Tempting The Beast(60)
his blood.
“How did they know about the mating?” she questioned him as they moved through the thick growth of
forest, following what appeared to be little more than an animal trail.
“My ignorance,” he bit out. His mistakes were going to end up costing him the life of the woman who
was beginning to mean everything to him.
“You didn’t do anything,” she argued breathlessly, but she still kept up with his fast pace. He had to get
her as far from the damned cavern as possible before those soldiers got free and managed to call their
buddies.
“The mark on your neck, the fact that I touched you. Pulled you into my arms,” he bit out. “I rarely
touch, and only during the actual fuck do I embrace a woman. They know this. The soldiers know
everything about my DNA, my training, my habits. I gave us away.”
He was filled with self-disgust and impotent anger. He had made his first mistake in killing the soldiers.
He had never gone searching for them, and only killed when given no other choice. He should have
known the bastards had reported Merinus and her probing questions to the Council. He should have
thought, dammit, rather than letting fury guide his actions. The animalistic urge to protect and shelter, to
retaliate against any danger to his woman had rode him hard, even then. It was getting worse. It had been
all he could do to keep from killing those men in the cave. Only his knowledge of Merinus’ reaction to it
had swayed him from doing it. Her emotional connection to him wouldn’t have survived the bloodshed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sherra stood silently in the shadows of the motel, watching carefully, her eyes narrowed as the nine men
parted company and went to their respective rooms. They were furious, but one was coldly dangerous.
She had watched them at the airport after dropping Doc off at the safe house, then followed them to
Sandy Hook and watched as they checked in.
Kane didn’t remind her of Merinus in any way. He was darker haired, the color nearly black, with
intense, cold blue eyes. His strong jaw and high cheekbones gave a hint to Native American ancestry, his
hard, graceful body hinted at extensive military training. She knew the look, the way a killer moved. She
had grown up among them, been raped by them more than once. But this one, she knew personally.
This man had brought her pleasure. Despite her pleas, despite her wishes to the contrary, he had taken
her beneath the unfeeling eye of a camera, riding her from one climax to the next, his lust fueled by hers,
and hers by his touch.
Had it only been seven years ago? Sweet heaven, that night tormented her, even now, as though it had
happened only yesterday. The dark soldier who had sworn to help her, to rescue her. He had come to
her, holding freedom in one hand, her heart in the other, and spent the night teaching her the pleasures of
her woman’s body. When he left, he never returned. But the doctors had. With the video, snickering,
jeering at the things Kane Tyler had done to her, that she had done to him, all in the name of science.
Rape had not impregnated her. They had wondered if pleasure would.
Her hands clenched into fists of rage as he lingered outside his room, lazily finishing a cigarette he had lit
moments earlier. She wanted to kill him now. She had sworn she would kill him if she ever found him
again. Sworn she would see to it that he paid for every moment of pain she suffered all those years ago.
She had sworn he would pay for lying to her, and for doing it so easily without her knowledge. He had
betrayed her, just as he had betrayed his sister.
His expression hardened when the last door finally closed and he was left alone with her.
“Where’s Merinus?” His voice was savage, pulsating with a fury that sent a fission of unease down her
body. “And why the fuck weren’t we met at the airport as promised.”
“I have a better question,” she said from the safety of the shadows. “Why would a brother betray a
sister he swears to love on the eve of promised help?”
He turned around slowly, casually, until he was facing her. She saw hard purpose in his face, and
surprise.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“A full team of soldiers swept over Callan’s house. A dozen men. All I know for sure is that they didn’t
get him or Merinus. But I know they want her. They know about her.”
“Know what, for God’s sake?” He raked his fingers through his hair, his voice quiet but rough with fury.
“Why the hell would they attack now?”
“They know your sister has mated with Callan,” she told him carefully. “Just as you knew.”
Or had he? She watched his face pale alarmingly, his blue eyes widening.