Tempting The Beast(86)

her.

Merinus glanced up in time to see Kane raise his hands and step away quietly. Callan moved across the

space of only a few feet and jerked Merinus in his arms. His body was blazing with heat, his muscles tight

with tension.

“Give him a few minutes to cool off.” Dr. Martin moved among the men commandingly. “Get away from

them. Get Dayan’s body to another room away from him now. Let him settle down or he’ll never find his

control.”

Merinus looked back at Callan. His face was flushed, his eyes closed as he held her close.

“Callan?” she whispered.

“I could have lost you,” he answered, his voice ragged, harsh. “If it had been Council soldiers, if it had

been anyone else, I would have lost you.”

His hold tightened as he fought for breath. “God help me, Merinus, I can’t lose you.”

Merinus breathed out deeply. She struggled to turn in his arms, finally succeeding as he loosened his grip

only marginally. Her arms went around his shoulders, her head cushioned on his heaving chest. Around

them, people moved, spoke, asked questions and demanded answers.

“How were we found?” Callan suddenly jerked his head up, his eyes blazing in suspicion as he looked at

those around them.

“Kane had a tracker on Merinus’ cell,” Sherra answered him coolly. “I didn’t know, Callan, until this

morning when he tried to call and his readout indicated the phone had been destroyed.”

Vaguely, Merinus remembered seeing the broken remnants of the phone on Callan’s desk. Dayan must

have destroyed it, thinking he would keep them from calling for help. Callan had no phones in the house.

No way to track any communications he made.

Callan took a deep, steadying breath. Merinus felt his control slowly reassert itself. His body relaxed

marginally.

“Callan, you need to get cleaned up.” Kane stood several feet from them, staring down at them

broodingly. “We’re going to call the police in on this one, do some damage control. Uncle Sam,” he

nodded to the Senator, “came out here on the midnight flight to personally escort you back to the Senate

hearings on genetic altering and DNA engineering. We have a lot of work ahead of us.”

Callan rose slowly to his feet. His arm wrapped around Merinus, refusing to let her go.

“Merinus can stay here with us,” Kane told him forcefully.

“I don’t think so.” Merinus didn’t trust the cold smile Callan sent her brother. “Merinus stays with me,

Kane. Period. You can talk to her after we both clean up.”

Merinus rose to her feet alongside Callan, watching the two men stare each other down, both intent on

having his way. They were like two pit bulls getting ready to fight over the same bone, but for different

reasons. Kane wanted to hoard her, keep her a child, his innocent sister forever. Callan wanted the

woman he had made and he was damned determined to keep her.

Kane opened his mouth to speak. Merinus knew whatever came out of it would only make the situation

worse.

“Don’t start, asshole,” she bit out, seeing the mockery that flashed across his eyes, an indication that

something stupid was getting ready to come out of his mouth.

He flashed her a dark look. Merinus took a deep breath.

“I need another shower, anyway, and so does Callan. Do whatever you guys have to do to get things

ready to go. I can’t deal with it right now.”

Her mind was too dazed, shock and fear and fury still running through her veins. Adrenaline overload

was turning into a bitch.

“At least try to hurry.” Kane raked his fingers though his short hair, impatience tightening his body. “We

have to get a story together and get things started here, Merinus. I need you for that.”

He speared her with a commanding look.

“You’ll just have to wait,” she told him, accepting the arm Callan wrapped around her as her legs

trembled beneath her. “I can’t right now, Kane. I just can’t.”

She was aware of the concerned, worried looks on the faces of her family. She should have been more

eager to reassure them then she was to find a moment alone with Callan, to soothe the beast that still

fought for release.

“Come on.” Callan turned without addressing the other man again and drew her from the room.

When they reached the stairs, he didn’t make her climb them herself. He picked her up in his arms and

carried her to the big bathroom off their bedroom. He didn’t speak, his expression didn’t soften. But he

was hard. His cock was like a poker, steely and hot against her hip. His eyes blazed with lust. He locked

the bedroom door behind them, then with a simple jerk at her pants, bared her from the waist down.