New Species 02 Slade (46 page)

don’t allow her do that to me sometimes. It’s nice.”

Valiant sighed deeply. “I guess I should get used to

being touched since I want a mate.” He opened his arms.

“Go ahead.” He looked completely disgusted.

Slade suffered another fit of laugher but Trisha

ignored him. She had to stretch up on tiptoe to put her

arms around the huge man. Valiant held still while

Trisha gave him a quick squeeze around his waist before

she stepped back.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“No. You smell nice.” Valiant shrugged. “It wasn’t

bad.”

“Thank you.” She glanced at the wrapped hunk of

meat before flashing her gaze to Slade. “Why don’t we

have a barbeque? You and Brass can cut it up, freeze

what we don’t use, and we’ll have some of that for

dinner.”

Slade smiled at the big lion-like man. “That sounds

great. Thank you, Valiant. Do you want to stay for

dinner?”

Valiant shook his head. “I have women to meet and a

mate to find.” He fled the house.

Trisha pointed at the plastic that blood stained from

the inside and whispered in case Valiant remained

within hearing range. “What is it?”

“Hell if I know.” Slade shrugged.

“I’m guessing deer,” Brass whispered. “There are a

lot of them out by his place. Deer steaks do sound

good.” He stepped closer to the table. “Let’s get this into

the kitchen.”

“Use the back porch, please,” Trisha instantly

corrected. “That way you can hose the deck off after you

cut it up.”

“Yeah.” Slade grinned. “That way you can hose off

the deck once you cut it up, Brass.”

“You’re helping,” Brass growled at Slade. “I’m not a

butcher.”

“Neither am I.”

“Well, don’t look at me.” Trisha frowned when both

men turned to stare at her.

“You are a doctor and should be good at cutting

things apart.” Slade flashed a hopeful grin.

“No way. Nu-uh. I’d be so sick. I’m the pregnant one,

remember? I feel morning sickness coming on just at the

thought of doing that.” She put her hands over her

stomach and batted her eyelashes at Slade. “You are the

big predator, after all. Isn’t that what you always tell me?

So go… hunt up a knife and get busy.”

“So bossy,” he groaned.

Trisha laughed. “Want to watch me storm away?”

Brass chuckled. “You look at her ass and I’ll find

some sharp knives and freezer storage bags.”

Trisha turned, presented her backside to Slade, and

smiled at him over her shoulder. “Call me when you’re

done. I’m going to go get naked and take a bath. Thank

you!”

“Tease.”

Trisha strolled toward the stairs. “You got that

straight. Call me when dinner is ready. You’re the best.”

“Keep walking,” Slade growled. “Shake it a little,

sweet thing.”

Trisha walked into the master bedroom still feeling

highly amused. Some of her clothes had been returned to

her that morning. Someone had salvaged them from the

damaged cabin. She pulled out a summer dress and

underthings from the dresser then moved into the

bathroom.

She studied her naked body in the mirror, seeing that

she’d already starting showing her pregnancy despite the

early stage of it. It worried her a little, no one knew what

to really expect, and it could be dangerous. She had

already experienced morning sickness, which marked

the pregnancy as odd right from the beginning.

Slade had sneaked her into the new medical facility

earlier that morning before dawn where they had an

ultrasound machine. The facility wasn’t up and running

yet but the equipment had arrived. The baby measured

bigger than normal. It made her wonder how large a

New Species baby would be at birth. The baby seemed to

be developing at an accelerated rate as well. The way

Slade had grinned at the sight of his child had warmed

her heart. She had no doubt he wanted the baby as much

as she did.

Slade was mixed with canine and their pregnancy

cycles were far shorter than a human’s. She worried that

the baby might grow and develop faster with Slade’s

altered DNA. She’d have to keep a very close eye on the

baby’s development to figure it out and try to estimate a

due date. She’d talked to Justice by phone and asked if

he would order more medical equipment to do just that.

He’d readily agreed to get whatever she wanted.

“What’s that look for?”

Slade entered the bathroom and walked up behind

her. His hands slid around her waist to gently cup her

slightly rounded belly. Their gazes met in the mirror

while his hands caressed her stomach. He kissed the top

of her head.

“What look?” She leaned back against him.

“You’re worried.”

She smiled. “I am a little. I don’t want anything to

happen to our baby or anything to go wrong.”

“You’re alarmed because he’s bigger than he should

be and you’re advancing in your pregnancy stages faster

than normal.”

She nodded. They’d had this conversation when

she’d noted her discoveries at the clinic. “Yes. Stop

calling the baby a ‘he’. What if it’s a girl? You’ll give her

a complex. I couldn’t get a clear picture of the sex yet.”

He laughed. “I will not give our baby a complex.

You just get annoyed when I say we’re having a boy. It’s

a shame his legs were up and together so you couldn’t

get a view of his sex.”

“It should be too early to tell but the baby is

measuring at almost a twelve-week gestation. I don’t

really care what sex it is as long as our baby is healthy.”

“Me neither.” Slade hugged her against his chest a

little tighter. “It’s going to be fine, sweet thing. You’re an

amazing doctor and Justice will get you anything you

request. He’s looking for a trustworthy, excellent doctor

to assist you who specializes in high-risk pregnancies.

You can stay on top of this. You stated the baby looks

perfect and has a strong heartbeat despite the anomalies

with his size.”

“I know. I just worry.”

“I know that.” Slade grinned. “I could spend the next

hour up here distracting you.”

She suddenly laughed. “Aren’t you supposed to be

helping Brass cut up that meat?”

“I came up here to change clothes but I didn’t hear

the water running. Please allow me to distract you. Then

I can tell Brass you were upset and needed me.” He

winked. “He will get stuck doing all the butchering.”

Trisha wiggled and gripped his arms around her

Trisha wiggled and gripped his arms around her

waist. “Oh no. He’ll growl at me and burn my dinner. Let

go, Slade. I’m fine. I’ll take a bath and you go change

your clothes.”

He turned her inside his arms and his smile died.

“Are you really all right, Trisha? I want you to always

confide in me. I want to be here for you.”

“I’m fine. I’m going to worry but I’m also going to

keep a close watch on our baby. Sometimes I just fret a

little too much.”

“SLADE!”

Trisha grinned. “You’re being bellowed at.”

He groaned. “Please let me stay?”

She pushed at him. “Go help him.”

“But I want to kiss you all over and keep you under

me for days.”

“Tease.”

“Not if I barricade the bedroom door to prevent

Brass from coming after me.”

“I love you but I’m not going to save you from

cutting up all that meat. I’m hungry and I want deer

steaks.”

Slade’s smile died and his beautiful eyes widened.

“You love me?”

She stared at him. “You know I love you.”

“You never told me that before.”

“I haven’t? Well… ” She rose up on tiptoe and her

arms wound around his neck. “I love you, Slade. I love

you with my whole heart.”

Slade lifted her a little higher until their faces were

level. “I love you too, sweet thing. You’re everything to

me. Now we have to make love. Too bad for Brass.”

“I heard that,” Brass yelled. “Make love to her later.

Only an idiot wouldn’t know you two are madly in love

with each other so it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Get

your ass out of the bathroom and help me with this

deer.”

Trisha let her face fall onto his chest when she

lowered down his body and groaned against his shirt.

“God, I can’t wait until we can actually have a

conversation without someone overhearing it.”

Slade laughed. “I’ll build him a dog house outside

that he can sleep in.”

She grinned, lifting her head to meet his gaze.

“Promise?”

“Don’t do it,” Brass yelled. “I’m not sleeping in a dog

house.”

“It’s almost as though we already have a child, isn’t

it?” Slade groaned while he eased away from her a few

inches.

“Almost. He bellows at bad moments and he’s

keeping us from making love because he wants

attention.” She laughed. “Yeah. It’s almost as if we’re

already parents.”

“You take your bath. I’ll go deal with the deer and

Brass. We’ll eat soon.” His gaze raked down her,

allowing his passion to show. “Then I’ll get him shitfaced

drunk until he passes out and we’ll make sure he can’t

interrupt us from having lots of sex tonight.”

Trisha’s mouth opened to agree.

“Sounds like a good plan,” Brass yelled.

Trisha backed up and blew a kiss to Slade. She

turned her back on him, bent, and turned on the water.

She heard a sexy growl and turned her head to peer at

the man she loved over her shoulder. Slade stared at her

naked ass.

Trisha pointed to the door. “Out. I’ll bend over for

you later. I promise.”

“Bossy.”

“But I have a nice ass.”

“No. You have an amazing ass.”

“So do you.”

“So do I,” Brass yelled. “Now, can we cut up this

deer?”

About the Author

I’m a full time “in-house supervisor” (sounds much

better than plain ol’ housewife), mother and writer. I’m

addicted to caramel iced coffee, the occasional candy bar

(or two) and trying to get at least five hours of sleep at

night.

I love to write all kinds of stories. I think the best part

about writing is the fact that real life is always uncertain,

always tossing things at us that we have no control over,

but when your write, you can make sure there’s always a

happy ending. I love that about writing. I love it when I

sit down at my computer desk and put on my

headphones to listen to loud music to block out the

world around me, so I can create worlds in front of me.

Laurann welcomes comments from readers. You can

find her website and email address on her author bio

page at www.ellorascave.com.

Tell Us What You Think

We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our

books. You can email us at [email protected].

Also by Laurann Dohner

Cyborg Seduction 1: Burning Up Flint

Cyborg Seduction 2: Kissing Steel

Cyborg Seduction 3: Melting Iron

Cyborg Seduction 4: Touching Ice

Cyborg Seduction 5: Stealing Coal

Cyborg Seduction 6: Redeeming Zorus

Mating Heat 1: Mate Set

Mating Heat 2: His Purrfect Mate

New Species 1: Fury

Riding the Raines 1: Propositioning Mr. Raine

Riding the Raines 2: Raine on Me

Zorn Warriors 1: Ral’s Woman

Zorn Warriors 2: Kidnapping Casey

Zorn Warriors 3: Tempting Rever

Zorn Warriors 4: Berrr’s Vow

Print books by Laurann Dohner

Cyborg Seduction: Burning Up Flint

Cyborg Seduction: Kissing Steal

Zorn Warriors: Berrr’s Vow

Zorn Warriors: Loving Zorn

Zorn Warriors: Tempting Rever