Laurann Dohner: Fury

“He’ll be fine,” Ted assured her.

“Look at this,” Trisha ground out. She held up a dark brown bottle from Belinda’s medical bag that had been delivered to the bedroom. “It’s Freltridontomez.”

Ted cursed. “Damn. Good thing we didn’t tranquilize him when he was on his feet. He could have stroked out from the rage at being shot before it took effect.”

“What is that?” Ellie glanced at both doctors, wanting an answer.

“It is a chemical that attacks the mind. It sends false signals to the brain that it’s in blinding pain without the actual physical discomfort. It usually drives the patient into rage, confusion, and destroys rational thinking. It would explain all Fury’s symptoms. He would have progressively grown worse within the hour.”

“Why would she do it?” Trisha continued to search through the supposed nurse’s bag. “She knew it would be dangerous as hell. From what I’ve read in the reports they used that drug occasionally on a few Species to force physical fights between their test subjects.”

“They did,” Tiger growled from the door. “I’ve been given that shit before. I couldn’t even remember my name. I just wanted to kill something and anything that moved would have provoked me. When I’d come out of it I could barely remember what happened and sometimes I couldn’t remember anything at all.”

Ellie stared at Tiger as he walked into the bedroom and wondered if he was angry that she’d ditched him at Trisha’s house.

He shot her a glare. “You are in deep shit with me. Don’t ever give me the slip again or steal my car.”

“Don’t be stupid enough to leave the keys inside the ignition. I told you he wouldn’t hurt me,” Ellie shot back, angry that he’d get attitude with her.

“I made that decision,” Justice sighed. “I feared your life was in danger, Ellie.”

“Well, I told you he wouldn’t hurt me.”

“You got lucky,” Trisha intervened. “I’ve read the reports on a handful of subjects Mercile tested this drug on.” Trisha shook her head. “Brutal, insane, killing rage is usually the result. Then again I doubt they ever tried to turn a man on the woman he is in love with.”

Breeze took hesitant steps into the bedroom. She’d cleaned her face and had on a new shirt. Ellie studied her with concern. “Are you all right?”

Breeze approached and sat at the end of the bed. She frowned at Ellie. “I’m good. You on the other hand are either very foolish or very in love.”

“I’m kind of both,” Ellie admitted.

A smile flashed on Breeze’s face before she flinched, gently touching her mouth. It looked swollen and a bruise had started to form. Ellie studied the injured area.

“I’m sorry he hit you. I know he normally wouldn’t have.”

“He wanted you and grew very angry that he had me here instead. I figured that out pretty quick. He could have hurt me a lot worse but he didn’t.” Breeze darted a glance at Fury. “You chose well, Ellie. He’s an amazing male with extremely good control.”

“How can you say that after he hit you? You should be pretty upset at him.” Ellie didn’t understand Breeze’s reaction.

“I’ve seen our males go crazy and they can inflict a lot of pain but he fought it all the way. He only hit me when I touched him or when I tried to stop him from going to you. He didn’t try to wound me but instead batted me away with slaps.” She hesitated. “He didn’t hurt you. You don’t know how much he must love you to fight through all that was going on inside him to calm down.” Breeze nodded. “He’s a good male, a very strong one, and very protective of you. You chose well, Ellie Brower.”

Ellie nodded. “Thank you for risking yourself for me.”

“This is a love fest.” Tiger groaned. “Please stop.”

Slade laughed. “I wasn’t going to say it but group hug?”

“Stop it,” Justice ordered softly. He looked mildly irritated as his gaze darted between his men. “It’s sabotage. Slade, go speak to that nurse.” Anger tensed his features. “I don’t care what it takes but find out why she did this and who helped her.”

Tiger’s smile faded. “May I go with him?”

Justice studied him with suspicion. “You spent time with that woman. Do you have feelings for her?”

“No. I’m angry. She did this right under my nose. If Slade has a problem terrifying some answers out of her, I don’t. I won’t kill her but she might wish I would.”

“Fine.” Justice paused. “Be aware of the security cameras and know the humans will watch. They may not approve of your methods.”

“Not a problem.” Slade smiled coldly before he turned and strode away.

Ellie watched Tiger follow him until they were out of sight. Her attention shifted to Justice. “Why would someone do this to Fury?”

“You,” Ted answered instead. “Well, the relationship you have with Fury has been high on the radar of the media and the hate groups that don’t want a fairytale romance.”

“I think it’s more than that,” Trisha declared. “Mercile Industries would love nothing better than if Fury had gone insane and killed Ellie. Let’s face it. They look like shit for having kept people locked up inside their research facilities and running illegal experiments on them. They keep stating that New Species are more animal than human, trying to desensitize the media and general public who support them. If a New Species male turned murderous and killed his live-in human girlfriend it would look really bad. Ellie and Fury are the perfect targets since the world is watching them so closely.”

“Beatrice Thorton worked for Mercile Industries,” Breeze growled.

“Who’s Beatrice Thorton?” Ellie frowned.

“She’s an ex-employee of Mercile Industries. You knew her by the name she’s going by now, Belinda Thomas,” Justice said as he walked to the upended dresser and sat on the edge of it.

“That bitch worked for Mercile Industries?” Shocked, Ellie gawked at Breeze for confirmation.

“I recognized her stench when I walked inside the house.” Anger deepened Breeze’s voice into a near snarl. “I would never forget an enemy. She was the worst. She tortured our people and always pushed needles into us with a big grin. She enjoyed our pain.” Breeze turned to Justice. “You sure you never met her?”

“No. She must have only worked on the female side of the testing facility.”

“You would think she would have been afraid that one of you might recognize her,” Ted speculated.

“Maybe she thought she would be safe since she only worked with women New Species.” Ellie glanced around the room. “I mean, the only woman in Fury’s life is me. They know I’m not going to recognize her. I worked in the testing facility where Fury was held captive and she didn’t work that one. It’s public knowledge that all the New Species women live inside a dorm and there aren’t supposed to be many of them here. I watch the news and they make it sound as though there’s only a handful.”

“You worked for Mercile Industries?” Ted glared at Ellie.

“It’s not what you’re thinking.” Justice shot the doctor a frown. “She worked for Victor Helio. You’ve met him. He approached Ellie when she had a job at Mercile Industries in their corporate offices, not knowing what they really did. He approached her, told her what they suspected, and asked for her help to discover the truth. She smuggled out evidence, risked her life to do it, and gave them enough to get search warrants. Some of the medical and testing reports you’ve read are ones she stole.”

“Oh.” Ted relaxed. “You were brave. What made you do it? Did you always want to be a secret spy or work for a police agency?”