New Species 01 Fury (34 page)

Justice and Tom walked ahead of Ellie and Fury. Fury released her hand and put his arm around her waist. His body shielded her from a lot of the cameras. The press shouted out questions they purposely ignored since Tom had prepared them well.

Ellie took a seat between Fury and Trisha Norbit. Ellie was grateful to be next to the woman. Trisha squeezed Ellie’s hand under the table and flashed a brave smile. Ellie squeezed Fury’s hand. His other hand covered hers so he held it between both of his.

He rubbed her skin gently to assure her. Tom stood and tried to quiet the press.
Good
luck
, Ellie thought. A shouting madhouse had broken out.

178

Fury

Tom was able to silence the crowd after a few minutes. Ellie listened while Tom spoke to the press.

“The rumors circulating about Fury harming Ellie Brower aren’t true.” His voice rang out clearly. “They are a couple who live together inside Homeland. The video you saw on television happened after Ellie had a simple accident. She was treated by our doctor. This is Doctor Trisha Norbit. She will verify that for you.” Trisha leaned forward to the microphone, introduced herself, and immediately a volley of questions were shouted out by reporters. She had to wait until their voices died down to speak.

“Of course the rumors aren’t true,” Trisha shook her head and looked angry as she glanced around at reporters. “It was a simple accident while Ellie cleaned the kitchen,” she lied. “She hit her head on the edge of the kitchen island when she stood from sweeping the floor. She had a bump to her head. Mr. Fury wasn’t even home at the time of the incident. He came home and found Ellie. All you saw was him carrying Ellie out to the car after I treated her. It was that simple.”

“Ms. Brower,” one of the reporters rose to his feet. “Is that true?” Ellie forced a smile and tried to slow her erratic heart rate, caused from being in the spotlight. “Unfortunately. Trust me.”
Just smile and lie
, she told herself.
I can do this.

“Imagine how mortified I am. I bumped my head and it’s on the eleven o’clock news.”

“Are you and Mr. Fury having sex?” Someone else rose and asked.

Ellie hesitated. “Are you having sex? That’s kind of a personal question, isn’t it?”

“I’m not.” The male reporter smiled. “But I would be if I were dating someone.

Come on, Ms. Brower. Are you and Mr. Fury having sex?” Ellie squeezed Fury’s hand to assure him she was fine when he tensed. “My sex life is not up for public discussion but I will say that Fury and I are living together, as Tom let you know, and we are involved in a serious relationship.” The man nodded and sat down. Another man popped up. “Mr. Fury, do you bite Ms. Brower? We heard rumors that there is biting during sex.” Fury’s hold on her became intense enough that she had to hide a flinch. Ellie used her thumb to rub the back of his hand. Fury relaxed and shook his head.

“I would never hurt Ellie.” He suddenly pulled back his upper lip to show his teeth quickly. “It would hurt if I bit her.”

Questions started flying. Ellie fought back a laugh at the absurdity of some of them.

Tom yelled for order. He repeated his instructions of one question at a time or the interview would end. Silence reigned again and one person stood.

“How do you two kiss with his sharp teeth?”

Fury opened his mouth. Ellie bumped him with her shoulder and answered. “How do you kiss someone with an overbite? Or someone with buck teeth? Or someone with missing teeth? You just do. That’s a silly question.”

“So you two do kiss?”

179

Laurann Dohner

“Of course I kiss him. Look at him.” Ellie turned her head and smiled at Fury. She looked back at the reporter. “Teeth aren’t a problem.” A female reporter rose next. “How do you feel about being with a man when you know he can’t have children with you?”

“Doctor Norbit,” a male reporter shouted out of turn. “Are you doing research on them?”

“No,” Trisha denied. “They are people, not lab rats.”

“How do you feel about being with someone that you may never be able to have children with, Ellie?”

Ellie stared at the same female reporter who asked again about kids. She hesitated.

“There’s never a guarantee, no matter who you are with, that you can have children.

There are plenty of couples in this world who are together and then discover for whatever reason they can’t have them. That’s why we have surrogate mothers, sperm banks, and adoption available for those couples. I don’t think anyone meets someone and judges if they like them or not on the basis of how well their reproductive system works and how many children they can get out of that person. That’s just unreasonable and stupid. I’m not concerned in the least about that. I don’t even think about it.” The reporter sat. The next one popped up and it went on. Ellie tried to keep her calm. They were asking stupid questions for the most part. They wanted to know if Fury helped with household chores and if Ellie treated him as if he were a regular person. Fury kept his cool, laughed at a lot of the questions, and never lost his temper.

Ellie watched him, really proud of how he took it all. He could be charming when he wanted to be. He met her gaze and smiled back at her.

“Ellie?” A man in the back suddenly yelled.

Ellie turned her head, trying to find the source. “Yes?”

“How does it feel to betray your own race by allowing an animal fuck you?” Shock tore through Ellie at the sudden verbal attack. Just as she found the jerk who’d asked that question, a thin, tall man in a business suit suddenly shoved at the people in front of him, flashing a gun clutched in his hand. Screams erupted around them and gunfire exploded. Ellie froze in horror before someone slammed her into the ground and something heavy crushed down on top of her.

Ellie’s eyes flew open. Fury sprawled over her, covering her body with his. Shots continued to ring out along with panicked screams and shouts from the crowd. Fury crawled higher to cover her better, twisting his body to put himself between her and the source of the attack.

His arms dug underneath her and then he lifted her, shoved her knees into her chest to force her into a tight ball inside his arms, and staggered to his feet. He sprinted for the gates with Ellie clutched in his arms, hunched over her, still shielding her body with his.

180

Fury

Fury jerked hard, his hold on her slackened, but then tightened again. He kept moving and yelled out words she didn’t catch. Ellie was too shocked to understand him and she couldn’t breathe. He had her crushed within his arms and her knees and legs were shoved against her chest, compressing her lungs. The pounding impact of his body as he ran didn’t help either. Ellie couldn’t see much with him wrapped around her and the way he held her so tightly.

She knew they cleared the gate, saw a section of the wall flash past them just as Fury collapsed onto his knees. He groaned loudly but somehow kept hold of her inside the cradle of his arms. Then his grip eased. Ellie moved in his arms, lifted her head, and she saw pain twisting his handsome features.

“Fury?”

He shifted her and put her on the ground in front of him. She looked up at him and watched his eyes roll back in his head. He just crumpled sideways, crashing onto the grass next to her. Ellie ignored the shouting, the screams, and all the other sounds going on around them. She frantically crawled to huddle over his still form. That’s when she saw the blood.

“FURY!” She screamed his name. Her hands frantically grabbed for his side where the red stickiness spread. Her terrified, panicked mind understood he’d been shot. She pressed both palms over the wound, trying to slow the bleeding. Her terrified gaze locked on Fury’s face. He breathed but wasn’t conscious.

“Someone help me!” Ellie screamed.

Trisha Norbit suddenly dropped to her knees on the other side of Fury’s body.

Trisha shoved Ellie’s hands away and tore at Fury’s shirt to get a look at the wound.

Ellie ignored her hands, covered with Fury’s blood. She inched up to his face while the doctor and a few other people started to work on him.

Ellie trembled. “Fury?” She touched his face, not caring that her fingertips brushing his skin were bloody. Tears streamed down her face. “Fury? Please wake up.” Her voice broke with a sob.

“Get me a med kit,” Trisha demanded loudly. “Now!” He didn’t move. Ellie frantically looked at the doctor. “Trisha? Is he going to be okay?”

Trisha met Ellie’s eyes and then turned her head away. “We need to get him to the hospital immediately. Call the trauma center and tell them we need an operating room prepared and—” She cursed. “Justice? I need a few of your canine people to come with us. He’s going to need blood and hopefully one of them will match his close enough.” Justice stood behind Ellie gripping his cell phone. “I’ll get them all.”

“Trisha?” Ellie continued to shake.

Trisha met her gaze then, her expression grim. “He’s been shot twice, Ellie. It’s really bad. I promise I’m going to do everything I can to save him.” 181

Laurann Dohner

Ellie totally fell apart in that instant. She knew he wasn’t going to make it. She saw all the blood soaking her hands, his clothes, and Trisha’s hands. She caressed his face and whispered his name. Someone grabbed her from behind and yanked her away from the man she loved. She fought whoever held her, screaming Fury’s name, but he didn’t move. The man holding her held on tighter and spun away.

“They need to work on him, Ellie. I’m going to drive you to where they are taking him. You need to calm down,” the man yelled in her ear. “This isn’t helping him.” Ellie sobbed. She stopped screaming and struggling, admitted the futility of it.

Slade held her and he was as big as Fury. Her feet weren’t even touching the ground.

He kept hold of her, saying soothing things in her ear, as Ellie watched the doctor and the emergency medical staff work on Fury, trying to stabilize him. Someone brought a stretcher and they quickly loaded him onto it. She looked up when she heard a news helicopter circling.

Slade turned with her, still kept a good hold on her in case she tried to run after Fury, and quickly strode toward the parking lot. He gently dumped her into the back seat of one of the SUV’s when he got there and grabbed his radio.

“Canines, meet me at the parking lot. We’re ready to roll. I have Ellie secured.” Slade got behind the wheel, turned in his seat and studied Ellie. She cried, curled into a ball on one of the back seats, but had overheard enough to piece together most of what had happened from the car radio. Slade was obviously torn up too by what had happened. It was obvious by his grim expression and the pained look in his eyes as they stared at each other.

“I was patrolling the wall when it happened. There were three shooters in all. I took out one of them but I couldn’t get the other two without risking hitting innocents. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to take them all out before they shot him.” His gruff voice paused.

“Fury will be fine,” Slade promised in a firm voice. “We are stronger than humans and we heal faster. We can take more punishment.”

Ellie wiped at her tears. “I can’t lose him.”

Slade nodded. “You won’t.”

Men opened doors and climbed inside the SUV. Ellie noticed they were armed to the teeth with weapons secured from ankle to chest on their big bodies. They were also canine, judging from the shape of their solemn eyes. Slade started the engine and backed out of the parking space. He punched the gas and headed for the gate. He turned his radio up to hear it clearer over the sound of the engine.

“Clear the way. We’re just about there.”

He didn’t even slow as they came to the opened gate. The crowd normally present had been evacuated from the area. Gunfire and bloodshed had scattered the protesters and the reporters.

* * * * *

182

Fury

Ellie paced and kept glancing at the men surrounding her. There were at least seven NSO officers guarding the private waiting room. The hospital had offered one to them as soon as they realized the NSO officers were armed and determined to guard Ellie.

More officers were outside the operating room where Fury fought for his life.

“He’s still alive,” Justice assured Ellie.

She nodded, knowing Justice spoke on his cell phone with one of the NSO officers who guarded the operating room. The officer could see inside to give detailed information. Ellie was grateful for the relay system Justice had thought of, to keep tabs on how Fury faired. Ellie didn’t know how people could stand just waiting without any kind of word when a loved one underwent surgery.

Slade entered the room, moved directly to Ellie, and offered her a large, white, covered Styrofoam cup. A straw stuck out of it. Ellie forced a smile.

“Coffee doesn’t come with a straw but thank you.”

“It is iced coffee.” Slade smiled. “You’re shaking. I didn’t want to hand you something hot that could spill. Fury would kick my ass if I allowed you to get burned.” Tears filled Ellie’s eyes and she smiled for real at him. “Thank you.” He nodded before turning away to approach Justice next. Justice kept the cell phone against his ear but shifted it away from his mouth.

“Report.”

Slade sighed. “All three shooters are accounted for. One survived, unfortunately.

The police informed me the man is an idiot who can’t stop talking. He’s claiming to be a member of the Pure Humans terrorist group.”

Justice snorted. “We aren’t supposed to call them terrorists but go ahead.”

“They heard about the press interview and infiltrated it by using photographer credentials. We didn’t cover security.” Slade growled the words. “It seems, if they had a press pass, they weren’t searched.”

“From now on we handle all the security where any of our people are concerned.” Slade nodded. “Any word on Fury?”

“He’s fighting and has survived this long. We have two blood matches. Searcher and Darkness are inside the room donating blood as needed.” Ellie sipped her iced coffee while she listened to them. She had to admit that everyone had really been great to her. They were guarding her and Fury. The New Species had made sure plenty of their men came to the hospital to be blood donors for Fury. Just regular human blood might have worked but matching their altered chemistry worked better. Justice had explained it to her.