“What?”
“You are attractive. You smell sweet.”
A n uneasy feeling made her nervous. “Valiant said when I’m scared I smell that way. I’ve been scared a lot since yesterday.”
He hesitated. “You belong to this Valiant?”
She nodded. “We’re getting married.”
“Married? What is this?”
She considered her words. “It’s a ceremony that binds us together until we die in my world. He wants to marry me to make sure human law acknowledges that I belong to him.”
He nodded. “But you already belong to him?”
“Yes.”
He softly growled. “That is too bad. I want you.”
She inched back from him, feeling fear. “No.”
He frowned. “I said it is too bad. Do you not understand this?”
“I belong to Valiant.”
“Keep your voice down or they will hear us. I know. I agree.”
Her heart rate returned to normal. “I was afraid you didn’t care that I am his. The way you said that implied you were going to…touch me anyway.”
He shrugged. “I would want him to protect you if you were mine and you were taken from me to be given to another. I would kill him if he mounted you. I will not force breed you, Tammy. I may want to but I can control it. My mind rules my body.”
Good thing.
“I just hope that this Valiant comes for you soon.” He stood. “You smell too good. It has been a long time since I allowed my body to give in to the urge to breed. Much too long to be this close to you.”
That made Tammy uneasy again. It almost sounded as though it were a threat. A s if he warned her that his control would only last so long. She bit her lip. “What do you do in here to keep busy?”
He shrugged. “I grow strong.”
She glanced at the large room. There was the twin bed and the toilet. The small hose with the twist-turn to shut it on and off and the drain in the floor were the only other things. She had no idea what he meant.
“You must get so bored.”
“Bored?”
She tried to think of a way to explain it to him. “You have nothing to do.”
“I get strong.” He moved to the floor beside her and did pushups. She watched as his muscles strained and tightened while he quickly lifted up and down. He eventually stopped and glanced at the wall. He ran at it, twisted, and slammed his body against it. He did that a few times, switching shoulders as he hit it. She stared at the bars and realized they’d bent slightly, just barely, and she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been searching for damage.
He stopped doing that and walked to the front of the cell where the bars were. He gripped them and did pushups while standing. He finally turned and strode to the center of the cage. He suddenly crouched down and leapt high into the air. His fingers caught the bars of the roof, his body hung feet from the floor and she watched in amazement as he did pull-ups. He seemed to do them forever until sweat dripped down his body. He released the bars and landed gracefully on his bare feet. He turned and looked at her.
“I get strong.”
No wonder all the New Species men were huge and buff. It’s not a mystery anymore how muscular and in shape they are if this is what they did all those years inside their cells.
She nodded. “I saw that.”
“I bathe now. You may turn away.”
She did. She put her back to the area with the hose.
She heard water come on and she heard the odd sound of Velcro. She wanted to look to see what it was but she didn’t. He wanted to bathe and even she knew their definitions of that couldn’t be too different. The sound of water running lasted a while. It shut off. She heard that sound of Velcro again.
“I am covered.”
Tammy turned, still sitting on the floor, and faced 927. He had washed his body and his hair was wet. She saw him return something behind the toilet as he bent.
“What did you put behind the…” She pointed.
He leaned back down. “Soap and deodorant.” He lifted them and showed her. The soap hung from a tiny rope and he’d been given a travel-sized deodorant. “They give us these to keep clean and not to smell. We do not enjoy bad odors from our bodies. It makes us irritable.”
“A t least they give you toilets. I guess that is good.”
“They do not clean our rooms. We would kill them if they got so close.”
“I understand.” The jerks who’d brought her there didn’t want to have to clean up the cell if he didn’t have the ability to go to the bathroom decently.
He moved closer and sat in front of her. “Tell me about New Species. Tell me everything.”
Tammy took a deep breath. She started to tell him everything she knew from the time she’d started to follow the news. 927 watched her with interest. He smiled a lot.
She continued to talk.
* * * * *
“Someone comes,” a voice over the radio warned softly.
Valiant leapt from the bed and watched Justice and Tiger stand from where they had been resting on the floor. The men moved out of sight of the front door.
Justice gave Valiant a hard look.
“Do not kill them or hurt their ability to speak. They know where Tammy is.”
“I know that.” Valiant growled softly. “No one wants her back more than I.”
“I know but I see your rage, my friend. I understand.
I would want to destroy them if someone took my woman…if I had a woman. I am just reminding you in case you are not thinking clearly. We need them to tell us where she is.”
“She’s not even my woman and I still want to kill them,” Tiger sighed. “They work for Mercile, took one of our women, and they need to die for that.”
“Quiet,” Valiant suddenly whispered. “I hear a vehicle coming.”
A n engine died outside and a door slammed. A man walked up the front walkway, his shoe tread soft, and keys jingled. In seconds the deadbolt slid and the door swung open. The human who walked inside was a man in his twenties. He wore white clothing, similar to the technicians from the testing facilities, and Valiant bit back a snarl to remain silent.
The human hooked his keys on a nail in the wall and slammed the door closed behind him. His arms rose as he stretched his torso, yawned and turned. It took him five steps before he realized he wasn’t alone. He froze.
Valiant, Tiger and Justice spread out around the man the second they walked out of hiding from the next room. Terror instantly shrouded the human’s face and the stench of it rolled off him.
“Fuck me,” he cursed.
Tiger growled. “Not even if you begged. You aren’t our type.”
The man blanched. “What do you want?”
Valiant growled. “You know what we want. Where is my woman?”
The man started to shake and sweat as he stared at Valiant. His gaze swept over the big New Species from head to foot. “Shit.”
“Where is Tammy?” Justice growled from behind the human. “Talk quickly because my friend wants to make you scream and bleed. The bed smells strongly of his woman’s fear. He is very angry.”
The human’s mouth moved but nothing came out.
Valiant roared, the sound filled the room, and he advanced. The human spun quickly to flee, lost his balance and collapsed to the floor in terror. A high-pitched scream tore from his throat as Valiant crouched and grabbed him by his arms, making sure his nails dug into them painfully.
“Where is my Tammy?” Valiant snarled the words. He yanked the man’s upper body closer to his sharp teeth.
“A t the warehouse,” he sobbed. “She’s at the warehouse.”
“Release him,” Justice growled. “Do not break him.
“Release him,” Justice growled. “Do not break him.
He is going to tell us where that is, aren’t you, human?”