Valiant

  Tammy slowly released the bars and turned, dread making her stomach heave a little. The scariest eyes she’d ever seen watched her from the other side of the partition just feet from her. His seemingly black gaze narrowed and he growled at her again. She backed up, moved away from the door, and pressed against the bars as far away from him as she could get in the small space.

  His hands lifted and he glanced at them. She followed where he looked, wishing instantly that she hadn’t. His hands ended in thick fingernails similar to Valiant’s but they hadn’t been clipped. They resembled short but lethal claws that scratched over the damaged part of the glass. A piece of it fell away, letting her know he could get to her. A scream rose but became trapped inside her throat. He scratched the divider with his nails again. It was a hideous sound when more bits of the glass fell away to ping on the metal floor.

  “Please,” Tammy begged softly. “Don’t hurt me. I was kidnapped and brought here against my will. I’m not your enemy. I don’t work for Mercile Industries.”

  The New Species stopped watching his hands to peer at her instead. She only saw aloofness in his stare as their gazes met. His hands pulled away from the glass, he backed away, and she hoped her words had meant something to him.

  He suddenly lunged forward, his body turning at the last second, and his shoulder slammed into the glass. More of it cracked. Tammy whimpered again and slid along the bars until she reached the corner a few feet away. She couldn’t escape. He was going to break through and reach her.

  Her knees seemed to turn to liquid and she slid down to the cold, unforgiving floor, on her butt. She drew her knees up in a protective manner and wrapped her arms around them tightly to hug her body. He moved with her to the edge of the cage. He growled again.

  “Listen to me. Please? I know a lot about people like you. Do you know that a lot of them are free now? The testing facility they were imprisoned inside was raided by the government and they’re no longer locked up. They live outside, no bars, and no cages.” She sucked in air, knew she babbled, but was proud she could at least speak. She kept going. “They call themselves New Species. They are really free and if they knew where you were they would come to save you. Do you understand me?”

  The man’s eyes narrowed more and he stopped growling. He did continue to glare at her. She hoped that he wouldn’t break through the glass and just kill her in the blink of an eye. Her talking seemed to have at least distracted him from battering through the glass.

  “I live with one of your kind. He tells I belong to him all the time. It kind of annoyed me until he told me that he never owned anything, never was allowed to care about anything, because it was used against him. He named himself Valiant. He’s part lion. He has the most amazing golden eyes. He loves me and I love him. We live at New Species Reservation. It’s a large area of woods and open land. It’s where your kind live and work together to have better lives. It belongs to them and they are in charge there.”

  The man growled at her, tensing. She saw his muscles bunch and he put his hands against the glass. He started to push. The glass groaned and she heard a cracking sound. He would break through. She only had about four feet between her and the barrier. She fought back tears.

  “The first time I met Valiant he scared me. He growled the way you are right now. I’d never seen anything like him before. I thought he would kill me but he didn’t. I’d accidentally gone to the wrong place and ended up at his house. He terrified me but he was also the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. His eyes are amazing and he has this mane of reddish-colored hair with blond streaks running through it.” Her voice broke and she blinked back more tears. “He’s a little bigger than you are. Taller. That’s another reason he scared me. He picked me up, carried me into his house, and we started talking.”

  The glass cracked more while the New Species continued to push on it. Tammy darted her focus away from his eyes to the barrier between them. Large jagged splinters in it had spread upward toward the top of the room and down to the floor. She didn’t have much more time before it gave way.

  “Valiant told me I’m family to your kind now that I’m with him. They call each other that since none of them had parents or blood relatives. That means I’m family to you too. Valiant…” her voice broke from emotion and hot tears slid down her cheeks. “He loves me and he’s got to be terrified for me right now. He doesn’t know where I am. I was kidnapped from Reservation. He’ll be looking for me and he’ll never stop. Please don’t kill me.”

  The man backed up to study the glass. Tammy stopped talking to watch him. She hugged her body harder, trying to appear as small as possible while she pushed back tighter into the corner. She knew he examined the glass, searching for the weakest parts. Her words didn’t seem to matter and nothing she’d said made him want to stop attacking the partition to hurt her.

  He moved suddenly, backed up about five feet, his attention fixed on one section of damaged glass. She held her breath when he paused but gasped as he lunged forward. He twisted his massive body at the last second before he threw his entire weight against the partition and to her horror, it gave way. He came barreling through it and slammed into the bars only feet from where she huddled. The wall section where he’d broken through crashed to the floor, barely missing her.

  Tammy whimpered and lifted her head as he straightened to his full height. He rolled his shoulder that had taken most of the impact from the glass and the bars. A few scratches marred his skin but the wall had broken in chunks, obviously some kind of safety glass. He turned toward her, glaring, and growled. He took a step toward her and another until only inches separated her body from his legs.

  “Please,” she begged softly. “Don’t do this. I’m telling you the truth.”

  He spread his thighs as he crouched, pinned her between them but didn’t touch her as he sniffed. Tammy stared into his dark, terrifying eyes, hoping he’d have a harder time killing her if he were looking into them. She saw emotion flicker in those dark depths. His hands reached for her, fisted her shirt between her breasts, and yanked her hard from the floor when he quickly rose to his feet.

  Tammy heard material tear when she was forced to stand. She whimpered again. He had her by her shirt and used it to slam her against the wall bars at her back. She stared up into his face and locked her knees together to keep from collapsing. She shook badly when he hunched down to get closer to her face with his own.

  Black eyes narrowed into slits as he continued to sniff her. His mouth tightened into a grim, tight line when he stopped. A soft grumble came from his mouth, far too near her own. He pressed in closer until his hot skin touched her arms, which still hugged her waist, and his head lowered more. He smelled her hair, his nose brushed over it, and he bumped his chin against her cheek, pushing.

  Tammy squeezed her eyes closed and turned her head away even though she could feel his warm breath fan across her neck as he continued to examine how she smelled. Please don’t tear out my throat with those sharp teeth. She couldn’t get the actual words out, too terrified to speak with his hands on her, and his body nearly crushed hers against the cold metal. His sharp teeth never touched her.

  His body against hers turned rigid. Her heart hammered inside her chest so hard that it began to hurt. He moved, easing the pressure of his chest away from hers until she breathed easier. It took every bit of courage she had to look up at him again as she turned her head back. He glared into her frightened gaze.

  He backed away and released her torn shirt. “Stay.” He snarled the word.

  Tammy didn’t dare move. He watched her intently until his gaze lowered down her body to study her. It shocked her when he suddenly dropped to his knees before her, his hands gripped her hips, and his face pressed against her skin between her breasts where he’d torn open her shirt. She sucked in air but managed not to scream, too terrified it would set him off. A hot tongue suddenly licked the side of her breast and he snarled.

  She stopped breathing but his tong
ue left her skin. She took a shallow breath as he sniffed her then pulled his head back. One hand released her hip to grab the bottom of her shirt, which he yanked up to expose her stomach. He shoved his nose against her belly but it didn’t hurt. He inhaled deeply as he rubbed his face downward to the top of her pants. He paused at the waistband.

  I’m not dead. He’s not killing me. That’s got to be good, right? She tried to think of something to say but decided now would be a time to keep her lips sealed. That was until the guy spread his thighs to lower his body and he suddenly pressed his face into the vee of her legs.

  “Stop!”

  Her hands reached for him without conscious thought, grabbed his broad shoulders, and she pushed at him. He didn’t budge an inch, too strong and big to move.

  His head snapped up, mouth parted to reveal sharp teeth, and he snarled at her. She jerked her hands away as if he’d burned her, terror jolted through her at that deadly glare he gave her, and he lowered his head again. He pressed his face back into the vee of her thighs and nudged against her sex, sniffing her there, as if he really were a dog. He jerked back, stared up at her, and released her shirt as he rose to his feet again.

  Tammy fought back a scream when he spun her body around, pressed her face against the bars, and began sniffing from the top of her shoulder and down her back. He moved the shirt out of way by jerking it up. She stared at the concrete inches in front of her nose where the cage had been pushed against the warehouse wall. He growled a few times as he lowered, his hands holding her in place, and crouched behind her to even sniff the back of her thighs. He didn’t bury his face against her ass at least. She tried to take comfort in being spared that.

  He spun her back, staring at her in way that left his thoughts and feelings a mystery but he didn’t appear enraged anymore. His dark gaze actually didn’t seem as cold or frightening. He suddenly reached out and his hand encircled her upper arm but his hold didn’t hurt. He actually seemed careful not to bruise her with his big hand.

  “Come.” His voice came out gruff, deep, but it wasn’t a growl or a snarl.

  He backed up, pulling on her to make her follow. She moved on wobbly legs, not sure what would happen next. He backed up more, pulling her another few feet, and turned his head to stare at the gap he’d created in the partition. He inched through it, careful not to touch his skin against any of the rough edges, and left her no choice but to step through it as well. She meekly followed him, too grateful he wasn’t killing her, until she realized where he’d led her to.

  Fear made her try to pull out of his grasp when she spotted the cot just feet away. “No.”

  His dark gaze narrowed in a threatening way. “Lie down now.”

  “I belong to Valiant.” She couldn’t help the rush of tears that blinded her until she blinked them back. “Please don’t do this.”

  His mouth moved, twitched, but that was the only show of emotion on his face. “Rest. I won’t mount you.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Some of Tammy’s panic and fear eased as she decided the New Species probably wouldn’t lie to her. He was big enough to force the issue if he wanted to rape her. He could have killed her by now. The fact that she still drew breath had to be a great sign that he wasn’t as vicious as her kidnappers believed or that he’d smelled Valiant on her and it meant something to him. She let him direct her to the bed where she carefully sat on the edge.

  The New Species crouched in front of her, knees wide open, putting her legs between his thighs. He seemed to enjoying pinning her in by doing that, she noticed, and didn’t like how he also had a preference for invading her personal space. He was too close for her comfort.

  His gaze searched hers. “How many?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “How many New Species freed?”

  “I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but hundreds.”

  He took a few deep breaths but seemed to get angry again. “How many hundreds?”

  Tammy hesitated. “I don’t know. New Species don’t really want that known to the general public, um, humans. I would guess at least three hundred of them live at Reservation. There’s also Homeland, a big converted military base they were given, and it’s another big piece of land where more New Species live. There have to have a few hundred there too. Probably more.”

  “Tell me some numbers you know.”

  “I don’t understand. I just said I’m not sure of how many of them there are in total.”

  He lightly growled. He pointed to himself. “927. What are the numbers you know? What is Valiant’s number from before?”

  She understood. “I don’t know any. They don’t ever use their testing-facility numbers. They all picked names when they were freed. I never wanted to ask Valiant what his was when he was still imprisoned. I didn’t want to make him sad by making him remember his life from before.”

  He blinked. “They chose their own names?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Most of your kind have names like Justice and Breeze.” She paused before listing off the other names she’d heard. “Tiger. Flame. Brass. Rider. Smiley.” She paused. “I was told they picked names of things they loved or something that had some meaning to them.” She stared into his gaze. “They would have come to break you out if they’d known about you.” She whispered. “They don’t know about the testing facility in Colorado. They thought they found them all and had set everyone free.”

  He suddenly lifted up and spun away from her. It made Tammy flinch as he snarled loudly and began to pace the cell. She scooted until her back rested against the bars of the cage wall. She hugged her chest and pulled her knees up, just watching him silently. He appeared agitated and really angry. She’d answered his questions but regretted saying that last part. Perhaps he was so angry that others had been found when he hadn’t been.

  “Valiant will never stop searching for me. That means he’ll find us. Me and you. They’ll free you.” She said it softly, hoping her voice didn’t carry to wherever the doctor and his two thugs had gone. “We really do love each other and he won’t give up.”

  The New Species stopped pacing to regard her. He slowly approached and crouched next to the bed. “The technicians will take you away from me if I don’t mount you soon.” He whispered the words.

  Tammy shook her head frantically, afraid, and knew exactly what that meant. Sex. “No.”

  “I will scent you and it will buy time.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He suddenly reached out and grabbed Tammy by her calf, gave a hard jerk, and his other hand gripped her arm to turn her on the bed where she fell flat. She gasped but had a few hundred pounds of muscled New Species pin her down when his body dropped over hers.

  Tammy stared up at him and whimpered, thinking she’d been safe, sure he wasn’t going to hurt her after they’d talked. His face remained inches from hers and he looked grim. He lowered his face and buried it against her neck.

  “Relax. I won’t hurt you,” he breathed very softly against her ear. “They listen always. This close and soft they cannot hear. I won’t mount you but I need to make them believe I am interested. They will take you from my cell otherwise and they could kill you if they think the experiment is a failure. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” she got out softly, struggled with her fear, but forced her tense muscles to relax. “They have microphones listening to what we say?” She kept her voice just as soft as he had.

  “They watch with cameras too but do not search for them with your eyes. They will become suspicious.”

  He shifted over her, pinned her closer to him, completely covering her with his body. He was careful not to crush her. Tammy experienced raw fear at how tiny she felt, how helpless, and had no choice but to trust that he wouldn’t hurt her. The man was big, smelled of a strong soap and sweat. It wasn’t unpleasant, but foreign. She was used to the way Valiant smelled. She put her hands on his chest. His skin felt as hot as Valiant’s, almost as if they ran a fe
ver, but they just had a hotter temperature than humans. She resisted the urge to attempt to push him off, already knowing it would be a useless effort.

  He buried his face against her neck again, sniffed really loudly, probably for the microphones, before he spoke softly to her again. “Will Valiant really come looking for you and not stop?”

  “Yes.” Tammy had no doubt. “They all will. The New Species, I mean.”

  A soft growl tore from his mouth. “I will do my best to keep you here. They will kill you if they believe I won’t do as they wish by mounting you. You’ll have no value to them otherwise. They’ll take me from here, back to where I came from, and consider the test of breeding me to another human a failure.”

  Tammy closed her eyes and fought more tears. The man dropped his face against her neck and adjusted until he’d wiggled his hips until he’d wedged between her thighs. Fear and mental exhaustion finally caught up to her. She wanted to cry, admitted to a little self-pity that this had happened to her, and she gripped his skin just to find some comfort.

  “Lie here with me and rest. You are safe from me, little one with pretty eyes.”

  “My name is Tammy.”

  He inhaled her skin at her neck. “It is good to smell another of my kind on you.”

  “They don’t let you see others?”

  “No.”

  He was alone. She shifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. He didn’t protest the hug-like hold she had on him. He had her totally trapped under his big body but she didn’t feel threatened.

  Deep down she understood one thing. He was alone and he needed to hold her too, probably longed for the comfort just as much as she did. She closed her eyes and relaxed. Her mind instantly drifted to Valiant. He’d find her somehow. He had to. A yawn surprised her and all the adrenaline started to drain from her body.