“Thank you but you can save it if you are trying to scare me. I love him. I don’t plan on divorce and I sure as hell wouldn’t cheat on him.” Ellie wasn’t offended. She knew Justice just wanted to make sure she understood what she was facing as Fury’s wife. “I’m looking forward to spending my life with him. Every second of it.”
“He will scare you sometimes. We snarl, growl and dominate. We try to restrain it but it is worse since we found our freedom. We struggle with the animal and the humanity inside us, Ellie. I know how independent women are. Our own females are that way up to a point but they also understand our males. They’re able to work around us better. I just wanted to you be aware of it. He won’t mean to insult you or your pride. It is just our nature to be aggressive and take control of situations.”
“Like when he turned down a job for me without asking?” Ellie smiled at the memory.
“He did that? You took the job anyway.”
“He finally asked me if I wanted it. It did irritate me at first.”
A smile flicked across Justice’s mouth. “I’m sure it did. He wanted to look out for you though.”
“I know.”
“So you are already aware of the differences.”
“Yes.”
Justice hesitated. “May I ask you a very personal question?”
“Sure. Go ahead.”
“Why did he bind you?”
Bind me? Her mind blanked for a second and then she understood what he meant. Oh. Ellie blushed. “You mean with the dishtowel and the tape?”
“Yes.”
“He got a bit overexcited and wanted to calm down. He bound my hands so I couldn’t touch him.”
“He was angry?”
Ellie shook her head, blushing more. “He got overly sexually excited. He wanted it to be good for both of us and he wanted to touch me until I became as aroused as he was. I love to touch him so he bound my hands.”
Justice’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “I understand now. You don’t mind being bound? Our people hate to be restrained. We fear it.”
“Nobody ever hurt me the way your people were. I don’t have nightmares about being tested and prodded. I’m sure some people would find it frightening to be tied up but I don’t. I trust Fury and know he wouldn’t hurt me, nor do I have a problem with being dominated. It appeals to me when Fury does it. Is that a good way to put it?”
“Perfect. Thanks, Ellie. I am sorry for my reaction and the resulting harm I caused you. I thought he had lost his mind and had hurt you. Ever since the day he grabbed you in that conference room he hasn’t been sane where you are concerned. I believed he really wanted to do you harm.”
“He actually did want to kill me that day.” Ellie chuckled. “I’m glad he changed his mind.”
“I do have some good news.”
“What is that?” Ellie leaned back against her chair, relaxing. “I could really use some.”
“Something good has come out of all this.” Justice motioned toward Fury. “I just concluded a meeting with our public relations director. She informed me the press has backed us a hundred percent. Phone calls and emails have been pouring in supporting us. Your people are horrified over what happened. The cameras were still rolling and a lot of the news stations carried the broadcast live. Did you know that?”
Horror washed through Ellie. “They were broadcasting it live on the news when Fury was shot?”
“It’s all right,” Justice said, to reassure her. “It’s actually a good thing, it seems. Good opinion for New Species has jumped phenomenally. How much do you remember of it? I know you aren’t trained to retrain details or react calmly under extreme conditions the way we are.”
“Not much. All hell broke loose and then Fury carried me to the safety inside the gates where we couldn’t be shot at anymore. Then he collapsed on the ground.”
“When the men opened fire,” Justice informed her calmly, “Fury reacted. He kicked over the table to shield everyone sitting there from the incoming bullets. He threw himself over your body to make certain the bullets would strike him instead of you. He was shot once and must have realized the table wasn’t thick enough to stop them. At that point he lifted you up and ran to get you to safety. He took another bullet while running.” Justice paused. “You were the target. They wanted to kill you. He got you to safety before anyone accomplished that.”
Tears blinded Ellie and she had to wipe them away. Fury had saved her. She knew he had but hearing exactly what he’d done to protect her broke her heart. He’d taken two bullets for her.
“They did harm me. They shot Fury.”
“I know. The good news is, our public relations director believes the general consensus is that every father is wishing right now his daughter grows up to marry a New Species since Fury risked his life to save yours. Women think we are natural heroes.” He shrugged and gave her a confused look. “I’ve been assured that’s a good thing for fathers to feel that way.”
Ellie couldn’t help herself. She laughed. “It’s a good thing women tend to be very attracted to those kinds of men.”
“I see. Thank you.” He winked at her. “I’m supposed to know these things but the truth is, I’m still learning about humans.”
“I’m glad the response was favorable toward New Species.”
He nodded. “The bottom line is, this turned out to be a positive thing for us. Fury risked his life to save you and that seems to have gone over really well for the general public. We even got word that a lot of your people are pressuring the government and local law authorities to do something against the extremist groups who have targeted us. They are putting pressure on anyone who has supported the protestors to stop. This really could be the best thing that happened, as horrible as that sounds. It gave the world a real view of our situation and made us a bit more human to them.”
Ellie’s gaze returned to the glass to watch Fury’s sleeping face. “I’m glad something good came out of this.”
“Me too. He’s going to be fine, Ellie.”
She nodded. “I know.”
* * * * *
The pain tore through Fury when he woke but he thought of Ellie first. He struggled to sit up, to find her. Strong hands held him down.
“Fury?” Ellie’s sweet, soft voice called to him.
His eyes opened and there she stood, pale, tired, and hovering just inches above his face. He breathed in her scent to assure she wasn’t an apparition. The smell of medicine, cleaners and something foreign nearly overpowered hers though.
“Don’t move, Fury,” she ordered him. “You were shot.” Big tears welled in her beautiful blue eyes. “You saved me and you’re going to be fine. You need to stay very still to help you heal.”
He studied her face carefully. “You are unhurt?” Fear jolted through him at the thought of what could have happened to his Ellie. “I just wanted to get you out of the line of fire. I couldn’t allow anything to happen to you.”
“You got me to safety.”
He relaxed and the strong hands holding him down released. “Where is Justice?”
“I’m here.”
Fury turned his head to stare at his best friend. “Protect my Ellie while I can’t. I want a full team guarding her. Only New Species. I only trust our people to make sure no one hurts her. She’s priority, Justice. Swear.”
“You know it’s being done without you having to ask. Heal and don’t think about anything but getting better. She’ll have around-the-clock New Species officers guarding her and no one will get near her. I give you my word.”
Fury’s gaze drifted back to Ellie and he moved his arm, reaching up to caress her cheek. His thumb brushed at the tears that slipped down her face. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Fury. I was so afraid you’d die on me.”
“You won’t get rid of me that easily. You’re stuck with me forever.”