New Species 05 Brawn (8 page)

A cot had been set up, a camp toilet placed in the corner
and folded blankets had been left on the long bed. She stared at the metal
floor under her feet, lifted her chin to look up at the bars overhead and
fought tears.
Think. Remain calm.
Those silent orders helped as she
carefully took stock of her surroundings past the bars.

It wasn’t hard to spot the cameras aimed in her direction
once she scanned the ceiling. They were larger models, geared for outdoor
security and a concrete wall blocked her view of whatever was behind her
prison. It wasn’t that high, maybe ten feet of divider, but more than enough to
keep her curious about what she couldn’t see.

Her hands gripped the thick, cool bars and she studied them.
No signs of rust showed at the joints and she doubted they’d ever seen the
outside to be exposed to the elements. She inched to the door, saw the gap was
nearly nonexistent and it had been well built. A metal plate covered the
section far enough to make it impossible for her to reach around and attempt to
pick the lock. The inside part of the door lock was totally sealed, without any
key access. It told her one thing for sure. They hadn’t been designed to hold
animals. A shiver sliced down her spine.

Becca got as close to Brawn’s cage as she could, staring at
his facedown form. His chest rose and fell, assuring her that he still lived.
The drugs they’d dosed him with worried her. She couldn’t see how anyone
wouldn’t overdose on all those tranquilizers.

“Brawn?” She cleared her throat. “Please wake up! Can you
hear me?”

A growl from across the room jerked her head in that
direction to see the pacing male had moved to the corner of his cell, gripped
the bars and glared at her. He had really long black hair to his waist—a wild
mass of tangled, silky strands—but she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes.
Just the shape of them and those pronounced full lips and wide cheekbones assured
her of his altered DNA.

“I’m Becca,” she got out, hoping he’d talk to her. “How long
have you been here?”

He growled again, a scary, deep sound. He wasn’t exactly the
talkative type, she decided. Not real friendly either. She wasn’t about to give
up though. The more information she gained the better the chances of figuring a
way out of the nightmare she was living.

“Can you talk?” She released the bars and touched her chest.
“Becca.” She pointed to him. “What is your name?”

He spun away, snarled and kept pacing. She gave up instantly
on trying to learn anything from him. She did study his clothes—white pants
with wide, thick seams running down the sides and that’s all he wore. His chest
was massive, his arms thickly muscled and his fingers were clawed at his side.
Something seemed to have agitated him from the way he stalked back and forth.
Her focus returned to Brawn.

“Brawn!” Her voice rose sharply. “Wake up, damn it!”

His arm twitched, gave her hope and she pressed tightly to
the bars. “Brawn? Open your eyes right now! I’m worried about you. You’ve been
heavily drugged and need to fight it. Can you hear me? It’s Becca. Remember me?
We live together. Brawn!”

He was sluggish as he rolled, fell right off the cot and she
winced when his big body sprawled onto the metal floor. That seemed to rouse
him though as he snarled, pushed up with his arms and his eyes opened. Fury
twisted his normally handsome features as he stared at the bars and lifted his
chin to take in the cage roof. Every muscle appeared to tighten with strain.

“Brawn?” Becca softened her voice. “Are you okay?”

His head jerked in her direction, confusion crossed his
face. The anger receded and he paled. “No.”

“We were attacked. Do you remember?”

He rose to his feet slowly, rubbed at some of the marks from
the darts he’d taken to his thighs and stared around them. His gaze stayed on
the cages across the room where the two other prisoners were kept. He moved
fast though, hit the side of the bars and growled at the pacing male.

The other guy ignored him, kept walking the length of his
cage and Brawn sniffed loudly. “Fuck.”

“What?”

He turned his head. “We’re in a lot of trouble.”

“No shit!” She bit her lip and glanced at the cameras. “They
are watching us.”

He followed her gaze and turned her way, came to the corner
closest to her cage and studied her body slowly. “Are you harmed? Did they drug
you too?”

“No. I think they are from Mercile.” She whispered that
part. “I overhead enough to know they are working for some woman doctor and
they know your number. That’s classified, right?”

“My number?”

“358.”

“That’s not me.”

She stared at the Species pacing. “Maybe it’s him.”

Brawn glanced at the other male before staring at Becca. “I
can smell drugs heavily in the room and suspect he’s drugged. I’ve smelled those
chemicals before and he’s mentally gone if it’s coming from him. Has he talked
to you at all?”

“No. He growled a bit but no actual words. I tried to ask
him how long he’s been here but he just began pacing again. He’s done that
since we came in.”

“How long have I been out?”

“About four hours, best guess, but it could have been
longer. I saw sunlight before they brought us down here. We were in that van
for at least three and a half hours because that’s how long it would have been
until the sun rose when we were attacked. They drove us here in a commercial
van with a home security logo on it but I’m pretty sure they don’t work for
that company. I got a good enough look at it to see it was one of those magnet
signs affixed to it and a real company would have them painted.”

“We are in serious trouble.”

“You think?” She gaped at him a little. “What I can’t figure
out is why they wanted us alive. Wouldn’t Mercile employees want you dead? You
guys sue the shit out of the company and my dad said that they are tracking
down anyone who worked at that company to show the victims pictures to try to
identify the ones who abused your people.”

He sniffed the air. “Hope my memory is wrong.”

“What does that mean?”

He hesitated. “I smell the drug they used on us for breeding
experiments.”

Her knees weakened. “What does that mean?”

“They developed a highly stimulating drug to force us to
desire sex and dosed us when we refused to mount our women sometimes when they
were trying to figure out why we weren’t able to get our females to conceive.
The room reeks of it and that is very bad.”

No shit
. “I don’t see any of your women. There’s the
guy sleeping on the cot and him.” She glanced at the pacer who hadn’t slowed
inside his cell.

“I smell another Species male, at least twelve different
human males and two human females. You are one of them.”

That was seriously disturbing. Becca knew the doctor the
mercenaries worked for was a woman so that just left her on the wrong side of
the cage bars. The blood drained from her face at the implications.

“You don’t think they brought me here to…you know.” She
slowly mouthed the next words she hoped he’d understand after lifting her hands
to cover her profile from the cameras. “They think I’m your girlfriend.”

Brawn spun away with a snarl, obviously able to read lips.
He walked to the cage door, studied it and gave it a kick with his bare foot.
Becca winced, knew that had to hurt and the metal didn’t budge. He lifted his
leg, rubbed his toes and snarled again. He dropped the leg, spun and stormed
back to the corner closest to her.

“I will do everything I can to protect you,” he swore
softly. “You need to trust me.”

“I do.” She meant it. She hadn’t known him for long but he
was a good guy. “We’ll be found.” She didn’t want to tell him about the dead
body or how her father would use it to tear into the man’s past, too afraid the
cameras would pick up her words. She didn’t want these assholes to be warned.
“Nothing will stop them.”

He nodded. “Watch what you say.”

That bit of advice was useless since she already had
surmised that. Brawn stared at her and took deep breaths. “I was not drugged
with the breeding drug. This is good news.”

The double doors the men had left through suddenly were
thrown open. The sound echoed in the big room and Becca gaped at the sight of
four men pushing a gurney through the opening. A large New Species male was
strapped down on it. His eyes were closed but his heritage was apparent from
his muscular size. It became more apparent as the jerks pushed him closer. His
cheekbones and full lips were a dead giveaway and Brawn sniffed loudly as they
passed their cages and moved out of sight behind the concrete wall behind them.
The wheels of the gurney stopped shortly after.

A good minute passed before a cage door slammed closed. The
sound was distinctive enough for Becca to be sure and chains rattled. They were
obviously securing his door the way they had Brawn’s. The four guys returned
minus the Species and the gurney. One of them stopped to glare at Brawn.

“You’re next, asshole.”

She knew that voice. It was Randy, the one she’d winged in
her house, the leader of the mercenaries. She saw the bandage near his ear as
he turned his attention to her. “Then you, bitch. I’m going to take great
pleasure watching you suffer.”

“Why are we here?” Brawn kept his voice low.

A smile curved the bastard’s lips and he gripped his hips.
“The doctor wanted fresh meat but your girlfriend was a bonus.” Randy took a
step closer but remained a good ten feet from the edge of Brawn’s cage. “You
know what’s going to happen. We don’t have any females, weren’t able to grab
any of them when we were raided, so she’s it.” His grin widened. “I hope she
likes pussies as much as you do.” He lifted his hand and jerked it toward the
pacing New Species. “He’ll be first and you’ll get her second.”

Brawn roared, lunged at the side of the cage and grabbed it.
“He’ll kill her.”

“Even better.” Randy touched his bandage. “That cunt tried
to blow my brains out. I’ll enjoy hearing her screams.” He spun, marched away
and his three goons followed him.

Becca trembled. She wasn’t an idiot and could fill in the
blanks. Brawn refused to glance at her and instead glared at the double doors
that closed behind the men. She backed away from the side of the cage to sit
heavily on her cot. Her legs didn’t want to hold her weight anymore.

Her gaze traveled across the room to the still agitated
Species male. Terror gripped her. The guy couldn’t even talk and didn’t seem
friendly in the least. He’d kill her for sure if she were thrown into his cage
for some breeding experiment.

“Becca?”

She turned her head at Brawn’s raspy tone. He watched her,
his beautiful gaze grim.

“I know. Breeding drugs, I’m the only woman and that guy
over there is out of his head, right?”

“Listen to me.” Brawn took a deep breath and gripped the
bars. “Do not fight if they put you in there with the male. He will be
aggressive to begin with but if you resist, he will…” His voice trailed off.

“Kill me?”

Brawn refused to look away from her. “Yes.”

Hot tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back.

“He is drugged and it is painful. His body is on fire, the
need to mount a female has taken his sanity and he will be sorry when it
passes.” A sad note filled his voice. “I know this.”

Becca hugged her chest. “You’ve taken it before, haven’t
you?”

“I was not given a choice. They used me for breeding tests.
Only two of the five facilities that have been discovered used this drug.” He
crouched. “I do not remember anything but knew I had shared sex with a female
when the drugs passed from my system. I never smelled blood on my body and hope
I never hurt one of our women. None of them ever told me I had after we were
freed but they might have wanted to spare me any guilt if I had.”

Memories of their conversation about how he enjoyed sex made
her shiver. She wasn’t a New Species female, tough, or designed to be stronger
than average. She was plain ole human, not even one who was in shape and she
doubted she’d survive a round of sex with a drugged Species guy even if she
didn’t put up a fight.

“Becca?”

She realized she’d glanced down when she had to lift her
gaze to Brawn.

“I’m tough. I’m a survivor.” She sucked in air. “And we are
going to be found.” Anger made her voice stronger. “Someone is going to die.”
She glanced at the double doors. “A lot of them.”

“The male will not mean to hurt or force you.”

She glanced back at him, avoided staring at the guy who
still paced his cell and terrified her. “He’s a victim too. I get that. Don’t
worry. It’s not his blood I’m hoping to see spilled.”

“They will find us.” His voice deepened into a snarl. “Trust
me.”

She appreciated his optimism. Her dad was good at his job
and they’d left a dead body behind to investigate. She had faith in her father
and his team. They liked her and would do whatever it took to rescue her.

“Dibs on the guy with the bandage. I want to kill that
motherfucker myself.”

Brawn’s eyebrows arched.

“When we’re found,” she clarified, “you hold that piece of
shit and I get to beat on him for a while, okay? I’ll borrow one of the team’s
guns and shoot him after I hear him scream enough to make me feel better about
whatever happens to me.”

“You are violent.” Brawn’s lips twitched. “I like that.”

“Extreme circumstances. It’s either plot to kick that
dickhead in the nuts or curl into a ball and cry. I prefer the first option.”

“Becca?”

She stared into his eyes.

“We will be found.” Sincerity shone there. “I swear this to
you.”

She nodded, hoping it would be before they started any
breeding tests.

Chapter Five

“Stay away from her,” Brawn snarled.