The man gripping her arm jerked hard, forcing her to follow Brawn and she hurried her step. She didn’t want to lose sight of him. The stairs were wide and metal, leading down into a near darkness below. Her gaze flashed upward to the windows. The sight of sunshine assured her they’d traveled for at least three and a half hours.

Claustrophobia batted at her as they traveled down at least three dark flights of stairs, going deeper into the bowels of the warehouse. Only a few light bulbs illuminated the way for her to see the steps. The air grew noticeably cooler at each landing. She hated that—it notched up her fear but Brawn remained in sight.

The bottom level ended in two big metal doors that the men pushed open while carrying Brawn between them. The sight that met Becca’s fearful gaze made her halt in her tracks. The room was large but bright, long lights hung from the ceiling. They showed two large cages clearly in the center of the room, set about ten feet apart. The things were massive, something that should be found in a zoo instead of the basement of a warehouse and the guy gripping her arm yanked hard.

“Move.”

She got a better view of the room as she entered the double doors. Other cages were set up along the walls and it horrified her to see a few inhabitants inside them. Someone lay on a bunk while another man paced the length of the bars. His head whipped around and she gasped, identifying a New Species face.

They had more of them. That realization left her cold. Concrete walls separated those cells along the walls—they were bigger than the ones in the middle of the room and much longer. The guy holding her led her to a cage, opened the door and shoved her inside. He let go to slam the door and lock her in.

Brawn was dumped inside the second cage to her right, his body made the cot creak when it took his weight and the four men fled. They not only locked the door but used chains to wrap around a few sections with chunky locks securing them.

The kidnappers removed their masks as they walked out of her sight through a twin set of double doors near the ones she’d entered. The silence in the huge room was spooky, absolute and she turned to study her prison.

A cot had been set up, a camp toilet placed in the corner and folded blankets had been left on the long bed. She stared at the metal floor under her feet, lifted her chin to look up at the bars overhead and fought tears. Think. Remain calm. Those silent orders helped as she carefully took stock of her surroundings past the bars.

It wasn’t hard to spot the cameras aimed in her direction once she scanned the ceiling. They were larger models, geared for outdoor security and a concrete wall blocked her view of whatever was behind her prison. It wasn’t that high, maybe ten feet of divider, but more than enough to keep her curious about what she couldn’t see.

Her hands gripped the thick, cool bars and she studied them. No signs of rust showed at the joints and she doubted they’d ever seen the outside to be exposed to the elements. She inched to the door, saw the gap was nearly nonexistent and it had been well built. A metal plate covered the section far enough to make it impossible for her to reach around and attempt to pick the lock. The inside part of the door lock was totally sealed, without any key access. It told her one thing for sure. They hadn’t been designed to hold animals. A shiver sliced down her spine.

Becca got as close to Brawn’s cage as she could, staring at his facedown form. His chest rose and fell, assuring her that he still lived. The drugs they’d dosed him with worried her. She couldn’t see how anyone wouldn’t overdose on all those tranquilizers.

“Brawn?” She cleared her throat. “Please wake up! Can you hear me?”

A growl from across the room jerked her head in that direction to see the pacing male had moved to the corner of his cell, gripped the bars and glared at her. He had really long black hair to his waist—a wild mass of tangled, silky strands—but she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes. Just the shape of them and those pronounced full lips and wide cheekbones assured her of his altered DNA.

“I’m Becca,” she got out, hoping he’d talk to her. “How long have you been here?”

He growled again, a scary, deep sound. He wasn’t exactly the talkative type, she decided. Not real friendly either. She wasn’t about to give up though. The more information she gained the better the chances of figuring a way out of the nightmare she was living.

“Can you talk?” She released the bars and touched her chest. “Becca.” She pointed to him. “What is your name?”

He spun away, snarled and kept pacing. She gave up instantly on trying to learn anything from him. She did study his clothes—white pants with wide, thick seams running down the sides and that’s all he wore. His chest was massive, his arms thickly muscled and his fingers were clawed at his side. Something seemed to have agitated him from the way he stalked back and forth. Her focus returned to Brawn.

“Brawn!” Her voice rose sharply. “Wake up, damn it!”

His arm twitched, gave her hope and she pressed tightly to the bars. “Brawn? Open your eyes right now! I’m worried about you. You’ve been heavily drugged and need to fight it. Can you hear me? It’s Becca. Remember me? We live together. Brawn!”

He was sluggish as he rolled, fell right off the cot and she winced when his big body sprawled onto the metal floor. That seemed to rouse him though as he snarled, pushed up with his arms and his eyes opened. Fury twisted his normally handsome features as he stared at the bars and lifted his chin to take in the cage roof. Every muscle appeared to tighten with strain.

“Brawn?” Becca softened her voice. “Are you okay?”

His head jerked in her direction, confusion crossed his face. The anger receded and he paled. “No.”

“We were attacked. Do you remember?”

He rose to his feet slowly, rubbed at some of the marks from the darts he’d taken to his thighs and stared around them. His gaze stayed on the cages across the room where the two other prisoners were kept. He moved fast though, hit the side of the bars and growled at the pacing male.

The other guy ignored him, kept walking the length of his cage and Brawn sniffed loudly. “Fuck.”

“What?”

He turned his head. “We’re in a lot of trouble.”

“No shit!” She bit her lip and glanced at the cameras. “They are watching us.”

He followed her gaze and turned her way, came to the corner closest to her cage and studied her body slowly. “Are you harmed? Did they drug you too?”

“No. I think they are from Mercile.” She whispered that part. “I overhead enough to know they are working for some woman doctor and they know your number. That’s classified, right?”

“My number?”

“358.”

“That’s not me.”

She stared at the Species pacing. “Maybe it’s him.”

Brawn glanced at the other male before staring at Becca. “I can smell drugs heavily in the room and suspect he’s drugged. I’ve smelled those chemicals before and he’s mentally gone if it’s coming from him. Has he talked to you at all?”

“No. He growled a bit but no actual words. I tried to ask him how long he’s been here but he just began pacing again. He’s done that since we came in.”

“How long have I been out?”

“About four hours, best guess, but it could have been longer. I saw sunlight before they brought us down here. We were in that van for at least three and a half hours because that’s how long it would have been until the sun rose when we were attacked. They drove us here in a commercial van with a home security logo on it but I’m pretty sure they don’t work for that company. I got a good enough look at it to see it was one of those magnet signs affixed to it and a real company would have them painted.”

“We are in serious trouble.”

“You think?” She gaped at him a little. “What I can’t figure out is why they wanted us alive. Wouldn’t Mercile employees want you dead? You guys sue the shit out of the company and my dad said that they are tracking down anyone who worked at that company to show the victims pictures to try to identify the ones who abused your people.”

He sniffed the air. “Hope my memory is wrong.”

“What does that mean?”

He hesitated. “I smell the drug they used on us for breeding experiments.”

Her knees weakened. “What does that mean?”

“They developed a highly stimulating drug to force us to desire sex and dosed us when we refused to mount our women sometimes when they were trying to figure out why we weren’t able to get our females to conceive. The room reeks of it and that is very bad.”

No shit. “I don’t see any of your women. There’s the guy sleeping on the cot and him.” She glanced at the pacer who hadn’t slowed inside his cell.

“I smell another Species male, at least twelve different human males and two human females. You are one of them.”

That was seriously disturbing. Becca knew the doctor the mercenaries worked for was a woman so that just left her on the wrong side of the cage bars. The blood drained from her face at the implications.

“You don’t think they brought me here to…you know.” She slowly mouthed the next words she hoped he’d understand after lifting her hands to cover her profile from the cameras. “They think I’m your girlfriend.”

Brawn spun away with a snarl, obviously able to read lips. He walked to the cage door, studied it and gave it a kick with his bare foot. Becca winced, knew that had to hurt and the metal didn’t budge. He lifted his leg, rubbed his toes and snarled again. He dropped the leg, spun and stormed back to the corner closest to her.

“I will do everything I can to protect you,” he swore softly. “You need to trust me.”

“I do.” She meant it. She hadn’t known him for long but he was a good guy. “We’ll be found.” She didn’t want to tell him about the dead body or how her father would use it to tear into the man’s past, too afraid the cameras would pick up her words. She didn’t want these assholes to be warned. “Nothing will stop them.”

He nodded. “Watch what you say.”

That bit of advice was useless since she already had surmised that. Brawn stared at her and took deep breaths. “I was not drugged with the breeding drug. This is good news.”

The double doors the men had left through suddenly were thrown open. The sound echoed in the big room and Becca gaped at the sight of four men pushing a gurney through the opening. A large New Species male was strapped down on it. His eyes were closed but his heritage was apparent from his muscular size. It became more apparent as the jerks pushed him closer. His cheekbones and full lips were a dead giveaway and Brawn sniffed loudly as they passed their cages and moved out of sight behind the concrete wall behind them. The wheels of the gurney stopped shortly after.

A good minute passed before a cage door slammed closed. The sound was distinctive enough for Becca to be sure and chains rattled. They were obviously securing his door the way they had Brawn’s. The four guys returned minus the Species and the gurney. One of them stopped to glare at Brawn.

“You’re next, asshole.”

She knew that voice. It was Randy, the one she’d winged in her house, the leader of the mercenaries. She saw the bandage near his ear as he turned his attention to her. “Then you, bitch. I’m going to take great pleasure watching you suffer.”

“Why are we here?” Brawn kept his voice low.

A smile curved the bastard’s lips and he gripped his hips. “The doctor wanted fresh meat but your girlfriend was a bonus.” Randy took a step closer but remained a good ten feet from the edge of Brawn’s cage. “You know what’s going to happen. We don’t have any females, weren’t able to grab any of them when we were raided, so she’s it.” His grin widened. “I hope she likes pussies as much as you do.” He lifted his hand and jerked it toward the pacing New Species. “He’ll be first and you’ll get her second.”

Brawn roared, lunged at the side of the cage and grabbed it. “He’ll kill her.”

“Even better.” Randy touched his bandage. “That cunt tried to blow my brains out. I’ll enjoy hearing her screams.” He spun, marched away and his three goons followed him.

Becca trembled. She wasn’t an idiot and could fill in the blanks. Brawn refused to glance at her and instead glared at the double doors that closed behind the men. She backed away from the side of the cage to sit heavily on her cot. Her legs didn’t want to hold her weight anymore.

Her gaze traveled across the room to the still agitated Species male. Terror gripped her. The guy couldn’t even talk and didn’t seem friendly in the least. He’d kill her for sure if she were thrown into his cage for some breeding experiment.

“Becca?”

She turned her head at Brawn’s raspy tone. He watched her, his beautiful gaze grim.

“I know. Breeding drugs, I’m the only woman and that guy over there is out of his head, right?”

“Listen to me.” Brawn took a deep breath and gripped the bars. “Do not fight if they put you in there with the male. He will be aggressive to begin with but if you resist, he will…” His voice trailed off.

“Kill me?”

Brawn refused to look away from her. “Yes.”

Hot tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back.

“He is drugged and it is painful. His body is on fire, the need to mount a female has taken his sanity and he will be sorry when it passes.” A sad note filled his voice. “I know this.”