Embarrassment was a stupid emotion, Joy decided. She still felt it though as she avoided looking at the Species males she passed. Moon hadn’t even said goodbye or thanked her for going in there to help him. He has other things on his mind, she reasoned. More important people in his life to talk to. Ouch. Yeah, it hurts. What did you expect? She had no answers.

Moon watched Harley strip down to his black boxer briefs and smirked as he took a seat on the floor. “You don’t have to stay in here and babysit me. Nice shorts though.”

Harley settled next to him. “Friends suffer with friends. Humans like it this hot in a room? What is up with that?”

“No clue.” It was miserable being that hot. He studied his friend’s face. “Did you miss me?”

“You know it.” Harley cleared his throat and pointed up. “We’re on camera.”

Moon glanced at the camera. “Who is out there?”

“Ted, Trisha, Justice, Flame, Jericho, and Fury. We’ve all been worried about you.”

Moon let it sink in. “Do they think this is going to work?”

“We’re hoping.”

“Did they catch the one who did this to me?”

“We’re still searching for him.”

“Who was Justice talking about from Fuller then?” Moon rubbed his chest, hating the feel of sweat covering his body. Fuller was the prison where the humans who had worked for Mercile were incarcerated. Fuller had been created to house them. Species wanted and needed to be kept away from them so only human guards worked there.

“One of the jerks who used to run some of their drug trials.”

“This drug is something new?”

“That’s what we figured. No one remembered ever being subjected to a drug like this one. It is probably something Mercile was screwing with before they were shut down.”

“It’s worse than the breeding drug. At least we knew it was only temporary.” He rubbed his arms next, wiping away the sweat that was gathering on his skin. “Tell me about her.”

Harley frowned.

“Joy,” Moon stated softly. “Who called her? How did she react?” He was almost afraid to hear the answer. “How much did it cost to bribe her into coming?”

“I don’t know who called her. I flew to Reservation to be with you and she was already here when I returned to Homeland. I was delayed a few days though to clear up the mess after our walls were breached.”

“Were any lives lost?”

“None of ours.”

“Good. How much money? Don’t dodge the question.” It pissed him off that his best friend wasn’t being forthcoming but he understood Harley’s desire to protect his feelings. “Be honest. That’s what I need most.”

“No money was involved. She made it clear that she didn’t want to be paid.”

Some of his anger eased. It also confused him. “Then why is she here?”

“That’s what I wanted to know. I was rough on her when we met. I caught her flashing her br**sts at you.”

Astonishment slammed into Moon. “What?”

Harley grinned. “Yeah. That’s what went through my mind. I was ready to toss her over my shoulder and jog her to the front gates, thinking she was a pervert about to take advantage of you or teasing you just to be cruel. You wouldn’t respond to anything but her showing her goods, Moon. That was about the sum of it. I was leery at first of her reasoning but it worked. It seems sexy humans showing a lot of skin tames the beast in you or at least makes you talk to get to see more.” He laughed.

Hazy images surfaced of Joy and her very appealing cle**age. “I kind of remember. Not much though.”

“You were pretty out of it that day.” Harley reached up and pulled his hair away from his neck. “I can feel the pounds rolling off as we speak. Is it just me?”

“No. Humans pay for this? Doesn’t it open their skin pores or some such shit?”

“My pores are so open that my skin wants to fall off.”

“Ten more minutes,” Ted called out. “Do you need water?”

“I’m in a puddle of it,” Moon answered. “We’re good.” He lowered his voice and wiped more sweat off his chest. It was running down his body. “Do me a favor though, Harley.”

“Anything.”

“Make sure I don’t get the chance to hurt her if I lose my mind again.”

Harley hesitated.

“I didn’t feel the urge to kill but I still had the idea of slamming my chin into the bridge of her nose when she came in here and got too close to me. That would have killed her instantly if I’d had enough momentum to send the bone into her brain.”

Harley reached out and gripped his wrist. “She knows the risks. She signed a waiver absolving the NSO of responsibility in case of her death or injury.” He let go.

Moon was glad he was sitting down. Was that even possible? It astonished him that Joy would willingly do something of that magnitude to stay at Homeland.

“She is aware of the damage we can do. This morning I read the files she made on some of us. Justice let me read them after we argued a bit. I wanted to look out for you. All the shrinks’ notes on patients were transferred to Homeland when we were. One of our males told her about how he tore out the throat of a technician who leaned in too close to him while he was strapped down on a table. He could only move his head. Another Species described how he got an arm free and snapped the neck of a guard before the human could even react.”