“I hate him, Robbie. I really, really hate him.” It made her sick to think of Elliot Pearl as her father. She wiped angrily at the tears on her cheeks, hating the pain from sharpened teeth slicing through her gums. Control it, or it owns you.
“Easy. It's okay, Paige. It'll all be okay.” Robbie sighed. “I have to take care of something here. It won't take long. Pack a bag and meet me. You know where.”
“But—”
“You know where,” he repeated in a low voice, brooking no refusal, and then hung up.
Paige put down her phone.
She stood still, in the center of so much destruction. A few Circs had died here tonight. She smelled the stench of death in the air, between the cracks of the wooden floor beneath her feet, staining the broken glass all over her furniture. More violence, a never-ending pool of rage that followed her, no matter where she went.
“I'm glad Pearl's dead,” she murmured, wishing she meant what she said. That she didn't only increased her upset.
Hurrying upstairs, she packed enough to last her several days. She wheeled her suitcase down the stairs, picked up her car keys and cell phone from the kitchen counter, and left out the back door. After throwing her bag into the trunk of her car, she ran back inside to grab her purse…and came face-to-face with one of them.
One of the wrong ones.
Its black skin glittered under the darkness of night, moonlight highlighting the blood spattered on its face. Mottled red-and-black eyes stared at her hungrily, yet it made no move to approach. It flexed its clawed hands by its sides and snarled silently, showcasing long, lethal fangs. When it cocked its head, greasy black hair hung limply over the space where one of its ears should have been.
They regarded each other in silence. As she stared at the pitiful mutant, she couldn't stop herself from reaching out. Her mind, her hand, her beast, sought to comfort this creature that should not be.
“I want…” it croaked, before turning to bound away through the broken window.
Paige stared, unmoving, and slowly lowered her hand.
Chapter Two
Cape May Courthouse, New Jersey
“Ow, cut it out.” Hale tried to pull his arm away from Doc and his incessant prodding. “I'm fine, Doc. Shit. That hurts!”
“What a baby.” Sabrina Torrence, Derrick's mate and fiancée, watched Doc with interest as he leaned over Hale on the exam table. “Is it always this hard to treat them when they've been dusted by the PPA?”
“I don't know that I can classify this attack as PPA,” Doc answered, fiddling with his glasses. His blue eyes looked tired, and he'd lost weight. But then he smiled, and Hale saw the familiar scientist who had saved their asses time and time again. “But if they encountered rogue Circs at Paige Masters's house, I think we can determine she's the one we want.”
The one you want, Hale wanted to say but didn't. He liked seeing Doc smile again, so he'd save his bad attitude for… “Derrick, you ass. Come and drag your bloodthirsty little leech out of here. This isn't the circus, honey,” he said with a glare at Sabrina.
She flipped him off, causing Derrick, who'd just entered the lab, to laugh.
“No kidding. This is more like the zoo,” she muttered. “No offense, Doc.”
“None taken.” He shook his head at Hale. “And what have I told you? 'Leech' isn't very nice. Sabrina's a top-notch technician. A phlebotomist, if you want to be technical about it. There's a science to taking blood and assisting with scientific progress.” Doc removed the large syringe from Hale's forearm, not bothering to stop any leftover bleeding, since Hale's skin immediately mended.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hale muttered, just glad to be done with Doc's prodding. “Can I sit up now?”
Derrick shoved him flat on his back when he tried to rise. “Not yet, playboy. What else you need, Doc?”
“Just one more thing.”
Hale groaned and tried to move, but Derrick wouldn't lift his huge-ass hand.
Derrick sneered. “Stop being such a pussy.” He looked over his shoulder at Sabrina and cleared his throat. Turning back to Hale, he gave an insincere smile. “I mean, relax and take it easy, buddy.”
Hale scowled. Sabrina called her mate a teddy bear in a grizzly bear's clothing. As if. The large African American glaring down at him resembled nothing as soft as a razor. And Derrick absolutely hated when Hale made fun of Sabrina's pet names for him.
“Hey, Teddy, how about you go play footsie with your fiancée and get off me?” Derrick grinned, showing very sharp teeth. “Aw, it's okay, Hale. I know it's the pain talking.” He leaned close and released a familiar pheromone that turned Hale's dick into a rock. “Pain can make you say all kinds of things, right, Hale?”
“Fuck. Yeah, the pain,” Hale gasped. “You horny bastard, back off,” he whispered, groaning when Derrick put his hand over the front of Hale's crotch. The sweatpants he wore did nothing to protect him from that large, callused palm.
Terrific. Roane might have been an isolated incident. But Derrick acting like this with Doc in the room meant a mating heat loomed near. And only a Circ could satisfy another Circ. His beast didn't give a damn about gender. Thank God they'd finally found female Circs. Given the choice, Hale preferred a woman.
Sabrina shook her head. “Honestly, Derrick. Hale just had a run-in with some rogues hours ago.” She glanced at Doc standing across the room by the centrifuge and lowered her voice. “He's not ready for that.”
Derrick grinned. “But you are, aren't you?”
She blushed. Hale would have praised her distraction had she not interrupted Derrick's hand over his erection. Derrick kept one hand on Hale's chest but laced the fingers of his other hand with Sabrina. Leaving Hale aching and frustrated.
“Sorry, princess. I'm just trying to take his mind off it,” Derrick murmured.
“Off what?” Hale asked, watching as Doc crossed the room again. “Off the pain— shee-it, Doc! What the fuck was that?” Whatever it was cured his desire in a heartbeat.
Doc pushed the plunger down on the syringe he'd jabbed into the meaty part of Hale's shoulder. “A little insurance that whatever's inside you won't hurt you.”
“What do you mean, 'whatever's inside me'?”
“The sedative they injected you with is different from the last one we cataloged.
This one not only depresses your central nervous system, but it's interacting with some of your Circ cells in a way needing further study.”
“Great.” Could his night get any worse?
As if he'd asked for it, “worse” walked through the door.
Rounded and glowing, a pregnant Kelly Malloy preceded Zack and Ace, her mates. Roane and Caitlyn followed close behind.
Talk about feeling on display. Hale was half-naked, sore, and confined to a damned lab table. At least Doc and Sabrina had cleaned him up so he was no longer encrusted in blood. His bruising and scarring had all but vanished. If not for the effects from the mating heat, Hale would have said he felt fine. To his relief, Derrick finally backed away, taking Sabrina with him.
“How are you feeling?” Caitlyn asked, her green eyes full of concern.
“I'm—”
“Oh, Hale.” Kelly leaned over and kissed him on the forehead.
To his relief, her mates didn't punish Hale for the small sign of affection, and he remained in control of his libido.
“I'm so sorry you got hurt.” Kelly straightened. “Ace is sorry for what he did this morning. All you did was say hello,” she reiterated, glaring at her mate.