Grayson's Gamble

Chapter Two

The following morning, Decker continued to repeat everything Gray told him in the form of a question. “So the file said this Al Ross has been gathering rogues together for months?”

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“But I don’t get it. How the hell do you remember all the info in the folder? You glanced through it for like thirty seconds, if that.” Decker took another sip of hot chocolate. So fitting, and so annoying that the scent merged with the sweet smell of the man.

“It’s a gift. Eidetic memory.” A skill, like Gray’s telepathy, but he’d yet to divulge that tidbit to Decker. Gray had trust issues. And he didn’t much care for the Circs outside of the Dawn Endeavor team. His sister and grandmother, he loved. His parents as well. The Dawn Endeavor Circs he tolerated, mainly because one of them had mated his sister. But the others fashioned by science? He couldn’t help it. They just weren’t right. Inferior creations made by imperfect humans.

Which didn’t explain why he couldn’t stop himself from constantly thinking about Sebastian Decker.

“You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Decker grinned, and his eyes brightened like sapphires.

“You have no idea.”

“Yeah, about that.” Bas leaned forward and gave Gray a nice view of his square jaw that didn’t need a shave. Circs didn’t grow facial hair, an odd quirk that made Gray and Decker similar. Almost. “Something you said yesterday… What did you mean about being born this way? I thought all Circs were created in a lab.”

Gray cursed himself for revealing that much. Though he and Decker had worked together for nearly a year, something about the man constantly nudged him to caution.

“Oh, come on, hero. I’m not gonna tell anyone.” Decker leaned back from the kitchen table and grinned. “Don’t you trust me?”

“No.”

When Decker put on a wounded face and opened his mouth to speak, Gray beat him to it. “Shit. Fine. I was born this way. I’ve been in touch with my beast since I was five. It’s a part of me. No idea why, it just is.”

“Wow. No wonder you have such tight control.” Decker shifted, and a ripple of muscle caught Gray’s attention. Though Decker was Circ, he seemed more cut and defined with larger muscle mass than most Circs. And why Gray found that trait so appealing, he couldn’t say. He liked large breasts, a rounded ass, and womanly curves. Not the hard body of a man.

“Gray?” Decker’s smile faded. “Are we going to finally get this out of the way or what?”

“Huh?”

“You give me that look, and I sense a fight brewing. You want to hit me; I can feel it. I’ve tried to ignore it, but honestly, it freaks me out. Not me, my beast.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The way you—”

“And I don’t want to know. Let’s talk about Al Ross.”

Bas sighed. “Fine, hero. Have it your way.”

Gray gritted his teeth. You should call me hero after all the times I’ve saved your ass. Your tight, muscular, biteable ass.

The thought was decidedly feral, and Gray took a heavy grip on his beast and shoved the fucker back down. Fine time for the creature to turn sexually aggressive.

“Al Ross,” Gray continued, hoping he didn’t sound as breathless as he felt. Thank God the table concealed his erection from sight, because for damn sure his sweatpants would only call attention to it. “Seems Ross keeps calling others to him. We’re not sure how he’s doing it, but he’s amassed at least half a dozen rogues who’ve gone off the grid. A few have been found dead, but we have no idea what happened to the others. We only know about the dead rogues because we’d been tracking the experimental soldiers from the Circ plant down in Ecuador. It’s the one we shut down last year.”

“Our first op,” Decker said with surprise.

“Yeah. Apparently we missed a few rogues, because they resurfaced in Portland, of all places. One of our contacts spotted them and reported in before losing sight of them. Then more reports came in from an old friend of mine.”

“Name?”

“Jack Keiser. He runs a bunch of psychics in Bend, Oregon. The Cascades is near his area, and when he caught wind of a Circ in the mountains, he called the admiral.”

“Keiser.” Decker frowned. “Why is that name familiar?”

“Jack was a part of the Dawn Endeavor project a while ago. Then some shit went down he had to take care of, and he left. He was also apparently part of the Psychic Warfare Program long before its funding was cut.”

Interesting how Decker’s scent changed. His expression remained intent, but Gray caught a hint of the man’s unease.

“You sure you can trust the guy? I heard some stories about the assholes in that program.” Decker snorted. “A bunch of thugs with guns, forcing people to believe in ESP. Gimme a break.”

Gray raised a brow. “You’ve seen a lot of weird shit the past year. Circs aren’t normal. We change into creatures that look less than human. You know, claws and fangs and armored skin? Uh, not normal either.”

“Yeah, but genetics can be altered. I’m not into the mind freaks. The PWP was a total mess.”

Decker knew more about the psychic program than he let on. “What do you know about it?”

“Not much. Just rumors. Now about this Ross…”

“What are you hiding, Decker?” Gray had refrained from opening his mind and linking to Decker’s because instinct told him it would only bring them closer together. That, and he never trespassed without permission unless dealing with the enemy. But he was dying to know what Decker thought. “There are known psychics in the world today. For all you know, I can read your mind.”

Decker blinked, then broke into gales of laughter. Full chuckles that eased the tension in his frame and made him more than handsome but downright beautiful. “That’s rich. Reading my mind. If you could, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

Gray frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

Before he could blink, Decker stood and rounded the table. He shoved Gray back against the kitchen counter and caged him between strong arms. Holy shit. When the hell had Decker gotten so fast?

“How about I show you what I mean?” Decker kissed him with brutal force, mashing his mouth against Gray’s and groaning as he pulled Gray closer. The deep rumble of a purr vibrated through Decker into Gray, and the sensation of finding what he’d been missing for so long struck Gray hard.

Not used to being dominated by anyone, he pushed back. But Decker wouldn’t let go. Without thinking about it, Gray took charge of the kiss and changed in the same instant. He ripped through his shirt with claws that sprang out between one heartbeat and the next. Though he didn’t need to fully change like the man-made Circs, he’d been pretending to be one of them for so long he just naturally did it.

Gray’s body grew larger. Taller and with more muscle mass, his frame suddenly surpassed Decker’s for sheer brawn. His skin darkened to his mother’s natural brown, a fact that always pleased him, the connection to his African roots one he treasured. But he had no room now to dwell on family, not with his erection pushing him to find ease. When he stepped closer and muscled Decker so that his back hit the counter, he felt Decker’s answering hard-on.

He snarled and pulled back, pleased to see his partner’s bloodied lips, the hint of fangs and elongating pupils preceding Decker’s change. “Don’t ever try to push me around.”

Decker blinked, and Gray saw his beast, that beautiful animal he was so taken with, staring back at him. “Then stop being such a pussy and take what’s yours,” Decker growled.

Before Gray could stop him, Decker shoved a hand down Gray’s pants and tightly squeezed his cock. The firm grip promised pleasure Gray had only dreamed about. And then the pleasure turned to a hint of pain as long nails scraped the flesh of his belly. Decker eased into his change, growing out of a shirt that split open as he grew taller than Gray.

His skin color darkened but remained a few shades lighter than Gray’s. His eyes turned a dazzling light blue, the contrast of such bright eyes against his now nearly black and lengthening hair captivating. Decker continued to pump Gray while he grew, and Gray struggled to remain in control.

Only with this man did he lose himself to his beast. And the creature wanted more. It wanted a fight, a playful interlude he considered foreplay. As much as Gray didn’t want to see Decker as a sexual, attractive partner, he could no longer deny he’d been avoiding the truth for too long.

“Who are you calling a pussy?” Gray taunted. “You’re so big and clumsy, you trip over your own feet. In the time it takes you to change, I’m normally protecting you from getting your ass handed to you by the enemy.”

Instead of growling back, Decker grinned. “Where’s the enemy now, hero?” He tugged Gray’s cock. “’Cause you seem pretty happy to see me.”

Hearing the hated hero on Decker’s lips pushed him past reason. Gray roared and yanked Decker’s hand from his pants. Then he shoved Decker to the floor and landed hard on top of him. They grappled and fought, not doing any more damage than a scrape here, a bruise there. Until they lay on top of one another, chest to chest, groin to groin.

“Fuck.” Decker panted, his eyes wild, his body steel hard and hot. “Let me suck you off. Let me lick you down and swallow you whole.” Then the bastard added, “Please.”

Gray kissed him and dueled with his tongue while he shoved a hand between them. He found the wet front of Decker’s sweats and groaned, aroused anew that his partner desired him. Male Circs, when aroused, secreted a lubricant to ease penetration. By the amount saturating Decker’s pants, the Circ wanted Gray. Badly.

As much as Gray wanted him.

To Gray’s shock, his cock was slick as well. He’d never before reacted the way other Circs did. He didn’t have mating heats, and he didn’t grow hard and wet for his sexual partner. Packaged lube and condoms all the way with women when he went back door. Until this morning, with a man. With Decker.

His partner ripped his mouth away and growled, “Do it.” Then he bucked into Gray’s hand when Gray nicked his cock with a claw. “Oh fuck. Yeah, more. Make it hurt, Gray.”

Gray instinctively knew what Decker needed. He bit the man’s shoulder and scraped his chest with his freed hand, clawing rows of possession down Decker’s hard chest. With his other hand, he jerked him off with fierce tugs, making sure to graze his balls as well.

The scent of chocolate, need, and all-consuming lust saturated the area until Gray breathed Decker in and out.

“Yes. Yes.” Decker came hard, flooding Gray’s hand. “All of it. Oh shit, take it. For you,” came out in a raspy plea, the beast purring once more. “Rub it in.”

Gray took his partner’s cum and rubbed it over his own belly, liking the mingled smell of Decker over him. Circs didn’t worry about infection or disease, and with no risk of pregnancy with Decker, he had no need of a condom, making it pure pleasure to feel his partner’s seed over his skin. The scent permeated the air, drawing him closer, and increased his own need. He literally hurt, ablaze with the need to fuck Sebastian Decker. A mating heat he finally experienced for this one impossible male.

Decker lay passive beneath him. Then he turned his head to the right, a subtle surrender Gray accepted without hesitation. He let go of Decker and jumped to his feet. “Up on your knees.”

Hastily obeying, Decker didn’t ask questions. He wrenched Gray’s pants down and took his thick cock to the back of his throat.

“Motherfucker. Oh yeah. That’s it.” Gray couldn’t help thrusting as he stared down at Decker’s lips wrapped around his shaft. Large hands fondled his inner thighs and sac, and he nearly lost it. But he didn’t want it to be over so soon and forced himself to hold on.

“You’re good at this. So good.” He sighed and ran the tip of a claw over Decker’s cheek. Watching his mate—the man, he corrected his beast’s thoughts in a hurry—hollow his cheeks as he blew him was a sight he’d never forget. A carnal memory he’d take to his grave. And then Decker blew his mind. Literally.

He sucked harder and shoved one slick, human finger inside Gray’s virgin ass.

Gray roared and clenched Decker’s shoulders as he came down his partner’s throat. The orgasm blinded him, the rushing climax obliterating all thought from Gray, the man, until only affection and need remained behind in the beast.

Decker swallowed him down and licked his cock clean. Then he stood on shaky legs, still changed, and still Gray’s. Without thinking about the wrongness of it all, Gray heeded his beast.

“Go lie on my bed, facedown. I want that ass in the air. It’s time I showed you who’s really in charge.”

Bas trembled on his hands and knees at the edge of the bed, so far gone in lust and in love, he was beside himself. He’d been waiting for this moment for months. Years. Hell, forever. And he’d finally had a taste of Grayson Belle. Like heaven was all he could think while his lover waited behind him, his breath hot against Bas’s lower back.

“I love this ass.”

Bas had to remind himself this was no dream. His beast had forced him to make a move and finally prodded Gray into taking him. Well, almost. His sphincter clenched, his desire urging him to take control of the situation once more. But he’d submitted to the stronger male. Well, not necessarily stronger, but certainly more dominant.

And he loved it.

“I want to fuck you, Decker.”

“Bas. Call me Bas.”

Silence. “Bas.”

Light-headed at the acceptance he could almost taste, Bas waited while Gray joined him on the bed. The Circ nudged his knees wider and palmed his ass.

“Oh yeah.” Gray sounded hoarse, despite the gruffness of his beast’s vocal cords. “Such a tight, fuckable ass.” He pulled Bas’s cheeks apart and settled the tip of his cock at his entrance. “You have done this before, right?”

Bas could hear the need vibrating in the male, yet Gray would never intentionally harm someone he cared about. Even Bas, who annoyed him to no end, would never find true pain without pleasure at Gray’s hands, which was part of the reason Bas had fallen so hard for the guy.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Have you?”

Gray stilled behind him, and Bas wondered if he’d said the wrong thing. He’d suspected Gray had never been with a man before. Would the reminder he was supposed to be straight scare him away? Oh shit. Not now. Not when I’m so close—

He groaned as Gray slipped inside and stretched him out. The first push burned until his beast took charge and eased his flesh around Gray. The benefits of being Circ. The pain normally present at such a breaching faded quickly. And the ability to stay hard and come all night couldn’t be ignored either.

“Never fucked a guy before. Not until you.” Gray continued to move forward until he seated himself all the way, balls-deep, inside him. “Fuck, you’re hot. So tight.” Gray moaned and pulled out, then thrust in again.

“Yes,” Bas hissed. “You’re so big. I want to feel that cum heat me up inside. Give it to me.” Mate sat on the edge of his tongue. But even his beast knew it was too soon to spring that happy truth on Gray. So he rocked on his hands and knees as the best lover he’d ever had fucked him senseless.

Even the reach-around as Gray did him was perfect. Not awkward, despite their largeness or positioning. Of course, when Gray was on the verge of slipping out of him, Bas unconsciously used his telekinesis to keep him there. An instinctive move to continue the pleasure.

Bas came suddenly and shouted as he spent on Gray’s sheets. And Gray continued to milk him, pulling yet another orgasm from him. The seed covered Gray, but instead of wiping his hand on Bas, Gray pulled it away.

Then Bas heard the unmistakable sound of Gray sucking his fingers and clenched his ass tight.

“That’s it, baby. Keep me in. God, you taste good. Cocoa and butter. So damn sweet,” Gray whispered and came on a strangled cry. He gripped Bas’s hips hard as he pulsed.

Bas felt the bursts of semen bathe his sensitive rectum. The Circ ability to sense completion was like nothing he’d ever felt as a human. But what struck him most was that Gray had called him baby. He wondered if his lover realized what he’d said.

“Shit. You’re a mess. I’m a mess. My bed…”

“Is a mess,” Bas finished for him. “Go figure.”

Gray chuckled. “Still an asshole. No wonder you grew on me.” He pulled out and sighed. “God, I’m tired. So why do I feel ready for another go-round?”

Bas wanted to accommodate him, but weakness invaded his limbs, and he fell on his face. Embarrassed, he tried to make light of it, but Gray wouldn’t let him.

“Shit. You okay?” Gray turned him over and stared down at him with worry. “Damn. I’m sorry. Hold on.” With little effort, Gray carried him—like a friggin’ girl—into an oversize shower. Obviously made with Circs in mind.

“I’m good. Jesus, put me down.” Bas struggled until Gray set him on his feet again. “I’m okay. Just a little done in by that huge cock.”

Gray relaxed and grinned. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Thanks. So maybe you’ll let me gag you on it next time?”

Gray smiled but didn’t answer, and Bas didn’t argue when he took charge.

They both changed back to human form at the same time, their minds on the same wavelength, apparently. Gray tugged Bas’s head down and lathered shampoo in his once-again short hair.

“Nice brown. Rich.”

“Not as deep as yours.” Bas blushed, feeling like a virgin who didn’t know what to say, now that he’d given up the goods, so to speak. “Gray, uh, about what happened…”

“You were right. I was being a pussy.” Gray shrugged, but Bas could tell this was anything but comfortable for him. “My beast sensed something different about you from the first.”

Bas hoped it wasn’t because of his awful telekinesis. He’d just as soon forget about his ability, because those thoughts led him to remember being sequestered in the labs while asshole scientists experimented on him, forcing him to showcase his power. He supposed he should be thankful they’d turned him Circ, or Gray would never have looked at him twice. But he didn’t want Gray to think him a freak. As far as Bas was concerned, he was as normal as any other Circ could be. And that was weird enough.

“You all right?” Gray asked on a cough. “I mean, I’m new at this, and I might have been too rough.”

“No, no. I’m good.” Bas didn’t have to work for his smile. “Better than good, actually. I swing both ways, so I knew what we were doing. I’d have told you if it wasn’t okay.”

The soap ran down his legs, pooling on the floor with the water from Gray’s body.

The mingling scents of soap, Bas, and Gray—that thick sense of flora and heat and wildness—made him breathe deep.

“I know. Smells damn good.” Gray ran the soap over his own body, and Bas couldn’t ignore the hard-on that had returned as the water rinsed him clean. “Great to be Circ, eh?”

Bas nodded and knelt once more in front of Gray. He licked a trail over Gray’s belly and down, where Gray’s cock stood out with prominence, not hidden by any body hair. A true Circ. Hairless where it counted.

Bas chuckled. “Oh yeah. Gotta love our stamina.” Then he opened his mouth and made Gray moan his name. For the rest of the morning and well past noon.

She snorted to herself in amusement. Same enemy, different day. The rogues sniffed the air and nodded to one another. The snow in the mountains had finally started to melt, but enough remained to cover the scent and tracks of the female they’d come to claim. She could almost hear their thoughts.

She’d evaded the others sent to bring her back for testing. But she wouldn’t escape this bunch. Not with the strength abundant in the half dozen rogues selected to mate with her. And with one of the rogue’s skin starting to turn black, signaling his slide into becoming mutant, they’d have that much more of an advantage running her down. Or so they kept telling each other. Idiots.

“I can’t smell her.” Dave frowned. His long hair whipped around his face, framing his high cheekbones and feline eyes like a lion’s mane. He flexed his claws and breathed deep. “I don’t like it.”

Mike nodded at the two others with them, and they split up, leaving Mike and Dave together to hunt her from the southern perimeter around this particular finger of land. “Something’s off with her. I’m not sure what it is, but no way some fucking bitch goes this long without getting caught. She has to have help.”

Dave nodded. “A fucking year. No way.”

They spent the next two hours hunting for another trace of her on the air. In the brisk cold of nightfall, the sounds in the woods grew sharper, the smells more pungent. Yet neither male could catch a whiff of her.

Just the way she’d planned it.

Ali soundlessly watched from the mountain ledge two dozen feet off the ground. Trenton had sent a larger group this time. The prick. She didn’t understand why he and his rogues wouldn’t just leave well enough alone. How hard was it to understand? Hunt her and die. She’d sent two heads back to the laboratory on Whidbey. Yet the bastards continued to pursue her.

But this talk of a mutant’s signature black skin worried her. Rogues she could handle. She’d been handling them for over a year—since they’d located her—and all by herself. But a mutant changed things. Impossibly strong, driven, and uncanny in their ability to ferret out prey, mutants didn’t stop until they mated. She’d heard of one brief case of a mutant who’d actually managed to turn back the psychotic tendencies of genetic trauma with the right mate by his side. It looked like Trenton must have heard the same stories. Why else work so hard to track her? Just for breeding? He had other females for that. She wasn’t so special. Not now.

She glanced down at her forearms, unnerved at the black veins now visible through her tanned skin. Her hair remained long and nearly white with streaks of brown. The rest of her skin stayed Circ, not mutant. But every now and then, in the reflection of a mirror, she saw a hint of red in her eyes, a sign she’d begun to deteriorate faster than she’d thought possible. Her body had begun to decay, but her ability to camouflage herself, to blend into any environment, grew stronger.

Unlike the rumored Circ who could actually become invisible, she simply changed her skin patterns to match her surroundings. Not invisible, but she might as well be. Against the dark rock at her back, she looked like another shadow. And thanks to the lack of moonlight, she wouldn’t be silhouetted against the rock. Not even when she lifted her arm and pointed her Circ Special, a .45 caliber weapon designed with Circs in mind, in their direction.

She took a deep breath and released the pheromones she controlled. The perfume of female lust pushed through her pores and entered the crisp June air. She mentally thanked the last snow front that had hit just a week ago. Odd for this time of year, but the weather had been a blessing in disguise.

“Smell that?” she heard one of them say. Though they were some distance away, her Circ hearing made it possible to track them with ease. When they pushed past the small cluster of pines she’d been watching, she took aim and fired.

Mike went down with a hole in his forehead while Dave took cover, which she’d been expecting. She laughed to herself. They never expected Circ-piercing rounds, but she’d learned from the best. Ali could hunt and shoot years before they’d abducted her the first time. And hell, after her third time in the stews, she’d made damn sure to never be taken unaware again. Too bad Granddad Dill couldn’t be here to see her in action. But then, he’d been taken with her the last time, and he hadn’t survived the devil’s drugs they’d been injected with, not like she had.

She fumed at the memories and released more of her scent. Rogues had a hard time resisting the lure of a female in heat. And since Ali couldn’t—wouldn’t—relieve her needs with a Circ, she was more than potent.

“Damn. Hold on, bitch. I’m coming.” Dave took little care with his safety as he trampled through the snow to get to her. She took note of his Circ attributes. The claws, the fangs, the eyes. The dark, naked skin, and worse, the monstrous erection. “I’m gonna fuck you raw. Just you wait.”

Lucky, lucky me. Glad for her enhanced eyesight and night vision, she aimed her weapon for his cock and pulled the trigger.

His cry of pain was music to her ears. Knowing it would attract the others, she eased back onto the rock shelf upon which she hid and waited, gun in hand, hatred in her heart. She’d never be used again, not by anyone. The only good Circ was a dead Circ. And she aimed to make sure she took out as many as she could before biting the bullet herself.