“She’s pure human but she’s a good one,” Breeze assured softly. “She’s our house pet.” Breeze winked at Ellie. “We call her a poodle. That’s those cute dogs that are small and have puffy hair.”

The blonde looked shocked as her wide gaze turned to Ellie. “Aren’t you angry, being called a pet?”

Ellie chuckled. “I know it’s meant with love. What is your name?”

The blonde hesitated. “They call me Halfpint.”

Ellie glanced at Breeze. Breeze shrugged. Ellie had a ton of unanswered questions but pushed the one she really wanted to ask back for later. “Well, do you have any other questions?”

Halfpint addressed Breeze. “May I?”

Breeze sighed. “You don’t need permission anymore. You’re free. There’s no fear here, Halfpint. You can ask anything you want.”

Halfpint straightened her shoulders. She looked frightened when she faced Ellie. “Are you training us to go back to be better at what we were meant for?”

“No,” Breeze snapped. “That’s done and over. You are free. Do you understand? You are here so you can learn to run your home like any other human. They all learn how to cook meals and operate appliances.” Breeze stood suddenly from the chair. “I need some air.” She fled the kitchen.

Confused, Ellie stood there. She didn’t know what was going on. Halfpint’s gray eyes filled with tears. Ellie moved to stand in front of her.

“It’s okay. This is all new to you. Are you all right?”

Halfpint wiped at her tears. “I made her angry.”

Ellie glanced at the empty doorway knowing she couldn’t disagree with that. “What did you mean by going back to what you were before?”

Halfpint looked even more fearful. She turned suddenly and threw herself into the arms of another woman, hugging her tightly. Ellie realized they were all suddenly afraid for some reason. No other New Species women had ever been afraid of her. Ellie stepped back, hoping it would alleviate their fear.

“Why don’t you go and unpack you clothes? We’ll just take today really slow and you can meet the other women. I put notes on the backs of your doors to let you know when meals are served. If you have any questions I’ll be here until five. The other women will help you if I’m not around.”

Ellie watched the women flee then went in search of Breeze. She spotted her through the living room window and let herself out of the building. Breeze sat on a bench under a tree on the front yard of the dorm. Ellie sat next to her.

“What was that about?”

Breeze used her foot to rub the grass. “What was done to them pisses me off. The doctors created them weak on purpose. Those women are afraid to even ask you a question and did you hear that comment about before? No matter how many times they are told that shit is over, they are still terrified they are being lied to, and being sent back.”

“I don’t understand.”

Breeze lifted her head and revealed the tears in her eyes. “They spliced their DNA with domestic animals to make them weak and small. They didn’t create them to run tests on. They weren’t combined with different species for medical research. They made them to be used and abused.”

Ellie crossed her arms. “For what?”

Breeze wiped at a tear that slid down one cheek and let her head drop. “Gifts. The doctors made them to be sex slaves to the bastards who funded the testing facilities. They were passed over to whatever ass**le had enough money and was perverted enough to want to f**k an animal that was human looking enough to be appealing. They made them small enough to be helpless and unable to defend themselves.”

“Oh God.” Ellie knew the blood drained from her face. “Please tell me you are kidding.”

Breeze shook her head. “We found some of them but Justice is still searching with the help of your government. We were too late to save most of the ones we’ve traced the money transactions on so far. The men who were arrested confessed to abusing them to death. These were the ones who were tougher and bigger, who survived the worst.”

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

Breeze met her eyes. “Me too. Not only did those bastards hand out gifts to sickos with animal fetishes but they gave them to the worst of humanity. Murderers who have admitted to beating the life from them or starved them to death.”

Ellie was glad she’d missed breakfast or she might have thrown it up on the grass at her feet. “So when they said before, they meant that? They think I’m trying to train them to be better…” She clamped her mouth shut as bile rose.

“Gifts,” Breeze growled.

“Those sons of bitches.”

Breeze nodded. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper but I get enraged. I had it bad, Ellie. Trust me. We all had hellish lives but they had it so much worse. I had a few guards try to sexually assault me. I fought back and even killed one of them. Most of the staff inside the testing facility was willing to protect us against that and it didn’t happen often. They said we were too expensive to damage. The testing facility only made us have sex with our own people but we didn’t hurt each other. We shared dignity and respect and kindness. They didn’t have that when males touched them.”

Ellie rose to her feet on unsteady legs. “I guess I’m going to have to really reach out to them and hopefully they can learn to trust us.”

Breeze stood and smiled down at Ellie sadly. “You are small the way they are and maybe that will help them. Halfpint thought you were one of them.”