Fury Read online

  “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 naked 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 naked 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 naked 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?”

  “That’s simple. We aren’t regular people. Some of us are named for our best skill and some of us are named for our favorite thing. Some of us go with names we think describe us best. I picked Breeze because I enjoyed the breeze upon my face most of all after I knew freedom.”

  “My name was picked for me,” Halfpint said as she walked to the couch and sat down by Ellie. “When they took me to the medical hospital where they were treating New Species, one of the doctors looked right at me and said that the other women could make two of me. They started calling me Halfpint while I recovered and it stuck.”

  Ellie fought a laugh but managed to smile instead.

  “The doctors who treated us had only seen our experimental prototype females. Halfpint was one of the first of her kind to be treated,” Breeze explained.

  “Tiny is smaller than I am so when they brought her in, the doctors called her that name.” Halfpint beamed.

  “Justice picked his name because he wanted it for our people,” Breeze informed Ellie. “He is from a testing facility up north and he chose that as his last name.”

  “I thought most of you didn’t have last names.” Ellie glanced at Breeze for an answer.

  “No. We don’t. We’ll work on that eventually. When we need one, we’ll pick something. Justice has offered to share his last name with anyone who wants it. What do you think of Breeze North?”

  “It’s catchy,” Ellie admitted.

  “I like it too. It has meaning and I’m from the same testing facility as Justice.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Yes. They used to try to breed Justice and me often. He is a good man.”

  “I know he is,” Ellie agreed. The image of Justice and Breeze together shocked her. She was unable to picture them being intimate.

  “When you have females and males from the same testing facility chances are we were forced together. The scientists wanted to see if we could have offspring. They thought if one male and female didn’t produce, if they switched us, maybe we could conceive with another male.”

  “We were never given to any of our males,” Halfpint whispered in a soft, sad voice. “I wish we had been.”

  Breeze reached over to pat Halfpint on the arm. “I am sorry. They were always kind and gentle with us. We shared respect and dignity. I wish you had known that as well but if you are ever ready, you will know it one day.”

  Ellie wanted to ask but didn’t. Halfpint looked at Ellie. “I’ve been one of the luckier ones. They only gave me to an older man who didn’t share me. Tiny…” Halfpint blinked back tears. “The man they gave her to happened to be young, strong, and hurt her more. He also made her available to some of his friends. The one who had me was frailer and his strikes weren’t very painful. The last few years he wasn’t able to use his man part. It failed with age. He became angry when he tried and hit me but he didn’t hurt me much. He mostly yelled near the end.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Ellie resisted the urge to try to hug the other woman, to give comfort. “Do you know how they found you?”

  “The financial records were traced,” Breeze answered. “Anyone who made really large deposits into the Mercile Industries accounts had warrants served on them when we realized some of our women were given away. They found Halfpint. That’s how most of the gift females were retrieved.”

  “It was terrifying,” Halfpint whispered, almost seeming afraid someone would overhear. “I heard loud noises and then all these men with guns broke down the door. I thought they’d come to kill me. That’s when I saw a woman behind them and she told the men to leave us alone. She talked to me while she removed my chains and led me safely out of where I’d been kept. She promised to take me somewhere I wouldn’t be hurt anymore.”

  “A New Species woman?” Curiosity filled Ellie.

  “No,” Breeze shook her head. “She’s a full human. I forgot her name but she goes on all the raids when a new warrant gets issued. She is the one who takes charge of our females when they are found and brings them to us for care and treatment.”

  “Her name is Jessie.” Halfpint smiled. “She has fire-red hair and really blue eyes. She is sma