“Ellie!” Fury yelled.

* * * * *

Fury hated being restrained inside a cell when he awoke in the security office. Justice paced the floor. Fury’s memory returned at that point.

“Where is Ellie? Is she all right?” He’d sprang to his feet to grab at the bars that contained him.

“She’s at the doctor’s.” Justice faced the bars, looking grim. “You forced her?”

“No,” Fury snarled. “I would have explained that to you if you hadn’t attacked and knocked me out.”

“You had her tied down and she screamed.” Justice’s normally tan face appeared unusually pale. “I never would have believed you’d harm her now that I know how strongly you feel about her if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

“I didn’t force her.”

Justice snarled. “This is the kind of shit we feared when some of us started to show stronger animal traits with our honed instincts. You were aware of them though, we’ve discussed it at length, but you didn’t control yourself.”

Anger rolled through Fury. “I’m aware that I am unreasonable when it comes to Ellie and that I have mated her. It goes beyond sex. I’ve claimed her as mine but I would never hurt her, Justice. You have the entire situation wrong.”

“You’re out of control!” Justice moved fast, grabbed the bars inches from Fury’s fingers, and barred his teeth in a vicious snarl. “We know all about force, don’t we? You love her? Then you shouldn’t have tied her down and made her take your cock.”

“I didn’t,” Fury snarled.

Justice released the bars and backed away. “I want to trust you but…” He shook his head. “You’re the first one of us to take a mate. You’ve allowed your animal instincts to rule you enough to take it to that level. We aren’t fully human, no matter how much we pretend to be for the sake of peace between them and us, and there are no cameras here. Is it that bad, Fury? The need to take her so strong you would force her?”

“I didn’t!” Fury tried to calm down by releasing his death grip on the cell bars and retreated a few steps. “I won’t lie. I’m obsessed with her. I breathe and live Ellie. My heart beats for her, Justice. She is everything to me. I think I’m addicted to her scent. Without it around it’s all I can think about. Despite all of that I’d never do anything to cause her pain. You have the situation wrong.”

“I need to hear it from her. Until we see how this mating takes and what side effects you suffer from it, I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to speak to her.”

Fury moved forward quickly, gripped the cell door, jerked on it, but it was locked. “Let me out. Is she hurt? I need to get to her.”

“You are going nowhere until I talk to her. Securing a woman and tying her down is force. Have you lost your mind?” Justice softly growled. “You’re insane when it comes to the human, damn it. I’m stunned and—” He cleared his throat. “How could you do this?”

“I wasn’t hurting her. You know me. You know she’s everything to me. I would never harm her. We were making love.”

“The years inside the testing facility have driven you to insanity if you believe forcing a female by tying her down and her screaming from pain is making love. You’ve become twisted inside your mind, Fury. I have to leave. My heart is breaking.”

Justice spun away, quickly moving toward the door.

“Justice? Come back! Release me. It’s not what you think. I’m not insane and I would never hurt my Ellie.” He violently shook the cell bars but they held.

He spun and howled out in rage. Ellie had gotten hurt and he couldn’t go to her. His best friend believed he’d gone insane from mating.

Chapter Fifteen

Ellie knew something was wrong even before she fully awoke. Her head throbbed with dull pain. She opened her eyes only to stare at a light and study a ceiling she didn’t recognize. Confusion hit her. Where am I? What happened? Someone leaned over her, getting between her and the light source from above.

Ellie recognized Doctor Trisha Norbit instantly and frowned. Why is that woman standing over me? The Doctor’s hair had been pulled back into a messy ponytail and her neat appearance was gone. She looked worried as her blue eyes blinked down at Ellie.

“You’re okay. I gave you some pain medication. Would you like to sip some water?”

Ellie frowned. “What happened?”

Trisha frowned back at her. “You don’t remember?”

Remember what? The last thing I remember is…memory slowly returned. Ellie struggled to sit up. She frantically searched the room for Fury. She had somehow ended up inside a small bedroom but he wasn’t there with her.

“Where is Fury?”

“They have him in lockup.”

“Why?”

Trisha took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Someone informed Justice that the new director had gone to your home.” She took a deep breath. “Justice went to see you and Fury to ask what Tom Quish wanted. He knocked but when no one answered, he and his security officers let themselves inside after they heard you scream and they heard Fury yell out. They ran into the kitchen and saw him hurting you. They believe he tied you down to prevent you from fighting him off.”

“Hurting me?” Ellie’s mouth fell open. She was so astounded it took her seconds to respond. “We were having sex.”