“It’s about time you got here, Darkness. You took responsibility for this. Handle it.” Tiger got to his feet and paused next to Jeanie, offering her a hand. “Allow me to help you up.”

Jeanie put her hand in his, using her other one to keep the shirt from exposing the fact that she wore nothing under it as he pulled her to her feet. Her healing wound pulled a little internally but she doubted any real damage had been done. Her legs felt a little shaky but they held her weight. Tiger released her.

Darkness ignored Tiger, addressing the New Species holding Flirt off the floor instead. “Put him down.”

Both males deposited their burden on the carpet and backed away. Jeanie noticed no one made eye contact with Darkness and in fact, didn’t seem comfortable being near him. Flirt climbed to his feet and put a hand over his bleeding nose to pinch the bridge of it to stop the blood.

“Go to Medical,” Darkness ordered.

Flirt didn’t move. “I’ll leave if I can take her with me.”

“She stays here.” True sounded pissed.

“She’s not yours,” Flirt snapped. He began to circle around Darkness to reach True.

Darkness made that disturbing, low rumble.

Flirt stopped, retreated to where he’d originally stood and released his nose to wipe the blood covering his hand on the side of his pants. “He has no claim to her. She saved my life, too, Darkness.”

“She’s mine to protect.” True’s rage seemed to be growing worse, judging by his harsh snarl. “He can’t have her. I’ll kill him if he tries to take her.”

Darkness slowly turned, his scary gaze finding Jeanie. A sense of dread pitted inside her stomach and she took a step back. The guy was seriously unsettling.

“Let me go,” True demanded. “Jeanie? Come to me.”

She would have done it if her feet didn’t feel glued to the floor as Darkness stared at her without blinking. Her heart pounded and her mouth turned dry. There was nothing she wanted more than to run to True and hide behind him if it meant feeling safe, something she lacked at that moment.

“Species shouldn’t kill each other.” Darkness paused. “Decide now before one of them dies. You may stay with True, go with Flirt, or I’ll return you to Medical where guards will be assigned to watch over you. Answer me now. We’ve lost enough of our people because of humans and I refuse to allow it to happen again.”

“True,” she managed to get out.

The second he turned away, she could breathe normally again.

“You heard the female,” Darkness calmly stated. “She chose True. Flirt, get your ass to Medical and you’re banned from this floor while she’s here. There will be no more fighting or it will be against me. I’d hate to ever kill another one of our males but I’ll do it. Am I clear? No female who picks another male is worth the loss of your life.”

Flirt refused to look at her as he gave a sharp nod, spun on his heel and marched out of the room. Jeanie watched him go, filled with sadness. They’d once been close but she felt as if she’d somehow let him down. It didn’t make any sense that he’d attack True. Did he think she was in danger? She could understand his desire to protect her after she’d done the same thing for him at Drackwood.

Darkness crossed the room and both New Species released True and stepped out of the way. “Do papers need to be sent here?”

True didn’t answer.

Darkness remained quiet for at least half a minute. “Figure it out and don’t forget we need answers from that female. You should know all the facts before you make a decision. I would hate to see you hurt.”

“I understand,” True acknowledged.

“Good.” He turned his head, studying the damaged wall. “Please ask first before you remodel your home. I’ll notify someone that you need a few panels of drywall to repair that unless you just kick out the other side to open up the space. You might want to get someone to look at it first. The damage might be structural.”

“That’s not amusing.” Tiger shook his head. “I’ll have a building engineer come take a look at it. In the meantime, you should move into one of the empty apartments down the hall. The front door is broken so you won’t be able to lock it.”

“Let’s go,” Darkness ordered. “Move out. The couple needs some alone time to talk.” He directed a pointed stare at True. “Talk. We need answers. It’s possible more Species are out there being held in captivity, which takes priority over your physical needs. The human she claims to have worked for knew of two locations. Don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” True circled around the male, walked to Jeanie and stood at her side.

“I expect information very soon,” Darkness insisted as he departed.

True watched the males leave his home and heard them attempt to close the broken front door. Soft curses implied they didn’t have much success. All the anger over Flirt attempting to steal Jeanie drained away, leaving only regret. Humiliation and embarrassment were emotions he knew only too well after surviving Mercile. The staff had gone out of their way to destroy any sense of pride a male possessed but it was much worse to have Jeanie witness one of those moments.

He needed to apologize. The silence in the room was uncomfortable but he wasn’t sure how to explain why he’d lied. His mistake had been grinding his h*ps against the side of the bed. Once he’d made her cry out his name, he’d wanted to hear it again. As relieved as he’d been that he wouldn’t be the one to have to cause her the pain of being mounted for the first time, it had also been a sobering realization that other males had touched her. Jealousy wasn’t a pleasant emotion to experience but he had. Anger, possessiveness and determination had driven him to make certain he was the male who brought her the most pleasure. He’d held off mounting her until it was too late.