New Species 01 Fury (43 page)

“Starting with the food,” Trisha agreed.

“You think it’s possible?” Justice looked wary.

“I’m thinking about what I could do if I wanted to sabotage your people, Justice.

Contaminating the food would drive everyone crazy,” Ted stated grimly.

“Wouldn’t it affect humans too?” Justice didn’t look convinced.

Ted shrugged. “Sure but I bet they don’t care. They are being prosecuted for what they did to you and their only defense is claiming you aren’t human. What would hurt New Species more than making at least a good portion of you go nuts enough to turn it into a bloodbath, and the press running with that story?” 228

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“We don’t even know if the plot is that big,” Justice growled. “I don’t want to panic anyone.”

“Right,” Ted snapped. “I’m going to start looking for something that will counteract Freltridontomez. That way if they use it again we can use darts to deliver an antidote to anyone affected before someone gets hurt. That is the safest thing to do. As I said before, if we sedated them while they are in a full-blown, drug-induced rage it would most likely kill them. They could have a stroke or a heart attack.” Trisha stood. “Do you think we can find something for it? We’ll have to work quickly, Ted. We also should order random testing on the water and food shipped in.”

“They had some research notes included with the file we got about Freltridontomez. They may have been close to finding a drug to counteract it.” Ted collected his bag. “Just because we don’t have the end result on paper doesn’t mean it’s not right there.”

“Let’s go.” Trisha grabbed hers. On her way out she stopped to smile at Ellie.

“When Fury wakes up he might have a headache and be sore but he should be fine. If not, give us a call. We’ll be at the medical center.”

“Wow,” Ellie muttered as the couple left. She arched her eyebrows at Justice. “I think my head just spun. Are they like that all the time?” He nodded. “Ted is what you’d call paranoid but he’s the best at what he does. I don’t think it is a big-scale plot against us. Eat your meals without fear, Ellie. If they were going to attack our food or water they wouldn’t have had to send in a woman to poison Fury with her needles. They would have already attacked us that way.”

“Do you think she came from one of the hate groups or Mercile?”

“Mercile makes more sense to me. Two birds with one stone.”

“Two birds?”

His eyebrow arched. “You brought them down, Ellie. What better revenge than to make the man you risked your life to save become the man who caused your death?

Fury could have killed you. The bad publicity would have crushed us in the press.

Ted’s right. The only defense they have for their crimes is convincing people we aren’t human and therefore it’s impossible to abuse us. They’re facing criminal charges but we’re suing them for money as well.”

She let it sink in. “My vote is on Mercile too.” She checked on Fury. He slept peacefully.

“I need to make some phone calls, Ellie. I want to check on what this Beatrice Thorton is saying. I’ll be in the living room if you need anything.”

“You don’t have to stay. Thank you for everything today, by the way. Well, except for having Tiger toss me inside a car trunk and kidnap me.” He winced. “I’ll be in the other room. We need to stay close to make sure Fury is really fine when he wakes.” Justice jerked his head at his men to follow him out.

Breeze stood. “I’m going home.”

229

Laurann Dohner

Ellie gave Breeze a sincere look to convey her gratitude. “You’re really a good friend to have come today and I won’t forget it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

“I’ll see you when you come back to work. Take a few days. We’re good at the dorm. Don’t worry about us.”

“Thanks.”

Ellie watched everyone leave the bedroom. She was alone with Fury again. She turned on her side and curled against his warm body.

“I love you,” she whispered. She just held him, knowing one of them could have died. It scared the hell out of her.

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Ellie wanted to go down to the detention center and punch Beatrice Thorton, otherwise known as Nurse Bitch, Belinda Thomas. Tiger and Slade had interrogated the woman until she’d broken and confessed everything. Someone from Mercile Industries had hired her to sabotage the New Species for the bad publicity it would earn. They thought making Fury resemble an unfit animal would turn public opinion in their favor.

Fury had recovered fully but he’d been really upset that he’d lost control the way he had. The blame fell strictly on Nurse Bitch’s shoulders for having no morals. The NSO turned the woman over to the authorities to be prosecuted for a long list of crimes but it barely consoled Ellie or Fury.

That bitch had nearly destroyed their lives. She’d picked Fury because he’d been easily accessible after the shooting. She’d just had to be hired to do homecare and bribe a few people on the list to refuse to work for New Species.

Beatrice Thorton had admitted to being curious about what it would be like to have sex with Fury. It was why she’d hit on him and had made Ellie’s life miserable. When she finally realized Fury would have nothing to do with her she’d decided to implement her plan while Ellie took a shower so he’d hopefully go insane and kill the woman he loved. It was a vicious scheme and it could have worked in the woman’s favor but she hadn’t counted on how deeply Fury loved Ellie.

Justice stared at Ellie and Fury grimly. “I swear, she’s going to get some serious time. They promised me that she would be made an example of. We have to totally change our security protocols now. We’ve decided to start schooling some of our people in nursing. That way if we need help in the future we aren’t totally dependent on humans for nursing care.”

Fury shifted in his seat and glanced around Justice’s office. “Did she say if she knew if Mercile would send others?”

Justice’s shoulders slumped. “We are sure they will try to infiltrate us again. At least it wasn’t as large of an attack as our doctors feared. Our food supply and water were never tampered with. We just have to be very careful of full humans.” He gave Ellie an apologetic look. “No offense. I would trust you with my life. It’s just strangers we have to be careful with. From now on we do full background checks on any humans who are allowed through the gates.”

“We need to rely more on ourselves,” Fury concluded. “We have a lot of full humans working here. If Mercile wants to get ugly they could start attempting to bribe them into allowing someone to get past security to cause us harm.” 231

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“I’ll leave you in charge of that.” Justice appeared tired. “It’s always going to be a battle for us, my friend. There are always going to be enemies we will have to deal with.

Hopefully Mercile will be completely destroyed by the lawsuits and bad publicity. One day I hope they no longer exist. Then all we’ll be left to deal with are the humans who think we’re an abomination against humanity.”

Fury sighed. “Don’t forget the arrested Mercile employees are facing a lot of years in prison. I’m sure their families and friends feel rage toward us. There’s also the ones who are still out there who avoided arrest. We need to be wary of them. Our people can identify them and this incident has made me realize the danger we pose to them. That woman could have gone after our women who knew what she looked like and could have picked her from a lineup. We were lucky she didn’t attack them too.”

“That’s just another fear we’ll struggle with.” Justice ran his fingers through his hair.

Ellie glanced at her watch. “Hey, sorry to leave but I have to get to work. The women are expecting me. We’re throwing a birthday party and I can’t be late.” Fury slowly grinned. “A birthday party?”

Ellie stood and leaned over to cup his face in her hands. “Yes. We have presents, a cake, decorations, and everything. It will be fun.” Fury kissed her. Ellie grinned, backed away, and waved to both men. “Nice seeing you, Justice. See you at home later, Fury.”

“Yes, you will,” he growled. “You and I have plans now that I have been deemed completely healed.”

Heat rushed to Ellie’s cheeks when Justice laughed.
Did anyone not know that Fury
was cleared for sex this morning? Probably not.
She walked out of the building to settle into her golf cart. She’d missed it. She fished out her key and drove to the women’s dorm.

Inside everyone was aflutter with excitement. They were throwing a birthday party for one of the women, getting it ready while she took her class at the New Species school. Ellie took charge. The women had made sure they were home to yell at the birthday girl when she entered the library.

The poor stunned woman jumped a good two feet, looked very confused, but grinned when she realized what they’d done for her. It was the happiest Ellie had ever seen the woman, making it worth every ounce of trouble it had been to plan the surprise party.

By six o’clock Ellie unlocked the front door to her and Fury’s house. She’d beat him home and ran for the kitchen. She’d hidden sandwiches at the bottom of the fridge earlier that morning after Fury had left to go to a security meeting. She pulled them out, grabbed a few sodas, a bag of chips from the pantry cupboard, and hurried to the bedroom.

Ten minutes later the front door slammed. Ellie jumped off the bed and darted to the closet. She laughed as she hid inside and waited. Fury always looked for her the 232

Fury

second he entered the house. She knew he’d sniff her out pretty quickly and he’d be amused that she’d tried to hide. She heard him coming.

Ellie tried not to laugh as the closet door jerked open. Fury frowned until his gaze slowly raked down her naked body. She grinned.

“It took you long enough to find me.”

“Why are you hiding?”

Ellie took a step toward him. “I thought I should at least make you work for it a little.”

“Work for what?” His focus stayed on her bare breasts.

“Me.” She gripped the front of his uniform. “I thought about waiting on the bed but that was just too easy.”

Fury helped her remove his vest and shirt and kicked off his shoes. “I like easy.” She chuckled. “Did you see the picnic I set out? I thought we could get naked, have dinner together, and then maybe watch some TV. That sounds like a great way to spend our evening,” she teased.

Fury’s lips twitched. “That’s fine.” He backed out of her range to prevent her from touching him. He unfastened his pants and shoved them down with his briefs. The socks were removed last. Totally naked and aroused, he grinned broadly at her.

“Let’s eat.” He moved toward the bed.

Ellie followed him. She sat down on the other side of the mattress cross-legged, facing him, flashing her pussy. Fury’s dark gaze locked on her lap. He took some long, deep breaths and growled low in the back of his throat.

“What was that, Fury? I didn’t quite understand what you said.” Ellie allowed her amusement to show in her eyes when he looked up.

“Nothing.” He grinned. “This looks really good. I love roast beef.”

“I tried to put everything out on the bed that you love.” Ellie licked her lips, letting her tongue slowly trace first the lower seam, and then the top.

Fury stared at her mouth. He bit into the sandwich, chewed and swallowed it.

“Screw this,” he growled and tossed the sandwich aside as he lunged at her.

Ellie hit the bed on her back, laughing as Fury knocked her over and pinned her under him. “The only thing I want to really eat is you.”

“What about the game?”

He nuzzled her neck and brushed his lips on her shoulder. “The only thing I am interested in watching is you.” He cupped her breast, rubbing his thumb over her nipple. “I am fully healed and plan on doing everything I want to you.”

“Did you lock the front door?”

“Locked and bolted. I still keep the handgun inside the nightstand drawer too. I’m going to shoot anyone who comes into this bedroom.” 233

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Ellie raked her fingernails down his back. Fury arched against her body and growled. “Easy. Don’t excite me too much. It wouldn’t take much for me to lose control.

I want this to be good for you too.”

“Do you trust me?”

Fury didn’t hesitate. “With my life.”

“Can I be on top?”

Surprise crossed Fury’s features but lines slowly appeared at the corner of his eyes as he stared at her. “You want to be on top? Am I crushing you with my weight?” He lifted his chest away from hers to put a few inches of space between them.

She pulled him back down. “You’re never too heavy. I love your skin touching mine and I love being under you. I just want to straddle you.” Her gaze studied him intently. “Breeze mentioned your males won’t allow women on top but I want to be.

Will you at least try it for me?”

Fury’s jaw clenched. “You want me to submit to you?” She smiled. “No. I want you to trust me and let me be on top. I think you’ll enjoy it.”

He rolled them suddenly until she straddled him but he didn’t look happy about doing it. “I love you. If it is important to you then I will submit. I can prove that I’d do anything for you, even this.”

Ellie’s smile fell. He didn’t look happy or turned on. He actually looked kind of miserable.
Damn.
She hadn’t meant to upset him or have him react badly. She straightened, straddling his stomach. She bit her lip, tempted to have him roll her back under him, but instead she carefully examined his stretched-out body under hers.

Ellie scooted back over his straining erection, happy to see it didn’t turn him off in that department, and inched down to sit on his thighs. She leaned forward and licked one of his nipples, tugging the firm nub into her mouth, arching her stomach up enough to put a little space between them when his cock dug into her belly.

Fury tensed under her and growled. Ellie used her teeth to play with his nipple and sucked. Fury’s hands gripped her hips firmly but he didn’t move. She couldn’t miss the way his cock hardened even more against her stomach.