Justice turned, growling. “Friends don’t kidnap one of our women and hand her over to the enemy.”
“She’s not New Species. She’s a human. I wouldn’t do that to your kind and I sure as hell wouldn’t do it to mine.”
“She is one of ours regardless of her blood. Talk, Charlie. Talk now or I will make you. No one but New Species know we have you. There is a lot of ground on our Reservation to dispose of your body when we are done. You will tell us where to find the woman if you want to live.” Justice prowled closer, growled, and barred his teeth. “We learned torture from having it done to us. I’m an experimental prototype, Charlie. They really hurt me badly and there are thousands of ways to make you scream and bleed without killing you. You will suffer.”
“Justice, I swear. There was another man and he ca—”
“You didn’t kill my officer,” Justice snarled. “He survived. Whoever you are working with, and we are aware since someone did tie you up that you have at least one partner, is either an idiot or set you up to die. Did he or she give you the drug you used on Flame? It was a very strong sedative but not enough to stop his heart. He’s going to wake soon and when he does, he’ll be able to tell us exactly what happened when he escorted Miss Shasta to your office.”
* * * * *
Valiant jerked out of Brass’ hold, had seen more than enough on the monitors, and wanted to tear the human apart to get answers. He’d told Justice he’d give him a chance, knew his rage was too great at that moment, but it was taking too long. He lunged toward the holding cell.
The door exploded open when he entered. Valiant snarled as he stormed into the room. His attention locked on the man tied to the chair in the corner of the room. Valiant threw his head back and roared at the human who’d taken Tammy.
“Jesus!” Charlie Artzola screamed, staring at Valiant.
“Do not kill him,” Justice ordered softly. “He needs to tell us where he took her and who he delivered her to. He has a partner.”
Valiant growled, showed teeth, and his body shook. His hands fisted. “I understand. I will contain my rage but it’s difficult.”
Justice cleared his throat. “I was just about to show him how much pain it will take to get him to tell us the information we need.”
“Allow me that pleasure,” Valiant snarled, opened his mouth wide, and his muscles strained while his body tensed in anticipation of beating the truth out of the human. He wanted his blood. “I’ll make him tell us everything.”
“Jesus Christ,” the attorney moaned. He wet himself and piss pooled on the chair until and ran down its legs. His terrified gaze darted to Justice. “Don’t let him near me. She said he’d tear out my guts and feed them to me.”
Justice glanced at Valiant with raised eyebrows as their gazes met. Justice turned suddenly, putting his back to the attorney, to only reveal his grin to the Species. “So she told you what Valiant would do to you?” He growled the words. “She warned you what betrayal would cost you.” Schooling his features, Justice faced the prisoner again. “Where is she? Where did you take her? To whom did you deliver her? I want answers or Valiant will do exactly what she threatened he would. We will watch him do it without lifting a finger to make it stop. You will suffer untold agony and it will take hours to die.”
“It is very painful,” Valiant growled. He licked his lips and showed his sharp teeth to prove the point. “Flesh is easy to tear apart.”
The attorney nodded frantically. “Just swear he won’t touch me. I want to live.”
Justice paused. “You will live if you help us get her back and she is still alive.”
“He doesn’t plan on killing her but it’s not my fault if the New Species he took her to kills her,” Charlie Artzola stammered quickly. “He wanted her to give to one of your kind. The man I work for is Dr. Adam Zenlelt. He worked for Mercile Industries and approached me after I got the job at Homeland. He offered me a lot of money and I needed it. I’ve got an ex-wife and a ton of bil—”
Valiant roared again, edged closer, and his fingers curved into claws.
Justice glanced at him and then the attorney. “He doesn’t give a shit why you did it. Stop excusing your betrayal and tell us where the woman is and more about this human who has her.”
“I don’t know all that much about him. He wanted Miss Shasta because I told him that one of yours planned to marry a human woman. He pays me to tell him that stuff. He has a New Species and he’s been trying to run tests on him but it’s an insane one who keeps killing any women shoved inside his cell. Zenlelt likes to be called “doctor”. He realized that two New Species can’t breed and he’s planned on testing one of you against a human woman to see if she can get pregnant. Zenlelt thought that since one of you would fuck her, his guy would do her too. That’s why he needed her so bad and bribed me to take her to him. He’s going to lock her inside a cage with that thing to see if he’ll fuck or kill her the way he did the others. That New Species he’s got is really an animal, Justice. I saw him once and he doesn’t have an ounce of humanity left inside him.”