Fury

by Laurann Dohner

  He growled.

  She backed away a few feet. “Fine. Don’t. It’s just that when you show fangs and have that angry look, you tend to give people the impression, well, me at least, that you’re pissed at them.” She took a breath. “And the growling…” She shrugged. “Kind of implies you’re mad.”

  “I’m furious,” he snarled.

  “What did I do?” She took another step back.

  “Nothing. It’s not directed at you. You were fired for protecting me. You were tossed out there into your world and because of us, you have been targeted as though you were one of us.”

  “Well,” she relaxed, secretly thrilled she hadn’t ticked him off. “I worked at Homeland and knew I wouldn’t make friends with dim-witted people when I took the job. If I agreed with those jackasses I wouldn’t have been here at all and they know I’m pro New Species. It’s just a fact of life that they are jerks. Everyone has hate groups.”

  “No one hates you because of where you come from.”

  She smiled. “I’m originally from California before my family moved to Ohio. Half the country is sure every freak and weirdo in America lives or is born here in Southern Cali.”

  Fury blinked. “How pro New Species are you?”

  She wondered if he questioned whether she secretly didn’t like his people. “If you’re asking if I’m prejudiced, I’m not. When I heard the rumors about Mercile Industries and their kind of testing and the subjects they used, I was outraged. I instantly agreed to help bust them. It horrified me that I might somehow be a part of anything to do with a company that cruel.” She paused. “New Species are people to me, period, just like everyone else. You have the right to do anything humans do. Is that what you mean? I hate to even make the distinction.”

  He pushed away from the door and took a step toward Ellie. He paused. “Have you heard the latest outcry against us? They are afraid we’ll start wanting to date humans. What do you think about that?”

  “Did you not hear me when I stated that I think you’re just people? You have as much right to date or be with whoever you want to be with as I do.”

  He nodded. “Would you be with one of my males? Slade is quite taken with you.”

  Slade? Ellie blinked, remembering the guy who’d saved her ass at the gate. It came as a surprise that he might be attracted to her. “I don’t know him.” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  “You met him this morning.”

  “Well, I know who he is but I don’t know him personally. I don’t know if I’d like to spend time with him or not.”

  “But if you did like him, would you date him? Even knowing what he is?”

  She watched Fury intently enough to spot his anger. She couldn’t figure the man out. “Sure. I guess. I don’t see why not. I haven’t really thought about it.”

  “Our species aren’t totally compatible.” Fury took another step closer.

  Ellie took a step in the opposite direction. He advanced while she backed away. She felt stalked. His anger radiated off him, making her certain that coming to his home had been a mistake. Is he still angry about what happened at the testing facility? Does he still want to punish me for it? She’d forgiven him and he’d done worse. She hadn’t terrified him, cut off his air, or kidnapped him from a park to tie him to a bed.

  “Why are you backing me into the wall?” She glanced over her shoulder. She only had a few more feet of space and then she had nowhere else to go. She jerked her head around and stared up at Fury. “Could you please stop? You’re starting to scare me.”

  “Would you be afraid of me if I were Darren Artino or a man like him? Human?”

  She frowned. “If someone were angry and coming at me, yes, I would be afraid. Will you stop it?”

  “I noticed you didn’t deny our species aren’t compatible.” He advanced.

  Ellie took another step back and bumped the wall. She’d run out of space to put between them. “What do you want me to say? I don’t even know what to tell you. I know you’re mostly human DNA and I don’t understand your point. We’re both people.”

  “I spent my entire life inside a testing facility.” His hands flattened over the wall on both sides of Ellie’s shoulders. He pinned her there between his chest and arms, not touching her.

  “I assumed.” She couldn’t look away from his handsome face, hovering so close to hers. She inhaled that wonderful masculine scent of his and held still to avoid brushing against his body.

  “We were constantly experimented on, changed, and tested,” he growled. “We are still learning new things about our bodies, what has been done to us, and we aren’t human enough to ever fool ourselves into believing we could be. There are too many animal traits present. You can see some of the changes by looking at us but they also are inside our bodies, in our DNA. I’m worried that if you knew how much of me isn’t human it would terrify you.” He paused. “It would scare most humans if they realized what we hid in the hopes of fitting in with them. We want to live together in peace, we hope for acceptance, and to just be left alone by the hate groups.”

  Ellie peered up at him curiously. “What kind of animal traits do you hide?” It sure wasn’t growling. He does that often or maybe it’s just at me.

  He hesitated. “I’m just not completely human. I won’t go into details. We are very different from your people though. We don’t even have parents and if we ever had them, we will never get to meet them. Those records weren’t recovered, leading us to believe they were destroyed. Our childhoods were completely different. So much so that we have very little common ground.”

  “What was your childhood like?”

  His jaw clenched. “I remember being afraid and being locked up. I remember the darkness that terrified me and then the pain. They would strap me down and inject me with all those damn needles. I remember,” he hissed, “pain and terror were my only childhood companions.”

  Tears filled Ellie’s eyes. She reached up without thinking and put her open palm on his arm. “I’m so sorry.” She wanted to comfort him.

  He closed his eyes, took long, deep breaths, and then opened them. “They changed me. I remember my shock when my baby teeth fell out and my new teeth were longer and sharper. I didn’t have a mirror but I could feel the difference. I could feel my face, knew I didn’t look like the technicians or the doctors. By the time I hit puberty I’d grown muscular because they were filling me with drugs to alter my body. I knew I wasn’t right, my body changed, and they were making me different with the drugs but they didn’t stop giving them to me.”

  “I’m so very sorry, Fury.” She trailed her hand a little higher, then lower, rubbing him. “They were so wrong for doing that.”

  “I know this. It’s little comfort to be told some of the research they did created drugs to help sick humans when a lifetime of painful memories haunt me. Now there are groups of people, thousands of them, who wish me dead just because someone tossed me into hell as a kid and forced me to endure that nightmare. We suffered for the benefit of humans and for Mercile to make money.” He cleared his throat. “I am tired of always feeling on the outside of life peering in. Being different,” he rasped. “I knew something made me unique for as long as I can remember. I’d look at them, feel my teeth and face, notice my body’s differences, and then I started to pay attention to what they would say. In time I was able to learn enough to figure out what had been done to us and why. I felt so alone and only saw humans until—” He clamped his mouth closed.

  “I don’t blame you for hating everyone at Mercile. Doesn’t it help at all though to hear some good came from it?”

  “No,” he snarled softly. “Maybe. I don’t know. I hate what was done to us.”

  “I do too. What were you going to say about only seeing humans until? You stopped.”

  His dark gaze narrowed, watched her, and he cleared his throat. “Until they brought a female into my cell. She was New Species and it was the first time I ever saw someone who looked s
imilar to me. They wanted to see if we could breed.” He glanced at the wall next to her face, stared there. “They forced us to be together sometimes but it never worked. We weren’t able to produce children.” His jaw tensed before he met her gaze again. “I’m glad. We didn’t want them to succeed and bring new life into that hell.”

  Ellie bit her lip and her hand stilled. “I heard something about that from the women,” she admitted. “It’s not fair what was done to you. They were wrong and just evil to do that, Fury. I call people like that total morons without a speck of intelligence or compassion.”

  Fury searched her eyes, looking deep into them. “Are you afraid of me, Ellie?”

  She hesitated. “I am when you’re angry, though you’d scare me if you had animal DNA or not, to be honest. You’re a big man.”

  His whole body slumped, his tension eased. “I didn’t mean to hurt you on my bed by drawing blood.”

  She hadn’t expected him to say that. She blew out the air she’d gasped in. Her heart raced and then she forced herself to calm down. Fury silently watched her.

  “I believe you.”

  “I don’t think I would have hurt you if it wasn’t for what they did to me. I wouldn’t have sharp teeth.”

  Ellie didn’t know what to say. She just swallowed the lump that formed inside her throat. The attraction she held for Fury was strong, she admitted that, always had, since the day she’d laid eyes on him. She’d thought about what he’d done to her in his bed many a night, her mind filled with erotic memories while dreaming. It had been fantastic until that last part when he’d suddenly withdrawn from her and Justice had arrived.

  “I just thank your God that I didn’t do the things I wanted to do to you.”

  Ellie warmed all over suddenly. “What…?” She had to swallow. Her voice had broken. “What did you want to do?” The question came out a whisper.

  His eyes flashed some emotion she couldn’t quite identify. “I really would have scared you. We aren’t sexually compatible in all ways.”

  Ellie stared up at him. She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant by that. Fury suddenly pushed away from the wall and turned his back to her. He stalked away until a good eight feet separated them.

  “Your room will be the first door on the right down the hallway. Make yourself at home. I’ll run by the security office and have a temporary pass made for you but for now you should stay inside. I’ll make sure your things from your car are on the way. There’s lots of food to eat in the kitchen if you’re hungry.” He stormed out of the house and slammed the door.

  Ellie leaned against the wall for a long time staring at the door he’d disappeared through. What did he want to do to me that night? She closed her eyes, hugging her body. And why do I suddenly wish I knew really, really bad? Damn!

  * * * * *

  Fury left the house before he totally made a fool of himself by grabbing Ellie, burying his nose against her throat, and inhaling her wonderful scent. The urge to hold her, put his arms around her, and cradle her was so strong he physically ached.

  He regretted telling her they weren’t sexually compatible. He’d just said it to shock her. She had been too close, they’d been alone, and he’d wanted to do a hundred things to her. That’s why he walked at a brisk pace to put distance between them.

  He focused on his anger instead. She could have been kidnapped, taken for just being associated with New Species, and it infuriated him. She cared about his people, had risked her life to save his kind, first by working undercover inside the testing facility and again by protecting his women when the dorm had been breached. She’d stayed alone to face those violent intruders in order to activate the steel doors to secure the women.

  That had been the first thing he’d ordered changed. Humans had screwed up that design by not installing enforced walls to slam down on the first floor as well as the upper floors. The main control panel also should have been installed where she would have been protected as well.

  Her eyes haunted him, so blue and pretty, he could gaze into them all day and never get weary of the sight. His fingers ached to touch her soft, pale skin, and run through her soft blonde tresses. Her voice sounded as sweet as pure honey to him, soft and slightly husky. If he knew he could keep a handle on his desire to touch her, he would have stayed, and grilled her for more personal information. He needed to know everything about her but the urge to be closer to her had become too strong.

  Now that she’d returned, would live under his roof, he wasn’t about to let her go. He could keep her and look out for his people at the same time. He wouldn’t let Justice down by not doing his job but Ellie would be there when he returned home. A small smile curved his lips.

  She was inside his house. His speed increased. The faster he dealt with everything he needed to do, the sooner he’d be able to see her again. He just needed to go slow and avoid spooking her into running away. He could be patient. It wasn’t his best trait but he’d learn for her.

  Chapter Ten

  Ellie smiled at Breeze. “I’m so glad you came to visit me. I really miss all of you. I wanted to visit the dorm but Fury told me it wasn’t a good idea.” She glanced around the living room. “I’m kind of stuck inside.” Her attention returned to Breeze. “You’re saving me from going stir crazy. I’ve been here for three days and Fury has refused to allow me to leave.”

  Breeze smiled back. “Think how difficult a time I had talking him in to allowing me to see you. I wanted to bring more women with me but he refused to give permission for anyone else to come.” She studied Ellie and cocked her head. “He must really be concerned for your safety.”

  Ellie shrugged. “Why? Those crazy jerks outside the gate holding signs can’t hurt me while I’m safe inside Homeland.”

  A strange look passed over Breeze’s face but Ellie caught it. She sat back on the couch and crossed her arms over her chest. “What am I missing?”

  Breeze hesitated. “There are rumors.”

  “What kind?”

  “I know it isn’t true. I can’t smell Fury on you besides the faint, lingering scent that comes with living inside the same home with someone. It’s just that since he brought you to his house, some have presumed you and Fury are breeding.”

  “Breeding?” Ellie’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean the gossips think we’re doing it?”

  A chuckle escaped Breeze. “Yes. That’s the term. Doing it.”

  “But we aren’t. I mean, we talk and then he avoids me as if I’m the plague.”

  “The plague? Is that a religious fanatic group member?”

  Ellie laughed. “It’s a deadly disease.”

  “Oh.” Breeze grinned. “We’re still learning some English we weren’t exposed to inside the testing facilities. I hadn’t heard that word yet.” Breeze’s smile faded. “It is…gossip…that you and Fury are breeding. Doing it,” she corrected. “Not everyone is happy about that. There have been some problems with humans who work at Homeland over it. I think Fury is afraid for you.”

  “He’s heard that crap being rumored about us?”

  Breeze nodded. “Everyone has heard.” Her gaze flicked around the living room to the TV. “Is your television broken?”

  “Television?” Ellie gasped. “It’s on the news?”

  “Yes. Some of the employees must have heard and told some of the…what did you call them? Media vultures? They don’t know your names but there are media vultures saying a New Species and a human are living together.”

  Oh crap! Ellie’s shoulders slumped. “No wonder he has refused to allow me out of the house when I mentioned leaving Homeland to go job hunting. I mean, how long can I live in the guy’s guest bedroom and mooch off him?”

  “Mooch? What does that word mean?”

  Ellie smiled. “It’s a term when you live with someone and take something freely from the person who has to work for it. It’s not a good thing. It’s hard to explain that one. I guess I could describe it as I’m a burden to him.”
/>   “How? He already had a room you could have.”

  Ellie struggled with her thoughts. Some words were hard to explain. “Yes. He did but usually you don’t live with someone unless you are a couple. Then it is acceptable if you share food and a home. If you aren’t, then both parties are supposed to work, similar to a partnership, be equal. I am not his girlfriend or his partner. He provides a home and food for me while I give him nothing in return. I’m a mooch.”

  “I think I understand.” Breeze smiled. “And you are not a mooch. He doesn’t know what one is so therefore you can’t be what he doesn’t know exists.”

  Ellie laughed. “I guess you got me there.”

  “You should do it with him and you will feel better. You’ll give him something in return to avoid being a mooch.”

  Ellie was glad she hadn’t taken a sip of the soda clasped in her hand or she would have choked. She gaped at Breeze. “Uh, you shouldn’t do it with someone unless you are in a relationship and care about them in a special way. If you do it with someone for food, money, or a roof over your head, that’s called prostitution. That’s bad.”

  “Your world is too complicated.”

  “Yeah,” Ellie agreed, taking a sip of her soda. “It is.”

  “You should still do it with him. He likes you and I think you like him. He is very manly and sexually appealing. We all think we should do it with each other if we are mutually attracted. We had meetings about it.”

  Ellie put down her drink. “You had meetings about sex?”

  “Of course. We once didn’t have choices. We had to do it with whomever we were forced to be with. We hold all kinds of meetings where we discuss things. Doing it was one of those topics. We can do it with anyone we desire to do it with if they want to do it back.”

  Ellie rubbed her hand over her mouth, trying to hide her smile. “That’s acceptable too.”

  “We thought so. We even discussed doing it with you after the rumors started.”

  “Fury and I were the topic of a meeting?” Shocked, Ellie knew her voice had risen. A blush warmed her cheeks. The NSO discussed me and Fury having sex? Dear God!