New Species 01 Fury (7 page)

Ellie slowed to a fast walk for a good block when she started to tire until she reached the pond. She stopped to stretch, bent over to touch her toes, and then straightened. She saw movement from the corner of her eye. She turned, expecting to see another jogger appear but she saw no one. She frowned. She could have sworn she’d seen someone.

Ellie shook her head and dismissed it. She figured the wind moving the treetops had drawn her attention. She stretched her arms upward and twisted her body in various positions to loosen muscles. Her body ached when she jogged but she wanted to get into shape. At twenty-nine it seemed to be a good time to do it.

She smirked, knowing her ex-husband would drop from a heart attack if he got an eyeful of her now. She’d once been more than a little overweight. She had almost totally 33

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become a different person after her bitter divorce from a cheating, verbally abusive ass who believed her pathetic enough to take whatever he dished out. He’d been wrong.

She wasn’t a doormat, would never stay with someone who didn’t know how to love, and had ended the marriage despite Jeff’s protests.

She’d completely turned her life around after she’d witnessed suffering firsthand while working at the testing facility. Forty pounds lighter and free of her ex, she had a much happier outlook. She chuckled. She’d actually lost two hundred forty pounds of unwanted weight since Jeff had accounted for two hundred of them. Her final cut from her past had been escaping her parents after they’d tried to guilt her into taking Jeff back.
Hell hasn’t frozen over yet
, she thought with a smirk.

The hair on the back of her neck suddenly prickled. Her limbs froze while just her gaze darted around the park. Landscapers had planted lots of trees, turning the area into a mini forest area surrounding the water. A few park benches had been strategically placed and the buildings were located on the outer edges of the park. She could just make out the tops of them from where she stood. She studied the darkness once more, the sense of being watched growing.

Ellie reached down the front of her shirt to grip her MP3 player and pushed the

“off” button as she removed it. She listened intently but didn’t hear anything out of place. She started to turn the music back on but a soft growl made her jump. A dog? She looked over her shoulder to scan the surroundings again.

There were a few guard dogs patrolling Homeland but their handlers were always a leash away. Security guards would be in view if one of the canine units were in the vicinity. A sudden urge to return to the dorm gripped her.

Ellie took a few steps but heard another growl, closer this time. Her body tensed with alarm. She scanned the area again to search for the source while she shoved her headphones down to her neck and held her music player in a tightfisted grip. She hoped one of the dogs hadn’t gotten loose. They were large, mean animals, and well trained in defending the property. They’d treat her as if she were an intruder.

“Hello?” Her voice rose. She hoped a security guard would answer. “Is anyone there?”

Fury had been watching the women’s dorm where Ellie lived and had caught many glimpses of her through the first-floor glass windows. She worked with his women and he’d been proud when they gave the human the cold shoulder until he’d seen the sadness on Ellie’s face. It tore at him to witness her pain. He shouldn’t care but he did.

He had been stunned when he’d seen her leave the secure building alone, jogging away from safety. Didn’t she realize the danger he posed? That he’d be watching her?

Didn’t her survival instincts scream out that he’d be close?

Obviously not since he’d easily followed her and watched her slowly run into the park where the secluded area nearly begged for him to approach her. Then she stopped as if she were waiting for him. He inhaled her scent on the wind and groaned as his 34

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body reacted. He wanted to be closer to her more than his next breath and it really angered him. She was his enemy.

He snarled as he battled the beast that lurked inside him for control. His human side knew she was off limits. She’d been an informant, had helped his people. It was the reason she’d been at his testing facility, but the animal side of him wanted to draw closer to touch and to claim her. That truth startled him.

He balked at following his instincts. She had betrayed him after he’d trusted her to never do anything that would harm him. Regardless of her reasons working for Mercile, it didn’t excuse what she’d done to him, or the anger he lived with, knowing the price her actions had cost him.

He trained his males to keep their animal instincts on a tight leash and he needed to do the same, set an example, and stay in control. He had responsibilities to Species to show them life existed outside the testing facilities and that they weren’t just animals created by Mercile, who had drilled insults into their heads all their lives. Ellie was living proof, though, that he had a weakness―her.

She peered around her in the darkness, as if she could sense him. His animal howled inside his soul to go to her, to take her, and to touch her. He fought the urge but then he moved toward her regardless of his wishes. Once again he’d lost control when it came to her. He just couldn’t resist her scent, the strong desire to look into her eyes and hear her voice.

Rage boiled through his human side while his animal reveled in pure lust at the sound of her sweet, taunting voice. He battled himself once again when he inhaled her fear, wanted to protect her, but also needed to terrify her to send her as far from him as she could get.

Movement once again caught Ellie’s attention. She gasped when Fury stepped from behind a tree twenty feet away. Her entire body reacted to the sight of the tall, attractive male, and the sensation of danger radiating off him. She swallowed, her breathing increased and fear jolted through her when the shock wore off. She hadn’t heard a dog at all—the growl had come from him. Fury had made that scary sound.

His long silky hair cascaded down over his shoulders and chest, as free and unrestrained as he appeared to be at that moment. The black clothing he wore hugged his broad shoulders, impressive muscular arms, and outlined his trim waist. An air of danger emanated from him when his dark gaze seemed to fasten on her, swept down her entire body slowly, and a soft growl grumbled deep within his throat. His jaw clenched, the muscles tensing, apparent even in the dim light.

He took a step forward, more of a predatory motion than the way a man would move, advancing on her slowly. Her gaze lowered to his muscular thighs, outlined in his tight black pants, all the way down to his black shoes. He radiated strength and sex appeal and she swallowed hard. Her heart speeded up, her breathing increased, and her body became aware of him as a purely male being.

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No one had ever affected her the way he did. He advanced another stalking step, the fluid motion nearly seductive and she realized he dressed to blend into the darkness, as if he’d intended to hide, but had allowed her to see him by stepping into just enough light to reveal his presence to her alone.

Fury regarded her silently now, his gaze trained on her face, and as she studied him, she swore she saw a hungry look on his handsome features. His tongue darted out to wet his lower lip, the pink tip a taunt of something forbidden but tempting, and his dark eyes narrowed as if he could read her mind. She wanted to kiss him, longed to know how it would feel to have him touch her again but this time, not in anger. Of course that wouldn’t happen. He hated her.

“Oh crap,” she whispered but then spoke louder. “Hello, uh, Fury. Nice night for a jog, isn’t it?”

He said nothing but took another step closer before he stopped. Her terror built.

They were alone and he’d sworn to kill her. She couldn’t call to the guards on patrol for help—they weren’t within sight.

A low snarl passed his parted lips as he took another step in her direction. The urge to flee increased for Ellie but she held still, having read reports that the New Species were really fast. Their altered DNA, depending on what animal it had been combined with, accounted for that. Fury obviously had been mixed with canine and could certainly run her down if she fled. She wasn’t sure if she should scream, attempt to talk her way out of the frightening situation, or just hope he meant no harm. He moved closer.

“Do you know what they trained us to do in order to show us off to their investors?” His voice came out harsh, cold and scary.

She had to clear her throat, which wanted to close with fear. “Not really. Most of the files were destroyed when the testing facilities at Mercile Industries were breached.

I wasn’t allowed access to that information when I worked there.”

“Hunt,” he growled. “I excelled at that training. I was the best of the prototypes.

They taught us how to do things to sell their drugs, to show living examples of what humans could become if they bought their stupid shots and pills.” Ellie realized her future seemed questionable at that moment. Fury hated her and he spoke in a way she knew could turn deadly. She couldn’t find the right words, didn’t know how to defuse the situation. He took another step toward her.
Shit, double shit
, she thought frantically. He would reach her with just a few more steps.

“I didn’t have a choice that day,” she blurted. “I killed Jacob to protect you but if they’d known I did it, they wouldn’t have allowed me to leave. I just wanted to save you. I didn’t even mean to kill him.”

“Did you tell anyone what he did to me or how you allowed me to suffer for what you’d done?”

“No.” She shook her head. She had been too afraid to tell her handler that she’d interfered, certain he’d be angry since she’d gone against direct orders to do nothing to 36

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make anyone at Mercile suspicious. Killing a technician to protect a New Species would have definitely done that. His words sank in.
Suffered?

“Were you too ashamed of what you’d done?”

She hesitated. “You have no idea how much so. I―”

“You told the guards I killed him,” he snarled, cutting her off. “You smeared his blood on my hands. Don’t bother denying it.”

Hot tears of regret threatened to spill but she rapidly blinked them back. “I―” She swallowed. “I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t think they’d kill you or I never would have implied you’d been the one to kill Jacob. You have to bel−”

“Believe you?” His dark gaze narrowed and a dangerous sound emanated from deep within the back of his throat. “It turned you on to see me suffering, to know what kind of cruelty you would cause me.”

How does he know I was turned on?
She didn’t dare ask but she wasn’t about to lie to him, considering she owed him far too much to do that. Her lips sealed. She was unsure how to explain to him why she’d responded so strongly to him because she couldn’t justify it. Her body’s response to him as a man under those circumstances had just been wrong.

“It wasn’t because you suffered or that I planned to jab you with that needle. I had to make it look as if he’d died while trying to inject you to make the story believable.

I’m so sorry.”

“I’m surprised you aren’t attempting to lie.”

Ellie lifted her chin to meet his angry glower. “You’re right. My body did respond to being that close to you. I have no excuse. All I can do is apologize. I know it was immoral and I feel really guilty. You are…” She hesitated, about to tell him how attractive she found him. “You were naked and I couldn’t help but notice despite the horrific circumstances. I’m sorry.”

Fury’s jaw tensed. She could see his features clearly now that only a few feet separated them. “You were working for Mercile Industries. Did you drag your feet on finding incriminating evidence? Did you enjoy what that technician did to me?” He snarled at her, flashed sharp teeth, and inched closer. “Did it turn you on that he harmed me and planned to rape me? Did you earn the trust of other Species males when you walked into their cells until they didn’t growl at you either? Did you lure them into a sense of being nonthreatening? Did you allow them to be blamed for things you did?” His nostril’s flared and he growled deep in his chest. “Who else did you betray?”

Ellie reeled back at his vicious accusations, as if he’d physically struck her. “No!

You were the only one I ever had to do that to. I tried to find enough proof for a judge to issue a warrant. How dare you! I collected samples, wrote reports, but I wasn’t given access to any of the older files that showed anything that would prove you existed down there. Every day they strip-searched us before we were allowed to leave. I couldn’t smuggle in a camera to prove what the hell they were doing to any of you or 37

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that you weren’t just a rumor. You have no idea how terrifying it was for me to go through the main door to that elevator every single shift. I always wondered if I’d ever see daylight again if they figured out I spied for the police. They would have killed me.

The other employees talked and warned me what happened if Mercile even suspected anyone would turn against them. They cautioned that I’d just disappear and my body would never be found.”

“If they stripped you then how did you smuggle evidence out?” Heat bloomed on her cheeks. “You really want to know?”

“I do.” He snarled.

“I swallowed it.”

His features blanked for a second and then he frowned. “I don’t understand.”

“I had to make friends with a few of the doctors and that took time. I didn’t have access to anything vital but they did. I carefully gained their trust, became very close to a doctor who looked similar to me, and I switched lab coats with her during lunch. I stole her keycard, started wearing my hair the way she did, I tucked my head when I passed the security cameras and when I marched into her office. I’d seen her punch in her code a few times and remembered it to gain access to her office. I had a tiny computer data drive my handler had given me to copy files. I swallowed it. So many things could have gone wrong.”