Chapter 7

Lycan Island

Vivienne watched through the window as the Lycans raced across the crushed greenery between the barracks, the smaller boys shrieks of enjoyment piercing through the windows and bringing a smile to her face. It had been a good idea, she thought, to let the adult males interact with the children. The adults were surprisingly gentle for such big men – but she knew that from her own experience.

There was a knock on the door, and she turned, leaning her hips against the window frame as Captain Xavier Williams entered. Not as well put together, she thought with amusement, as he had been when he had dismounted the helicopter just over a month before. His boots were scuffed, his t-shirt torn, and there were stains of green on the knees of his cargo-pants. His hair was growing out of its rigid military cut and was beginning to curl at the end where it brushed his ears, and his jaw held several days worth of stubble. He had dirt on his cheek, and a hickey on his neck.

A handsome man, with clever dark eyes over high cheekbones, and a tightly muscled body, she could understand his appeal to 12412.

"Captain Williams, thank you for making the time to meet with me," she pushed off the windowsill and moved to the sitting area.

"Ma am," the Captain followed her and perched on the cushion of an armchair, uncomfortable in her office despite its blandness. He treated it like the drawing room, she thought, of an Austin novel. She wanted to assure him that he wouldn t break the china but wasn t sure he would understand her intention.

"I wanted to thank you for your efforts with the Lycans," she said. "Commander White was right to pull you in. The Lycans needed someone that they could relate to."

"I can t exactly take credit," he replied with a wry smile, the tension easing from him. "If I can be blunt, ma am, if Axl hadn t wanted to f-k me, I don t think I would have been as successful persuading them out of the forest."

She laughed. "Well, thank goodness he wanted to f-k you, then," she relaxed as well, leaning back in the chair. "What has been done to these men, Xavier, is a travesty and a crime. I know you have seen the reports, but I also know that they were heavily redacted due to my father s influence on the board, so I wanted to be absolutely up front with you considering the level of your involvement.

"Fifty years ago, Thornton Medical was a small, struggling fertility clinic and rather than disposing of out of date or unwanted embryos they began experimenting on them. Embryos are full of useful things to scientists you see, like stem cells.

"They set out to create a cure for diseases, grow organs and the like. They struck pharmaceutical gold with a cure for cancer. They were very secretive about how they managed to produce the serum, but it s efficacy cannot be denied. I have been inoculated," she said to him. "As a former soldier, I am sure that you have been too."

"Yes," he agreed. "It is cheaper to inoculate soldiers than to pay for the treatment once the disease takes hold. Saves on healthcare."

"The serum is made from Lycans," she told him. "It is, basically, Lycan stem cells from embryos that were never allowed to reach maturity. But, as these things tend to go, one day, on purpose or otherwise, someone let the embryos go a bit too far, and instead of the grotesque monsters they had expected would result, they grew super-soldiers. Faster, stronger, fast to heal, resilient to disease, biochemical weapons, and radiation.

"My grandmother and grandfather argued over the ethicality of deliberately growing Lycans for the very lucrative super-soldier market, and they parted ways. My grandmother started Thornton Experimental as a result, a very secretive business but very well known in the circles where their products were desirable.

"Ten years ago, my father was posted in Estray," she saw the flicker in his eyes. Estray had been tangled in a savage civil war for as long as Xavier could remember. "I know you were posted in the area and were shot in a battle there," she acknowledged. "My father is a diplomat, which is why we were there."

"Yes, I know the name. Richard Thornton. He is also on the board of directors managing the funds allocated to the Lycans and this facility," Xavier leaned his elbows on his knees. "Go on."

"We lived in a secured, gated community. One of the maids had a daughter my age, Lucia. We became friends. There weren t many people my age within the community, so there wasn t much option for friendships," she explained. "I didn t know it at the time, but Lucia s sister had been abducted from their home. The area is rife with criminal organizations and there s a big trade in young girls."

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly. "We broke up quite a few brothels during my time there."

"Lucia made a deal. Me for her sister. She persuaded me to go nightclubbing with her and drugged me. I woke in..." her fingers went to her cheek worrying her scar. "Hell. They wanted a ransom for me. Gave my father three days to pay it or they would start cutting parts from me."

They had given her the scar to prove to her father that they were serious.

"On the government advice, all diplomats tie up their funds so that they aren t so attractive to abduct and hold for ransom and, as a result, my father could not access the amount the kidnappers wanted within the time period specified, so he appealed to my grandmother for help. On the second day, a single man broke into the building where they were holding me, killing everyone inside, and saved me. I owe him a debt.

"That man was Thornton Experimental Lycan super-soldier 5129. That was just over two years ago now," she leaned forward and met his eyes. "I guess you could say that everything that I have done has been for him. But this is only just beginning, Xavier. The Lycans are a long way from where the need to be."

"I have been speaking to Axl about the need for Lycans to control their own finances," Xavier said slowly.

"Yes," she agreed. "We cannot leave their finances with the board of directors for ever. I want the Lycans to decide for themselves where and how their money is spent. I want them to decide how they want to live. And I want them to have the option of making families, Xavier," she rose and went to the window, looking out at the playing Lycans. "I don t want their future to end with those young boys."

"Big aspirations," Xavier followed her to the window. "We started a sex ed class today," he slid her a look out of the corner of his eye. "That was interesting. Some of them had seen human women on their missions but hadn t realised what they were. Strange looking human males, was Axl s description," he was amused. "He doesn t understand the appeal."

"I want to bring more women here," she said quietly. "It feels a bit like match making, but I think they should have the option. I wanted to know what you thought of that?"

He sighed and leaned his shoulder against the wall, looking out the window. "The Lycans have a different view of sex to humans," he said slowly. "Perhaps because there can be no unexpected pregnancies amongst a bunch of guys, and they re immune to sexually transmitted disease. They f-k in the same way we might eat cake - just because we fancy having it. There is no stigma, no self-consciousness, no modesty and absolutely no inhibitions," he chuckled. "Add to it their unfamiliarity to women s anatomies, any human female that you brought here would be in for a bit of shock."

"An interesting problem," she sighed.

"Seems to me, that there s nothing like a bit of personal experience," he raised an eyebrow. "You can t hide in the cub barracks forever, Vivienne. You did all this for 5129. Maybe you should come out and say hello to him sometime?"

Easier said than done, Vivienne thought after the Captain had left her. She leaned her forehead against the glass. She knew that 5129 was out there, in the forest, in one of the classes, or running through the crumpled grasses around the barracks, but she was afraid, she admitted to herself.

She had spent two hours with him and obsessed about him for two years as a result. To have come so far and be so close to him, and for their meeting to fizzle... In a way she would prefer to cling to the fantasy that risk losing it.

She worked late, answering emails, and preparing reports, and it was dark out the window when she turned off her computer, the barracks lights were out, and the night was silent. Her favourite time of the day, she thought, when the tropical island was her own. She turned for the door and found it blocked, her heart staggering for a moment before she recognised the male that stood there.

She put a hand on the back of the office chair, fearing that her knees would give. He was more beautiful than her memory of him, she thought. His golden-brown hair had been tied back beneath a helmet when he had rescued her, and his goggles had stolen the true-blue of his eyes. His body armour had hidden his body, but she remembered his height and the width of his shoulders accurately, the strength of his jaw and the hollows of his cheeks.

His lips were just perfect. She had imagined what they would feel like against hers for so long that she could almost taste him on her tongue.

"Don t be afraid," he said. "12412 s pet human suggested that I come."

"It is good to see you again 5129," she replied not sure if she should thank or curse Captain Xavier Williams for his interference. "I am so pleased that you did."

He stepped into the office, his eyes on hers, cautious and careful. "Vivienne Thornton," he murmured. "I remember you."

"I remember you too," she was going to cry, she thought.

"You do not leave the cub barracks," he had his hand on the door, but did not close it. "I am not permitted here."

"You are now," she told him.

"That is what 12412 s pet said."

It amused her that they considered the impressive Captain Xavier Williams to be 12412 s pet, she thought. "Do you," she asked him, hesitantly and not used to being so upfront, but remembering what Xavier had said about sex for the Lycans. "Do you want me, 5129?"

His eyes caught the light, showing the shimmer of their reflective surface in sheens of green and gold. "Female," he purred it, a rumble from his chest as he stepped closer.

"Yes," she barely breathed it.

He was close enough that she could feel the heat of him against her skin, smell the herbal scent of the soap that the Lycans preferred, and something deeper, and darker that caused a throb of need within her. He leaned over her and inhaled, his eyes almost closing as if he savoured the scent. "You smell the same," he murmured.

She placed a hand on his chest, and he opened his eyes and looked down at her hand. His hand close around her wrist lifting it from his chest so that he could set her hand palm to palm with his much larger one.

"Small," he observed. "And soft." He placed his hand on her chest, a mirror image to how she had done, his palm cupping her breast. She moaned, leaning into the touch and his purr increased. "Very soft," he said, and moved his hand to ease the fabric of her shirt from her waistband.

She lifted her arms, assisting him to remove the shirt, still fully buttoned, as if it were a t-shirt.

He dropped the shirt onto the chair and scrutinized her bra. She slid the straps from her shoulders and reached behind to release the hooks, catching the bra as it fell from her, and dropping it onto the chair.

"Mmm," he stroked his hand up her rib cage and cupped her breast again, stroking his thumb over her nipple. "Show me the rest," he demanded and lifted his t-shirt off, dropping it onto the chair with her shirt and bra.

She swallowed hard. He was stunning, she thought, every muscle perfect from the round of his shoulders to the hollow line between his stomach muscles that begged her to trace her finger through to his belly button.

"Alright," she agreed and stepped out of her shoes, causing him to exclaim and bend over to pick one up. She laughed. "They make you taller," she explained.

"You are very short." He turned the high heel shoe over and shook his head in bemusement. "Unnatural," was his comment as he set it back to the ground.

She released the button on her trousers and slid them down her hips, taking her underwear down with them so that she stepped out of the crumple of material naked.

He stroked a hand down from her ribcage following the hollow of waist to the flare of hip. She turned gathering her hair over one shoulder, giving him permission to look, before turning again to face him.

He slid his tracksuit pants down. Large all over, she thought as his c-ck sprung free, and not immune to the female body from the size of his erection. He watched her, waiting for her to look her fill.

"You are very handsome," she told him, closing her hand over his c-ck. He groaned, his eyes closing. She stepped into him, trapping his c-ck between them. "Will you kiss me 5129?" She whispered.

His eyes opened and he leaned down, touching his lips to hers, his breath warm, the movement bringing their skin together. She traced the line of his lips with her tongue, and he opened for her, his tongue meeting hers. He knew how to kiss and pulled her closer against him as he demonstrated just how good he was at it.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers in his hair, and pressed her body against him, feeling him moan. His hand held her against him as he lowered her onto the floor, covering her body with his, his c-ck settling naturally against her so that when he rocked his hips instinctually, his tip slid through her folds.

He pulled back to look, and she fought her inhibitions, letting her hips fall open, exposing her to him. He explored her with his fingers, the rough pads making her moan. "This bit here?" He zeroed in on her clitoris.

"Yes, oh, god," she breathed as he touched her. "It s like the tip of your c-ck, where all the nerves are."

"Feels good to be touched," he noted his eyes lifting to her face. "And here," he sank a finger into her. "Is where I am meant to be. Very soft there, warm, and wet. It will feel good," he decided, lifting over her. "Easier than with another male," he commented as he pushed into her.

"Oh, f-k," she arched under him. For a big guy, he entered smoothly, lubricated with pre-cum, and sank to the hilt in one stroke so that her body went from empty to very full far too fast for it to acclimate, clenching around him.

His groan was filthy. "F-k," he gasped and pulled out in order to drive back into her. "This is..." He didn t have the word for it and began to thrust against her. She wrapped her legs around his hips and drew his mouth back to hers. His face contorted, his eyes closing, his focus on where their bodies joined.

"Oh," she whispered as her body responded to his, and he made a sound that was more animal than man, before crying out as she came, pushing deep and following, with a startled sound of pleasure.

"What was that?" He groaned as he sank over her. "That felt..."

"I came," she didn t know whether to laugh or feel embarrassed by his bewilderment. "I m sorry. You probably haven t felt that before."

"No," he agreed lifting onto his elbows his eyes wide and his smile slow and wicked. "But it was good. I want to feel it again."