Justice collapsed onto the desk hard, sat there stunned and closed his eyes. He couldn’t breathe at first, too stricken at the news that the vibrant woman who’d shared his bed had been shot. It took a lot for him to draw in a painful breath.

“You think she’s going to die?”

“She was shot in the back of the head. What do you think? She wouldn’t wake up and it was bad.”

Pain tore through Justice’s chest. Jessie was gone to him forever. Her face flashed through his mind, the memory of her lying na**d under him with her arms wrapped around his neck, smiling up at him with her pretty blue eyes. Her red hair had been spread out on his bed. More pain tore through his chest.

“Where are you? I’m on my way.”

Tim hesitated. “Of course. Policy,” he ground out. “It will make a nice photo opportunity, right? You can stand outside the hospital and say some shit in front of the reporters about how brave she was to give her life in the line of duty to save your people. You didn’t know her.”

Anger tore though Justice. “I know Jessie. Don’t you ever accuse me of something that deceptive again. I don’t give a damn about getting my picture taken or about what humans think right at this moment. I want to know where she is because I’m coming there to see her.”

Tim sighed. “I’m sorry, Justice. I didn’t mean that. I know what a good man you are but I’m just totally mind f**ked right now. This is tearing me up. Do you understand that? She’s like my daughter. I was threatening to turn her over my knee and whip her ass for what she did tonight and ten minutes later I’m holding her in my arms watching her bleed. I’ve never felt so damn useless in my life and now I’m just so pissed it could happen that I’m tearing into anyone I can.”

Anguish. That was the feeling Tim expressed, Justice identified with him and it, since that emotion poured through his own body. “We’re fine, Tim. Where is she?”

“We’re in Portland, Oregon. It was the nearest trauma center we could fly her to.

The takedown happened in Washington State in a remote area.” He named the hospital.

“I’m coming. You’ve got my cell number, correct? If not you should have it now since I just called you. I want you to contact me the second you know anything about her condition.”

“I will, Justice. Again, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that shit.”

“Don’t give it a second thought.” He hung up and dialed the control center of Reservation. He arranged for the helicopter to be fueled, the pilots to be woken and a security detail to meet him in five minutes. He remembered Tiger in the guestroom, woke him too and rushed to his room to dress.

He froze, unmoving, when he sat on the bed to jerk on shoes. Jessie’s image fixed in his mind caused him to bite back another roar of pain. He’d never get the chance to kiss her again or see her smile. At best he might be able to reach her before she died and get to hold her little pale hand.

Life wasn’t fair, he knew that, he’d had a lifetime of shit handed to him but the loss of her would leave emotional scars too. They’d had so few moments together but they were ones he’d never forget. It hurt.

Chapter Seven

Justice grimly adjusted his tie for the hundredth time as he glanced at his security team. Humans stared at them as they entered the hospital lobby but it wasn’t unusual.

Six large Species males, all dressed in black uniforms but one who was a nice business suit, was bound to draw a lot of attention. Justice ran his nervous hands down his dark gray jacket as he paused in front of the nurses’ station. The female lifted her chin and her mouth dropped open, nearly competing with her wide-eyed gaze.

He tried not to intimidate the woman by speaking in a soft tone. “We are here to see Jessie Dupree. She was brought in as a shooting victim.”

The woman snapped her mouth closed and swallowed hard. “You’re New Species, aren’t you?”

Justice refrained from growling and flashing fangs. He didn’t want to carry on a conversation with the nurse. He didn’t want to play twenty questions either. Jessie was still alive as far as he knew and he wanted to reach her side before it was too late. Tiger tensed at his side and reached out to place his hand on the counter.

“This is urgent business,” Tiger softly growled. “Answer Mr. North please and remember to be a professional.”

Justice normally would have flinched but tonight he didn’t mind one of his men being blunt. He wanted the woman’s cooperation regardless of how he got it. “Yes. As I said, we’re here to see Jessie Dupree.”

The nurse glanced at her computer, typed in information and gave them directions down the hall to a waiting room. They didn’t make it ten feet from the desk before they heard the woman on the phone telling someone that a group of scary-looking New Species were at the hospital.

“Do you think she’s calling the local news stations?” Tiger groaned. “I hate those bastards.”

Justice shrugged. “We’ll avoid them on the way out.”

He didn’t really give a damn about the press. Is Jessie still alive? Will I get to see her before she dies? This is killing me. He just needed to see her. He wanted to inhale her scent and touch her at least one last time. His chest hurt badly knowing there wouldn’t be any hope in his future to spend a night with her.

Tiger walked into the waiting room first, kept his body in front of Justice and made sure there wasn’t any form of threat inside the room. Justice immediately spotted Senator Jacob Hills sitting in a chair with his hands covering his face, bent over and softly crying. Justice froze inside at the grief-stricken sound.