New Species 02 Slade (25 page)

He had brown hair, was huge with wide shoulders,

about six-foot-three, and had really dark eyes. The other

man was a brunette with dark eyes. He was nearly a

twin, body-wise, to Brass. Brass took a seat next to her

and the other man seated himself on the bench across

from them.

The ride wasn’t long until the helicopter touched

down on a helipad at a hospital. Medical staff rushed out

with a gurney and she had an instant flashback to the

night Slade had been airlifted into her life. She was in

much better shape though than he’d been.

She let them strap her to a gurney without an

argument since she was more than aware of hospital

policies. She knew doctors made the worst patients,

having treated a few, and tried to forget she was one

when the staff rushed her into an exam room. Brass and

the other man followed, keeping close.

The doctor on call was in his late thirties, attractive,

and appeared, with his golden tan, to have spent a lot of

time on a golf course. He smiled at Trisha.

“I’m Dr. Evan Tauras. What’s your name?”

“I’m Dr. Trisha Norbit.” She saw him flinch and

grinned. “I swear I’ll be good. I was in a roll-over SUV

accident a few days ago, minus a seat belt. It’s a long

story. I know I should have been wearing one and I was

right up until a minute before the crash. I rolled inside

the SUV but I wasn’t ejected. Then I was physically

assaulted yesterday by a jerk who hit me in the face a

few times. I have no back or neck pain. I’m not showing

any signs of internal injuries.” She paused. “I have no

medical allergies and no outstanding medical history

except I had my tonsils out when I was ten. I’m not on

any medications, don’t smoke, drink, or take drugs. I’ll

shut up now and let you do your job.”

The doctor nodded. “Thanks. You’re making this

easy, actually. Have you exhibited any symptoms of a

concussion?”

“Somewhat. It’s mild if I have one. I was dizzy after

the crash and again after getting my bell rung yesterday

when I was hit in the face twice. No blurry vision and no

nausea though.”

“Did they catch the guy who did that to your face?”

The doctor examined her head.

“You could say that. He’s dead.”

The doctor studied her for a second and nodded.

“You’re the woman who was on the news. I’m glad you

were found.”

He moved and opened his mouth at Trisha. She

opened hers to mimic him knowing what he wanted her

to do. He examined her for oral injures, then her face,

feeling the bruised area. Trisha flinched a little but held

still. The doctor moved lower as he and a nurse visually

examined Trisha. She was grateful they didn’t strip her

naked. Brass and the other man stood inside the doors to

the side of the exam room watching every move made

since they guarded her.

The doctor gawked openly at the two Species a few

times, looking slightly annoyed and alarmed. Trisha

understood the reasons and wanted to assure him things

were fine.

“An attempt was made on my life and they have to

be here. I’m sorry if it bothers you to have an audience.”

Dr. Evan Tauras nodded. “No problem. They are just

big.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “I’ve never seen

them in person but they look smaller on the news. They

are very physically fit.”

Trisha whispered back. “Yes. I know. They also have

exceptional hearing. Whisper ‘hi’ to them.”

The doctor jerked his head to stare at both men. Brass

winked at him and flexed his muscles. The other New

Species looked grim but waved. Trisha had to fight a

laugh as the doctor’s face blushed slightly before he

turned his attention to his nurse to rattle off a list of tests

to run. He wanted X-rays. She didn’t think she needed

them but she didn’t protest. It was his exam room, his

call, and she didn’t want to be a pain in the ass.

* * * * *

inflammatory medication for her knee, some pain pills

for her face, and some antibiotics because she had a few

open cuts. She’d considered asking for a morning-after

pill but wasn’t worried about what had happened

between her and Slade. Without medical help she was

pretty certain she couldn’t get pregnant though they

hadn’t used protection. There hadn’t been a liquor store

nearby to buy condoms and since Trisha wasn’t sexually

active she wasn’t on anything.

Brass and Harley—that was the name of the other

NSO officer—escorted her to the pharmacy to fill her

prescriptions. The helicopter picked them up five

minutes later.

No one had heard from or found Slade. Trisha dozed

off when the pain medication overwhelmed her. An hour

later they touched down at the New Species Homeland

and when Brass lifted her into his arms to carry her off

the helicopter she awoke.

“You’re safe. Just relax.”

She didn’t ask to be put down. He seemed to

effortlessly carry her the way Slade had. They were super

strong. “Thank you.”

Justice North waited at a Jeep nearby. He darted a

look at Trisha and actually flinched. Brass refused to put

her down until he sat her in the passenger seat of

Justice’s open Jeep. He and Harley climbed into the back

and Justice drove toward her home.

“I can’t begin to apologize enough for all that has

transpired, Trisha. This was purely an attack against

New Species and you were involved by association.”

“It’s not your fault. You aren’t the idiots who ran us

off the road or decided it sounded fun to try to hunt us

as though we were deer. Thank you for the helicopter

and for having Brass and Harley take such good care of

me. Is there any word on Slade yet?”

Justice shook his head. “Our teams are still out there

and they have rounded up eight more of those assho—

Men who were out there looking for you. We are

handing them over to the local authorities as soon as we

find them. We were thrilled to get authorization to send

our own teams into the area.”

Brass snorted. “They were very happy to allow us go

in instead of them.”

Justice nodded. “There was that. We were more

equipped to search a large area of woods than they were

and with a much smaller manpower force.”

“They didn’t want those crazy fanatics firing at their

asses,” Harley ground out. “They gave us jurisdiction to

go in and clean up the mess. We won’t get any credit for

it, they’ll take that, but the local police force wasn’t in

danger.”

Justice glanced at Trisha and frowned deeply as he

sniffed. He didn’t say a word but Trisha noticed when he

did again. He suddenly looked very angry when he

parked the Jeep in her driveway. She saw a Homeland

security guard standing on her porch but he wasn’t New

Species.

“Sit right there,” Justice ordered her. “I sent him

ahead of us because I knew your keys were lost to you

after the wreck. We recovered your purse and keys. We

returned what could be salvaged to your home. Your

clothes that weren’t torn or damaged have been cleaned.

What wasn’t salvageable will be replaced with our

funds.” Justice rounded the Jeep and lifted a surprised

Trisha into his arms and walked to the front door. “I was

given a full briefing of the injuries you sustained. The

doctor told you to stay off your feet for at least two

days.”

The security guard nodded at Trisha while he

opened the front door. Justice walked into the house and

gently placed Trisha on the couch. He hesitated and

turned to study Brass and Harley. The security guard

had also stepped into the house.

“Could you please give us a few minutes? I’d like to

talk to Trisha alone. She’s been through enough without

the added trauma of having to tell me what happened

with an audience of males.”

The three men left quietly and the door closed firmly

behind them. Justice moved to the loveseat where he sat

down. He looked tense. His cat-like eyes met Trisha’s.

“I smell fear, dirt, blood, and sex on you. There was

no mention in the briefing from the doctor that you were

sexually assaulted. Did one of those fanatics abuse you?

I was told your face injures are a result of one of those

assho—” He cleared his throat. “Fanatics.”

“You can call them assholes. I do.” She met Justice’s

gaze without looking away. “I wasn’t raped but it was

close. I don’t really want to talk about the specific details

but Slade got there in time. He stopped the guy before he

could really hurt me.” She paused. “He had to kill him.”

“You had sex with someone before you left here? I

wasn’t aware you were seeing anyone.”

Trisha frowned. “My sex life is none of your

business, Mr. North.”

“I meant no offense. I’m going about this wrong.

Excuse my poor wording but I’m trying to figure out if

you are lying about the rape. You work and you don’t

leave Homeland. I am aware of everyone’s comings and

goings inside these walls. You had sex with someone

because I am getting scents off you. Of course I smell

Slade and there are two human males. You also now

carry both Brass’ and my scent as well but they are faint

because we both carried you. I know Smiley touched you

to help you down the side of a hill.”

“How do you distinguish between human and New

Species so well?”

He watched her closely. “New Species… It’s hard to

explain. I just can tell the difference. One male’s scent is

familiar. I just want to know the truth if you were

sexually abused.”

“I wasn’t. The familiar scent you might be picking up

is probably the driver of the SUV, Bart. I don’t know his

last name. He was injured in the roll over and I touched

him quite a bit to check him for injures. He’s dead, right?

Slade and I heard three gunshots after Bart refused to

leave the scene where we crashed. He thought those men

wouldn’t hurt him because he was human. We tried to

tell him they would kill him but he refused to listen to

us. We had no choice but to leave him behind.”

“He’s dead.” Justice nodded. “He was shot in the

groin, stomach, and head after being tied up and

tortured. We assume they tried to gain information from

him on where you and Slade had gone. His body was

located next to the destroyed SUV. The coroner stated he

was killed soon after the crash.”

Trisha had suspected Bart would die, had been sure

of that when they’d heard the gunshots, but hearing the

words of what had been done to him leveled her inside.

His face flashed through her memory, how afraid he’d

been, and he’d just been a boy. One with a mother who

worried enough about him to want him to go to a vet to

get vaccines against animal diseases.

“Jesus,” Trisha gasped. “The groin?”

Justice hesitated. “What they did was vicious and

cruel. It’s one thing to kill a man in cold blood but

another to castrate him before death.”

Her stomach roiled just a little. “Castrate?”

“They used a sawed-off double barrel shotgun at

close range. We were told by the coroner that they must

have put it right against his groin before they pulled the

trigger. Those bastards are the animals and yet they have

a problem with us. Species would never be that

inhuman.”

Trisha stumbled to her feet. “I need a shower. I know

you have questions but I’m tired, hungry, and dirty.” She

bit her lip and flinched, forgetting how sore it was. She

met Justice’s gaze as he stood. “I’ll probably have a good

cry too. I wasn’t raped, I swear. Slade stopped my

attacker before he could. I am grateful that you care

about my well-being but my sex life is personal. I do

have a favor to ask though.”

“Anything.”

“When you hear word about Slade, I don’t care what

time it is, please have someone call to let me know. He

saved my life out there over and over again. I don’t think

I’ll rest well until I know what happened to him.”

“I am going to have Brass stay here. I will have food

brought to you and it will be waiting after your shower. I