Shark Bait (16 page)

* * * *

David stalked back to his office, his hand scrubbing through his hair in frustration. The girl hadn’t stopped crying as Friedson drew what seemed like pints of her blood. At least he’d managed to convince him to leave tissue samples and spinal taps for tomorrow.

He fell into the chair and bent his head into his hands. A knock on the door behind him told David that Friedson had followed.

“I need to speak with you about something, David.” The older scientist closed the door behind him.
David covered his eyelids with his fingers, rolling the contacts lenses over his pupils and trying to make them more comfortable. He wasn’t even sure why he wore them anymore. Nereus hadn’t noticed, or cared. “Yes?”
“Please don’t mention the dragon subject we collected today to anyone.” Friedson’s eyes bore into his.
“Who would I tell?” David was confused. He didn’t discuss any work matters with his family or his friends back home. Now that he thought about it, Nereus was the only person he really talked to. Or used to talk to.
“I mean the work we do on the dragon needs to be off the books.”
When David raised an eyebrow, Friedson continued. “The Dragon Council has banned experimentation on their species, not to mention that one of the board members is dragon.”
His mind reeled. “You mean to tell me that one of the species of ocean shifters knows what goes on here?”
Friedson looked at him with what could only be described as pity. “How do you think the higher ups learned about these species? Or where to find them? Without our contacts in the dragon and vampire communities we wouldn’t have access to half the species we’ve studied.”
David processed Friedson’s words. “Sir, with all due respect, I don’t see why the shifters species aren’t given the same rights as human subjects.”
Friedson looked uncomfortable for a second but changed his expression to one of mild amusement almost immediately. “We keep to the highest standards of ethical treatment of animals here, but you can’t expect us to implement informed consent and the rest with shifter species.”
“Why not?” David heard his voice come stronger. “They can talk, reason. I don’t see why they couldn’t…”
Friedson’s expression changed from fatherly and kind to hard and cold in a split second. “Because it’s too profitable this way, you idiot. It’s only a matter of time before some other paranormal faction teams up with another company.”
His stomach lurched, and it was as if the world tilted askew. On some level he’d allowed himself to believe that Friedson and the other folks at Dendric didn’t really know what they were doing, didn’t understand.
“You’re a geneticist, David. Do you know where genetics would be without the work of German scientists during the Nazi regime?”
David gripped hard on the table. “No discovery is worth that kind of dehumanization.”
Friedson shrugged. “I’m not defending what happened during that time, I’m just…”
David cut him off. “You’re defending what you’re doing here.”
“Perhaps.” The offhand way he said it made David cringe. “But we’re following the dragon’s lead in this. They’ve done things with mere over the years that would curl your toes, so believe me nothing that happens here is any worse. And the sharks? For ages, dragons killed them on sight.”
David quieted, sure that nothing he said would sway Friedson’s thinking. He turned to his computer and tried to act like this was all a theoretical conversation anyway. “Well, that makes sense then. If you think it’s worth keeping the dragon, I’ll keep my mouth shut. But if someone asks, I’m not going to lie. The Board of Directors signs my checks.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Friedson blanch, but David ignored him and stared sightlessly at his computer screen until the older scientist left.

* * * *

Sophia saw her eyes reflected like saucers in the Plexiglas. Somehow she’d managed to hold off her heat the entire journey, but now that she was alone with Raider again waves of need rocked through her. She supposed it was like how animals wouldn’t go into labor until acute stress had passed.

He paced the length of his cell. She’d never seen him this…moving before. Normally he was all caged intensity. As her anxiety ratcheted higher, Sophia realized how much she’d come to depend on his collected cool, even in the instances when it made her insane.

“Raider!” she snapped at him.

He head swiveled to her, his pupils so wide the black nearly engulfed the blue of his eye. He looked more shark than ever. “What does this mean, exactly?”

Had it not been for the wall separating them, Sophia knew she would have taken a step back. As it was, she stood her ground. “Well, any dragon within a mile radius will be attracted to my scent.” When his face looked murderous, she back-pedaled. “But that shouldn’t be a problem as I’m in this box. Oh gods!” A hard spasm in her womb threatened to double her over. She breathed through her nose, waiting for the sensation to lessen.

When she raised her head again, Raider’s hands were at shoulder level, pressed into the wall. His every muscle stood taut ready to attack. He couldn’t smell her as her cage was enclosed, a vent in the wall providing inflow and outflow of air. Desire and concern were etched in every line of his expression. “But if you leave this box?”

She let out a shaky breath. “Well, I don’t think there are any other dragons in this building, but the sharks might…”
His fingers clenched at the plastic. “Feeding frenzy.”
She shrugged, trying to hold it together since he looked so stressed. “I suppose the good news is that they won’t survive long out of their tanks.”
Raider’s jaw twitched, a drubbing pulse clearly visible in his neck. “A school of sharks can do a lot of damage in five minutes.”
When she didn’t respond, his gaze turned piercing. “Can you relieve yourself? Would that blow off some steam? Or some hormones? Or some…woman stuff?”
“Women stuff?” His sudden jaunt into prudishness wrenched a hysterical giggle from her.
He dropped his hands from the window and clenching his fists as he looked away. “When guys build up a head of steam, we, y’know, take matters into in hand.”
His meaning became crystal clear, and she got a sudden visual of him doing exactly that. She pictured his body tensed, his hand stroking his length as he watched her sleep in her cell aboard the
Fear
. His eyes met hers in a silent acknowledgement, and her body caught fire.
“I don’t know if it’ll work to decrease the pheromones.” Her voice shook, even as her hand drifted down her body. She reached under the thin fabric of the gown. When her fingers met the swollen flesh at the juncture of her thighs, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Her sex was taut and damp, aching for penetration.
She gasped aloud and raised her head to meet Raider’s gaze. Both his hands pressed flush against the glass, his eyes dark and hungry, his shoulders bunched in silent threat. His erection strained from under his shorts.
Blazing embarrassment washed over her. “I can’t with you watching!” She tried to pull her hand away from her aching flesh, but her fingers rose only far enough to cup her breast.
“Fuck.” Raider’s growl released a fresh wash of wetness between her legs, and her hand drifted down again even as her face heated.
“I’d offer to turn around, sweetheart…but, no fucking way.”
She pled with her eyes and walked closer to the glass, placing one tentative hand to the spot where his rested on the other side. Sophia imagined that her fingers met his calloused ones. Her hand dipped lower, meeting the thick, slippery wetness of her entrance, and she gasped.
“That’s it, baby. Come for me.” Raider’s eyes didn’t leave hers for a moment, his gaze a steady grip. But she noticed a twitch in his shoulder, and her eyes dropped down along his arm. A curse she’d never used before escaped her lips when she saw his hand gripping his engorged sex through the thin material of his shorts.
Her fingers sped up, plunging into her channel and then circling her bead. Her forehead drew tight and her lip found its way between her teeth. Gods, she wanted to see him, wanted to see
it
.
As if he’d heard her thoughts, or maybe because he read her gaze, he lowered the front of his boxers, bearing his thick cock and the twin weights of his testicles. He gripped the base and stroked a long pass up to the uncircumcised head.
Her head fell back, the vision dancing through her mind as spasms in her channel and womb threatened to drop her to her knees.
“Stay with me!” Raider barked, and her eyes opened again, finding his thunderous gaze still trained on her. Their hands met on the glass, his fist pumped, and he demanded every ounce of her attention as another orgasm crushed her under its weight.
“You’re going to come one more time, sweetheart. This time you’ll wait for me.” His voice was low, teasing. Before Sophia hadn’t thought she had another in her, but now it took all her concentration not to double over again. “Watch me.”
Raider’s hand sped up, his grip so firm it looked almost painful. He arched forward and Sophia knew that if the wall of glass hadn’t been there at this moment, she’d turn around, get on her knees and present for him.
His mouth trembled, starting to fall open and something inside her melted. Raider didn’t let anyone see him, not really. Only her. His eyes slammed close as his body bucked forward. White ribbons of his seed splashed against the glass, setting off another gripping, aching, clenching in her core. She rocked on her hand, allowing her eyes to close against the sensations. Her fingers pressed deep into her sheath, delving to places only Raider had reached.
Her ragged breaths slowed and she registered her surroundings. Her gaze travelled up her arm to where their hands still pressed together. Raider’s forefinger stroked at the glass.
Her eyes met his and she went crimson, only this time he did too, but as usual Raider recovered, pulling his shorts up over his deflating member.
He looked around the cell, then at the white goop slowly painting trails down the glass. Finding nothing to wipe it off with he shrugged. “Fuck it, it’s their problem.” He gave her a small smile. “Well, I feel a lot better, how about you?”
She was about to answer when a deafening bang sounded behind the door coupled with rising growls of a school of sharks.

The snarls outside the door turned to screams.
Raider lunged at the wall separating them. The glass bowed outward at the impact, and he felt a sickening crunch in his shoulder as it crushed against the hard plastic. He shook his head once, wishing he could heal even faster. He ran to the other side of the cell and ran at the window again, this time angling his skull as a battering ram.
“Raider, no!”
That was some fucking strong plastic! Lights flashed in front of his eyes. He staggered, but when he checked again, the membrane remained. Not even a crack.
All at once, the growling outside stopped. On reflex, he fell to the floor and bent his head, playing dead. He hoped Sophia understood. Nothing good ever came of silence after screams. To his surprise, Sophia mimicked him and sat down.
The door opened, and a gnarled Caucasian hand reached inside, followed by the thin, pale hair of the excited scientist he’d heard before. He shouted over his shoulder as he entered. “Get them back in their tanks! And set up a mating unit!”
The scientist dragged a rolling tray in after him. “A female dragon in heat! Simply amazing!” He arranged the tools on his tray.
The doctor approached Sophia’s door, and Raider wondered whether she’d get up the guts to go dragon and bite the guy’s head off. But the human pushed a button on the door of her cell, and a shushing sound told Raider that some kind of gas was being released into her holding area. He heard a soft thump as Sophia slumped to the ground.
The man entered her cell, and every muscle in Raider’s body screamed to protect her. The doctor wrapped a tourniquet around Sophia’s arm and poked her with a needle, drawing several vials of blood. She mewled a tiny gasp at each jostle. Raider tried to keep his eyes down, but her cries drew his attention like a homing beacon.
The scientist lifted a scalpel, and only years in that hold gave Raider the strength not to shout. He cut a small patch of her skin, and then covered the wound with gauze and tape. By the time he placed all his stuff on the tray and stood up, Raider’s body was covered in a thin sheen of sweat.
Another scientist entered. This one didn’t bring any tools.
“I heard the dragon went into heat.” The younger scientist adjusted the thick glasses on his nose, but his eyes didn’t meet the older ones’. Raider instantly preferred him to the older guy. “Don’t you think this warrants us returning her to her people?”
The older one wheeled the tray out of Sophia’s cell, his hand pressing a lever as he exited which released another swish of gas into her room. “Please tell me you’re joking, Dr. Weber. This is a once-ina-lifetime opportunity! Shark-dragon hybrids are exceedingly rare, and a dragon may hold up better in mating conditions than the mere did.”
Raider’s hand clenched, but he listened hard for the other scientist’s reply. The older man appeared to be his superior, but the younger male had the stance of a contender. “I’d like to examine her myself when you’re finished.” Weber’s tone was flat, but the older scientist didn’t seem to notice.
Raider watched the older one out of the corner of his eye. The older man’s pale hand swept through Sophia’s hair. His cragged tongue emerged to wet thin lips. Raider’s pulse sped up. Hell, it was a good thing the younger was here. Apparently dragon pheromones affected humans, too, albeit to a lesser extent.
The red-haired man at the door cleared his throat. The older scientist blinked quickly, seeming to come back to himself and stood, pushing the tray.
Raider let out a breath when the man shuffled out the door. Weber opened Sophia’s cell and entered. Raider tensed again. He lacked the unhinged manner of the other man, but this one was in his prime. Likely he’d be more susceptible to Sophia’s scent.
Weber closed the door behind him and took stock of the room. He spotted the white streaks now dried on the wall between the cells and let out a
tchaw
of a laugh. “You can stop pretending, shark.”
Raider swung his head to the doctor.
“I’m going to wake her up now.” Weber pulled a syringe from his back pocket and inserted it in her upper arm. Then he released her and watched as Sophia’s eyes fluttered open.
“Raider?” Her eyes widened in fear as she realized who stood before her. Her mouth opened wide.
Raider cut her off. “Don’t scream.”
Her lips immediately closed, but her eyes stayed trained on the tall, gawky human bent before her. “Who are you?”
Aw hell, why did she have to be so damn hot? It was like she dangled catnip in front of guys.
“I’m Dr. David Weber, one of the researchers here. You’re in Panama City, at the Dendric Oceanic Research Center.” The man’s voice was low, calm. He spoke to her like he might a kid. “I need you to sign something…” He pulled a piece of paper out of his shirt pocket. Raider growled.
“It’s a statement saying you were brought and kept here against your will.” The doctor addressed Raider as much as Sophia.
“And why the hell would that matter?” Raider spat. “You’re keeping about thirty sharks out there against their will.”
The doctor face flashed anger, but a moment later something like guilt took its place. “Sharks don’t have a centralized government to protect them. Dragons do. If I alert the Dragon authorities about what’s going on here…”
Raider’s eyebrows raised in recognition. This guy really was a contender. “You could take out the bigger fish.”