“He wants you and that isn’t going to happen.”

“You mean he feels protective. I just don’t understand why he thought you’d hurt me. I know you wouldn’t so why doesn’t he? Don’t you two ever talk?”

True caught her gaze and his eyes narrowed. “He wants to mount you. He’d like nothing better than to take you to his home and to his bed.”

It stunned her. “I don’t think so.”

“He does.”

“I spent a lot of time with him at Drackwood. He never indicated he was attracted to me that way. We were friends, if anything.”

“Species weren’t friends with the staff.”

She could understand why he’d protest that concept. “I wasn’t exactly like the other employees. I talked to him a lot and kept him distracted when he was healing from injuries. When I wasn’t taking samples, I’d hang out in the treatment center. They were always understaffed and appreciated the help.”

“He wants you.”

She decided not to argue with True. He could be right but she doubted it. Flirt might feel protective of her after the times he’d seen her defy the doctors and properly treat his injuries. “I hate that the two of you fought.”

“I didn’t want to cause you distress.” He straightened his head.

“You could have been hurt.” She studied the bandages and the bruises forming on his torso. “Worse.”

True reached out and clasped her hand. “We need to talk. Sit.”

She liked the feel of his warm fingers wrapped over the top of hers. She took a seat to his immediate left. When she sat too close, his weight dipping the mattress left her no choice but to brace her feet to keep from sliding against his hip.

“The task force team and Darkness need answers. I believe there is a human out there who used you but they want proof.”

“I never deleted the texts on the cell phone. I was too busy reading the messages and typing responses to worry about anything but making sure no one approached me to see what I was doing. I’d shove it back inside the bag and bury it as fast as I could.”

“Where is it?”

She described the area by her apartment where she’d buried it in the loose dirt behind a patch of flowers next to some boulders. “I’m the only one who knew where I hid it. I didn’t even tell Agent Brice. He never asked though.”

“We’ll send someone to retrieve it.”

“Good.” It gave her hope that her story would be substantiated.

“We’ll need a detailed description of this male.”

“I can give you that. I also need to make that list of employees at Cornas. You’re sure no one else was arrested?”

He ran the pad of his thumb over the side of her hand. “Just you. The two males with you were dead.”

Her gut twisted at the memory of having to kill them but she refused to fall apart. Instead she focused on the fact that everyone had used the emergency exits to escape. “Shit. They all got away?”

“Yes.”

“But they didn’t take any New Species with them, right? All of them were accounted for? They survived?” She gave him a headcount of New Species at Cornas.

He nodded. “Our teams had to blast open their doors with low-level explosives. Evidence was left that Security attempted to reach them but failed. There were scars on the doors from bullet strikes and it appeared as if they’d used one of the emergency axes to try to pry loose the hinges on a door. They failed.”

Relief was immense. “Thank goodness.”

“You disabled an entire floor of locks with a stun gun. What made you think to do that?”

“I saw an electric door lock malfunction at the hematology lab.”

“Hematology lab?”

“It’s where they processed all the blood tests. I took a sample there once and found two of the technical support guys working on the door. One of the security officers was doing rounds and reached for his identification card to swipe and accidentally hit the on button for his stun gun on his belt. His other hand was touching the keypad. The jolt he got was enough to reach the pad and fried the circuits inside. It took them half an hour to replace the lock and get the door open.” She paused. “I realized I could use a stun gun to disable the doors if the need ever arose, and it did.”

True continued to caress her. “You need to be completely honest with me, Jeanie. I won’t hate you or be angry if you were aware of more than you’ve claimed. I know money, to humans, is very important and you may have reasons for needing to withhold the location of Species to get the NSO to pay you. I can’t help you if you don’t tell me the absolute truth. The human task force will find out everything, they always do, and this is the time to be honest.”

He slid off the bed to his knees, putting them at eye level. “No matter how bad you think it is, even if you believe I’ll be enraged by the details, I will protect you. Do you understand?” He lifted the hand holding hers and brought it to his lips. The kiss he brushed against the side of her thumb was featherlight. “I’ll forgive you. Just confess anything bad you’ve done now. I give you my word I won’t allow anyone to take you to prison.”

“I’m not lying to you, True,” she said each word with care. It hurt being questioned again after being intimate but she understood why he’d have doubts. It was even touching that he’d make the offer if she had been neck-deep in the horrific things done to him and other New Species. “Everything I’ve done since discovering what Drackwood was really doing in those sublevels has been to get New Species free. It was never about money.”