The Breeding Experiment - Laurann Dohner Page 0,28
allowing Roth to walk between them. His grouping leader had removed his helmet, cradling it in one arm, and held a weapon in the other. Roth met his gaze and stopped feet away.
“Shift if you’re able,” he softly rasped.
Gnaw sat and closed his eyes, trying to calm.
“He’s not shifting.” Jasper sounded anxious.
“Give it time,” Roth snapped. “It’s not instant. He’s been fighting for his life. You saw the bodies. Gnaw has to get control of his anger first.”
Gnaw pictured the stream he and his grouping used to splash and play in as cubs. It was always a soothing memory. His skin tingled, bones began to reshape, and he ignored the slight pain of transforming. Once it was over, he opened his eyes and rose to his feet.
Roth glanced at one of the humans, tossing him his helmet. The team member caught it. Then Roth reached behind him, yanking a pair of pants from where he must have tucked them into his weapons belt.
Gnaw accepted them, putting them on. They were loose fitting, the type they wore to train and exercise. “There’s a female…Darla.” He tried to walk around Roth to go find her.
His grouping leader moved, blocking his path. “The medics are treating her.” Roth inched closer until their faces were inches apart, gazes locked. “Let them.”
“She might be afraid. I need to check on her. An Elth took her down. She hit the floor hard before I could get it away from her.”
Roth refused to move. “The female is being treated. Right now, we need to figure out if anything is wrong with you. Were you drugged? Altered in any way that you’re aware of? The Elth enjoy doing both of those things.”
“No.”
“The Elth didn’t operate on you?”
“No.”
Roth turned toward Craig Treeton. “Give us a few minutes alone.”
“That’s against protocol until the medics have cleared him.”
Gnaw’s grouping leader spun, snarling low at the human. “He’s calm and not a threat. We’re contained inside a room with only one exit. This is a Veslor matter. Leave the room and allow me to speak to my male. That’s not a request. I have authority from Commander Bills to deal with my grouping. Leave!”
The humans didn’t appear to like it, but they exited the room. The door closed, sealing them inside. Roth slowly faced him.
“You smell of the human female. What happened?”
“The Elth demanded we breed. They seem to believe a half-human cub would be easier to manipulate and train for whatever purpose they’d intended.”
“You agreed to do this?” Anger flashed in Roth’s steady gaze.
“No!” he snarled.
Roth sniffed.
“We bred, but it was the female’s choice. The Elth threatened her sister.” Gnaw refused to apologize for his decision to copulate with Darla. “I didn’t hurt her. I wouldn’t do that. They threatened to kill her and bring her sister to me if we didn’t do as they demanded. She felt we stood a better chance of surviving, along with the other females, if we copulated together to stall the Elth. I knew you would come for us.”
Roth reached out and grasped his arm. “We will always find you. The other females located said one of them was taken away by force to be bred with you.” He growled low, his frustration showing. “I had hoped you hadn’t copulated with the female. I don’t know how the humans will twist this.”
“Darla will tell the humans she insisted that we copulate. There was no force. She’s a sincere female.”
“I hope it is so. Some humans look for reasons to hate us.”
“I would never harm a female.”
“You never need to say that to me. Is there a chance the female is carrying your cub?”
“No,” he growled. “I didn’t transform unless it was to kill my enemies.”
Relief flashed over Roth’s features. “Good. Now Maith wants to see you.”
Gnaw looked down at his body. “I’m unharmed. I avoided being shot by the Elth today, and my initial injuries after capture have fully healed.”
“Let him check you over. You know how he worries. It will also give you time before the humans question you. They will want to know every detail that took place between you and the female.”
Anger rose inside him, but he pushed it down. “I won’t reveal too many details.”
His grouping leader sighed. “Humans seem to not understand private boundaries. They will ask you questions about your time with the female that might provoke your rage. Keep in control, Gnaw.”
He gave a sharp nod. At least Roth wasn’t ordering him to answer the questions. Just to