Styx's Storm (Breeds 16)

His release spurted hard and with a blaze of ecstasy from the head of his cock, filling her, sending a surge of fiery heat racing through his body.

But the completion fell short of the need. His cock jerked and throbbed, semen spilling into her as pleasure raked across his nerve endings. But still, that something was missing. The ache of the throb in the center of his shaft refused to abate, refuse to allow him to forget that for some reason, he couldn't mate his mate.

As night spread a black velvet cloak over the mountains, the fog lifting from the cool mountain lake to create a froth of mystery around the small community of Haven, Styx made his way to the base of the mountain and the cabin that sat close to the entrance of the Breed scientific facility. Trailing fingers of the shifting moisture eased into the trees, wrapped around them like a lover and created a sense of comfort as Styx moved along the path that led away from the main block of homes to the home of Dr. Nikki Armani.

The door was open, soft light spilling from the kitchen as Dr. Armani sat at the kitchen table surrounded by stacks and piles of hard copy files that had been taken from various labs during the Breed rescues.

The human doctor had worked with Breeds since she was barely more than a girl. A genius in genetic sequencing and the complications of merging human and animal DNA, she was considered a treasure by the Council, and the Wolf Breeds' only hope to understand their own unique DNA and the phenomenon of mating heat.

Unlike Feline Breeds, Wolf Breed mates rarely conceived. There were few children to compensate for the dangers of mating heat and the cost of hiding the decrease in aging that came with it.

"Styx?" She looked up, the darkened features of her face tightening in concern as she rose to her feet. "Is everything okay?"

Hell no, it wasn't.

"It's getting worse." He cleared his throat, uncertain how to actually voice the fact that he still couldn't seem to mate his mate.

"Come in, I'll fix a cup of decaf coffee and I'll tell you what I've been working on"

"No coffee, Nikki." He shook his head as he paused at the entrance to the kitchen. "You have to tell me what the hell is going on here before this need makes me insane."

She stared back at him as she stood at the table for long moments. Finally, she nodded slowly. "Have the symptoms grown worse yet? The tests we've done show compatibility for mate, and there are minute quantities of the mating hormone in your saliva and semen. It should have progressed by now."

"The glands beneath my tongue have gone from an itch to a damned ache, but they haven't swollen. I've a damned hard-on that's driving me fucking insane, and the pressure of the mating knot that never emerges during sex," he stated as she frowned back at him. "Nikki, this is wearing at my control here. It's all I can do not to lose my mind when I'm with her. Hell, I can barely think long enough to get our damned clothes off."

Hell, this was harder than he had thought it would be. He didn't want to stand here and state his continued failure to claim his mate to anyone, let alone the Breed scientist in charge of figuring out why there would be a failure to begin with.

"The glands ache?" She rubbed at her ear, a gesture that bespoke her confusion. "That's not common. The glands normally swell. Does she have any symptoms?"

"A few." Pushing his hands wearily through his hair, he breathed out roughly. "The faintest scent of chocolate and cinnamon. Tonight, there was a subtle scent of heat, but it receded before she found her release."

"Abstaining as I suggested didn't work then? Nor did it make the need greater?" she asked.

"For me." He grimaced. "She doesn't refuse me, but damn, Nikki," he growled, "I can all but hear her cursing because the pleasure is more than she wants to reject. She wants me, but I feel she hates the fact that she does."

No matter how hard he'd tried, he couldn't quiet the need to take her, to come, to pump inside her until maybe he could force that final satisfaction free.

Tonight though, as she'd turned her back to him and wrapped her arms around herself, he'd wondered if she was lying there flaying herself for giving in to the hunger.

She hadn't cried, there had been no scent of pain, but what he had sensed, a dark, confused emotion, had tightened his chest with the need to ease her.

Nikki crossed her arms over her breasts, rather as he had seen Storme do when she was trying to figure something out, or when she was considering her next smart-assed crack.

"How far has intimacy gone?" she finally asked.

"As far as it can go," he growled, deciding to jump in rather than ease in painfully. "The glands ache as though they're blocked. My flesh is sensitive, like a slight tingle beneath the skin. The need for her is always present, but not painful, and I can feel the knot forming, but it never emerges. As far as I can tell, she has none of the symptoms."

Nikki blinked back at him in disbelief, and he was damned if he could blame her. He was confused as hell himself.

Pushing his fingers through his hair again, he blew out another hard, rough breath. "I don't know what the hell is going on, Nikki, but I know Jonas. He's making threats to go before the Breed Cabinet to place her under Breed Law. He's determined to force her to give up any information she has, and I can't allow him to take her. You have to prove the mating compatibility if nothing else."

Disbelief still filled her face.

"Proving compatibility isn't a problem, Styx, but none of this makes sense. According to the tests I've conducted, both of you should be in full mating heat." She shook her head. "You can't almost mate your mate."

"Then explain it," he snarled, feeling the imperative demand of the Wolf howling inside him. "She's mine, Nikki, I know she is. The animal senses it, but mating heat is just out of reach. Explain to me what the hell is going on before it makes me insane."

He had tried staying away from her. He had considered attempting to find another lover, but the thought of that brought nothing but distaste. He was spending the better part of his time trying to figure out how to block Jonas rather than figuring out what the hell was going on with his own body. Not that he had any answers there either.