Mercury's War (9 page)

    Jonas was going to love hearing that.

    “Keep looking then,” he grunted. “We’ve managed to counter every attempt at breaking into our files. We’ll catch them soon.”

    “It’s been a year since the attempted hacks began,” she pointed out. “So far, you’ve lost several enforcers due to the leaks, and security is breached along the perimeters of Sanctuary at least monthly. Their rate of success in doing so is worrisome. I’m wondering if there’s a chance you have another spy operating inside Sanctuary.”

    They had caught one only months before, a trusted, loved member of the pride who had been attempting to destroy them from the beginning.

    “Not possible.” Was it?

    Hell, he had been investigating this himself for over six months. There was no way information was getting past the compound’s perimeters, yet their enemies were finding a way in anyway. And information was getting out.

    “Anything is possible,” she murmured before turning her attention back to the file for long moments.

    That studied concentration on her face pricked at him. He could feel an awareness he didn’t know how to describe moving inside him.

    His flesh tingled at the sensation, muscles rippling as though they were being invaded. The hair along the back of his neck prickled, a feeling he was highly uncomfortable with.

    Mercury wasn’t accustomed to the signs of primal awareness that other Breeds took for granted. The drugs the scientists had given him to suppress his animal genetics years before his rescue had completely eradicated not just the instinctive responses of his animal genetics but also the feral, uncontrollable intensity he used to possess.

    But now, as he watched Ria’s studied concentration of the files, the hairs at his nape seemed to lift in warning.

    “Do you think you can find a spy in those files?” Suspicion echoed heavily in his voice.

    She lifted her eyes again, her expression disparaging.

    “That’s not my job,” she drawled. “My job is to determine if you have enough control of the situation to allow you to possess the nifty little gadgets and toys that Vanderale sends you before they ever hit production. Don’t fool yourself, Mercury. I’m not here to do your job for you.”

    She snapped the file closed, her eyes gleaming with an edge of anger as she rose from her chair and stalked back to the file table. The file was slapped back onto the pile before she bent over for another.

    She bent over.

    The skirt tightened over her shapely ass.

    Full, beautiful globes filled his vision. His hand fisted, stretched, his fingers bending as though clawed, as a sudden, horrifying haze of hunger washed over him.

    He had to have her.

    One minute she was searching for the file she remembered seeing the day before, the next minute there was an iron rod pressing against the seam of her ass through her skirt and Mercury’s pants.

    Eyes widening, her gaze flew to the arms trapping her at the sides, heavily muscled arms, with attached hands that were gripping the wooden table, nails biting into it as a low growl sounded at the back of her neck.

    Oh hell. This was not good. She could feel the need to back into him, to roll her hips against his straining cock and feel the fierce throb of hunger in it.

    “The cameras,” she suddenly managed to gasp, remembering the small piece of electronics in the corner of the room behind them.

    “They can’t see shit,” he snarled at her ear. “Pull your skirt up for me.”

    “I will not,” she hissed, scandalized. “I’m not here to-”

    “Do it or I will. And if I touch you, I may not let go until I’m coming inside that hot little pussy I smell. Now pull the fucking skirt up.”

    Ria shuddered. Bent over as she was, her elbows braced on the table, she was in one of the most vulnerable positions that a woman could know. And he wanted her to make it worse?

    “Merc-”

    “Now.” His breathing was hard at her ear, lust echoing in the imperative need of the word he uttered.

    Ria fought back the shiver building in her spine and the uncontrollable impulse to do as he commanded.

    “Mercury…”

    “Make me do it, and it’s over with,” he snarled, his teeth nipping at her ear. “I’ll fuck you, Ria. Right here, right now. If I touch you with my hands, we’re both screwed, and I don’t care who’s watching.”

    Oh God.

    She lay against the table, feeling him shift as her hands moved to the sides of her skirt.

    She was actually doing it? She was inching her skirt up her legs, baring her thighs and the naked curves of her ass. And they were naked. The thong she wore did very little to hide the rounded globes of her ass.

    And as she did, Ria could feel her arousal growing, blooming. Her pussy was dampening, preparing for him, aching for him.

    “Damn, you smell sweet.” The rough whisper had her clenching as the skirt cleared her thighs. “Like dawn. I love the dawn, Ria.”

    Ria panted in response, eagerly pulling her skirt higher now. He was as hard and as hot as newly forged iron through the material of his uniform, and God, it was turning her on.

    She was so wet she could feel it dampening her panties.

    “Yeah,” he whispered as his lips suddenly smoothed over her neck. “Yeah. Let me feel your ass, baby. I love your ass. So sweet. So nice.”

    The skirt cleared her rear, bunching above her hips when his hips slammed against hers as she braced her arms on the table. They undulated, and beneath his pants she felt his cock throb.

    “I want to see you.” His teeth grazed her neck. “I want to see your tits naked, your nipples hard for me. Release them, Ria. Let me see them.”

    “The camera,” she gasped.

    “No one can see you. Release your pretty tits for me. Do it.”

    The hard, primal growl in his voice made her shake with lust. She had never been so damned turned on in her life. It was depraved, with the threat of the camera watching them.

    Yet her hand moved, her fingers fumbling with the buttons as a little moan left her lips.

    “Yeah. That’s it, baby,” he groaned, his long hair falling over her shoulder as he watched her unbutton the blouse. “Bare those pretty tits for me. Are they swollen, Ria? Do they ache for my mouth?”

    They ached they were so swollen, her nipples rasping against the lace of her bra as they hardened and became distended.

    She fumbled with the buttons of her blouse but finally managed to release them.

    “Pull the shirt from your skirt,” he commanded, his voice harsh and rough and sending shudders of arousal tearing through her. “Do it. Fast.”

    She pulled the material free, biting her lip as the edges gaped open then.

    “Release the bra.” His breathing was hard, rough, small puffs of air striking her suddenly sweat-dampened neck. “Let me see your tits, baby. I want to look. Let me look and I’ll wait to taste. I promise. Just give me this. Sweet God, just a little bit, Ria.”

    She couldn’t believe this. It was so erotic she was melting. His voice at her ear, commanding her, and she was obeying. Her fingers moved to the front clasp, releasing it slowly as shards of sensation raced through her system.

    When the material slackened, she drew the cups free of her heavy breasts, feeling her hips twitch, press tighter against the cock grinding into her rear.

    “How pretty,” he breathed.

    Ria stared down at the ripe curves. They were so swollen that her hard nipples poked out like little soldiers standing to attention. They were hot, desperate to be touched. To be taken.

    “Touch them. Let me see you playing with your nipples.”

    “No.” Shock pushed the word passed her lips.

    A second later his teeth nipped her neck, sending curling pleasure/pain rushing straight to her tormented clit.

    “Do it.” His voice changed, becoming deeper, darker. “Do it or I will. I’ll do it, and then there’ll be no stopping. I won’t stop before my cock is buried so deep inside you that you’ll never be free of me.”

    The camera. Oh God, she had to remember the camera. She had to remember her vow not to let him take her, not to let herself love him. If he took her, he was right, she would never be free. There would be no way to hold her heart back from him.

    “Mercury,” she whispered miserably. “This is too dangerous.”

    “Now.” The harsh rumble spurred her to action.

    One hand moved, her thumb and forefinger gripping her nipple as sensuality overwhelmed her.

    “God! Fuck! Yes. Show me what you like, Ria. Show me so that when I get my mouth there I’ll know how to pleasure you.”

    Her fingers tightened as rational thought disappeared. She rolled the stiff flesh, moaning in rapture as his hips pressed hers into the table and ground her clit against the edge. She shook, shuddered and pressed closer to the sensation as her own fingers tormented her nipple.

    “Your nipples are blushing,” he whispered. “I can see that pretty pink reddening, baby. Just like they’re going to redden for my mouth. My tongue. My teeth.”

    His teeth.

    Ria jerked against him at the thought of his teeth rasping over the tender tips. Oh, she wanted that. She wanted it so desperately she was on fire for it now. Her hips bucked against the table, rubbing her clit harder against the friction as another moan broke free of her lips.

    The camera. Remember the camera.

    “I’m going to fuck you, Ria. I’m going to rip those panties off your body and push every fucking inch of my cock up your pussy at once. I want to hear you scream. I want the pleasure to be so hard and so fast you can’t fight it. That all you can do is come for it.”

    The primal, feral growl sent erotic fear chasing through her. She could feel him beneath his pants, thick and long, and she knew she would scream when he took her. Scream and beg for more because she knew nothing had felt as good as his cock fucking into her would feel.

    She tightened her grip on her nipple, feeling the building sensations in her clit, knowing that her orgasm was coming closer by the second. She ached for it. Hungered for it. If she didn’t have it…

    The thunder echoing in her ears made no sense at first. She felt Mercury jerk behind her, heard his feral, “Fuck no.” Then realized exactly what it was.

    Dr. Morrey’s voice called from outside the door. “Mercury, I need you in my office when you have time, please. Lawe can watch Ms. Rodriquez. Are you in there?”

    “Oh. My. God. Oh God. Let me go,” she hissed as he jerked back.

    Her fingers fumbled with her bra as she heard the low, growling curse behind her. Reclipping it had never been so hard. She could feel the frantic fear pounding as hard through her veins now as the lust had seconds before.

    “Mercury, are you there?” The doorknob rattled. When the hell had he locked the door?

    “Just a minute, Ely,” he snarled.

    Ria felt a heated flush suffuse her body at the sound of his voice. There was no way to mistake the lust, the hunger, in it. Hell, the good doctor had probably been watching every second of the heated foreplay on the cameras. Dammit. This wasn’t good. This was mortifying.

    She finally managed to straighten her clothes and retuck her shirt into her skirt, keeping her back to Mercury.

    “Ria.” She felt him approach.

    Dammit, she
felt
him approach. The heat of his body wrapped around her, infusing her arousal, making her eyes dampen with emotion, with the need for his touch.

    “Go.” She held her hand up, praying it would forestall his advance. “See what she wants. Leave me the hell alone, Merc. Just fucking go.”

    Seconds later she heard the snick of the door closing as he did just that.

    He left.

    
Tests. Blood. Saliva. Semen.

    
The animal retreated carefully into its mental burrow, restraining the need to roar out its fury at being taken so abruptly from the pleasure consuming it.

    
So many years it had been alone, sleeping that pain-filled sleep and aching for warmth. Now the warmth was here, and pushing the man to revel in it rather than deny it took all the animal’s concentration.

    
It had to move carefully, to open the layers of the man’s hunger in only small degrees at a time to avoid suspicion. But it hadn’t been careful enough. It should have known the situation was too dangerous, but the man had weakened with his lust. He ached and hungered for what was his alone, and the beast slipped free, thinking it could stay hidden within the shadows of the man’s lust.

    
If it weren’t careful, the animal knew it would be revealed. It couldn’t risk exposure. They might put it to sleep again, and it wasn’t strong enough yet to survive a second round of the horrific chains that bound it in a sleep that wracked it with agony.

    
It had to hide. Just a little while longer it had to hide. At least until no eyes watched, and no scientists took their hated samples to find it. Until it was alone with the sweet soft scent of its mate.

CHAPTER 6

    “Everything okay, Doc?” Mercury pulled his black mission shirt back over his head and stared back at Elyiana Morrey as she stored another vial of his blood in her little carrier.

    They called her the Vampire of Sanctuary. Every time a Breed turned around, she was standing there with her little blood-collecting necessities staring at them with those soft brown puppy-dog eyes. A Feline female shouldn’t have puppy-dog eyes, but this one did.

    Too much emotion, Mercury had always thought. She was driving herself crazy trying to find answers to all the anomalies showing up in the Breeds since freedom had been achieved.

    She had once been the star pupil of the Council scientists, a genius on a level that had never been attained within their ranks before. With the rescues, she had become the Breeds’ only hope of finding a way to learn the secrets of their own bodies.