Grayson's Gamble

Chapter Three

“Coffee’s on.”

“Thanks.”

Silence reigned until Bas clinked the glass of the coffeepot against the mug Gray had set out for him. He poured himself a cup and waited. He put the carafe back. He toyed with a spoon.

More silence.

Inwardly, he cringed. Their coming together had been building for months. But Bas wouldn’t have thought they’d go from nothing to twenty-four hours of marathon sex to awkward pauses the very next morning.

“Nice weather we’re having, huh?” Surely Gray would say something about his inane comment.

“Yeah, I guess.” Gray sipped from his cup and returned to reading the Washington Post. He wore dress slacks and a button-down shirt and looked like a stockbroker getting ready for work. One with a beast that gave Bas confused glances out of beautiful hazel eyes.

Yesterday morning Bas would have teased Gray. He’d have made fun of his fancy clothes and no shoes, the way he ground his beans and used a three-hundred-dollar coffeemaker like a yuppie from hell. But after that intimate connection the day and night before, he was loath to upset the man who’d wormed his way firmly into his heart.

He’d try sidestepping the issues Gray wouldn’t talk about and focus on their mission. For now.

“So this Al Ross. What do we know about him?”

Gray put the paper aside, finally, and looked at Bas. “Not much. And we leave the day after tomorrow for Bend. We’ll be getting in late, but Jack will make sure we have a place to stay for the night before we get to work.”

Bas didn’t like relying on anyone associated with that fucked-up PWP. He’d left them long behind, or so he thought. His agitation unfortunately manifested in the carafe that shot out of the coffee warmer and crashed on the floor, spilling hot coffee everywhere.

“Shit.” Gray jumped out of his seat and stared at the shards of glass. “What the hell?”

“Weird.” Bas leaned forward and pretended to be confused. But when he glanced up to meet Gray’s gaze, he noted the suspicion lingering there. “You got a mop, hero?”

Gray scowled. “In the closet behind you, junior.”

“Junior? That’s a good one.” Taunting Gray might not have been the smartest thing he could have done, but it had taken that untrusting look off his face. “So besides a possessed coffeepot, what else have you got?” He grabbed a dustpan, broom, and mop and got to work while Gray wiped up the excess mess that had spilled onto some lower cabinets.

“Got?”

“On Ross. Focus, Gray. Hell. For such a professional, you sure do lose track easy.”

“Dickhead.” Gray’s frown remained, but he answered while he cleaned. “Ross has apparently been keeping himself apart in the mountains for months. He’s rogue, and he’s killed.”

“How many?”

“Three. The rest we figure he’s made into his own little army.”

Bas finished cleaning up the glass and started mopping. “So while he’s amassing forces to do his bidding, he’s killing the opposition maybe?”

“Doesn’t feel right, but it’s what’s in the file.”

“That you got from trusting some psychic asshole out West.”

“Pretty much.”

It annoyed Bas that Gray seemed so unconcerned. How could he blindly trust those people? The psychics he’d met had put him through hell and back. Almost as bad as the scientists experimenting on him to see how he’d respond to different doses of the Circe serum. But the psychics… They’d hurt him deep down, where he thought he’d buried his fears.

“You okay?”

He blinked and saw Gray looking at him. But damn if he could read Gray’s expression. Man would have made a fortune playing cards. “Yeah, fine. Just tired from last night.” He leered at Gray. “Oh Jesus. Is that a blush?”

Gray, as usual, ignored what he didn’t want to hear. “So Ross is to be put down hard. No questions, no second chances. We find him, we take him out before he pulls in more rogues. It’ll be bad enough getting in undetected. Our job is to eliminate the threat and return home.”

“Ross, but not the others.”

“No.”

“Cut the head off the enemy and the rest will fall?” It made sense to Bas.

“Something like that. Mrs. Sharpe is convinced Ross is the key. Then she’ll send in a cleanup crew to handle the other rogues. But this Ross needs special handling.”

“Great. We’re just going to wander into the lion’s den and hope we find him before more of his rogue buddies find us.”

“That’s about the gist of it.”

“Gee, sounds like fun.”

Gray grinned.

“Almost as fun as yesterday.”

Gray’s smile disappeared. His eyes darkened. But instead of responding, he turned away. “Good point. After all that fucking, I didn’t get much sleep. You should rest up too. You’ll need your energy tomorrow.” Then he walked back down the hallway without a backward glance.

Bas wanted to hit something. His beast wanted Gray, and the creature made his head ache and his skin itch to feel more of the sexy Circ against him. Irritated, tired, and now smelling like a Starbucks gone wild, Bas felt himself slip again. Energy poured out of him in waves.

“Shit.” Gray’s loud yell had him racing down the hall. He burst into Gray’s room only to see Gray face-first down on his bed, unable to move. His legs were spread wide, his arms pinned above his head to the bed.

Perfect, his beast rumbled. Without meaning to, Bas started to change.

“What the hell is going on?” Gray snarled, the sound muted through the sheets. He managed to turn his head and caught Bas’s eye. “What are you doing?”

Bas wished he had more control. He’d be embarrassed about it later, but right now, his libido controlled his strings. “Need you. Too hot.”

Gray blinked. “Shit. You’re in a mating heat?” Between one heartbeat and the next, Gray’s pupils elongated and his hair started to grow. “Fuck. You just pulled me into it, you bastard.”

Bas stripped down to nothing in seconds and forced himself to change back to human, though it wasn’t easy. His beast complied because Bas promised him Gray. “Not my fault.” He wanted to speak in more than two- and three-word sentences, but he couldn’t. Not now. With brutal hands, he yanked Gray’s pants and underwear off, leaving him gloriously bare from the waist down.

“Why can’t I move?” Gray asked, but he didn’t appear to be struggling.

“You can if you want.” At the thought, his mental holds on Gray disappeared.

His lover sat up so fast, it made Bas’s head spin. And then Gray switched places with Bas and bent him over the bed to mount him from behind. No foreplay, no soft words or kisses. Gray’s slick cock shoved hard between Bas’s ass cheeks.

“Fuck, yeah. You need it? It’s yours.”

Not it. You. Bas could only take what Gray gave him, hoping it would be enough to strengthen their weak connection. Physically, they fit like a lock and key. But emotionally, Gray might as well have been on another planet.

Their rhythm grew frantic. Gray gave while Bas received. Each tug, each shove was returned with a shift of his ass, a jiggle of his hips.

“Bas. Here I come.” Gray came into him, and the warmth of his seed pushed Bas’s beast once more. “Oh no, you don’t. You don’t come till I say so. You think you can play mind games with me? Do you know who you’re fucking with?”

Gray knew what he’d done. Oh hell. Not good. As usual, when confronted with discomfort, Bas tried to joke his way out. “I know exactly who you are. A sexy asshole with control issues and a superiority complex.” Bas grunted as Gray continued to fuck him with brutal, orgasm-inducing strokes, that hard cock growing stiffer despite his climax.

“Okay, junior.” Gray panted. “Here’s the discipline you’ve been lacking.”

Bas didn’t know what the hell Gray meant, and then Gray pulled out and flipped Bas onto his back as if Bas weighed next to nothing. Apparently Bas hadn’t been the only one holding back when they’d fought.

Gray stared into his eyes as he ripped off his button-down shirt. So much for the stockbroker. The beast had returned wholeheartedly. “Open for me.”

Bas frowned, then panicked when he felt a familiar pressure on his mind. But before he could pinpoint the sensation, it disappeared.

“I said open for me.” Gray glared down at his legs.

Weak with relief that he’d only imagined a psychic assault, Bas spread his thighs wide.

“Arms over your head.”

Excitement made him more than hard and left him aching.

“We’ll get to that in a minute,” Gray murmured as his gaze slid over Bas’s erection. “Now move your arms wider. That’s it.” Gray leaned over him, dragging that thick cock against Bas’s belly.

Bas felt cuffs around his left wrist. Then his right.

“You need to be ridden hard, I think.” Gray considered him. “I normally do this with women, but you seem to need it more than most of my dates.”

Bas hated the idea of Gray with anyone else, but he refused to put himself out there more than he already had. “Gee, handsome. And here I definitely would have pegged you as a man’s man. A real bottom.”

Fury flashed in Gray’s eyes. “You don’t know when to quit.” Gray leaned close and…bit his shoulder.

Bas yelled out in pain just as he felt another shock. Gray moved like lightning. One minute he had his fangs buried in Bas’s skin, the next he’d managed to wedge his hips between Bas’s thighs and shoved the tip of his cock into Bas’s ass. But instead of ramming deep, Gray withdrew his bite and steadied himself on his forearms, his shaft moving with extreme slowness. The bastard took his time as he fucked him, making him feel every inch.

“Damn it.”

Gray chuckled, but the meanness didn’t leave his eyes. “Feel it. Every fucking inch. Coming inside you before was perfect. I needed it.” Gray glanced down at Bas’s weeping cock. “Bet you need it too, don’t you? Need to come all over me, to feel me slide deeper inside your hole.”

“Quit playing,” Bas snapped, while his beast delighted in the powerful male’s attention. The dominant Circ cared, offering a bonding even if Gray didn’t consciously realize what the bites and sex meant. Bas’s beast knew, and as Gray watched him while they fucked, new thoughts entered his mind. Of how good it feels to fuck Bas. But I wish I didn’t want the sexy, obnoxious Circ so much. I shouldn’t be so drawn to this unnatural creature. Shit, he’s a scientific experiment. But he’s so hot, and he feels so fucking good. I can’t stop myself. Why him? Why is he so different, so important to me?

Bas had a hard time understanding until the truth suddenly rushed through him. Shit. I’m hearing his thoughts. He didn’t want to hear any more. It hurt to know Gray saw him as something inferior, yet at the same time, it gave him hope that Gray couldn’t stay away. If what he heard from the man was true, Gray lusted after him with a hunger he’d never felt before.

“Stay with me. Right with me.” Gray ran a hand over Bas’s cock, and the dual stroking sensation, inside and outside his body, jolted a burst of seed from him. “That’s good, baby. Give me more. Put it all over my skin.”

Bas had a hard time holding it in. The love, the lust, the need. The anger. And then Gray leaned down to kiss him and clutched his cock tighter.

Bas groaned as he came and continued to come. The explosion rocked his entire world, and the intensity nearly made him black out. When he came back to himself, he saw Gray’s belly covered in semen. Then Bas shifted his hips. Gray’s face tightened, and his lips parted on a moan as he came inside Bas. A second, smaller eruption jetted from Bas’s cock.

“God, you smell so good.” Gray paused, blinked, and seemed to come back to himself.

The intimate connection that had all but joined them as one just seconds earlier faded, then disappeared. Gray withdrew from Bas, left the bed, and stood. “You good now?”

“Good? I’m great.” And confused as shit.

“Okay, then. I’m going to hit the shower and get some rest. You should do the same.” The look he shot the door couldn’t be mistaken. Gray wanted him gone.

Bas sat up, his chest tight, and his eyes burned with what he tried to tell himself was rage. For all that he’d initiated sex, Gray had been right there with him. “Sure thing, hero. I’ll take my unnatural, experimental ass back to my room. Away from your fucking ego.”

He leaped from the bed, ignored the twinge in his ass, and slammed the door shut when he left the room. Then he took a long hot shower in the other bathroom and wondered how the hell he could have fallen in love with such a prick.

The moment the door slammed, Gray shuddered and slumped to the floor. He’d never felt so weak yet so strong at the same time. It was as if Bas had left with a piece of him, and his odd parting words made a scary kind of sense. Unnatural? Experimental? Gray had been thinking that while they’d fucked.

When his first attempt into Bas’s mind had failed, Gray had retreated and hadn’t tried again. Though he had the power, he didn’t like abusing it. As much as he wanted to know what Bas thought, he’d never been into rape—of any kind. A violation of another’s mind was a strict taboo. The only times he’d done it in the past had been through his sister to warn her of mortal danger.

In any case, he didn’t want to read the man’s mind. That would mean opening up a connection that apparently already existed, because he’d swear Bas had somehow read his thoughts. An impossibility, or at least it should have been.

He sent out a telepathic knock, needing a conversation he knew his sister would keep quiet and private from their meddling grandmother. If his parents hadn’t been vacationing halfway across the world, he’d have asked them. But he didn’t want anyone even guessing at what he suspected.

“Ava? You busy?”

His sister answered right away. “Yeah, busy trying not to lose my friggin’ mind. This kid of mine is crazy hungry all the time.”

Great. Just what he needed. To think about his sister breastfeeding. He mentally scrubbed his brain. “I need you to do me a favor. Read my mind.”

She gave a laugh. “Yeah, right. You know I can’t do that. I’ve never been able to.”

“Just try.”

“Okay.” She paused. “Nothing. Tighter than a drum. But…”

“But what?”

“You seem different. And what’s with the chocolate?”

“What?”

“I don’t know how, because you can’t smell thoughts. But it’s like you’re coated in chocolate. Oh God. I hope that’s not a sign I’m pregnant again. I need some recovery time from Sophie.”

He heard the mental echo of a baby’s gurgle and sent a burst of love to his niece. “She’s like me,” he said with pride. “My little girl can hear thoughts.”

“You mean my little girl. You’re as bad as the others. Gunnar brags she has his strength and his bright blue berserker eyes. The others are claiming she mimics whatever they do, and Grandma is so proud, she’s about to burst.”

“Good. Keep Alicia busy and out of my hair.”

“Uh, about that. I heard her on the phone with Lonnie earlier. You don’t pull through on this mission, and she’s planning to put you behind a desk, bro. Be careful about this one.”

“Fuck.”

“Watch your mouth.”

He could feel her frown. “Sorry. Hey, at least the kid can’t understand words yet. Can she?”

Ava sighed. “I hope not. Because half the things Gunnar says would melt her ears clean off. Oh hell. She’s hungry again. Gotta go. Love ya.”

“You too.” He disconnected the link and tried not to jump to conclusions.

His parents could read each other’s thoughts. So could Alicia and Lonnie, now that his grandmother had finally accepted him as her mate. Gray had been gifted with an advanced telepathy from the time he could crawl. Any serious ties to a mate would be mental as well as physical.

He’d never before been so tuned into another person. With Bas, he felt physical desire. But did he also share a mental connection? He couldn’t be sure, not without looking into Bas’s mind. Tempting as it was, he didn’t think Bas would welcome the intrusion. Certainly they shared chemistry. But what if Bas had only wanted him to sate his needs? They’d worked together for months, but this was the first time Bas had shown any interest. Hell, up until this point, he hadn’t realized Bas liked men.

Though most Circs were bisexual, many preferred one gender to another, seeking other Circs more as a necessity than due to any real sexual preference. Bas had never displayed the typical characteristics of a Circ—the mating heats, the out-of-control rages, resistance to the change. From what little Gray knew, Bas was a rare individual who had adjusted to the Circe serum without a problem.

Until now.

Until he had his first mating heat. But why so late after becoming Circ? The nagging question remained, though Gray tried to ignore it. What were the odds he’d been thinking of Bas as an experiment and the man just happened to mention it in a fit before stalking out the door?

On shaky legs, Gray stood and moved to his shower, where he washed himself clean. Yet the bonded scent of himself and Bas didn’t fade. His beast stretched inside him, wrapping himself in the familiar, welcomed touch of Bas’s memory.

So not good.

Gray didn’t mind the thought of one day mating, but he intended to do it the right way. With a female Circ from home, one of those born gifted, like him, to produce children. He’d continue his family’s way of life, protecting the innocent while making sure society didn’t annihilate itself in the name of trying to make life better. Righting science gone wrong had been his grandmother’s agenda since he could remember. And she’d made sure he and his sister understood they had significant roles to fill.

Alicia could see the future, and she’d seen Gray saving lives. His importance in the grand scheme of things gave him purpose. He’d tolerated the unnatural Circs because they could help him where normal humans could not. But to mate at this early stage in his life, and with a male, no less, would ruin everything. No progeny to pass on his gifts. No easing into a more sedate life after the raw urgency of today’s crises. He’d have to drop everything now and cater to a male who needed tending, protection, instruction.

God. Sebastian Decker might be good-looking, hell on wheels in the sack, and as strong as an ox, but in Circ years, he was a toddler. The thought made Gray slightly ill, and he hurriedly changed his train of thought. Instead of dwelling on what might be, he needed to think about what was coming. Al Ross was a problem if Alicia had sent him on the man’s path. And if she planned on benching him if he failed, he had a bad feeling Ross would be more than just a mission, but one of those fucking tests his grandmother loved to throw his way.

He sighed as the hot water in the shower turned cool. No doubt Bas was soaking away his anger in the other shower, hogging all the hot water. The man might be a few scant years younger, but he seemed worlds more vulnerable. His sense of humor, his forgiving nature, his ability to smile when the shit hit the fan, made him not just a decent partner, but a person Gray actually liked being around—a truth he’d take to his grave.

The thought of Bas’s smile warmed Gray and alarmed him, because the notion of Bas forever in his life seemed right. As he let the water cleanse him, he couldn’t shake the idea that no matter what he did, he’d never be free of Sebastian Decker.

Friday afternoon, Ali pulled aside the curtains and watched the sun peer through the green pines and firs surrounding her grandfather’s—her—cabin. Once again she’d routed the scavengers sent to rape and torture her into submission. She glanced down at her scarred and healing arms, wishing she could just end her existence now. But until she took out the head of the labs who’d done this to her, she’d never know peace. Nor would her grandfather.

She shivered as a sensation her grandfather would have called Ross Intuition crept over her. The knowledge that change was coming settled into her blood and bones. The rogues she expected. But this feeling told her something new approached.

She glanced at her dwindling supply of ammunition on the nearby counter and sighed. If she wanted to survive the summer, she’d need to find more ammo. But that meant a return to the warehouse. A place that practically seethed with negative energy.

Granddad Dill had cursed her father up and down, but to no avail. Dan Ross had sold them out. His days in the army had amounted to little, except that his good friend Caleb Trenton had kept in touch after they’d both discharged from the military. Good old Caleb had given him a job, had even let him bring his daughter around after her mother passed. With childcare hard to come by with no money and no job, Dan Ross had been more than willing to do whatever Caleb said. He’d even allowed Caleb to test a special vaccine on his only daughter, his baby girl. She’d been a goner since she’d turned five. She just hadn’t known it then.

Ten years later, when her father had died and she’d gone to live with her mother’s parents, the shots stopped. But the damage had been done. And then in her early twenties, Trenton and his goons had returned with a court order to take her back to the labs. The first two sessions she’d spent there had been odd but not threatening. Months of tests, physical and mental, had bored her but not harmed her. But the last time, they’d kidnapped her grandfather as well. And they’d done…things…to her. Things she didn’t like to think about too hard, or the rage that made her blood mutate faster grew stronger. Her veins throbbed as the black disease spread to her forearms. The palms of her hands grew darker, and she drew in a deep breath and let it out to relieve the tension.

Peace. Find it. Own it. She could almost hear Granddad’s voice, and she smiled. Then the knowing came back full force. Danger, a new path, a new life. She’d have to make some choices in the next few days. And those choices would determine everything.

Tired of all the drama, she dressed, took a nice walk through the woods, and made sure to cover her tracks. She’d seen a few people near the area a few weeks ago. They weren’t like the odd tourist who sometimes wandered too close. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she’d known to steer clear of the big man, and a good thing. He could, impossibly, change his shape. He’d come in many different forms, but in each he smelled the same.

The others with him called him Jack or boss. She’d wanted him gone, but she’d made sure to secretly unleash her pheromones to steer him and his companions away from the Circ threat in her mountains. Now if only everyone would leave her the hell alone.

With a sigh, she trailed down to her favorite spot—a small lake partially buried beneath melting ice and snow. A copse of pines seemed to lean over her lake, as if the trees protected it for her.

She sat down on her sunning rock, where the sunlight cleared the trees and warmed the rock for hours on end. As she sat and contemplated her life, her gaze caught on the moss covering the base of one tree. The green and brown shades caught her attention until a flash of light startled her into looking at the water. It had appeared blue green a few minutes ago, but now the bright blue color meant something else. Something important…

Her stomach rumbled and reminded her she had yet to eat. Her beast chided her for forgetting, and then another part of her, that darkness she tried so hard to keep buried, scented a rabbit nearby.

It took everything she had to rein in the savage lust for blood and the kill. Running back to her cabin and ruining all the work she’d done covering her tracks, she hurried to her meager stash of food and ate. After she’d finished enough to satisfy her beast, she returned to the forest and erased her footprints. Then she hunted down the rabbit and killed it, no longer a slave to her bloodlust.

Unfortunately, though the kill would suffice as dinner after she cooked it, an odd sensation formed in her chest and belly. What felt like dread mingled with excitement.

They’re coming for me.

The thought grew stronger as the day passed into night, then blended into day once more. She couldn’t think of anything but what the future might have in store.

The breeze blew. The noon sun beat down upon the earth, melting more snow. Summer had come to the mountains. She smiled at the gentle heat warming the plant life to grow.

Then an unfamiliar scent hit her, a scent that promised paradise if she’d follow the trail to its source. Before she could, though, the rotted smell of rogue Circs intruded. Corruption, greed, and lust swirled like smog through the pure air. They shouldn’t have been back so soon. But Trenton must have sent another group to follow the first.

He grew more insistent, more treacherous. She had to kill the bastard.

Danger blanketed her world, and Ali drew on her instincts and her ability to hunt. First she’d take care of the rogues. Then she’d see what smelled so incredibly good. She only hoped she wouldn’t be forced to kill it before she’d had a small taste.