She nodded, trustingly, not even insulted. The way she always had been with him. Goddess, Lily had looked up to him with hero-worship in her eyes. How had he never noticed? Probably because he was just as enthralled with the incredible teenager. Hell, he probably had the same look of adoration in his eyes. He remembered the time she’d gotten in trouble for tapping into the adult communication link. He’d justified her actions to the others, bragging about her abilities, and Steele had chided him that she could do no wrong in his eyes. Well, that was true, but it was because the rest of them didn’t understand how unusual, how unique, how amazing this kid was. How much she’d been through, how far she’d come...Steele had rolled his eyes like he knew. But he just didn’t understand, not the way Jason did.

  A few of the Xeno Sapiens standing in a crowd parted for them.

  “Long time, no see, Lily,” Rent said. “Glad you dragged her out, Jason.”

  “I hear you’re a magnificent sea creature,” Renegade teased. “Next time we want seafood for dinner, we’ll send you out.”

  His Lily snorted with laughter. “Are you kidding? I’d eat the fish I was supposed to bring back. And Jason and Shawn would have to head back into the water to fish me out.”

  “And hope she doesn’t eat us,” Jason said wryly, piling his plate and adding some more to Lily’s. She’d need extra fuel after that change she’d just incurred.

  He was barely aware of Rent and Renegade watching him spoon extra food onto Lily’s plate.

  “Hello? I can’t possibly eat all that.”

  “Curvy girls are popular,” Jason said, unperturbed. “Eat up. What you can’t finish, I will.”

  “How does it feel?” Renegade asked her. “To change?”

  “I’m not aware of any thought processes. I’m simply a predator with one mindset. To hunt. Which is why I’ve told Jason a hundred times not to get into the water with me.”

  “A hundred and one.” He steered her toward a table.

  “He’s a big boy,” Renegade said with a smile, following them.

  “And he knows you’ll still love him if he’s missing an arm from the chomp of your massive jaw,” Rent added.

  Lily stared at Rent, horrified.

  “Too much?” he said, eyes wide as he sought the other faces around the table.

  “Amanda would tell you that was completely inappropriate,” Renegade said.

  “Which part? The love or the missing arm? Just so I know for the future,” Rent said.

  “You may be single for a very long time,” Renegade growled. “Can you drop it already?”

  Lily’s face was downturned, staring at her plate of food, her cheeks red.

  “We do have a lack of female staff,” Rent agreed. “Though Amanda assures us she’ll be getting others in to work.”

  “Lily?” No one noticed the approach of the six teenaged Xeno Sapiens. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Mellow said.

  “Yeah. We’re sorry we talked you into coming to the water with us.”

  The teens looked properly chastised. They’d gotten an earful from Steele, according to Shawn. He’d sent a message while Lily was dressing.

  “It’s okay,” Lily said, looking up. “I’ll just need to remember not to give in during my younger moments.”

  She began to eat her food.

  “Thanks, Lily.”

  “You’re the best.”

  They scrambled off.

  “There’s another match with Shawn and Tempest after dinner,” Renegade said, his eyes strangely somber. “This time Shawn’s in the pit. Perhaps you’d both like to see how far she’s progressing.”

  “Is Shawn strong enough to take her on?” Lily asked Jason, startled. “He just helped you pull me from the water.”

  “Yeah, but this time you didn’t slice and dice any of us,” Jason grinned down at her, letting her know it was okay. “We had on those amazing armored suits, remember?”

  “Ahh, compliments of Pax and Steele,” Renegade said.

  “They’re like mad scientists together,” Rent answered.

  “I should make an effort to see Tempest,” Jason said. “If you wouldn’t mind coming along?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t mind.” But there was a fleeting something in her eyes. Was it jealousy? Surely Lily didn’t think he wanted to see Tempest for any reason other than he was the one who had recruited her?

  “What’s going on?” Jason asked Renegade, looking over his shoulder at the crowd that had gathered near the front by the doors.

  Renegade grinned. “It’s Kaden.”

  “I should probably go,” Lily said, pushing her plate aside.

  “Go? I thought you were coming with me to see the fights in the pits?”

  “Maybe later,” she hemmed.

  Jason narrowed his eyes. Something else was at work here. “Have you seen Kaden yet?”

  “No. Not yet.” She leaned in to whisper. “Jason, I don’t think it’s safe...”

  “Safe? Lily, baby, of course it’s safe. Have you been avoiding him since you got back?”

  “It’s just that...I change. I become something else. He probably looks like a little chicken nugget to the siren.”

  “There’s no salt water here, sunshine,” Rent said, looking at her solemnly, his lips twitching.

  “I know, but what if...”

  A shadow interrupted her hissed reply. Jason looked up to see Steele, his baby clasped in his hands. He had a feeling Renegade communicated with him to bring Kaden.

  “Lily,” Steele said. “Hold Kaden while I go fix me a plate.”

  The entire room went quiet, and Jason knew this was indeed planned. Steele knew Lily had been avoiding the infant.

  “Well, I—a,” her voice stopped as the cooing baby was plopped into her lap.

  Lily with a baby in her lap...there were no words for how right the picture looked. The curve of her breast peeking over the sundress made her look amazingly maternal, while the hint of leg that escaped the slit in the side of the dress made her look sexy as hell.

  Kaden gurgled, his hand reaching out clumsily to grasp a lock of escaping green hair. He stared at Lily, and she stared back for long moments. He held it in his hand, and an amazing calm swept over everyone present.

  Lily looked up at Jason, twin paths of tears cutting a trail down both cheeks. “I can hear him. Inside my head. He’s like me...in that other state. He doesn’t speak telepathically like we do, with words and phrases. Instead, it’s feelings. Wants. Needs.” She looked back down at the infant. “I wasn’t wrong in that other form. Not a monster, nor an animal. I was just different. Untaught.”

  “Baby,” Jason whispered. “Look down.”

  She followed his gaze and gasped.

  Where her legs had been was now a giant fish tail. It was gloriously beautiful, a rainbow of colors in small iridescent patches of skin that looked like scales.

  “I changed without water?”

  “You controlled it. You’re not the same prehistoric creature. You’re a modern day version, able to keep in line with your humanity.”

  “This,” she said wonderingly. “This was inside me, the whole time.”

  He couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and kissed her forehead, right there in front of everyone.

  Steele had been standing silently nearby, chomping the food he held. He handed his empty plate to Rent and reached out to pick up Kaden. “Fights are about to start. I’m getting a front row seat.”

  A few of the Xeno Sapiens began to wander toward the door as if eager to watch the fighting.

  Jason leaned down and scooped Lily into his arms. “I can’t possibly go like this,” Lily said, her tail flopping.

  “Why not?”

  None of the Xeno Sapiens, with all their own unusual traits, thought anything of the fact that Lily now had a fish tail. So for once, his little miss pressed her perfect bow lips together and hushed.

  Chapter Ten

  Everything had almost seemed back to normal between her and Jason. It was ruined when Jason said he wanted to see Tempest. How the hell could a little green-freckled, earless girl compete with the likes of Tempest? She was stunningly beautiful. Powerfully vicious. And yet nice. Everybody admired Tempest.

  Including Jason.

  Please, please, please let him not try to get them together just so he could compare the two to see who he’d prefer. Because Lily would lose.

  He carried her through the halls of the building until they got to the outside. He followed the others to the front row of bleachers. People smiled and made way to let him pass since he carried her in his arms.

  He sat down, leaving her in his lap since she still had her fish tail and it wasn’t exactly a butt conducive for sitting. Through it all, Jason seemed to notice her mood.

  “Ahh, Lily-putian, you’re back, aren’t you?”

  “How did you know? Am I acting like a sullen teen?”

  “I’m just getting used to the hormonal changes, sweet pea. It’s something we’ll deal with. No big deal.” He deposited a kiss on the top of her head like the awesome guardian he was. It made Lily’s head spin. One minute he was Jason Almost Lover and the next he was Jason Babysitter.

  Her life sucked. She’d give anything to control these moods.

  Tempest and Shawn came out from opposite ends of the pits.

  Jason whispered to her. “My soldiers nicknamed them the gladiator pits because of the amount of blood Xeno Sapiens spill when they spar. It was actually meant as a training ring to box and spar. Shawn is teaching Tempest how to fight—without using her Xeno Sapien gifts.”

  “Why? Is she ashamed of them?” It was a harsh thing to say, she knew. But there was Tempest, so beautiful, with two of her favorite guys chasing after her. And all she could do was whine that she was able to break her bones and kill people? Oh, the pain.

  “Ashamed? Of course not, Lily-bun.” Jason’s tone had taken on a chiding tone because she’d dared to insult his girlfriend. She’d stab Tempest herself if they were sleeping together.

  “Breaking her bones is extremely painful for her. The actual break is, then there’s the pain of merging bones back into each other, and then pain during the healing time. Shawn’s trying to teach her it should only be used as a last resort.”

  Hmmph. Shawn used to teach her stuff, too. When he wasn’t so enthralled with Tempest. And what made her even madder is how nice Tempest was to her. She’d been her friend, taking her away when she’d made a fool of herself crying in front of the mirror, and showing her how to fix her hair so her missing ears didn’t show. Teaching her how to shake it—shake it—shake it off. Each time Tempest had sung shake it, she’d shimmied her shoulders, making her boobs shake, and Lily howl with laughter. Then Tempest had encouraged her to try the little naughty dance. Lily hardened her heart against the memory.

  That bitch should shake off the attraction she had for Lily’s guys. But maybe that was the plan. Tempest would get close to her, climb onto Shawn’s coattails, and from there latch onto her Jason.

  Lily felt her stomach clench. That was it.

  Actually, the clench signified something else. Her tail, underneath the long dress separated, splitting into two legs. She leaned back onto Jason’s back and breathed deeply, allowing legs to form.

  “That’s it. Good girl.” The warmth in his voice made her feel like a dog. “You’re changing without showing the pain.”

  What the living hell? He was encouraging her to act like Tempest now? This time the stab of pain through her heart was real.

  He loved Tempest.

  Jason placed his hand on her leg, rubbing it softly, feeling it change from the rough texture of scales to the skin of humans. Score one for Lily when he left it there instead of removing it. Ha. Kid or not, she scored with his hand on her thigh while Tempest was getting her sweaty butt kicked in the ring.

  Shawn had no mercy for Tempest, flinging her against the wall and pummeling her, yelling at her to remember her training. Tempest grew angrier by the minute but didn’t hit back. Instead she flipped herself away from him and jabbed back lightly. She didn’t seem like she was trying.

  “She was already strong with her offense,” Jason whispered. “He’s making her come to terms with her defensive moves. It’s all about balance with Shawn, though when you’re in training, you don’t really see or understand his method. She’d do a lot better without the frustration level she’s at right now. I’ll have to see if I can talk to her and explain how far she’s come along.”

  “You might want to let her shower first,” Lily couldn’t help but say. “I’m sure she doesn’t want to be stinky when she talks to you.”

  There was a rumble in his chest as he laughed softly.

  Lily didn’t know what was so funny.

  Suddenly there was a high pitched blare, coming in three short blasts.

  “Everybody out!” Jason yelled to members of the security crew that suddenly appeared.

  He picked Lily up and set her on the bench next to him. “That’s an emergency call for my security team from the gate. You stay here until I get back, okay? And don’t worry.”

  Lily nodded, eyes wide. Shawn also left the ring, and he and Jason made his way to the gates. Slowly, Xeno Sapiens began to filter out of the bleachers, heading back to Systems. Some stayed behind, talking with each other in the bleachers.

  She smiled at a few but didn’t leave with them. Jason told her not to.

  Tempest waited in the pit area for Shawn, lying on her back in the dirt, staring up at the sky. She didn’t bother to visit with anyone. So Lily strode up there, just so Tempest could get a whiff of her clean scent and compare it to hers.

  “It could take them a while to get back,” she said, her voice slightly antagonistic.

  Tempest shrugged. “I have nothing better to do.”

  “When they do come back, Jason’ll probably take me home.”

  That got her attention. Tempest sat up and hiked up a leg from where she sat on the ground. She wore a short brown skirt, easy to maneuver around in. Uncaring about how much dirt was rubbed into the leather. Her halter top was tied with strings across her back and at her neck. She looked like an ancient warrior princess.

  A beautiful warrior princess.

  Lily’s lip tightened.

  “You can ask him to stay. He needs to know how much I’ve learned.”

  “Why? Do you think he cares?” Lily taunted.

  “Because,” Tempest spoke clearly and succinctly, as if Lily was a dimwitted child. “He needs to know if how I’m being trained is for the best.”

  “Of course it’s for the best! It’s Shawn training you, isn’t it? He is the best, or Jason wouldn’t have given him to you!” Did the stupid woman not realize how smart Jason was?

  Tempest faltered. “If he wanted to give me the best, he would have trained me himself.”

  “I needed him!”

  “You appear to be fine now.”

  Lily narrowed her eyes. “And you appear to be beautiful, but you’re not.”

  “You’re a child.” Tempest sneered, her lip curling away from her teeth. “Go play alone on the bleachers, little girl.”

  “Really?” Lily allowed her eyes to roll down her own body...stopping at her breasts. They were curvy and voluptuously rounded—unlike Tempest’s more athletic build, restrained by the hard leather top she wore.

  Tempest’s eyes hardened. “Just because the outside grew up doesn’t mean he’s interested in you that way. He was interested in me just a few weeks ago. Not the green-haired little girl he used to babysit and buy candy for.”

  “He was always interested in me! He just fought his feelings.”

  “Never! He’s not a pedophile. We had one of those at the labs, remember?”

  Lily saw red. How dare the bitch bring that up?

  Tempest was in her face, her beauty unrivaled. Was this Jason’s distraction? Was he interested in her? Dammit, he couldn’t even wait for her to grow? She was barely aware of her glow as she flung Tempest backward, smacking against the gladiator pit.

  With a snarl, Tempest jumped up and backhanded her, flinging her further into the pit. The Xeno Sapiens seated inside tried to rise, but Lily’s power extended, forcing them to remain on the bleachers. To watch.

  After all, the people had come for a show, had they not? They wanted to see Xeno Sapiens spill blood in the gladiator pits? Well, now they had their show.

  “Get up,” Tempest yelled. Even her ugly fury couldn’t temper her beauty. No wonder Jason was distracted by her. What would he have seen in a freckled, stick figured, green-haired girl?

  She wanted to see Tempest bruised. She wanted to mark up that gorgeous face, see it swell. Watch her perfect form bleed. Somewhere inside her, bones could grow, snap off into pieces and pierce her skin. It wouldn’t take much goading.

  “No one wants you,” Lily whispered, her voice cold. “Not Jason. Not Beast. Not any Xeno Sapien. Not any human.”

  It wasn’t true. The silly human Shawn watched Tempest carefully as if she was a delicate object of the finest crystal. Hell, he used to treat Lily like that, back when she was a teen. Now he trained Tempest daily, sat with her in the mess halls, watched her carefully as she swooned over Jason, trying so desperately to catch his eye. But if Tempest was too stupid to see she had both of them, Lily wouldn’t be the one to point it out.

  “Definitely not Shawn.”

  “I don’t want or need anyone.” There it was. So telling. One comment told her exactly where Tempest’s insecurity lay.

  “And no one needs you.”

  She flung a lock of hair over her shoulder. Her hair lightened with the powerful glow within her. The dark green strands were now a paler green hue, the shade she’d had as a teenager.

  Just a few months ago.

  A teenager. That was the biggest source of her rage. No one understood. She fit in nowhere. The adults treated her as a child. The males treated her as a doll that had been broken. The teens treated her as a foreigner.