Valiant

by Laurann Dohner

  “You didn’t mount her.” Pete approached the cage. “Why not? Do you like men, 927? The doctor said to leave her in there and your nature will eventually make you fuck her. That smell thing must have worked since you are interested in her. I guess you guys don’t mind sharing, huh?”

  Mike snorted. “If you bend her over it’s just the same as taking a man.”

  “One asshole is as good as another. Just close your eyes and pretend she’s Mike.”

  “Hey, that isn’t funny. Don’t have him fantasize about bending me over. I don’t want him looking at me that way.”

  Pete laughed. “Better he thinks about you that way than me and we’re the only two he sees unless you want to count the doctor. Nobody would want to screw him.”

  “True.” Mike laughed. He opened the cell door and set down a large platter and a container. “Come and get it.” He slammed the cell door and both men left.

  A minute later the loud noise sounded again. The glass partition started to slowly rise. 927 relaxed and turned to meet Tammy’s gaze. “I will go over there. You can use the toilet without me watching you.”

  She nodded. “Thank you.”

  There was no privacy inside the room. She glanced at 927. He had walked to the cell door and stared out of it, keeping his back to her. The toilet was just that, a portable one that had been set on the metal with tubes shoved between the wall and the cage that led out of sight.

  Toilet paper sat on the back of the lid. Tammy hurried and used it. There was a hose and a drain hole had been cut through metal next to the seat on the floor. She used it to wash her hands. It was similar to turning on a garden hose and just pointing the weak spray into the hole on the floor. This had to be his only way to get clean. It was barbaric.

  “I’m done. Thank you.”

  927 turned and nodded. He picked up the silver container and carried it to the bed. 927 pointed to the floor when he took a seat there, indicating she should sit next to him. He used the bed for a table. She cringed when he lifted the lid to reveal the food. It was “Valiant food” only. She could tell it wasn’t cooked much. They’d brought steaks, sliced into strips, seared only, on a bloody plate.

  She sat. “I can’t eat that. It’s too raw.”

  He frowned at her. “You will eat. You need strength. Close your eyes and think why you must survive. You must take down at least one.”

  She cringed but knew he had a point. She hadn’t eaten in a long time and her belly ached from hunger. He picked up a chunk of seared meat and held it out. Her hands shook as her fingers gripped an end of it, careful not to let blood drip onto her clothes.

  He lifted another and locked gazes with her. He showed her how to sink her teeth into it and yank to tear the meat. She tried but the meat was very tough and her teeth weren’t sharp enough as his were. She had to fight the urge to be sick at the taste of blood. The meat had dripped it into her mouth when she’d bitten into it, trying to tear it unsuccessfully. She tried to bite into it but since it was so tough and thick that she just took it out.

  “I can’t eat this. I can’t even get a piece. I can only gnaw on it.”

  He reached over and used his fingers to open her lips, his knuckle against her teeth to nudge them open too. Tammy opened her mouth for his inspection. He frowned. His fingertip ran across the edge of her teeth before he explored her back teeth. He pulled his finger away.

  “They are too smooth. Why did your kind allow someone to grind your teeth down? They are useless.”

  “They just grow this way. We don’t have a need to tear things with our teeth. We use forks and knives.”

  He pulled the meat from her fingers. He opened his mouth and tore a small piece of meat from the steak and handed it to her. She hesitated and took it. Good thing I’m not a germ freak, huh? She cringed as she ate the small piece of bloody meat. He tore another small piece off and placed it on the tray in front of hers. He used his teeth and kept tearing her small strips, making a pile.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  Never in a million years would she think she’d eat raw meat and thank a man for using his sharp teeth to rip it apart to make the bites small enough for her to chew and swallow. She also never believed she’d be hungry enough not to gag at either reality.

  Tammy couldn’t eat it all. What she didn’t eat, 927 did. He ate more than Valiant had. He removed the empty tray and walked to the cell door. He turned the tray and shoved it outside the cell. When it dropped it made a loud crash that Tammy winced over. He returned and twisted open the metal thermos. He sniffed it before handing it to Tammy.

  “It is safe. Sometimes they put drugs in my drink but I’d smell it.”

  She smiled at him after enjoying the icy-cold water and handed it back. He drank while staring at her. Her smile slipped at the odd expression that darkened his eyes and made him study her a little too intensely for comfort.

  “What?”

  “You are attractive. You smell sweet.”

  An uneasy feeling made her nervous. “Valiant said when I’m scared I smell that way. I’ve been scared a lot since yesterday.”

  He hesitated. “You belong to this Valiant?”

  She nodded. “We’re getting married.”

  “Married? What is this?”

  She considered her words. “It’s a ceremony that binds us together until we die in my world. He wants to marry me to make sure human law acknowledges that I belong to him.”

  He nodded. “But you already belong to him?”

  “Yes.”

  He softly growled. “That is too bad. I want you.”

  She inched back from him, feeling fear. “No.”

  He frowned. “I said it is too bad. Do you not understand this?”

  “I belong to Valiant.”

  “Keep your voice down or they will hear us. I know. I agree.”

  Her heart rate returned to normal. “I was afraid you didn’t care that I am his. The way you said that implied you were going to…touch me anyway.”

  He shrugged. “I would want him to protect you if you were mine and you were taken from me to be given to another. I would kill him if he mounted you. I will not force breed you, Tammy. I may want to but I can control it. My mind rules my body.”

  Good thing.

  “I just hope that this Valiant comes for you soon.” He stood. “You smell too good. It has been a long time since I allowed my body to give in to the urge to breed. Much too long to be this close to you.”

  That made Tammy uneasy again. It almost sounded as though it were a threat. As if he warned her that his control would only last so long. She bit her lip. “What do you do in here to keep busy?”

  He shrugged. “I grow strong.”

  She glanced at the large room. There was the twin bed and the toilet. The small hose with the twist-turn to shut it on and off and the drain in the floor were the only other things. She had no idea what he meant.

  “You must get so bored.”

  “Bored?”

  She tried to think of a way to explain it to him. “You have nothing to do.”

  “I get strong.” He moved to the floor beside her and did pushups. She watched as his muscles strained and tightened while he quickly lifted up and down. He eventually stopped and glanced at the wall. He ran at it, twisted, and slammed his body against it. He did that a few times, switching shoulders as he hit it. She stared at the bars and realized they’d bent slightly, just barely, and she wouldn’t have noticed if she hadn’t been searching for damage.

  He stopped doing that and walked to the front of the cell where the bars were. He gripped them and did pushups while standing. He finally turned and strode to the center of the cage. He suddenly crouched down and leapt high into the air. His fingers caught the bars of the roof, his body hung feet from the floor and she watched in amazement as he did pull-ups. He seemed to do them forever until sweat dripped down his body. He released the bars and landed gracefully on his bare feet. He turned and looked at her.
>
  “I get strong.”

  No wonder all the New Species men were huge and buff. It’s not a mystery anymore how muscular and in shape they are if this is what they did all those years inside their cells.

  She nodded. “I saw that.”

  “I bathe now. You may turn away.”

  She did. She put her back to the area with the hose. She heard water come on and she heard the odd sound of Velcro. She wanted to look to see what it was but she didn’t. He wanted to bathe and even she knew their definitions of that couldn’t be too different. The sound of water running lasted a while. It shut off. She heard that sound of Velcro again.

  “I am covered.”

  Tammy turned, still sitting on the floor, and faced 927. He had washed his body and his hair was wet. She saw him return something behind the toilet as he bent.

  “What did you put behind the…” She pointed.

  He leaned back down. “Soap and deodorant.” He lifted them and showed her. The soap hung from a tiny rope and he’d been given a travel-sized deodorant. “They give us these to keep clean and not to smell. We do not enjoy bad odors from our bodies. It makes us irritable.”

  “At least they give you toilets. I guess that is good.”

  “They do not clean our rooms. We would kill them if they got so close.”

  “I understand.” The jerks who’d brought her there didn’t want to have to clean up the cell if he didn’t have the ability to go to the bathroom decently.

  He moved closer and sat in front of her. “Tell me about New Species. Tell me everything.”

  Tammy took a deep breath. She started to tell him everything she knew from the time she’d started to follow the news. 927 watched her with interest. He smiled a lot. She continued to talk.

  * * * * *

  “Someone comes,” a voice over the radio warned softly.

  Valiant leapt from the bed and watched Justice and Tiger stand from where they had been resting on the floor. The men moved out of sight of the front door. Justice gave Valiant a hard look.

  “Do not kill them or hurt their ability to speak. They know where Tammy is.”

  “I know that.” Valiant growled softly. “No one wants her back more than I.”

  “I know but I see your rage, my friend. I understand. I would want to destroy them if someone took my woman…if I had a woman. I am just reminding you in case you are not thinking clearly. We need them to tell us where she is.”

  “She’s not even my woman and I still want to kill them,” Tiger sighed. “They work for Mercile, took one of our women, and they need to die for that.”

  “Quiet,” Valiant suddenly whispered. “I hear a vehicle coming.”

  An engine died outside and a door slammed. A man walked up the front walkway, his shoe tread soft, and keys jingled. In seconds the deadbolt slid and the door swung open. The human who walked inside was a man in his twenties. He wore white clothing, similar to the technicians from the testing facilities, and Valiant bit back a snarl to remain silent.

  The human hooked his keys on a nail in the wall and slammed the door closed behind him. His arms rose as he stretched his torso, yawned and turned. It took him five steps before he realized he wasn’t alone. He froze.

  Valiant, Tiger and Justice spread out around the man the second they walked out of hiding from the next room. Terror instantly shrouded the human’s face and the stench of it rolled off him.

  “Fuck me,” he cursed.

  Tiger growled. “Not even if you begged. You aren’t our type.”

  The man blanched. “What do you want?”

  Valiant growled. “You know what we want. Where is my woman?”

  The man started to shake and sweat as he stared at Valiant. His gaze swept over the big New Species from head to foot. “Shit.”

  “Where is Tammy?” Justice growled from behind the human. “Talk quickly because my friend wants to make you scream and bleed. The bed smells strongly of his woman’s fear. He is very angry.”

  The human’s mouth moved but nothing came out. Valiant roared, the sound filled the room, and he advanced. The human spun quickly to flee, lost his balance and collapsed to the floor in terror. A high-pitched scream tore from his throat as Valiant crouched and grabbed him by his arms, making sure his nails dug into them painfully.

  “Where is my Tammy?” Valiant snarled the words. He yanked the man’s upper body closer to his sharp teeth.

  “At the warehouse,” he sobbed. “She’s at the warehouse.”

  “Release him,” Justice growled. “Do not break him. He is going to tell us where that is, aren’t you, human?”

  The man jerked his eyes to Justice. He nodded, terrified. “I will. Just get him off me.”

  Valiant released him and backed up. He shook with rage. The urge to kill nearly overwhelmed him. This was the human who had taken Tammy to a warehouse to be thrown in with an imprisoned Species for a breeding experiment. It took everything he had not to lunge and tear out his throat.

  “Is she still alive?” Tiger inched closer to intimidate.

  “She was when I left a little while ago. 927 won’t fuck her and he didn’t kill her.”

  Justice moved, blocking Valiant when he took a step toward the human on the floor. Justice shook his head. “Control.”

  “I am.” Valiant growled.

  Justice turned his furious glare on the human. “What is your name?”

  “Pete.”

  Justice blinked. “You are going to take us to this warehouse. What is the security there? How many guards are protecting the site? Are they heavily armed?”

  Pete stared at him. “You mean how many men are guarding it? None. It’s just me, Mike and the doctor.”

  Tiger growled. “Lie. They would never guard a testing facility with just three men.”

  Pete turned his terrified eyes to the cat-eyed man glaring at him. “It’s not one. We just brought the one from the testing facility in Colorado. The doctor wanted to bring more of them but we have to wait until more men are available to build more cells to hold them. Right now it’s just the one we have and just the three of us can handle him.”

  “You are going to take us there but first you are going to tell us where this testing facility in Colorado is located.” Justice demanded. “And you are going to do it now.”

  Valiant roared again. The man on the floor nodded frantically, his terrified gaze locked on Valiant.

  “I will. Anything you want. Just stay away from me.” He rattled off an address.

  Justice shot Tiger a look. Tiger nodded, grabbed his back pocket and flipped out his cell phone. He gave the address to the person he spoke to. He paused.

  “How many New Species are being kept there? What is the security like?”

  The man closed his mouth. “They’ll kill me.”

  Justice growled and clapped his hands once. The men from upstairs came down and surrounded the cowering human. Pete stared at the eight New Species closing in on him. The smell of his fear became so strong Valiant could almost taste it.

  “You talk or we start at your toes and fingers. It is amazing how many bones can be broken before shock starts to kill a man.” Justice growled, inching closer. “Answer my questions.”

  “Don’t do it,” Pete rasped. “Fuck. Just stay back. There should be eighty-two males and six females there unless some of them were moved over the last week when I left there. Security is tight.” He paused.

  “Keep talking,” Valiant growled at him. “Where would they be moved to? Where are the other testing facilities?”

  “It’s not like that,” the guy hissed. “When the first testing facilities were breached, people panicked. We found an abandoned building and it took us some months to prepare the new location to hold them. Everyone was scared shitless that our testing facility would be discovered, we wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, but it takes time to build sturdy enough holding cells to keep your kind locked up. We moved them to the address I gave you and sometimes
we lend some of them out to a few of the other doctors who weren’t arrested. I don’t have nothing to do with that and I don’t know anything except sometimes a handful of them disappear but are later returned. You’re going to have to talk to the doctor about where they go and who has them. He’s in charge. Nothing gets done without his approval. His name is Adam Zenlelt.”

  “How many guards are there? Where are our people?”

  “They are being kept underground on the second level. It used to be a parking lot two floors down but they enclosed it to house those bastards. They usually have about twelve guards topside and maybe six downstairs. I don’t know all the doctors and support staff but I’d guess maybe twenty in all onsite during a work shift.”

  “Is it rigged with explosives?” Tiger growled.

  Pete shrugged. “Hell if I know. I’m not security. I’m just the doctor’s assistant. Me and Mike are the muscle. That’s all. We take care of 927 and whatever test subjects the doctor personally is working with.”

  “What about Tammy?” Valiant moved closer, glaring. “Tell me everything.”

  The man swallowed. “We threw her into the cell with 927. He killed the last two women we put in with him. He just fucking killed them. He’s crazy. He won’t kill your bitches but he kills regular ones like me.” He slammed his mouth shut. “That came out wrong. You know what I mean. He broke through the partition we have in place to keep him back when we open the cell door. He sniffed her a lot and she was yakking up a storm to him trying to get him not to kill her. He just took her to his bed and lay down with her. When I left he was feeding her, and hell, he tore up the meat for her. It was freaky. If he will use his teeth to make bite-sized chucks she can eat, sleep with her, then you would assume he would fuck her. We think he’s gay.”

  “He slept on her?” Valiant growled.

  The man winced. “Well, it is kind of cold at night and we don’t give him blankets.”

  “Calm,” Justice ordered Valiant. “He did not breed her.” His gaze fixed on Pete. “Right?”

  The man shook his head. “I told you. We think he’s gay.”

  “What does that mean?” Tiger frowned.

  The man on the floor hesitated. “We think he likes men. She isn’t a man. He won’t do her.”