New Species 04 Justice (33 page)

“Leave it alone,” Jessie urged softly.

Breeze released Jessie’s shoulder, stood and glared at her. “You’ve been mounted

by a Species male. It was either by force or one is biting females for the novelty of it.

That wound isn’t that old. Is this why you were crying? I want a name now.”

“Please, Breeze. It’s not that way. You need to drop it.”

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“I’m calling for officers. You don’t understand the seriousness of this. If one of our

males is forcing your females into sex or biting them for fun, they need to be stopped

immediately.” Breeze spun for the door.

“Stop!”

Breeze turned and Jessie gave her a pleading look, panicked at the idea of her friend

making that call. “It’s not that way.”

A growl tore from Breeze. “How is it? I’m calling the officers.”

Justice would be furious. Their secret would be out if the officers were involved.

Every bit of pain she’d gone through would have been for nothing and he’d think she’d

done it out of revenge. She wasn’t that petty. “If I tell you the truth will you swear to me that you will never repeat any of it to anyone?”

Breeze looked uncertain. “I won’t be silent if a male is harming females.”

“That’s not what happened. It wasn’t forced and…” She touched the bite mark. “It

wasn’t just one of your men going around biting my kind for the hell of it.”

Breeze sat on the bed. “I give you my word. Talk.”

She bit her lip. “The day that Tammy and Valiant got married I met one of your

males. I was attacked by a newly freed male and a guy protected me. We had dinner

together and one thing led to another. It was mutual.”

“His name?”

She hoped to avoid answering. “We had consensual sex.”

“He bit you?” Breeze grimly frowned. “Did you change your mind during sex and

he tried to force you to stay under him? They don’t have much control once they start.

I’m sorry, Jessie. Did he hurt you bad?”

“He didn’t hurt me at all.”

“You saw him again. Here?” Her gaze fixed on the mark on her shoulder. “It’s

barely healed. You have been here about three weeks, right?”

“It was here.”

“How did the bite happen?”

“We were having sex.” She paused. “He gripped me with his teeth. He told me to

hold still. Do I really need to say this out loud?”

“You will if you don’t want to explain it to our officers. Spill.”

Jessie’s cheeks warmed. “He was trying to be really slow and gentle with me so he

didn’t risk hurting me but I wanted him not to be. I kind of forced the issue and he bit

me. It’s that simple. It didn’t hurt and he was sorry but it wasn’t to hurt me.”

Breeze kept staring at her, silent, and kept the frown in place.

“What?”

“Why were you crying before? Does he live at Reservation and had to go back? I

know some of our men from there were here a few weeks ago. Tell me his name I will

get him back here. You obviously miss him to shed tears at his absence.”

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“We’re not seeing each other anymore. I broke it off with him.”

“Why are you crying? Did you change your mind and want him back?”

“I wish it were that simple.” More tears threatened to spill. “I need your promise

you won’t say anything to anyone. I really need a friend right now, Breeze. I need

someone to talk to. Someone I can trust.”

“You can trust me. What secret is making you cry? I won’t drop this.”

“I had to break it off with him because he doesn’t want anyone to know he would

sleep with me.” Hot tears fell down her face. “He slept in my bed night after night but

during the day if I had passed by him he probably wouldn’t have spared a glance. I’m

so in love with him that it makes me sick. He has it set in his head that one day he’s

going to get a Species woman as his mate. That’s his big plan and I’m not in it.”

Breeze softly cursed. “He is stupid. You are a fine female, Jessie. Any of our men

should be proud to claim you. How long were you together?”

“He slept in my bed for four nights straight and he would probably still be in it if I

hadn’t told him I couldn’t do this secret-lovers thing anymore. I just can’t live that way, Breeze. It hurts that he’s never going to openly acknowledge me.”

“He is stupid. Some of our men have mated with your kind and are happy. I have a

plan. I will pretend to know nothing and make him spend time around Ellie and Fury.

He will see how happy they are and learn it can work between you. Tell me his name

and I will do this.” Breeze grinned. “We will fix this.”

“He already knows them.”

That wiped the grin from Breeze’s face. “What is the problem? Everyone can see

how happy they are. He should embrace the happiness he can have with you.”

Jessie’s heart pounded as she hesitated. “The problem is, he believes he’ll be letting

your people down if he’s with me. He’s worried about hate groups going crazy, my dad

pulling his support from the Species issues in Washington and that all hell will break

loose. I think he’s also worried that he’ll be setting a bad example to your people if he picks me over one of your women.”

Breeze frowned. “No one has that much influence on all of us or your father.”

“There is one,” Jessie whispered.

The color slowly drained from Breeze’s face. “Justice.”

Jessie burst into tears and Breeze softly cursed.

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Breeze paced the bedroom, shooting glances at Jessie and clenched her fists. “It

makes more sense now. Justice is very smart.” She paused. “Now I see it. He moved

you into this house to keep you next door to him. Everyone wondered why he would

put a human here. They only live in the human village except for Ellie who lives with

Fury. We were told it was because Justice is close with your father and he wanted you

in the safest place at Homeland. These homes are guarded and secured more than any

others.”

“I know.”

“He lives next door and can come in here without anyone knowing.”

Jessie nodded. “I know.”

Breeze gaped at her. “He is so smart. Tonight…” Breeze threw her hand over her

mouth before dropping it to her side. “He wasn’t worried about your safety or you

being in a bar with our kind. He was jealous. He was so enraged over you being there

and you were dancing with Flame.”

“I know that too.”

Breeze’s gaze narrowed. “He was so enraged, Jessie. You could have gotten Flame

killed when you agreed to dance with him and that’s why he stopped him from taking

you home. Possessiveness in one of our males is dangerous but I warned you of that.”

“Justice was out with Kit. We don’t have commitments. I stopped seeing him two

weeks ago.”

“Did you see his rage?”

“Did you see his hands all over Kit and the way she was touching him?”

“Good point.” Breeze sat down. “Poor Jessie.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you? Please don’t.”

“I won’t ever do anything to harm Justice. Now it all makes sense. He is not stupid.

He is Justice North.”

“So a name makes him smarter?” Jessie smirked.

Breeze’s mouth softened into a smile. “No. It just makes sense why he wouldn’t

claim you and would hide being with you. He represents us to your world and we all

look up to him. He is respected greatly and appreciated for all he does.” Breeze’s smile

faded and sadness filled her gaze. “Being with a human could harm him in many ways,

Jessie.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I know. I get it. I do. I remember the press went crazy

when Ellie and Fury were married. It was a circus and all those hate groups were

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popping up on talk shows ranting about how wrong it was for them to be together.

Fury and Ellie are just regular people no one knew about until then. Justice is…”

“Justice North. Everyone knows his face and name.” Breeze reached over and

squeezed Jessie’s knee in support. “It will be big news when he takes a mate, no matter

who it is. It would be more accepted in both our worlds if she were one of my kind. It’s

expected.”

“I know.” Fresh tears filled her eyes. “You’re not saying anything that shocks me.”

Breeze hesitated. “You told me your secrets. Can I tell you one of ours? You have to

swear on your life to never tell, Jessie. This is very serious. You are in so much pain but you need to know another reason why Justice would be so set in taking one of my kind

as a mate instead of you.”

“I swear. What is it?”

“You know a lot about us but do you know that we can’t have children?”

“Yes. I don’t care about that. I’d willingly give up having a family to be with him.”

“Jessie, if Justice were to take you as a mate he would have to worry about

something happening that could reveal one of our most feared secrets. We have to

protect ourselves from certain things getting out there. Justice is in the public eye all the time and you would be too as his mate. There would be no hiding that secret forever

with the two of you. Our other mixed couples can be hidden away and no one would

ask questions in your world. It will be harder with Ellie and Fury but the news of them

has died down enough since they married. They also never leave Homeland or have to

talk to any humans if they don’t wish to.”

“I don’t understand. Why would the mixed couples have to be hidden?”

Breeze locked gazes with Jessie’s. “Swear on your life that you will never reveal

what I’m about to say. It would put many lives in danger.”

“I swear.”

Breeze shifted on the bed. “Remember when I said I came home because Ellie had

news to share with me?”

“Yes.”

“She’s pregnant.”

Shock tore through Jessie. “How?”

“She had sex with her mate after having a surgery to fix a blocked fallopian tube. It

kept them from a successful pregnancy but now everything worked.”

“But―”

“Human females and Species males can conceive a baby together. We discovered

this by accident when one of your females got pregnant by one of our males. We’ve

hidden it from humans but that baby has been born already. Our mutated genes are

dominant and the infant appears fully Species. We think all the children born to mixed

couples will be. If your world found out—”

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“Oh God.” Jessie reeled from shock. “Those hate group fanatics would go crazy.

They are sure that one day you will all grow old and die off. They have bets going on

when the last of you will die, like those death pools some sickos make on celebrities.

They are such assholes.”

“Yes. If Justice were to take a human mate that secret would come out if you were

to get pregnant.” Breeze hesitated. “Our doctors are working on finding out why we

can’t get pregnant—it’s a female problem, obviously not with our males. The female

reproductive system is far more complicated and we’re not sure if they’ll ever figure it

out. We hope one day it’s possible since we all want children. He would want a child

too if Justice were to take you for his mate. He would have the choice. It would be hard

for me to resist having a child if I could. He couldn’t conceal you or that child because, as his mate, everyone would notice if you were not at his side. We hope with time that

the hate groups will disband and everyone will accept our existence but right now

would be a bad time to let the world know there are infant Species. We’re terrified

they’ll become targets and we must protect them at all cost. They are our future.”

Jessie closed her eyes, pain seared through her and the magnitude of Justice’s

position had never been clearer. “I get it. He can’t ever be with me.”

“He’d risk too much. It would not only put your life in danger but his own and

those babies. All of your kind who mated or could mate with our males would

represent the possibility of creating more of us. The hate groups would stop at nothing

to prevent that.”

“I get it.” Her heart was breaking. She’d had hope that he’d miss her, he’d change

his mind, but now that was dashed to bits. He wasn’t paranoid. He’d understated the

danger if anything. “It’s really over between us.”

“Do you want to move into the women’s dorm, Jessie? Is being next door to him too

hard?”

“I have to think about it.”

“I have never been in love but it must be torture.”

A laugh bubbled up from Jessie. “Yes. That’s a perfect word to describe it.”

“Justice is not serious about Kit. Sometimes he will take a female dancing or share

sex if they are both interested. He never sees anyone more than once in a while. Does

that help you? If he mounts Kit tonight it will just be sex. You are the female he put

close to his house and slept with in a bed. He never has asked a female to do that before.

I would have heard about it, and to be honest, they would have agreed to allow Justice

to constrict some of their freedom. He’s well respected and any female would be

honored if he wanted them close to him. He feels for you. Know that and be comforted

by it.”

All Jessie felt was raw, horrible, gut-wrenching pain. “I need another drink.”

“I will join you. I hate alcohol but we will suffer together.”

“You’re a great friend. Thank you.”

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“I’m just sorry you fell for Justice. Flame would have been a better choice and you