Valiant(81)

He was almost as tall as Valiant. Maybe an inch or two shorter at about six-feet-four, if she were to guess. His shoulders, thick chest, and muscular arms were very similar in size to Valiant. It was his face that terrified her the most.

A vicious, low growl of warning rumbled deep from within his throat as sharp teeth flashed. Like Valiant, this one had more dominant animal features than most of the New Species. That probably accounted for how terrifying he looked as he snarled at her, flashing teeth that looked as if they could easily tear her apart without effort. Fear sizzled along Tammy’s spine like lightning and ran down the length of her body.

Tammy realized something as a hand shoved her forward, past an opening into the cage. A thick glass wall partition stood between the man growling at her two captors and the door they’d just opened. The man behind the glass suddenly lunged and his body slammed into the clear barrier. A loud crack came from the action and parts of the glass spider-webbed.

“Son of a bitch,” Mike hissed. “Hurry up. That isn’t going to hold for long. He’s really being aggressive today.”

Pete pushed Tammy hard, knocked her off balance, and she stumbled farther into the cage but managed not to fall face first on the metal floor. The door slammed closed behind her and she turned, lunging for the bars that now locked her inside. She jerked hard but the door didn’t move. She stared at Mike and Pete, pleading with them silently. They refused to even glance her way as they spun and disappeared into the other half of the warehouse at a hurried pace, seeming not to be able to flee fast enough. The hair at the back of her neck rose.

She knew why. Her breathing increased and her fingers clung so hard to the cold metal that she knew they were turning white. You can’t get out. You’re going to have to face him. Maybe he can be reasoned with. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out. You have no choice. Just talk. You have nothing to lose.

Tammy slowly released the bars and turned, dread making her stomach heave a little. The scariest eyes she’d ever seen watched her from the other side of the partition just feet from her. His seemingly black gaze narrowed and he growled at her again. She backed up, moved away from the door, and pressed against the bars as far away from him as she could get in the small space.

His hands lifted and he glanced at them. She followed where he looked, wishing instantly that she hadn’t. His hands ended in thick fingernails similar to Valiant’s but they hadn’t been clipped. They resembled short but lethal claws that scratched over the damaged part of the glass. A piece of it fell away, letting her know he could get to her. A scream rose but became trapped inside her throat. He scratched the divider with his nails again. It was a hideous sound when more bits of the glass fell away to ping on the metal floor.

“Please,” Tammy begged softly. “Don’t hurt me. I was kidnapped and brought here against my will. I’m not your enemy. I don’t work for Mercile Industries.”

The New Species stopped watching his hands to peer at her instead. She only saw aloofness in his stare as their gazes met. His hands pulled away from the glass, he backed away, and she hoped her words had meant something to him.

He suddenly lunged forward, his body turning at the last second, and his shoulder slammed into the glass. More of it cracked. Tammy whimpered again and slid along the bars until she reached the corner a few feet away. She couldn’t escape. He was going to break through and reach her.

Her knees seemed to turn to liquid and she slid down to the cold, unforgiving floor, on her butt. She drew her knees up in a protective manner and wrapped her arms around them tightly to hug her body. He moved with her to the edge of the cage. He growled again.

“Listen to me. Please? I know a lot about people like you. Do you know that a lot of them are free now? The testing facility they were imprisoned inside was raided by the government and they’re no longer locked up. They live outside, no bars, and no cages.” She sucked in air, knew she babbled, but was proud she could at least speak. She kept going. “They call themselves New Species. They are really free and if they knew where you were they would come to save you. Do you understand me?”

The man’s eyes narrowed more and he stopped growling. He did continue to glare at her. She hoped that he wouldn’t break through the glass and just kill her in the blink of an eye. Her talking seemed to have at least distracted him from battering through the glass.

“I live with one of your kind. He tells I belong to him all the time. It kind of annoyed me until he told me that he never owned anything, never was allowed to care about anything, because it was used against him. He named himself Valiant. He’s part lion. He has the most amazing golden eyes. He loves me and I love him. We live at New Species Reservation. It’s a large area of woods and open land. It’s where your kind live and work together to have better lives. It belongs to them and they are in charge there.”