New Species 05 Brawn (23 page)

The number she’d scribbled down lay next to the phone. Her
hands trembled a little as she reached for both.
I need to make this call.
She bit her lip. Another flutter in her belly made her gasp. She dropped the
paper and rested her hand over the curved mound of her belly. Hot tears
surfaced, caused by worry and confusion. She could feel the baby move.
How
is that possible?

She stood there debating what to do. The smart thing would
be to rush to Doctor Trisha and let the woman take care of her and the baby. Of
course reality prevented that. Her dad would kill Brawn. He’d end up going to
prison instead of leading the task team and she’d have to explain to her child
why he didn’t have any family besides her. She couldn’t do that, no matter how
terrified she was. Tim Oberto was a lot of things but rational and controlled
weren’t two of them when it came to his daughter. He’d never believe Brawn
hadn’t forced her and he’d see blood. Brawn’s.

Thinking about the big New Species made her feel guilty. He
had a right to know he was going to be a father. She knew right from wrong but
that was one hurdle she wasn’t ready to take on yet. After the baby was born,
she’d face that issue. First she needed to have it, keep it safe and figure out
a way to deal with her dad. Hopefully meeting his grandchild would go a long
way toward muffling his murderous rage.

Guilt turned to anger in the next moment. She chalked it up
to her hormones but if Brawn had called her he might know he was going to be a
father. It took both of them to get her in the mess but it was up to her to try
to contain the fallout. She’d been tempted plenty of times to try to reach him
but had no idea how without having to go through the NSO switchboard. They’d
ask why she wanted to talk to him, might investigate her to make sure she
wasn’t a threat and that meant having her father and his team come after her.
It was just too risky. Calling a human was one thing, they might figure she was
a friend of Doctor Trisha’s, but a human woman calling a Species male would be
odd.

The flutter happened again, more of a tiny kick and she
closed her eyes, amazed at the feeling and frightened. Brawn was a big guy and
she’d hoped she was gaining weight so fast because the baby might be as large
as the father but she couldn’t forget he wasn’t totally human. She might not
know much about pregnancy since she’d never experienced it before but she had
friends who had children. She shouldn’t feel the baby stir for months. The baby
might be growing faster than a purely human one, thanks to Brawn’s altered
genes, and like it or not, she was in over her head. She needed to have a conversation
with the New Species doctor to figure it out.

She opened her eyes and reached for the paper again. Her
hands shook as she dialed the number. Her heart pounded as the phone rang. A
woman’s voice answered on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Doctor Trisha?” Becca remembered to use the same Texas
accent. “It’s me again. The pregnant lady.”

“You promised to call me and it’s been three weeks,” the
doctor accused, sounding out of breath and maybe excited. “How are you?”

“Scared and alarmed. I’m feeling the baby move. How can that
be? It’s way too early.”

“How far along are you?”

“We’ve been over this. I am not telling you that. Is it
possible that the baby could be developing faster than normal? I mean, is that
nuts to even consider? New Species are part animal and I’ve been researching on
the internet. The gestation period is shorter in animals than in humans. I’m
gaining weight too fast and now I’ve got movement. It’s not gas either.” She
shorted a laugh at that one, glad for some humor. “It’s definitely the baby.”

“You need to come to Homeland. What is your name?”

“Pregnant lady.”

“Are you really living in a cabin by yourself?”

“Yes.” Becca figured that was safe information to give out.

“Do you have a friend or someone who checks on you at
least?”

She hesitated. “What is the point of asking me this?”

“You’re alone, you told me you don’t trust anyone and you
need help if you really are pregnant. What are you afraid of? No one is going
to hurt you. You can walk right up to the gates, tell them you’re there to see
me and I swear I’ll rush right out. If you don’t want anyone to see you, I can
meet you anywhere you want. I’ll bring my bag and some equipment that is
mobile. I can even come to your cabin.”

“That’s not going to happen. I got lost for a reason. I
don’t want anyone to find me.”

“I can tell you if your baby is all right. Don’t you want to
make sure? I have a son and I know I was worried sick about his health when I
was pregnant. I swear I gave myself an ultrasound almost daily just to check on
him. I could do that for you if you came here. I’ll come to you if you don’t
want to be seen. I know there are protesters out there. We have a helicopter
and could fly you in to prevent anyone from seeing you.”

“I appreciate that but as I said, I don’t trust anyone.”

Trisha hesitated. “Are you afraid of the father? Is that it?
Do you think if you let him know that he’ll react badly?”

“I try not to think about him.” Becca leaned forward and
sighed. “I know he has a right to know and I plan to tell him one day but not
until it’s safe. You don’t know what is at stake.”

“Then tell me. Just tell me something.”

Becca hesitated. “My family would go insane if they found
out and they would hurt the father. That’s all I can tell you.”

“So you are protecting the father of your baby? That’s why
you won’t come in? Your family doesn’t have to know. Your family can’t get to
him or you if you come here. I swear you will be safe. All of you will be.”

That might be the case for the average person but not for
Becca. Her father had to know everything that happened at Homeland and
Reservation. Having a pregnant woman show up would be a security risk. He’d be
notified and she still winced over the memories of him asking her a hundred
times if anyone had touched her when she’d been held prisoner. The rage that
threatened in his eyes assured her he’d stop at nothing until Brawn was dead.
It’s why she’d never told him about her marriage. He’d have murdered Bradley in
a heartbeat. Her dad was a dick at times but he became downright insane when
someone hurt her.

“Are you still there?”

Becca realized she’d drifted in her thoughts. “Yes. Do you
think the baby is growing faster than normal? Is it possible? Just answer me
that because that’s all I can figure and I’m worried.”

“Are you more than four months along?”

“No.”

“Good.” Trisha hesitated. “Don’t you want to know the sex of
the baby? If you let me see you I could bring a portable ultrasound machine and
tell you the sex.”

“That’s just mean. You know I’d love to know that but I
can’t risk it. If you aren’t going to answer me, I need to go.”

“Wait! How are you feeling? Are you healthy? Any unusual
symptoms or anything? I’m assuming you haven’t seen a doctor?”

“You know I can’t risk that. I’m tired a lot but I read
that’s normal. My appetite is great. I haven’t thrown up in weeks and am past
the morning sickness stage. I have to go. Thanks for talking to me.”

“You have to call me more often. At least once every few
days. You’re alone. Something could go wrong. Please?” The doctor sounded
panicked.

“I’ll call you once a week.”

“Do you promise? I am worried about you. You don’t know
everything and I can’t tell you over a phone.”

“Tell me what?” Becca’s heart pounded with fear. What did
the doctor know that she wasn’t saying?

“Just call me and we’ll keep talking.”

“I have to go.” Becca hung up.

* * * * *

Trisha hung up and put her house phone to her ear. She’d
called Justice when she’d picked up her cell with the woman and let him
overhear the conversation on speaker phone.

“Did you recognize her voice? You deal with most of the
humans we come in contact with.”

Justice sighed. “No. I didn’t recognize it but the accent is
fake. She slipped a few times. Maybe she’s lying about the pregnancy.”

“No. She knows too much. She said she felt the baby move for
the first time. She’s between eight and ten weeks along. That’s when we feel
movement. That’s good. Thank God. I was terrified we wouldn’t have any time to
find her before the baby was due. She is about halfway through her pregnancy,
Justice. I delivered my son at twenty weeks. She doesn’t know New Species
babies grow and develop faster. We have to find her fast. My husband is canine.
Feline pregnancies could go faster and I’m assuming he was feline, considering
she didn’t mention the penis swelling during sex that is common with canines.
Hot sperm is more noticeable with felines. We won’t know until the first feline
mixed baby is born how long their pregnancies last.”

“Let me… Hang on. Tiger just walked in.”

Tiger chuckled. “We got a trace. We know about where the
call came from. I have good news and bad news.”

“What’s to report?” Justice hit speaker phone. “Can you hear
us, Trisha?”

“I can,” she stated. “What’s the bad news first?”

“It looks like this woman is probably the real deal. The
call was traced to an area near Reservation. She must live out there, which
means she probably did come in contact with our people.”

“That’s good news,” Trisha agreed.

“Not when we have a human pregnant by one of us and we
didn’t know about it. It’s bad until we have her here and secure.” Tiger took a
breath. “The good news is that it’s a remote area. We’ll send teams out and
look for her. There aren’t that many cabins out there if she’s really living in
one. It might take a few days to go to all of them but it shouldn’t take more
than three days. We’ll find her soon.”

Justice sounded relieved. “That’s great.”

“Yes. Will she be showing, Trisha?” Tiger moved closer to
the phone.

“She says she is and she felt the baby move which should put
her between eight and ten weeks. You’ll definitely see a rounded stomach from
the baby. She will smell faintly like Species too, up close. I did. The further
along she gets the more she will carry that scent and the stronger it will
get.”

“Justice, if you don’t mind, I’d like to head this one. May
I take the helicopter and fly up there?” Tiger paused. “I’d like to keep the
team tight, only take handpicked Species who are good with humans and we’ll
have to bring in a few of the task force for this. They’ll go in first to avoid
raising suspicion.”

“Yes,” Justice agreed.

“Me too,” Trisha said. “I’m going. I’ll call Slade and tell
him we’re all leaving. I’ll pack our bags and get Forest ready to travel. I
want to be there when you find her, Tiger. She’s going to be scared as hell.
Did you hear what she said about her family, Justice? Do you think they are
part of those protestors who picket the NSO? Maybe that’s how she met one of
ours. He might be an officer at Reservation’s gates. It makes sense if that’s
the case. Her family hangs there, she’d be with them and she’d have spent time
with our guys.”

“Makes sense.” Justice hesitated. “Yeah. That’s fine. Find
this female, Tiger.”

“I’m on it,” Tiger growled softly. “I’m more worried about
someone else finding her before we do or this family of hers discovering her secret
if they are fanatics. It wouldn’t end well.”

“I know.” Anger tinged Justice’s voice. “Just find her and
get her and her baby home to us so they can be safe. Thank you for allowing us
to trace your calls, Trisha.”

“I didn’t really have a choice,” she muttered. “I’m still
not happy about lying to her. I gave my word I wouldn’t do that.”

“You didn’t trace her. I did.” Justice cleared his throat.
“I asked my males if any of them had shared sex with a human and that didn’t go
well. It caused anger and they felt I was trying to invade their privacy.
Finding the female and getting her behind our gates is priority. I can’t image
what would happen if she goes into labor and ends up at a hospital. Our secret
would be out. It would be on every news station and anyone who hates us would
know her location to target the infant. Worse, she could go into labor alone
and die if there are complications.”

“I know.” Trisha pushed her fingers through her hair and
gripped the phone tighter against her ear. “I’ve had nightmares about that.
That’s why I tried to keep her on the phone as long as possible to give you a
shot at finding her. If this doesn’t work though, you’ve got to let me tell her
the truth, Justice. She’s having an accelerated pregnancy and she’s going to be
blindsided when she goes into early labor. She’ll think she’s losing the baby.”
Emotion choked her voice. “Don’t make me go there. It was my worst fear when I
was pregnant with Forest. I can’t do that to her and maybe if we tell her, it
will make her come in on her own.”

“We can’t risk it. Until we know for sure that she’s not
some reporter fishing and that it’s a verified Species baby she’s carrying, you
aren’t to tell her anything. That’s an order. I’m sorry but too much is at
risk. Your son would be in danger.”

“I know.” She blinked back tears. “I just keep putting
myself in her shoes. She sounds genuinely scared about something. Whoever her
father is, he must be one scary asswipe to instill that kind of fear.”

“I’m angry at the male who shared sex with her.” Justice
growled. “He should have taken precautions or followed up with her. They
obviously weren’t close enough that she could feel she could go to him to
protect her. When we find out who he is, he and I are going to spend some time
in a training room. He put us all in this situation.”

“I get a piece of him after you do,” Tiger snorted. “I tell
the officers to use condoms if they share sex with humans but this sounds as if
it’s one of Brass’ males so he will probably get the pleasure of pounding in
the ground rules.”