Grayson's Gamble

Chapter Eight

“Feel what you do to me. That scent is so ripe. I want to fuck you so hard.” Gray kissed away her protest, sucking her breath into his lungs before giving it back. He tasted wild, like jungle and sun and beast.

Ali wanted him the way she’d wanted Bas, but she couldn’t take. She could only wait for him to control her. She shivered but lay passive as he stripped her naked.

But her beast would be content with only so much compliance. Her mutant cells woke as well, needing to feel blood and sex as they coupled.

Ali changed between one heartbeat and the next. She grew, but still he dwarfed her. Yet she didn’t care. Her fangs and claws knew no bounds. She tore into his Circ flesh and moaned into his mouth as the sweet scent of his blood filled her head.

“So hot,” he murmured and nipped her tongue when she nicked his, allowing her to taste her own blood and his. A mixture of the mating taking form. “Now open for me, sweetheart. Give your master his due.”

She didn’t like hearing that and immediately rebelled.

“Oh yeah, that’s it.” Gray’s thick voice showed her he liked her defiance. The manipulator intended for her to fight back.

She gave him as good as she got, struggling not to be free but to show him she could take his roughness, even needed it.

He kissed her again and cupped her breast. His claws pricked her nipple, and she gasped. His tongue invaded. In the next breath, so did his cock. He hefted her up against the wall and held her ass with one palm. She opened her legs to wrap around his waist, to find purchase so as not to fall.

“Gray, please.”

And he speared her in one long, deep thrust.

So far inside her, he sank into her heat. And then he fucked her. Hard. Brutally. Without mercy, giving her exactly what her beast desired.

A true dominant, he mastered her body and then her mind. Whispers and pleas went directly into her head as he plunged faster. Sensation rebounded, her desire exponentially fierce as Gray took her. He rained kisses over her lips, her cheeks, and sucked again at her throat, biting, then licking the sting away. The rasp of his tongue made her crazed, evidence of his beast there in every swipe over her bloodied wound that healed in seconds.

The climax caught her by surprise, and she cried out and tightened around him, coaxing his pleasure. Still shuddering around him, she felt the hot rush of his seed as he jerked and ground against her. Her clit spasmed, and she came again, relishing the Circ who held her so tightly.

“Oh fuck. Oh yeah, that’s it. So good.” He pulled out, then slammed home again, leaving more of himself inside her. “All of me. That’s a good girl.” He blinked down at her, his gaze replete, his smile wide. “You are one sexy, bad-ass Circ.” He let go of the hip he’d been clenching to run his clawed hand over her hair. “I never thought I’d say this, but I like the red in your eyes and the black lines in your skin. That danger is sexy. Makes you wild, Ali. A woman who can handle me.” He seemed more than pleased with himself.

“Yeah, well, it’s nice to see you’re not as meek as you first looked.” She hooked her arms around his shoulders and pulled him in for another kiss, muffling his chuckles.

His laughter turned to a groan, and he carried her, still joined, into the bathroom. Inside, he withdrew from her and turned on the shower. Then he dragged her in with him. “Change back.”

The order implicit in his tone she could have done without. But she had a feeling he wanted to continue their play. Watching him change while she remained her beast, she felt an odd snap inside her, as if a part of the shield holding her safe from the world had fallen. That a man as powerful as Gray would let his guard down enough to be so vulnerable while she held the upper hand stunned her.

“Well? I’m waiting.” He stood under the spray of warm water. But he didn’t do more than wait for her as he looked into her eyes.

She changed back and looked up at him once more.

“So sexy. No wonder Bas was loving his time as a captive.” Gray washed her thoroughly, his touch curiously gentle as he caressed her from her neck to her shoulders and lower. He paid a lot of attention to her breasts and between her legs. When he was done, he refused to hand her the bar of soap.

She watched him clean himself. When he moved to his cock, his shaft thickened, and he quickly let go.

“You’re always hard. You and Bas.”

He smiled, and the beauty in his expression took her aback. “Only around people I really like.”

She blushed again.

“God, you’re beautiful. Do you know that?”

She didn’t know what to say. And then she couldn’t have spoken if she’d wanted to.

Gray put the soap in the holder and kissed her. But this kiss was soft, gentle, exploring, with a wicked laziness as if he had all the time in the world.

She groaned and clutched his shoulders. But his kiss lingered until she grew light-headed, short of breath. He left her mouth and kissed her throat, her collarbone. Down the slopes of her sensitive breasts to her nipples. He sucked one, then the other, hard pulls that made her clit throb.

“I didn’t pay these enough attention, did I?” he rasped as he pulled back to look at her. “Oh yeah. She’s always there, your beast. I love that.” He returned to her breasts, laving them until she wanted to scream in frustration. As if she hadn’t had sex just a few moments ago, she needed to come again. And come hard.

Gray must have sensed she’d reached her limit, because he trailed his kisses down and sank to his knees.

“Gray?”

“Grayson Belle. At your service.” He winked at her before putting his face into her mound. He nuzzled her folds and spread her thighs wider.

She’d read about this, even had a few dreams about it. But she’d never experienced a man’s mouth on her. And oh God, what she’d been missing.

Gray licked and sucked her clit, sending her into a world of pleasure from which she never wanted to leave. She gripped his wet hair, immersed in him, his scent, his mouth.

“Gray, please.” She felt so empty, so needy.

“Come over my tongue,” he murmured and sucked harder. Then he shoved a finger inside her and pumped it in time with his magical lips.

“Oh yes. Oh yes,” she whispered and came, gushing into his mouth as he refused to ease off.

When she trembled on the point of pain, oversensitized, he let her go. But she didn’t like the thought of her mate hard and hungering.

She questioned her own choice of words when Gray distracted her. He stood, and his cock brushed her thigh. Up close, she could see his size, the thick stalk veined and wet with water. His slit filled with cream, the moisture there for her, because she made him want.

“Suck me.” He gritted his teeth when she circled his flesh with her hand.

This close, touching him, she felt small. Feminine. Desired. Not lusted after, an object of male need, but wanted as a lover, a woman Gray not only admired, but liked. She softened, her heart beating just for him.

“On your knees. I want to watch you suck me off,” he growled.

More than willing to obey for the first time in her life, she knelt before him and took him in her mouth. The foreign taste tantalized and thrilled her.

When he pushed more of himself between her lips, she opened to receive him.

“Fuck. Oh yeah, Ali. To the back of your throat, baby. So good. Take me inside you. All the way,” he said, breathless.

Overcome with emotion, Ali accepted the powerful male. She wanted to give back all the pleasure she’d received. She continued to catch snippets in her mind, his enjoyment, his affection for her, his complete enthrallment with Ali’s entire being—beast, woman, and wild mutant.

The discomfort she would have imagined she’d feel when he hit the back of her throat didn’t come, aided by her beast. She automatically changed just enough to enlarge her mouth and throat, and she licked and swallowed Gray’s small bursts of semen with eagerness.

“Here it comes. Just for you. All for you,” he said on a groan as a jet of cum filled her mouth and trickled down her throat.

She continued to suck and swallow him while he emptied himself inside her. To her shock, she purred, and he cried out as he came again, another burst of release she’d given him.

When he’d finished and his erection finally flagged, she pulled away.

Gray hauled her to her feet and kissed her. Then he hugged her tight, and they shivered together in the cooling water. “That was amazing. Thank you, baby. You were absolutely incredible. Damn. I can’t wait to do that all over again.”

When she just hugged him tight and said nothing, he pulled back to look down at her. “You okay? It felt good, right?” His gaze was searching.

She nodded. “More than good. I’ve never done that before. With my mouth, or yours, I mean.”

His frown eased into a smile. “You’re an innocent little thing, aren’t you?”

“I’m not that little.”

“You are compared to me. And Bas.” His smile remained, but she could feel him reach out to Bas with his mind, that surge of power impossible to ignore. “He’s okay. Bastard likes to think he’s better at people skills than I am, but he’s still unsure of himself when it comes to dealing with other psychics.”

That didn’t seem right, considering Bas had moved her with his mind. “He is?”

“Bas had a hard time not too long ago.” He reached behind her to turn off the water, but he continued to talk as he dried them off and dragged her with him to the bed. “Like you, he was taken against his will. That’s what made him Circ. He can move things with his mind, and he’s a real go-getter. Someone took notice and tried to mold him into what they wanted.” Gray snuggled with her under the covers. “But Bas kind of does what he wants. He’s good at following orders when he wants to and giving you the finger when he feels the need, too.”

“He follows you, doesn’t he?” She watched as Gray’s expression softened.

“Yeah, he does. Apparently he followed you too.” Gray narrowed his gaze. “You had your way with my mate, didn’t you?”

Not sure what his mean look signified, she tried to move away from him, but he wouldn’t let her. “So what? He invaded my land. My space. He’s mine.”

Gray nodded. “Yeah, but he was mine first. You too.”

“Me too what?”

“You’re mine now too. My mate. Bas’s mate. We’re one, baby. So don’t fight it, okay?” He kissed her on the head and yawned.

“Fight what?” Panicked and not sure why, considering her beast continued to purr in his embrace, she sat up. “We had sex. Big deal. I’m sure you do this all the time.”

“Nope. This pull, this amazing heat between us? Just with you and Bas. Humans can’t satisfy the need, and frankly, it’s annoying to always have to pull in my strength with them.”

“But you can’t mate me. I’m a mutant.” She held out her forearms, bemused to see the black of her veins so faded. Mates? The thought scared the crap out of her, mostly because she wanted what he said to be true. To belong with men who cared. Who wouldn’t hurt her or lie to her. Who would accept her despite all her deficiencies.

“You’re my mutant. That makes all the difference.” Gray shrugged. “You’ll get used to it eventually. No one fucks with me and what’s mine. No one will hurt you. And from what Bas told me of your abilities, you’ll fit right in with my team.” He nodded again. “Yeah. We’ll have to take care of Bas, because he’s softer than we are. But you feel right. Much as I hate to admit it, my beast knows better than me.” He sighed. “And don’t ever tell my grandmother this, but I’m glad as hell she sent me on this mission.”

“Grandmother? Wait, mates? Bas? This is a lot to take in.”

“Shh. Easy, honey. Just relax. Sleep on it. I can already tell you your beast likes the idea. Your rage and hungers are easy now, aren’t they? Because the mutant senses it has what it needs to be complete. Me. And Bas, of course. Can’t wait to try out both of you at the same time. Sex is going to be out of this world.” He wiggled his brows at her, and she couldn’t help thinking the same thing.

But his easy acceptance of this huge change annoyed her.

“So what? I’m just supposed to leave my cabin and mountains and join you? Where? When? How do we live?” Though the idea had appeal, to leave this place and the bad memories behind, she didn’t like the thought of the unknown. Every time she’d left her grandfather and their mountain, bad things seemed to happen.

“You let me worry about that.” His arrogance astounded her.

Angry and suddenly in no mood to sleep, she unleashed her pheromones, stunning Gray enough that she could leap out of bed and grab her gun before he could move. “Let you worry, my ass.” She shot him in the chest twice, enough to knock him out for a while. In the meantime, she’d figure out what to do about all this.

She dressed. Then she carried him downstairs and tied him up with Circ restraints. Asleep, he looked dangerous but boyishly cute. Darker where Bas was lighter, but just as sweet.

She frowned and left him only to return with a blanket. After seeing to his comfort, she returned to the house upstairs and straightened up, hiding signs of his presence. No one had ever found her here, but there was always a first time. And while she scouted her mountain again, Gray would be safe, undetected and out of sight.

Her beast whined about leaving him, but Ali didn’t trust her desire to remain. She thrilled at the thought of being kept by Gray and Bas. To feel that same love and trust they had for each other, to know that kind of joy. Her grandfather had felt it for her grandmother before the woman had passed when Ali was a girl. The older man had loved her as well, treating her like the child her mother would have loved had Amy Ross not died a few years after giving birth.

It seemed everyone Ali cared for died, and she was hesitant to admit the thought of losing Gray or Bas scared her. To have such affection—love—for two men she’d just met didn’t make sense. But her intuition told her she couldn’t ignore their appearance in her life. The changes she’d be forced to confront had found her. First Bas, then Gray. She just wished she knew if they were the last of it, or if she’d face more uncertainty.

Because really, why would men as handsome and together as Gray and Bas want her? She was a mutant, an unsophisticated woman no better than a beastly killer at the best of times with nothing more than a GED and a handful of unsuccessful waitressing jobs on her résumé. She’d had a few sexual, meaningless relationships and barely two nickels to rub together. Oh, and she was a monster.

Her beast snarled at her to quit her pity party and concentrate on stopping the danger she could feel drawing closer.

After grabbing more munitions and another gun filled with bullets meant to kill, Ali threw on a jacket and trudged outside. For three hours, she looked for danger while covering her trail. An unfamiliar scent struck, pine and danger and something else that seemed recognizable. The spoor of power mixed with insanity. She trudged deeper into the undergrowth to a small clearing very few on the mountains knew about. There, she came upon the one mutant she’d managed to avoid for years. Trenton’s right hand and a bastard too crafty to be caught unaware. He’d masked his scent, or she never would have gotten close to him.

She entered the clearing before she recognized him. Now that it was too late to do anything but persist, she put on a brave face and waited.

Freakishly huge, he’d tower over Bas. He had to be nearly eight feet in height and must have weighed four hundred pounds. His skin, like hers, had streaks of black over normal flesh. His hair remained long all the time, as if he was in a perpetual state of change. His eyes had no iris or pupil to be seen. Colored entirely of red, they looked like bloody beacons leading to hell.

“Watts.”

He nodded, his gaze calm, his manner unthreatening. Abnormally at ease.

His claws had turned black years ago, but his fangs remained white, sharp, and lethal. She’d seen more than one innocent die from having his or her throat torn out by those teeth.

“Alison. I’m glad to see you still alive.”

She scowled. “Save it, Watts. We both know you’re here for Trenton. His fucking lackey.”

He narrowed his eyes. “A lethal tongue you have there.” He smiled, showcasing not only the few fangs she’d seen before but a whole mouthful of them. “I can’t wait to feel it up close and personal.” He licked his lips, and she barely controlled a shudder.

She pulled out her pistols and aimed them dead center between his eyes. He might survive a shot to the chest, but he wouldn’t walk away without a brain. “Say what you want, then leave.”

“I wasn’t lying. I want you. You know that. I’m also done with Trenton. In case you haven’t heard, you’re not the only one on his most-wanted list.” He laughed, and the sense of evil ruffled her beast.

“So all the rogues and mutants combing the area?”

“You’re the reward, but I’m the real prize. I guess I’ve made a few enemies over the years.”

She snorted. “No shit. You’ve killed when you didn’t have to. And don’t think I’ve forgotten seeing what you did to those women in the breeding cells.” She hated Watts almost as much as she hated Trenton. Except Watts had been turned into what he was; Trenton aspired to evil.

He shrugged. “I’m a slave to my needs. But then, we all are.” He took a deep breath and blinked at her. “You have to be kidding me. Don’t tell me you were won over by that fucking killer pretending to be a do-gooder?” He laughed, but there was no mirth in the sound. “Grayson Belle. No shit. You let him fuck you, but you say no to me?”

For all that Watts was a monster, he didn’t seem that canny. Nor did he seem to be anything other than shocked by her choice of bed partner. “What do you mean?”

“None of us were ever sent out here to kill you. But he was. Him and that prick, Decker.”

She didn’t understand. “They weren’t here for me, Watts. They came to kill you and the other mutants in the area.”

“Tell yourself whatever you want, but the bastards came to kill mutants. Guess who was top dog on their list? Al Ross.” He dug into a pack by his feet and took out a letter. He crumpled it and threw it to her. “Take a look if you don’t believe me.”

Her hand shook, so she lowered one of the guns. She couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to. But it made so much sense. Why men like Gray and Bas might want her. Why they’d come to the mountain in the first place. There weren’t that many rogues on the mountain at any one time. But she’d been here for months.

She kept her eyes on Watts while she stooped to pick up the paper. He didn’t move.

“Go ahead and read it,” he growled. “You’re one of us, whether you like it or not. Those assholes don’t care who they kill. If it has red eyes and black skin, it’s a target. I thought you were smarter than that.”

He sat on a rock and waited.

She uncrumpled the paper and read a classified mission statement from one Admiral G. London to an Alicia Sharpe. A Pentagon missive. Some of the lines had been blacked out, but she read enough to recognize Agent Belle and Al Ross—the supposed threat—with the express order to eliminate said threat.

Shaken and trying hard not to show it, she dropped the paper. It fell onto the snow-covered ground as swiftly as her heart broke and crashed at her feet. When she felt she could speak without crying, she said to Watts, “This still doesn’t change the fact that Trenton is a walking dead man.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Watts stood, his power both impressive and awesome to behold. When he crossed his arms over his chest, his muscles bunched with lethal energy. “But sometimes enemies can become allies. I’m in hiding, and I’m fucking sick of it. Deer meat is stringy, and I’m not so far gone that I’m turning cannibal.” He sneered. “The mutants and rogues hunting you down aren’t nearly my caliber or yours. Pitiful challenges.”

“True.” She wanted to return to her home and put a bullet in Gray’s handsome head. Then she wanted to rail at him and kill him all over again. He’d been crueler than Trenton. At least the doctor had never tried to pretend he had her best interest at heart. He’d been all cold science, trying to better himself. But Bas and Gray had made her feel things. Hope that the future might not be so bleak. And they’d planned on killing her all along.

“Why didn’t they just kill me, then? They knew my name.”

“Fuck if I know. Though if it had been me, I’d have gotten my fill of you before offing you. Prime piece of Circ ass can sate a mating hunger. No offense.”

God. I’m so stupid. They would have killed her soon enough. She should have saved them the trouble and told them of her intentions. She’d never planned on a long life anyway. Mates. Ha. Her beast roared with inner pain, and the agony woke her mutant into a froth of brutal hate. It wanted blood, death, and destruction. And it wanted them now.

Watts watched her warily, no doubt sensing the kindred spirit awakened within her. “I propose we join forces. Once we kill Trenton, we can go back to being enemies if you want. You know I’m stronger and faster. I’ll kill you someday, Alison. But I’d rather not.” He tilted his head, studying her. “There’s something about you. More than your ripeness. More than that hot cunt I want.” He seemed confused, and she felt a moment’s pity for him, despite his crudity.

“Thanks, I think.”

He laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll be fucking you. If not now, then after Trenton’s dead. And I don’t particularly care if you’re willing.”

“Be hard to fuck me if I cut your balls off.”

“True.” He nodded. “But the thing is, we don’t have to be enemies. Once we kill Trenton, the larger threat to us is gone. We can erase evidence of our existence. Bring down his lab. Hell, we let the government in on it, and they’ll clean up the problem in two shakes. Once we’re free, we can be together. You and me. Live away from all this, or live here if you want.”

Watts wanted to live. He wanted freedom, and he’d kill again and again, hurting those around him because he couldn’t help himself. The mutant and beast in her knew the truth, and it knew she was just like him. She just hadn’t reached her limit yet, when she’d no longer be able to differentiate right from wrong.

With her world ripped out from under her, she had little choice in the matter. “Call me Ali, Watts. If we’re going to partner up, we might as well become friends.” She lowered her weapon. “Now let me tell you what I know.” She gave him the laboratory codes she’d used to escape, codes no one knew she had. They’d blamed another rogue and killed him for “allowing her to escape.” Or so she’d heard.

After some time, Watts nodded. “With that, and with what I know about the rest of his security, this will be a piece of cake. But don’t fuck me on this, or I’ll kill you, Ali. And I’ll make it last.”

Giving in to the inevitable, she held out her hand. “Same goes. Partners?” Until we kill Trenton; then I kill you. And finally, me.

“Partners.” His large hand dwarfed hers. A hint of lust appeared on his face, but he wisely took a step back. “Now let’s go hunting.”