Slade (New Species #2)(33)

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 assholes 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.”
Trisha had never gotten to go see the place. She only knew what she’d heard on the news. Brass had told her a bit about the project. Four hundred miles to the north in the woodsy area of Northern California, Justice had bought up thousands of acres of land—an old resort that had closed down years before and abandoned. The owner had sold it cheap to avoid paying taxes on the property. Justice planned to turn it into a home for some of the New Species who didn’t want to “get along with others”.
A smile curved her lips at the memory of Brass saying those exact words to her. He’d explained that some of the New Species were less human-looking than the ones she saw at Homeland. They didn’t want to be integrated with humans, instead just wanted to live in peace within a safe place. They currently resided in an unspecified location far from human contact but with the hate groups, everyone feared for their safety if anyone ever discovered where they’d been placed by the government.
Justice had bought the old resort to bring them closer to their own kind and to be able to protect them better. They’d decided to rename it New Species Reservation. She’d been assured that it was an appropriate title since it was anything but a vacation spot. It would be run the way Homeland had been set up, totally under New Species law and control. It would also have high-level security to protect the New Species who chose to live there. 
Brass had become a good friend to Trisha while he’d stayed at her house for the first two weeks after her ordeal. He’d made her laugh a lot and become important to her. She’d worried a little that he might be attracted to her but he’d never done anything out of line. When the threat assessment to her had been lowered, she had actually missed her constant companions who guarded her.
Brass still checked on her and stopped by often with a few action movies and she supplied the popcorn. Sometimes he’d bring a few of his friends with him. Trisha had gotten to know some of the New Species that way. They treated her as though she were a little sister, as if she were one of them, and she’d been grateful for it. It had kept her from feeling self-pity.
Slade had never called or come to see her. As a matter of fact, he’d dropped off the face of the Earth for all Trisha could tell. Several weeks ago one of the men had mentioned that Tiger and Slade were working at Reservation. He wasn’t even living at Homeland anymore.
The silent message of actions speaking louder than words had been clear to Trisha. The sex they’d shared had been nothing more than casual sex to Slade. That reality hurt deeply but she was recovering and determined to pretend it never even happened. That was until earlier that morning. She was afraid she would be sick again.
“Dr. Norbit?” Trisha glanced up at the secretary. “You can go in now.”
“Thank you.”
Trisha rose to her feet even though her knees grew weak. She had the urge to flee. She could leave, quit her job, and move to another state just to avoid the entire mess. She’d been tempted to listen to that panicked voice inside her head. She even hesitated as her gaze flickered to the door that led out of the reception area. She swallowed instead though and forced her legs to walk toward Justice’s office. I’m a doctor and I know what needs to be done regardless of the personal consequences I’m facing.
Justice wore his usual jeans and sported a tank top and bare feet. It always amused her that the leader of an entire race could always be so casual unless he planned to stand in front of media cameras. He wore dark suits then, would pull his long hair back, and even put on shoes.
As she entered his office, he strode toward her with a smile curving his generous lips. She always noticed how good-looking he was with his fit body, his handsome features and those sexy cat eyes. The fact that he was really nice also added to his appeal. She forced a smile.
“Welcome, Trisha. It’s hot today, isn’t it?”
She nodded. She’d overdressed in a long navy skirt and business-style button-down shirt, intentionally going for the professional look as a means to calm her nerves. She’d even taken time to pull her hair up into a nice bun. It had distracted her from the upcoming meeting she’d requested with Justice as soon as he had time to see her. She’d specified the urgency of needing to talk to him. He’d made the time.
“So, what is so important? Debra, my secretary, informed me that you needed to speak to me about something right away. Is this another request for more nursing staff? Are the two additional ones we hired not enough? Do you have a request for more medical equipment?” He waved her to a take chair while he walked around his desk. “Have a seat.”
Trisha collapsed into a plush chair. Justice kept his smile in place as he took his seat. He leaned forward to brace his elbows on his desk, resting his chin onto his hands. He looked amused.