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

men kicked him. The toe of a boot slammed against his lower back, and a grunt of pain followed, and a second later one of the other men struck, slamming his heel down on the alien’s shoulder.

I stumbled forward, pushing past the attackers, and threw myself over the Veilorian. “Stop!”

“Stay back, girl,” the man with gray hair snarled.

He was dressed in a suit, his once shiny shoes scuffed from the altercation. Everything about him screamed success. His plump body and nice clothes, the leather briefcase and gold cufflinks gleaming at his wrists. But his face was a mask of hatred, transforming him into something grotesque and offensive.

“You’re going to kill him,” I screamed.

“That’s the idea,” another man said.

I wasn’t sure if they would hit me, but I was betting they wouldn’t—or at least not as much as they’d hit the Veilorian—so I stayed where I was, my body curled around the beaten man, doing my best to shield him from the attackers as I prayed someone would step in. We weren’t that far from the District, and even though I knew none of the Veilorians would be able to help us, I hoped Dean or whoever else was guarding the gate would step in. I just had to hold on long enough for someone to realize it wasn’t only a Veilorian in trouble, but a human as well.

A hand wrapped around my forearm literally seconds after the thought popped into my head, ripping me away from the man I was trying to protect. I cried out in pain and did my best to fight back, but it was no use. I was too small. Too weak. I couldn’t take on a group of full-grown men, especially not when they were wild with hatred and rage.

Whoever had grabbed me shoved me aside. I stumbled and fell, landing on my knees, but before I could get up, the men had converged on the Veilorian again. That didn’t stop me from trying to get back to him. Only I didn’t make it far. Someone, one of the onlookers, shoved me down, and a second later knuckles made contact with my cheek. Darkness covered my vision as stars burst across the blackness. I blinked, trying to clear them away, but it didn’t work. Pain throbbed through me. My arm where the man had grabbed me, my knees where I’d fallen on the pavement, my face where I’d been struck. Through the haze of pain, I registered angry voices, but there was something else as well. Something I couldn’t quite focus on.

Hands grabbed me, and I tried to fight, but a voice said, “Hold on, Ava.”

Weakly, I registered that the voice was familiar and stopped fighting. Then strong arms lifted me, and I was being carried, so I closed my eyes. There was nothing but blackness, anyway.

It wasn’t until I was set down that I forced my eyes open.

Dean hovered over me, wearing an expression of concern. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“They were going to kill him,” I mumbled.

“You should have let them. Or at the very least come to get me.” His hand moved down my face, over my throbbing cheek. “You’re going to have a pretty nasty bruise.”

“Is he okay?” I mumbled.

“You sure have some messed up priorities.” Dean exhaled in frustration. “Yeah, he’s okay.”

He nodded to my left, and I turned my head. The Veilorian I’d saved sat only a foot away from me, his face battered and bruised, his lip split and blue smeared across his skin.

“Are you okay?” I managed to ask.

He turned dusty pink eyes on me and nodded. “Thank you.”

It hit me then how young he was. His height had fooled me into thinking he was a man, but he couldn’t have been older than fifteen. Just a kid. A stupid kid who’d been reckless and almost gotten himself killed.

“Ava!” Ione’s voice rose above the humming in my ears.

I tried to sit up, tried to find her, but my head spun when I did, and I had to lie back down.

“Shit, Ava,” Dean said. “Stay down.”

“I’m okay,” I mumbled, but it was a lie.

My head throbbed. Had I hit it when I went down? I couldn’t remember, but when I probed the back of my skull, the lump told me I probably had. It was right on top of the barely healed cut I’d gotten a couple weeks ago on my way into the District.

Ione dropped to the ground at my side. “What happened?”

“Dumbass kid went outside the walls.” Dean nodded to the Veilorian sitting next to me. “The crowd tried to beat him to death, and your equally stupid cousin stepped in.”

“Oh, my God,” Ione said.

Someone came up behind her, and I recognized Rye. Finn stood at his back, his citrine eyes as cold as they’d been the first time we met. Except this time, they were focused on Dean. When his gaze moved to me, it softened even though his expression didn’t.

My heart, which was still beating at a wild pace, sped up.

“What were you thinking?” Rye said.

“I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing,” I replied, barely aware of the words coming out of my mouth. “They would have killed him.”

“Look what they did to you,” Ione replied, ignoring me while her husband knelt beside the Veilorian boy.

“Arch, what were you thinking?”

“My sister’s sick,” the kid mumbled. “We needed medicine.”

“You should have come to me. We could have figured it out together,” Finn said.

Rye sighed, indicating he agreed. “Can you walk?”

The boy, Arch, nodded and pushed himself up, but getting to his feet proved too difficult, and he stumbled. He fell to his knees, and Rye took his arm. “I’ll help you get home.”

“What about Ava?” Ione stared up at her husband in outrage.

“Finn can help.” Rye used his free hand to wave to his cousin, who frowned but nodded at the same time.

Ione moved aside when Finn stepped toward me, giving him room. She frowned like she wasn’t sure it was a good