She was gasping for breath, her face streaked with tears as her arms wrapped around his shoulders with a desperate grip.
She screamed again, her back trying to bow, the straps across her waist and chest holding her firmly to the chair.
“She’s not in any danger.” Elizabeth was beside him now. “We’re monitoring all her vital signs. The minute her system shows any danger to her, we’ll stop.”
Kiowa shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it.
“The sperm is attempting to fertilize the egg that dropped. There’s a small hormonal barrier or shield blocking it. Protecting it from fertilization. But it’s weak. Other hormones are releasing into her blood, heightening the arousal. That’s what’s causing the pain. It’s not you touching her…” Elizabeth continued.
“It’s the mating heat’s demand for more sperm, a stronger force to break through the shield. Dr. Grace is attempting to get small quantities of the hormone at a time, to keep from weakening the shield too much to handle the stress against it. It weakens the sperm, Kiowa. Keeps it from getting to the egg. Only a minute amount of that sperm is viable anyway, because of the advanced genetics. That’s why the mating heat is demanding intercourse. A greater quantity of sperm to break that barrier. This is a breakthrough we can’t ignore. It was a miracle she came to the labs when she did. Dr. Grace detected the change in her blood immediately, just from the studies she’s done on mine and Merinus’s. This could be what we’ve waited for…”
Her voice droned on over Amanda’s gasps and strangled cries. Amanda was sweating profusely, her skin cold and pale as she shuddered in his grip then tried to arch in agony as a wail echoed around him.
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear then, unable to hold the words back, to stem the agony ripping inside his heart. “Let me stop this, Amanda. Let me take you out of here.”
“No.” She gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders as convulsive tremors shook her body. “Have to. Have to. For both of us, Kiowa.”
“We’re almost done, Amanda.” Dr. Grace’s voice was tear-roughened, and Kiowa hated realizing that.
“Just a little bit more.”
“The viable sperm have nearly exhausted themselves,” Dr. Martin reported. “As soon as you’re finished, extract the camera. If the rest break through, then it’s God’s will.”
God’s will. Nature’s curse.
Kiowa clenched his teeth as Amanda screamed out in agony again.
“Kiss me, Kiowa,” she cried out then. “Please I hate this. I hate sounding like this. Make me stop.”
“Ah God. Baby…” His lips covered hers, his tongue plunging inside her as she met him with a desperation that broke his heart.
Her lips sucked at his tongue and he tasted the release of the hormone, filled her mouth with it and gave her what she needed. He muffled her screams, held her to his chest and did all he could to comfort her when he wanted to do nothing more than kill those hurting her.
“My God…” Dr. Grace’s voice was ecstatic. “My God. Dr. Martin, look at that. Do you see the change? It’s a new hormone. My God, we’re going to crack this.”
Kiowa didn’t give a damn what they were doing. Amanda was kissing him as though both their lives depended it, and though she still flinched and shuddered with pain, at least those agonized cries had been smothered.
She was sleeping. Finally. Hours later, Kiowa carried Amanda into the cabin, laid her gently in the bed they had shared and pulled the blankets around her. She had finally escaped the pain the only way she could. She had passed out.
Sitting beside her, he smoothed her hair back from her face before leaning down to kiss her lips gently. He didn’t know what the hell had happened in that lab, but both scientists had begun shouting orders back and forth, babbling about additional samples, blood and new hormones. He didn’t give a damn. He just wanted her out of there, away from the pain she had deliberately inflicted on herself.
“I’m okay…” Her voice was hoarse as her eyes opened weakly, her lashes fluttering against her cheeks.
“Yeah. You are,” he whispered, his hand smoothing over her hair as he gazed down at her bleakly. What the hell was he going to do without her? If they created a hormonal block, or even a cure for the mating heat, how would he survive losing her?
“I had to do it, Kiowa,” she said then, her eyes reflecting her own inner turmoil. He could see the battle waging within her, though he had no idea what it was over.
He breathed in deeply.
“Dash managed to unearth the Council reports on my mother,” he said softly, staring down at her, knowing he couldn’t hold her forever. “She wasn’t just held and artificially inseminated. When it was realized she wouldn’t conceive, evidently one of her guards raped her…and mated her.” He swallowed tightly. “I never intended to force you into this. I kissed you because you were going to scream. I continued because I couldn’t stop. I would do it again.”
A weak smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
“No excuses, huh?” she asked then.
“None.” He didn’t believe in them.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, Kiowa,” she said, her eyes drooping sleepily. “Now, I do want to go home…” The end of what she would have said slurred slowly until sleep took her. She fell asleep as she shattered his soul.
He leaned down, kissed her soft lips and breathed in roughly.
“I love you, Mate,” he whispered then. “I’ll always love you.”
Then he stood and walked to the dresser. Ovulation was over, there would be relief for her, at least for a while. Long enough he prayed, for her to forgive him, but he doubted it. There were few things to pack. He didn’t own a lot. His guns, his knives, the tools of his trade. A few changes of clothes, his jacket. He was packed within the hour and standing on the porch steps, once again staring back at Dash Sinclair.
“Did she conceive?” Kiowa asked, his voice controlled. Calm.
“There was no conception.” Dash crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Kiowa’s duffel bag.
“The additional hormone is looking like a blocker,” he reported. “According to preliminary tests, it could be used to ease the effects of the mating heat. It could be years before we’re certain though. Dr. Grace doesn’t think she retrieved enough to actually make any headway.”