Tempting The Beast(35)

Once again it was only his cock, thick, softening only marginally as he pulled free of her.

“Once I rest,” she said drowsily. “You’re gonna tell me what that was, Callan.”

She snuggled against his chest as he collapsed beside her, dragging an afghan from the back of the couch

and wrapping it around her, her breasts cushioned against the incredible heat of his chest, her body

languid, sated for the moment.

“If I have to,” he whispered at her ear, somber.

“Hm, you have to.” She yawned. But first, a nap. Her eyes closed, her body relaxed against his heat and

she drifted quickly into rest.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN



“I have work to do.” Merinus kept her voice carefully controlled, calm, as she sat at the kitchen table the

next morning, staring down at her untouched cup of coffee.

Breakfast had been completed in silence, despite the amount of people who had ranged around the

table. There were six of the Breeds as they called themselves, Merinus and the doctor. The sheer scope

of the story she was now looking at terrified her. Not because of the implications of it, but due to the part

she now played in it.

The others had left after eating. The other three males disappearing outside, Sherra, Dawn and the

scientist returning to the lab while Callan stayed and watched Merinus in concern.

“What work do you have that doesn’t require you to be right where you are?” His broad, bare

shoulders lifted in a shrug, as though her forced confinement here was not a problem.

“Where’s my cell phone?” She ignored his question. “And I want you to take me back to camp. I have

interviews to do—”

“If I am your story, then why would you need to do other interviews?” he asked her curiously.

“Your mother’s death—” she began.

“Is not part of this story, Merinus,” he finished for her. “Her death was not at the hands of Council

members, I have told you this already. And it is a mystery you cannot solve. So let it go.”

His voice was quiet, smooth. He watched her with those golden eyes, still hot with lust, but shadowed

with demand.

“I have a life, Callan, a job,” she told him firmly. “I have to get back to it. And I need my cell phone

back. I have to talk to my family, let them know I’m okay.”

“What will you tell them?” he asked her, his eyes showing an amazing degree of genuine confusion. “You

cannot tell them the truth, Merinus. Not until we have this figured out.”

“They’ll worry. And if they worry, all seven of my brothers will head out here and start kicking ass until

they find me,” she warned him. “It would be easier if you would just let me call them and let them know

I’m okay.”

“I have no problem with you calling them.” He shrugged. “I have problems with what you might say. I

will not have a team of scientists or Council killers following on their trail. I’ve had the two who attacked

you taken care of, do not bring more down on our heads right now.”

Shock scattered through her system.

“Taken care of?” she whispered. “How did you take care of them?”

Irritation flashed over his features. “I slapped their hands and sent them home to their mommas,” he bit

out. “How did you think I was forced to do this, Merinus? They are killers. They would have raped and

tortured you and given no thought to your pain or your life. Why does it matter how I took care of

them?”

He stood to his feet, stalking to the sink with his empty cup.

Merinus pushed her fingers through her hair, breathing out roughly. Anger rose in her as the situation

began to overwhelm her.

“Did you kill them?” she asked him furiously.

He had his back to her, staring out of the kitchen window, his shoulders tense.

“I had no choice.” Heavy, cold, his voice whispered through the room.

“Then you are no better than they are,” she bit out.

“There is where you are wrong.” He turned on her, his eyes blazing, his mouth pulled into a snarl that

revealed deadly incisors. “I did not ask them to create me, Merinus. I did not ask for the DNA they

coded into my body, nor did I ask them to train me to kill. I did not ask them for any of their ‘gifts’. I

most certainly did not ask them to stalk me, torture friends and make my life hell because I would not

slaughter innocents for them. And I will not tolerate them sending their soldiers out to destroy me, nor

what I hold as mine, Merinus. It is the law of nature. Only the strongest will survive.”

Rage trembled along his body, in his voice.

“This isn’t the jungle,” she yelled back at him, standing to her feet as she placed her palms flat on the