Free New Species 05 Brawn by Laurann Dohner Page A

they drug
you too?”
    “No. I think they are from Mercile.” She whispered that
part. “I overhead enough to know they are working for some woman doctor and
they know your number. That’s classified, right?”
    “My number?”
    “358.”
    “That’s not me.”
    She stared at the Species pacing. “Maybe it’s him.”
    Brawn glanced at the other male before staring at Becca. “I
can smell drugs heavily in the room and suspect he’s drugged. I’ve smelled those
chemicals before and he’s mentally gone if it’s coming from him. Has he talked
to you at all?”
    “No. He growled a bit but no actual words. I tried to ask
him how long he’s been here but he just began pacing again. He’s done that
since we came in.”
    “How long have I been out?”
    “About four hours, best guess, but it could have been
longer. I saw sunlight before they brought us down here. We were in that van
for at least three and a half hours because that’s how long it would have been
until the sun rose when we were attacked. They drove us here in a commercial
van with a home security logo on it but I’m pretty sure they don’t work for
that company. I got a good enough look at it to see it was one of those magnet
signs affixed to it and a real company would have them painted.”
    “We are in serious trouble.”
    “You think?” She gaped at him a little. “What I can’t figure
out is why they wanted us alive. Wouldn’t Mercile employees want you dead? You
guys sue the shit out of the company and my dad said that they are tracking
down anyone who worked at that company to show the victims pictures to try to
identify the ones who abused your people.”
    He sniffed the air. “Hope my memory is wrong.”
    “What does that mean?”
    He hesitated. “I smell the drug they used on us for breeding
experiments.”
    Her knees weakened. “What does that mean?”
    “They developed a highly stimulating drug to force us to
desire sex and dosed us when we refused to mount our women sometimes when they
were trying to figure out why we weren’t able to get our females to conceive.
The room reeks of it and that is very bad.”
    No shit . “I don’t see any of your women. There’s the
guy sleeping on the cot and him.” She glanced at the pacer who hadn’t slowed
inside his cell.
    “I smell another Species male, at least twelve different
human males and two human females. You are one of them.”
    That was seriously disturbing. Becca knew the doctor the
mercenaries worked for was a woman so that just left her on the wrong side of
the cage bars. The blood drained from her face at the implications.
    “You don’t think they brought me here to…you know.” She
slowly mouthed the next words she hoped he’d understand after lifting her hands
to cover her profile from the cameras. “They think I’m your girlfriend.”
    Brawn spun away with a snarl, obviously able to read lips.
He walked to the cage door, studied it and gave it a kick with his bare foot.
Becca winced, knew that had to hurt and the metal didn’t budge. He lifted his
leg, rubbed his toes and snarled again. He dropped the leg, spun and stormed
back to the corner closest to her.
    “I will do everything I can to protect you,” he swore
softly. “You need to trust me.”
    “I do.” She meant it. She hadn’t known him for long but he
was a good guy. “We’ll be found.” She didn’t want to tell him about the dead
body or how her father would use it to tear into the man’s past, too afraid the
cameras would pick up her words. She didn’t want these assholes to be warned.
“Nothing will stop them.”
    He nodded. “Watch what you say.”
    That bit of advice was useless since she already had
surmised that. Brawn stared at her and took deep breaths. “I was not drugged
with the breeding drug. This is good news.”
    The double doors the men had left through suddenly were
thrown open. The sound echoed in the big room and Becca gaped at the sight of
four men pushing a gurney