New Species 05 Brawn (27 page)

“Dude,” Flame whispered softly. “Will you stop that? Someone
is going to see and get the wrong idea about us. We’re drawing a crowd of
onlookers after you tossed me on my ass.”

Brawn growled and lifted his head as he backed off. “She’s
at Medical?”

“Yes. Don’t forget the part about her not wanting to see
you. She said she didn’t want anything from you but for you to stay away.”

Brawn growled, his rage returned and so did confusion. Why
would she refuse to see him? It didn’t make sense. They had created life
together. “I’m going to go see her if she wants me to or not.”

Flame softly cursed. “I was afraid you were going to say
that. They locked down Medical.”

“Why?”

“Her father. You. She thinks her father is going to try to
kill you, Brawn. You’ve met the man. Will he try?”

Brawn shrugged. “Probably.” He turned. “I’m going to her.”

“She doesn’t want to see you.”

“I don’t care. I want to see her.” Brawn stormed away.

His ears picked up Flame’s vicious curse and then his voice
as he warned someone that Brawn was headed that way. He picked up the pace, his
long legs ate up the grass and he started to run. Becca was carrying his child,
she was close, and
he
would
get answers.

He ran, allowing his unanswered questions to push him into a
burst of speed and reached Medical quickly. He had to slow when Tiger and Slade
stood in front of the door and blocked his entrance. He stopped, out of breath,
and glared at both males.

“Move.”

Slade watched Brawn warily. “She doesn’t want to see you,
Brawn. Give her some time. She’s already upset because we forced her to come
here. Trisha is with her trying to make her see reason. My mate will calm her.”

“Move,” Brawn ordered again. His body tensed as a growl
burst from his throat over their interference.

Tiger softly cursed. “Let’s not fight, guys. Brawn, you’re
upset right now and rightly so. You need to get a handle on your emotions. You
look feral, my man. The female is pregnant. Don’t you think when you finally
get to see her that you should be calm? I think that’s a good idea. Let’s take
a vote. Who’s in favor of that?” He raised his hand.

Slade shot his friend a dirty look but raised his hand.
“This isn’t a debate.”

“Humor,” Tiger muttered. “You remember that, don’t you? I’m
hoping he does. Come on, Brawn. You look scary.”

“I’m not laughing.” Brawn’s hands fisted at his sides and he
glared at Slade. “What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t see
Trisha? Move away from the door and let me pass.”

“That’s different. I’m in love with Trisha and she’s my
mate. You and Rebecca don’t have that bonding.” Slade didn’t budge. “Let’s go
for a walk and talk about this.”

* * * * *

Becca got dressed and smiled at Trisha. “He looked perfect,
didn’t he?”

Trisha grinned back. “Yes. Your baby is healthy and well. I
told you it would be a boy. He looks great, Rebecca.”

“Please call me Becca. Other than strangers, no one but my
father calls me that.”

“We’ve arranged housing for you. You need to stay here for
your child’s sake. There are a lot more ex-Mercile employees out there trying
to avoid being arrested. Most of the testing facilities were hit at night since
they were afraid the staff would try to kill Species since they tried that at
the first one. I can share this information with you because you need to know.
The damn news had it plastered on every station and they got to watch their
places of work being busted on live TV. Only about twenty percent of the staff
were arrested and maybe another thirty percent have either turned themselves in
or have been caught. That leaves a lot of desperate, crazy idiots out there who
are like the group that kidnapped you. Some of them might think if they had
hostages, they could force the NSO to give them immunity. That’s the nice
version. You know the group who took you planned to sell the Species they had
when their use was up. You are going to have a baby. Can you imagine?”

“Cha-ching.” Becca winced. “Major money to those pricks. I
get it.” Horror washed through her. “You think I haven’t had nightmares about
that? I have.”

“I know.” Trisha looked grim. “There’s also the jerks who
hate Species and believe they are nothing more than rabid animals to be put
down. It’s why we haven’t told the world they can have children. It’s a
horrible situation. My son is the only second generation Species baby born so
far but we have two more women who are pregnant. Maybe in the near future it
will be safer for the world to know but right now we need to protect them. This
baby will look like Species and there won’t be a doubt of that if anyone sees
him. The only thing you can do is stay here or at Homeland where he’ll be safe
from discovery. We’ll restrict any humans besides myself and the other mates.
You won’t be alone. You’ll have the four of us to support you emotionally.”

“Four?”

“Myself, Ellie, Tammy and I believe you know Jessie Dupree.
She worked with your father.”

Shock tore through Becca. “She’s pregnant? She’s uh, mated,
to one of the New Species?”

“She married Justice North secretly but they decided to wait
a while before trying to have a baby. No one who knows about their wedding has
leaked it to the press yet but that could change at any time. Tammy lives at
Reservation full-time and Ellie has moved here since we have the better medical
facility and they are safer from prying eyes. We’d rather be safe than sorry.
So far all pregnancies are healthy and we’re hoping it stays that way. Ellie is
due to have her baby soon and Tammy is just a little farther along than you
are.”

“This is so much to take in. I thought I was alone.”

“You aren’t. You and your baby just got a really large
family, Becca. New Species will consider you that.”

“But I’m not one of them.”

“Your baby is and you are his mother. They treat mates just
as if we’re one of their own.”

“I’m not a mate.”

“You’re still family.” She paused. “Why don’t you want to
see Brawn?”

Becca hesitated, not sure her pain at his abandonment was
enough to justify it but she had a list of reasons besides that. “He was clear
from the moment I met him that he doesn’t want anything to do with women like
us. He never would have touched me if we hadn’t been kidnapped. We were forced
to be together and we thought we weren’t going to be rescued. He was going to
be sold at some point and they probably would have left me there to die when
they abandoned the warehouse or put a bullet in my head.”

“It must have been very stressful.”

“It was and that’s how Brawn and I ended up getting so
close.”

Trisha hesitated. “I am curious. I gave you antibiotics. Did
you take them?”

“No. They were horse pills and I just tossed them. Why do
you want to know?” She reached up and touched her forehead. “I don’t have a
fever, do I? I’d have noticed if I had some kind of blood infection from the
needles they used.”

The doctor hesitated. “They weren’t to fight an infection.
Those pills were to prevent you from getting pregnant.” Her gaze dropped to
Becca’s rounded belly. “I wondered if you either hadn’t taken them or they just
weren’t effective. I have the answer now.”

Anger instantly surged inside Becca. “What?”

“I know. It was really wrong not to give you a choice but
you should realize how much we needed to protect this secret. As you stated,
you aren’t a mate and we couldn’t let you leave if there was a chance of you
being pregnant.” Trisha met her gaze. “Try to understand our position. Would
you have preferred we kept you here against your will until we knew for sure
you weren’t? That was the only other option. It’s not just about you and your
baby. It’s about my son, Ellie’s and Tammy’s. All future Species infants.”

It took a lot for Becca to fight through her anger and the
feeling of betrayal. They’d tried to abort her pregnancy. She clenched her
teeth.

“I’m sorry. Honestly. You were traumatized enough and we
were trying to protect you from further harm. Tell me honestly that this
pregnancy hasn’t torn up your life.”

“I want this baby.”

“I know.” Trisha’s features softened. “Believe me, I can guess
how much you’ve gone through to try to hide and protect your child. I’d have
done the same.” She bit her lower lip. “Why couldn’t you just tell us? You’re a
smart woman and I can’t figure out how you thought you could do this on your
own.”

Becca slipped on her shoes. “I would have had to admit to
being locked inside a cage with Brawn and told my father what happened between
us. You didn’t see how he acted for weeks afterward. He…” She sighed. “He was
really angry and irrational. Kind of insane, to be honest. I had to swear to
him that nobody touched me. He would have killed Brawn and still will when he
finds out.” Tears filled her eyes. “Put yourself in my place now. My dad loves
his job, he loves New Species but he swore to kill any of them if I’d been touched
in any way. He is willing to go to prison and Brawn is the father of my baby. I
just wanted to protect them both.”

A roar tore through the building. Becca and the doctor both
started.

Becca grabbed Trisha. “What was that?”

“My best guess? Brawn is outside. He’s living at
Reservation. He and another council member are assigned here and he was just
told about the baby.”

“I don’t want to see him.”

Something crashed down the hall, glass broke and someone
snarled. Trisha cursed, a panicked expression on her face. “It sounds like you
aren’t going to have a choice. Oh crap. I need to get out there.” She tugged
out of Becca’s hold.

A roar pieced the air and something else crashed.

“Slade!” Trisha shouted his name as she jerked open the door
and rushed into the hallway.

Becca stared out the doorway. Trisha ran and nearly collided
with a big body that suddenly filled the end of the hallway. Two strong hands
gripped the doctor, prevented her from falling and Brawn lifted her to the side
to set her out of his way.

“What did you do to my husband?” Trisha yelled at Brawn.

He growled loud enough for Becca to hear, his gaze lifted
until she had no doubt he focused on her and he took a step closer, then
another and kept right on coming. A furious expression masked his normally
handsome face and she couldn’t miss seeing a lot of skin since his shirt had
been torn open to reveal one entire side of his chest.

Terror gripped her as she stumbled back and darted a look
away from the threat to search for an escape but there wasn’t one. The small
room had a window but she didn’t see a release on it to get it open and all she
could do was put the exam table between them.

Chapter Fifteen

Brawn entered the room, his gaze locked on her and his hand
shot back to grab the door. It slammed loudly, sealing them inside. His lips
parted, he was slightly out of breath and a soft growl came out of him.

“Becca.”

“Stay back.” Her voice shook and she felt raw terror.

His gaze lowered down her body to her protruding belly. It
was obvious she was pregnant. He snarled loudly, a vicious sound. He reached
back again and the sound of the lock being twisted was undeniable. He took a
threatening step closer.

She grabbed the table to keep from collapsing. “Please don’t
hurt me or the baby, Brawn. I know you’re mad, that you don’t want me having
this baby, but it’s mine. I love it.”

His eyes widened, he paled and another snarl tore from his
parted lips. “You think I’d hurt you or my child?” The words came out harsh,
his tone rough.

“You’re pissed.” She released the table with one hand and
protectively curved it around her middle. “I don’t want anything from you,
okay? I wouldn’t even be here if some of your men hadn’t flown me here against
my will.”

He took deep breaths, his eyes narrowed into near slits and
he took another step. “I’d never hurt you or the child. Why did you refuse to
see me?”

She swallowed hard. “There’s no reason we should have to
spend time together.”

His eyes lowered to her stomach. “No reason?”

She took a calming breath. “I have nothing to say to you.
Why see each other? This happened and we just have to deal with it. I’m going
to have my baby. I’m sorry if that upsets you but that’s too bad.”

His fists balled at his sides. “Your baby? Try ‘our baby’.”

Becca was afraid, seeing how mad he was at that moment. “You
can see the baby any time you want. I was informed I need to stay here but
we’ll just avoid each other. After the baby is born we’ll work out shared
visitation rights. Someone can pick up and drop off the baby so we don’t ever have
to see each other again.”

Another growl tore from Brawn and his nose flared. His eyes
suddenly seemed to change color, darken to near black. “You’ll let me see my
child? How generous.”

“I’m trying to figure out a way this is going to work, okay?
You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to. I know how…” She was at a loss
for words. “This shouldn’t have happened but it did. We’re just going to have
to be adult about this and figure out a way to get along peacefully for the
baby’s sake.”

Someone tried to enter the room but the lock held. Brawn
glanced at it. “Stay out. We’re talking.”

“Damn it, Brawn,” Trisha called out. “Let me in. You’re
lucky you only threw my husband and Tiger. You could have really hurt them.”

“Go away,” he snarled. “This is between Becca and me. I
won’t harm her. Leave us alone.”

“Becca?” It was Trisha. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. It’s okay.” Becca frowned at Brawn, not sure that
was the truth.

“I’ll be down the hall putting ice on the guys.” Trisha
didn’t sound happy. “Yell if you need help.”

Brawn growled and snapped his head back to stare at Becca.
“Come here.”