Allison saw a black blur of movement from the corner of her eye, turned her cheek on the grass, and was shocked when one of the uniformed men landed hard on his back about five feet away. A loud snarl emanated from the vicious attack dog and he seemed to be right over her head. An image of it attacking her with sharp teeth sent panic coursing through her and her head snapped up to get a look at the thing about to end her life.
880 crouched inches away, naked and bleeding from his arm where he’d ripped out the IV drip.
His nose also bled. She guessed that was from him forcibly removing his feeding tube. The catheter and bag were gone too. She got a good view of its loss since her face was inches from his lap. Her gaze met brown eyes, confusion clouding them as he stared back. His mouth opened to reveal his sharp canines. He snarled at her.
It took Alli’s staggered mind seconds to figure out that 880 was awake, outside, and had come to her rescue. The men who’d held her down had been thrown away from her because 880 had attacked them.
“880,” she managed to whisper.
His eyes widened as he swayed before landing hard on his bare ass. Allison moved, frantic to help him, and realized the sheer amount of adrenaline he must have exhausted to reach her after being down for so long. A human couldn’t have done what he had. An ordinary man would have been too weak to sit up, but he’d managed that miracle with his New Species strength.
“880,” she whispered again, lifted to her knees and crawled the few feet to where he’d landed.
“You’re awake.”
She tried to touch him but his hand shot out and hit her in the chest. The rough shove threw her back. She landed on her ass and her left breast ached from the impact with his palm. He growled at her.
“Technician.” His voice came out hoarse, his unused vocal cords straining to work.
His eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to sprawl motionless on his back. Worry filled her and she fought to reach him again. He breathed but had passed out as she checked his unsteady pulse. Her other hand gripped his arm where he bled from the torn-out IV and she pressed her thumb over the wound to staunch the bleeding.
Her fearful gaze darted around at the men who had climbed to their feet. A few of them inched closer as they surrounded her. Terror hit.
“Stay away from him.” She didn’t have a weapon but she wouldn’t allow them to harm 880. “You’ll have to kill me before you hurt him.”
One of the men who marched from the barn reached up and tore at the mask that covered his face. Trey Roberts worked for the task force that NSO controlled. She’d met him a few times when he’d brought in injured Species and her mouth dropped open when she identified him. These men weren’t strangers intent on killing 880.
They’d come to arrest her and take him back home.
“Dr. Baker.” Trey halted four feet away, his hands gripping his black cargo pants at his hips while he frowned. “You’re in deep shit.” His gaze lowered to 880. “Fuck. I need to call this in now.
You managed to bring him out of his coma.”
“I need my medical bag.” She licked her lips, nervous but excited at the same time. “He’s overdone it by getting out of bed. I—”
“You’re done.” Trey advanced, bent, and gently grabbed her upper arms. He was a big guy and he lifted her onto her unsteady legs before shouting, “Medic!”
“Let me go! I need to help him. I need to—”
“Not fight,” he finished. “You don’t seem to understand the severity of what you’ve done. You kidnapped a Species, Dr. Baker.” He led her away from 880 and the house. His firm grip forced her to walk in front of him. “The only place you’re going is to lockup until I get my orders from the NSO on what to do with you.”
She tried to twist in his hold to reach 880 but he just tightened his fingers around her upper arms. She couldn’t even see around his wide chest when she tried to get a glimpse of 880 to make sure a medic really did tend to him.
“He needs fluids. He is probably in shock and I’m a doctor, damn it! Let me treat him.”
Trey halted and leaned in to study her face.
“They don’t trust you anymore to treat their people. Who could blame them? You took him away from the only place he was safe and you could have gotten him killed. Be happy I told the men not to shoot you. Tim said we could but I told the team to ignore that order. I don’t kill women unless I absolutely have to and I liked you before I realized you were capable of kidnapping a Species.” He gently nudged her forward again toward a parked SUV hidden behind the barn. “Do yourself a favor. Be quiet. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say when Justice gets you inside an interrogation room. I almost feel sorry for you. That’s one guy you don’t want to fuck with, yet you did.” A hint of pity softened his features. “Let’s go, Dr. Baker. I’m just grateful we found you instead of someone who hates you and them.”
Alli’s a human, a technician, and not my kind.
880 lay still, refused to even twitch, hiding the fact that he’d regained consciousness. The sound of male voices reached him. The weight had returned to his wrists and ankles, leaving him no doubt they’d restrained him. His only advantage would be to pretend to be unaware of his surroundings until he could work out a plan of escape.
Betrayal caused physical pain inside his chest.
She was human, not a female given to him to replace 46, and she’d been trying to fool him into trusting her. He should have figured that out with her strange words but the drugs had affected his thinking. The clues were there if he’d just focused more on them. What are their intentions?
What do they want from me now? What kind of cruel punishment have they plotted? He had no answers.
She obviously had screamed as a test to see if he was really as drugged as he’d acted. They must have been watching with cameras and seen him moving in the dark when her breathing assured him Alli slept. He’d fallen for the trap when her screams had reached his ears and he’d tried to protect her. He hadn’t cared at the time that it gave away the fact that his strength was returning if it prevented her death.
Human! He just couldn’t get past that and rage filled him. He’d allowed a technician to sleep at his side, touch him, and he’d had the opportunity to gain revenge by harming her. 46 was gone, they had nothing left to use to punish him if he didn’t do as they ordered. He could have snapped her neck. For revenge. For 46. Retribution. He knew that word and what it meant.
The male voices grew louder as they approached.
“I can’t believe it worked. I feel bad, Justice.
I thought she was just desperate but damned if he didn’t wake up after being around a female scent for four days. The team said he stayed upright long enough to throw them away from her.
My man in there was fierce, according to Trey.
He even spoke. That’s got to be a good sign that he’s not feral if he could form words.”
“We won’t be certain until he wakes again, Tiger.” The other male sighed deeply. “What the hell do we do with Dr. Allison? She’s begging the officers to allow her to check on him. What if he bonded to her scent? Is he unconscious because he can’t smell her? Trisha is on her way and will be landing in twenty minutes. I pulled her from Reservation to deal with this. Ted is great but he’s at a loss with how Dr. Allison managed to get 880 on his feet. He’s been following his progress every step of the way.”
“Gregory was the closest. He said 880 seemed surprised that Dr. Allison was human and even accused her of being a technician. Trey Roberts believes 880 woke to come to her aid. He must have heard her screams when the team grabbed her and it snapped him out of the coma. Maybe he thought it was his mate in trouble.”