Free New Species 03 Valiant by Laurann Dohner Page B

house, approached the gate
    and stopped. He glared at his friend. “Is there a reason
    you’re bellowing at me at two in the morning? I was
    sleeping.”
    Tiger looked grim. “We got a call a few minutes ago
    from the local sheriff. They need our help.”
    Valiant narrowed his eyes in anger. “You know
    humans aren’t my favorite. Go help them if you wish to
    do so. Why are you bothering me?”
    Tiger bit his lip. “You need to remain calm, all right?”
    Valiant’s gut tightened. Tiger would only warn him if
    whatever he had to say would make him angry. “Why?
    A re more humans planning to attack us? Do you need
    me to patrol the Wild Zone? Have they breached the
    walls? I’m not patrolling outside with the human security.
    I’ll just kill the intruders if they come here.”
    Tiger hesitated. “A human woman has been
    kidnapped from the town and there is a witness. The guy
    who saw her taken followed the truck but lost it when her
    kidnappers drove into the woods where the witness’s car
    couldn’t follow. He used a cell phone to call for help but
    it’s a small town. It took the cops a few minutes to get to
    where he’d lost them. They found the truck but not the
    woman. Four men took her and fled into the woods. The
    local law enforcement doesn’t have immediate access to
    tracking animals. They’d have to wait for daylight and it
    may be too late for her by that time. The sheriff thought
    of us. A few of our officers are heading there with me to
    help and I thought you would want to go with us.”
    Valiant hated the idea of any woman at the mercy of
    human males. They were unstable and mean. “I’m sorry
    for that female but I still don’t understand why you came
    here. You’re wasting time by talking to me if you plan to
    search for her. You should go after her instead.”
    “To make matters worse, when the sheriff and his
    deputies found the truck, they searched it, looking to
    identify the owner. They realized these guys are
    members of one of those anti-New Species extremist
    groups. They had some flyers inside the truck that
    pointed to that conclusion.” Tiger hesitated. “They took
    Tammy.”
    Shock tore through Valiant. “My Tammy?”
    Tiger nodded grimly. “Yeah. Your Tammy. I thought
    you’d want to help find her.” He paused. “I figured you’d
    still remember her scent well enough to be able to track
    her faster.”
    A roar erupted from Valiant. Rage gripped him at the
    thought of males attacking his Tammy. Hate groups
    killed humans who associated with Species. Her beautiful
    face surfaced in his mind instantly. He panted, going
    insane a little at the thought of what they’d do to her and
    he struggled to think.
    Tiger flinched. “I take it you’re coming?”
    Valiant spun around and sprinted for his home. “Let
    me get a few things,” he snarled loudly. “Do not leave
    without me. I’m going to tear them apart with my bare
    hands if they have harmed her in any way.”
    “I figured!” Tiger yelled.
    Valiant stormed back outside a few minutes later.
    Tiger noticed the shoes Valiant had donned and glanced
    at his thigh. He didn’t say a word about the wicked-
    looking knife strapped to it, but instead just climbed into
    the Jeep. Valiant jumped into the passenger seat. Tiger
    waved an arm in the air to signal the two other vehicles
    behind them to follow.
    “I’m going to kill them if they hurt her,” Valiant
    swore.
    Tiger bit his lip. “Remember, we’re not going to be
    on Reservation. Their law might have a problem with
    that but they did kidnap a woman. Keep in mind that
    their law is going to come down harshly on them when
    we capture them. I want to make sure you realize that.
    Couldn’t you just maim them a little and let them live? It
    would be bad press to return these humans in pieces to
    their law enforcement.”
    Valiant growled. “It depends on if they hurt her or
    not.”
    “That sounds fair enough to me.” Tiger punched the
    gas.
    * * * *