New Species 03 Valiant (35 page)

She took a shallow breath as he sniffed her then pulled

his head back. One hand released her hip to grab the

bottom of her shirt, which he yanked up to expose her

stomach. He shoved his nose against her belly but it

didn’t hurt. He inhaled deeply as he rubbed his face

downward to the top of her pants. He paused at the

waistband.

I’m not dead. He’s not killing me. That’s got to be

good, right? She tried to think of something to say but

decided now would be a time to keep her lips sealed.

That was until the guy spread his thighs to lower his

body and he suddenly pressed his face into the vee of her

legs.

“Stop!”

Her hands reached for him without conscious

thought, grabbed his broad shoulders, and she pushed at

him. He didn’t budge an inch, too strong and big to

move.

His head snapped up, mouth parted to reveal sharp

teeth, and he snarled at her. She jerked her hands away

as if he’d burned her, terror jolted through her at that

deadly glare he gave her, and he lowered his head again.

He pressed his face back into the vee of her thighs and

nudged against her sex, sniffing her there, as if he really

were a dog. He jerked back, stared up at her, and

released her shirt as he rose to his feet again.

Tammy fought back a scream when he spun her

body around, pressed her face against the bars, and

began sniffing from the top of her shoulder and down

her back. He moved the shirt out of way by jerking it up.

She stared at the concrete inches in front of her nose

where the cage had been pushed against the warehouse

wall. He growled a few times as he lowered, his hands

holding her in place, and crouched behind her to even

sniff the back of her thighs. He didn’t bury his face

against her ass at least. She tried to take comfort in being

spared that.

He spun her back, staring at her in way that left his

thoughts and feelings a mystery but he didn’t appear

enraged anymore. His dark gaze actually didn’t seem as

cold or frightening. He suddenly reached out and his

hand encircled her upper arm but his hold didn’t hurt. He

actually seemed careful not to bruise her with his big

hand.

“Come.” His voice came out gruff, deep, but it wasn’t

a growl or a snarl.

He backed up, pulling on her to make her follow. She

moved on wobbly legs, not sure what would happen

next. He backed up more, pulling her another few feet,

and turned his head to stare at the gap he’d created in

the partition. He inched through it, careful not to touch

his skin against any of the rough edges, and left her no

choice but to step through it as well. She meekly

followed him, too grateful he wasn’t killing her, until she

realized where he’d led her to.

Fear made her try to pull out of his grasp when she

spotted the cot just feet away. “No.”

His dark gaze narrowed in a threatening way. “Lie

down now.”

“I belong to Valiant.” She couldn’t help the rush of

tears that blinded her until she blinked them back.

“Please don’t do this.”

His mouth moved, twitched, but that was the only

show of emotion on his face. “Rest. I won’t mount you.”

Some of Tammy’s panic and fear eased as she

decided the New Species probably wouldn’t lie to her. He

was big enough to force the issue if he wanted to rape

her. He could have killed her by now. The fact that she

still drew breath had to be a great sign that he wasn’t as

vicious as her kidnappers believed or that he’d smelled

Valiant on her and it meant something to him. She let

him direct her to the bed where she carefully sat on the

edge.

The New Species crouched in front of her, knees

wide open, putting her legs between his thighs. He

seemed to enjoying pinning her in by doing that, she

noticed, and didn’t like how he also had a preference for

invading her personal space. He was too close for her

comfort.

His gaze searched hers. “How many?”

“I don’t understand.”

“How many New Species freed?”

“I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but hundreds.”

He took a few deep breaths but seemed to get angry

again. “How many hundreds?”

Tammy hesitated. “I don’t know. New Species don’t

really want that known to the general public, um,

humans. I would guess at least three hundred of them

live at Reservation. There’s also Homeland, a big

converted military base they were given, and it’s another

big piece of land where more New Species live. There

have to have a few hundred there too. Probably more.”

“Tell me some numbers you know.”

“I don’t understand. I just said I’m not sure of how

many of them there are in total.”

He lightly growled. He pointed to himself. “927. What

are the numbers you know? What is Valiant’s number

from before?”

She understood. “I don’t know any. They don’t ever

use their testing-facility numbers. They all picked names

when they were freed. I never wanted to ask Valiant what

his was when he was still imprisoned. I didn’t want to

make him sad by making him remember his life from

before.”

He blinked. “They chose their own names?”

She nodded. “Yes. Most of your kind have names like

Justice and Breeze.” She paused before listing off the

other names she’d heard. “Tiger. Flame. Brass. Rider.

Smiley.” She paused. “I was told they picked names of

things they loved or something that had some meaning

to them.” She stared into his gaze. “They would have

come to break you out if they’d known about you.” She

whispered. “They don’t know about the testing facility in

Colorado. They thought they found them all and had set

everyone free.”

He suddenly lifted up and spun away from her. It

made Tammy flinch as he snarled loudly and began to

pace the cell. She scooted until her back rested against

the bars of the cage wall. She hugged her chest and

pulled her knees up, just watching him silently. He

appeared agitated and really angry. She’d answered his

questions but regretted saying that last part. Perhaps he

was so angry that others had been found when he hadn’t

been.

“Valiant will never stop searching for me. That means

he’ll find us. Me and you. They’ll free you.” She said it

softly, hoping her voice didn’t carry to wherever the

doctor and his two thugs had gone. “We really do love

each other and he won’t give up.”

The New Species stopped pacing to regard her. He

slowly approached and crouched next to the bed. “The

technicians will take you away from me if I don’t mount

you soon.” He whispered the words.

Tammy shook her head frantically, afraid, and knew

exactly what that meant. Sex. “No.”

“I will scent you and it will buy time.”

“What does that mean?”

He suddenly reached out and grabbed Tammy by her

calf, gave a hard jerk, and his other hand gripped her

arm to turn her on the bed where she fell flat. She

gasped but had a few hundred pounds of muscled New

Species pin her down when his body dropped over hers.

Tammy stared up at him and whimpered, thinking

she’d been safe, sure he wasn’t going to hurt her after

they’d talked. His face remained inches from hers and he

looked grim. He lowered his face and buried it against

her neck.

“Relax. I won’t hurt you,” he breathed very softly

against her ear. “They listen always. This close and soft

they cannot hear. I won’t mount you but I need to make

them believe I am interested. They will take you from my

cell otherwise and they could kill you if they think the

experiment is a failure. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she got out softly, struggled with her fear, but

forced her tense muscles to relax. “They have

microphones listening to what we say?” She kept her

voice just as soft as he had.

“They watch with cameras too but do not search for

them with your eyes. They will become suspicious.”

He shifted over her, pinned her closer to him,

completely covering her with his body. He was careful

not to crush her. Tammy experienced raw fear at how

tiny she felt, how helpless, and had no choice but to trust

that he wouldn’t hurt her. The man was big, smelled of a

strong soap and sweat. It wasn’t unpleasant, but foreign.

She was used to the way Valiant smelled. She put her

hands on his chest. His skin felt as hot as Valiant’s,

almost as if they ran a fever, but they just had a hotter

temperature than humans. She resisted the urge to

attempt to push him off, already knowing it would be a

useless effort.

He buried his face against her neck again, sniffed

really loudly, probably for the microphones, before he

spoke softly to her again. “Will Valiant really come

looking for you and not stop?”

“Yes.” Tammy had no doubt. “They all will. The New

Species, I mean.”

A soft growl tore from his mouth. “I will do my best

to keep you here. They will kill you if they believe I won’t

do as they wish by mounting you. You’ll have no value to

them otherwise. They’ll take me from here, back to

where I came from, and consider the test of breeding me

to another human a failure.”

Tammy closed her eyes and fought more tears. The

man dropped his face against her neck and adjusted until

he’d wiggled his hips until he’d wedged between her

thighs. Fear and mental exhaustion finally caught up to

her. She wanted to cry, admitted to a little self-pity that

this had happened to her, and she gripped his skin just

to find some comfort.

“Lie here with me and rest. You are safe from me,

little one with pretty eyes.”

“My name is Tammy.”

He inhaled her skin at her neck. “It is good to smell

another of my kind on you.”

“They don’t let you see others?”

“No.”

He was alone. She shifted her arms and wrapped

them around his neck. He didn’t protest the hug-like hold

she had on him. He had her totally trapped under his big

body but she didn’t feel threatened.

Deep down she understood one thing. He was alone

and he needed to hold her too, probably longed for the

comfort just as much as she did. She closed her eyes and

relaxed. Her mind instantly drifted to Valiant. He’d find

her somehow. He had to. A yawn surprised her and all

the adrenaline started to drain from her body.

* * * * *

Tiger glared at Charlie A rtzola. The man had been

found tied up inside his car near Reservation. He’d

pleaded innocent to willingly stealing Tammy but Tiger

wasn’t buying it. The human was ignorant of their sense

of smell or he just thought they were really stupid.

“I told you. I was in my office and suddenly this man

entered. He held a gun on me until Miss Shasta and her

officer arrived. I didn’t have time to even warn them

before he killed her security officer. It horrified me. He

forced me outside with her and explained if I didn’t drive

them out of the gates, he’d blow her brains out. I was

trying to save her life when he shoved her into the trunk,

climbed in with her, and told me to close the trunk. I

knew he’d kill her if I tipped off the officers at the gate. I

was terrified for her life so I did what he said.”

Tiger growled and took two menacing steps toward

the attorney. He didn’t even glance at Justice for

permission. He reached the human and backhanded the

man’s cheek hard.

“You lie,” he snarled. “We scented your office and

followed your trail to your car. We also scented your car.

Only she was inside the trunk. There was no other

human male. You took her and you are going to tell us

where you are holding her. Where did you take her?”

The man groaned from the pain and he licked his

bloodied lip where it had split near the corner. A red

mark marred his pale skin. Charlie A rtzola’s wide gaze