“Why were you screaming after they took you away?” He sniffed her and opened his eyes. “Where are you hurt?” One hand released her back to gently cup her injured face, avoided touching her cheek, but studied it. “You were stuck.” His hand dropped to her waist.
“One of the bastards bruised my thigh. They think they can use me to control you because it made you mad enough to roar the first time I screamed. I also kind of attacked one, trying to free the Species guy so I got nailed in the face.”
He wrapped both arms around her and lifted—surprised her with that move—and carried her to the cot. He adjusted his hold, sat down and put her across his lap. One arm remained behind her back but his other one gripped the hem of her nightshirt, tugging it up to expose her thighs.
She didn’t protest, saw he was intent on examining the red marks and he pulled the material down quickly. His gaze met hers and silence stretched between them.
He finally sighed and lowered his focus to her mouth. “We need to talk.”
Shit. “I know.” She whispered, hoping it was soft enough not to be overheard. “They think we’re sleeping together already and I didn’t tell them otherwise. I just let them keep assuming. It seemed the smart thing to do at the time but now they expect me to um, help you donate sperm.” She rushed on before she lost her nerve, “You should have seen what they did to that other Species guy. I would rather do whatever it takes than let them hurt you that way.”
“What did they do?”
She dropped her gaze to his bare chest, unable to look him in the eyes as she muttered a description of the machines and how they worked. His arm tightened around her waist but he remained silent until she stopped talking.
“Look at me.” He took a deep breath and peered into her eyes when she did.
“What?”
“You know what needs to happen if a rescue team hasn’t found us by the time they want those samples. I don’t want them to do that to me.” Anger tensed his jaw. “It’s too much to ask of you, isn’t it?”
A blush warmed her cheeks and it was her turn to study his mouth. It was a plush one, full and tempting. “Any other time I’d probably be happy to, um…yeah. This isn’t exactly romantic, is it?”
“Becca.”
She stared into his blue eyes. “I know. It was a sad attempt at a joke.”
“I won’t force you to agree to this. Say no and I’ll go with them willingly to avoid putting you in danger if I fight.”
She hesitated, her mind working and made a decision. “I was attracted to you the moment we met and I still am so touching you to help turn you on wouldn’t be a hardship. I just wish we weren’t here under these circumstances. I’m not an exhibitionist so that’s going to make it worse.”
“What is that?”
She grinned, glad for the humor. “It’s someone who enjoys having sex or committing sexual acts in front of other people. They get off on it. It arouses them more that other people can see what is being done to them.” She glanced at the camera and all her bravo disappeared. “There are probably cameras in that room too. I forgot to look, too horrified by what was happening. Shit. I hope they aren’t keeping recordings of any of the feeds. My dad is going to have a massive heart attack if I end up being featured on some porn site with you.”
He gripped her jaw, turned her face until their gaze met and kept hold of her. “I will make this up to you somehow and we will survive this.”
The sincerity in his voice assured her that whatever they had to face, they would do it together.
“You can trust me. I hate these bastards.”
Rage filled Brawn as he tried to console Rebecca Oberto. She tried to be brave but he couldn’t miss the fear lurking in her eyes as he stared into them. All the things he’d said to her about why he’d never touch a human replayed in his mind, he inwardly winced and knew he’d only made things worse with his candor.
“I won’t hurt you if there is physical contact involved between us,” he swore. “I do trust you.”
She relaxed a little on his lap and it encouraged him to continue.
“They are the enemy and we are a team.”
The small smile made him hope she feared him less. The human male had tried to cause contention with his warning not to trust Becca but he refused to fall for that. Tim Oberto was highly trusted by Justice, the Species leader.
Brawn wasn’t sure who at Homeland had betrayed his kind but he’d bet his life Becca wasn’t a part of it. She had expressive eyes he could read easily and would be lousy at deceit. She’d been a victim in this nightmare as well due to her exposure to Species through her father. Tim wouldn’t have endangered his only child.
He wanted to kill something desperately over the injures to her frail body and the obvious embarrassment she suffered at telling him things that didn’t surprise him in the least. Species were objects to Mercile, products to be used and sold as they saw fit, but he regretted that she’d have to endure worse soon. Her attempt to save the Species male could have gotten her killed instead of just a red cheek. That showed him how good a person she was as well.
He hesitated over telling her the true reason he didn’t want to be hooked to machines that forced seed from his dick. He’d gladly suffer any pain to spare her being a participant in gaining the samples but he worried she’d be killed if she wasn’t useful to their captors. The bastards murdered anything they deemed ineffectual. A plan to help her formed in his head. She needed hope and to feel comfortable that he wouldn’t harm her.
“I have a tracking device on me and they’ll find us,” he rasped, not saying he suspected that their captors had somehow blocked the signal and help wouldn’t be able to find them.
She nearly bumped his chin with her nose as her head whipped up and she gaped at him. Her lips parted but no words came out.
He took her hand and moved it to his side, pressed down until she could feel the coin-sized object inside his sweatpants pocket and brushed his lips against her ear again. “We keep them on us when we leave Homeland or Reservation in case we’re taken. They will find us, Becca. Just hold on.”
Tears filled her eyes when she looked at him and her arm lifted to wrap around his neck. She curled against his chest, her cheek softly pressed against his skin and tucked her head under his jaw.
“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that,” she breathed. “I was really worried and freaking out. I wish I’d known sooner. Maybe we’ll be found in time.”
He breathed her scent in, his arms held her yielding body and the thought of sexual contact wasn’t a hardship. Guilt swelled inside his chest because he half hoped rescue wouldn’t come before the deadline passed. She’d offered to touch him and the idea made his cock hard. It was trapped between his thighs where she wouldn’t feel how aroused he’d become. Shame came next.
His desire for her was stronger than the alarm of being captured and kidnapped. It gave him an excuse to hold her in his arms and if the rescue team didn’t show up soon, he’d have no choice but to do a lot more with her.
Thoughts of her had kept him up after he’d walked her to the bedroom the night before. Holding her in his arms, the fact that she admitted she found him attractive, had made him consider what it would have been like if they were still free and she’d come to him willingly.
A bad idea, a disaster in the making and wrong. He had taken the assignment to help his people, not harm them by making an enemy of Tim Oberto. It was clear that Tim didn’t want his daughter getting too close to a Species and he’d eavesdropped on the conversation held inside her bedroom yesterday with her father. They may have closed the door but that hadn’t done much to prevent his keen hearing from picking up most of the words. Tim believed he was dangerous to Becca, would attack her if she flirted and end up hurting her.
“It is going to be fine,” he bluffed, not sure of that outcome at all.