bite that Ailean had given him that  morning. Drake would never have thought he would enjoy biting, but he  had to admit that he'd loved every second of it. There had only been one  second of searing pain before absolute pleasure sluiced through his  bloodstream, centering in his dick and forcing the most intense orgasm  of his life from him. The memory had him shuddering out a breath in  anticipation of next time.

"If you don't control yourself, I'm going to flip you on your stomach  and slam my cock into your ass," Ailean growled. His leaned over him and  gave a hard nip to Drake's nipple. "And as wonderful as that sounds, I  don't have time."

After another kiss, this one slower and full of promise for 65




later, Drake gathered the nerve to smile up at his lover.

"Then we'll just have to keep this until later," he whispered, tracing a  forefinger up Ailean's scrub-covered, but obviously hard cock.                       
       
           



       

"Yes," Ailean grunted before he groaned and pulled away. "Get up before I  lose control of myself." Drake grinned at Ailean's retreating backside.  Wow! I've never had this effect on anyone!

He jumped from the bed, still grinning from ear to ear as he padded out to the living room and found his clothes.

Drake couldn't believe how comfortable he felt with Ailean, especially  knowing the man watched his every move as he poured them both a cup of  coffee.

He pulled on his clothes and then went to the kitchen and picked up the  mug Ailean had poured for him. After taking a sip, he crinkled his nose.  "Sugar?" Ailean's brows lifted. "You didn't add sugar at breakfast," he  pointed out, though he still crossed to his pantry and pulled out a  jar.

"Thanks." Drake added several teaspoons of sugar before taking another  sip. "Mmmm." He grinned at Ailean's surprised look. "Part of early  morning coffee's waking ability is its bitter, rather disgusting taste,"  he admitted. "If I'm going to enjoy it in the afternoon, it needs quite  a bit of sugar in it."

Ailean chuckled, while herding him toward the door.

"Got it. I'll remember that, little mate." Once outside, he opened his  car door and helped him into the seat, being careful not to spill the  hot beverage. "Now, we need to get moving." Before shutting the door,  Ailean gave him a quick peck.

A contented smile curved Drake's lips as he watched Ailean hurry around  the hood and climb into the car. It didn't take long to reach the  hospital. Drake set the empty 66




coffee cup onto the floorboard and followed Ailean into the building. He  fully expected to be told to stay in the waiting room or at the very  least, shown to a staff room. Instead, Ailean had him follow him into  his office, then his dressing room, then along several corridors where a  nurse met him.

"I'm so sorry to call you, but the chart said to contact you about  anything unusual with this patient," she hurried to explain. Her gaze  flicked to Drake, but she didn't say anything about his presence while  Ailean read the chart she thrust under his nose.

Ailean hissed in irritation. "It's Lyle," he muttered by way of  explanation before he started down the hall in a ground eating stride.  Drake had to hurry to keep up. "Detective Stryker will be here in a few  minutes. Be sure to show him to the patient's room as soon as possible,"  he ordered.

"Yes, Doctor," the nurse said before hustling away.

Drake followed in silence while Ailean strode quickly down several  hallways. He stopped just inside the room, surprised to find a muscular  man sitting beside Lyle, watching anxiously as Ailean inspected Lyle and  the monitors connected to him. The doctor didn't seem the least bit  surprised, so must know the man. Ailean muttered under his breath, his  words too low for Drake to make out.

A few moments later, Detective Stryker ambled through the door. The big  man crossed to his partner's bed and frowned at Ailean. "What's going  on?"

"Hell if I know," Lyle snarled, preparing to draw blood.

He froze, the needle poised inches over the patient's flesh.

"What the fuck?"

"Is that a rash?" Grady asked.

"It appeared about an hour ago," the other man told them, wringing his hands as his gaze darted between them.

"It was about ten minutes after that the monitors went off." Drake eased closer, wondering what the men were staring 67




at. He gasped, his eyes rounding as disbelief coursed through him. "No!"  he whispered. Regaining himself, he rushed forward and ran his fingers  over a dark green, bumpy patch of skin on the inside of Lyle's forearm.

"What are you doing?" Ailean snapped, snatching his hand away from Lyle. "It could be contagious."

"It's not," he assured, his gaze shifting between the angry doctor and the concerned detective.

Grady recovered first. "What do you mean? Do you know what this is?"

Fighting back the panic, Drake nodded. "I told them it wasn't safe for  experiments yet. Why didn't they listen to me? And to do it on a human?  Oh, God. I'm so sorry!" Ailean dropped his hand as if burned and took a  step back. "You did this?"

"Calm down, Ailean," Grady commanded. "We don't know anything yet." He turned to Drake, his blue eyes hard.

"Now tell us what you mean. Who did you tell what?" Running a shaky hand  through his short hair, he tried to catch Ailean's eye, but his lover  refused to look at him. "I told you I was at the Fitzgerald building for  a meeting. I was contracted by Crystal Lake Corporation to break down a  DNA string they provided," he admitted. "They told me they thought it  could be proof of the existence of the Ninki-nanka. I teach molecular  genetics at the college, but that was my minor. I'm really a crypto  zoologist, but I've been blacklisted from any serious grants due to my  last paper on the chupacabra. If I could prove the existence of the  Ninki-nanka, it'd restore my reputation." Grady scowled, clearly  unimpressed. "Okay, what the hell's a Ninki-nanka and what does that  have to do with this?" he asked, waving a hand at Lyle's arm.                       
       
           



       

"The Ninki-nanka is a creature that supposedly lives in the swamps of West Africa. It's believed to be reclusive and 68




very dangerous and those who see it often end up dead within a few  weeks. It's what we call a cryptid, because we don't have any proof it  really exists." Before Grady could interrupt with more questions, he  hurried on, "When I broke down the DNA, I realized it had both reptilian  and human components." His gaze swept between the two men, but they  didn't seem surprised. Okay, so they probably didn't understand the  significance of that. "It means this creature wasn't either, and yet it  was." Still nothing came from either man. "A changeling of some kind. A  brand new species!" Maybe they just didn't believe him, because they  still didn't react. Whatever. "Anyway, when I reported my findings, they  wanted to know if a serum could be created to share this creature's  abilities with humans. I had been working on that for two weeks, giving  them regular reports, when Lyle appeared." He saw a closed, stormy  expression descend over Ailean's face. The man growled low in his throat  and turned away. When Drake reached out and laid a hand on the doctor's  arm, Ailean snarled at him and jerked away. Drake yanked his hand back  in shock. "I kept telling them it wasn't ready for trials, even on  animals. I guess they didn't listen." His voice trailed away.

Before the silence could lengthen for too long, Ailean met Grady's concerned gaze and growled. "Get him out of here.

Take him to Declan. I have work to do."

"Are you coming by when you get off?" Grady asked, sounding just a little too calm.

Ailean finally met Drake's eyes, but he saw none of the affection and  desire that normally resided there. Instead, the doctor stared at him  with barely concealed loathing.