Marie Harte - Roane

“Oh, wow.” Caitlyn hadn’t seen them change before. It was like looking at a giant predator on two legs. Ace looked beastlike, with darker, harder skin, claws, and fangs to complete the package. His features broadened, roughened, but still looked enough like Ace to see that he was the same man. He stood at least two feet taller than her own five-seven. Then he released his own scent…

“Enough,” Roane roared and stepped in front of Caitlyn, so close, she could lean forward and touch him. “change back. Now!”

Ace growled. Roane spoke again in a low voice. “Kelly’s just a few rooms away.” Ace shook his head, growled and groaned, but eventually shifted back into his normal form.

“Good Christ, Doc. If she can do that with a little bit, she could take us out if she really wanted to.” Hale wiped his forehead and took several deep breaths.

“That’s the change?” she asked in a thick voice. “Ace looked like something out of a comic book. Like a bronzed Hulk, but scarier.”

“The claws and fangs were designed with defense in mind,” Doc rasped. “Goodness, Caitlyn. I hadn’t realized how potent you are.”

“It never used to work this well,” she admitted.

“Must be your maturation into a true Circ that’s amped your potential, then. Very impressive.”

She noticed the men had yet to relax and still circled her. Roane refused to budge.

When she tried to push him aside, he hissed at her, “Dammit. Don’t touch me now. Not unless you want to be flat on your back with an audience.”

“Roane.” She flushed and backed away. “Doc, what did you want me to prove with that demonstration? And why the hell am I wearing this nightshirt?” The fact she wore nothing beneath couldn’t be helping.

“So that you’ll be covered when you change.”

“When I change? You’re going to teach me to control it, right?” She had partially shifted yesterday, recalling her large arm, that foreign hand that was hers and yet not.

“I wanted everyone to see your differences before they see you again in your other state.” Doc sounded like himself again, though his face was pinker than usual. He said to the group, “The few female Circs I know of were either born Circ or injected with the Circe serum at an early age. Caitlyn has abilities you five don’t. Since I’m not privy to Pearson’s files on her, I can only conjecture. I assume that because the virus was passed down from one generation to the next, it had time to adapt. Caitlyn never experienced psychological jags, did you, dear?”

“Um, no.”

“No overwhelming need to harm another? To fulfill your base desires?”

“No. Well, not until recently.” Embarrassed to admit it, she reminded herself that she was in a laboratory. Doc needed to know everything, so he could help her. “You mentioned yesterday that I’d already fully changed. I don’t remember it. And I don’t understand this mating heat you’re talking about. But I’ve felt more, ah, more…”

“Horny?” Hale offered.

“Hale,” Roane warned.

“Yeah.” She blew out a breath. “Actually, it comes and goes. Last night…” She paused and watched Roane tense in front of her. “Last night, Roane said I called him. But I didn’t realize I had.”

“She didn’t call me,” Derrick muttered.

“Me either.” Hale sighed.

Doc stared from Roane to Caitlyn. “Interesting. Roane, what did you sense?” Roane rolled his neck on his shoulders and allowed her to stand by his side, but he refused to put more than a few inches between them. “I was going to go to bed early.” The others voiced their disbelief. “I swear. I was almost to my door when I felt a sudden instinctual urge to go to her. Then I caught her scent.” His eyes darkened, from brown to black. “I thought for sure the rest of you would be on her.” On me? What the hell? From the looks on the others’ faces, Roane was suggesting they all wanted to, what, fuck her?

“Instead, I found her with Kelly. She never changed, just sent out that sweet fucking perfume.”

“And then?” Doc just had to ask.

“And then we spent the night together. Just her and me. Mine.” Roane ended on a growl.

“I knew she was going to be trouble,” Derrick said. “Just knew it.”

“But it wasn’t a mating heat, and none of the rest of you experienced this need?” Doc asked and began typing madly into a nearby computer. “This suggests Caitlyn actively sought out one of you. Not a mating heat. A selection.”

“What exactly is this ‘mating heat’?” She wanted to know, trying hard to overcome her embarrassment. Now it was out in the open. Everyone knew what she’d done -- who she’d done -- last night. Strangely, talking about all this sex was revving her engines again. She clenched her arms tightly across her chest, hiding her erect nipples.

“The mating heat is a hormonal call to procreate. Both genders of Circs experience it monthly or bimonthly. The squad shouldn’t have gone through their next heat for another two weeks, at least. But yesterday, you pushed them into one.”

“I did?”

“Yes, you did.” Doc turned from the computer.

“Doc,” Roane started.

“No, Roane. She has a right to know.” Doc faced Caitlyn. “My dear, I expect this is perfectly normal at your particular stage in growth. Nothing to be concerned or embarrassed about.”

“I did something yesterday I can’t remember, didn’t I?”

“You sure did,” Derrick said under his breath. “And I hope you’ll do it again.”

“Tell us what happened when you escaped from the PPA agents.” Thrown by the change in subject, Caitlyn reluctantly told them. “I turned my scent on them full blast. Simon stepped away, and I took my chance. I suddenly had a burst of speed and strength, and I ran faster than I ever have in my life down the street. I tried to lose them by heading toward the outdoor mall. That’s when I ran into you guys.” She took a deep breath. “I remember being afraid, feeling overwhelmed. And then nothing.” Not nothing. As she stood there, something within her woke. A slumbering consciousness, an instinctive part of her that both soothed and frightened her. Its power was enormous and familiar.

She saw herself swiping at Roane, clawing at his chest and arms with inhuman hands.

Felt herself carried into the vehicle. Then nothing until she saw Roane again, a perfect beast in his prime. He chased her, he caught her, and then…

“You.” She gasped and stared at Roane. “You took me, there in that yard.”

“I sure as hell did.” He didn’t try to deny it, startling her. “You were beautiful, baby. So dark, so strong.” His breath grew raspy. “So mine.”

Like that, the rest of her memories rushed back. Of having raw sex with Derrick and Hale, of swallowing Roane, that perfect essence that satisfied her need to mate. The strongest, the best. She needed Roane. The others she would take to remind him that she could. But he would be the one she ultimately chose.

“What’s happening to me?” Caitlyn groaned as lust swamped reason. Her bones and joints ached. Unlike yesterday, she wasn’t flashing in and out of another form. Now she experienced a full-body transformation. It didn’t feel good. It damn well hurt.

Caitlyn roared her displeasure until she shed the weak flesh and bone holding her back. Her body filled out, her face lengthened in proportion to the growth around the rest of her skull. Her shoulders held up the shirt now binding her breasts, rubbing against the engorged nipples, needing freedom. The entirety of her system became something more as she blinked and stared at four males she planned to work through before savoring the fifth.

The one who belonged to her.