“Damn it,” Jessie hissed, nearly falling out of the bed in her haste to rush to the bathroom. She tried real hard not to feel hurt.

Oh, it hurts so don’t bother to deny it . It was clear he didn’t want anyone to know about them. Was he embarrassed by her? She flipped on the light, lunged for the shower stall and didn’t bother to adjust the temperature as she stepped under the strong spray of icy water.

“Son of a bitch,” she hissed, grabbed the bottle of body wash and dumped out nearly half of it to rub furiously on her skin. “Men! I can’t believe this. What an ass.”

She paused, wondering why she was doing what he’d asked. He might have a problem with people knowing they’d slept together but she didn’t. The cold water beat down on her, she shivered and cursed again.

A burning sensation made her wince and she twisted her head enough to locate the source. Red from the noticeable bite marks mingled with the water. She could see the punctures from his fangs and a red outline of his front, flatter teeth. She turned her shoulder into the water, washed off the soap irritating it and the burning stopped.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t want anyone to know they’d slept together. Justice North, the mighty face of New Species, had lost his composure enough to sink his teeth into one human. The press would run with a story that big, make it in to some kind of nasty, twisted scenario the way they usually did and there would be hell to pay.

“Shit!” She turned off the water, stepped out and grabbed a towel to dry off as fast as possible.

A bottle of perfume she’d unpacked sat on the counter and caught her attention.

She never worn the stuff, her father had handed it to the checker while they’d been paying for her new clothes. Maybe it wasn’t as useless as she’d thought. New Species hated artificial smells and it would mask Justice’s scent. She dropped the towel, grabbed the box and tore it open as she rushed into her bedroom.

She gagged a little as she heavily sprayed the floral perfume into the air around her, closed her eyes and stepped into it so it misted down her body. She couldn’t get her bandage wet and the Species had amazing noses. They might pick something up from her hair but now they’d just pick up the scent of gardenias.

“Yuk. If that doesn’t mask his scent, nothing will.”

She tossed the bottle on the bed, quickly dressed in the clothes she’d taken off earlier and remembered to snatch the bottle up as she ran out of her room when a pounding sounded at the front of the house.

Jessie sprayed perfume as she rushed toward the door then chucked the bottle toward the couch. She waved her arms wildly to spread the horrible smell, smoothed down her half shirt to make sure her br**sts weren’t showing and unlocked the front door.

Two New Species officers stood there looking grim. Jessie kept back to put as much distance as possible between them and her. Both males were gripping their sidearms, their gazes on her before they swept the room behind her and one of them took a step to enter her house. She opened her arms, gripped the doorframe and blocked it.

“What is going on? What is that, a car alarm?”

The one who wanted in her house had to step back so they didn’t touch. “Did you scream?”

“No. I was in the shower and I only heard that racket when I turned off the water. If it’s not a car alarm, is there a fire?”

The two men glanced at each other and then stared at her. The second one took a deep breath, sniffed and grimaced. A hand shot up to his face to cover his nose and he took a huge step back. The other did the same. She didn’t have their enhanced sense of smell and the reek of gardenias almost made her eyes water.

“Can we search your house?”

“No one is here but me. Do you think I screamed? I didn’t. Nothing is wrong except someone’s alarm is going off. Maybe the wind set off a car alarm. It happens.”

They seemed unsure what to do but they backed up, probably not enjoying what they were smelling. “All right. We are glad you are safe. Lock your doors. If you hear or see anything, hit the alarm.” He pointed to the wall.

“Sure. Not a problem. Thanks!” Jessie closed the door and locked it. She leaned against the wood, her tense body going lax and closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath, grimaced and jerked away from the door. She needed to air out the house to get rid of the stink and shower again.

* * *
Justice swam another lap in the pool until he heard a squeak and stopped, treading water. He inhaled and turned, locating two security officers approaching from the side yard. They’d used the gate there to find him instead of entering his house.

“What is going on? What activated the alarm? I heard it going off a little while ago.

Is everything all right?” Guilt ate at him a little for lying, something he hated to do but he needed to protect Jessie. He doubted they would tell anyone but some of his people were friendly with human employees. One slip and it would reach the wrong ears. He wouldn’t take that chance with her. “Do we have a security breach?”

One of them shrugged. “We heard a scream and a roar.”

Justice had practiced his story. “I roared but I didn’t hear a scream.” He pointed to his clothes by the back door. “I tripped over that chair when I came out here to swim after a long, rough day. It hurt my toe and I was mad. I roared, took off my clothes and have been swimming to work away my anger.”

The second one shifted, frowning. “You didn’t hear a scream?”