“Justice was out with Kit. We don’t have commitments. I stopped seeing him two weeks ago.”

“Did you see his rage?”

“Did you see his hands all over Kit and the way she was touching him?”

“Good point.” Breeze sat down. “Poor Jessie.”

“You won’t tell anyone, will you? Please don’t.”

“I won’t ever do anything to harm Justice. Now it all makes sense. He is not stupid.

He is Justice North.”

“So a name makes him smarter?” Jessie smirked.

Breeze’s mouth softened into a smile. “No. It just makes sense why he wouldn’t claim you and would hide being with you. He represents us to your world and we all look up to him. He is respected greatly and appreciated for all he does.” Breeze’s smile faded and sadness filled her gaze. “Being with a human could harm him in many ways, Jessie.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I know. I get it. I do. I remember the press went crazy when Ellie and Fury were married. It was a circus and all those hate groups were popping up on talk shows ranting about how wrong it was for them to be together.

Fury and Ellie are just regular people no one knew about until then. Justice is…”

“Justice North. Everyone knows his face and name.” Breeze reached over and squeezed Jessie’s knee in support. “It will be big news when he takes a mate, no matter who it is. It would be more accepted in both our worlds if she were one of my kind. It’s expected.”

“I know.” Fresh tears filled her eyes. “You’re not saying anything that shocks me.”

Breeze hesitated. “You told me your secrets. Can I tell you one of ours? You have to swear on your life to never tell, Jessie. This is very serious. You are in so much pain but you need to know another reason why Justice would be so set in taking one of my kind as a mate instead of you.”

“I swear. What is it?”

“You know a lot about us but do you know that we can’t have children?”

“Yes. I don’t care about that. I’d willingly give up having a family to be with him.”

“Jessie, if Justice were to take you as a mate he would have to worry about something happening that could reveal one of our most feared secrets. We have to protect ourselves from certain things getting out there. Justice is in the public eye all the time and you would be too as his mate. There would be no hiding that secret forever with the two of you. Our other mixed couples can be hidden away and no one would ask questions in your world. It will be harder with Ellie and Fury but the news of them has died down enough since they married. They also never leave Homeland or have to talk to any humans if they don’t wish to.”

“I don’t understand. Why would the mixed couples have to be hidden?”

Breeze locked gazes with Jessie’s. “Swear on your life that you will never reveal what I’m about to say. It would put many lives in danger.”

“I swear.”

Breeze shifted on the bed. “Remember when I said I came home because Ellie had news to share with me?”

“Yes.”

“She’s pregnant.”

Shock tore through Jessie. “How?”

“She had sex with her mate after having a surgery to fix a blocked fallopian tube. It kept them from a successful pregnancy but now everything worked.”

“But―”

“Human females and Species males can conceive a baby together. We discovered this by accident when one of your females got pregnant by one of our males. We’ve hidden it from humans but that baby has been born already. Our mutated genes are dominant and the infant appears fully Species. We think all the children born to mixed couples will be. If your world found out—”

“Oh God.” Jessie reeled from shock. “Those hate group fanatics would go crazy.

They are sure that one day you will all grow old and die off. They have bets going on when the last of you will die, like those death pools some sickos make on celebrities.

They are such ass**les.”

“Yes. If Justice were to take a human mate that secret would come out if you were to get pregnant.” Breeze hesitated. “Our doctors are working on finding out why we can’t get pregnant—it’s a female problem, obviously not with our males. The female reproductive system is far more complicated and we’re not sure if they’ll ever figure it out. We hope one day it’s possible since we all want children. He would want a child too if Justice were to take you for his mate. He would have the choice. It would be hard for me to resist having a child if I could. He couldn’t conceal you or that child because, as his mate, everyone would notice if you were not at his side. We hope with time that the hate groups will disband and everyone will accept our existence but right now would be a bad time to let the world know there are infant Species. We’re terrified they’ll become targets and we must protect them at all cost. They are our future.”

Jessie closed her eyes, pain seared through her and the magnitude of Justice’s position had never been clearer. “I get it. He can’t ever be with me.”

“He’d risk too much. It would not only put your life in danger but his own and those babies. All of your kind who mated or could mate with our males would represent the possibility of creating more of us. The hate groups would stop at nothing to prevent that.”

“I get it.” Her heart was breaking. She’d had hope that he’d miss her, he’d change his mind, but now that was dashed to bits. He wasn’t paranoid. He’d understated the danger if anything. “It’s really over between us.”