Hive Queen by Sinclair, Grayson (positive books to read .txt) 📕

She'd done this before, and in under a minute had me out of the armor. I placed it on the ground and stepped out of my skirt easily enough, but my shirt stubbornly clung to me and took far too much effort to remove. When I was finally free, I almost shouted in joy. I piled all my soiled clothes together and opened my pack to change.

"Well, don't you look sexy," Evelyn said at my back, I turned to find her naked, staring at me with curiosity.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, unsure of what she meant by sexy.

She didn't say anything, instead choosing to come closer to me. I couldn't help but stare at her while she did so.

Evelyn was beautiful, to a truly remarkable degree. I’d noticed before how lean she was, and how her armor hugged her body, but to see it uncovered was like night and day.

Her skin was flawless, pale like mine, but so much prettier. Hers was almost translucent it was so clear. She had the grace of a dancer and the strength of a warrior, pure functional muscle, but it was smooth and flowed flawlessly from head to toe. Her breasts were larger than mine, not by much, but still enough that it irked me. They were taut, and her nipples were almost invisible next to her skin. She caught me staring but wasn't angry; she looked at me with desire in her golden eyes.

Evelyn stood several inches taller than me, and she trailed a finger slowly from the top of my navel through my cleavage to grab my chin.

My heart beat incredibly fast in my chest, so much that I was sure Evelyn could hear it. She bent low to gaze at me, and her breath drifted across my bare skin to tickle my nose, and I caught the sweet fragrance of peppermint and honey from her mouth, while her skin smelled of rose petals and lavender. She tilted my neck, and I knew she was looking at my scar.

"What have we here?" Evelyn asked under her breath, her fingers playing over the indentation of Sam's teeth. "Seems you like it rough, kinky."

More words I don't understand, but I can't tell her about what happened between Sam and I. Sam hates the scar, and even if it wasn’t his fault, I don't want to paint him in a negative light. I stepped back from her, not because I wanted to, but because I wanted to be closer to her. I longed to feel her skin against mine, but I couldn’t.

Sam wouldn’t like it, and I couldn’t do something knowing it would hurt my bonded. He had a thing about only being with one person, and even if I didn't exactly agree with it, I didn't want to betray his trust.

Evelyn kept her hand on my neck but didn't press me, just reciprocated my earlier gawking and looked me up and down.

"You really are a gorgeous specimen, it's a shame you shackled yourself to the one man who would object to having his own harem. He'd never forgive me if I took you for myself," she said, walking back to her clothes.

Makenna watched our exchange with extreme interest, her clothes in her hands forgotten as she stood naked, waiting for something to happen. Her pigtails had come loose; her hair spilled down to cover her modest chest, which was as freckled as her face.

She was adorable, and as she bent over to climb into a pair of underwear, I noticed a shock of vibrant red hair at her crevice. It matched her hair, and I found that amusing for some strange reason. She looked at me when I started laughing to myself but thankfully didn't ask why. I didn't have a good answer for her.

The close proximity to Evelyn had left me heated, but now, alone, the chill left by the storm sank into my skin. My body heat kept the worst away, but the temperature was steadily dropping. I chose my clothes—a white cotton tunic that came down to my knees and a short black skirt—gathered up my belongings, and headed back to the fire to dry them.

Evelyn was dressed more casually than I had ever seen before, a black loose-fitting garment that tied at the waist and a pair of pants in a similar fashion. They looked like pajamas, but they also looked easy to move in, so I doubted they were actually sleeping clothes.

Makenna chose a billowy tunic that was at least three sizes too large, and I would have bet my dinner if it wasn't Gil's. Adam and Gil had also changed; both wore fresh shirts and pants, Gil's a light cream, while Adam wore a navy blue. There were several makeshift racks near the fire that already housed the other's clothes, so I added my own to the pile and went to take care of the spiderlings.

Tegen and Cheira had no other clothes, so I gave them both a shirt of mine and washed out their clothes and set them by the fire.

Once they were taken care of, I went to set up our tent.

I had watched Sam do it enough times while traveling that I thought I knew how to set it up properly, but it still took me about ten minutes of fumbling with the strings and stakes to get them to stay in the saturated ground. When the tent was as good as it was going to get, I stowed my belongings inside and went back by the fire.

While I was gone, Tegen and Cheira had disappeared. Slight panic chilled me when they weren't by the tree, but I quickly calmed down. Those two are smart and as fast as I am. They're probably just playing. Nearly eight hours in the saddle, I'm sure they just need to burn off some energy. My