Valiant sighed. “You can move. I won’t harm her.”
Brass stepped away from Trisha. Trisha met Valiant’s gaze. He stared at her but he didn’t appear angry anymore. He looked slightly confused. He sighed again.
144
Slade
“You can stay, human. Just you. Don’t bring any of your human friends or family.
I’d eat them for dinner.” His gaze returned to Brass. “I’ll spread the word in the zone to make sure no others come to bother her.”
“Could you help us protect her? Please keep an eye out for any humans lurking around and make sure they don’t get near her.”
Valiant smiled, showing his sharp teeth again. “It will be a fatal mistake on their part if any humans are stupid enough to come out this way.”
Brass visibly relaxed after Valiant walked down the stairs. He smiled at Trisha but it looked a little forced. Moon and Harley rushed up the stairs seconds later. Harley was bleeding and held a wet rag to his forehead. Moon’s clothes were torn.
“No one warned me that Valiant was here. He’s the meanest and most deadly of our kind. I would have gone to see him before I brought you here if I’d known. Anyone else we could handle but he’s…” Brass shrugged. “One mean son of a bitch.”
Trisha moved now that her terror retreated. She walked to Harley. “Bend down and let me take a look at that.” She glanced at Moon. “Are you hurt?”
“I’ll live. I know how a football feels though when it’s thrown and it ruins that sport for me.” He turned and headed downstairs.
Harley leaned down a little and removed the wet rag. Trisha examined his wound and softly cursed. “You’re not going to need stitches but I need to clean and bandage it.”
“Fuck.” He blushed. “I mean darn.”
Trisha chuckled. “Cuss away. I would have said worse if someone did that to me.
What did he hit you with?”
“The door.” Harley’s gaze fixed on Brass. “You might want to call and order a new one. Valiant tore that one off the hinges and threw it at me. I tried to dodge the thing but the corner of it struck my forehead. The coffee table didn’t make it either. On a high note, we no longer have to chop wood if Trisha wants a fire tonight. We can just use the fifty pieces of coffee table on the floor.”
Brass sighed. “I’ll call for a first-aid kit too so Trisha can bandage your boo-boo, Harley. Do you mind, Trisha? We still don’t have a doctor at Reservation.”
“Just get me what I need. Do you need me to give you a list of supplies?”
“No.” Brass didn’t look happy. “I’m sure what we keep inside our first-aid kits will have everything you could possibly need. I guess I’ll go downstairs to evaluate the damage and afterward, I’ll call the front office and inform them of what we need.”
“Thank you.” Trisha smiled at Brass. “For everything.”
“Hey,” Harley groaned. “I took a door to the head. Where’s my thanks?” Trisha laughed and reached out to touch Harley’s arm and give it a slight squeeze. “Thank you.”
“She touched me.”
Harley stuck his tongue out at Brass, teasing him, and made Trisha laugh.
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Laurann Dohner
“Don’t you have something to do?” They could be childlike but she appreciated their playful traits.
“I’m on it.” Brass walked downstairs. He muttered the entire way down.
Trisha had Harley sit on the bed. “What did he say?”
Harley grinned. “Something about having to eat crow when he calls and Slade finds out there has already been a problem here when we just arrived.”
Trisha walked inside the half bath and grabbed a hand towel. She returned to the bedroom to apply a new wet compress to Harley’s bleeding head, holding it there. Brass wasn’t the only one who dreaded how Slade would react when he found out there’d already been an incident at the cabin.
146
Slade
Chapter Fifteen
“Valiant?”
Slade was so mad he saw red. He stood at the gate of the house that Valiant had been given. Slade heard a door slam and seconds later the mostly naked Valiant casually strode down his porch steps to approach the gate.
“Slade. Why are you out here? You could have called if you needed something.”
“What were you doing?” Slade opened the gate and stepped inside. He was ready for a fight if Valiant got pissed about Slade entering his yard without permission. “I was told you didn’t hurt the woman but I swear to God if you had, I’d kill you myself. You were out of line going after her,” he growled.
Valiant crossed his arms over his chest. “I smelled a human. That cabin isn’t far enough away and I was pissed. Justice said that no humans were allowed here.”
“Well, you went through two of our people to reach her so you knew very well that she was supposed to be here. That cabin isn’t inside your personal territory. You had no authority to attack our own people.”
Valiant shrugged, saying nothing.
“I’ll kill you if you go near her again,” Slade threatened with a snarl. “Are we clear?
I know you are friends with Tiger but damn it, I won’t permit you to hurt that woman.
You stay away from her and don’t go near her again. Do you understand me? You are not to touch one hair on her head.”
“I won’t go near her. I already discussed this with Brass. She’s one of us as far as I’m concerned.”
Slade glared at Valiant, slightly confused by the other man’s remark. “She’s not one of us but she’s a good friend to Species. She works for us. Justice and I trust her.”
“She’s one of us now, isn’t she? I smelled her myself. She was very brave and didn’t even scream when I scented her stomach.”
“You what?” Slade exploded. “You got that close to her? You touched her?” He advanced.
Valiant growled and sank into a crouch. “Stop or we will fight.”
Slade halted his angry approach but he almost shook with fury. “You touched her?”
“I kept my word to Brass and didn’t hurt her. I wanted to scent her when he told me the news because I didn’t believe him. They both agreed to allow me to get close to her. It wasn’t an attack.”
“He allowed you touch her?”
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Laurann Dohner
Slade would kick Brass’ ass at his next stop, the cabin. Valiant was unstable and anyone with a brain shouldn’t have let Valiant anywhere near Trisha. If he’d been there, he would have killed the big Species for even trying.
“I didn’t believe she was pregnant. Now I know she is.”
Shock tore through Slade. “What?”
Valiant slowly straightened from the crouch. “Pregnant. Didn’t someone tell you?
The woman is carrying a child. That is why Brass brought her here to safety—from humans.”
The anger seeped out of Slade and pain tore through his chest instead. Trisha is pregnant? His knees felt as though they were going to collapse under him. His heart pounded and the rage started to seep back into him. She’s pregnant! A haze of emotions gripped him, mostly murderous ones, that some guy had touched what was his. The idea of anyone doing that nearly sent him over the edge of insanity.
“Justice ordered them to bring her here to protect her from her people. Justice thinks when the humans find out she is carrying a mixed breed they might try to harm her. I have to agree with him. Humans are erratic and hostile for stupid reasons. There’s something about her scent against the skin that makes her different. It must be the baby inside her, changing her chemistry.”
“The father is New Species? Are you sure?” Slade ground out the words, his bitterness and rage growing by leaps and bounds.
“Scent her yourself. She smells different. Human and of us faintly but enough that I am sure. I have smelled pregnant human women when the military assigned a bunch of them to bring us food and supplies where they kept us. They knew we wouldn’t harm them if they breached the territory they gave us. Nothing is as defenseless as a pregnant female. I know the scent of one well but this one smells different. I couldn’t detect a difference until I pressed my nose against her skin. It must because she is barely pregnant. When the months wear on it will probably become easier to notice from a distance.”