True: 11 (New Species) Read online

  Justice frowned. “Were there experiments between the two of you?”

  “No.” True scowled. “I’ve never mounted her if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Justice seemed to accept that. “How was she kind?”

  “She didn’t treat us as if we were animals. She sneaked in candy and pain medication to our injured. She seemed to care about us.”

  Justice cocked his head, the frown returning. “You cared about her?”

  “I never attempted to attack her when I could have but I then learned she was working with the doctors on a drug development.”

  “How did you learn that?”

  True hesitated. “Polanitis believed I cared about her since she’d shown kindness and tried to secure my agreement to willingly mount her, promising it would mean she’d survive. He informed me they were working on a new breeding drug.”

  “Shit,” Tiger cursed. “You probably would have killed her if you had agreed.”

  “You said you didn’t mount her? There’s no shame in admitting it if you did.” Justice studied him. He didn’t seem angry, more curious than anything.

  “No. I told Polanitis I’d kill her if she was sent to my cell. I never mounted that female. He wanted my word to stop attacking the guards after that and to comply with the doctors in charge of testing another drug on me by answering their questions. It was something they were working on to improve intelligence or memory.” He shifted his stance, appearing uncomfortable. “I didn’t agree to his terms until he threatened to have the guards rape a Species female in front of me to get my compliance.” His voice deepened into a snarl. “I agreed to protect her from harm. I didn’t inflict injury on humans when I could have but I wasn’t meek either.”

  “Why did he believe you would be able to fuck that woman while drugged and not kill her?” Tim was curious too.

  True glanced at him, his cheeks a little red. “I had a fondness for her but that changed once I realized she’d probably been nice to gain my trust. I believe he thought I might fight my instincts while drugged. I never saw her again after Polanitis’ visit or I might have done some harm in retaliation of her deception.” His jaw clenched. “I wouldn’t have killed Shiver though. It was just a threat I made to keep her out of my cell. She didn’t deserve to die. She might have been kind just to trick me but she did help some of our people at Drackwood.”

  Justice curled his lip in disgust. “I really hate that son of a bitch, Polanitis. I remember him from last year.”

  “Polanitis offered up human females for mounting to reward Species for good behavior?” Brass growled. “I never heard about that before now.”

  Justice motioned the other Species to silence. “Did he offer other human females to you?”

  “No,” True snarled. “I’ve never mounted that human or any other, for that matter.”

  Justice nodded. “You may be at the interrogation of this female since you once knew her. It might be an advantage.” He turned to Tim. “True is in charge. He’s to take over if he thinks it’s too intense.”

  Tim wasn’t happy but those were orders, not a request. “Fine. When should we start?”

  Justice hesitated. “We’ll keep her drugged until she’s better and only wake her when she’s strong enough to withstand interrogation.”

  “Sounds good.” Tim hated to wait that long but Justice had spoken. It would be a waste of his breath to argue.

  * * * * *

  True entered Medical and walked down the hallway to the patient rooms. The Species male guarding the door glanced up at him from where he sat before dropping his gaze to reading an ebook on his electronic device. “No change,” he muttered.

  “Thanks, Jericho.”

  The male grunted.

  True stopped next to the bed and his hands fisted as he studied the dark bruise and cut on the female’s cheek. It was healing, the yellowish color appearing better than when it had been a bloody, fresh wound. Her skin was too pale for his liking. He glanced at the monitor, seeing that her heartbeat was steady. She’d survive but it had been close.

  Footsteps sounded behind him and he turned, forcing himself to relax into a more approachable stance. Paul smiled when he entered the room and rounded the bed with a new bag of fluids.

  “She’s doing great, True. I was really worried when Dr. Harris pumped her full of your healing drug but she took it like a champ. I was sure it would kill her.”

  “Why was she given them if it was dangerous?”

  The male switched out the bags, checked the tube that ran to her arm and held his stare. “Man, I’m shocked she was still alive when they brought her in. She should have been taken to the closest trauma center but for some reason the task force team decided to fly her here instead. The fact that their medic kept her breathing that long was lucky as shit. Giving her the drug was the only thing Harris could think to do. It speeds up the healing process and she was a mess. It boiled down to having nothing to lose since she was so critical.”

  The male checked her arm where the needle had been inserted. “It’s a good thing she’s got a sound heart. That shit is way strong for humans. I doubt he would have risked it if she’d been older. It’s like shooting massive amounts of straight adrenaline into us.”

  That unsettled True. He hadn’t been allowed to travel in the helicopter with Shiver when they’d airlifted her. He’d been assigned to handle the newly freed Species. Protocol dictated he stay with them during their transfer to Reservation. He’d taken a helicopter to Homeland as soon as he’d made sure they were settled. It had been hellish hours until he’d discovered if the female was alive. His attention returned to her. Shiver appeared very frail and small on the big hospital bed designed for use by his kind.

  “Harris is keeping her so drugged that she isn’t going to wake up if that’s what you were hoping for. It’s better to keep her knocked out since we have no idea how she’ll react emotionally when she comes around. As I said, this shit is hard on humans. We want to keep her heart rate as slow as possible so heavy sedation helps with that.”

  “How can she eat?” He clenched his teeth. She was already too small.

  “No worries there. We’ll make sure she gets what she needs to get well. Food is not the most important thing for her right now. She’s been through the wringer.” He stepped away from the bed. “Is the rumor true that she’ll be transferred to Fuller when she’s stable?”

  The idea didn’t sit well with him. “I’m not certain.”

  “I just hope they have a good medical staff.” Paul circled the bed and lifted the sheet. He removed the bandage, revealing her wound.

  True bit back a growl at seeing her pale stomach and the angry red wound on her side. There were ugly bruises on each of her hipbones. The gown shielded her from her ribs up but if the nurse tugged the sheet any lower her sex would be exposed since it was obvious she was naked from the waist down. The protective urge that struck was strong, goading him to shove the nurse away, but he resisted. Her modesty was covered. He’d put a stop to it though if the nurse dared lower that sheet another few inches.

  “I will apply a fresh bandage but Harris is really curious as to how the drug will work on us. He needs to see this first. Damn. That shit is amazing. Look at that.” Paul pointed to the staples. “I think I can remove those. The skin seems to have already fused. It’s only been about twelve hours but you’d swear this happened at least a couple of weeks ago, judging by how rapidly it’s healing. I think the drug is working faster on her than it does on you guys. I’m going to call in Harris. He might want to lower the dose. This is so exciting to be able to finally test it on humans at full dosage. Nobody wanted to do that before.”

  True covered her stomach with the sheet after the nurse laid gauze over her incision and left the room to seek out the doctor. It angered him that they were viewing Shiver as an experiment. He hesitated, straining for any sound of approaching steps, before carefully taking her delicate hand in his. It was totally lifeless bu