New Species 03 Valiant (2 page)

territory. She got lost when someone screwed up the

maps and it led her here. You know Justice is having a

party and he hired caterers. She is just a terrified female

who came here to serve food. It’s not a challenge. She

can’t look away from you or leave because she’s frozen

with fear. Calm down and just back off. She can leave

once you do.”

Justice North was the appointed leader of the New

Species Organization. He’d bought up the closed-down

old resort and all the land around it for his people to live

on and turned it into a New Species enclave called

Reservation. He was also their spokesperson who did all

the television interviews. He’d hired Ted’s catering service

the television interviews. He’d hired Ted’s catering service

to host their first party at Reservation and that’s how

Tammy had ended up in the wrong place.

She swallowed, grateful her mind still worked and

knew all that information. She could at least follow the

conversation that her life might depend on. It seemed to

her that this would be her last job for Ted otherwise.

Hell, it might be my last day doing anything ever again.

“Do you hear me, Valiant? Do you know how pissed

Justice is going to be if you maul someone he hired?

We’re supposed to be throwing this dinner to make the

people living in town feel comfortable with us being here.

It’s going to really set everyone off if you attack one of

them.” The man with the deep voice sighed. “Let me

come get her. Is that all right, man? Can I come into

your yard to take her away?”

“No,” the man-beast snarled. He threw back his head

and an earsplitting roar shattered the wooded area.

Tammy moved finally but it just wasn’t in the

direction she wanted to go, which would have been

toward her work van and closer to the help that had

arrived to try to save her on the other side of the gate

she’d walked through. Her knees collapsed under her.

She hit the grass but didn’t totally fall flat. She remained

kneeling.

He had to be a lion or tiger of some sort. She

recognized the sound he’d made. He had a pretty

distinctive roar. She studied his coloring, his wide nose,

and finally those sharp teeth. Shit. He’s definitely some

kind of big-cat mix. She guessed lion. She stared up at

him and wondered if her bladder would let loose from

sheer terror. It wouldn’t surprise her in the least. It

wasn’t as if her day could get any worse.

“Remain calm,” the deep-voiced man demanded. “I

won’t come in. Talk to me, Valiant. Otherwise someone

is going to tranquilize your ass and I know how upset

that’s going to make you.”

Man-beast had a name. It wasn’t human either, or

normal, but Tammy let it sink in that it was his. What

kind of name is Valiant? She knew it meant courageous,

something she lacked at that moment. She wished

furiously that she wasn’t really there, wasn’t staring up at

her worst, never-thought-up nightmare.

Valiant jerked his focus off Tammy finally to glare at

someone behind her and to the left. “Do not shoot at

me.” The threatening tone in his voice was loud and

clear.

There was a deep sigh. “Let the female go. What’s

your deal anyway? Did she say something before she

passed through the gate? She didn’t know this is your

house and not the clubhouse. She was given the wrong

map. It looks to me as if all she did was get out of the

van and walk toward your front door before you reached

her. Did she piss you off?”

“She is here, Tiger. That is enough.” Valiant growled.

“A nd it was an accident.” Tiger tried to be logical.

“Someone on our end screwed up and it was our

mistake. We didn’t realize what had happened until she

showed up. She was the first one to arrive after the guy

who runs the catering service. This is Ted A rmstrong.

He’s been here a few times before and he realized the

map was wrong when he glanced at it. We contacted the

gate immediately but they informed me that her van had

gone through already. Now here we all are. Come on,

Valiant, you’ve terrified her enough. What did Justice say

about trying to fit in? Remember that talk? God knows, I

do. It’s not polite to scare the living shit out of humans.”

“He won’t really maul her, will he?” Ted sounded a

little high strung. That was saying a lot because her boss

always remained cool under pressure. “I mean, Jesus!

Was that a joke?”

Tiger softly cursed. “I’m sure I was kidding.” His tone

didn’t sound convincing at all to Tammy. “So what do

you say, Valiant? She can calm down a little and leave if

you’ll just back off. Would you reconsider allowing me to

come get her? It would only take a second. I’ll just rush

in there, grab her, and leap right out.”

Valiant growled again and his gaze returned to

Tammy. She swallowed. She blinked. She breathed

regularly again. She took note of all those functions that

were under her control but her limbs were still

unresponsive. The man-beast paused about six feet from

her but she appreciated that he had stopped advancing to

just stare at her. That’s progress, right? God, I hope so.

She moved her mouth and it actually opened. She

attempted to apologize for trespassing but nothing came

out. Damn it. She had always thought she’d be different

under stress. She’d always been a natural-born smartass

who had a comeback for everything. She’d gained a

reputation for being mouthy no matter how afraid she

was, under any circumstances. Obviously, I was wrong ,

she conceded. When she’d dreamed up worst-case

scenarios, none had covered man-beasts with sharp teeth

or cat-eyes who roared.

“Stay back,” Valiant threatened. He inhaled slowly,

his gaze still locked on Tammy. He took another step

toward her.

“Valiant!” Tiger, the man with the deep voice,

shouted. “Stop now. Don’t get any closer. Damn it, don’t

do this.”

Valiant snapped his head sideways to glare at

someone at whom he flashed sharp teeth and snarled

menacingly. He sounded downright evil before he

focused back on Tammy.

“Go get her,” Ted demanded. “You’re almost as big

as him. Save her.”

Tiger uttered a foul word. “I can’t. He’d kill me in a

heartbeat. He’s one of the meanest sons of bitches we

have on Reservation. It’s why he’s out here and why

Justice bought this place. There are a few of our kind

who aren’t exactly people friendly. It will make things

worse if I go inside there because he’ll be able to kill two

people instead of just one.”

“Shoot him,” a woman whispered softly, but her

voice carried.

“Can’t,” a male explained. “They haven’t gotten any

tranquilizer guns to us yet.”

“Use the guns in your holsters,” the woman ordered,

louder. “Don’t allow him to kill her. My God! Can you

imagine what this would do to public relations?”

“No one is shooting him,” Tiger ground out.

“Valiant?” He paused. “Tell me why you’re so angry with

the female. She’s a little thing. Is that it? A re you fighting

your instincts because you’re seeing her as prey? Think

hard, Valiant. This is an innocent human female. She

didn’t mean any insult to you or to invade your space.

Talk to me, damn it. Just tell me what is going on inside

your head.”

Valiant turned his head, tearing his intense gaze away

from Tammy once again. He closed his eyes and inhaled

deeply. They snapped open. He glared at someone

behind Tammy’s left shoulder. “I’m not going to kill her.”

“Thank God,” Ted said and groaned.

“You just wanted to scare her?” The relief was

evident in Tiger’s voice. “Well, you did a good job. Can

she go now?”

Valiant’s exotic gaze fixed back on Tammy as he

inhaled again. He made a low, rumbling sound. He

looked away from her to glare at Tiger. “No. She stays.

You go.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Tiger explained calmly.

“What is it, man? What’s the problem?”

Valiant growled again. He moved another step and

then another toward Tammy. She stopped breathing.

Those cat-eyes of his were back on her. He suddenly

crouched on all fours, sniffed at her again, and made a

sound she hadn’t heard before. It wasn’t a growl exactly,

more of a gruff purr, but scary. He settled on his hands

and knees in front of her.

“Oh shit,” Tiger cursed. “Valiant? Don’t do it, man.”

Valiant jerked his head up to shoot another

threatening glare in Tiger’s direction. He was close

enough for her to notice that he smelled of the outdoors

and something masculine that was really nice. She took a

breath and kept breathing since he wasn’t looking at her.

She lowered her gaze, taking him in, and decided he

was big even crouched before her. He wore jeans and a

T-shirt but no shoes. The guy had huge hands and feet.

He inched closer to her until she could have touched him

if she’d just moved her hand out toward him a few inches

but she didn’t, still frozen on her knees.

“What’s he doing now?” Ted sounded panicked again.

“Don’t ask,” Tiger ground out. “Valiant, come on,

man. What are you doing? You know better if you’re

thinking what I suspect you are. She’s a little human

thing and you don’t want to attempt this.”

Valiant blinked. “She’s in heat.”

“Oh fucking hell,” Tiger cursed.

Valiant growled.

“Son of a bitch!” Tiger cursed louder. “Ted, I told you

to make sure none of your women were ovulating. We

went over this, damn it. No wonder he’s acting crazy.”

“How was I supposed to know?” Ted sputtered. “Do

you know how many sexual harassment lawsuits I could

be hit with if I asked women who worked for me if it’s a

certain time of the month? Come on. A nd how in the hell

would anyone know anyway, Tiger? How?”

Tiger cursed again. “We’d know, Ted. I told you we

can smell them half a mile away and I told you some of

our men would react badly to it. I’m upwind from her but

he’s not. If he says she’s ovulating—and trust me, she is

—it’s a problem. No wonder he’s acting this way.” The

man paused. “Who was on duty when they let her in?”

“Smiley.” A male voice spoke softly. “He’s primate

and his sense of smell isn’t as keen. He obviously missed

her scent.”

“What does it mean if she is ovulating? Is that why

he wants to kill her?” It was the woman speaking. “Is it

like a shark going nuts if they smell blood?”

Tiger was silent for a few long seconds. “She’s not

bleeding. A s a woman you should know the difference

between menstruation and ovulation. She’s ovulating. He

doesn’t want to kill her. He wants to breed with her.”

“Thank God.” The woman actually laughed. “I

thought he would turn her into a chew toy and tear her

to pieces.”

“Marcy!” Ted yelled. “How can you laugh about this?

It’s not funny. We’re all relieved he isn’t planning on

killing her but did you hear what Tiger implied? We have

to get her out of there.”

“Is she married?” Tiger asked.

“No.” Ted hesitated. “Now wait a minute. Don’t look

relieved as if something is going to happen between

them. Get her out of there.”

Tammy stared at the New Specie’s profile. He didn’t

want to end her life. He wanted to breed with her. She

was still in shock. She let her gaze take in the huge man-

beast from head to knee and shivered. She’d been

horrible with math in high school but she knew enough

to do the mathematics of this one.

The guy seemed to be nearly two of her in sheer size

and there was no way a physical relationship would be

possible between them. A nd besides that— What in the

hell am I thinking? She wanted to scream for help again

but nothing came out of her mouth. I’m screwed! NO!

Don’t say that. Find a new saying. I’m in deep shit. Yeah.

That’s better. Don’t even think anything about screwed or

screwing, considering.

“I can’t,” Tiger explained. “He’ll protect her if one of

us tries to get close to them. Think of a really mean