New Species 04 Justice (35 page)

Jessie for the party, almost fearful she’d bolt. She admitted she might have been

tempted if the taller woman hadn’t kept her within eyesight at all times.

Jessie gawked at her reflection and tried to hide her dismay. Breeze preened from

her side, happy as could be by the look of it. The dress was too tight, revealed way too

much cleavage with the plunging neckline and the handkerchief skirt flashed too much

leg.

“Ellie picked out this dress?” She glanced at Breeze for confirmation.

“I told her I wanted you to look very sexy and nice. She said that dress would make

every male notice you. I think it’s perfect but I wish you’d put your hair up in one of

those nice buns your women wear. I see them do that on television when they go to nice

parties.” She stepped closer. “The makeup hid the marks Justice left on you so there’s

no reason to have your hair fall over your shoulders.”

“I like it down. It’s long enough that it gives me a headache if I put it on top of my

head for more than a few hours.”

“You look good.” Breeze shot her a grin. “Everyone will think so.”

Or they’ll mistake me for a hooker
. She refrained from saying that aloud, not wanting to explain the definition to Breeze or hurt her feelings. The party seemed to mean a lot

to her friend and for that alone she’d put up and shut up.

170

Justice

“I hope there’s no dancing.” Jessie looked down at her exposed cleavage. “This

dress wouldn’t survive anything other than slow dancing without getting me arrested

for indecent exposure. I’m afraid to take a deep breath in case my breasts spill out. I

think I have another bra that isn’t a push-up.”

“You’re not changing a thing that Ellie picked for you to wear. She knows what she

is doing and she went to a lot of trouble for us. There will be dancing but no one said

you had to participate. You have a great body and you look wonderful. You don’t have

our muscles and you’re pale but you have nothing to hide away, Jessie. What is that

saying? If you have it, flaunt it? You have it, wear it proudly.”

Jessie suddenly frowned, studying Breeze. Her inner alarms warned her that

something was up. “What are you plotting? You’re too pleased with yourself and you

have this glint in your eyes.”

“Nothing.” Breeze glanced away, looked everywhere but at Jessie and fidgeted with

her hands.

“Is Justice going to be there?” It was the worst scenario she could think of. “I was

told he is at Reservation by his secretary when she called here to explain that our

meeting was canceled. He must have told her we had one because he sure wouldn’t

have mentioned he was coming here to yell at me over last night.”

“He was delayed by some issue at Reservation.” Breeze met her gaze and held it. “It

would be interesting if he had been able to attend. Every male will be looking at you

and will want to mount you.”

Jessie sighed. “I don’t want a repeat of last night ever again. It was embarrassing to

be treated like a five-year-old being sent to her room. He caused a scene on the dance

floor with Flame when he prevented me from leaving with him.”

That mischievous gleam returned to Breeze’s dark eyes. “That won’t happen

tonight. Justice won’t be able to yell if males dance with you and wish you’d share sex

with them.”

“Breeze, you had Ellie pick this dress on purpose just to piss Justice off if men hit on

me, didn’t you? He’ll hear about it and hit the roof.”

Breeze wouldn’t look at her but her grin widened.

“Breeze!”

“It will be good for him. He made you cry. You will make him angry and he won’t

be able to do a thing about it tonight. The Council and all our people except those

working security will be there and he has no logical reason to say you shouldn’t go to

the party. This is your night to get even, Jessie. Justice will have to hold his temper in check even if it kills him when he discovers you’re there. You can flirt and dance with

all the males you want and he’ll suffer wondering if one of them will win your

attention. It will be good for him to learn what it is like when he finds out how

attractive you are to our males. Think of how you felt, knowing he took Kit dancing. I

bet after tonight he will learn to never go out with other females again. For that reason alone you should do this, Jessie.”

171

Laurann Dohner

Jessie sighed. “I don’t want him to get really upset.”

“Our men don’t get upset. They get angry, blow up, but they recover from it

quickly. The way to get even with one of our males is to piss him off and do it when he

can’t retaliate. He will learn this way and remember.”

“You mean he can’t retaliate tonight. What about tomorrow? His secretary said he’d

be back in the morning.”

“You are sleeping in the women’s dorm tonight. I’m not stupid. I thought of this.

We are having a slumber party in the library of the dorm and you have been invited. It

will last for days. I packed your pajamas in the bag already. By the time you come

home, he will have cooled down and learned his lesson.”

Jessie chewed on her bottom lip, considering it. “Are you sure?”

She had to admit it was tempting. Justice would blow a fuse when he got the call

that she was at the party and had disobeyed his orders. He did deserve a little grief.

Breeze smiled. “Don’t worry about Justice. I promise one way or another, he will

have cooled off by the time he gets you alone. Our men don’t stay angry for long. Let’s

go. I don’t want to be late.” She gripped her arm and tugged. “I’m driving.”

Breeze parked down the street from the bar. Jessie climbed out of the golf cart and

met Breeze on the sidewalk. “The party is being held at the bar?”

“It is where all of our social gatherings are held.”

“What’s the occasion? I forgot to ask.”

“We do this every once in a while. It is good for us to mingle with each other and

humans. It is one of the things that Ellie thought up to help bridge the gap between our

differences and it has gone over well. We have had two of them in the last year. They

are fun and liked by the humans we associate with and our people.” She hesitated. “I’m

surprised you haven’t been to one. You worked with the human task force and they are

invited.”

“My boss never told me. Tim kind of babied me.”

“What does that mean?”

“He’s protective and treats me like I’m his daughter. He probably didn’t invite me,

thinking men would hit on me.”

“Oh. That’s valid.” Breeze walked faster toward the door. “Hurry up. Some Species

come from Reservation too, just to attend. They don’t have the large building at

Reservation to do this. We have the sleeping dorms and can always fit more people here

comfortably. They can stay for days. Some of the males and females you helped rescue

in Colorado will be here too. We wanted them to share the joy of freedom with us.”

The part about the freed Species from the Colorado testing facility filled Jessie with

a little dread, remembering her attack but she figured it would be fine. Other humans

would be there which meant they were prepared to deal nicely with them. Breeze

waved her inside.

172

Justice

The music pumped loudly through the large area and flashing lights had been

turned on over the dance floor. The place was packed with people—the women wore

nice dresses and the males sported suits or nice casual slacks with dress shirts.

“The council is here too. I’ll introduce you later.” Breeze had to yell over the noises.

“They are friendly.”

Jessie had never met the four male council members. Each one represented one of

the testing facilities and the Species who’d been detained inside each of them. Jessie

guessed that they would soon have a fifth council member from the newly discovered

Colorado facility if they didn’t already.

Breeze gripped her hand. “Come. Let’s dance!”

She spotted Trey, her old team leader and a few of the task-force members sitting at

the bar. “Hang on. I see some friends. Do you want to meet the guys I used to work

with?”

“Not now.” Breeze tugged on her again. “Let’s dance. Say hello to them later when

we are thirsty and want a drink. We’ll sit and talk.”

Jessie sure didn’t want to drink after her hellacious hangover. The team would be

there for hours, the night was still young and the party had just started. It wasn’t as if she had a choice as her friend’s grip tightened and Breeze dragged her onto the dance

floor into a sea of moving bodies.

Jessie was short but she saw a few shorter women on the dance floor. Tiny and

Beauty were sort of dancing together. Beauty grinned, stood on the dance floor as Tiny

danced around her and watched everyone else dance. Jessie laughed, happy not to see

fear on the other woman’s face while in the midst of such a large crowd of people.

A few things became apparent to Jessie about Species as she danced in a group of

them. They danced together but not as couples for the most part, just grouped together

with everyone. She relaxed more and just went with the music. Breeze leaned in.

“Teach me something sexy.”

Jessie stopped swaying to the beat. “Like what?”

“That thing you were doing while you were dancing with Flame the other night.”

Breeze backed up and held up her arms to wiggle her hips. “This move.”

Jessie slid her arms up and showed her. She did a turn and swayed her hips,

something she’d learned in a belly dancing class years before. Breeze mimicked her and

so did a few of the other women nearby. She showed them what she knew, happy to

teach them. Breeze moved closer.

“Do this.” Breeze showed her some moves.

Jessie was having the time of her life. She danced from one male to the next,

something they all did, as the songs changed. Another song came on and a male

gripped her waist from behind. Jessie spun away from the Species she’d just danced

with to dance with another one, grateful not to be home dwelling on Justice. Going out

seemed to be the perfect solution to getting over the man she loved.

173

Laurann Dohner

Justice hadn’t felt like attending the party but it was expected. Kit had asked to be

his date but he’d turned her down. She’d hinted that she would consider being his mate

last night when he’d taken her to dinner. She’d made it clear he could share sex with

her at the very least and he’d regretted agreeing to take her out. He’d just done it

because he’d thought that being with someone to talk to for the evening would distract

him from obsessive thoughts about Jessie and ease everyone’s worry if he appeared

happy. Instead of being a friend, Kit had tried to seduce him.

The four council members sat at a table with him and he studied them. They

wanted more control and for him to hand off some of his duties to them. He’d readily

agreed to a morning meeting to discuss the matter, looking forward to handing off

some of his responsibilities. It would help him by allowing him to work fewer hours

and make them feel as if they were doing more for their kind.

His thoughts drifted to Jessie again. Last night he’d barely slept and when he had, it

had been to suffer dreams where she was in his bed under him. Waking alone with a

raging hard-on hadn’t made for a pleasant morning. He’d showered and gone to the

office only to get into an argument with Miles.

Miles had brought the woman who dyed Justice’s hair and his annoying assistant,

Tonya, who had hit on Justice previously. She was an aggressive female who tried to

lure Species males into her bed. He always felt hunted when he had to deal with her. He

pitied the fool who took that one on. She had a mean heart, cold eyes and calculated her

actions as if everything were a game.

“What has that irritated expression on your face?” The deep voice belonged to

Jaded.

He lifted his gaze to stare into the bright green eyes of the council member. “Do you

see my hair?”

“It’s lighter. That shade of brown isn’t your color.” The other guy grinned and

touched his own jet-black strands. “This looks much better on you.”

“Stop teasing him,” Cedar, the other council member ordered softly, his voice

deceptively cool. “He does a lot for us and I’m sure the stench of whatever they used is

bothering him more than us. I can smell it from across the table.”

Someone approached and distracted Justice from their teasing. He knew it was to

lighten his mood but he doubted anything could. Tim Oberto smiled as he paused by

the table.

“Thank you for inviting us, Justice.” He glanced at the council members before

directing his attention once more on the NSO leader. “You still haven’t given me the

name of the replacement I need. We have a few leads we’re looking into and I want a

New Species onboard before we have a retrieval target to locate.”

Brawn leaned forward. “Replacement?”

“I’m sorry, Tim.” Justice had a lot on his mind. “Tim wants one of our males to join

the team that makes first contact if a Gift Female is found.” He met the human’s gaze. “I 174

Justice

promise that tomorrow I’ll go over the files, find someone who is good with human

interaction and who will volunteer to live on the outside. I assume you have a plan to

keep them safe while living there?”