“They are friendly.”

Jessie had never met the four male council members. Each one represented one of the testing facilities and the Species who’d been detained inside each of them. Jessie guessed that they would soon have a fifth council member from the newly discovered Colorado facility if they didn’t already.

Breeze gripped her hand. “Come. Let’s dance!”

She spotted Trey, her old team leader and a few of the task-force members sitting at the bar. “Hang on. I see some friends. Do you want to meet the guys I used to work with?”

“Not now.” Breeze tugged on her again. “Let’s dance. Say hello to them later when we are thirsty and want a drink. We’ll sit and talk.”

Jessie sure didn’t want to drink after her hellacious hangover. The team would be there for hours, the night was still young and the party had just started. It wasn’t as if she had a choice as her friend’s grip tightened and Breeze dragged her onto the dance floor into a sea of moving bodies.

Jessie was short but she saw a few shorter women on the dance floor. Tiny and Beauty were sort of dancing together. Beauty grinned, stood on the dance floor as Tiny danced around her and watched everyone else dance. Jessie laughed, happy not to see fear on the other woman’s face while in the midst of such a large crowd of people.

A few things became apparent to Jessie about Species as she danced in a group of them. They danced together but not as couples for the most part, just grouped together with everyone. She relaxed more and just went with the music. Breeze leaned in.

“Teach me something sexy.”

Jessie stopped swaying to the beat. “Like what?”

“That thing you were doing while you were dancing with Flame the other night.”

Breeze backed up and held up her arms to wiggle her hips. “This move.”

Jessie slid her arms up and showed her. She did a turn and swayed her hips, something she’d learned in a belly dancing class years before. Breeze mimicked her and so did a few of the other women nearby. She showed them what she knew, happy to teach them. Breeze moved closer.

“Do this.” Breeze showed her some moves.

Jessie was having the time of her life. She danced from one male to the next, something they all did, as the songs changed. Another song came on and a male gripped her waist from behind. Jessie spun away from the Species she’d just danced with to dance with another one, grateful not to be home dwelling on Justice. Going out seemed to be the perfect solution to getting over the man she loved.

Justice hadn’t felt like attending the party but it was expected. Kit had asked to be his date but he’d turned her down. She’d hinted that she would consider being his mate last night when he’d taken her to dinner. She’d made it clear he could share sex with her at the very least and he’d regretted agreeing to take her out. He’d just done it because he’d thought that being with someone to talk to for the evening would distract him from obsessive thoughts about Jessie and ease everyone’s worry if he appeared happy. Instead of being a friend, Kit had tried to seduce him.

The four council members sat at a table with him and he studied them. They wanted more control and for him to hand off some of his duties to them. He’d readily agreed to a morning meeting to discuss the matter, looking forward to handing off some of his responsibilities. It would help him by allowing him to work fewer hours and make them feel as if they were doing more for their kind.

His thoughts drifted to Jessie again. Last night he’d barely slept and when he had, it had been to suffer dreams where she was in his bed under him. Waking alone with a raging hard-on hadn’t made for a pleasant morning. He’d showered and gone to the office only to get into an argument with Miles.

Miles had brought the woman who dyed Justice’s hair and his annoying assistant, Tonya, who had hit on Justice previously. She was an aggressive female who tried to lure Species males into her bed. He always felt hunted when he had to deal with her. He pitied the fool who took that one on. She had a mean heart, cold eyes and calculated her actions as if everything were a game.

“What has that irritated expression on your face?” The deep voice belonged to Jaded.

He lifted his gaze to stare into the bright green eyes of the council member. “Do you see my hair?”

“It’s lighter. That shade of brown isn’t your color.” The other guy grinned and touched his own jet-black strands. “This looks much better on you.”

“Stop teasing him,” Cedar, the other council member ordered softly, his voice deceptively cool. “He does a lot for us and I’m sure the stench of whatever they used is bothering him more than us. I can smell it from across the table.”

Someone approached and distracted Justice from their teasing. He knew it was to lighten his mood but he doubted anything could. Tim Oberto smiled as he paused by the table.

“Thank you for inviting us, Justice.” He glanced at the council members before directing his attention once more on the NSO leader. “You still haven’t given me the name of the replacement I need. We have a few leads we’re looking into and I want a New Species onboard before we have a retrieval target to locate.”

Brawn leaned forward. “Replacement?”

“I’m sorry, Tim.” Justice had a lot on his mind. “Tim wants one of our males to join the team that makes first contact if a Gift Female is found.” He met the human’s gaze. “I promise that tomorrow I’ll go over the files, find someone who is good with human interaction and who will volunteer to live on the outside. I assume you have a plan to keep them safe while living there?”