She entered her room and grabbed the first shirt lying on the bed, a blue tank top. It was big on her but she wasn’t surprised since all the New Species females living at Reservation were experimental prototype females for the drugs they’d used to make them so big and strong. The smallest one she’d ever seen stood about five foot ten. The tallest had to be about six foot three. They were sturdily built women who could bench press the average male if need be. The supply store carried spare clothes for the residents at Reservation and probably didn’t order a size small or medium in anything.

Jessie rushed out of the room, shoving her room key back inside her jeans. The only pants they’d given her were sweats. She didn’t like them. That left her living in the pair of black jeans she’d been wearing when she arrived. She wasn’t one to use a purse and if something didn’t fit inside a pocket or could be strapped somewhere on her body, she didn’t see the need to carry it. She stepped back on the elevator and checked her reflection again. Her long hair hung past her ass. It was a brassy, bright red, the color created from two boxes of hair dye.

She’d found the courage to break out of the mold working for New Species. They were different, special and made their own places in life. Jessie had changed her hair to the bright, flashy color in defiance of the norm. She knew she probably should glow in the dark from the luminosity of her hair but she loved it. It really set her dark-blue eyes off and was a drastic contrast to her naturally almost-milk-white skin. She would never tan and didn’t care.

The elevator doors opened and she strode toward the cafeteria. The double doors were wide open and two New Species uniformed officers stood guard. She slowed her pace and studied the men, wondering if Justice had informed them that she’d been invited to the meeting.

They moved out of the way. Jessie flashed each man a smile and walked inside the large room, only to stop a few feet past the door. She spotted Justice right off, not being able to miss him towering over everyone, standing on a tabletop on the other side of the room by the long buffet island. He naturally drew attention anyway but elevated he seemed to be larger than life.

“Humans are not our enemies. Not most of them.” Justice looked annoyed and his face scrunched a little. “There are good humans and some bad ones like those we were exposed to at Mercile. The bad ones are a minority. Am I making myself clear? Good humans freed us and fought to give us rights and privileges. We are equal in all ways because of them. They are not the ones who enslaved and tortured us. They didn’t know what was being done to us but when they found out, they have done everything possible to help us get where we are today. Every one of you sits here because of those good humans.”

A male stood. “Are we supposed to trust them now? It is hard, Justice.”

Justice relaxed, his features smoothing. “I understand your hesitancy but we must change with the times. Yesterday you were locked inside a cell but today you are free.

Yesterday the humans you dealt with were evil monsters but today you are dealing with good humans who would be horrified if they realized what had been done to us by their own people. They want those people punished as much as we do.”

A few men in the back suddenly turned their heads to stare at Jessie. She kept her smile in place and figured her scent had reached them. It had only taken about fifteen seconds for everyone to realize she had entered the cafeteria. She stayed put by the door and watched the men, spotting anger on a few faces.

“This is Jessie Dupree,” Justice stated loudly. “She’s a good human. No one is to attack her again. Her job is to help locate New Species who are still imprisoned. She goes in with a team of trained human males who fight for our freedom and could easily die to save us. Her job is taking care of our retrieved females. She was there when you were freed last night and risks her life to go in and take our females to safety. Her life is devoted to us but she was attacked by a few of you in the lobby.” Justice paused, his stern gaze drifting across each man before he spoke again. “It is unacceptable what happened to her. We don’t attack humans unless we are attacked first.”

“She attacked me,” a male growled.

Justice arched his eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, a look of anger returning as he zoned in on the speaker. “Really? How did she attack you?”

Jessie bit her lip to keep her mouth shut. She waited silently until the man finally spoke.

“She offended me and tried to break my wrist.”

Justice took a menacing step forward on the table but stopped at the edge. “Did you touch her first?”

“Her arm.”

“You grabbed her. I saw marks on her wrist and you put them there. You attacked her first. She defended herself by trying to get free of you.” Justice paused. “Quite well too.”

The male growled in protest and Jessie’s gaze wandered until she found him. It was the guy she’d kicked in the balls who made the angry sound. She tried not to smirk. He had totally deserved it but still, she had meant to catch him with her heel in his stomach. She was short, he was a tall guy and shit happened.

“Any human at Reservation is invited, is here with our blessing and welcome. They are under our protection and you won’t attack one. You won’t be rude to one either.

You will also never attack a female human under any circumstances. Their women are not as strong as ours and weren’t raised our way. They don’t posses our fighting skills or strength. I swear that you will be dealt with extremely harshly if you attack a human female here. Some of them live with our males as mates. They have committed to each other, mated for life. Those males will kill any one of you who touches his female and it would be his right to do so.”