“I don’t recognize the scent of him. It’s faint enough that I don’t believe he took her by mounting. He must have taken her the human way.”
Ellie tried to inch out from between the two women, felt trapped between them, but Breeze suddenly grabbed her by the front of her shirt. She crouched down on her knees and yanked Ellie’s shirt up to just under her breasts. Breeze pushed her face against Ellie’s stomach to sniff before she could protest. The other woman raised her head with a grim expression.
“Like a human, he sweated on her during the attack. I don’t know this scent either.” She frowned at Ellie as she rose to her feet. “Why are you protecting him? Do you know his name? Describe him to us, we’ll find him and make him pay. You are ours and he should have known not to touch you.”
Ellie’s mouth dropped open. She forced her mind to work. The last minute had been one big stunner after another between the sniffing and their words. They could smell Fury’s sweat on her just from his stomach touching hers? She closed her mouth and clenched her thighs. She didn’t know what they’d do if they smelled his semen. Then the last sentence sank in.
“I’m yours? I thought you hated me.”
Kit stepped out of the bathroom. “We don’t hate you. You’re our pet.”
“Kit!” Rusty shook her head. “Don’t say that. You’ll offend her.”
Kit shrugged. “She is. She’s so little and cute. She yaps around trying to please us like…what are they called? A Yorkie?”
Rusty sighed. “We decided she’s more similar to a cute little poodle with her long blonde hair.” She flashed a smile at Ellie. “Don’t take it offensively please. We enjoy having you around and you amuse us to no end. We know you care about us by the way you try to please us.”
“I need to sit down,” Ellie muttered, dazed, and tried to wrap her head around the idea they thought of her as a pet. She moved over and plopped down on the edge of her bed. She gasped when she sat down too roughly, a reminder of being tender from sex. “Damn.” She closed her eyes. They think of me as a pet. The comparison to a poodle made her wince.
“You made her sadder,” Breeze growled. “Apologize now.”
“I’m sorry,” Kit said instantly. “It’s an endearment. We like you. I mentioned that, didn’t I? Is being a pet a bad thing? People love them. We’re very fond of you.”
Ellie opened her eyes and forced a smiled. “Well, it takes some getting used to but thanks. I’m glad you like me. That’s the important part.”
“We do,” Rusty assured her. “Now tell us which one of our males hurt you and we’ll go beat the shit out of him. We can identify the difference between male and female with our noses, even if they are primate, feline, or canine, but telling the difference between individuals is more difficult to determine. You need to tell us everything you can about the male who hurt you so we can figure out who it was.”
Breeze cracked her knuckles. “We’ll allow you to watch. It will make you feel better to see him bleed.” She glanced at the others. “We can’t kill him though. We’ll just beat him up severely to make sure he is in pain for a good week.”
Ellie glanced at each of the women. She wasn’t sure if she should be grateful they’d do that to get justice for her or deeply disturbed for the same reason. “I so appreciate the concern. You have no idea how much this means to me. I could almost cry I’m so touched but it’s not what you think. He didn’t force me.”
“Explain why security arrived here checking rooms after they informed us you were missing? They stated there were signs of a struggle in the park.” Breeze studied Ellie with a calculated gaze. “We’re smart so please don’t insult us. You walked in smelling of sex, fear, and blood. Your wrists are red, which tells us you were tied down. I know it is a kinky human thing that we have read about but you had sex with a New Species male. We are not into that kind of sexual play and would never tie anyone down since it reminds us of the testing facilities, yet one of our males restrained you. Tell us his name or tell us what he looks like if you don’t know it. We will punish him and make sure that you are safe. You are our pet and we will not have anyone abuse you ever again.”
This had to be the weirdest conversation Ellie had ever had, hands down. They thought of her as the house pet, a poodle, not the house mother. She resisted flinching. She had always hated her wild and curly hair but poodles had horrible frizz issues. Perhaps some anti-frizz shampoo could go on her shopping list.
They were being protective and that meant the world to her. She had been certain every woman living inside the dorm hated her. This could be the first step to get to know them and maybe teach them what she could. It had to be a good thing, in her opinion.
“I’m fine. Please just drop it. It’s a private matter. I wasn’t hurt and the blood you smell is from an accidental scratch.”
Kit moved closer to inspect Ellie. “She’s too afraid to name him.” She leaned down, grabbed Ellie’s shirt, and shoved her nose against Ellie’s stomach. She sniffed and then jerked away. Horror flashed across her features and she made a soft sound.
“Fury,” she gasped. She stumbled back. “Not Fury. He—” She went silent.
Rusty uttered a curse. She lunged at Ellie, grabbed her, and shoved her flat on top of the bed. Fear hit Ellie as hard as a brick smacking her when the big woman yanked her shirt viciously upward to her breasts and pushed her nose tight against her skin. Sniffing sounds were followed by a snarl. Rusty jerked back and spun away. She walked to the corner and her hands slammed against the wall hard enough to make Ellie flinch.
“Fury,” Rusty confirmed with a shaky voice. “It was definitely him.”
Breeze appeared to be the only one who stayed calm. She regarded Rusty and Kit grimly. “I thought you said he’s a protector? Didn’t you say that, out of all your men, he took the most punishment to protect you against pain and suffering? Are you sure it’s his scent?”
Rusty nodded as she sniffled. She turned suddenly to reveal the tears tracking down her face as she stared at Ellie with confusion.
“Why would he do this to you? Why?”
“We aren’t blaming you,” Kit added quickly. She sounded miserable, as if she were going to cry too. “We’re trying to understand why he would do this. He was always the most careful to make sure we suffered no pain when they ordered us to have sex. When one of us flat-out refused to have sex with him, he took the beatings and wouldn’t touch us. He suffered so we didn’t have to. He would have died before he drew blood on one of us or hurt us in any way. We are just trying to understand.”
Ellie clawed her way to her feet by gripping the bed to get up. “Please, it’s not what anyone thinks. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me and it’s just a scratch. It’s a private matter. We, uh…damn. I don’t know how to explain this. He doesn’t want anyone to know and I already had to tell Justice North tonight when he found me at Fury’s house. They did that to you at the testing facilities? God.” Ellie sat down again, forgot her tenderness, and winced.
“It won’t leave this room,” Breeze swore softly. “You have our word, we will never repeat what you tell us. They are upset that this male would hurt you when he means so much to them. You need to tell what happened. We will protect you from him.”
Ellie groaned. She studied each woman, noticed Breeze looked sternly at her, her arms crossed, waiting for her to spill the whole story. Kit and Rusty were pale, shaken, and appeared ready to cry. Pained. That word fit. Sunshine just looked curious.
She couldn’t allow them to think the worst of Fury. Two of them obviously knew him really well. Ellie hated the jealousy that surfaced at the concept that he’d probably had sex with two of these women. They may not have had a choice. That helped a little. She took a deep breath and started from the beginning. She ended up telling them everything right up until the moment they’d followed her into her room. She wiped away tears as she studied each woman. She feared they might hate her now that she had confessed what she’d done.