New Species 04 Justice (22 page)

earlier and remembered to snatch the bottle up as she ran out of her room when a

pounding sounded at the front of the house.

Jessie sprayed perfume as she rushed toward the door then chucked the bottle

toward the couch. She waved her arms wildly to spread the horrible smell, smoothed

down her half shirt to make sure her breasts weren’t showing and unlocked the front

door.

Two New Species officers stood there looking grim. Jessie kept back to put as much

distance as possible between them and her. Both males were gripping their sidearms,

their gazes on her before they swept the room behind her and one of them took a step to

enter her house. She opened her arms, gripped the doorframe and blocked it.

“What is going on? What is that, a car alarm?”

The one who wanted in her house had to step back so they didn’t touch. “Did you

scream?”

“No. I was in the shower and I only heard that racket when I turned off the water. If

it’s not a car alarm, is there a fire?”

The two men glanced at each other and then stared at her. The second one took a

deep breath, sniffed and grimaced. A hand shot up to his face to cover his nose and he

took a huge step back. The other did the same. She didn’t have their enhanced sense of

smell and the reek of gardenias almost made her eyes water.

“Can we search your house?”

“No one is here but me. Do you think I screamed? I didn’t. Nothing is wrong except

someone’s alarm is going off. Maybe the wind set off a car alarm. It happens.”

105

Laurann Dohner

They seemed unsure what to do but they backed up, probably not enjoying what

they were smelling. “All right. We are glad you are safe. Lock your doors. If you hear or see anything, hit the alarm.” He pointed to the wall.

“Sure. Not a problem. Thanks!” Jessie closed the door and locked it. She leaned

against the wood, her tense body going lax and closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath, grimaced and jerked away from the door. She needed to air

out the house to get rid of the stink and shower again.

* * * * *

Justice swam another lap in the pool until he heard a squeak and stopped, treading

water. He inhaled and turned, locating two security officers approaching from the side

yard. They’d used the gate there to find him instead of entering his house.

“What is going on? What activated the alarm? I heard it going off a little while ago.

Is everything all right?” Guilt ate at him a little for lying, something he hated to do but he needed to protect Jessie. He doubted they would tell anyone but some of his people

were friendly with human employees. One slip and it would reach the wrong ears. He

wouldn’t take that chance with her. “Do we have a security breach?”

One of them shrugged. “We heard a scream and a roar.”

Justice had practiced his story. “I roared but I didn’t hear a scream.” He pointed to

his clothes by the back door. “I tripped over that chair when I came out here to swim

after a long, rough day. It hurt my toe and I was mad. I roared, took off my clothes and

have been swimming to work away my anger.”

The second one shifted, frowning. “You didn’t hear a scream?”

“No. Maybe you mistook the chair hitting the wall as a scream. I broke it when I

tripped on it.”

“We’re sorry we disturbed you, Justice. We thought maybe the human had been

attacked.”

“Jessie Dupree? Is she all right?”

“She’s fine. We went to her home first but she wouldn’t let us search her house.”

“She smells,” the other one cursed. “Like bad flowers.”

“Perfume,” the other one growled. “You should make it a law that they don’t wear

it here, Justice. My nose still burns.”

Justice hid a smile over Jessie knowing that trick. Strong perfume irritated their

noses and confused their sense of smell. She had worked for Tim Oberto on the task

force and was bound to pick up Species facts from the team members who worked so

closely with his males.

“I’ll send her a memo.”

106

Justice

Both men looked confused. “Maybe someone was watching a horror movie. Human

females in those scream all the time. We’ll have to ask everyone if they were playing

one of those to track the source of the disturbance.”

“Don’t bother anyone else. The only female alone here is Jessie Dupree and you

said she is fine.”

“Did you hurt yourself when you broke the chair, Justice? I could call for someone

to come look at it.”

Justice shook his head, swimming toward the side of the pool. “I’m fine. It just

pissed me off.”

The men hesitated. Justice climbed out of the pool and walked to a towel he’d

thrown over a lounge chair days before. He wrapped it around his hips and arched an

eyebrow when he faced them.

“Is there anything else?”

“Why is a human female living here? We don’t question your judgment but we are

curious, Justice.”

“This is the most secure area of Homeland. Her father is someone who watches out

for us and works through legal issues on our behalf. I gave my word to him that she

would be kept safe. She’s also saved our females and brought them to us as her last job.

Jessie Dupree is a trusted friend.”

One of them spoke. “We understand. Thank you for explaining it.”

Justice waited until they were gone before he shook his wet hair, trying to dry off

some. He turned to peer over the wall to the house next door. Jessie’s bedroom light

remained on. He longed to hop the wall and knock on her window.

Frustration gripped him as he turned away. Wanting and doing had to be different

things in her case. He’d lost control, drawn blood sharing sex and had attracted

attention to them being together by roaring out his pleasure. That disturbed him

deeply, it was something he’d never done before with a female. She brought out sides of

him that he couldn’t allow free. Period.

He needed to think, to clear his head and stay away from her until he could figure

out how to leash the frightening emotions she stirred in him. He only knew one thing

for certain…

Jessie Dupree was driving him insane.

107

Laurann Dohner

“Breeze!” Jessie grinned. “You’re here at the women’s dorm! Why aren’t you still at

Reservation?”

The six-foot-plus woman grinned. “I arrived early this morning. My best friend

Ellie wanted me to come home to share some news and I’ll be here for a while. She is

human and married Fury, who is Species.”

“I’ve heard of them—on TV when they got married. I hope it was good news?”

“The best. I’m sorry but I can’t share what it is. All I can say is her and her husband

wanted something since they found love together and they finally accomplished it.”

“That is good news.”

“What are you doing here? Are you checking up on the woman you brought to us?

They are still at Reservation and are doing fine. They have settled well. It was decided

they should stay there instead of being brought here since they are enjoying the trees

and the miles of land to roam.”

“Actually, I work here now. It’s a long story.”

Breeze’s eyes widened. “Truly? Doing what?”

Jessie turned her head to glance at Beauty. She’d spent the morning and most of the

afternoon helping her get settled in the women’s dorm. She’d taken the move well for

the most part.

Tiny and Halfpint were Beauty’s constant companions, which helped. The only

bump in the nearly smooth transition had been when Beauty had seen the much taller,

strongly built females. They had frightened her, but she currently sat in the living room talking with half a dozen of them without fear.

“That’s Beauty. We recovered her night before last from an estate up in

Washington. I don’t know all that my new job entails but for right now it’s helping her

to adjust to her new life. She’s taking it well.”

“I like her name. It fits. She chose well.” Breeze smiled and gave her attention back

to Jessie.

“Actually, I chose it. I keep telling her that she can change it at any time and I’m

hoping she will. I feel kind of weird naming an adult.” Jessie shrugged. “I needed to

make up one fast and that’s all that came to mind.”

“Why did you need to name her?”

Jessie clenched her teeth. “Because the only two names she could remember being

called pissed me off so bad I refused to let anyone else ever call her that. We have to do paperwork and it will stick with her on record. I refused to record those names.”

108

Justice

Breeze’s face hardened. “What did they call her?”

Jessie stared at the taller woman. “I really don’t think you want to know.”

“Tell me.”

Jessie sighed, figuring Breeze had a right to know. “They were calling her Mud and

I guess tagged her with Monkey when she was younger. Those were the only two

names she could remember.”

The tall New Species woman growled and spit out a string of curses that would

have made a lifelong sailor blush. Jessie nodded in agreement. The two women stared

at each other until Breeze’s anger faded.

“Thank you. It is a really good name you chose and it suits her. I think she might

keep it and you did her a good favor.”

“Thanks.” Jessie smiled suddenly. “So, are you looking forward to getting some

decent sleep now that you’re out of the hotel?”

Breeze laughed. “They sent Tammy and Valiant to his house for good. Justice said

they need their privacy since they are married now. He has guards around their

property to help Valiant keep her safe. Maybe it’s a human and Species thing but no one

ever has sex as loudly as those two.”

Jessie managed to keep her smile in place—barely—remembering the night before.

She and Justice had been so loud they’d set off the security alarm. “Can I ask you

something?”

“Sure.” Breeze led her into the kitchen to grab sodas from the fridge. She waved

Jessie to a barstool. “Hit me! I love that saying.”

Jessie took a seat next to her. “The mixed couple that just got married, uh, he’s lion,

right?”

“We believe so. We mostly guess at what we were mixed with since the records

were destroyed. With his coloring and his personality we can assume he was mixed

with that DNA. What about him?”

“I met Justice North and he has the same kind of eyes as Valiant. Is he lion?” That

would explain the roar after sex.

“His coloring is not right. In my free time I’m studying animals. I wanted to guess

better what some of us were changed with.” Breeze looked proud. “I think he is

perhaps mixed with black leopard—humans call them panthers.”

Jessie managed to keep her mouth from falling open despite her shock. “Wouldn’t

his hair be black? I mean, Valiant has orange-red hair similar to a lion. I met Flame and he has light red hair but he’s got the cat eyes. I could see that right off.”

Breeze bit her lip. “I can’t discuss this with you, Jessie.”

“Why not?”

Breeze hesitated again but blew out a breath. “You are a friend to us and save our

women. I know you can be trusted. Some of us color our hair. That’s all I’m saying.”

109

Laurann Dohner

Justice colors his hair?
It explained why he looked different in person than on television and in some of the photos in the paper. He looked different because his hair

color varied.

“Why would he…I mean, any of you do that?”

“Some of us need to appear more human but our natural coloring sometimes make

that difficult. Please don’t repeat this to anyone. I could get in trouble.”

“I won’t tell a soul. You have my word on that. So as an example, someone with

blonde hair could really have black hair?”

“Exactly. It would make one look more human and less threatening.”

Someone in the public eye. Someone who deals with humans all the time.
Jessie tried to imagine Justice with black hair but it was hard to do. It suddenly explained why his

long eyelashes were black. Sometimes she saw a little dark blue in the depths of his eyes but from a distance they appeared the darkest shade of brown ever, bordering on black.

With black hair he would look
… An image flashed inside her head of Justice with black hair.
Frightening. Scary. ferocious
. Justice with light hair did look more human and less likely to scare someone.
It makes sense.

Jessie had slept with a man changed with panther DNA. It explained the purring,

the catlike eyes and his roaring after sex. He’d shredded the bedding and scored the

mattress with his nails.
Claws. Panthers were dangerous animals. Maybe he has good reason to
fear hurting me.

“What are you thinking about?”

Jessie pulled her attention from her thoughts to force a smile for Breeze. “A man.”

A grin split Breeze’s face. “Spill, girlfriend.”

Jessie shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Oh. You are asking about our men for a reason, are you not? I heard that Flame

was talking about you. He is feline and that is why you were asking about Valiant, is it

not? You did slip and mention his name. I swear I won’t say a word to anyone. Flame is

attractive and easy on the eyes. He has a good sense of fun too.”

Flame?
Jessie didn’t know if she should be relieved at Breeze’s assumption. It beat her correctly guessing that Jessie was thinking about Justice. Jessie just smiled.