Brawn Read online

  “How are you doing now? Calmer? I know this must be a shock. Hell, especially for you. I know how you feel about human females. The good news, I guess, is that she doesn’t want anything from you. She’s not demanding you mate and marry her. She actually requested that you stay away. She’s going to have to live with us so you’ll be able to see your son when you want to. I’m sure she’ll allow that.”

  Brawn had to force his breathing to slow and got control of his unstable emotions. Becca is pregnant. Becca is here. He slowly stalked toward Flame. “I won’t attack you. I want a deeper scent.”

  Flame didn’t look happy but held his ground. “Why?”

  Brawn inched closer to him and inhaled. It wasn’t enough until he lowered his head and closed his eyes. His nose brushed Flame’s shirt and he sniffed. Becca. Her scent was something he’d never forget and he traced more of her, hating the sweet smell of her fear that he picked up.

  “Dude,” Flame whispered softly. “Will you stop that? Someone is going to see and get the wrong idea about us. We’re drawing a crowd of onlookers after you tossed me on my ass.”

  Brawn growled and lifted his head as he backed off. “She’s at Medical?”

  “Yes. Don’t forget the part about her not wanting to see you. She said she didn’t want anything from you but for you to stay away.”

  Brawn growled, his rage returned and so did confusion. Why would she refuse to see him? It didn’t make sense. They had created life together. “I’m going to go see her if she wants me to or not.”

  Flame softly cursed. “I was afraid you were going to say that. They locked down Medical.”

  “Why?”

  “Her father. You. She thinks her father is going to try to kill you, Brawn. You’ve met the man. Will he try?”

  Brawn shrugged. “Probably.” He turned. “I’m going to her.”

  “She doesn’t want to see you.”

  “I don’t care. I want to see her.” Brawn stormed away.

  His ears picked up Flame’s vicious curse and then his voice as he warned someone that Brawn was headed that way. He picked up the pace, his long legs ate up the grass and he started to run. Becca was carrying his child, she was close, and he would get answers.

  He ran, allowing his unanswered questions to push him into a burst of speed and reached Medical quickly. He had to slow when Tiger and Slade stood in front of the door and blocked his entrance. He stopped, out of breath, and glared at both males.

  “Move.”

  Slade watched Brawn warily. “She doesn’t want to see you, Brawn. Give her some time. She’s already upset because we forced her to come here. Trisha is with her trying to make her see reason. My mate will calm her.”

  “Move,” Brawn ordered again. His body tensed as a growl burst from his throat over their interference.

  Tiger softly cursed. “Let’s not fight, guys. Brawn, you’re upset right now and rightly so. You need to get a handle on your emotions. You look feral, my man. The female is pregnant. Don’t you think when you finally get to see her that you should be calm? I think that’s a good idea. Let’s take a vote. Who’s in favor of that?” He raised his hand.

  Slade shot his friend a dirty look but raised his hand. “This isn’t a debate.”

  “Humor,” Tiger muttered. “You remember that, don’t you? I’m hoping he does. Come on, Brawn. You look scary.”

  “I’m not laughing.” Brawn’s hands fisted at his sides and he glared at Slade. “What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t see Trisha? Move away from the door and let me pass.”

  “That’s different. I’m in love with Trisha and she’s my mate. You and Rebecca don’t have that bonding.” Slade didn’t budge. “Let’s go for a walk and talk about this.”

  * * * * *

  Becca got dressed and smiled at Trisha. “He looked perfect, didn’t he?”

  Trisha grinned back. “Yes. Your baby is healthy and well. I told you it would be a boy. He looks great, Rebecca.”

  “Please call me Becca. Other than strangers, no one but my father calls me that.”

  “We’ve arranged housing for you. You need to stay here for your child’s sake. There are a lot more ex-Mercile employees out there trying to avoid being arrested. Most of the testing facilities were hit at night since they were afraid the staff would try to kill Species since they tried that at the first one. I can share this information with you because you need to know. The damn news had it plastered on every station and they got to watch their places of work being busted on live TV. Only about twenty percent of the staff were arrested and maybe another thirty percent have either turned themselves in or have been caught. That leaves a lot of desperate, crazy idiots out there who are like the group that kidnapped you. Some of them might think if they had hostages, they could force the NSO to give them immunity. That’s the nice version. You know the group who took you planned to sell the Species they had when their use was up. You are going to have a baby. Can you imagine?”

  “Cha-ching.” Becca winced. “Major money to those pricks. I get it.” Horror washed through her. “You think I haven’t had nightmares about that? I have.”

  “I know.” Trisha looked grim. “There’s also the jerks who hate Species and believe they are nothing more than rabid animals to be put down. It’s why we haven’t told the world they can have children. It’s a horrible situation. My son is the only second generation Species baby born so far but we have two more women who are pregnant. Maybe in the near future it will be safer for the world to know but right now we need to protect them. This baby will look like Species and there won’t be a doubt of that if anyone sees him. The only thing you can do is stay here or at Homeland where he’ll be safe from discovery. We’ll restrict any humans besides myself and the other mates. You won’t be alone. You’ll have the four of us to support you emotionally.”

  “Four?”

  “Myself, Ellie, Tammy and I believe you know Jessie Dupree. She worked with your father.”

  Shock tore through Becca. “She’s pregnant? She’s uh, mated, to one of the New Species?”

  “She married Justice North secretly but they decided to wait a while before trying to have a baby. No one who knows about their wedding has leaked it to the press yet but that could change at any time. Tammy lives at Reservation full-time and Ellie has moved here since we have the better medical facility and they are safer from prying eyes. We’d rather be safe than sorry. So far all pregnancies are healthy and we’re hoping it stays that way. Ellie is due to have her baby soon and Tammy is just a little farther along than you are.”

  “This is so much to take in. I thought I was alone.”

  “You aren’t. You and your baby just got a really large family, Becca. New Species will consider you that.”

  “But I’m not one of them.”

  “Your baby is and you are his mother. They treat mates just as if we’re one of their own.”

  “I’m not a mate.”

  “You’re still family.” She paused. “Why don’t you want to see Brawn?”

  Becca hesitated, not sure her pain at his abandonment was enough to justify it but she had a list of reasons besides that. “He was clear from the moment I met him that he doesn’t want anything to do with women like us. He never would have touched me if we hadn’t been kidnapped. We were forced to be together and we thought we weren’t going to be rescued. He was going to be sold at some point and they probably would have left me there to die when they abandoned the warehouse or put a bullet in my head.”

  “It must have been very stressful.”

  “It was and that’s how Brawn and I ended up getting so close.”

  Trisha hesitated. “I am curious. I gave you antibiotics. Did you take them?”

  “No. They were horse pills and I just tossed them. Why do you want to know?” She reached up and touched her forehead. “I don’t have a fever, do I? I’d have noticed if I had some kind of blood infection from the needles they used.”

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