“But Mel’s in danger. I’m not.”
Snow sat up straight and sighed. “That’s what you don’t seem to understand, Mary. You are now a Species mate.” His gaze dropped to her stomach before he looked her in the eyes again. “Think of the child you may be carrying.”
She reached down and touched her stomach. She didn’t think she was pregnant but she wasn’t one hundred percent sure. “Fine.”
“We’ll arrange to get your possessions as quickly as possible,” Snow promised.
She nodded, resigning herself to smell like wet grass, having greasy hair, and wearing workout clothes for a while longer. Then she thought about Lash.
He was worth it.
Chapter Ten
Lash was frustrated. Every male he’d come into contact with had picked up Mary’s scent on him. He remembered how most of them had treated Valiant when he’d taken Tammy for a mate, and their curiosity. It suddenly explained why Valiant had become so grumpy. Lash wasn’t feeling friendly, either.
“Stop trying to creep up on me, Lapis,” he growled, turning his head to the male and meeting his gaze.
The male was crouched on all fours, just feet away. The pendant he always wore hung against his chest. He and Lash had one thing in common. They hated clothing. The male also wore a loincloth. They’d both compromised with the other males. No one wanted to see their dicks.
“Human,” Lapis whispered.
“Yes.”
“Why?” Lapis stood upright and stepped closer.
“I wanted a mate.”
“You can’t trust them.”
“Mary is a good female.”
“None of them are.” Lapis reached up to push some of his long, wavy black hair out of his face. “Humans can’t be trusted.”
Jaded sighed. “I keep telling you, not all of them are like the ones who worked at Mercile. You liked the doctor who helped you heal after we were freed, enough to wear that necklace she gave you.”
Lapis reached up and touched his blue stone pendant. “She was old. Frail. Doc Sue feared me. She brought this to show me the stone was like my eyes, and to make me agree to clean my wound. I didn’t believe her until she’d brought a mirror to let me look at my eyes. I liked it enough to trade.”
Footsteps drew Lash’s attention, and he turned, expecting to face off against another curious male. Torrent stomped out from behind some tall bushes instead. He wore only sweatpants and strange shoes that looked like feet. Lash scowled, staring at them.
“Don’t,” Torrent snapped. “They are human shoes with toes. They are very comfortable, and I don’t have to scrub my feet before I get into bed after running around barefoot. I like them.” He pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket and advanced. “I don’t have much time. What part of Oak’s home did you want to see or is it all of it? I have like forty pictures.”
“His new mate doesn’t like Lash’s platform bed. She wants something on the floor. You can see how that would be a problem for our friend here.” Jaded jerked his head toward Lash.
Torrent nodded. “Right. You feel safer high off the ground.” Torrent messed with his phone and then turned the screen. “This is his bedroom.”
Lash frowned. The picture featured a tall rock wall with an opening for a door, but the walls didn’t extend upward all the way to the ceiling, showing off a large space of what looked like a cave behind it. There, a few ropes attached to the ceiling. He could see a large bed on the floor inside the room, under those ropes, through the open doorway.
Torrent moved closer and changed the picture. “The walls are fifteen feet high and start angling outward at about nine feet up, so they are difficult to climb from the outside.”
The male flipped to another picture. There was a door sealing the opening into the room in this one. It looked metal and appeared to be solid. “It’s a slide door. It locks into place from the inside.”
“Bulletproof?” Lash glanced at Torrent.
“Of course. The walls are three feet thick, including a foot of stone, and reinforced concrete with rebar. That’s thick metal bars.” Torrent looked at him. “Oak loves ropes. You like platforms. We could do it. The door is four inches thick, I think, but because it’s on wheels, it should be easy enough for a human to slide open and to close it. I’m not a builder, but I’ve learned a lot from supervising the human crews we had out here building homes for the residents.”
“I want that,” Lash decided.
Torrent put away his phone and turned to Jaded. “The teams we used for Oak’s home are in my files. There were four companies. We didn’t want any one group of humans to see all of it. Look up who designed his bedroom and call them. I have all the specifications and details in those folders. We didn’t allow the humans to keep copies. I can handle it after I return from Homeland if you don’t want to.”
“I want it done now.”
Both males looked at Lash.
Jaded was the one who spoke. “Of course you do.”
“Brass has access to my office, and so does Bestial.” Then Torrent noticed Lapis. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“I heard,” the male grumbled. “I’m not hurt and I won’t go to Medical.” He shoved out his chin, glaring defiantly at Torrent.
“I want to get back to Mary.” Lash was ready to leave.
“Wait,” Torrent ordered. “The males are seeking you out. Why don’t you help me find some of the more difficult ones? I’d appreciate it, Lash.” Then he looked at Lapis. “Lash got a human mate. He goes to Medical.”
“I do not.”
Torrent snarled at Lash. “Work with me.”
“I don’t want a human mate,” Lapis hissed.
Jaded shook his head and sighed. “You make this more difficult than it needs to be. Watch and learn, Torrent.” Then he studied Lapis. “I’ll make a deal with you, and all the other Wild Zone males. Go to Medical when you’re told, and I’ll ask every Species female at Reservation to be there to help Chimes give you all exams with the human doctors. You remember her, don’t you?”
Lapis nodded. “She’s sexy.”
“Yes, she is. Spread the word. When Torrent asks you to go in, there will be Species females there to help you deal with the human doctors. Do you think that would motivate you and the others to go?”
Lapis nodded.
Jaded grinned. “Go tell them, and please ask them to stop hiding from Torrent. He’ll write down the name of the females your males want to get close to the most and give that list to me, so I can arrange for them to be there. That means they’ll have to talk to him.”
Lapis nodded again, before he spun and leapt into a nearby tree. The feline male took off through the branches.
“Bribery? Really?”
Jaded chuckled, addressing Torrent. “It works. Now the males will seek you out, and you won’t have to track and tranquilize them to haul their asses to Medical. They’ll come willingly.”
“The females are going to pissed at you. The males will only come hoping to impress them enough to agree to share sex.”
“They won’t be mad. Those males are difficult to handle. I have faith in our females to deal with Wild Zone residents better than our male officers do. Not only that, but we love competition. The females will agree just to show the officers how it’s done without bloodshed.”
Torrent barked out a laugh. “Devious.”
“Genius.” Jaded tapped the side of his head. “I’m not just a pretty face for human to throw money at for charities.”
“I’ll be impressed if you can get that one to go to Medical.” Torrent pointed at Lash.
“Easy.” Jaded turned to him.
Lash shook his head. “No. You will get a safe room built for my mate without making me trade.”
“I would never blackmail you, Lash.”
He relaxed slightly.
“Your mate could be pregnant. Your nose will tell you in time, but they have tests that could let you know in minutes. If she is, they have th
is machine called an ultrasound. It won’t hurt her one bit…but you could see your son inside her on a screen.”
Lash stilled. “Truth?”
“Truth,” Jaded swore. “How would you like to find out today if you’ve gotten her pregnant already? I could take you both there right after we get back to the hotel.”
“Yes.” Lash nodded.
Jaded shot Torrent a smirk.
The male snarled. “You should just take my job.”
“Then you’d have to take mine. I can’t see you wearing suits and smiling for cameras. I’m willing to switch with you. How about it?”
“Never.” Torrent stormed away.
“I didn’t think so,” Jaded called after him. “Let’s go, Lash.”
“I hope my mate is carrying my cub.” Lash started to hurry toward the hotel.
Jaded kept up. “Me too, my friend. I love cubs. Just let me hold it sometimes, okay? Since I don’t have a mate.”
Lash grumbled.
“I’m not going to steal it. Don’t be like Valiant. Admit it, you wanted to hold Noble.”
“Maybe one day you can.” Lash could understand the desire to hold a cub.
“I’ll take it. That’s not a flat-out no. I had to wait until Valiant wasn’t around and appeal to his mate to get to hold his son after Noble was born.”
“You stay away from Mary when I’m not there.”
Jaded’s phone rang, and he answered it, still chuckling. “You got me.” Then he stopped walking.
Lash kept going for about ten feet—until the other male made a distressed sound.
“Understood. We’re on our way back now.” He disconnected.
“What’s wrong? Are humans attacking?” Lash felt his heart rate spike and rage course through his veins.
“No.” Jaded hurried forward. “We need to get back to the hotel now. Your mate is safe, but Sherriff Cooper called.”
Lash ran at his side.
“That reporter the humans wanted to speak to is holding your mate’s parents hostage at their home.”
“What?” He snarled. “Why?”
“Details are limited right now. We’ll learn more once we get there.”
Lash took off, moving faster than Jaded. He needed to get to Mary.
* * * * *
Mary laughed as Mel complained about owning a cell phone. Her friend really didn’t enjoying having one.
Mel admitted her worst fear aloud. “I’m terrified my mama is going to learn the number. Then I’ll have to smash another phone.”
Snow snorted. “She has my number. Not yours. I can handle her, Mel.”
As if on cue, his phone rang.
Mel pointed at him. “I’m not around if it’s my mama. I’m in the shower.”
He pulled it out and answered, placing it to his ear. “Snow here.”
Mary guessed New Species didn’t say hello.
Snow tensed, his expression hardening, and he stood fast from the couch and walked toward the door, listening to whoever was speaking.
Mary glanced at Mel. Her friend shrugged, frowning as they both watched him exit the suite.
“That’s not good,” Mel whispered.
“What do you think it means?” Mary asked.
“I don’t know. He still has a few days off work. Maybe someone got sick and they’re going to call him in to cover a shift.”
“That would suck.”
Mel nodded. “I can’t complain, though. I don’t even have a job anymore.”
“What are you going to do?”
“You mean, what are we going to do? You’re jobless too, best friend.”
Mary inwardly flinched. “Don’t remind me. At least your guy has a job. Lash just seems to like to harass people when they bother him.”
Mel grinned. “That’s a skill.” Then she lowered her voice. “We’re hoping for a baby. We stopped using condoms.”
Mary reached down and touched her stomach, wondering if she was pregnant. “I don’t think Lash even knows what those are.”
“Wouldn’t it be cool if we have babies together? They’d be so close in age if both of us got knocked up!”
Mary was still trying to wrap her head around having a cub.
“The pregnancy thing is super cool, too. Am I right?”
“You mean to have a New Species baby?”
“No. Twenty weeks instead of forty.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, cats and dogs have babies at around nine weeks, give or take. With humans, it’s forty. Snow said the babies born here take around twenty weeks. That means we’ll pop out a baby in half the normal time. Cool, right? Snow also swears they have really good doctors and I’ll get great maternity care.”
“I need a drink.”
Mel shook her head. “Not if you’re pregnant. That would be bad.”
The door to the suite opened, and Snow walked back in. His cell hung in his hand. He looked at Mel first—before staring intently at Mary.
She didn’t like his expression. He looked pained.
“Do you have to cover a shift for someone? It’s okay. I’m here with Mary, and if Lash comes back, maybe I’ll go hang out downstairs to play twenty questions with your friends.” Mel smiled at Snow. “I don’t mind the things they ask me about women.”
Snow opened his mouth, closed it, but then opened it again. “That was Brass. I don’t even know how to say this.”
Fear hit Mary hard. “Is it Lash?” She stood from the couch. “Did he get into a fight or something? He likes to piss people off. Is he hurt? Is he okay?” Panic filled her. She’d given up her job, might be carrying his cub, and she was falling in love with him. Life couldn’t be that cruel to take him from her.
Snow met her gaze. “Lash is fine. He’s on his way back here now. He and Jaded were informed of the…problem.”
Mel walked to him. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
He opened his mouth but still said nothing.
Another New Species came to the open doorway. This one wore dark slacks and a black button-down short-sleeve shirt, revealing muscled arms. His hair was in a ponytail that fell over his shoulder and hung long, almost to his waist. Snow turned to face him.
“Brass, I haven’t told them yet. I didn’t know how.”
“Tell us what?” Mel waved at the new guy. “Hi, Brass.”
“Mel.” But his gaze was on Mary.
She backed up, hit the couch, and ended up sitting. He was New Species, big and unknown. Lash wasn’t with her. What if this guy wanted her gone? Maybe Lash was wrong and the NSO had decided she shouldn’t be there.
The big New Species cleared his throat. “All the details are still unclear, but this is what we’ve managed to piece together with Sherriff Cooper.” He turned his head to the side to show off a wireless earphone-looking device. “The male who visited the diner, the reporter, isn’t one.” He faced them, still looking at Mary for some reason. “He’s actually claiming to be the father of two males that he believes the NSO and Sheriff Cooper have in custody. He’s demanding we free them.”
Mary was confused. She’d spotted the old guy with the cane in the diner the day he’d come in. Mel had told her he was a nosey reporter. He’d somehow gotten a tip that there’d been a shooting and had come to snoop around. Mel outright lied to him and kept him from speaking to her. Mary had appreciated that. She hated when reporters approached them. She had no patience for that bullshit. It usually got her into trouble from Joel, since she tended to use words they wouldn’t dare quote in their papers.
“So, he lied to me in the diner?” Mel frowned. “Who are his sons?”
“According to him, Darren Barrow and Bradly Hadly,” Brass stated.
“Oh crap,” Mel muttered, paling.
Mary wanted to go to her but remained on the couch. Her friend was too close to the unfamiliar New Species. “What’s the problem? I don’t know those names. I’d remember Bradly Hadly, too. Rhyming names tend to stick in my brain.�
�
Mel turned to her. “Darren is the jerk who broke into our places, the one I made myself bait to catch. Bradly is the name of one of the men I shot.” She peered up at Brass. “Is that him?”
Brass gave a nod.
Mary still didn’t see the problem. “His sons are assholes. One tried to kill our customers and the other one is a criminal who broke into our apartments and attacked Mel. Tell him too bad, so sad, and to fuck off. Let him demand until his face turns blue.”
Brass took a step closer to Mary. “He has two hostages, Mary. He’s threatening to kill them if we don’t release both males and prove they have been freed.”
“The guy with the cane, right? Are you sure it’s the same man?” Mel sounded as stunned at Mary felt.
“Sheriff Cooper is attempting to talk to him by phone into releasing his hostages. We sent a team to help at the scene. He admitted to the sheriff he’d used the reporter ruse in an attempt to learn information about what happened to Bradly.” Brass turned his attention to Mel. “He also admitted to driving the vehicle when Darren went after you a second time. He saw our team capture his son and drive him toward Reservation. That’s why he’s certain we have Darren. He believes Sherriff Cooper has Bradly.”
“It’s the opposite. We have Bradly, but Sheriff Cooper took Darren.” Snow pulled Mel into his arms. “What is the plan?”
“Sheriff Cooper is hoping he can talk the male into releasing his captives. Our team is on standby to go in if that doesn’t work.” Brass hesitated, his gaze returning to Mary. “Our priority is to safely get the couple out unharmed, but the male has a gun on the couple, threatening to kill them if anyone gets too close to the house. He could shoot them if we breach to capture him. We’re skilled, but so far our team can’t see a way to get inside without making noise or being spotting. The yard around the house has no trees or outbuildings that we could use as cover to get close.”
Mary fidgeted where she sat on the couch. “Why do you keep looking at me like that? I’m with Lash.” She tucked her head a little. “Is my voice annoying to you or something? I’ll stop talking.”
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