“Will they stand with him?” Kane questioned her, knowing that the group would make more of an impact than one man.
“We have always stood behind Callan. Just as he has always protected us.” She shot him a feral look.
Another cut at him. Before she was finished he would be lying in figurative shreds at her feet.
“That’s all I needed to know.” He nodded, rather than trying to spar with her in front of the others. He turned to Caleb. “Caleb, we have a possible group, not just one. Let’s keep the information sketchy but impossible to resist.”
Caleb nodded as he made another call.
The Tyler men moved about the room performing their various assignments. Sherra watched it all with a half snarl on her lips.
“Chill out, baby, we’ll take care of everything,” he told her softly.
Her eyes darkened, her expression tightened with fury.
“I am not your baby,” she sneered. “So stop with the cutesy shit, Kane. I know you and I know what you are, so stop trying to suck up to me.”
Kane felt his control begin to erode. Eight surprised expressions turned to them, watching the byplay carefully. His eyes narrowed on her, his fists clenching at the urge to jerk her into the next room and give her something to fight about.
“Baby, when I start sucking it won’t be an attempt,” he bit out in disgust, turning away from her. “Fuck it, I’ll deal with you later when I have time.”
“No, you will not deal with me period.” She brushed past him, heading for the door.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” He grabbed her arm as she headed for the exit, swinging her around to face him.
Fury outlined her body as she looked down at the hand gripping her arm, then looked up at him as though the touch sickened her.
“Take your hands off me.” Her voice vibrated with anger, but he was damned if he didn’t see need flaring in her eyes as well.
He jerked her across the room, pushing her roughly back into the chair. When she went to push her way back to her feet, he slammed his hands on the arms of the seat, forcing her back.
“You are not going anywhere,” he bit out furiously, watching her face flush now. “You can sit your ass here or you can run and hide in the bedroom, but you will not leave this suite. Do you fucking understand me?”
“Kane.” His father’s sharp voice protested behind him. For the first time in his life, Kane ignored his father.
“Do you hear me, Sherra?” he bit out again, never breaking their stare.
Her lips thinned, their little pout almost tempting him to possess them with a strength of a desire nearly tearing him apart.
“Fine,” she literally growled at him, her eyes shooting sparks of fury as she drew back as far as possible from him. “But your sister is right, you’re an asshole.”
Kane’s eyes widened in surprise, then he frowned in irritation.
“Does she fucking telling everyone I’m an asshole?” He heard his voice rise in incredulity, then turned to look at his family for an answer.
They were staring at him with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.
“Maybe she likes warning the world of the potential,” Sherra sneered. “It’s not like it’s easy to miss.”
He swung around to her again.
“Kane.” The order in his father’s voice was impossible to deny. “Leave that girl alone, she said she wouldn’t go anywhere. Get the hell out of here and make sure you’re ready so we can all get some rest before morning. Which is only a few more hours away.”
John faced him, a scowl on his face as he watched his oldest son with no small amount of confusion.
“Sherra, you leave this room and I swear I’ll hunt you down,” he told her fiercely, staring into her eyes as they widened in shock. “And I promise you, you won’t like it much when I find you.”
She snarled silently, revealing the longer than normal canines at the side of her mouth.
“Be a good kitty, baby.” He smiled mockingly. He turned and left the room before she had a chance to retaliate, but her furious curse followed him into the hall.
He breathed out harshly then, running his hands over his short black hair and stomping to the next room. Dammit. He had no desire to fight with Sherra. He didn’t want her mad. He wanted her hot and horny and begging him. And eventually, he would have it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Callan lay beside Merinus smelling her need, her heat. The scent had changed, and he felt his chest tighten with that knowledge. He lay still, not touching her, staring at the darkened ceiling in misery. The ‘mating frenzy’ was completing its cycle, Merinus was ovulating.
She tossed against the mattress, still sleeping, despite the arousal beginning to rage within her body. She would awaken soon, and when she did, she would need his passion, his seed. The desperate lusts would ease then, according to Dr. Martin and become more normal, but she would carry his child. That was in the email Callan hadn’t shown her. The conclusions of the tests the scientist had been running had come through late last night. The uncertainty over the pregnancy hormone easing the frenzy was now certain. Despite the earlier indications it wouldn’t, the test samples had finally shown proof that the frenzy was nature’s way of ensuring breeding within the Pride.
His fist clenched at that knowledge. Equal parts hope and rage surged through his body. Like any man, he dreamed of having a child with the woman who had stolen his heart. A child filled with laughter, with happiness. But could a child of his ever have a life that carefree? A child whose DNA was infected by its father, a child they would call a freak of science?
Merinus rolled against him, her silken hand found his abdomen. He grimaced at the rising heat in his own body, the pleasure he found in her touch. He could feel his tongue throbbing again, the glands along his tongue enlarging. A fucking aphrodisiac, to ensure the ‘frenzy’. Nature was having the last laugh on them all. Somehow, she had found something worthy in the Breeds science had created and was determined to keep them around.
He ignored the burning moisture in his eyes, his hand smoothing over her slender arm, loving the feel of her. The warmth of her. He had found acceptance from her, but he knew she would be terrified when he revealed the truth to her. A truth he was praying was a mistake. But his sense of smell didn’t lie. How he knew what the scent was, he was uncertain, but he knew. It was the smell of rebirth, as light and elusive as spring.
Merinus moaned low and deep, her hand moving lower, dangerously close to the erection throbbing between his thighs. He was harder than he could ever remember being. Throbbing, desperate to sink inside her, to bury his cock as deeply inside her as possible before spilling his seed.
“Merinus,” he whispered her name, turning to her, his hand going to her cheek as he awoke her.
Her eyes blinked open, a sensual smile shaping her lips as she moved closer to him.
“Wait,” he whispered, holding her still. “We must talk.”
“Later.” She rubbed her breasts against his chest, her hard nipples burning his flesh.
“No, darling,” he denied her. “We talk first. You have to listen to me.”
He saw her frown in the predawn shadows of the room.
“So talk. But hurry.” Her leg caressed his as she moved against him, her breathing becoming deep, laborious.
“Merinus, if I take you, you’ll conceive tonight.” He stared down at her intently, watching her eyes widen.
“What?” she asked him nervously. “You can’t be sure of that.”
She shook her head, but he smelled her growing hotter. The spicy scent was an aphrodisiac all its own. As though the thought of carrying his child wasn’t as abhorrent as it should be.