Tiger softly cursed. “Let’s not fight, guys. Brawn, you’re upset right now and rightly so. You need to get a handle on your emotions. You look feral, my man. The female is pregnant. Don’t you think when you finally get to see her that you should be calm? I think that’s a good idea. Let’s take a vote. Who’s in favor of that?” He raised his hand.

Slade shot his friend a dirty look but raised his hand. “This isn’t a debate.”

“Humor,” Tiger muttered. “You remember that, don’t you? I’m hoping he does. Come on, Brawn. You look scary.”

“I’m not laughing.” Brawn’s hands fisted at his sides and he glared at Slade. “What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t see Trisha? Move away from the door and let me pass.”

“That’s different. I’m in love with Trisha and she’s my mate. You and Rebecca don’t have that bonding.” Slade didn’t budge. “Let’s go for a walk and talk about this.”

* * * * *

Becca got dressed and smiled at Trisha. “He looked perfect, didn’t he?”

Trisha grinned back. “Yes. Your baby is healthy and well. I told you it would be a boy. He looks great, Rebecca.”

“Please call me Becca. Other than strangers, no one but my father calls me that.”

“We’ve arranged housing for you. You need to stay here for your child’s sake. There are a lot more ex-Mercile employees out there trying to avoid being arrested. Most of the testing facilities were hit at night since they were afraid the staff would try to kill Species since they tried that at the first one. I can share this information with you because you need to know. The damn news had it plastered on every station and they got to watch their places of work being busted on live TV. Only about twenty percent of the staff were arrested and maybe another thirty percent have either turned themselves in or have been caught. That leaves a lot of desperate, crazy idiots out there who are like the group that kidnapped you. Some of them might think if they had hostages, they could force the NSO to give them immunity. That’s the nice version. You know the group who took you planned to sell the Species they had when their use was up. You are going to have a baby. Can you imagine?”

“Cha-ching.” Becca winced. “Major money to those pricks. I get it.” Horror washed through her. “You think I haven’t had nightmares about that? I have.”

“I know.” Trisha looked grim. “There’s also the jerks who hate Species and believe they are nothing more than rabid animals to be put down. It’s why we haven’t told the world they can have children. It’s a horrible situation. My son is the only second generation Species baby born so far but we have two more women who are pregnant. Maybe in the near future it will be safer for the world to know but right now we need to protect them. This baby will look like Species and there won’t be a doubt of that if anyone sees him. The only thing you can do is stay here or at Homeland where he’ll be safe from discovery. We’ll restrict any humans besides myself and the other mates. You won’t be alone. You’ll have the four of us to support you emotionally.”

“Four?”

“Myself, Ellie, Tammy and I believe you know Jessie Dupree. She worked with your father.”

Shock tore through Becca. “She’s pregnant? She’s uh, mated, to one of the New Species?”

“She married Justice North secretly but they decided to wait a while before trying to have a baby. No one who knows about their wedding has leaked it to the press yet but that could change at any time. Tammy lives at Reservation full-time and Ellie has moved here since we have the better medical facility and they are safer from prying eyes. We’d rather be safe than sorry. So far all pregnancies are healthy and we’re hoping it stays that way. Ellie is due to have her baby soon and Tammy is just a little farther along than you are.”

“This is so much to take in. I thought I was alone.”

“You aren’t. You and your baby just got a really large family, Becca. New Species will consider you that.”

“But I’m not one of them.”

“Your baby is and you are his mother. They treat mates just as if we’re one of their own.”

“I’m not a mate.”

“You’re still family.” She paused. “Why don’t you want to see Brawn?”

Becca hesitated, not sure her pain at his abandonment was enough to justify it but she had a list of reasons besides that. “He was clear from the moment I met him that he doesn’t want anything to do with women like us. He never would have touched me if we hadn’t been kidnapped. We were forced to be together and we thought we weren’t going to be rescued. He was going to be sold at some point and they probably would have left me there to die when they abandoned the warehouse or put a bullet in my head.”

“It must have been very stressful.”

“It was and that’s how Brawn and I ended up getting so close.”

Trisha hesitated. “I am curious. I gave you antibiotics. Did you take them?”

“No. They were horse pills and I just tossed them. Why do you want to know?” She reached up and touched her forehead. “I don’t have a fever, do I? I’d have noticed if I had some kind of blood infection from the needles they used.”

The doctor hesitated. “They weren’t to fight an infection. Those pills were to prevent you from getting pregnant.” Her gaze dropped to Becca’s rounded belly. “I wondered if you either hadn’t taken them or they just weren’t effective. I have the answer now.”

Anger instantly surged inside Becca. “What?”

“I know. It was really wrong not to give you a choice but you should realize how much we needed to protect this secret. As you stated, you aren’t a mate and we couldn’t let you leave if there was a chance of you being pregnant.” Trisha met her gaze. “Try to understand our position. Would you have preferred we kept you here against your will until we knew for sure you weren’t? That was the only other option. It’s not just about you and your baby. It’s about my son, Ellie’s and Tammy’s. All future Species infants.”

It took a lot for Becca to fight through her anger and the feeling of betrayal. They’d tried to abort her pregnancy. She clenched her teeth.

“I’m sorry. Honestly. You were traumatized enough and we were trying to protect you from further harm. Tell me honestly that this pregnancy hasn’t torn up your life.”

“I want this baby.”

“I know.” Trisha’s features softened. “Believe me, I can guess how much you’ve gone through to try to hide and protect your child. I’d have done the same.” She bit her lower lip. “Why couldn’t you just tell us? You’re a smart woman and I can’t figure out how you thought you could do this on your own.”

Becca slipped on her shoes. “I would have had to admit to being locked inside a cage with Brawn and told my father what happened between us. You didn’t see how he acted for weeks afterward. He…” She sighed. “He was really angry and irrational. Kind of insane, to be honest. I had to swear to him that nobody touched me. He would have killed Brawn and still will when he finds out.” Tears filled her eyes. “Put yourself in my place now. My dad loves his job, he loves New Species but he swore to kill any of them if I’d been touched in any way. He is willing to go to prison and Brawn is the father of my baby. I just wanted to protect them both.”

A roar tore through the building. Becca and the doctor both started.

Becca grabbed Trisha. “What was that?”

“My best guess? Brawn is outside. He’s living at Reservation. He and another council member are assigned here and he was just told about the baby.”

“I don’t want to see him.”

Something crashed down the hall, glass broke and someone snarled. Trisha cursed, a panicked expression on her face. “It sounds like you aren’t going to have a choice. Oh crap. I need to get out there.” She tugged out of Becca’s hold.

A roar pieced the air and something else crashed.