Hello Everyone. Thank you again, for reading. I know that, thus far Jericho has been a slow burn. Thanks for sticking with the story! Please review and critique! ~ Ripley

Jericho rearranged the few items he had sitting on his dresser: swipe card, badge, keys. It didn't look right, so he straightened it. It still didn't look right, so he arranged it again.

He was anxious and angry. The only thing alleviating his anxiety was work. At least, he thought it was alleviating his anxiety.

Then Tiger had sent him home after he had snapped at Book and Flirt.

And True.

And Brass.

And Smiley.

But the big mistake was hissing at Fury. Not only was Fury his boss, but he also snapped back and it took four males to pull them apart. Tiger sent him home with a warning to get his head on straight and to figure out what the hell was going on with him. Jericho had always been touchy, but he was out of control. Tiger's words.

Jericho knew what was wrong, it was keeping him up every night. It made food tasteless. It kept him agitated and on day of denial was all it took. By the second day, he had come to terms with it: he had let his mate be taken to Fuller Prison.

His mate.

She had lied about her name, about what she had done, about everything, but it didn't change what all of his instincts were telling him. She was his mate.

The thought crossed his mind again, and he couldn't help roaring, it was the unique sound he made that was a cross between a roar and a growl, and he slashed his arm across the top of the bureau, knocking everything to the floor.

He left his room, slamming the door behind him.

"Hey, Jericho?" Ascend called his name as he stalked down the corridor of the dorm, "You okay? Thought I heard you."

"No," he growled, and started running. He ran from the dorm straight to Tiger's office, slamming the door shut.

Tiger stood up from his desk as he came in, snarling as he took in Jericho's aggressive stance.

"Get her back," Jericho said slowly, every word a threat.

Tiger didn't pretend to misunderstand and ran his hand across his face, "Can't do that, Jericho."

"Fuck that," Jericho ground out, "Jeanie. Lauren. Kat. Vanni. Ellie. Allie. Need me to continue? We were wrong about all of them. All of them were mates. My mate," he had to stop, his emotions threatening to choke him, "My mate is in Fuller Prison. Fuller. Prison. I may as well have killed her myself. I just let her go."

"Jericho," Tiger breathed, and sat down in the chair, the weight of the situation hitting him as he processed what Jericho had said.

"Okay," he said, "I gotta figure this out. We don't know who she is. We don't know if she's trying to hurt us."

"She's not," Jericho said, "I know it like I know myself."

The phone rang on Tiger's desk and he held a finger up to Jericho.

"Tiger," he answered.

"Yes," he said, "I know. Have they arrived?"

Jericho watched Tiger's face change, his face paling as his eyes zoned in on Jericho.

"Here?" he asked, "How long?"

The door slammed open, and Jericho turned around, ready to fight.

"Nevermind," he said, before hanging up, "She's here."

Jericho's stance relaxed immediately, even before his brain could make sense of what he was seeing.

If Stephanie was a New Species, she would be this female.

"Are you the idiot?" she asked.

Jericho's nostrils flared, he could still smell Mercile on this female. She was wearing the white velcroed clothing in which all of them had been outfitted while in captivity. She had Stephanie's eyes, her skin tone, and her brown hair. But nothing about this female was shy or unassuming. She looked wild. Her hair a mass of tangles down her back. Her eyes were spitting flames at Tiger, and her hands were clenched into fists. Jericho could smell her anger.

"What's going on?" he asked, though he knew.

The female shifted her gaze to Jericho, "Unless you can help me, I don't have time to explain it."

Jericho's eyes shifted to Tiger, who shrugged.

The female let out a put-upon sigh, "My sister," the female looked at Tiger and her voice cracked, but she continued, her voice becoming like steel as she went on, "She looked like me, but much smaller. She made a deal with Werner, and he released me. She was here. The male who was with the Task Force told me that you had a female in custody with my eyes," she pointed to her face. "But she was sent away."

"I don't know what my sister did to get me released, and even when she told me what she had done, I didn't believe it was possible. But whatever it was she could do, it was important enough that Werner was willing to let me go. So. Where. Is. She?"

Tiger looked at Jericho, "He was almost able to capture Leo's mate."

"She was the distraction," Jericho realized, "She kept us busy. Kept the Wild Zone residents off balance and he was able to get close to Leo. He's always been obsessed with Leo…"

He trailed off, his heart breaking as he realized the scope of his mate's sacrifice.

"What's her name?" he asked the female.

"I don't know," she said angrily, "Why are you asking questions? It doesn't matter. Whatever she is, you get her back, and you get her back now."

"I'm going," Jericho told Tiger, who was already reaching for the phone. He gave him a concise nod before speaking into the phone.

"The Task Force will be here in a minute," he told him.

"I'm going too," the female said.

"It's not safe," Tiger argued, "I can't let you go. It's hard enough to protect male New Species. I can't spare the manpower needed to take you along."

The female opened her mouth to argue, and Tiger interrupted, "Please," he said, "You don't owe us anything, but I can get her faster without you."

She nodded her head, once, and sat in a chair, "I'm not going anywhere until she's returned to me."

Jericho could sense her tightly controlled possessiveness and agitation.

Tiger's phone rang and he nodded at Jericho, who ran out the door. He would find his mate. He just hoped he wasn't too late.