New Species 04 Justice (42 page)

seemed to pass but it was really only seconds. Suddenly the body was thrown off her

and she gasp in air as her gaze locked with Tiger’s. He bent and offered her a hand.

“The medics are with me and they’ll do everything to save Justice,” he promised.

“Let me help you up.”

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“Justice is going to be fine.” Doctor Treadmont smiled assurances. “He pulled

through surgery and we’re using drugs to help his healing accelerate.”

Jessie closed her eyes and fought tears of relief. “Thank you.” She opened her eyes

and gave the doctor a grateful look. “Thank you so much.”

Tiger cleared his throat and drew her attention. He and about fifty other New

Species were crammed inside the Medical Center reception area with her. Some of them

sat in chairs, on the long counter near the front doors and on the floor. She’d taken up

residence sitting on a desk she’d pulled next to Justice’s room while he’d undergone

surgery.

“Can we get you showered and changed now?” Tiger inched closer.

Jessie glanced down, noting she hadn’t removed the vest and her bloodied clothes.

She shook her head.

Tiger frowned deeply and worry narrowed his catlike gaze. “You know Justice

would want us looking after you while he can’t. You’re in shock and you’re covered in

blood. Please allow us to care for you, Jessie.”

“I won’t leave him.”

Doctor Treadmont sighed. “You can shower here inside one of the rooms. I’m sure

someone can fetch you clean clothes.”

Breeze stood from the counter. “I’ll have one of the women do that.” Her gaze met

Jessie’s. “Justice will want to see you clean when he wakes.” She smiled faintly to soften her words. “You look scary.”

Jessie shrugged. “Probably, but I won’t leave Justice.”

Tiger bit his lip. “Can I have the guns?”

Jessie tightened her hold on them. “No.”

“The only New Species allowed access to Medical are those from Justice’s testing

facility or those he trusts the most, Jessie. He’s safe. No one here is going to hurt him and none from testing facility five are here.”

“I trust you because Justice does. I trust Breeze because I know she’s my friend.”

Jessie glanced around the room, meeting concerned gazes. “I don’t know who else to

trust.” She stared at Tiger. “I’m not leaving him when he is down.”

Tiger backed up. “Okay, Jessie.”

Breeze walked closer but paused ten feet back. “How about this plan, Jessie? Tiger

and I will sit right there and no one but the doctor and Nurse Paul will go inside the

room. We swear we won’t let anyone near him. Will you go down the hall to shower?

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Will you hand me the guns? You’re in shock. Justice is safe now but we won’t move

from his door until you return so you are assured of that.”

Jessie blinked at tears. “I let all of these people in because you said they’d never

want to hurt him and they had a right to be here too since they love him. Would you

shoot any of them if they tried to get past you to his door?”

Long seconds ticked by. Breeze looked stunned.

“That’s what I thought. I’ll kill anyone who poses a danger to him. I’ll sit right

here.”

Tiger stepped forward again. “I would kill anyone to protect him. Justice is my best

friend and a brother to me, Jessie.”

Jessie hesitated but Justice had told her to trust Tiger. She slowly moved, slid off the

desk and stood on shaky legs. “Okay.”

He held out his hand. It was obvious he wanted the guns.

“Do you swear?” She hesitated.

“You have my word, Jessie. No one will get past me. Breeze and I will guard him

and I’ll shoot anyone but the doctor and nurse if they try to go to Justice.”

Jessie slowly placed a gun in Tiger’s waiting hand. “Don’t budge while I’m gone.”

“The other gun, Jessie.” Tiger opened his other hand.

She shook her head. “I keep this one.”

Halfpint stood and crept slowly around the counter. “Jessie? Why don’t you let me

help you? I know where a room is close to this one with a shower. I’ll walk you there

and Tiny will run to the dorm for clothing. Is that all right?”

Jessie allowed the Halfpint to lead her down an opposite hallway to an empty

room. There was a hospital bed inside and a bathroom tucked into a corner. Halfpint

followed her into the small room and closed the door behind them.

Jessie placed the gun on the sink, unfastened her vest, removed the last ammo clip

and laid it next to the weapon. Gentle hands helped her strip bare and her friend turned

on the shower, adjusting the water.
Justice is going to make it. I’m suffering from severe
shock and I want to curl into a ball and sob.
Exhaustion also gripped her, along with guilt.

This wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t pushed him into publically claiming me. It’s my fault
for not being happy with the nights we spent at my house.

“Jessie? The water is warm. I’ll stay right here.” Halfpint rubbed her arm. “You look

so sad but it’s going to be okay. Justice is a strong male and he’ll survive.”

She shook her thoughts away to stare at her friend. “Don’t touch the gun. I want to

keep it and I don’t want to risk you accidentally firing it, thinking you’re doing me a

favor by getting rid of it while I’m in the shower.”

Halfpint glanced at the sink, then back at Jessie. “I wouldn’t ever. They scare me.”

Jessie believed her and stepped into the warm spray of water. She looked down to

stare at the water that turned red at her feet from the blood coming off her body. She’d

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killed Species. It was their blood going down the drain, along with her future

happiness. One night had torn her world apart.

“Jessie? Are you okay? You’re not doing anything.”

She lifted her head and forced her limbs to move as she accepted the washcloth

handed to her. She used lots of soap to scrub her skin, washed her hair and allowed her

friend to wash her back where she couldn’t reach.

“I’m not glad this happened,” the other woman murmured. “But I’m happy I’m

here to help you this time. You took care of me when I was rescued. It’s going to be fine, Jessie. You said those words to me and I believed them. You were right. It’s your turn to listen to me say them and believe me. It’s going to be fine.”

Jessie knew it couldn’t turn out well. Justice had claimed her and some of his people

had attempted to kill him. She should have listened to him when he said no one could

know about them. She had thought he was being overprotective and paranoid, a

mistake on her part, and now Justice lay recovering from surgery. He’d come close to

death and the only way to fix the problem would be to leave him. Her heart broke.

She dried off quickly and someone tapped lightly on the door. Tiny opened it and

peeked inside, then entered quickly to close it behind her. She studied Jessie as she held out folded clothing. She glanced at Halfpint.

“With her large breasts I didn’t think our shirts would fit and I know humans wear

bras. We don’t have one to give her but I borrowed a shirt from a male outside who had

a spare clean shirt inside his Jeep. It will prevent her free breast movement from

showing to keep her modesty. The pants should fit. How are we doing?”

Halfpint hesitated. “Good. She’s not talking much.”

Tiny gave Jessie a weak smile. “Everyone is talking about what you did. You saved

Justice. They think you are very brave and you should be an experimental prototype

female, which is a compliment. Some of our males said you were guarding Justice with

two guns aimed at them when they reached the house and that you killed four males.

No one is upset over the deaths. Are you afraid of that? We are not mad. We’re

grateful.”

“I killed four Species males. How can you be grateful?”

“They were wrong to go after you and Justice. Their heads were not right and ones

who would turn on their own shouldn’t live. They are not safe to be around for anyone.

We are grateful you and Justice live and they didn’t kill you.”

Jessie needed to sit down, not caring that she only wore a towel. She collapsed on

the toilet seat. “Not everyone is going to be grateful. That means it’s going to piss some Species off and they will try to come after Justice again because of me.” Tears slid down her cheeks unheeded. “He told me no one should know about us and that it would be

dangerous. I never thought his own people would try to kill him. I’ve caused a civil

war.”

Tiny appeared baffled. “Here are the clothes.” She left.

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“Let’s get you dressed,” Halfpint urged softly. “Come on, Jessie. It is going to be

fine. You want to go back to sit with him, right?”

Jessie put on the pair of borrowed stretch pants and baggy T-shirt that fell to her

thighs. She didn’t have a bra or panties but didn’t care. Her reflection mocked her when

she faced the mirror. She was paler than usual and her eyes looked wrong—their blue

depths were darker than normal and red rimmed from crying. Her hand closed over the

gun blindly and she glanced down at the implement of death.

“I’m ready to go back.”

“You don’t need the gun, Jessie.”

“I’m keeping it.” She fisted the spare clip. “This isn’t over.”

“Okay. Keep it if it makes you feel safe.”

They walked back to the main room and she zoned right for Tiger. He stood from

sitting on the desk so she could take up her position guarding her mate.

“Jessie? Can I please have the gun?”

She shook her head. “Not until he’s up and able to defend himself.”

“It could be days,” he tried to reason. “They’ve given him medication to help him

heal but it still takes time. It was a bad wound.”

“Then you can have it in a few days.”

He sighed. “You have to sleep sometime. You might shoot yourself or someone else

by accident.”

Jessie held his gaze. “Look up civil war, Tiger.”

He frowned.

“It’s something that has happened a lot. Do you want to know the worst part about

history? It repeats itself usually. I’m not giving up the gun and I’m not leaving Justice unless I have to use the bathroom. You can guard him then.”

“I know what a civil war is but it won’t happen with Species. Those five males who

attacked were too new to freedom and didn’t understand how things are on the outside.

This will never happen again.”

“What about the others from that testing facility? You don’t know if they’ll be a

danger to Justice for sure. You weren’t subjected to the Mercile staff that made them so

hateful of anyone not Species and have no idea what went down inside there. They

haven’t been freed long enough to know that all humans aren’t like the ones they lived

with all of their lives. I’m the enemy to them and they accused Justice of betraying them because he claimed me.”

The Medical Center door opened and Jessie tensed. Ellie and her husband Fury

came in and approached her.

“Stop,” Tiger ordered them. “She’s sworn to kill anyone who comes within ten feet

of Justice’s door.” Tiger glanced at Jessie. “Can they come to you? Ellie is human and

Fury is one of Justice’s most trusted friends too.”

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Ellie paled. “Jessie? It’s okay. We heard what happened. We’d turned the phone off

last night and slept late.”

“I trust you.” She studied Fury. “You too since you’re with her.”

Ellie’s gaze widened at the sight of the gun in Jessie’s hand. She bit her lip and

inched closer. “Are you all right?”

Jessie shook her head.

Ellie lifted her hand and held out a travel mug. “I have some coffee. Why don’t you

drink it? You look as if you could use something warm.”

Jessie hesitated but lifted her hand. “Thank you. I’m thirsty.”

“She wouldn’t take anything to drink or eat from us,” Tiger said softly. “She’s

afraid we’ll drug her.”

Ellie passed the mug over. “They wouldn’t do that to you. We’re all on your side.

What happened to you and Justice is horrifying. It was a few crazy males who didn’t

realize how stupid they were being. You know how that is. There’s a few of them with

every group.”

“Thanks.” Jessie sipped the coffee. “I know that but I’m not willing to risk Justice’s

life. This is my fault and I won’t chance being wrong a second time. He didn’t want

anyone to know about us but I thought he was making too big a deal over it.” She

fought more tears. “He was right.”

“No,” Ellie shook her head. “You two love each other and no one gives a damn here

that I’m full-on human. No one treats me badly, Jessie. They have accepted me with

open arms. It was a few bad apples who created this mess. I’d kill and die to protect

Fury. I understand why you’re so scared though and why you have a gun.” Her gaze

flickered to it. “Will you please put it down while I talk to you? Just set it next to you?

Those things terrify me.”

Jessie placed it down on the desk next to her thigh. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Are you hungry? I could go home and fix you breakfast. I could bring

you back more coffee.”

“I would appreciate that but you make it. I should eat to keep up my strength.”

Ellie nodded. “Okay, Jessie. Drink that and I’ll get you more. I only have the one

mug with a lid. What do you want to eat?”

Jessie drank the rest of the coffee and handed the cup back. “Anything easy. It