“Have faith in the male. I do.”
Shadow hesitated. “He was always stronger than I was. I have to believe he won’t harm her. We will leave without him anyway. One of us has to remain behind to guard the female or we’ll have to trust some of the human males to care for her here while we are gone.”
Brass’ fingers tapped the tabletop. “I was hoping to take her with us. I wanted to use her to bait Bill. We’ll give them more time.”
* * * * *
Lauren huddled on the bed with the towel wrapped around her when the shower ended and Wrath entered the room with a matching towel tucked around his hips. His dark gaze sought her out and he slowly approached until he lowered to his knees in front of her. Sadness showed in his expression and it tore at her heart.
“I’m sorry. I scared you, didn’t I?”
“I don’t understand. Are you into pain? Is that it?”
“No.” He stroked the back of her hand with his fingertips. “Mercile did some things to me that make me afraid I will hurt you.” He stopped rubbing and gripped her hand. “They used images of human females to cause me pain. I’m afraid I will lose control if I’m inside you because they combined pleasure with severe pain. I don’t trust myself enough yet to risk taking the chance that I’d lose the ability to separate the experiences.”
“You, um, were so rough with, um, you know.” Her cheeks burned.
“They gave me a high pain tolerance while forcing me to give them my seed.”
Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. “They forced you to masturbate? Do you like pain now with sex? Is that it? I read a lot of books and I know some people need that.”
A soft growl rumbled from him. “No. I don’t wish pain for either of us. I just am afraid if I enter you that I’ll lose control because it will feel too good. I’m terrified I’ll take you too roughly and I won’t be able to stop.”
She stared deeply into his eyes. “I don’t believe that.”
“It happened. They did vile things to me.”
“I meant I don’t believe that you’d be rough with me and cause me pain. You’ve been nothing but wonderful. I admit my sexual experiences aren’t that vast but I wish you could see yourself the way I do now.”
“Give me time.”
The humor struck her and she laughed. “I can’t go home, remember? We have plenty of that.”
“I’m sorry you’re stuck with me.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m not.”
“We should get dressed and go eat. We’re both hungry.”
“Okay.”
“I am sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She meant it. There was a lot she didn’t understand but he was a tortured soul, one who had experienced deep emotional pain as well as physical, and obviously actual intercourse was something he feared. “We’ll work through this.”
He released her hand, stood, and got them both clothes from his dresser. She was becoming accustomed to him seeing her naked, didn’t hesitate to drop the towel, and made the best of the sweats he gave her. They were too large but he used a knife to cut off some of the legs and the arm length enough to free her hands and feet.
“This is not my most fashionable look.”
Wrath studied her body. “You look very attractive to me.”
That made her smile. “Thank you.”
They both used the bathroom and Wrath insisted on brushing out her hair. She sat on the bed facing away from her while he tenderly removed all the tangles. It was nice, a bit too personal, and a new experience for Lauren. No man had done that for her but she enjoyed it.
“Let’s go.” He stood, dropped the brush and walked to the door.
He opened it and waved Lauren to step out into the hallway. Wrath gripped her hand in his and stayed at her side until they reached the main room. Lauren hesitated when she saw two of the men from last night seated at a table. Vengeance wasn’t one of them.
“He’s gone,” Wrath said softly, as if he could read her mind. “Vengeance was sent back to Reservation early this morning.”
Lauren felt relief. The two men at the table stared at them as they approached. Shadow was the one to speak.
“You both overslept and missed breakfast. I put your plates in the refrigerator for you.”
Wrath nodded. “Thank you.” He showed Lauren to a seat. “I’ll warm them. You relax. You’re a guest.”
Lauren glanced at the two men to discover Brass openly staring at her hair. It was still wet from the shower. She watched the large man until his gaze flicked to hers.
“It is beautiful hair. I imagine when it is dry it is breathtaking.”
“Thank you.” She smiled.
“How are you today?” Shadow drew her attention next.
“Better.”
“Vengeance caused you no injury?”
“I have a few bruises but I’m fine. Wrath said he’s gone now.”
Brass nodded. “Yes. A helicopter and some of our people came to take him home. We apologize again for what he tried to do to you. Forced mating is forbidden and so is forced breeding.”
“Wrath explained the difference to me.”
Shadow blinked. “He did?”
She nodded. “I was curious and asked him. I didn’t understand what Vengeance was talking about.”
Shadow glanced at Wrath before meeting her gaze again. “I wondered how the subject came up.”
Brass shook his head and the two men frowned at each other. Shadow turned back to Lauren.
“We would like to ask you a favor.”
“What do you need?”
Brass spoke. “We would like you to take one of us into your work and see if you can find out where Bill is.”
Lauren was stunned at that request. “You plan to just grab him if he’s at work?”
“We have the right to arrest him for his crimes against New Species,” Brass assured her softly. “I doubt he will be there but he’s made friends at work, hasn’t he? Perhaps you could find out from them where he is.”
Lauren glanced at their black clothing. “I guess I could do that but one of you would definitely have to change clothes and wear…” She studied their eyes. “Sunglasses. Otherwise if Bill is there he’s going to spot you right away. The black clothing will draw attention and if Bill worked for Mercile Industries he’s going to be alarmed to see a New Species.”
“We’re sure he’s the correct human male. We thought of this already.” Brass hesitated. “We thought we’d have Wrath dress up however you think he should. He could pretend to be a client of yours and walk inside the building with you. Would it be appropriate for you to take a client to work?”
“Sure. I’m due in to work at ten today.” She glanced down at her clothes. “Could we stop by my apartment first? I can’t go to the office wearing this and my boss would have my ass.”
Brass shrugged. “That would be fine. What would be appropriate for Wrath to wear?”
Wrath sat a plate of warmed scrambled eggs, bacon and toast in front of her. She gave him a smile and picked up her fork. She glanced at Wrath, who took the seat next to her and noticed he had two large steaks on his plate. That was all he had. He didn’t reach for his silverware.
“You may not want to watch him eat,” Shadow suggested softly. “We enjoy our meat barely seared on the outside and raw on the inside. We find it easier to eat with our fingers than with your utensils.”
Lauren glanced at Shadow before purposely smiling at Wrath. “Eat up.”
Wrath shrugged and dug into his food. He grabbed hold of one of the steaks with both hands and bit into it. His dark eyes met hers as he tore a section of the meat off. Lauren wasn’t horrified but she was more than a bit curious. Blood dripped onto the plate and the interior of the steak was raw, red meat. She wasn’t repulsed in the least. She glanced back at Shadow.
“Have you ever seen kids eat? I am from a large family. At least you guys don’t shove peas up your nose and shoot them out.”
Brass laughed. “No. We don’t.”