“Not at all. We'll bring you back to safety and extract you from Bahia before the team takes out the lab. Once here, under proper supervision, you'll be dosed with the drug. If you begin to have visions, which we know isn't a part of your skill set, we'll inject you with the antidote.”
“I'm sorry, but I need time to think about this.”
“Me too,” Jules growled. “We're not using Olivia to test some drug that kills people. Bad enough you want us to walk her into danger.”
“It's a lot to process,” Mrs. Sharpe agreed, ignoring Jules. “Why don't you take a walk outside? The path is lit, so you should have no trouble seeing during the dark. You'd be surprised, but the back gardens are particularly pleasant this time of year, despite the cold. The mums and pansies are bearing up just fine.”
Blinking at the mundane mention of flowers after hearing about psychic warfare and unbelievable Circs, Olivia pushed back from the table. “You know, maybe I will.” Ava moved to go with her when Mrs. Sharpe shook her head. “Let Olivia have some time to herself.”
Jules gave the woman a look Olivia couldn't decipher. But she suddenly needed some space. She left wondering why the hell she'd wished for so much excitement. It seemed her days of being bored were totally numbered.
Fallon watched Olivia stroll through the garden, her hands tucked into the pockets of the formfitting jacket she wore. Her hair had started to come free from the clasp holding it back, framing her face with delicate strands of dark silk.
So much for getting this need to touch her out of his system. At least he'd dealt with his more pressing need to handle his beast. The run he'd taken had soothed his wild urge to mate, which made no sense. Too much Circ sex lately, perhaps.
Wanting to at least spend some time with Olivia that didn't involve stalking or staring through trees, he raced back to the woods where he'd left his clothes, changed back, and put them on. Then after hurrying through the house and skirting the dining area, he joined her again outside.
She turned when he opened the door and shut it behind him. “What are you doing out here?”
“I figured I'm in enough trouble for missing dinner. Mrs. Sharpe is a stickler for punctuality.”
“She wasn't happy you missed the meal.”
Her troubled gaze bothered him. He stuck his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't be able to reach out and offer comfort. “You okay?”
She regarded him with more than curiosity, but a sense of unease.
“Hell. She told you about us.”
She nodded.
He swore under his breath. “Didn't think she would yet. So you know…what?”
“That you're some kind of super soldier.”
“Sailor. Super sailor. We're SEALs.”
Olivia gifted him with a small grin. “Go navy.”
“Yeah.”
“So you guys are really strong and fast. And it seems you're all psychic too.”
“Like you,” he reasoned, aware he still couldn't read her. “Most of us had weird abilities before Circs ever existed. The Circe serum just enhanced them. I'm telepathic, but you're closed to me.”
“Oh, wow. Kisho said he can see the future. But I didn't know about the rest of you.”
“Jules sees auras. Tersch is a battle maniac. We call him our own berserker.”
“That fits.”
“What about you?” He took a few steps closer, careful not to spook her. The fear he'd seen on her face bothered him. Fallon wanted her aware of him, not scared of him.
She flushed. “I can sense emotions.”
“An empath. Cool.”
“But not around you.” She frowned. “This is going to sound forward, but can I touch you?” His heart raced. “As if I'll say no.”
She didn't smile. Instead she stepped closer and took his larger hand in her own. The touch electrified him, but it put him no closer to reading her.
Huge blue-green eyes blinked up at him. “I can't tell what you're feeling at all. This is amazing!”
“Good or bad?” he asked huskily, closing his hand around hers. Her skin felt so soft under his calloused palm. This close, he could smell a lingering scent of flowers, either her perfume or shampoo. Her head fit under his chin, and he knew if he angled closer, he could pull her into his embrace and feel her hot breath on his chest.
“G-good,” she stammered, caught in his stare.
He wanted to know what she thought as she looked at him, but not knowing was an enticement all its own. “I'm sorry about this, but I can't stop myself.”
“From what?”
He lowered his head, waiting for her to try to bolt. When she remained still, he gentled his hold and savored the first press of her lips under his. So perfect, so goddamn right. She closed her eyes, thick lashes fanning her rosy cheeks as she responded, ever so slowly, to his touch.
Tentative yet open, she blossomed under his mouth and turned him rock hard in a heartbeat. He slid his tongue inside and groaned as her flavor burst on his tongue.
Her hands crept around his neck and pulled him closer. And then, without knowing how, he lost control of the kiss. The shy woman in his arms turned into a firecracker. She opened her mouth and teased his tongue closer, capturing his flesh and demanding a heady response. He rocked into her, wanting to feel the wetness he could sense building between her legs.
She held his hair tight and nipped at his lower lip.
“Fuck,” he said on a breath as he looked down at her.
Dewy eyed, rosy lipped, and flushed. So damned sexy.
He lowered his mouth again and let her have her way as she buried her hands in his hair.
The damned jacket she wore impeded his touch, and he slashed through it without thought, needing to put his hands on her naked breasts.
As if thinking it, he made it happen. Her shirt gaped, and her bra fell apart under a well-placed claw. Then his hands were full of her, the weight of her globes and the press of her taut nipples like lightning, setting off the fire of lust within.
“I need to be inside you, right now,” he rasped and traced a hand down her belly and under her skirt.
The thin triangle of her panties proved no barrier as he slid a his hand beneath the material and between her legs. Shoving his tongue inside her mouth again, he speared her with a finger, enticed by the feminine heat coating him. So tight, so hot. She fit his finger as if made for him, and he loved her responsiveness.
Olivia dripping wet was a fantasy come to life. Thoughts of how little he actually knew this woman paled in comparison to the lust riding him hard.
He wanted to impale her, to come inside her as many times as he could, then to change and do it all again.
The rabid thought slowed him down, and he knew he'd have to corral the beast. This time.
But he wanted more. Had to have more.
She tore her mouth from his. “Oh God. What are you doing to me?” She gasped and groaned when he grazed her clit.
He pinched a nipple, then circled to the other. Bending down, he took the ripe fruit in his mouth and sucked.
She cried out and squirmed in his hold, surging against his steely cock. Hungry to feel her all around him, he knew he'd come in seconds if he took down his pants. Instead he lingered on her breasts and pussy, laving her nipple with hunger before knowing he had to have more.
He withdrew his hands and knelt in front of her before she could protest. After tearing her skirt, he then ripped through her panties and shoved his face into her groin. The scent of her heat went straight to his head, and he prodded her thighs wider. Latching onto her full clit, he devoured her.
Encouraged by her desperate cries, he plunged a finger inside her, thrusting the way he intended to with his cock. Her walls clung to him, and she pressed her hips closer, pulling at his hair with a desperation that soothed his beast. His mate desired him. Wanted him.