The Dire Obsession (The Dire Universe #3)

Chapter 1

“I still dream about him, ya know? That whole mate-bond bullshit is true.” I take a long drag from my cigarette before tamping it out in the overflowing ashtray. It's not like they hurt me. I've healed from much nastier wounds almost instantly.

Some of the worst were from him.

Yet he still plagues my thoughts daily. Nearly twenty years have passed since I put a bullet through his skull, and every night I'm still wrapped in his arms, my body writhing in passion, wishing he was still here.

“What do you think makes it so strong?” Veronica stares blandly, her dark eyes void of any interest. She's asked these questions a million times. I bet she can practically recite my answers for me.

So I follow the script, and shrug my shoulders. “Hormones.” It's always my flippant reply.

How do I explain it’s the way his soft ears would lay flat as he buried his tongue between my legs? Or how he would kill anyone who tried to touch me?

The rough caresses that he gave, tinged with the blood on his claws when he grew too feral with his lust.

Fuck. I'm glad Veronica is just a human. I reek of my own arousal.

Wait, why is she unfolding her laptop?

This is new.

“I want to show you something.” Her lips thin to the point that their overly bright color disappears. “We found an occurrence, and need some new information.” She flips the screen around to reveal a grainy image that looks like it’s a still from a very shitty surveillance camera.

“What is this?” All I can see are varying shades of gray in odd proportions.

“Just watch.” She reaches across the keyboard, and with a single strike of the space bar, the picture begins to move.

At first it’s hard to discern what I’m looking at.

Then a massive form solidifies. Broad shoulders, erect ears, elongated feet and great big clawed hands that lash out, ripping a head clean off the torso of a human.

A half-breed.

An odd flutter races through me. Is it him?

No. Don’t be silly.

But he does look vaguely familiar.

The gaping mouth opens to reveal dagger length teeth that shred the arm of another stout man before the creature discards the carcass as if it’s garbage.

“What am I watching?” I’ve seen enough of this in person.

More than anyone would ever want to see.

My monster did this often. I got so used to him rending someone limb from limb in front of me, it no longer sickened me.

But it doesn’t mean I enjoy seeing it.

“What the hell was that?” I lean forward, jabbing my finger at the dark profile that moved into view. “Who is that?”

Can it be?

Veronica sits back, a smirk revealing the bright red gloss. “I thought you might recognize him. I need some help explaining what you’re going to see next.”

The dark haired man reaches out, flattening his palm against the face of another.

Oh no. I know what’s going to happen.

With a silent scream, the touched human clutches his cheek as if he’d been burned.

Except I know it isn’t fire.

It’s acid.

“I can tell you know him.” Veronica crosses her legs, letting her high heel dangle from her toes. “I know that’s your son.”

It’s a punch to my stomach to hear the word uttered.

Michael.

And he’s fighting with the wolves? Why isn’t he in Boise with Sam and Dani?

“If you can explain what he just did when he laid his hand on that man, I might share where this was.” Veronica taps another cigarette from her packet and offers it to me.

I’m not even addicted. They’ve just become a comfort mechanism…something to do in these grueling sessions.

“I don’t know why you’re even bothering.

You know the answer probably better than I do.

It was three types of DNA that went into the creation of that virus.

Dire wolf—” I gesture at the computer as another three dog mutants appear and dash across the view.

“—axolotl—” I wave my hand over my body.

That’s what gave me the rapid healing ability.

“—and jellyfish. Wouldn’t it make sense that someone got the best part of that concoction? ”

My poor little boy. He’s grown into a handsome man.

And fighting against humans.

Why?

I wish I had a way to reach out to Dani. She’d be able to tell me what is going on.

My eyes are fixed to the screen, hoping to see him again.

There’s a girl? They’re kissing!

My hand flies to my chest on its own and tears well.

He’s in love.

I’m struggling not to cry when Veronica slaps the screen shut. I have to remember, she isn’t my friend.

None of them here at this facility are. They tricked me to be here and use me as their very own blood factory.

“Tell me more about his father, and I may let you watch further.” Her notebook reappears on her lap by some mystical movement.

Or because my focus is still on the closed hard case in front of me.

Michael is alive. And he’s ferocious.

I hate that he was attacking people. What did they do?

“What do you want to know?” Desperation tinges my words. It’s been so long since I’ve seen my boy. There’s an ache in my chest, a fresh reminder that he’s out there in a world full of danger.

Some of the biggest threats smile from a leather overstuffed chair with a promise of fulfilling my heart’s desire.

Except I know she won’t.

“What makes him special? How did he create that?” She waves her wrist limply to the coffee table. “We’ve implemented a breeding program that continues to fail to replicate the results.”

Gross.

I hate how she says it that way. Like I’m an animal.

They’ve tried countless times to get me pregnant artificially, all in an attempt to create clones of my healing ability.

As far as I know, none have succeeded. It would be a special level of hell to be born into a place like this, harvested and used for parts.

I hate that my blood gives a temporary boost and acts like a cure-all for almost any illness.

Even as we talk I have a needle in my arm slowly draining me.

“I don’t know what you want me to say? His father is dead.” I killed him myself.

“I want a detailed physical description.” Her pen is poised and she blinks slowly, waiting for my response.

“Fur. Claws. And big ass teeth.” I’m done trying.

She’s not going to let me see any more of the cam footage. And I’m not participating in their little science experiments.

Her jaw clenches before she lets out an exasperated sigh. “I swear Jenny, sometimes it’s like you hate the human race. Don’t you want to help?”

I shift forward and snatch the pack of cigarettes off her lap. “Gosh, Veronica, it’s almost like you’re pretending to give two shits about me.”

The flare of the lighter stands between us for a moment before I replace it with a puff of acrid smoke.

There’s always that moment when I can catch the whiff of his burnt fur every time I light one.

His last act was to save me.

And I shot him for it.

“That went well?” Hudson’s nostrils flare when he greets me, the leather seams of his bullet proof vest creak from beneath his uniform.

He can’t hide his racing heart beat every time he sees me.

I won’t acknowledge it. Nor the fact I can hear his stiff inhale when I’m horny.

He knows.

No one else on the staff is supposed to be altered, they have a strict human policy.

Maybe it’s so there isn’t anyone who sympathizes with us, the test subjects.

But he’s managed to be here for years.

He’s also the only one who acts even slightly interested in me as a person.

Hmm. He could be a plant?

At this point, I really don’t care. There’s no one but him to talk to.

“I got to see a short video of my son.” I bounce happily next to him as he escorts me back to my room.

Jail cell.

The impervious prison where I wait for my next round of torture.

His amber eyes squint, matching the subtle rise to the corner of his mouth. It’s nearly impossible to see through his thick beard. “I still find it hard to believe he’s as old as you say he is. You look too young.”

“Forever eighteen,” I groan.

There’s a cursed side to my rapid healing. I never age.

“It’s not all bad. You could pass for a cheerleader.” His smile widens when he passes his key card over the pad next to my door.

“Do they even have those anymore? Or did they die with the rest of civilization?” So much has changed since the virus, I don’t think anything will ever be the same again.

“Hmm. I wouldn’t know. I rarely stalk high schools.” He runs his fingers through his whiskers and points to the touch of gray near his ear, kicking off a faint ammonia odor.

He must not know I can smell the dye on him, or zero in on the tiny powdering flakes that cling to each fiber of hair.

I wonder if he thinks I’m too stupid to notice?

Maybe once upon a time, when I really was a teenager, before Alex. But that was also prior to every synapse in my brain firing perfectly.

A secret I’ve never shared. It may come in handy someday.

“So why did Veronica show you that? She isn’t exactly known for her overly kind personality.” He settles over the stool in the corner, his thick thighs spreading as his feet brace him against the wall.

“She wanted more details about him.” I remember every inch of him, and how he felt.

Even the barbs that would lock him in place when he climaxed and the tiny bit of sting that would surge me to new heights of my own.

What I wouldn’t give to have him fill me one last time.

Fuck.

Hudson’s nostrils flare and I can hear his heart accelerate.

Ain’t gonna happen buddy. You’re one of the bad guys.

“What did you tell her?” He shifts, forcing his pressed pants into a deeper crease around his crotch.

I might torture him a little. One of these days I’ll push him too far and he may lose control.

That will be the day I try to escape.

Unplugging the IV that practically lives attached to me, I strip off my shirt and scrub pants, then flip on the shower.

When I turn, I’m fully naked in front of him. “I told her, what I do in the bedroom is my business.” My fingers thrum a rapid staccato over my tight nipples. “I don’t kiss and tell.”

His pause in breathing speaks volumes. The golden flecks of his irises widen until his pupil is a pinpoint of obsidian in a violent mahogany sea. “Jesus, Jen. You’re a cruel woman.” He shakes his head and runs his broad palm over his square jaw, then over his eyes.

Blinding himself with the cover of his fingers.

The chill of the tile slaps lightly against the soles of my feet as I pad closer to him and thread myself between his muscled calves to touch my lips to the back of his hand.

“I can be anything you want. It’s your rule that keeps you sitting there,” I whisper, kissing each knuckle before I flick my tongue between the length of his longest fingers.

“Haven’t you ever been tempted to—” I press my hips into the bulge of his crotch. “—take me?”

“Fuck,” he groans as a trickle of sweat hovers at his temple and crests along the silver tint of his beard. “Every. Fucking. Day.”

His hot palms grip my arms and he forcibly moves me out of his proximity, then he stands.

When I’m this close, he towers over me.

And once in a while, when he’s especially worked up like he is now, I catch the lightest of scent that reminds me of Alex.

It’s a toxic addiction, pushing Hudson to the point of cracking, just so I can catch the tail of the dragon…the high of a man I once knew.

A man whose cruelty knew no limits, but my body yearns for as if I can’t take another breath without him.

“I have to go, Jen. I’m glad you got to see your boy.” Hudson scrambles backwards, reaching for the keypad.

When I’m bathed in the silence of his departure, I replay the video over and over while I shower.

My son is a man, no longer a child. And he’s found his father’s kind.

I know that half-breed from the grainy footage. He once worked with Alexander.

That makes me feel better, knowing Michael has found a family who accepts him.

It’s freeing that I don’t have to worry about what I have to do next.