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Dayan’s lips curled, and Callan nearly lost his control again.
“Get outside and patrol the house if you can’t contribute something to this conversation.” Callan stalked to the coffee pot, pouring a large mug and fighting for composure.
He heard a chair scrape eerily over the wood floor. Seconds later, the back door slammed with window rattling force.
“Anyone else?” he asked without turning around. Silence greeted the question.
He turned back to them, seeing the concern on their faces.
“Kane’s Special Forces,” Taber informed him quietly. “A higher quality than those buffoons the Council keeps sending out. His brothers aren’t slouches either. He’s trained them. They’ll find the house. They’ll come in loaded to hell and back to take her.”
“I figured that already,” Callan snarled.
He knew everything there was to find out about the family. Seven brothers and her father, each man confident, strong. They were arrogant and commanding forces to be reckoned with alone. Together, they would be a small army.
“If he takes her, or if he kills you, she’ll suffer,” Dr. Martin spoke up. “The withdrawal won’t go away according to my tests, Callan.”
“What about your theory on conception?” Callan quizzed him sharply.
Dr. Martin shrugged. “The hormone produced only during pregnancy slows it down, but little else. What worries me is the effect your hormones are having on her contraceptives. It counteracts them. And somehow, someway, a minute amount of your sperm has become perfectly normal. There’s a chance, albeit slim, that she could conceive at any time.”
Callan rubbed at his neck wearily. More complications, more test results that did little to help them.
“We need to meet with her brothers before this goes any further,” Taber said worriedly. “We can’t take a chance with you, Callan. Or with her.”
“Let her call them, Cal,” Sherra advised on the end of Taber’s statement. “They have to be terrified for her. She’s their baby sister. John’s child. Maria would have hated this.” The reminder of his surrogate mother and her devotion to John Tyler pierced at him.
“It wouldn’t hurt to let her call,” Taber agreed. “Let her arrange for them to meet with Doc before they come in like the damned Marines. Merinus won’t thank you if you hurt one of them.” She would likely try to kill him herself, he grimaced.
“Maybe you’re right,” he sighed. “Maybe it would calm her down some. She’s like a damned volcano ready to erupt.”
“And when she does, it’s your ass that’s gonna get burned,” Sherra told him with little sympathy. “Your attitude with her sucks.”
Callan frowned.
“It’s normal.” Doc grinned. “The mating ritual of all animals. The males fight for dominance over their females. Human males have lost the fight in the past generations with feminism and equal rights and getting in touch with their sensitive sides,” he snickered. “Callan’s DNA refuses to allow him the choice in dominating her. It’s part of his genetic code.”
Callan snarled. Just what he needed, a fucking scientific explanation of the problem.
“Great,” Taber muttered. “Just what we needed to know.”
And the need to dominate was growing worse. Callan’s fight with his needs, his sexual desires, was a constant battle now.
“I’ll need more samples from Merinus after your next, um, association.” The doctor cleared his throat, ignoring Callan’s look of amazement at his choice of words. “As her body reacts so violently to any touch but yours, I suggest you come with her.”
“I guess I’m here for the night again then,” Sherra yawned, stretching tiredly. “So I’m heading on to bed.”
“Me too.” Dawn, the most silent of the group, rose from her seat.
She carried her cup to the sink, rinsed it, then set it in the basin.
“Let’s go, Tanner.” Taber was on his feet, slapping Tanner on the back as he rose. “Time to go to work.”
“Yeah, work,” Tanner grumbled, but there was no hesitation in his movements. “Man, remind me when I get all dominant to find a woman that doesn’t argue. You could hear Merinus cursing Callan all through that forest.”
“Watch your mouth,” Callan ordered darkly.
Tanner grinned, lifted his hand in a friendly salute and followed Taber out the kitchen door. The house was silent now, emptied of the Pride and their worries, concerns and affections. It left Callan feeling tense, almost alone. The feeling left him longing for Merinus. Not just sexually, but for her companionship, the measure of understanding he had found in her, despite her anger.
