She had been a virgin, untouched, so sensual and naturally erotic she had stolen his breath with each touch, each caress she had begged for so sweetly. And he had done this to her, locked inside her like the animal that howled just beneath the surface.
“That’s never happened.” He swiped his fingers through his hair as he knelt beside her, frowning at the shudders that racked her body. “Amanda. That’s never happened to me before.”
“Yes, well. It hasn’t happened to me either,” she responded tearfully. “God, just go away. I need to think. I need to…” A sob caught in her throat, the smell of her tears sinking into his heart. He drew in a hard, deep breath.
“I know you’re scared.” He fought to keep from touching her, to keep from taking her again. “We’ll fix this. Somehow.”
“How?” She turned back to him again, her eyes blazing, shimmering with tears. “What the hell is wrong with me? This isn’t me and it isn’t my body. What did you do to me?”
He could hear the rage gathering in her voice now, and he could smell the hunger. His mouth went dry at the scent of female lust, as his tongue tightened, impossibly feeling as though it were swelling within his mouth once again. It had done that before, as his mouth covered hers to keep her from screaming. And it had then dipped into her mouth the taste… The taste had been indescribable.
“I don’t know. But whatever it was, it was mutual, Amanda.” He wanted to snarl the words in defense, but managed to keep his voice soft, his tone calm.
“Was it?” She moved slowly, sitting up, pulling her legs in close to her body as she stared back at him furiously. “Doesn’t any of this seem the least bit odd to you? This isn’t natural.”
“So you said before.” He pushed back the anger at that single word, “animal”.
“Did they drug me?” She shook her head in confusion. “The guy who grabbed me hit me, I know that. Did they drug me?”
She was searching desperately for an excuse. One he couldn’t give her.
“There were no drugs.” He searched the corner of the Jeep for his jeans. “I checked first thing. Whatever happened was natural.”
“This isn’t natural,” she cried out. “I don’t act like that. Not with strangers, with…”
“Animals?” He held back the sneer, barely.
“With anyone,” she snapped back before shaking her head, the smell of her fear growing stronger.
“Take me home. You have to take me back home. Call my father. Now! He’ll come after me.”
“No!” Possessive rage nearly overwhelmed him before he managed to push it back along with the pain of her rejection. “We’re taking you somewhere safe…”
“No! Take me home!”
“No.” The growl that vibrated in his voice shocked her to silence as her eyes widened, her lips parting on a gasp. “Not now. Not yet. Not by God until I can get the smell of your hunger from my head.”
He didn’t understand the rage, the determination to keep her that suddenly welled within him, but he knew if he didn’t get away from her, he was going to take her. Over and over again, the smell of her fear mixing with her lust until it drove him insane.
Jerking the door beside him open, he jumped from the Jeep, his jeans forgotten, the chill of the late October air barely noticeable for the heat climbing in his body. A heat he feared he would never be free of. Just as he would never be free of the animal Amanda saw within him.
* * * * *
“Shit’s hit the fan, amigo.” Simon spoke quietly into the cell phone as Kiowa plunged into the frigid depths of the lake they had parked beside.
Finding the little out-of-the-way place for nature to take its course had been a bitch. Dash sighed wearily.
“How far are you from Alpha site?”
“Good four and a half hours,” he muttered. “We were lucky to get this close. That girl was in sad shape for a while, my friend. Those little moans were killing me. God only knows what it did to him.”
There were few people aware of the exact nature of the mating processes in the Breeds. Callan had imposed a strict code of silence on the few Breeds who had mated so far, hoping to secure a safer environment in world opinion before it leaked out.
Simon was the only non-breed with such information. He had it only because he was a sneaky son of a bitch with a sharper mind than most people when it came to animals. Dash cursed low and viciously.
“Yeah, for all of me too.” Simon grimaced. “Our little pup is presently swimming in frigid waters and his sweet thang is huddled in nothing more than a blanket. What do we do?”
“Get them to Alpha Site,” Dash snapped. “We’re wasting time we f**king don’t have, Simon.”