“I hate humans.” Flame grumbled the words. “Males.” He flashed an apologetic glance Fury’s way. “The females are sweet. Your Ellie is a wonderful human. I wish her no ill will but those males anger me.”

“It’s not all of them,” Fury corrected. “It’s just the ones who hate us.”

“The point is,” Justice continued, “the idea of us having another human female at Homeland, a doctor, has stirred up their rage. I considered hiring someone to replace Dr. Norbit but I happen to believe she is a valuable addition to us. She’s a good doctor who can handle anything, as we’ve seen.” He met Fury’s gaze. “She saved your life. She holds no malice toward us. I trust her and that is worth the added annoyance of making us a bigger target because of her experience.” He pushed up from his desk. “Thankfully she never hooked up with one of our males. That would really send those lunatics over the edge.”

Slade tensed and his mouth parted. Before he could speak, Brass did.

“She may hook up with one of us. She’s a very attractive female.”

“Any male who cared about her would avoid doing that,” Flame warned.

“Too true,” Justice agreed.

Flame spoke again. “We’re trying to open up another home for our people. We’re going to need her to travel often to help us set up the medical facility there and every time she leaves the gates it’s going to put a target on her back. Hell, we can’t even trust the humans who work here at Homeland. Someone gave away her traveling agenda and the precise route. We’ve got Brass and Wager guarding her around the clock. There’s no way the human hate groups wouldn’t make her a prime target. She’d be in as much danger as Justice is if she were with one of our men. It would only make them want to kill her twice as much as they already do. She’s keeping us alive if we need a doctor and then she’d be sleeping with one of us. They’d assume that she’d make fixing our fertility problems a priority since they’ll assume most females wish to have babies.”

An icy-cold fear gripped Slade’s heart. Justice received death threats daily. He had to have a full security detail escort him everywhere. Being the leader of their people put him in a deadly position. He could mingle freely with only a few trusted humans and even then it was a risk.

Trisha was the Homeland doctor who treated any human who needed her help. The traitor could just cut his hand and walk right up to her. She’d die before anyone could reach her even with guards. The males who belonged to those hate groups were insane. He had no doubt that one of them would take on a suicide mission to take out the enemy. That would be his Trisha. And they would die if they touched her.

“True.” Justice shook his head. “It’s a good thing none of our males are interested in her. I’d have to fire her and hire another doctor. She’d have to be as guarded as Ellie is. Ellie is only allowed to work with our females since they pose no threat to her.”

Slade’s eyes closed and the pain inside his chest became sharper, a near-stabbing agony. Trisha loved her job, being a doctor was what she was, just as he was New Species. That couldn’t change and trying would be a fool’s errand.

She’d grow to hate him if he made her chose him over the life she led. She’d resent him in time. He wasn’t even sure if she cared enough about him to even be tempted to lean in his direction if offered a choice.

“We’re going to have to tighten security. Dr. Norbit will have around-the-clock protection until the threat lessens. We need to find the traitor who betrayed us. In time those ass**les will realize nothing will help us have children and they will cease having the fear that we’ll reproduce and blow their dreams of watching us eventually die out.”

Justice continued to speak but Slade stopped listening. Being with Trisha could get her killed. It would put her in too much danger. He got a tight rein on his emotions, afraid someone would smell his strong pain, and knew he’d grieve later, privately. He couldn’t put her in that much danger or ruin her life. She meant too much to him.

Chapter Thirteen

Sweat beaded Trisha’s forehead and she wondered if she would be violently ill. She nervously sat inside the reception area of Justice North’s office and fought the urge to throw up. She glanced at her watch. She’d arrived a little early and been informed that he was on the phone.

She’d called the meeting but she’d had no choice, knowing she had to be responsible about the dire situation. It wasn’t just her own issues she had to deal with. It would be a huge deal and she had to do the right thing. That meant discussing it with Justice. It involved New Species and he had a right to know. She just hadn’t expected to feel sick to her stomach about it.

The tall woman behind the secretary desk closely watched Trisha, appearing slightly concerned. “Do you want some coffee or water, Dr. Norbit? You are really pale.”

“I’m fine.” Trisha forced a smile. “Nerves.”

The woman nodded and focused on her computer screen. “It should only be a few more minutes. Justice is on a long-distance call with the newly acquired New Species Reservation. They are opening up soon and it’s been really hectic here. Isn’t that where you were heading when your vehicle was attacked? I hope you are all better now?”

“I’m fully recovered. Thank you for asking. And yes, that’s where we were traveling to when we were attacked.”