Brawn

by Laurann Dohner

  “How are you doing now? Calmer? I know this must be a shock. Hell, especially for you. I know how you feel about human females. The good news, I guess, is that she doesn’t want anything from you. She’s not demanding you mate and marry her. She actually requested that you stay away. She’s going to have to live with us so you’ll be able to see your son when you want to. I’m sure she’ll allow that.”

  Brawn had to force his breathing to slow and got control of his unstable emotions. Becca is pregnant. Becca is here. He slowly stalked toward Flame. “I won’t attack you. I want a deeper scent.”

  Flame didn’t look happy but held his ground. “Why?”

  Brawn inched closer to him and inhaled. It wasn’t enough until he lowered his head and closed his eyes. His nose brushed Flame’s shirt and he sniffed. Becca. Her scent was something he’d never forget and he traced more of her, hating the sweet smell of her fear that he picked up.

  “Dude,” Flame whispered softly. “Will you stop that? Someone is going to see and get the wrong idea about us. We’re drawing a crowd of onlookers after you tossed me on my ass.”

  Brawn growled and lifted his head as he backed off. “She’s at Medical?”

  “Yes. Don’t forget the part about her not wanting to see you. She said she didn’t want anything from you but for you to stay away.”

  Brawn growled, his rage returned and so did confusion. Why would she refuse to see him? It didn’t make sense. They had created life together. “I’m going to go see her if she wants me to or not.”

  Flame softly cursed. “I was afraid you were going to say that. They locked down Medical.”

  “Why?”

  “Her father. You. She thinks her father is going to try to kill you, Brawn. You’ve met the man. Will he try?”

  Brawn shrugged. “Probably.” He turned. “I’m going to her.”

  “She doesn’t want to see you.”

  “I don’t care. I want to see her.” Brawn stormed away.

  His ears picked up Flame’s vicious curse and then his voice as he warned someone that Brawn was headed that way. He picked up the pace, his long legs ate up the grass and he started to run. Becca was carrying his child, she was close, and he would get answers.

  He ran, allowing his unanswered questions to push him into a burst of speed and reached Medical quickly. He had to slow when Tiger and Slade stood in front of the door and blocked his entrance. He stopped, out of breath, and glared at both males.

  “Move.”

  Slade watched Brawn warily. “She doesn’t want to see you, Brawn. Give her some time. She’s already upset because we forced her to come here. Trisha is with her trying to make her see reason. My mate will calm her.”

  “Move,” Brawn ordered again. His body tensed as a growl burst from his throat over their interference.

  Tiger softly cursed. “Let’s not fight, guys. Brawn, you’re upset right now and rightly so. You need to get a handle on your emotions. You look feral, my man. The female is pregnant. Don’t you think when you finally get to see her that you should be calm? I think that’s a good idea. Let’s take a vote. Who’s in favor of that?” He raised his hand.

  Slade shot his friend a dirty look but raised his hand. “This isn’t a debate.”

  “Humor,” Tiger muttered. “You remember that, don’t you? I’m hoping he does. Come on, Brawn. You look scary.”

  “I’m not laughing.” Brawn’s hands fisted at his sides and he glared at Slade. “What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t see Trisha? Move away from the door and let me pass.”

  “That’s different. I’m in love with Trisha and she’s my mate. You and Rebecca don’t have that bonding.” Slade didn’t budge. “Let’s go for a walk and talk about this.”

  * * * * *

  Becca got dressed and smiled at Trisha. “He looked perfect, didn’t he?”

  Trisha grinned back. “Yes. Your baby is healthy and well. I told you it would be a boy. He looks great, Rebecca.”

  “Please call me Becca. Other than strangers, no one but my father calls me that.”

  “We’ve arranged housing for you. You need to stay here for your child’s sake. There are a lot more ex-Mercile employees out there trying to avoid being arrested. Most of the testing facilities were hit at night since they were afraid the staff would try to kill Species since they tried that at the first one. I can share this information with you because you need to know. The damn news had it plastered on every station and they got to watch their places of work being busted on live TV. Only about twenty percent of the staff were arrested and maybe another thirty percent have either turned themselves in or have been caught. That leaves a lot of desperate, crazy idiots out there who are like the group that kidnapped you. Some of them might think if they had hostages, they could force the NSO to give them immunity. That’s the nice version. You know the group who took you planned to sell the Species they had when their use was up. You are going to have a baby. Can you imagine?”

  “Cha-ching.” Becca winced. “Major money to those pricks. I get it.” Horror washed through her. “You think I haven’t had nightmares about that? I have.”

  “I know.” Trisha looked grim. “There’s also the jerks who hate Species and believe they are nothing more than rabid animals to be put down. It’s why we haven’t told the world they can have children. It’s a horrible situation. My son is the only second generation Species baby born so far but we have two more women who are pregnant. Maybe in the near future it will be safer for the world to know but right now we need to protect them. This baby will look like Species and there won’t be a doubt of that if anyone sees him. The only thing you can do is stay here or at Homeland where he’ll be safe from discovery. We’ll restrict any humans besides myself and the other mates. You won’t be alone. You’ll have the four of us to support you emotionally.”

  “Four?”

  “Myself, Ellie, Tammy and I believe you know Jessie Dupree. She worked with your father.”

  Shock tore through Becca. “She’s pregnant? She’s uh, mated, to one of the New Species?”

  “She married Justice North secretly but they decided to wait a while before trying to have a baby. No one who knows about their wedding has leaked it to the press yet but that could change at any time. Tammy lives at Reservation full-time and Ellie has moved here since we have the better medical facility and they are safer from prying eyes. We’d rather be safe than sorry. So far all pregnancies are healthy and we’re hoping it stays that way. Ellie is due to have her baby soon and Tammy is just a little farther along than you are.”

  “This is so much to take in. I thought I was alone.”

  “You aren’t. You and your baby just got a really large family, Becca. New Species will consider you that.”

  “But I’m not one of them.”

  “Your baby is and you are his mother. They treat mates just as if we’re one of their own.”

  “I’m not a mate.”

  “You’re still family.” She paused. “Why don’t you want to see Brawn?”

  Becca hesitated, not sure her pain at his abandonment was enough to justify it but she had a list of reasons besides that. “He was clear from the moment I met him that he doesn’t want anything to do with women like us. He never would have touched me if we hadn’t been kidnapped. We were forced to be together and we thought we weren’t going to be rescued. He was going to be sold at some point and they probably would have left me there to die when they abandoned the warehouse or put a bullet in my head.”

  “It must have been very stressful.”

  “It was and that’s how Brawn and I ended up getting so close.”

  Trisha hesitated. “I am curious. I gave you antibiotics. Did you take them?”

  “No. They were horse pills and I just tossed them. Why do you want to know?” She reached up and touched her forehead. “I don’t have a fever, do I? I’d have noticed if I had some kind of blood infection from the needles they used.”

  T
he doctor hesitated. “They weren’t to fight an infection. Those pills were to prevent you from getting pregnant.” Her gaze dropped to Becca’s rounded belly. “I wondered if you either hadn’t taken them or they just weren’t effective. I have the answer now.”

  Anger instantly surged inside Becca. “What?”

  “I know. It was really wrong not to give you a choice but you should realize how much we needed to protect this secret. As you stated, you aren’t a mate and we couldn’t let you leave if there was a chance of you being pregnant.” Trisha met her gaze. “Try to understand our position. Would you have preferred we kept you here against your will until we knew for sure you weren’t? That was the only other option. It’s not just about you and your baby. It’s about my son, Ellie’s and Tammy’s. All future Species infants.”

  It took a lot for Becca to fight through her anger and the feeling of betrayal. They’d tried to abort her pregnancy. She clenched her teeth.

  “I’m sorry. Honestly. You were traumatized enough and we were trying to protect you from further harm. Tell me honestly that this pregnancy hasn’t torn up your life.”

  “I want this baby.”

  “I know.” Trisha’s features softened. “Believe me, I can guess how much you’ve gone through to try to hide and protect your child. I’d have done the same.” She bit her lower lip. “Why couldn’t you just tell us? You’re a smart woman and I can’t figure out how you thought you could do this on your own.”

  Becca slipped on her shoes. “I would have had to admit to being locked inside a cage with Brawn and told my father what happened between us. You didn’t see how he acted for weeks afterward. He…” She sighed. “He was really angry and irrational. Kind of insane, to be honest. I had to swear to him that nobody touched me. He would have killed Brawn and still will when he finds out.” Tears filled her eyes. “Put yourself in my place now. My dad loves his job, he loves New Species but he swore to kill any of them if I’d been touched in any way. He is willing to go to prison and Brawn is the father of my baby. I just wanted to protect them both.”

  A roar tore through the building. Becca and the doctor both started.

  Becca grabbed Trisha. “What was that?”

  “My best guess? Brawn is outside. He’s living at Reservation. He and another council member are assigned here and he was just told about the baby.”

  “I don’t want to see him.”

  Something crashed down the hall, glass broke and someone snarled. Trisha cursed, a panicked expression on her face. “It sounds like you aren’t going to have a choice. Oh crap. I need to get out there.” She tugged out of Becca’s hold.

  A roar pieced the air and something else crashed.

  “Slade!” Trisha shouted his name as she jerked open the door and rushed into the hallway.

  Becca stared out the doorway. Trisha ran and nearly collided with a big body that suddenly filled the end of the hallway. Two strong hands gripped the doctor, prevented her from falling and Brawn lifted her to the side to set her out of his way.

  “What did you do to my husband?” Trisha yelled at Brawn.

  He growled loud enough for Becca to hear, his gaze lifted until she had no doubt he focused on her and he took a step closer, then another and kept right on coming. A furious expression masked his normally handsome face and she couldn’t miss seeing a lot of skin since his shirt had been torn open to reveal one entire side of his chest.

  Terror gripped her as she stumbled back and darted a look away from the threat to search for an escape but there wasn’t one. The small room had a window but she didn’t see a release on it to get it open and all she could do was put the exam table between them.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Brawn entered the room, his gaze locked on her and his hand shot back to grab the door. It slammed loudly, sealing them inside. His lips parted, he was slightly out of breath and a soft growl came out of him.

  “Becca.”

  “Stay back.” Her voice shook and she felt raw terror.

  His gaze lowered down her body to her protruding belly. It was obvious she was pregnant. He snarled loudly, a vicious sound. He reached back again and the sound of the lock being twisted was undeniable. He took a threatening step closer.

  She grabbed the table to keep from collapsing. “Please don’t hurt me or the baby, Brawn. I know you’re mad, that you don’t want me having this baby, but it’s mine. I love it.”

  His eyes widened, he paled and another snarl tore from his parted lips. “You think I’d hurt you or my child?” The words came out harsh, his tone rough.

  “You’re pissed.” She released the table with one hand and protectively curved it around her middle. “I don’t want anything from you, okay? I wouldn’t even be here if some of your men hadn’t flown me here against my will.”

  He took deep breaths, his eyes narrowed into near slits and he took another step. “I’d never hurt you or the child. Why did you refuse to see me?”

  She swallowed hard. “There’s no reason we should have to spend time together.”

  His eyes lowered to her stomach. “No reason?”

  She took a calming breath. “I have nothing to say to you. Why see each other? This happened and we just have to deal with it. I’m going to have my baby. I’m sorry if that upsets you but that’s too bad.”

  His fists balled at his sides. “Your baby? Try ‘our baby’.”

  Becca was afraid, seeing how mad he was at that moment. “You can see the baby any time you want. I was informed I need to stay here but we’ll just avoid each other. After the baby is born we’ll work out shared visitation rights. Someone can pick up and drop off the baby so we don’t ever have to see each other again.”

  Another growl tore from Brawn and his nose flared. His eyes suddenly seemed to change color, darken to near black. “You’ll let me see my child? How generous.”

  “I’m trying to figure out a way this is going to work, okay? You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to. I know how…” She was at a loss for words. “This shouldn’t have happened but it did. We’re just going to have to be adult about this and figure out a way to get along peacefully for the baby’s sake.”

  Someone tried to enter the room but the lock held. Brawn glanced at it. “Stay out. We’re talking.”

  “Damn it, Brawn,” Trisha called out. “Let me in. You’re lucky you only threw my husband and Tiger. You could have really hurt them.”

  “Go away,” he snarled. “This is between Becca and me. I won’t harm her. Leave us alone.”

  “Becca?” It was Trisha. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine. It’s okay.” Becca frowned at Brawn, not sure that was the truth.

  “I’ll be down the hall putting ice on the guys.” Trisha didn’t sound happy. “Yell if you need help.”

  Brawn growled and snapped his head back to stare at Becca. “Come here.”

  She shook her head. “You’re really angry and I’m really happy to be on this side of the table. Don’t you dare touch me, Brawn. I know you are upset but this isn’t my fault any more than it’s yours.”

  “Come here.”

  She refused to budge. “You’re angry.”

  “Yes,” he growled. “You should have told me.”

  Her anger flared. “When would that have been? When you came to get your stuff from my house? Maybe when you called me?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s right. You didn’t do either of those things. You had my father pack your stuff and send it to you. You never called to even see how I was. Why should I have called you?”

  “You won’t come to me?”

  “No. I like this much distance between us. I’d like it better if you just left.”

  He came at her, his graceful movements reminding her of an animal slowly stalking his prey, and Becca backed up until the wall stopped her. Her breathing increased to a near pant from fear when his hands lifted to flatten on the wall on each side of her.

  She watched as his eyes c
losed, his features softened and to her stunned surprise, he slowly lowered down her body to his knees. His face inched closer until he pressed his nose against her shirt, his hands released the walls to gently grip her hips and he nuzzled her belly.

  “What are you doing?” She was frozen.

  He sniffed, softly purred and turned his head to nuzzle his cheek over her belly. His hands slid on her pants, hooked her shirt and pushed it up enough to reveal the rounded mound. He pressed his warm cheek to her skin, another soft purr rumbled out of him and he just stayed there.

  “Brawn?” Her voice quavered. “What are you doing?”

  “I can smell him.”

  “What?”

  He lifted his chin and his eyes opened. The blue was back in his irises, the darkness gone and he held her gaze. “I scent my son.”

  She wasn’t sure what that meant but his anger seemed to have totally dissipated. She breathed a little easier and tried to calm. She relaxed more against the wall and tried to slow her racing heart. The danger of him exploding into a rage seemed to have passed.

  “Did you think I wouldn’t want him?”

  She hated to see tears fill Brawn’s eyes but couldn’t miss them. Regret slammed into her. “I didn’t know.” Emotion choked her voice and she had to swallow. “I was afraid.”

  “You believed I’d hurt you?” Some of the anger returned to his steady gaze.

  “I don’t know. I’m hormonal, just afraid of everything and tried to do the best I could on my own.”

  “You’re not alone anymore.” He pushed her shirt a little higher on her ribs, gently released it, and dropped his attention to her bare stomach. “I’m here.”

  But for how long? That stray thought made her tense. If he said they were a team, she’d have to slap him. She’d heard that before. Staring down at him made her heart soften though. They were having a baby together, had created a life. Hot tears filled her eyes.