He released the knob and backed away, taking a seat at the end of the bed. He waited. She took her time but she finally appeared. Her skin was pink from her shower, her dark hair wet, and his clothes were baggy on her small frame. She paused when she saw him watching her.

“I’m ready to go.”

He should just escort her to guest housing. They’d prepared it for her when he and the teams had left Homeland to pick her up. He stayed seated.

“You said he.” She slightly tilted her head. “When you talked about a baby. He. Why did you say that?”

She’d replayed their conversation in her head, he guessed. “All Species children are male.”

“No girls?” Her skepticism was clear.

“No. As I said, they get our genetics. Sons look eerily similar to their fathers. Almost miniature replicas. None are fully grown yet but it appears they might be that distinctly close. I haven’t seen any of their mother’s features in their faces.”

Her expression softened. “He’d be the spitting image of you?”

It affected his breathing when her words sank in. His son, if he had one, would. He’d never considered having a child. He experienced unfamiliar emotions. Kat stepped closer, alarm showing widened eyes.

“Are you okay?”

“It just really hit.”

“You’re panting. Slow it down.” She stopped in front of him and bent, her hands on his shoulders. “You’re having a panic attack.”

“I don’t suffer from them.”

“Yeah, well, you’re doing a great impression. Just breathe in and out. Slow it down. Do you have a paper bag?”

He forced his lungs to work properly. “I’m fine.”

“Every time I want to hate you for acting like a robot, you do something I don’t expect.” She hesitated and then surprised him by straddling his lap. He gripped her h*ps to keep her from falling back. “There’s only a slim chance of me being pregnant, remember? Worst case, it won’t be the end of the world. I’m pushing thirty so it’s about the time that I would have been considering having a kid anyway. My mother will be thrilled. I’m not sure if that’s a plus or a minus. I can’t be around her for more than a day without wishing I’d been adopted. She’s a really negative person.” She stroked her hands down his arms. “I won’t expect anything from you.”

He didn’t enjoy the emotions he felt then either. Anger. Hurt. But not relieved.

“Well, you helping me get a job here would be great. Either way, I’ll probably need one and really soon. Do employees live at Homeland or elsewhere? I have to figure out living arrangements and see if I can afford to keep my best friend from disowning me. It’s kind of a long commute from my house if I’m not pregnant. I can do it though.”

“Disowning you?”

“I own half of that house you broke into. Missy can’t make the payments on her own. I can’t dump that on her. She’s a starving artist.” She smiled. “At least that’s what she calls herself. She has plenty of food. It’s just that she doesn’t make what I do and her earnings can be erratic, depending on how her novel sales are.”

“Novels?”

“She writes sexy romance stories.” He looked bemused. “I need to call her at home. I won’t mention anything about this mess. I just need to tell her I’m okay.”

“You can’t.”

“She knows where I am.” She hesitated. “She was there last night. I didn’t want her involved so I had her hide. She won’t tell anyone. She knows about us too. I trust Missy with my life, Darkness. We’ve been best friends since the ninth grade. We both had crappy home lives and bonded in a big way.”

He licked his lips, debating. “You’ll be angry and I don’t want you to be.”

“What does that mean?”

“Will you be calm?”

“I am.”

He still hesitated. She was in a good mood, on his lap. He didn’t want her to yell or hit him again. It didn’t hurt but that was beside the point.

“A team performed a sweep of your house last night after we left. Only three teams returned with us to Homeland. One remained to make certain no one came after you. We stationed them there.”

She paled. “Is Missy okay?”

“She’s fine. Snow caught her but he didn’t harm her. I heard about it this morning when I left to run errands.”

“You waited until now to tell me?” She looked angry. “Where is she?”

“At your home. The team is there with her. I spoke directly to Snow. He’s a good male. She was only frightened for a few seconds when he sneaked up behind her. He realized she lived there because her scent was everywhere and she was barely dressed. He knew she wasn’t an intruder. He swore she was fine with having the team there and that she hadn’t demanded they leave.”

“He’s New Species, right?”

“Snow is but the other three members of the team are human.”

She appeared to calm. “Well, that should excite her. She always wanted to meet one. She’s not handcuffed or anything, is she?”

“No. They gave her free roam of the house. They will stay there in case anyone comes after you. She’ll be protected. I wanted them captured if anyone showed up.”

She shoved, surprising him enough that he fell backward. Kat climbed up him, reaching for the phone on his nightstand. “I’m calling her just to make sure.”