Brawn

by Laurann Dohner

It stunned her that the big male kneeled on the pavement and was acting so bizarre. His head remained there and he gripped her hand tightly enough to keep it captured but not enough to cause pain. She bit her lip, realized he must emotionally be going through the wringer too and her other hand lifted. She hesitated before her fingers brushed the silky strands of his hair to try to give him comfort.

  “Brawn?”

  “Do not send me away.” The words were muffled against her leg but she heard him.

  Her gaze lifted to find Tiger standing there with his mouth gaping open. He looked absolutely stunned, met her gaze, closed his mouth and shrugged. “At least he doesn’t want to fight anymore. Give the guy a break.”

  She didn’t know what was going on inside Brawn’s mind but she knew how rough she’d taken the news when she’d discovered she was pregnant. She’d gone from shock to fear to worry and settled on being thrilled. Her life would never be the same. It had taken her days to go through those emotions but Brawn had less than an hour to sort through his turmoil. She rubbed the back of his head, trying to comfort him.

  “It’s been a hell of a day for us both,” she conceded.

  He nodded against her thigh. “Yes.”

  She fought the urge to cry. Damn hormones. “Are you okay?”

  He didn’t move. “Do not send me away. I need to be close to you.”

  She stared at Tiger and he shrugged again, obviously not sure why Brawn was acting that way either. “I don’t understand.”

  Brawn slowly lifted his head and met her gaze. His blue eyes looked tortured. “I need to be close to you like I need air to breathe. I can’t explain it. I just have to be near you. If you send me away I will lose control. I don’t want to frighten you again.”

  What was happening? Becca felt fear again. Why would he need to be close to her? What was going on inside the guy? Their gazes locked and stayed that way. Becca had to finally look away. “Okay. You can go to the hotel.”

  He immediately got up and she pulled her hand free as she scooted across the seat. He climbed in next to her and Tiger closed the door, took the passenger seat and Pink pulled away from the curb. No one spoke on the short drive to the hotel.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The hotel stood four stories high and no one was within sight as they climbed out of the SUV. Brawn instantly tried to lift Becca and she swatted at his seeking hands. “I’m here and you should go.”

  He stared at her with pure misery, enough to make her feel guilty. He wasn’t angry and snarling anymore. If he’d been part canine mixed she’d have compared him to a kicked puppy but he was feline, according to her father. Lost kitten, she decided fit him better.

  “Fine. Come with us and you can watch me eat before I take a nap.”

  Brawn offered his arm but she ignored it, walking to stand next to Tiger instead. He glanced at her and held out his arm.

  “You look pale. Let one of us help you.”

  She took his arm and waited for another snarl but Brawn kept it in check if it pissed him off. Pink drove away in the SUV and the three of them entered a large lobby. It surprised Becca how normal the place looked, as if it were a regular hotel with a cluster of couches and chairs set up. No one stood at the desk but a male Species did rush out of one of the back doors and offered up a key card. He spun on his heel, didn’t even bother to glance at Becca and disappeared.

  “Is it normally so dead in here?”

  Tiger gently steered her toward the elevators. “No. Slade called ahead and had them clear out. He didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable being stared at.” He hit the button and they waited for the car to arrive.

  She glanced back at Brawn and realized he silently hovered feet behind, his gaze locked on her. She turned her head as the door dinged and slid open. A tall woman Species was inside and wore jeans and a blue tank top. Her black hair flowed down over her shoulders and she openly stared at Becca.

  “Hello, human.” A smile curved her lips and she chuckled when her attention focused on Becca’s belly. “Oh! You’re the pregnant lady. Trisha told me about you. It is so good you are here. I am Breeze and I like humans. Some of my best friends are human.”

  “Hi, Breeze.” Tiger chuckled. “She’s starving and we need to take her upstairs. You can talk to her later.”

  “Of course.” The woman stepped out of the elevator and suddenly punched Tiger lightly on the arm. “Good job, Tiger. She is very attractive.”

  “Now wait a minute,” Tiger protested. “It’s not—”

  “You will make a good father,” the woman cut his words off and grinned at Becca. “You must be a very good female to land him. Good for you.” Breeze laughed. Her gaze suddenly landed on Brawn and her face lit up with pure joy.

  “Do not forget that you are supposed to pick me up at six. I will wear something sexy and easy for you to remove when we go to my place after dinner and dancing.” Breeze winked at him before strolling away.

  Becca felt her heart break. Knowing Brawn had a date with that attractive, tall Species woman tore at her. He had told her he didn’t do humans and they were too fragile for him. She remembered the conversation vividly once again. He liked his women to be New Species and Becca could understand why after seeing a few of them.

  The woman he had a date with stood over six feet tall, was beautiful with her strong facial features and muscular body. Breeze also didn’t have a problem making it clear that she planned to have sex with Brawn later. And she had a lot in common with him. Brawn wouldn’t have to hold himself in check during sex either. It hurt Becca to realize all of those things and she hated feeling the stabbing pain of jealousy. At that second she really hated Brawn too.

  She stepped frantically into the elevator and refused to look anywhere but at the floor. Brawn stepped inside.

  “Becca?”

  She clenched her teeth. “Shut up, don’t say a word, or you can get the hell out.”

  The doors closed her inside with Tiger and Brawn, one of them must have hit a button and it began to rise. Her stomach churned but it wasn’t from hunger anymore. Tiger’s hand on her arm squeezed gently to draw her attention and she made the mistake of looking up at his face. She saw pity reflected in his pretty eyes and she dropped her head. It made the situation even worse.

  “We’re here.” Tiger sounded relieved as the elevator stopped and the door opened. He used the card key to one of the rooms and allowed her to enter first. “Your food has been delivered and from the smell, they sent you a lot of choices.”

  Becca pointedly ignored Brawn but was aware of him behind her. She swept a glance around the nice living room, spotted the cart with silver dishes and hunger gripped her hard. She walked to the three covered platters and noticed the second shelf contained juices, sodas and milk, giving her a large beverage selection.

  Her hand shook as she lifted the platter covers and her stomach rumbled when the smell hit her. She almost dropped the lids to the floor, barely managed to keep them from falling off the edge where she rested them and grabbed for the one with the big steak. She groaned, lifted it and turned to the coffee table a few feet away.

  Tiger handed her silverware when she just lowered to her knees and placed the food on the table. Her hands shook worse as she unwrapped the napkin to get to the fork and knife. She didn’t look at her guests, didn’t care what they thought, since she needed to eat.

  She sawed frantically at the meat, got a bite and shoved it into her mouth. The taste exploded on her tongue and she groaned. Thirst hit next after she swallowed and she turned, grabbed one of the mini cartons of milk and yanked it open. She drank, barely avoided spilling it down the sides of her mouth and set it down hard to grab for the silverware again. Her stomach rumbled and hunger gripped her as if she hadn’t eaten for a week.

  “Rebecca?”

  Trisha’s voice startled her enough to cause her to stop shoving food in to her mouth and turn her head. “It’s Becca, and I thought you were staying at the medical place.”


  The woman held up a bottle of pills. “I forgot to give you prenatal vitamins.” Trisha frowned, moving closer and Slade followed behind her. “When is the last time you ate? You’re shaking.”

  “I’m always hungry. I had a snack early this morning, ran out of milk and ran to the store before breakfast. I got held up on the way to town and then your guy was waiting at my cabin.” She finished the milk and reached for the juice, opened the top and drank deeply.

  “You weren’t that pale or shaky,” Slade rumbled. “She doesn’t look good.”

  “I had you looking out for me,” Trisha answered softly. “Becca? You need to eat every few hours. Your body is exhausted from the pregnancy and you need to consume more food than normal. Have you been eating red meat? You need a lot of that.”

  “Yes.” Becca stabbed another bite of steak, chewed and swallowed it and some of the pain in her stomach eased. She could enjoy the food more now instead of just shoveling it down. She grabbed a soda and popped the top. She lifted and drank half of it before she set it down. “Is the thirstiness normal too? I’m always thirsty.”

  No one said a word. Becca looked up to find Trisha frowning. “No.”

  “It’s not normal? I just thought it was part of pregnancy.”

  “It probably is but I’m going to need to run some tests on you, Becca.”

  Alarm struck Becca. “What could it be?”

  “I don’t know but the baby is fine. You saw him yourself and listened to his strong heartbeat. You just may be doing too much. We aren’t designed to have twenty-week pregnancies and it’s really a strain on our bodies. You have to rest and eat more.”

  Becca nodded. “Okay.”

  She finished the steak and ignored the baked potato. She stood and took the prime rib dinner next. She sank back to the floor and dug in, cut up her meat and ate it slowly.

  “Do you usually eat this much at once?” Trisha moved closer.

  Becca swallowed and eyed Trisha. “Isn’t this normal? Pregnant women eat a lot. I bought a baby book. I usually eat about nine times a day.”

  “This much each meal?”

  “No. I missed breakfast and lunch.”

  “What is wrong?” Brawn’s voice was soft.

  “Maybe nothing.” Trisha shrugged. “We’ll watch her and see how she does.”

  Becca finished the soda while she ate. She opened a second one, wished she had more milk, but wasn’t about to ask someone to order some. The room was silent. Becca finally stopped focusing on her food to turn her head. Four people watched her every move and it made her angry.

  “You can leave if you all are going to just stand there staring at me. I’m sorry if my table manners aren’t up to par but you’re making me uncomfortable.” She glanced around the room. “There’s no dining room table and I’m not going to sit on the couch and bend until I’m uncomfortable to reach over here.”

  “We’re just worried,” Trisha explained. “That’s all. You’ve been without medical care.”

  “Maybe she has an illness,” Slade guessed.

  “I’m as healthy as a horse.” Becca knew he probably meant well but she didn’t like the implication. “I’ve always gone to doctors regularly and I’d know if I were sick. I’m usually fine as long as I eat regularly and drink plenty of fluids.”

  “There’s one major difference between you and her, Trisha,” Tiger said. “Slade took care of you. He made sure you rested and ate regularly. We should assign her a female to do the same.”

  Trisha nodded. “I agree. We’ll see if that helps. I’m still going to run tests to make sure everything is okay. I checked the baby but I’m going to run a blood screen on her.” She walked to the phone. “I’m calling Doctor Harris to bring me a bag and I’m going to draw some blood immediately. We’ll need to test for gestational diabetes tomorrow morning. We have no idea how that would affect a woman’s body with a Species baby on board.”

  “I think you are overreacting.” Becca hoped she was right. “I’ll feel fine once I eat and take a nap. I just went too long between meals.”

  “Do not assign her a female to care for her. I will do it myself.”

  Becca’s spine stiffened at hearing that familiar voice. She refused to look at Brawn. “The hell you will. Don’t you have a hot date to get ready for?”

  The room was unnaturally silent. Trisha broke it finally.

  “Date?” She whispered but Becca heard.

  She lost her appetite, gripped the soda and struggled to her feet. “I’m going to go lie down. Feel free to come in to take blood, Trisha.” She walked toward the hallway and was proud she refused to even glance at Brawn.

  “Becca,” he growled.

  She froze. “Just go away and stay there.” Becca was proud of herself for not letting her anger at him sound in her voice. She was almost to the bedroom door when she heard Tiger speak.

  “You should leave, Brawn. The female doesn’t want you here.”

  Becca closed the bedroom and stared at her new home. The bed was big, the room large too, but she couldn’t take in any more details as tears blinded her. Damn it. Brawn had a date and it hurt so bad she wanted to scream. Instead she kicked off her shoes and sank onto the big, soft mattress. Her fingers gripped a pillow and shoved it under her head. It caught her tears.

  Brawn tried to follow Becca but Tiger jumped in his way and spread his arms. “Don’t. Be smart.”

  “Move.”

  “She wants you to go.” Anger glinted in Tiger’s eyes. “And I agree. That was horrendous.”

  “What happened?” Trisha stepped between them, hoping to prevent a fight and glanced at each of them. “What date?”

  “Lover boy over there has a date with Breeze. We ran into her on our way up here and she mentioned she’d wear something sexy that he could easily remove from her body to share sex.” Tiger growled. “I could smell the human’s pain.”

  “I wasn’t going to share sex with Breeze. I agreed to take her dancing and share a meal.” Brawn’s body tensed. “Move or I’ll throw you. I’m going to tell Becca the truth.”

  Trisha faced him. “How many women have you had since Becca?”

  He lowered his gaze. “None.”

  She relaxed. “Good. That’s going to help some when you tell her that but right now you can’t go back there. Did you see how pale she was? How shaky? She needs rest, not to argue with you.”

  “I need to tell her that there isn’t anything between Breeze and me but friendship.”

  Trisha put her hands on her hips, refused to budge and lifted her eyebrows. “Let me play devil’s advocate here. She’s going to ask you if you’ve ever had sex with Breeze. Have you?”

  “Yes.”

  She winced. “Nope. You aren’t going back there right now. Let her get some sleep. Right now she’s fragile and sick. She is going to be more upset when she finds out there used to be something between you and Breeze.” She glanced at Slade. “Tell him.”

  “Human females get jealous.” Slade grinned. “It is cute.”

  Trisha lifted her hand and extended her middle finger. “It’s not.” She stared up at Brawn. “You want to do what is best for her and the baby, right?”

  “I want to go to her.”

  “She needs rest right now more than anything else. She needs time to adjust to being here. We forced her to come and you blew it big-time when you tried to claim her. Sometimes you guys are so damn dense. You don’t come at a woman like a bull, just charging your way in and demand to take over her life. Don’t be so aggressive. It’s called finesse. You should leave and go look that word up if you don’t know the definition. Look up patience too.”

  Brawn’s gaze lifted and he stared toward the hallway. “She was hurt. I need to soothe her and assure her that I won’t be taking Breeze or any other female anywhere.”

  Trisha patted his chest. “Hey, I’ll handle that, okay? I’m going to be here for a bit and I don’t snarl or roar when I lose my cool.”

  “No
. You just yell.”

  She shot Slade a grin. “You stay out of this.”

  He lifted his hands. “Easy, Doc. I’m just saying.”

  Brawn lifted a hand and ran it through his hair. “What do I do to make her accept me?”

  “Give her time.” Tiger sighed. “I even know the answer to that. What happened to never touching a human?”

  Brawn glared at him.

  “Sorry.” Tiger shrugged. “I’m just still in shock. This is why I’m never getting involved with one. They are too emotional and react strangely. One of our females would have punched you in the face if you hurt her. I understand the direct approach and appreciate it.”

  “She’s emotional and probably feeling insecure.” Trisha glanced at Slade. “I’d be devastated if you’d made a date with a woman after we’d gotten together. Being pregnant only makes it worse. You remember how big and horrible I felt. I was a waddling mess with bloated ankles.”

  He closed the distance between them. “You are always sexy and when you were swollen with our baby, it made me want you even more.” He gripped her hips and pulled her against him. “I’m addicted to you.” He growled.

  She grinned. “Don’t do that. It’s been a few hours since I nursed Forest and my breasts already ache. You’ll make me leak.”

  He glanced down at her breasts and his chest rumbled. “If he is not hungry, I will tend to them.” His tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip. “I love your milk.”

  “Too much information,” Tiger said and chuckled. “But I like warm milk too.”

  Slade glared at him.

  “In a glass,” Tiger amended quickly, his smile fading. “I wasn’t trying to angle for some of her breast milk.”

  Slade suddenly grinned. “Her milk is much better than anything in a glass.”

  Tiger dropped his gaze. “I bet it is. It smells good. Every time I’m near your mate I crave milk and cookies.”

  “That’s all you better want,” Slade growled.

  Trisha shoved away from Slade. “I’m starting to blush. Let me call Harris and get him to send a kit to me.” She stared at Brawn. “Give her time. You both need some space right now to let things sink in.”