And there temptation reigned. He sponged her shoulders, the graceful line of her back, her slender legs and tempting thighs. He paused before carefully washing the soft contours of her bu**ocks then drying them slowly. His fingers trembled as he ran the dry towel down the shadowed cleft of her rear. His cock
throbbed in hard demand.
He wasn’t satisfied by a long shot. He needed her again, harder, deeper, until his c**k could swell and explode inside her once more.Right there. His fingers glanced over the tight little entrance to her anus. He needed her there.
His disgusted curse was a silent expulsion of air as he moved from the bed. He returned the basin to the bathroom,then set about changing the sheets of the bed as smoothly as possible. She grumbled irritably but continued to sleep as he finally tucked the fitted ends on both sides of the mattress. A clean sheet covered her then, as well as one of the quilts the women from a nearby town had donated.
She lay on her stomach, almost boneless, her breathing even and deep as she slept. The dark blonde strands of her hair fell silky and soft to her shoulders, though still damp from her earlier passion. He remembered how long it had once been, falling nearly to her h*ps in a fall of silk. Whyhad she cut it, he wondered. And why did he care?
He grimaced at the thought as he made himself leave the bedroom. She had once again turned his world upside down and he was left to deal with it as she slept.
Sometime between finding her once again, and finally taking her, he had accepted the mating. He had known in those damned Labs that his connection to her was unbreakable. She could make him respond when no one else could. She softened him when he wanted to be cruel; she had given him hope when he had thought it was futile.
Aiden stepped out onto the porch of the cabin, gazing out at the darkness of night, which had fallen over the compound. He could barely glimpse the high walls that ringed the ten-acre compound. Set with motion sensors and guarded by a team of highly trained enforcers and guard dogs, the chances of the area being breached were slim. But they were still enclosed, imprisoned in many ways. There was no place on earth that was truly safe.
The compound now held over two hundred Wolf Breed inhabitants, from the ages of sixteen to early thirties, and more straggled in monthly. There were several small prides of Feline Breeds that had come in, but they were quickly transferred to Callan in Kentucky, where a similar protective area had been set up.
Six years after the breaking story of the Genetics Council and theirhorrors, and still there was no resolution. The monsters still practiced their evil, and finding and destroying their Labs was becoming harder each year. Aiden often feared that it would never end.
“Aiden.”Dr. Armani stepped from the shadows of the night, joining him on the porch.
“She’s asleep. Let her rest for now,” he bit out, his body tensing at the thought of Charity being awakened by yet another scientist set on more experiments.
A sigh broke the night. Regretful, yet tinged with mockery.
“I never knew how selfish you could be,” she snorted. “I thought you were more the beta type. Where did you hide all these alpha tendencies over the years?”
He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the rough wood of the cabin and stared at her. He was the damned security expert here, what made her think he didn’t know how to fight?
“Even genius doctors can be wrong, it seems,” he said as though in regret. “I’m sure you’ll survive the mistake, though.This time.”
She grunted in disbelief. “I need to see her when she wakes up. You know that. I would have preferred to have seen her before you mated her.”
“We’ve discussed this.” He tensed as he watched her. “She’s not strong enough for more tests.”
“I need samples, Aiden. I don’t need her body to run the preliminary tests. If she conceives, then your opinion won’t matter. Charity knows the score here. When she’s more herself, you won’t be able to stop her from coming to me.”
Aiden bared his teeth at her statement. “You forget, Armani, she is in my cabin, in my care.My mate. She will do as I say.”
Armani smiled. Just like that, her teeth flashing in the dark as she sat down slowly in the wide, rough wood chair he had made weeks before. She crossed her legs casually, adjusted her light jacket and regarded him with a mocking glitter in her gaze.
“How the mighty will fall,” she sighed sarcastically. “The male mind truly amazes me. The male Breed mind astounds me. What makes you think you can stop her, Aiden? Will you tie her to your bed?”
“If I have to.”He wanted to snarl, but he knew exactly how cutting the little woman could be. He had no desire to be on the wrong end of her cutting sarcasm.
She shook her head sadly. “Charity is well aware of the importance of what’s going on here. Trust me, Aiden; you can’t control her just because it’s your wish to do so. She’s stronger than that.”
“I won’t argue with you, Armani,” he growled, careful to keep his voice low.
“Aiden, I have never considered you a stupid man. Don’t start playing the role now.” Her voice was cold, lethal in its sarcasm. “Not just Charity’s survival, but the survival of your race depends on her at this point. Don’t let your possessive instincts destroy the good that came of what they did to her. She would only hate you for it.”
“And how do you know this?” he bit out. “You have no idea who or what she is.”
“Ah,and here is where you show your ignorance once again,” she sighed in regret. “Charity was, from the very beginning, a plant within the Council, Aiden. A very well hidden mole whose job it was to keep a careful accounting of everything that went on, day by day.All the tests, all the results. How do you think we’ve gained the information we have so far?”
Aiden’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Who is this ‘we’?” he asked her carefully. She sighed again. “Do you think I am the only doctor who turned down the Council and suffered for it?
There were several of us. You know how hard I’ve worked, Aiden, for your people. There are others who have worked with me.”