Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (books to read to get smarter txt) 📕

“I saw that halfling drag her down this street.”

“If that alien scum touches her, I’ll skin him alive,” Dean said through gritted teeth.

One of the other guards chuckled. “Not going to lie. Seeing one of those bastards bleed out would make my day. Hell, my year.”

Finn’s body stiffened, and without thinking, I put my hand on his arm.

His gaze moved from the street to my hand, then to my face. Like the entire time we’d been in the square, I felt trapped by the look. There was something else, too. It was the thing we’d been fighting since the moment we met. A mutual attraction that was undeniable and all-consuming. And wrong in more ways than either of us could articulate.

The spell was broken when Dean spit on the ground and said, “Shut the fuck up, Miller.”

“Just saying what everyone is thinking,” the guard grumbled.

“Right now, all I’m thinking about is making sure my girl is safe,” Dean snapped. “Let’s keep moving.”

He took off, the guard who’d said nothing only a few steps behind him, and Miller followed, shaking his head and grumbling under his breath.

Once they’d disappeared from sight, Finn relaxed, but he didn’t look at me again. “We should hang out here for a bit longer. Make sure things have settled down.”

When I found it difficult to form words, I swallowed. “How will we know?”

“We won’t. Not for sure.”

He said nothing else, and after a few seconds of silence, I realized my calves had begun to ache from crouching for so long. I shifted so I was sitting, pressing my back against the wall and doing my best to get comfortable. It wasn’t easy. The sun was down, and without the crowd of bodies that had surrounded me in the square, a chill began to settle over me. The city always cooled off at night, but being in the shadowy alley only made it worse, and within minutes goose bumps had popped up on my skin. I crossed my arms in an attempt to keep warm, but it was useless, and it wasn’t long before I was shivering.

Finn finally looked my way. “Are you cold?”

“Aren’t you?” I asked through chattering teeth.

“No.” He shifted, but I didn’t know what he was doing until he’d pulled his shirt off and held it out to me. “Veilorians aren’t warm-blooded like humans, and my body temperature regulates itself based on the climate.”

I took the shirt gratefully and slipped it over my head. “I didn’t know that.”

Vaguely, from somewhere in the back of my mind, I remembered learning that there had once been cold-blooded animals. Maybe there still were. It wasn’t like we had any in the city. The animals that hadn’t died off centuries ago were all wild and dangerous and lived in the wastelands. It wasn’t like movies from the past where humans had learned how to tame animals or even reveled in seeing them. Now, they were terrifying and fierce. Dangerous.

“It’s why we don’t have hair all over on our bodies the way humans do,” Finn said. “Only our head, eyebrows, and eyelashes.”

Distracted from the thought of pets, my gaze moved to his bare chest, thinking about him answering his door with no shirt on, about how I’d fallen into his arms. When a flush moved up my neck to my cheeks, I said a silent prayer of thanks that the alley was too dark for him to see me.

“I hadn’t noticed until now.”

“Really?” Through the thick shadows, I could just make it out when Finn’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “You must not be very observant.”

“It’s really not that obvious,” I protested. “Most of your body is covered by clothes.”

A barely discernable smile pulled up his lips. “I seem to remember a time not that long ago when you were pressed up against my bare chest.”

I felt yet another flush spread across my cheeks, but this one didn’t contain itself to my face. It moved down my neck and over my body.

I had to force myself to roll my eyes. “Your body hair wasn’t at the forefront of my thoughts that day.”

“Just my body?” he said, his smile growing wider.

Even though my face got hotter, I couldn’t stop from laughing. “You wish.”

Finn grew serious. “The idea of a human lusting after me definitely wasn’t something I ever wished for. Believe me.”

The words were like having a bucket of ice water dumped on my head.

I looked away, humiliated and angry and hurt. “I keep forgetting how abhorrent I am to you.”

“Ava,” he said with a sigh. When I wouldn’t look at him, he grabbed my chin and turned my face in his direction. “Believe me when I say you are anything but abhorrent to me. As shocking as I may find it, it’s the truth.”

I swallowed but couldn’t find my voice to respond. Of course, denying the attraction between us wasn’t necessary, because I knew how I felt was as clear as day. Just like the attraction he felt for me was. Sharing those feelings wasn’t the problem. It was what to do with them. It was how to find a way to make it work in this world.

It was impossible, which was why leaving everything we were feeling unsaid was our only option.

I pulled my chin from his grasp and focused on the street.

“Why didn’t I ever meet you before Ione and Rye got married?” I asked after a few seconds of silence. I never was able to keep my mouth shut, and now was no exception. “I mean, they dated for six months, but you were never around.”

Finn glanced my way out of the corner of his eye, not turning his head. “I wasn’t interested in meeting her.”

“Oh.” Against my will, the word came out hard and bitter.

“It isn’t like that,” Finn said with a long sigh, “not completely, anyway.”

“Explain it to me, then,” I replied, my words no less cold. “Tell me what it’s like.”

He exhaled again, only this