separates them in height, but nothing does so in intellect or ingenuity.
“Don't touch her.”
Slade's head cocks to the side, his eyebrow sweeping in a sardonic tilt. “She wants me to, hopper. Do you not feel her blood call to mine?”
Jeb doesn't even turn to look at Beth. He forecasts nothing. One minute, his hands are by his side; the next, his fist is buried in the Bloodling's gut.
Beth jerks out of the way.
Slade bends in half, taking the strike, and Jeb raises his knee, plowing his kneecap into the Bloodling's face. Slade begins to drop, jabbing Jeb between the legs so hard that Jeb falls to the floor, holding his nuts while blood from Slade's nose sprays them both.
“Boys!” Gunnar strides toward them as Beth backs away. “Play nice!”
“Jeb!” Beth yells.
Gunnar seizes Jeb's nape as well as Slade's bound hair and slams their heads together.
The sheer strength of the maneuver shocks Jeb even as he falls back, still clutching his balls, while stars explode in his narrowing vision.
“He can kick some ass,” Jacky says in awestruck wonder from the sidelines.
Jeb would cheerfully kill Jacky if he could reach him. But he's too busy holding down his gorge.
“Now. Beth is safe, while you two infants play at being males. My daughter should not have to contend with the likes of you while being in danger.”
Beth looks from Merrick to Slade. “Nobody's fighting over me. Jeb is my partner—Slade is a relative.”
Jeb glances at Beth and doesn't like how pale she is.
Slade chokes, getting to his hands and knees on the floor, gurgling a response.
“What?” Gunnar asks, cupping his palm behind his ear. “I can't hear that.”
“He said she's not his kin,” Maddie answers in a hesitant voice.
Jeb sees the fear in her face as she looks at Gunnar.
Jeb’s nausea rolls through him as he struggles to stand. Beth grabs his elbow, and pride makes him pull away from her. She retreats, giving him his space.
His crotch throbbing, Jeb glares down at Slade, who also manages to gain his footing.
Gunnar stands loosely between them. “Now that I have your attention, let's run through the facts.”
Jeb says nothing, pleased that he's no longer in the fetal position.
“I have found I have a daughter, because by pure happenstance, I jumped with Slade.” Gunnar's nearly black eyes look at each face in the room, including the two Bloodlings who hang back, staying out of the chaos. “We have brought back a few hoppers.”
“Sounds like one of those bigotry names,” Jacky says from his corner of the large room.
“This isn’t the time for political correctness,” Maddie comments softly.
“Uh-huh, whatever.”
Gunnar's eyes narrow on Jacky. “If you mean that hopper is a derogatory term for a Reflective, then you are correct.”
“Wasn't Beth's mom a hopper?” Jacky asks smoothly, keeping a smug grin on his face.
“She was,” Gunnar answers without expression.
“Then why put down a whole species if you dug her so much, and—duh—there's your daughter.” Jacky's palm swings toward Beth. “She hops pretty well, and so do you, big dude.” Jacky's self-satisfied grin widens just a touch.
“All true. But I am pure Bloodling. It is an honor to jump if the blood of the hoppers doesn't flow in my veins.”
Jacky snorts. “You guys are as stuck up as them.” Jacky jerks his jaw toward Kennet and Jeb.
“Perhaps. But before my incarceration, I managed the Bloodlings under the steadfast hand of Gunnar's sire.”
“What happened?” Beth asks, giving a nervous glance below.
Slade follows her gaze. “They won't climb to get to us.”
Her eyes shift to Slade. “Why?”
“The vines are poisonous to nightloper blood.”
“Awesome,” Jacky deadpans.
Gunnar ignores the side conversation and returns to his history. “In any event, with the Bloodling king deceased and after my unfortunate breakdown and subsequent imprisonment, the slaver had easy access to our females.”
Beth and Jeb step forward.
“It's been twenty years that Dimitri has held our women, keeping us in our place through threats of violence against them.”
Maddie walks out to stand before Gunnar and Slade. “What did they do?”
Gunnar's eyes dip, and Slade speaks to the pockets of open forest, where branches move swiftly, beating against each other. The melody of the leaves churns its own music here on One.
Gunnar lifts his eyes and takes her chin gently, turning her face as if studying a prize. “Something that will never happen to you, little hopper.”
She moves her face away from his hand. “It's Madeline.”
He frowns, dropping his hand to his side.
“He looks like a guy that just got shut down, Maddie. Nice.”
Maddie doesn't look at