Valiant

  Tiger nodded. “We’ll take it from here. You’re more than welcome to come with us if you want. We can track anything between us two cats and the two canines.”

  “I insist on it,” the sheriff stated as he gave them all a nervous glance, seeming unsure about not being there to watch whatever they did. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life and when we find Tammy, I have a bad feeling that if she’s still alive, she might want to see a familiar face. I can’t think of why four men would grab a pretty woman unless it’s for the worst. I have an ambulance on standby if they didn’t just rape and kill her flat out.” He paused, frowning. “Two cats and two canines?”

  Valiant snarled and startled all the humans around him as they backed away fearfully, their gazes locked on him. If any of the humans had put their hands on Tammy sexually he’d tear their fingers off. He’d rip their arms from the sockets while they screamed and then proceed to beat them with the their own limbs. He’d—

  Tiger spoke, ending his violent plotting. He flashed a warning look Valiant’s way, silently conveying that he needed to keep a leash on his rage. “Valiant and I are feline species while Brass and Rider are canines.”

  “Oh.” The sheriff seemed at a loss for words.

  Valiant’s irritation couldn’t be contained. Tiger wanted to play polite with the humans but he just wanted to hear what the sheriff knew to help him track Tammy. He hated wasting time. He lifted his lip to flash fangs at Tiger, conveying a silent message of his own. He wasn’t patient and the bullshit needed to stop. A gasp from the humans made him glare at Sheriff Cooper, who stumbled backward, his gaze horrified, and stared at his mouth.

  “Are those…”

  “Teeth,” Tiger acknowledged. “Don’t worry about Valiant. He’s just very angry that the woman was taken and wants to go after her right now.”

  The sheriff finally glanced at Tiger. “I sent somebody to her car at the bar where she was grabbed to see if he could find something of hers that would have her scent. I know when we use hounds they need something from the victim. My deputy should return with it at any time. He radioed in that he has her jacket.”

  Tiger pointed to Valiant. “That won’t be necessary. We’ve both met her. She did a catering job at Reservation and they’ve become friends. That’s why he’s here. He spent more time around her than I did. He’s very familiar with her scent. He’ll have an easier time tracking her.”

  The sheriff shot a horrified glance Valiant’s way. “Well, I guess that’s good. That means you fellas know what a nice gal she is and that we’ve got to find her before the kidnappers have time to really hurt her.”

  “I’m going after her,” Valiant snarled, done listening to them waste time when Tammy needed him. “You stand here bullshitting. I’m getting her back.” He took off toward the woods at a run.

  “Damn, he can move fast.” The sheriff sounded amazed. “I won’t be able to keep up. Just go. Find Tammy. They have an hour lead.”

  Tiger snarled. “Wait up, Valiant. I’m right behind you.”

  Valiant eyes adjusted to the darkness and followed the clear and deep impressions the truck tires had left in the long grass. He knew Rider and Brass followed him closely. They probably were under orders to make sure he didn’t slaughter the human males when he found them. Two Species males wouldn’t be enough to prevent that from happening if they’d done anything bad to Tammy. Tiger should have brought a dozen males with them if that was his intention.

  Valiant located the truck and smelled Tammy right away inside the back of it. He leapt into the truck bed and discovered blood. He crouched down, sniffed, and only calmed slightly when he realized it wasn’t hers. He closed his eyes as he took a few breaths to memorize the stench of the males. Pure rage coursed through him because he could smell Tammy’s fearful scent along with those who had taken her. He stood and jumped out of the truck. Tiger and the two security officers watched Valiant, waiting for his assessment.

  “Two of them had her in the back of the truck. There’s blood but not hers.”

  Tiger nodded. Valiant walked to the open driver’s door. He stopped and sniffed, moving around it to the busted side mirror. He growled as his entire body tensed.

  “What is it?” Tiger moved forward but the answer was there as he inhaled. “Blood.”

  “Hers.” Valiant threw back his head and roared. “Her blood is on that broken mirror so they hurt her. I’ll kill them for this.”

  Brass cleared his throat. “She fell here and ran away but they followed.” He stood about ten feet from the truck near the tree line of the woods.

  Valiant lunged forward. The four of them sniffed the area and studied the tracks on the ground. The small impressions were harder to detect at night. “It’s not old.”

  “That’s what the sheriff stated.” Tiger confirmed. “They took her about an hour ago. Do you think she got away from them?” He stared at the smallest tracks—a female running. He glanced at Valiant. “How physically fit is she? Do you think she could outrun her attackers?”

  “No,” Valiant snarled. “She’s small and no match for four males.”

  “We better find them fast,” Brass growled.

  The four men ran. They stopped where Tammy had been tackled and the signs of where clear to each of them that she’d impacted the ground. Valiant roared again when he discovered more of Tammy’s blood.

  “Easy,” Tiger snarled low. “We’re all allowing our animal sides to rule but we’re dealing with humans. Control your instincts while we hunt. They aren’t deer. Keep that in mind.”

  Rider growled where he crouched, examining the disturbed leaves. “One man is carrying her. His track impressions show the added weight.”

  “He’s dead when I reach him,” Valiant promised. “Let’s go.”

  * * * * *

  Tammy woke and softly cursed. Her shoulder, arm, back, and head hurt. She stopped listing what ached and tried to concentrate instead on what didn’t. Her feet and her ass were fine but that was about it. She forced her eyes open to stare at a blazing campfire. She rested on her side facing it, a few feet away from the flames. She turned her head, only to instantly regret it.

  Four men sat on a fallen log glaring at her. One of them, Terry, had his cowboy boots off. Dried blood stained his chin and shirt. She’d head-butted that one. Another one had strips of his torn shirt stuffed up his nose that seemed to be actively bleeding, while another one had his hand clamped over his arm where bloody claw marks from her fingernails assured her he’d been one of the jerks in the back of the truck with her. The fourth man appeared unhurt.

  She looked away from them and glanced at the trees surrounding them. She had been placed on grass but as she tried to lift up, she couldn’t move her arms. She tugged and realized they were bound behind her. She glared at the men.

  “My leather belt is wrapped around your wrists, you little hellion. You just stay down.” It was the unhurt man who spoke in an angry tone. “I still say we should just kill her. Look at all the shit we’re in because of her. She broke Ned’s nose when she kicked him in the face on her way out of the truck.”

  Surprise registered to Tammy. She didn’t remember doing that but hid a smile, happy it had happened. She vaguely remembered using her feet to help kick off to shove her upper body from the bed of the truck. She’d thought she’d used the floor to do it. The fact that it had actually been his face made it better.

  “I think two of my teeth are loose. She slammed her head into my mouth,” Terry said and grunted while he glared at her. “I say I take my belt and blister her ass with it.”

  “Stop all of that whining,” the guy with the scratched arm ordered. “We need her help. You heard what our informant on the inside of that animal land told us. One of those animals grabbed and carried her off. We need to convince her to go public and tell everyone what he did to her to gain support for our cause.”

  “Like that bitch is going to do that.” Ned paused. “Right. She broke my nose. She’s as
much of an animal as they are. Did she come with us peacefully the way a real lady would? Hell no. She fought as though she were an animal. Now here we are stuck in the woods without a truck. That car followed us and I’m pretty sure that guy went for help. He probably got the license plate. We probably have half of the state searching for us because she wouldn’t just be reasonable.”

  “We should have waited, Paul.” Terry frowned at the guy with the scratched arm. “He ordered us to wait to take her when he arrived. You’re the dick who thought she’d be easy enough to grab. You said it would be as simple as eating pie. The boss is going to be here in a few days and he’s going to tear you a new asshole and us along with you since we were dumb enough to listen to your screwed-up plan. You know the boss wants her bad, he told you he has big plans for her. He said he could talk her into doing whatever we needed her to do but now it’s all turned to shit.”

  Chapter Five

  Paul cursed. “I can fix this. We can convince her to tell the press what we want but it just might take a bit more time.”

  “We don’t have that,” Terry ground out. “Our boss is going to have all of our asses for this mess. We screwed it up bad.”

  Paul glared at Tammy. “All you had to do was come peacefully. We’re human, damn it. We’re your kind. What did that animal do to you when he carried you off? Did he rape you? Did he take a bite out of you? Did he try to turn you into one of them? Tell us the truth right now!”

  Tammy glared at him. “He was a gentleman and brought me tea. After that, he asked me how my day was,” she lied. “He didn’t toss me into the back of a truck and crush me into near suffocation, nor did he drag me out into the woods and use a belt to tie my hands behind my back. He was actually intelligent and polite.”

  She hoped she wouldn’t go to hell over stretching the truth because while Valiant was intelligent, the polite part would be considered a little shady.

  “They are animals.” Terry glared at her. “You’re sticking up for them?”

  “You’re calling them that? That’s priceless coming from four thugs who kidnapped me.” She snorted loudly and rolled her eyes.

  “Bitch!” Ned yelled as he lurched to his feet. “You broke my nose. I’ll show you what kind of animal I can be.”

  Paul gripped his arm. “Sit down.”

  “She’s asking for it,” Ned whined but he sat.

  Terry sighed. “She’s never going to do what we want. We should just get rid of her and tell our boss she accidently died when we grabbed her.”

  “You don’t go against the doctor’s orders ever. I told him I’d make this happen and that, in the end, he’d get her alive when we were done with her.” Paul shot a frightened look at his men, seeming to be in charge of them. “Trust me. That’s one man you never want to disappoint. He is allowing us to get a taped statement from her but after that, he plans to use her for one of his experiments. Our informant believes something sexual happened between her and the animal who took her. He overheard a conversation between Justice North and one of the security animals. They said she could be hurt and they wanted a doctor to check her out but she refused to press charges against the animal for rape. They didn’t say attempted rape. He was clear about that.”

  Tammy knew the color drained from her face. Someone had leaked information to a hate group, someone close to Justice North. She’d never met him but she’d seen him in interviews on television since he was the most well-known New Species. His people had voted him into leadership as though he were some kind of president. He made most of the decisions for them. Someone obviously was spying on him and telling these men what was being said. Worse, they knew about her and Valiant. Not good.

  Four pairs of eyes studied her. Tammy glared back. She guessed the only way out of the mess would be to convince them they had the wrong information. She could only hope they wouldn’t kill her.

  “I don’t know who you’ve been talking to but it’s bullshit. That never happened,” she bluffed. “I’d find someone more reliable if you’re paying that person to feed you information. Maybe you should hire them to write fiction since they seem to be good at making up stuff. Is your informant some reporter for one of those gossip rags? Did an alien attack me too?”

  “She fucked one of those animals?” Terry sounded stunned as he stared at her as if she were something he’d never seen before, something disgusting. “You screwed an animal?”

  She closed her eyes, counted to five, and opened them. “Listen, cowboy. Did you just hear me? Whoever told you this crap is full of it.”

  “That’s what we were told,” Paul confirmed. “He hauled her up off the ground and carried her away. Our informant heard the conversation between the head animal and his security dog.”

  “I think his head of security is a cat.” Ned shrugged.

  “Does it matter? Dog? Cat? What’s the difference?” Terry snorted. “They are animals that walk around on two legs thinking they are as good as us but they aren’t. They are nothing more than test rats that grew brains. I’m so sick of them breathing and seeing idiots on the news praising those abominations for what they are doing by setting up their own living environment. It’s like patting a bird on the back for making a nest in their cage with newspaper bits. They are tainting our country and now they are putting their dirty paws our women. We’ve got to stop them.”

  Ned stared at Tammy. “Maybe he brainwashed her. We know it’s possible.” He leaned over, staring at her. “Is that why you’re protecting your animal lover? Did he torture you into submission? Maybe he bit her and infected her with some disease that makes her one of them. Is that it? Are you infected? Have you started to grow a tail or fur?”

  Tammy couldn’t believe she’d been kidnapped by such morons. It made her almost feel ashamed that they’d succeeded. “Why don’t you come over here and take a look?” She wanted to kick the son of a bitch since legs that weren’t tied down.

  He stood and walked toward her. Tammy tensed. When he was close enough she twisted and kicked him as hard as she could in his shin. He screamed, jumped back and fell on his ass.

  “You bitch!” he yelled.

  “You moron!” Tammy shouted back.

  “Enough,” Paul demanded. “Stay away from her. She’s obviously sick in her head if she let one of them touch her. We’ll have the doctor take care of her. He’s a vicious son of a bitch.”

  “It’s a good thing those animals are shooting blanks or she could have a litter of puppies if she got pregnant by that thing.” It was the unhurt man who spoke while he studied her. “Do you think, if it was possible, that she’d have as many as a dog bitch would have? My pit bull had six puppies last time.”

  “Shut up, Mark.” Paul shot him a glare. “Everyone knows they are sterile so don’t even go there. It makes me sick. That’s a blessing they can’t have kids. They probably would breed like animals, with litters. Let’s just get some sleep, rest up, and in the morning we’ll hike out of here and take her to the house. Our reinforcements will hit town the day after tomorrow with the doctor. We just need to keep her alive until he arrives. That should give us plenty of time to make her tape a statement that we can send out to the press to show everyone that those things are dangerous.”

  Ned stumbled to his feet and glared at Tammy. “Two days waiting around with her is a long time. She loves animals, obviously. I think I know how to pass the hours.” He reached for the front of his pants and started to unfasten them.

  “Don’t,” Paul ordered. “The doctor wouldn’t be happy. I know what kind of experiments he’s into. He’ll castrate you if you injure her in any way that might screw up his plans.”

  “She’s already done an animal. Who really gives a fuck what we do to her as long as we don’t kill her?” Ned opened his pants, shoving them down his hips.

  Terror gripped Tammy as she realized he planned to rape her. Mark, the unhurt guy, stood quickly. “We don’t screw with the doctor. Pull your pants back up, damn it. I don’t ever wa
nt to see your dick again.”

  “Mark is right.” Paul stood too and moved between Ned and where Tammy lay bound on the ground. “The doctor would go ballistic if you raped her. You’re the new guy on the team and don’t know much about what he does but he’d kill you if you jeopardize his work. He’s the one who signs our paychecks. Find a whore if you want to get your rocks off or take a walk out into the woods and jerk off.”

  “But she’s the bitch who broke my nose. I’m not just going to take that shit without some payback.”

  “I understand.” Paul’s voice lowered. “I’m angry too.” He held up his arm. “I have to explain how the hell this happened to my wife when I get home. She’s not stupid and this looks just like what it is. Fingernail marks. She’ll be convinced I cheated on her. That pisses me off but the doctor scares the hell out of me. You can’t rape her.”

  Mark turned his head to glare down at Tammy, his dark eyes narrowed, and he smiled in a way that turned her blood to ice. Pure glee transformed his features as he turned to face her. Whatever plan he’d hatched wouldn’t be good for her.

  “We won’t rape her or do anything the doctor would get mad about but we need to get that statement from her.” He turned his head to grin at Paul. “Do you have the video camera with you? I don’t know about you guys but I’m not tired and we’re stuck here until morning. I say we use the time well.”

  “I’ve got video camera function on my phone.” Paul had a confused look as he dug it out of his back pocket. “But she isn’t going to agree to say anything bad against them. You heard her. She’s somehow been brainwashed by those animals.”

  Ned jerked up his pants and zipped them. “The animal infected her. I’m telling you they carry diseases. The doctor probably wants her because he knows that. I bet he’s going to document it when she becomes one of them. That would definitely turn the public against them and help our cause. Everybody will panic, they’ll want them dead before it spreads past their gates, and we’ll finally get to watch them die.”