Waking the Beast (13 page)

She could hear the fear in his voice, and her heart almost broke. He should never be afraid of himself. “The lion has these things called barbs or penile spines that are thought to be a means of stimulating the female into ovulation. They scrape the walls during sex and are thought to be painful for the female when the lion pulls free of her body. It’s all about forcing her body into conception.”

“You said it didn’t hurt you?”

“No, it’s pleasurable,” she assured him.

“So far,” he growled. “But who knows how it will keep changing. I could feel each spot swelling more this time. And I can feel them along my entire shaft now. The first time I only felt them along the top of my shaft, just beneath the head.”

He was worried. She could feel it rolling off of him like a heated wave.

“Well, aren’t I just a lucky girl,” she purred, running her fingers up and down his chest.

“How do you figure that?”

“I’m the only one with a man whose cock is built completely for my pleasure.” She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. “And it is, you know,” she whispered as she licked along his jaw. “Pure pleasure.”

He groaned and pulled her lips back to his, thrusting his tongue in and winding it around hers. Both of his hands cupped her head and held her close. She speared her fingers through his hair just as possessive in her desire to keep him near. Her lungs were burning for oxygen by the time he broke away.

“If it ever hurts, you’ll tell me,” he commanded. “I won’t hurt you. Ever.”

She nodded her head.

“Say it, Abby. Promise me.”

“I promise, Tah.”

“I feel like there’s a war going on inside me. Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m in control. I’m afraid to sleep or let my guard down, in case something happens and I don’t make it back. It feels like I’m ripping apart on the inside, like my body can’t contain whatever is happening to it.”

“We’ll get help. We’ll find answers.” No matter what it took, she would do anything to help him.

“All I know is the only time I feel like me is when I’m with you. As long as I can smell you, touch you, I can breathe. The only time I’m not battling is when I’m inside you, feeling you grip my flesh with yours.”

“I’m here for you. Anything you need,” she promised.

“I can’t keep from touching you,” he growled.

“I love your touch.”

He shook his head. “It’s more than that. I take you, and I just want you again. I feel your skin and my cock grows so hard I’m afraid it will burst before I get inside you. I ache and only you can soothe me. I hunger and only you can satisfy me. I burn and only you can douse the flames. I need you in ways that terrify me. I know that losing you would make me go insane, and I have no idea what would happen then.”

“You’re not going to lose me. I swear.”

“And if Harlan comes back? With more men?”

“I’ll do as you say. I’ll hide or stay wherever you need me to. I won’t put myself at risk. I love you.”

He shuddered underneath her, and she tumbled onto his chest when he tugged her closer, wrapping his arms around her.

“There may come a time when you fear me, Abby.”

“Never!”

He placed a finger against her lips. “Neither of us can be sure of how all this is affecting me. I’m changing in more ways than just the ones you can see and feel.”

“I’ve already told you, Tah. If it’s fear you see in me, then it’s fear for you and what you’re going through. It’s not fear
of
you.”

“We can be at the cabin today,” he told her. “Do you still want to go there now?”

Now? Because Professor Mueller wouldn’t be meeting them there. Because he was dead. She locked the pain away. She’d already cried. She had to stay strong for Tah. He needed her.

“Yes,” she answered. “He’d already contacted his daughter Jess and her husband to meet us there. She’ll be able to help us figure out what’s going on with you.”

“Will she still help?”

“Of course she will,” Abby assured him. “Jess won’t blame either of us for what happened. It’s not who she is.”

He nodded. “Then we need to get going. I can feel…” His shook his head, letting his words linger unfinished. “I can’t shake the feeling I’m running out of time.”

Fear curled in her belly as every prayer she could think of went through her head. She closed her eyes and thought of the Great Creator, the god of the
paka watu
, and she prayed. She prayed for guidance and for protection.

Please don’t take him from me. Please don’t take him from me.

It become a litany in her head, a prayer she couldn’t quiet.

Please don’t take him from me.

Chapter Nine

From the journal of Abby Lane

I tried to force myself to stay away today, but I failed. It was late when I walked in. The first thing I noticed was that Utah wasn’t behind the bar. I must have looked scared because one of his friends came up to me and walked me to my table. He said he would get my nachos and coke right out to me.

I wanted to ask where Utah was, but part of me was afraid to hear. Did I want to know he was out with a woman, so I could torture myself with those thoughts all night? But I tortured myself with them anyway. I kept imagining his strong hands stroking over some faceless woman’s body. His touch would feel like heaven.

I stayed for an hour but couldn’t bring myself to touch the food. Somehow I knew it wouldn’t taste the same without Utah there. He just made everything better.

Why do I torture myself like this? Who am I fooling? Even if Utah is the descendent of the great Tau, it’s evident he has no clue. The beast has slept for so long, for so many generations, I’m not sure if it can be reached. His animal spirit would be hidden so deeply inside him that it would take something incredible to awaken it. And how would Utah handle that awakening? How would it change his life?

I’m selfish enough to hope it happens. Vain enough to believe I could help him work through it and embrace the lion. And then what? Where do I turn when he has all the help and information I can give him and he walks away? I can’t imagine a day without seeing him and doesn’t that make me the most pathetic of creatures alive…

* * * *

“We’re almost to the turn off Abby mentioned,” Reno stated as he drove the truck down the highway.

They’d hit Colorado an hour ago. Abby was lying in the back seat again, while Tah sat up front with one hand dangling over his seat, lazily rubbing her arm. His fingers were warm and seemed to leave a trail of heat across her skin.

“How long?” Tah asked, as he tilted his head and let his gaze meet Abby’s. She could see the need in his eyes and tried not to squeeze her thighs together as her pussy clenched with desire.

What was going on? His sex drive was going through the roof. He wanted her constantly, and she was just as bad. Whatever those bumps on his cock were, they had her wet and screaming for more within a few strokes. Hell, they had her wet and ready at the mere thought of feeling them again. But this couldn’t be normal. Tah was still hard after he came, ready and willing to take her again and again.

“Looks like another sixty miles,” Reno said, his head turning as if glancing toward a road sign on the right.

“I need to stop before then,” Tah stated.

“Jesus, Tah!” Reno exclaimed. “Again?”

That rumble started in Tah’s chest as he gave a low warning growl.

“Fine. Fuck. Whatever.” Reno grumbled.

Abby blushed and for the first time was glad she was hidden in the backseat. Tah had made them stop twice already. The first time Abby had been worried when he’d grabbed her hand and tugged her after him. She hadn’t even blinked when he pulled her into the men’s room. She’d been worried right up to the point he turned her around to face the wall, jerked her pants and panties down, and began fucking her. She’d been boneless when they returned to the truck, and there was no hiding what they’d done.

The second time they’d stopped she’d questioned if he was okay. He’d had to carry her back to the truck after that encounter. Her throat was still sore from the screams of pleasure he’d drawn from her. No matter how great his need was, he seemed to settle as soon as he was buried inside her. Then it was all about her. He only let himself go once she was lost in her orgasm. Then his teeth would lock into the bite mark and his cock, with all those wonderful protrusions, would swell further as he came.

“Tah?” The question was in her voice as she called his name. She didn’t want to discuss whatever was going on in front of Reno, but she was concerned enough to try discreetly.

“I need you.”

Her face flamed red as Reno snorted as he drove.

“Are you okay?” she whispered the question, even though there was no way Reno couldn’t hear it.

“It’s an itch I can’t scratch enough. I’m burning up.”

“They make stuff for that,” Reno offered. “Creams. Antibiotics.”

Tah growled again, this one not so low.

“Sorry. Bad joke. There’s a roadside park a half-mile up the road. Says no facilities though.”

“Stop there,” Tah ordered.

“Tah?”

“Unless you want me to come over the back of this seat and fuck you while Reno listens, we need to stop.”

Abby almost sat up to look at him. His breath was coming hard and fast, as if he were panting. She should be embarrassed, but she wasn’t. Not yet. Not now. That might come later. Right now, her only concern was for Tah.

“Turning off now. Hold on there, buddy.”

She could hear the concern in Reno’s voice as well.

The truck stopped and Tah threw open his door, jerking the seat forward enough to pull her out after him.

“Just a sec,” she whispered. “I don’t have shoes on.” She hadn’t seen the point of keeping them on when she was just lying down.

Tah tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold and took off walking.

“What the fuck? Again?”

She buried her head in Tah’s back as Logan’s words reached her. She swore her senses were getting better too. She was almost certain her vision was better than 20/20 now. She could hear things she shouldn’t be able to pick up on because of the distance. Her sense of smell was off the charts, which wasn’t always a good thing. What worried her a little was the sensitivity of her skin. She was only soothed when Tah was touching her. Logan had brushed by her earlier, and she’d jerked away from him so quickly she almost fell.

It didn’t hurt. Not really. But there was a nausea inducing feeling that left her a bit clammy and shaken. It had disappeared as soon as Tah held her close. He had sensed something but hadn’t pressed when she told him nothing was wrong. The last thing she needed to do was upset him with the changes taking place in her. He had enough to deal with.

He stopped so suddenly she almost squeaked when he eased her off his shoulder and her feet hit the ground. She let herself keep going until she was on her knees in front of him. He’d walked them off into a wooded area, but she didn’t glance around. Her focus was completely on him.

“Abby,” he moaned her name.

“Shhh,” she soothed him. “Let me take care of you.”

She reached up and popped the button free then tugged the zipper down slowly over his erection. He wasn’t wearing underwear, and his cock thrust out as soon as she parted the material. She’d commented on it earlier, and he’d said his skin was sensitive. If he could be naked, he would be. She didn’t think Reno would be okay with that one.

All thought left her mind as her palm wrapped around him and drew the mushroomed head toward her mouth. A drop of pre-cum glistened there and she ran her tongue across him, tasting it before opening wide and sucking the head in. He groaned as she sucked, her palm rubbing up and down the shaft while her other hand slipped lower to caress the taut sac beneath.

His fingers sifted through her hair, gripping her scalp and holding her close as his hips began to move. God, he was hot, so hot, and she was suddenly ravenous for the taste of him.

“Abby.” Her name was a purr of pleasure this time. “You feel so good, baby. Suck my cock. Just like that, baby. Oh, yeah, use that tongue right there.”

She flicked her tongue under the head, finding the notch and tapping before swirling around the head again. She was squeezing his shaft now, squeezing and rotating her hand as she worked up and down. Tah was thrusting into her, fucking her mouth as he moaned.

She tried to pull back enough to notice a few things. His cock wasn’t changing physically while she used her mouth on him. What she felt when he was buried in her pussy only seemed to happen while he was there. Which made her believe the protrusions might have something to do with trying to stimulate her body into ovulating, just as the penile barbs did in the lion. When she was ovulating, would Tah’s penis become painful upon withdrawal just as a lion’s was?

“Abby, baby, I’m going to come,” Tah growled above her.

She sucked harder, her lips tightening as her hand pumped a bit faster up and down. His grip tightened, and she felt the tug at her scalp as her hair was pulled. She moaned around him, enjoying the pleasure/pain sensations it gave her.

He throttled back his roar as the first jet of his semen hit the roof of her mouth. She swallowed and used her tongue to rub the sensitive notch as he gave her more of his seed. His taste was unbelievable. Salty with a hint of something sweet. She couldn’t quite place her finger on what it reminded her off, but it was there in the back of her mind. Whatever it was, she craved it, couldn’t get enough of it.

He pulled back from her mouth, and she wasn’t surprised to see his cock still rock hard.

“Push your pants down,” he ordered. “Turn around on your hands and knees.”

She complied quickly, just as eager to feel him inside as he was to be there. What was happening to them? She should be sore, unable to keep going, to keep taking him. But she wasn’t. Hell, just a look from him and she was wet and ready to be mounted. And that’s exactly what he’d been doing today. Mounting her. Again and again and again.