Her fearful gaze darted around at the men who had climbed to their feet. A few of them inched closer as they surrounded her. Terror hit.

“Stay away from him.” She didn’t have a weapon but she wouldn’t allow them to harm 880. “You’ll have to kill me before you hurt him.”

One of the men who marched from the barn reached up and tore at the mask that covered his face. Trey Roberts worked for the task force that NSO controlled. She’d met him a few times when he’d brought in injured Species and her mouth dropped open when she identified him. These men weren’t strangers intent on killing 880.

They’d come to arrest her and take him back home.

“Dr. Baker.” Trey halted four feet away, his hands gripping his black cargo pants at his hips while he frowned. “You’re in deep shit.” His gaze lowered to 880. “Fuck. I need to call this in now.

You managed to bring him out of his coma.”

“I need my medical bag.” She licked her lips, nervous but excited at the same time. “He’s overdone it by getting out of bed. I—”

“You’re done.” Trey advanced, bent, and gently grabbed her upper arms. He was a big guy and he lifted her onto her unsteady legs before shouting, “Medic!”

“Let me go! I need to help him. I need to—”

“Not fight,” he finished. “You don’t seem to understand the severity of what you’ve done. You kidnapped a Species, Dr. Baker.” He led her away from 880 and the house. His firm grip forced her to walk in front of him. “The only place you’re going is to lockup until I get my orders from the NSO on what to do with you.”

She tried to twist in his hold to reach 880 but he just tightened his fingers around her upper arms. She couldn’t even see around his wide chest when she tried to get a glimpse of 880 to make sure a medic really did tend to him.

“He needs fluids. He is probably in shock and I’m a doctor, damn it! Let me treat him.”

Trey halted and leaned in to study her face.

“They don’t trust you anymore to treat their people. Who could blame them? You took him away from the only place he was safe and you could have gotten him killed. Be happy I told the men not to shoot you. Tim said we could but I told the team to ignore that order. I don’t kill women unless I absolutely have to and I liked you before I realized you were capable of kidnapping a Species.” He gently nudged her forward again toward a parked SUV hidden behind the barn. “Do yourself a favor. Be quiet. I’m sure you’ll have plenty to say when Justice gets you inside an interrogation room. I almost feel sorry for you. That’s one guy you don’t want to fuck with, yet you did.” A hint of pity softened his features. “Let’s go, Dr. Baker. I’m just grateful we found you instead of someone who hates you and them.”

Alli’s a human, a technician, and not my kind.

880 lay still, refused to even twitch, hiding the fact that he’d regained consciousness. The sound of male voices reached him. The weight had returned to his wrists and ankles, leaving him no doubt they’d restrained him. His only advantage would be to pretend to be unaware of his surroundings until he could work out a plan of escape.

Betrayal caused physical pain inside his chest.

She was human, not a female given to him to replace 46, and she’d been trying to fool him into trusting her. He should have figured that out with her strange words but the drugs had affected his thinking. The clues were there if he’d just focused more on them. What are their intentions?

What do they want from me now? What kind of cruel punishment have they plotted? He had no answers.

She obviously had screamed as a test to see if he was really as drugged as he’d acted. They must have been watching with cameras and seen him moving in the dark when her breathing assured him Alli slept. He’d fallen for the trap when her screams had reached his ears and he’d tried to protect her. He hadn’t cared at the time that it gave away the fact that his strength was returning if it prevented her death.

Human! He just couldn’t get past that and rage filled him. He’d allowed a technician to sleep at his side, touch him, and he’d had the opportunity to gain revenge by harming her. 46 was gone, they had nothing left to use to punish him if he didn’t do as they ordered. He could have snapped her neck. For revenge. For 46. Retribution. He knew that word and what it meant.

The male voices grew louder as they approached.

“I can’t believe it worked. I feel bad, Justice.

I thought she was just desperate but damned if he didn’t wake up after being around a female scent for four days. The team said he stayed upright long enough to throw them away from her.

My man in there was fierce, according to Trey.

He even spoke. That’s got to be a good sign that he’s not feral if he could form words.”

“We won’t be certain until he wakes again, Tiger.” The other male sighed deeply. “What the hell do we do with Dr. Allison? She’s begging the officers to allow her to check on him. What if he bonded to her scent? Is he unconscious because he can’t smell her? Trisha is on her way and will be landing in twenty minutes. I pulled her from Reservation to deal with this. Ted is great but he’s at a loss with how Dr. Allison managed to get 880 on his feet. He’s been following his progress every step of the way.”

“Gregory was the closest. He said 880 seemed surprised that Dr. Allison was human and even accused her of being a technician. Trey Roberts believes 880 woke to come to her aid. He must have heard her screams when the team grabbed her and it snapped him out of the coma. Maybe he thought it was his mate in trouble.”

“Did she say why he wasn’t restrained? I haven’t had time to read all the statements from the team but understand he wasn’t.”

“Dr. Allison released him after the first day.

She said she felt stupid having an unconscious male restrained and she believes he’s not dangerous.” The one called Tiger paused. “She’s been around us for too long and has never seen an angry new male who came directly from Mercile.”

“We’ll have Trisha make the hard decisions.

Right now he’s stable and Dr. Allison isn’t leaving the cell she’s contained in. Destiny is raising a fit to see her but I don’t think that’s a good idea. He’s admitted to being attracted to her and I’m afraid he’ll attempt to pull mate status to save her if we decide to prosecute her for kidnapping 880.”

“Shit,” Tiger muttered. “It’s going to be ugly if we have to lock her up for years. She’s made a lot of friends here but we can’t just forgive what she did. I’m fond of her myself but it doesn’t change the fact that she put a Species at risk. We can’t condone that.”

The one called Justice hesitated. “She woke him. That’s got to count for something. It’s a hell of a mess.”

“I know.” 880 sensed that Tiger stepped closer.

“I’m afraid he’ll care what happens to her. What if locking her away from him keeps him from waking again? She might have been onto something with the female scent. He woke to protect her.”

“Hell.” The voice of the other male came closer too. “We’ll see what Trisha has to say. I know Dr. Allison has been clear that she’s willing to put her life at risk but what if he were to kill her if we allowed her near him? I’d feel guilty.

We just don’t know enough about him.”

“He’s clueless that his life has changed and probably thinks he’s still at the mercy of Mercile.

I wish some of our men had been with the team who located them. Maybe seeing one of us would have shocked him more but it might have made him realize who has him now.”

A firm hand gripped 880’s shoulder and he was able keep his body lax to hide the fact that he was conscious. He expected pain but none came.

“880, if you can hear me, I am Justice. I am like you.” He paused. “Tiger is like you too. We were once held prisoner by Mercile Industries but we were freed. You are safe here with your own kind. We have you restrained because we don’t know if you are dangerous to us or not. Your mental state is unknown.” His hand moved away.