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.
“That bastard touched her?” he bit out.
“No,” she drawled mockingly. “He mated with her. Surely you remember the concept? And now the Council no longer cares if they take him alive or dead. They want the woman and any child she carries. But you already knew that, didn’t you, Mr. Tyler? Why else would they attack mere hours after talking to you?”
He shook his head slowly.
“I never betrayed my sister. I wouldn’t.” His voice sent a chill over her spine.
Sherra frowned.
“I came to kill you, Kane Tyler,” she said carefully.
He didn’t seem surprised now. His mouth edged with mockery.
“Perhaps you could delay that little attempt long enough for me to save my sister’s ass,” he bit out. “What the hell is this mating shit?”
“Later,” she bit out. “Now is not the time for explanations. Now is the time for you to tell me how the Council learned of the mating, if Merinus didn’t tell you of it.”
And Sherra was nearly certain he hadn’t known. He was a liar, but in this one instance, he was telling the truth. Her gifts had grown through the years, with maturity and desperation. She could now smell a lie as others could diseased trash.
“Who are you?” His voice sizzled. “And you’re going to have to be a little more forthcoming than you are, woman. I can’t help Merinus or Callan with so little information.”
Taking a deep breath, Sherra stepped from the shadows. She watched his eyes widen, saw the suspicion turn to knowledge.
“You weren’t killed,” he whispered, blinking, trying to assure himself she was there.
Bitterness filled her with a wave of pain so intense, she threatened to drown beneath it.
“No, lover, I wasn’t killed. But that doesn’t mean you have much longer to live.”
And Sherra faced her past as she never had before. Nightmares and broken hopes fragmented around her, drawing her soul into a bleak, dark void she feared she could never escape. She felt the surging lust, the need, just as Callan and Merinus knew it, thundering through her blood, through her very being. Before her stood the man who had betrayed her years before. In a bleak, cold lab, his body laboring over her, throwing her into pleasure despite every barrier she put up against it. Her mate. The father of the child she had lost. The one man she had sworn to kill.
It was dark before Callan made it to the hidden jeep. The precautions he insisted on taking and the rough terrain they were going through had turned a half-day’s hike into a full day’s. He pushed Merinus into it, cranked the engine with a prayer, then a sigh of relief when it turned over easily. Pulling out of the small, deserted shed at the edge of a logging camp he started down the road at an easy pace.
Merinus was lying in the back seat, tired, drained from the run and the drugged lust raging through her body. Callan had quickly replaced his camouflaged T-shirt with a plain white cotton shirt. His hair was pushed beneath a baseball cap, and his gun lay in easy reach. The drive to the next town wasn’t far and if he stayed on the main road, well away from the paths he was known to take, then he might get out of this relatively unscathed.
His safe house was tucked away several hours from his home. On the edge of a large town, unassuming, with only a few neighbors and it was fully stocked. He could hide there long enough to figure out what the hell had happened.
He pulled into the garage hours later, sighing wearily as the garage door closed automatically behind them. Merinus had slipped into a restless sleep earlier. She whimpered occasionally, shifted around, but the weariness dragging at her body had been too much.
“Are we there?” She rose slowly from the seat, her voice drowsy, aroused. God, he wanted her.
She was ready for him, her body wet for him. He took a steadying breath. He had to get her in the house first.
“Come on.” He jumped from the jeep then helped her out, lifting her carefully into his arms and stalking to the door.
“I can walk,” she protested, but she pressed herself closer, her mouth finding the warm skin of his neck as he fit the key into the lock.
“And I can carry you,” he told her, feeling something in his chest tighten as he held her close.
The house was dark, silent. He flipped on low lights as he walked into the kitchen, inhaling carefully to be certain no surprises awaited. All he detected was the closed scent of the house and hot, wet woman.
“Hungry?” He stepped into the living room, placing her on the couch as he stepped back.
She raked her fingers through her hair as she stared up at him.
“Yeah. And a shower. I need a shower bad,” she sighed. “Where are we?”
“Other side of Ashland,” he told her quietly. “Come on, I’ll show you where the shower’s at so you can bathe. I’ll use the other one and get dinner together when I’m finished. It won’t take long.”
He led her to the master bedroom. The heavy wood furniture and spotless appearance gave it an impersonal feel. He never cared much for the place, but the very fact that it was the opposite of what he would have personally chosen made it that much safer.
“Go on.” He nodded to the large master bath and its garden tub. “I’ll lay a shirt out for you to wear. I’ll use the other bathroom.”