His dick stirred at just the feel of her against him but he ignored the urge to make love to his mate. She needed sleep more than she needed him. He relaxed, closed his eyes and slowed his breathing until he drifted to sleep.

Chapter Twenty

Jeanie stood back from the table, eyeing the meal she’d laid out. True was on the phone, had been for a while. She went in search of him, finding him in their bedroom. His gaze met hers and he made excuses to end the conversation.

“Dinner is ready. I made a tri-tip and made sure I left the center pretty rare.”

He approached her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You did?”

“I know you like your meat bloody.”

“Will you be able to eat it?”

“I’ll cut off the well-cooked ends.” She grinned, wrapping her arms around him. “Come eat before it gets cold.”

“My mate prepared a meal for me.” He beamed.

“I do remember how to cook. It’s just been a while. I’ve lived alone since I graduated college and no longer had roommates around who thought meals only came in microwavable varieties. It’s kind of pointless to do it just for myself though.”

He lifted her off her feet and walked down the hallway. She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist. The feel of his stiff c**k trapped inside his pants rubbed against the front of her pu**y, making her more than aware that he was aroused.

“Keep this up and we can eat later.”

“No. We’ll share sex after. I’m eager to eat what you made for me.” He forced her to release him when they entered the dining room. He pulled out her chair. “Sit, mate.”

He was always thoughtful. They’d only been mated for just over a day but she had a feeling he wouldn’t be a man who stopped giving her special treatment any time soon, if ever. He sniffed, grinned, and took the chair next to hers. She leaned up and began to dish out food on his plate first, then her own.

“This is wonderful.” He cut into the rare meat, took a tentative bite and groaned in appreciation while staring into her eyes as he chewed and swallowed. “Perfect.”

“Great. There was a recipe for it in one of the drawers from someone who used to live here so I made it from that.” She cut a piece of meat. “May I ask who you were talking to on the phone? You’ve been in there for quite a while.”

“You’re my mate. You can always ask me anything.”

“I thought it might be private New Species business.”

“You are Species now. There is no information you can’t know, Jeanie. It was Darkness on the phone. They’ve discovered a pattern of Boris flying to Oregon for the past few months under one of the two assumed names he’s been using. They were able to locate the car rental business where he spent money and have sent one of the task force members there to see if they use GPS systems in the cars to get an exact location of where he went.”

She forgot about the food on her plate. “There is another place where New Species are being held then.”

“Uncertain but suspicious.”

“Are there any research development companies in the area? That’s where I’d start looking.”

“Three. They are attempting to see if any had dealings with Mercile Industries.”

“Can you search all three of them?”

“We could but not at once. We’re concerned that, if one location is compromised, the other two might catch wind of it. If we choose wrong, they could move Species or kill them to prevent us from rescuing them.”

“Why can’t you hit all three at once?”

“We only have so many trained males to do it without bringing in outside resources. We’d rather not risk that. They aren’t equipped to handle captured Species or the issues we’ve had with other facilities that held them prisoner. It’s best if we investigate until we’re certain which one, if any, may be involved with Mercile or someone who was once an employee with access to our people.”

She nodded, taking in that information. “I see.”

“It might not be a research company. It might be a private individual who owns a Gift Female. It’s in an area where a lot of wealthy humans live.”

Jeanie would never forget what it meant to be tagged with that classification. “You’ve rescued so few of them, right?”

“Yes.” He took a sip of milk. “Boris could be there for other reasons. We don’t want to be rash. We need to know what we’re dealing with.”

“What about the phone taps? Anything?”

“He’s speaking to a human male but their conversations are very brief. We haven’t been able to track those calls. They only give times and dates of meetings before hanging up. All numbers besides the phone Boris uses seem to be untraceable. We tried to call one of the numbers Boris contacted, planning to say it was a wrong number, but it went directly to voicemail. It was an automated voice and we couldn’t pinpoint the location. They set up a meeting for next week. Boris booked a flight to Oregon so we’re certain the other male is from that area. A team will shadow Boris to discover who the human is, then follow him too.”

“This is frustrating.”

“Eat,” True urged.

She picked at her food, her appetite gone. True enjoyed his meal enough to have three helpings. It made her happy that he seemed to really like her cooking. She’d been nervous while preparing his meal, hoping the meat would be rare enough and to his liking.