“Doc Martin’s.” Sherra’s voice was carefully cultured, smooth and cool.
“Get Doc out to the house as soon as possible. I have a problem.”
There was silence on the line.
“What kind?” she asked him worriedly.
“Physical. I need some tests. Just get out there.”
He hung the phone up before she could answer. He was throbbing, his flesh sensitive, his body demanding relief from the little journalist that tempted him so desperately. Lust wasn’t like that. He knew he was intensely sexual, more than a little driven in that area, and he knew it wasn’t like this. It didn’t drug, it didn’t intoxicate. It didn’t dig its claws into your loins, demanding satisfaction. Which meant it could be a problem. An instinctive, genetic problem only now showing itself. Shaking his head, he could only pray he was wrong as he headed for his truck and the peace of his home.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“It may take a few days.” Doc Martin, the only scientist left alive from the original five that had worked with the creation of Callan and the others, set the dozen or so vials in a small box and began to pack his instruments.
He had blood samples, saliva samples, hell, even more than one se**n sample. Despite the manual releases, though, Callan’s c**k still throbbed. His blood rushed through his veins and he couldn’t get the scent of that damned woman from his body.
“Any guesses?” Callan asked him.
Doc shrugged. “It could be anything, Callan, though I say we can safely narrow it down to a sexual problem. I won’t know anything conclusive until the tests are finished. And I need samples from the woman as well. You need to bring her here tonight, let me get those samples to test alongside yours.”
“No.” He couldn’t trust himself anywhere around her.
“From what you say, she’s affected as well, Callan,” Sherra stated from behind the doctor. “We need to know what’s going on. This isn’t just about you. It could affect all of us.”
The full Pride was assembled, the other three watched him somberly, more than a little concerned at the news of this new problem they were facing.
“Let’s wait and see what mine say. If she’s still experiencing this problem, then we’ll see,” Callan bit out.
“Until then, there’s no sense in alarming her.” No sense in tempting the lust raging between them.
“It’s dangerous enough that he’s had any reaction with a normal person,” Dayan said darkly. The cougar breed was brooding, his brown eyes unsettled, angry, his expression more savage than usual.
“We aren’t monsters, Dayan.” Beside him, Dawn, the youngest of the pride, also a cougar breed, protested softly.
“What do you call it, Dawn? Do you want to f**k a normal male and take the chance that your nature will destroy him?” Dayan sneered.
Callan watched Dawn flinch, her face paling, fear flashing across her expression.
“Enough,” Callan growled. “What’s happened to you, Dayan, that you would turn on the women now?
There is nothing to indicate we would hurt anyone.”
“She’s not normal. She has no business—”
A savage snarl erupted from Tanner’s throat. Bengal, unpredictable, and fiercely protective of the women, as a young male his temper often ran hot and impatient.
“Enough, dammit.” Callan came to his feet, staring at them all. Taber and Tanner had placed Dawn behind them and now faced Dayan, incisors showing, their expressions masks of anger.
“They’re at it again,” Sherra sighed. “It won’t go any further.”
“It should not be going on this far.” Callan turned to her angrily. “Is this what you do while I’m drawing the Council soldiers from our home? Fight amongst yourselves?”
“Only when Dayan attempts to take over,” Tanner burst out. “You left Taber in charge, he has no right to order us, or Dawn and Sherra.”
“He is getting out of hand, Callan,” Taber’s voice was less violent, but the potential of it throbbed just beneath the surface. The jaguar breed his DNA was mixed with could be calm and patient, or savagely aggressive.
“Dayan?” Callan questioned him, his voice hard.
Dayan shook his head. “We are not normal.” He seemed more subdued now, backing down from the others. “It’s insanity to pretend we are.”
“None of us attempt to pretend that we are normal.” Callan raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “Go home. See if you can find your patience before tomorrow night. I want you and Taber patrolling the ridge for soldiers. We can’t let down our guard, especially now.”
Other than a brief nod, Dayan did little to respond before he turned and stomped from the room.
“Dawn?” The young woman still seemed to cower behind Tanner and Taber. “Come out of there, little sister. Why would you still be frightened?” Because shadows and memories tore at her, tormented her. He knew well why she feared.
She moved from the safety of the other two men, glancing back at Taber as though for reassurance.
“Dayan is trying to force her to move in with him,” Sherra said as she began to help Doc pack their supplies. “His desire for her frightens her.”
Dawn paled. Callan breathed a weary sigh. There were days he wondered if they would survive with their sanity in tact.
“Take her home with you, Sherra,” Callan ordered. “I don’t want her left alone.”
He ignored Dawn’s look of surprised thankfulness.
“Keep her there,” he continued. “I’ll have my hands full running Ms. Tyler off. I need no other worries.”
“Good luck,” Doc said as he studied a page from the thick notebook he had stolen from the lab years ago.
“What have you found?” Callan frowned, easing closer.
Jacob Martin shook his head worriedly, his lined face creasing into a scowl as he read the information he had found.
“There was a case of this, with the first Leo created, about ten years before you. He was kept in another location. This occurred with a female scientist, actually.” He turned worried eyes to Callan. “It affects not just you, Callan, but the woman as well. The two of you are in a ‘mating frenzy’.”
“Mating frenzy?” Callan asked carefully.
“I must have missed this, because you’ve never displayed these symptoms before.” The scientist shook his head in confusion. “It’s just a small notation, really. The Leo and the female were destroyed, so there were no tests done regarding the phenomena. But extreme sexual distress, fevered conditions, heightened senses, the ability to scent the female’s arousal, were all notated. The scientist labeled it as ‘mating frenzy’. A condition similar to that of feline animals.”