Chapter 28

Jericho had nearly lost control in the security office when Justice had said he would contact May if they needed help. He had seen Orion after Stella had been kidnapped; had seen him run from the security office possessed, heard his howls of grief and rage and despair, and he had sworn that would never be him.

But he had already lost May once. He had allowed men to take her from him, bring her to Fuller and abuse her. He had held her through nightmare after nightmare each night, all the while knowing, he could have prevented them. She was hurt because of him, because he denied his instincts. Doubt began to grow inside him, what if he would never be able to keep her safe?

He drove up to their house and was surprised to see another jeep in the driveway.

"Stay here," he commanded, his voice harder than he intended.

He jumped out of the jeep and strode to the house, his body primed for fighting.

"Jericho!" he heard a female's voice and stopped.

Kit, a female from Homeland, came around the corner of the house. She was wearing her uniform and smiling brightly at him. On a recent visit to Homeland, Jericho had shared sex with her. It had been an almost clinical experience that Jericho did not want to repeat, and neither had Kit, considering how quickly she asked him to leave her bed. But she hadn't looked away from his eyes and hadn't been frightened of him, so even if he wasn't interested in her, he had felt a sort of kinship. She seemed as broken as him. However, since leaving her, he'd not given her another thought.

"Kit?" he asked confused.

She moved closer to him, her nose scrunching up, "You stink of human, Jericho," she complained and moved closer to him, putting one hand on her hip and running her hand up his chest.

Jericho stepped back quickly, swallowing the warning snarl that was tickling the back of his throat.

"Please do not touch me," he asked, aware of May in the jeep behind him.

He heard the door of the jeep slam, and turned around quickly. Kit would hurt May if she felt challenged.

"Hey!" May called out, her small voice trembling.

"Is that human talking to me?" Kit asked in disbelief.

"May," Jericho turned around and raised his palms up to stop her, "stop."

"She was touching you!" May said, sharply. Jericho could smell her anger and confusion.

Jericho felt Kit's hand on the small of his back, a possessive gesture that was not lost on May. Her eyes flicked to Kit's hand and back up to Jericho.

"What's going on?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Jericho moved away quickly, what the fuck was happening here? How had everything spun out of control so fast?

The wind blew and May's hair flew around her head, throwing her scent toward Kit.

"You mounted her?" Kit laughed in Jericho's ear, "a human? You must have been desperate. You should have called me."

"What is wrong with you?" Jericho asked, spinning around and taking Kit's shoulders in his hands to set her away from him.

"Hey!" May cried out, before somehow managing to wedge herself between Kit and Jericho, "Don't touch her!"

Kit hissed in May's face. Jericho wrapped his arms around May, pulling her into his chest and turning away, hunching his body protectively over hers. He heard the screech of more tires and then a roar. He had time to see a brown-haired streak fly over him and then Kit was flying away from him.