It was beyond appalling to hear that the guy she worked with was capable of such monstrous atrocities but she believed Wrath. A shiver ran down her spine. She backed up to the bed and sat hard. Her legs shook a little at the thought of all the times she’d spoken to Brent, totally unaware of what a vile person she dealt with. She’d even filed complaints with their boss over his rude behavior. He could have killed her in retaliation.

“I am sorry for Vengeance’s behavior toward you. He thinks you are Bill’s female. The pain of what he witnessed with his own female and the rage at her loss has driven him a bit crazy. We haven’t found or identified the male who killed his female but Bill is so similar to that human that he’s taken this mission to his heart. I apologize. It will never happen again. You weren’t supposed to really be harmed. You assumed we were similar to those males we watch in criminal movies and we allowed you to believe it. We don’t hit or torture females but we thought your fear of us would make you talk. We played the part you expected.”

Lauren still reeled from finding out she’d worked with a rapist and murderer. “I understand. I feel so bad for Vengeance now that I know why he was so awful to me. I don’t condone it but I get it.” Her arms hugged her waist and she peered up at the New Species. “I had no idea who Brent really was but I’ll do anything you need to help you track down that piece of shit. I mean that. I know you guys think I’m dating him or sleeping with him but I have better taste than that. He’s a creep.”

“How well do you know Bill?”

“I know him as Brent. Everything I’ve said is true about just knowing him from work. I started there three months ago and I didn’t like him from the get-go. Vengeance said I smell like perfume that Brent likes, that it’s rare, but I got this at a Christmas gift exchange at work. It must have been the gift he brought. I took men’s cologne in for the exchange. It’s a common thing to buy for those things.”

“We’ve talked to many females who Bill has dated and shared sex with. You carry the scent he buys them and prefers they wear. Perfume confuses our sense of smell. We aren’t picking up any trace of sex from you or even the scent of a male but we can’t read you accurately. I can faintly scent another female. Did you hug or brush up against one?”

“Wow. You really do have an enhanced sense of smell, don’t you? I read about that. I hugged my friend, Amanda, when I met her for dinner. You won’t smell sex on me.” She blushed at the thought that he could smell her that well and hoped her deodorant was really as good as it boasted.

Wrath’s intense gaze studied her body. “You are his type. Has he ever approached you with an interest in sharing sex?”

She hesitated. “The first week I worked there we had an incident.”

“Explain what an incident is to you.”

She sighed. “I was bent over a desk reaching for the phone. He walked by and smacked my ass. He made a sexual comment, he hit me hard enough that it hurt, and I was mad. I threatened to bring him up on sexual harassment charges and raised hell. We deal with each other in the office but it’s tense at best. Now he’s taken to bringing his cell phone to work and showing off pictures of naked women’s body parts. It’s disgusting.”

“He wanted you but you weren’t interested.” Wrath nodded. “Does he go out of his way to annoy you?”

“Sometimes I swear he does but I can’t prove it. Otherwise I’d have gotten him fired. Mel, our boss, says we’re just different people and I need to try to get along with him. I just can’t.”

Wrath stepped closer. “Vengeance didn’t believe you because of how you look and smell. You lied to him about not having sex in a long time so he refused to believe you about anything.”

“I didn’t lie about that.”

Wrath frowned and his gaze narrowed. His eyes were rounded but slanted slightly at the corners, giving them an exotic appearance. The irises were a dark brown, almost black. His slightly flattened nose twitched.

“Even I don’t believe that. You are attractive with a body that draws attention. Males would want to touch you and they would approach you often for shared sex.”

“Well, I don’t want to be touched.” She frowned at him. “I was in a really bad relationship. Do you know what a stalker is?”

He hesitated. “No.”

“I dated a guy for about six months and I thought he was someone nice. We moved in together but he got weird. He wasn’t abusive. He didn’t hit me but he got really creepy and it turned so bad that I moved out. He started stalking me. That’s following me around and leaving threatening notes on my door. I finally had to get a restraining order. I had to have the police make him leave me alone. It was a bad experience and I haven’t dated since. I thought he was normal but I obviously have bad taste in men. I haven’t met anyone since then that I’m interested in enough to take another chance.”

“How was he creepy and weird?”

She hesitated. “As an example, I came home and he was wearing my panties.” She made a face. “Just my panties. He picked up his belt and told me he wanted to spank me. I moved out after that. Creepy, weird, and kind of scary. I’m not into guys who wear women’s panties and I’m sure not into being spanked.”

Wrath nodded. “Human males are freaks.”

Lauren smiled. “Some of them are and I found one who turned me off men. Then I found out he’d been sleeping with another woman while we lived together. He told me, trying to hurt my feelings, but I think he really thought I’d be jealous enough to want him back. I just felt sorry for her and glad I wasn’t with him anymore.”

Wrath appeared a little surprised. “What do you know of Bill?”

“Just what I said. I know he goes to a lot of bars and brags at work about how he can pick up women easily. He’s good-looking until he opens his mouth.”

Wrath grinned. “Do you know what bars?”

She shrugged but a memory surfaced. “I don’t know where he lives but he did mention that there was one around the corner from his place and he goes there often. He was telling someone he never had to worry about getting popped for a DUI because he just walks there and back.”

“What is a DUI?”

“Driving while under the influence of alcohol. I guess he gets pretty drunk. It’s illegal to drive after drinking.”

“I have his address and I’ll have it checked out. Thank you.”

“May I ask you something?”

He didn’t say anything. She figured that wasn’t a “no”.

“Everything I’ve ever heard or read about New Species says all of you live at the NSO Homeland or the NSO Reservation but you are here. Why?”

He took a breath. “Some of us want to find the humans who harmed us, though it is risky for us to leave the safely of the NSO. Bill is at the top of our list of people to find. We’re going to bring them in to be punished for their crimes or…kill them. Whether they live or die depends on their willingness to be taken in. We have formed a small team to hunt and locate them. We also work with a team of humans who work for the NSO but they aren’t here right now. This is their task force headquarters. They have homes elsewhere. It is not safe for us to live with them so we stay here in the basement where it’s secure. It’s a joint venture between the New Species Organization and the government.”

“I hadn’t heard about a task force but it’s good that you have one and they are helping you find the people who hurt you.” She hesitated. “I’m on your side and I want you to arrest Brent, I mean Bill. Now that we’re clear on that, can I go home?”

He slowly shook his head. “You know who we are and that we are on the hunt for Bill. You could warn him. Even if you would not, you could give us away by accident by looking at him differently since you know his true identity. You will have to stay here until he is captured or killed.”