“He’s so fierce. To see him this way breaks my heart. Let’s give him some privacy with his mate’s scent. Make those calls and order our men to stay hidden. Hopefully they will return here. I don’t know what else to do.”

* * * * *

“Wake up,” a voice growled next to Tammy’s ear. “They come to feed us. Stay on the bed and do not go near the bars.”

Tammy’s eyes snapped open. She met 927’s gaze as he lifted off her. He stood, putting his body in the path of the cell door and her. Tammy sat up and noticed with some alarm that the broken glass wall had disappeared but the debris from it remained on the metal floor. How did I sleep through that?

Her attention lifted to the top of the room when a hum sounded and she saw a two inch gap in the cage roof. The length ran across the room where the glass wall had been. She heard a louder noise, a whine of an engine, and another glass wall was lifted by some kind of crane system from the other side of the warehouse.

She gaped, watching as it was positioned over the cage, lined up with the slot of the opening and lowered slowly from the ceiling. She stared in shock at it. Obviously the glass walls were removable from the top and the broken one had been lifted out. A new one slid in all the way to the floor to separate the cell from the door.

The New Species with his back to her tensed and growled deeply. Tammy realized he did it in an attempt to protect her. That seemed a vast improvement from being sure he’d kill her when she’d been tossed into the caged room with him. He’d held her instead while she slept and hadn’t hurt her. Gratitude toward him and hope that Valiant and the New Species at Reservation would find them flooded her. She just needed to stay alive.

“You didn’t mount her.” Pete approached the cage. “Why not? Do you like men, 927? The doctor said to leave her in there and your nature will eventually make you f**k her. That smell thing must have worked since you are interested in her. I guess you guys don’t mind sharing, huh?”

Mike snorted. “If you bend her over it’s just the same as taking a man.”

“One ass**le is as good as another. Just close your eyes and pretend she’s Mike.”

“Hey, that isn’t funny. Don’t have him fantasize about bending me over. I don’t want him looking at me that way.”

Pete laughed. “Better he thinks about you that way than me and we’re the only two he sees unless you want to count the doctor. Nobody would want to screw him.”

“True.” Mike laughed. He opened the cell door and set down a large platter and a container. “Come and get it.” He slammed the cell door and both men left.

A minute later the loud noise sounded again. The glass partition started to slowly rise. 927 relaxed and turned to meet Tammy’s gaze. “I will go over there. You can use the toilet without me watching you.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

There was no privacy inside the room. She glanced at 927. He had walked to the cell door and stared out of it, keeping his back to her. The toilet was just that, a portable one that had been set on the metal with tubes shoved between the wall and the cage that led out of sight.

Toilet paper sat on the back of the lid. Tammy hurried and used it. There was a hose and a drain hole had been cut through metal next to the seat on the floor. She used it to wash her hands. It was similar to turning on a garden hose and just pointing the weak spray into the hole on the floor. This had to be his only way to get clean. It was barbaric.

“I’m done. Thank you.”

927 turned and nodded. He picked up the silver container and carried it to the bed. 927 pointed to the floor when he took a seat there, indicating she should sit next to him. He used the bed for a table. She cringed when he lifted the lid to reveal the food. It was “Valiant food” only. She could tell it wasn’t cooked much. They’d brought steaks, sliced into strips, seared only, on a bloody plate.

She sat. “I can’t eat that. It’s too raw.”

He frowned at her. “You will eat. You need strength. Close your eyes and think why you must survive. You must take down at least one.”

She cringed but knew he had a point. She hadn’t eaten in a long time and her belly ached from hunger. He picked up a chunk of seared meat and held it out. Her hands shook as her fingers gripped an end of it, careful not to let blood drip onto her clothes.

He lifted another and locked gazes with her. He showed her how to sink her teeth into it and yank to tear the meat. She tried but the meat was very tough and her teeth weren’t sharp enough as his were. She had to fight the urge to be sick at the taste of blood. The meat had dripped it into her mouth when she’d bitten into it, trying to tear it unsuccessfully. She tried to bite into it but since it was so tough and thick that she just took it out.

“I can’t eat this. I can’t even get a piece. I can only gnaw on it.”

He reached over and used his fingers to open her lips, his knuckle against her teeth to nudge them open too. Tammy opened her mouth for his inspection. He frowned. His fingertip ran across the edge of her teeth before he explored her back teeth. He pulled his finger away.

“They are too smooth. Why did your kind allow someone to grind your teeth down? They are useless.”

“They just grow this way. We don’t have a need to tear things with our teeth. We use forks and knives.”

He pulled the meat from her fingers. He opened his mouth and tore a small piece of meat from the steak and handed it to her. She hesitated and took it. Good thing I’m not a germ freak, huh? She cringed as she ate the small piece of bloody meat. He tore another small piece off and placed it on the tray in front of hers. He used his teeth and kept tearing her small strips, making a pile.