He nodded. “The bottom line is, this turned out to be a positive thing for us. Fury risked his life to save you and that seems to have gone over really well for the general public. We even got word that a lot of your people are pressuring the government and local law authorities to do something against the extremist groups who have targeted us. They are putting pressure on anyone who has supported the protestors to stop. This really could be the best thing that happened, as horrible as that sounds. It gave the world a real view of our situation and made us a bit more human to them.”

Ellie’s gaze returned to the glass to watch Fury’s sleeping face. “I’m glad something good came out of this.”

“Me too. He’s going to be fine, Ellie.”

She nodded. “I know.”

* * * * *

The pain tore through Fury when he woke but he thought of Ellie first. He struggled to sit up, to find her. Strong hands held him down.

“Fury?” Ellie’s sweet, soft voice called to him.

His eyes opened and there she stood, pale, tired, and hovering just inches above his face. He breathed in her scent to assure she wasn’t an apparition. The smell of medicine, cleaners and something foreign nearly overpowered hers though.

“Don’t move, Fury,” she ordered him. “You were shot.” Big tears welled in her beautiful blue eyes. “You saved me and you’re going to be fine. You need to stay very still to help you heal.”

He studied her face carefully. “You are unhurt?” Fear jolted through him at the thought of what could have happened to his Ellie. “I just wanted to get you out of the line of fire. I couldn’t allow anything to happen to you.”

“You got me to safety.”

He relaxed and the strong hands holding him down released. “Where is Justice?”

“I’m here.”

Fury turned his head to stare at his best friend. “Protect my Ellie while I can’t. I want a full team guarding her. Only New Species. I only trust our people to make sure no one hurts her. She’s priority, Justice. Swear.”

“You know it’s being done without you having to ask. Heal and don’t think about anything but getting better. She’ll have around-the-clock New Species officers guarding her and no one will get near her. I give you my word.”

Fury’s gaze drifted back to Ellie and he moved his arm, reaching up to caress her cheek. His thumb brushed at the tears that slipped down her face. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Fury. I was so afraid you’d die on me.”

“You won’t get rid of me that easily. You’re stuck with me forever.”

He loved seeing her smile through her tears. She was safe, he’d taken the bullets instead of them striking her, and that’s all that mattered to him.

“Good. They gave you some heavy medication to help you sleep but I’m right here, okay?”

“I love you. Did I tell you that?” His voice slurred and he fought to keep his eyes open.

“I love you too and you did tell me. Just get better. I’m fine.”

He relaxed, let the pain take him, and blackness came quickly.

Chapter Seventeen

Ellie watched Tiny, the small brunette, scrub the hallway floor as she laughed. Ellie had to hide her own smile. She glanced at Breeze.

“You’d think washing the floor is cool, to see her do it.”

Breeze chuckled. “You should see the joy some of them get scrubbing a toilet. Kind of crazy. I hate to clean them. The chemicals smell bad.”

“You guys do tend to have oversensitive noses.”

“No kidding. How is Fury doing?”

“Great. He’s angry that they are keeping him so drugged up. They had to. He kept trying to get out of bed, demanding his clothes. You should have seen the poor nurse who walked in on that one. Imagine Fury butt na**d and snarling for his clothes. She screamed when confronted with that. I think they finally got her to stop running by the time she reached the parking lot.”

“Why would that send a woman screaming?” Breeze looked confused.

Ellie chuckled. “He’s a big guy, Breeze. He was angry and all that blood of his pumped everywhere. I mean everywhere. Now imagine being some timid woman who walks into a room with a big, muscular na**d guy with a major erection and he’s snarling at you.”

A grin spread across Breeze’s face. “Our men are impressive that way.”

“Yes, they are,” Ellie agreed with a matching grin.

“She wasn’t turned on?”

“She was scared for her life.”

“What a dumbass.”

Ellie laughed. “Where did you pick that one up?”

“I’ve been watching more television. I’m down these days. What a dumbass. A twit. A brainless floosy.”

Laughing harder, Ellie shook her head. “You still need work. You were doing well until you called her a brainless floosy. A floosy is a woman who sleeps with a lot of men. This woman saw a na**d one and bolted from terror.”

“Got ya.” Breeze winked. “I’ll watch more television.”

“Oh boy. I do have a question.”

“Hit me,” Breeze smiled. “That is slang.” The smile died. “Don’t really hit me though. You couldn’t hurt me but I might hit you back and that would injure you.”

“I understood.” Ellie tried to hide her amusement. “I’m sure you could hurt me if you did. My question is, where do you guys come up with your names? They are great but what do you have against regular names like Mary or Tina?”