“You’re lying. My sister wouldn’t do that.”
“You didn’t find the courtesy van in the parking lot, did you? That’s what they used to transport the New Species. They don’t want whatever phone they are using traced to my phone since I’m calling the NSO. They are having some stranger call and I’m supposed to answer with a code word. You’re not getting that out of me because then I know you’ll kill me.” She watched her blood drip on the couch, stain it, and used her hand to wipe some of it from her chin. “It’s Mel you should be pissed at. I’m just the idiot who lost her job and desperately needed money enough to do whatever she said.”
“They wouldn’t run like that,” one of the men said. “Mel wouldn’t do that. You know that, Mary. She’s lying.”
“You have five minutes to tell me where my sister is before I have the animal start breaking your bones. Do you know he can snap them in seconds? I won’t have him kill you by breaking your neck. You’ll lie there bleeding on the inside, in the kind of excruciating pain you can’t even imagine, until you die of shock. It will be the longest minutes of your life. Tell me where to find my sister. You’re going to die but it’s up to you how painful you want your last moments to be.”
Lauren saw the truth in her eyes and one glance at the New Species’ grim expression assured her that he believed it too. She had to change tactics. Nothing was going to save her if she didn’t think of something fast.
She allowed the tears to well in her eyes, not something difficult to do since the inside of her mouth hurt.
“Fine. I do have a number for them. I was supposed to call it when the NSO has the cash ready for the exchange but I’ll let you talk to your sister. She will tell you not to kill me.”
“What’s the number?” Mary seemed to calm.
“I don’t know it by heart. John T wrote it down and I hid it in case the NSO showed up here. It’s in the top drawer of my desk.”
“Get it.” Mary jerked her head at one of the thugs.
The desk sat across the room by the hallway and Lauren’s mind tried to figure out her next move. It was hard to think around the fear that gripped her but she wanted to live. She purposely stumbled, held her head, and hoped she appeared more hurt than she really was. Her cheek throbbed, the taste of blood lingered in her mouth, and she knew the inside of it was torn up a bit. One of Mary’s men trailed closely behind her as she walked to her desk.
The desk was old, a hand-me-down from an uncle, and the drawer had to be wiggled to get it open. A stack of her bills were on top and she shifted papers. The thug moved to her side. She glanced at him, but he wasn’t watching what she was doing. Instead he peered around the room.
Her fingers brushed metal under the papers, gripped it, and Lauren allowed sheer panic to lead her actions. They were going to kill her, she wasn’t getting out of this mess alive, and there was only one thing to do. Her other hand gripped the small scrap of a fortune cookie message that had been funny enough to keep. She purposely dropped it on the floor.
“Sorry. I’m shaking. It’s on there.”
He bent to retrieve it and Lauren acted. It horrified her, she screamed inwardly, and knew her life changed forever in the instant that she plunged the letter opener as deep as she could into the back of the man’s neck. Her hand fisted the handle of the sharp implement, she twisted hard to do more damage and heard his gasp of pain.
His body dropped to the floor, she dodged in the opposite direction and hit the side of the wall in her haste to flee toward her bedroom. She screamed, hoping to draw attention from the neighbors. It might scare off the remaining people in her living room if they thought the police would be called.
“Get her, 140,” Mary yelled.
Lauren reached her room, spun around and grabbed the doorknob. She got a glimpse of the big, grim New Species coming at her as she slammed the door closed and locked it. The shelf full of paperback books next to it was only waist high but heavy as she had to strain to tip it over. It fell sideways to block the door. Another scream erupted as something big thumped against the door.
She spun and dashed for the bathroom, slammed that door too and locked it. She tore open the drawer that housed her makeup to block the door and scrambled to climb up on the sink. The window she always left halfway open for Tiger was her only escape.
The thing stuck, didn’t want to open all the way, but desperation drove her to find that extra amount of strength to jerk it up. A loud sound in the other room assured her that the New Species had just burst through her barricade and now had breached her bedroom.
It wasn’t easy to fit through the tight space and she silently swore to get on a treadmill as she wiggled and finally fell to the ground below the window. Pain shot up her arms as her hands braced the impact to protect her face from hitting the grass first. She fought to her feet and screamed again, sure some of her neighbors would hear her now that she was outside and ran for the front of the building.
Two strong arms grabbed her and tore her right off her feet. The body she hit was solid, big, and two thick, muscular arms were banded around her waist. Lauren twisted her head and stared up in horror at 140.
“Don’t fight me. I don’t want to hurt you,” he growled.
“I’m not your enemy,” she panted. “They are. Please let me go. You’re New Species.”
Confusion clouded his extremely blue eyes. “What does that mean?”
“It means they are bad people and you’re not. New Species are good.”
He refused to release her. “They have my female and will kill her if I allow you to escape. I’m sorry.”
Hot tears filled her eyes. “Please let me go.”
“I wish I could.” He hesitated. “I smelled unknown males in your home and again in your bedroom. Some of them are like me, aren’t they? Did you really help her sister kidnap others of my kind?”
“No. I rescued him and helped him get away from her sister. His name is Wrath and I love him.”
His eyes widened and he frowned. “You don’t scent as his mate.” He sniffed. “I can’t smell him on you. Where is her sister? Do you know? Tell me.”
“I showered but he’s coming for me. Please let me go. Her sister and the men with her were arrested by your people. They have them at the NSO. That stands for New Species Organization and they run it. A lot of your kind have been freed from Mercile. They’ll help you if we get out of here and call them. You’re one of them and they’ll do anything for you.”
“I can’t allow you to escape. If Mary doesn’t call the one who holds my female every hour, he’s been ordered to shoot her in the head.” He turned her in his arms, threw her over his shoulder as if she were as light as a body pillow and growled.
“Act as if I hit you hard enough to knock you out,” he ordered. “Don’t move or talk. I’m going to try to save you. I know you have no reason to trust me but I don’t wish you harm. I will treat you as if you are the mate of another one of my kind. I would hope someone would do the same for my female if ever given the chance.”
Lauren went limp over his shoulder, knew no amount of struggling would get her free of someone so strong, and closed her eyes. Regret swamped her over telling him the truth about her ex-coworkers’ whereabouts. She shouldn’t have trusted 140 but she wanted him to know how hopeless her situation was. She couldn’t help Mary get her sister back, that was a lost cause, and now she was useless. That meant they’d kill her.
He moved fast, her body swayed with each step, and she knew when they entered her home again because, even with her eyes closed, she felt it when they stepped out of the sunshine.
“I didn’t tell you to kill her,” Mary snapped. “Fucking stupid animal.”
“She’s not dead. I struck her and knocked her out.” Anger made his voice deepen. “The ‘fucking stupid animal’ will tell you how to get your sister back if you’ll allow me to speak. I know where she is. I made this one tell me by torturing her with pain.”
Lauren listened, confu
sed over his lies, but willing to try to trust him. She was all for anything that would keep her breathing. The silence was long until Mary finally spoke.
“Where is Mel? What do you mean, get her back?”
“This one is mated to one of my kind. His scent is all over her and she told me that the NSO has taken your sister and her technicians. You can exchange her for them.” Bitterness laced his voice. “You are very aware of how far we will go to protect our mates. Hers will get your sister safely back to you if you return his female safely to him.”
“I don’t know about this,” one of the thugs grunted. “It sounds fishy.”
140 growled now. “You remember how protective we are of our mates. You have me leashed like a dog to protect mine. Otherwise I’d kill all of you. He’ll get your sister and her technicians to you, whatever it takes, to get his female back.” He turned his head, his hair brushed Lauren’s side where her shirt had ridden up and it tickled slightly.
“You keep your hands off her. Scent stays with a body for a long time and he won’t want her back if another male mounts her. He’ll insist on smelling her first before he accepts her back. I know your fondness for forcing females but leave this one alone. He’ll know and reject her.” His head turned again. “Order him to leave her alone if you want your sister and her technicians back.”
Lauren felt sick at hearing that last part. Her skin crawled thinking that one of those guys obviously was a rapist but 140 was trying to protect her from that too. The fingers gripping her thigh slightly squeezed, almost a reassuring gesture. She guessed he could figure out how terrified she felt.
“How do you know for sure that her mate has my sister?” Mary had moved closer.
“Her mate has them. She was so terrified she confessed everything to me. Trade her for them. It will be the only way you will ever get your sister back.”
The silence was lengthy. Mary sighed. “Fine. You better be right, 140. Since you’re so damn smart, how do we set up this exchange?”
“Leave a note and a way to contact you here. He will come for her soon. You know we can’t be away from our females for long without going insane.”
Mates go insane if they are separated for too long? That bit of information stunned Lauren but of course, 140 could be lying. He was bullshitting a lot to try to save her butt. Gratitude filled her. The New Species was buying her time and trying to protect her.
“It had better work, 140.” Mary sounded furious. The threat was clear that he’d pay if he were wrong.
“What do we do with Olson’s body?” It was one of the thugs asking the question.
“Leave him. I don’t want him staining my trunk.” Mary sighed. “Write down my disposable cell number and leave it on the couch next to her blood. He won’t miss it there, will he, 140?”
“No,” he growled. “He will not.”
* * * * *
Wrath waited impatiently for the team to gather and leave. He turned his head and stared at Shadow. The male met his gaze and smiled.
“You are impatient.”
“I don’t want to be late. I told Lauren I would be there between seven and eight o’clock.”
“Brass and Tim are arguing again.”
“I’m aware.” Anger surged through Wrath. “He doesn’t want a civilian staying in headquarters and he’s still upset we had her there in the first place. The walls aren’t thick enough to miss most of what is being said.”
“He insisted that a background check be done on her and he’s right for that. She did have a strong tie to ex-Mercile employees. She worked with them.”
Wrath snarled. “Lauren is not my enemy.”
“Tim is worried about the rest of us.” Shadow suddenly grinned. “She’s so dangerous.”
“That is not funny. She couldn’t hurt a fly.”
“I’m aware. I saw her face when you were fighting with Vengeance. She’s not used to brutality. She practically begged us to call an end to it. She worried about your safety.”
He allowed that information to sink in. “She will worry about my duties with the task force. We put our lives in danger constantly when we go out to retrieve our enemies.”
“I wouldn’t mention that aspect to her. Let her believe you mostly do paperwork.”
“I will not lie to her.”
“I didn’t suggest you do but I just wouldn’t offer more information than necessary.”
He thought about that. “Do you regret agreeing to work for the task force?”
“No.” Shadow shook his head. “It’s been good for me. You?”
“The same. I met Lauren.”
Shadow smiled. “You seem more healed since she came into your life. I’m glad. Perhaps one day I’ll meet a female who challenges me to face my fears.”
“I hope so.”
Tim stormed out of the office with Brass behind him. Tim refused to meet their gazes but Brass smiled.
“We’re leaving to pick up your female, Wrath. Tim and his team are going to give us backup support. He’s irritated that we’ve left headquarters so much without more of the human teams backing us up. It makes sense, especially after we were taken prisoner. We came to an agreement.”
“Thank you.” Wrath meant it. He turned his attention on Tim. “Lauren is no threat to us.”
“Women are always bad news.” Tim spun, stormed for the door and yelled over his shoulder. “Don’t let her paint anything pink, damn it! It’s still my building.”
“Pink?” Shadow glanced at Wrath and Brass. “What does that mean?”
“I have no clue,” Brass sighed. “No wonder their females seem to enjoy our company more. Humans are strange.”
Wrath had to agree with that assessment. He didn’t care if Lauren wanted to paint or what color she chose. Just having her at his side was all that mattered.
Chapter Fourteen
Lauren was scared and angry at the same time. The backseat was a tight fit with 140 sharing the limited space. She’d given up playing unconscious after her New Species protector whispered for her to sit up.
Mary and one of her men argued at the front of the car. The other man remaining followed in another vehicle. There was no way Lauren was going to get a chance to escape but she did glance out the windows to track where they were going. She’d learned her lesson to be more aware of her surroundings after leaving the task force headquarters but having no idea where it was located.
“I don’t care what your opinion is, Marvin. Shut up. You’re giving me a headache.”
The thug driving shot the woman in the passenger seat a glare. “We should do some experimenting while we have her.” He glanced back at Lauren and his gaze lowered to her chest before he turned to face the road again. “I’ll warm her up before we hand her over to one of them.”
Mary snorted. “You’re so pathetic. You didn’t work for Mercile for the money, did you? It was the opportunity to grope women who couldn’t stop you. Forget her. You heard the animal about their sense of smell. You aren’t fucking up my chances of getting my sister back because you’re a pervert.”
Lauren stared at the balding head of the man in front of her and hated him instantly. She had a sinking feeling this was the man 140 had warned off about touching her. He was gross and seemed to have the morals of an alley cat.
“Your sister is a bitch and none of them are worth risking our lives over. They got caught so I say screw them.”
Mary reached over and pinched his arm. He howled, jerked away, and the car swerved.
“Don’t do that. I could wreck the car.”
“My sister is worth more alive to me than you are. Don’t you ever forget that.” She paused. “Plus she knows too damn much. She won’t talk but give it a month or two if they lock her up and I bet she’d sell out our own mother. Prison is a nasty place and we all want to avoid it. She could screw us over if we don’t save her ass and that goes for her team too. They know our names, we all worked together, and do you trust any of them not to turn us in t
o save their own asses if they are offered a deal?”
“Fucking hell,” Marvin muttered as he hit the brakes at a red light. He turned his head and stared at Lauren’s breasts again before frowning at Mary. “I need some stress relief. I won’t take her pants off. Haven’t I been loyal? Haven’t I done all the shit you tell me to?”
140 growled. “Her mate will know. Do you want me to tell you what you ate for lunch? I can. She would also fight.” He turned his head and fixed his gaze on her. “Would you allow him to make use of your body in any way? He likes to open his pants and order females to put their mouth on him.”
Disgust made Lauren want to throw up and she snapped her head to meet the gaze of the man in the seat ahead of her. “I’d rather die and I can promise you, if you unzip near me you’ll need a trauma surgeon after I am done with you.”
Mary laughed. “I’m starting to like her just a little. The idea of someone biting your dick off is amusing.” She reached out and pinched Marvin’s arm again. “Stop being such a sick son of a bitch. Eyes on the road and shut your mouth unless it’s not related to thinking with your dick.”
“Bitch,” Marvin grumbled. “Stop doing that to my arm. It hurts.”
The light turned green and he stomped on the gas in anger. “Stop drawing attention to us, idiot.” She turned in her seat and glared at Lauren. “And I’m watching you too. The windows back there are tinted but don’t try to draw any attention. Got it? The car behind us will make sure we get away. If any cops show up he will do something to distract them.”
“She’s not stupid,” 140 said and sighed. “She knows you need her and she will survive if she just complies to get you what you want.” He shifted his gaze to the driver. “It is your own technicians you should worry about.”
“He’s getting damn mouthy,” Marvin cursed. “Sounds as if we need to remind him of his place.” He suddenly barked out a laugh. “Do I need to visit your mate again?”
“Shit,” Mary snapped and her hand flew out and hit the thug in the back of the head as 140 snarled loudly in the confined space. “You are a fucking idiot. You really want to taunt him in this car? I don’t want to die when he lunges across the seat and rips your head from your body.”