New Species 04 Justice (23 page)

“Flame likes you. I heard that you made an impression on him.”

“You heard that? He offered to buy me a beer and introduce me around so I could

make some friends.”

“You should let him.”

“There’s that whole I’m-human-and-he’s-Species thing going on.”

The smile on Breeze’s lips disappeared. “You would not be with one of my kind?”

“It’s not that.” She bit her lip, careful of what she said. “I was talking to a few of

your males once,” she lied, making up a scenario that would fit her real dilemma. “They

kind of made it clear that they wouldn’t sleep with a human female. He, I mean, they

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said they wouldn’t want to get involved with a human and were adamant about how

they’d be too afraid to lose control and hurt her.”

“It is a valid fear. Our men are strong and they dominate. Do you know about

this?”

“Most men are bossy. That’s a universal trait that comes with having a dick.”

Breeze didn’t laugh at Jessie’s attempted humor. “No. Your men tell women what

to do because they just want to do it. Our men dominate physically and
need
to do it.

There’s a big difference.”

“Could you explain it to me? I’m really curious.”

“When a male and female of our kind share sex they mount us from behind. He will

use his teeth at our shoulder to keep us still if he feels his dominance is threatened.

Their need to be in control during sex is overpowering. It is hard to describe but there is a spot on either side here…” She reached up and touched her shoulders. “If a male

grips us with his teeth it feels really good and doesn’t hurt. They never break the skin

but we know better than to pull away or accidents could happen.”

Jessie had a sinking feeling—she had a bandage hiding under her shirt. “What kind

of accidents?”

“Their teeth will sink in just enough to draw blood or they could scar our skin. It is

rare but I had a male take my blood once. He killed one of the technicians when he

came to remove me from his cell after we shared sex. He did not want to let me go or

share me with other males. He was very possessive. He had love for me and I guess he

bit me to show dominance and that I was his, perhaps to mark me, because I didn’t try

to challenge him during sex. He said his insides were screaming that he keep me and

they know that we don’t want to be kept. It is why we don’t have sex with the same

male often now that we are free. We want to make sure they remember that we don’t

want to be kept by them and it lets them know not to feel possessive of us. Our men

could be dangerous to your kind.”

“Why would any of that be dangerous to humans?”

“When our males clamp their teeth down you don’t know not to struggle or jerk

away. He could go crazy if you did. We make sure we want to breed together and it has

to be totally mutual when we do. If a male was behind you and bit your skin hard,

wouldn’t that alarm you? You would fight, wouldn’t you? Struggle? His teeth are sharp

and could tear your skin or his hands could hurt you, trying to hold you still for your

own safety. They can be gentle and pleasing but if you were to challenge his dominance

during sex, he would feel the uncontrollable urge to prove he is worthy. It is a need. It is what they are. If you let one of our males have sex with you often he might want to

keep you if he began to feel possessive. A Species male would not let you go if that

happened, would fight to keep you and kill anyone who tried to take you from him. He

might feel love if you allow him to know you too well and that is very dangerous in our

kind.”

“It can’t be too dangerous. There are mixed couples.”

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“Yes, but the males would kill anyone who touched one of their mates. You met

Tammy and Valiant. He doesn’t like other males to look at her. She willingly submits to

him and has given herself to him totally but they share love. Valiant would tear

someone apart with his bare hands if he thought she was threatened, Jessie. That is the

danger with our men and we had to consider what would happen if one of them had

love for a woman who didn’t return it. He’d never hurt her but we think any male who

tried to touch her would lose a body part. I understand the fear our kind feels for sex

with humans and it is reasonable. If you do decide to have sex with Flame, I need to

school you first so you know how to handle one of our males safely.”

Jessie wasn’t sure she wanted the answer but still asked the question. “What would

I need to know?”

“Never ask a male to submit to you. They are dominant and it would make them

angry and dangerous if you were to do that. To them it would be a challenge. You are

questioning their abilities. Males are always in control of sex. Don’t struggle during sex if Flame ever grips you with his teeth. It means he is losing control and you need to

hold still.”

“Is losing control a bad thing?”

“Yes!” Breeze jerked her gaze down Jessie’s body, giving her a once-over. “He’d

break you. Our males are strong and our idea of foreplay would be rough wrestling to

you.”

“Okay,” she got out, stunned again.

“Never stare into the eyes of an angry male because that is challenging too. Look

down and hold still until they have time to calm their anger. Also, never allow him to

share sex with you if he is really aroused because they can be aggressive to match their

needs. You say no if Flame ever has the desire to bite you and take your blood during

sex. It would let him feel he possesses you and you never want that with one of our

males unless you are prepared to be stuck with him forever.”

“I think I got it. Thanks. Please forget about the name Flame, okay? I’m not

considering sleeping with him. I was just curious.”

Breeze grinned. “Sure.”

The other woman didn’t believe her but Jessie let it slide as she stood. “It’s been a

long day and I’m going home. I’ll check on Beauty first and make sure she’s all right

with me leaving. I’m glad you’re here and we’ll get to see each other more.”

“I will say hello to her and look out for her while you’re gone. You can just go and

get some rest. Will you be back here tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

Jessie left the dorm, her mind dwelling on all she’d learned. According to Breeze’s

advice on what not to do in bed with a Species male, she’d already really screwed up.

She’d asked Justice to let her be on top, which had challenged him. His reaction had

been to nearly walk out of the bedroom and end their encounter. Breeze said they’d

never allow a woman to dominate the sex in bed but Justice had when she’d gotten to

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be on top. She had no idea what to make of that except maybe he wasn’t as set in his

ways as most Species since he had to deal with so many humans daily. Humans worked

at Homeland and he had to communicate with the media, her father and a lot of other

people who were invested in the well-being of Species.

She’d felt Justice’s teeth on her shoulder but she hadn’t known what it meant. She’d

ignored his plea for her to hold still, unwittingly provoking him try to assert his

dominance. She’d moved against him, pushed him to take her the way she wanted and

he’d bitten her shoulder hard enough to draw blood. That was another no-no. Of course

he didn’t want to keep her forever. Nope. He wanted to end their brief relationship

before it had a chance to get off the ground.

No wonder he doesn’t want to see me again.
Depression hit hard as Jessie drove her golf cart home. Earlier that day she’d woken to find one parked in her driveway with a

marked map from her home to the women’s dorm. The officer posted at the gates to her

housing tract had assured her it was for her use. She had a way to get around

Homeland but had nowhere to go but to her lonely house.

A new officer manned the security checkpoint but he didn’t stop her. He grinned

and waved her through as he opened the gates that led into the housing area. Jessie

waved back and parked in her driveway. She couldn’t get over how deeply she’d

managed to screw up with Justice.
Species should come with a handbook titled
Dating for the Clueless
human chicks and fifty things to avoid doing that will insult them.

She unlocked her front door, glad as she entered that the perfume had finally

disappeared. Her gaze darted to the potted plant to her immediate left and she smiled.

She’d hidden the bottle there in case she ever needed to mask Justice’s scent again. Her

mood quickly deflated since she highly doubted he’d be back.

A quick shower, a change into comfortable clothes and an urge to occupy her time

in the kitchen helped keep her thoughts off Justice. She enjoyed cooking, it relaxed her

and she loved to eat. The only problem was the tri-tip she had put in the rotisserie

cooker would feed her for a week in leftover sandwiches. She bit her lip, watched it

slowly turn as it dripped juices into the drip pan and decided she could always take

sandwiches to the women at the dorm tomorrow.

She was amazed by the amount of her food supply and the huge portion sizes. Of

course Species probably ate an eight-pound tri-tip in one sitting but she sure couldn’t.

She turned away, decided to wash her new clothes before wearing the rest of them and

settled on taking a long bath to kill time before dinner was ready.

The jets were wonderful and the water warm. She evaluated her life. Her love life

might suck but she was living in a nice place and loved her new job. The doorbell rang,

caused her to start but she grinned. It had to be Justice! She toweled off quickly and put her clothes back on, her mind working on a way to talk the thick-headed man into

letting down his guard and to come back when the coast was clear. The doorbell rang

again and she rushed out of her bathroom.

“I’m coming. Hang on!”

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Jessie twisted the locks as her heart raced and she smiled, excited to see him after

the night before. Two large Species males stood there instead. Both of them were out of

uniform, sporting jeans and T-shirts and they stared at her with a grimness that assured

they weren’t happy.

The one on the right spoke. “I’m Night. Your belongings were delivered and we

were asked to bring them. Do you mind if we unload the Jeep now and carry your

boxes inside? We have to inform you that your things were searched by security. It is

standard procedure but nothing had to be confiscated.”

“Okay. Thanks. Sure,” she agreed. “Let me grab my shoes and I’ll help.”

The Species on the left frowned his displeasure. “No. You are too small and would

only slow us down. Just sit and remain calm. We mean you no harm.” He took a breath.

“I am Sword. You are in no danger.”

Amusement sparked at his words, as if he feared she might be terrified of them but

their tension forced her to hide it. They really seemed on edge about dealing with her so she lowered her gaze. They were Species and she wanted them to feel at ease with her.

Good etiquette went a long way toward gaining that goal.

“Thank you. I’ll wait inside and remember I’m not in danger.” She backed up.

“Good.” Night grunted, spun on his heel and marched down the walkway. The

other one followed.

Jessie lifted her gaze to watch them grab boxes from the back of the packed Jeep

and finally allowed her chuckle to escape. It was cute how they assumed she’d be

terrified of them and sweet that they wanted to assure her they weren’t there to murder

her. She laughed again, her gaze turning to the living room and spotted an area where

they could stack the boxes.

“You can just dump them over there.” She pointed, keeping back. “Thank you. I’m

sorry there are so many of them. I didn’t realize I’d accumulated that much stuff.”

An idea formed when one of them sniffed the air, his attention on the open archway

to the kitchen and both of them kept doing it as they brought in more boxes. She

inhaled the tantalizing aroma of the tri-tip, realized they might be hungry and decided

to try to make friends. It beat sitting around all night dwelling on Justice and how to

work around the problems they had. The guys finally carried in the last two boxes.

“Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Would you like to stay for dinner? I have

plenty and it’s a human custom to feed people as a way of showing appreciation.”

The men glanced at each other, their apprehension near comical.

“I have tri-tip. It’s steak that’s thinly sliced and it’s got some pinkness to it. It’s not as rare as most of you enjoy but I think you’ll like it. I’d appreciate the opportunity to make new friends. I just moved here and don’t know that many people.”

Sword answered for the both of them. “We accept. You should feel welcome by us

and friends are important.”

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“They are.” She smiled. “Why don’t you have a seat on the couch? You can kick off

your shoes, turn on the television and relax while I go slice it up and pop the potatoes in the microwave. It shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes.”

They closed the front door and ambled toward the couch. Jessie turned, entered the

kitchen and took out the tri-tip fifteen minutes early. It appeared really cooked on the