New Species 02 Slade (28 page)

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.

“You look so serious. Don’t be. I told you before that

I’m very willing to get you whatever you need for the

medical center.”

“This isn’t about that.” She had to slow her pounding

heart. “This is about a personal matter.”

The smile slowly faded as his gaze narrowed.

“Please tell me you aren’t resigning. We need you.” He

lifted his head, removed his elbows from his desk to fall

back against his chair, and looked suddenly tense. “I’d

be more than happy to discuss money with you if this is

a salary issue. We really want you to continue working

with us. You are an excellent doctor and my people have

grown to trust you. You have no idea how much we

value that and you.”

She shook her head. “It’s not about money and I

don’t want to lose my job or quit, though you might not

want me to work for you after this meeting.” She took a

deep breath, studying Justice. “I’m sorry. I’m scared to

death right now.”

“Of me?” He looked surprised.

“Of the situation. I don’t even know where to begin.

Something has happened and it’s pretty serious. If

anyone realizes how severe this is, it’s me.”

“All right.” Justice took a deep breath. “Tell me what

is wrong.”

“I’ve been given access to a lot of the medical files

that contain some of the recovered research data from

Mercile Industries. They tried to breed New Species men

and women. I know you are very aware of this.”

His face tightened. “Yes. I was personally subjected

to a lot of their breeding studies.” His voice had lowered

to a growl.

“From what I’ve read, from the files I’ve been given,

all their testing was between two New Species pairs and

it always failed. They never attempted to breed New

Species with pure humans.”

“No. We were considered too dangerous and they

were afraid we’d kill any of the staff who attempted to

lure us into having sex with them. You can’t blame us.”

“I don’t.” She hesitated.

“They severely abused us.”

“I know that. I— It’s happened,” she stated very

softly.

“I don’t understand. You found a file where they

held those studies on some of my people? Some of them

agreed to have sex with humans while we were

prisoners?”

She fought the urge to burst into tears. “No. I’m

sorry. I’m not being very clear. A full human has

conceived a child with a New Species.”

There. I said it. She watched the shock transform

Justice’s face. His mouth opened and then closed. He

finally found his voice.

“That… ” He looked dazed. “You’re sure?”

“Positive. I ran the tests myself this morning and

preformed an ultrasound. The fetus has a strong, well

developed heartbeat and it looks perfect. I won’t lie. This

pregnancy isn’t normal. The heartbeat is that of a much

more advanced fetus and the measurements are off on

the size. It appears the growth rate and fetal

development are farther along than a typical pregnancy.

It’s alarming, Justice. The baby is growing faster than it

should be and the pregnancy symptoms are premature

for the gestation period.” Her fingers dug into the chair

she sat in. “For the first time, according to what I know, a

New Species has been able to help conceive a baby. I

know you believed all your males were sterile but at

least one of them isn’t.”

Justice suddenly stood. He turned to the window

and presented Trisha with his back. He remained silent.

Trisha watched him with fear. She had no idea how he’d

react. She had a television, watched interviews with hate

groups, and knew that it would only bring New Species

huge trouble when word spread that they could not only

have children, at least one of them wasn’t sterile, but that

the mother wasn’t New Species.

A lot of idiots believed cross breeding of that sort

would be a grave offense. They’d compare it with an

animal and a human breeding. Their prejudices

disgusted Trisha but she couldn’t change their narrow

minds. Justice finally turned with a huge grin.

“That’s wonderful!” He dropped into his chair. “And

we’re sure it was definitely a human and New Species

breeding?”

“One-hundred percent sure.”

He laughed. “I never thought I’d be able to have

children. None of us did.” He stood again and almost

leaped across his desk to grab a gasping Trisha. He

yanked her out of the chair, into his arms and hugged

her. “This is the best news ever, Trisha. You’re a genius!

You did it!”

Trisha pushed gently away from Justice until he

released her. She looked up into his grinning face with a

horrible feeling. He obviously thought she’d done

something as a doctor that resulted in the pregnancy. She

knew she needed to set him straight immediately.

“This wasn’t something I did on purpose. There was

no medical intervention. This just happened. It’s a

completely

unplanned

and

natural-occurring

pregnancy.”

“That’s even better! You’ve made my day. Hell, my

year.” Then his smile faded as he tensed. “We have to

keep this under wraps. We’re going to have to shield the

couple. There could be a firestorm of threats directed at

us if the press finds out and reports it. Who knows?”

“Just you and me so far.”

“The couple doesn’t know?”

She realized he didn’t understand what she

attempted to tell him. She opened her mouth. Justice

backed up.

“About that―”

Justice cut her off. “The press will be all over it if

they find out. We need to keep this classified. You are

going to have to care for the pregnant female. No one,

and I mean no one, can find out about this until after the

baby is born. We’ll get the pair secluded to protect them

and any paperwork you did on this needs to be

destroyed. Can you imagine what those terrorist groups

will do and how dangerous it will be when they learn we

can breed with humans? It’s one of the things they’ve

tried to use against us to drag more idiots into the fight

for their cause. They believe it’s vile for Species to touch

someone fully human and it’s going to really piss off the

ones who are looking forward to our demise once our

generation dies out.”

“Justice―”

“You and I will work together to protect them at all

costs, Trisha. We have to keep this top secret. I’ll call for

a helicopter transport immediately to fly them out of

here within the hour. The Reservation isn’t fully

operational but it’s very secure and it’s the safest place to

stash them. You’ll have to go there too.” He stared at her.

“I know your life is here but you need to be protected.”

He grinned. “This is more important. I—”

“Shut up!” Trisha finally yelled.

Justice frowned at her. “What―”

“Quiet,” she ordered him, lowering her voice. “I’ve

been trying to tell you something and you keep cutting

me off.”

He nodded. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

She hesitated, staring into his beautiful, exotic eyes.

“I’m the mother. It’s me, Justice. I’m the female carrying a

New Species baby. There’s no paperwork since I ran all

the tests when I was alone at the clinic. I realized I had

missed my period but I had chalked it up to stress when

I was late. Then I started feeling morning sickness and I

took a test when I got out of bed this morning. It was

positive. Right after that I went to the medical center and

gave myself an ultrasound.” She blinked back tears.

“There’s definitely a baby growing inside me and it’s

growing at an accelerated rate. The only explanation for

that abnormality is perhaps because the baby is half New

Species and the pregnancy will be shorter due to the

father’s altered DNA.” Her hand rested over her stomach.

“I’m the mother,” she repeated.

Justice gaped at her, completely stunned. She

collapsed back into her chair while she fought more

tears. It was tough but she managed not to burst into

sobs. She lifted her gaze and realized Justice mutely

gaped at her. Seconds seemed to drag for an eternity

before he found his voice.

“You’re sure the father is New Species? I know you

were seeing someone and I believed him to be human.”

“The last time I had sex was about two years ago.

I’ve had sex once since then and it was with one of your

men. There is no doubt whatsoever that he’s the father.”

Justice sat on the edge of his desk. “All right. This is

good news, Trisha. You look so miserable but don’t be.

You have no idea what this means to my people.” He

gave her a sad smile. “We can have children after all. If

one of us is able, perhaps others can as well. I know you

are probably scared but this is going to work out

somehow. We’ll make it. Can you handle your own

medical needs until we can secure someone we can trust

to take over? You obviously can’t deliver your own

child.”

She blinked back more tears. “I’m still in shock but I

want the baby. I’m mostly scared. I never thought I’d be a

mom and I know that my baby is in danger because of

what this means. It’s going to be the first known mixed

species baby between our races. I’m afraid of what kind

of life he or she is going to be facing. I did the ultrasound

and everything looks right but it’s so hard to tell at this

stage. I’m worried about the size of the baby though

because it measured bigger by far than what it should be.

I have to run a ton of tests. Something could be wrong