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

do with the fact that I was a dirty species traitor. Dean was trying to get some payback.

He released me once my wrists were bound, and a few seconds later Ione let out a yelp of pain.

I ventured a glance in her direction. “Are you okay?”

Dean poked the barrel of his pulse rifle into my side, and I stumbled forward. “No talking.” To his partner, he said, “They’re secure.”

“I’ve got this one,” the other man replied, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move.

He had Finn, who like us had his hands behind his back. I waited to see if they would take Rye into custody as well, but they left him where he was, standing with his palms pressed against the wall, his head turned in our direction and his gaze focused on Ione. Just like I’d thought, the guards were only gathering the humans and half-humans living inside the District.

Again, Dean poked me—not as hard as he had the first time, but not gently—then Ione. “Out the door. Nice and slow. Don’t cause any trouble.”

I nodded for my cousin to go first, wanting to put myself between her and the weapon. She obeyed, throwing one look toward her husband, but not daring to utter a word.

I followed her once she’d stepped out, but we didn’t have a chance to get any farther before Finn and the other guard joined us.

“You got this?” he asked Dean, nodding to Ione and me, then to Finn.

“I can handle it,” Dean replied, his tone icy and hard.

The other guard nodded. “I’m going to move to the next one. Help Brentwood.”

“Roger that,” Dean replied.

Once his partner had moved on, he nudged me with his weapon yet again. “Move. Now. To the gate. No stopping and no talking.”

Finn stiffened at the rough treatment, but thankfully didn’t utter a word. I didn’t want him to do anything to provoke Dean. Not for me.

“What’s going to happen to us?” Ione asked.

Dean took a step toward her. He didn’t raise his pulse rifle, but he did get in her face. “What about ‘no talking’ don’t you understand?”

“She’s just scared,” I said, finding it impossible to stay quiet. As usual.

Dean gave me a cold stare. “She better get used to being scared. This is only the beginning.”

Ione shuddered, but I refused to give this asshole the satisfaction of seeing my fear. Holding his gaze, anger and loathing burning through me, I refused to blink. Refused to look away. Refused to let a single emotion other than the deepest loathing surface.

“Ava,” Finn hissed. “Just cooperate.”

Dean tore his gaze from me so he could look at Finn, and although I still couldn’t see his eyes, I didn’t need to. The hatred radiated off him like a heat wave.

“Go,” was all Dean said.

We obeyed, moving down the walkway to the staircase. Ione first, then me and Finn, with Dean taking up the rear. It wasn’t until we reached the stairs that I moved so I was in front of my cousin. Ione was so front heavy now that she waddled when she walked, and I knew she’d have a difficult time getting down the stairs with her hands secured behind her back.

“Use me for support if you have to,” I said as I moved down the stairs.

“No talking,” Dean growled again.

I ignored him.

I had to slow twice when I felt Ione press some of her weight into my back, and each time Dean barked at us to keep moving. I continued to ignore him.

We passed other guards and other humans and half-humans with bound hands. A Veilorian man knelt on the ground outside his home, the barrel of a pulse rifle pressed against his forehead as his human wife and half-human children were ushered from their house. I witnessed both men and women being hit when they didn’t cooperate fast enough, saw Veilorians with blue blood streaked across their faces as if they’d been struck, saw humans sobbing, and half-human children as young as infants wailing as they were carried away by guards. Every sight, every sound of suffering, made my hate grow in intensity until it felt like a living thing inside me, expanding and filling me until there was no room left for any other feeling.

This was how Finn had felt his whole life, I realized. It was why he’d been so hostile toward me the day we met, and why he disliked humans so much. Right now, watching this unfold, I couldn’t blame him.

We finally made it to the ground, and either because he felt his brutality toward me would make the others listen better or because he was still angry at being dumped, Dean moved so he was standing behind me. He pressed the barrel of his pulse rifle against my back until I couldn’t hold in a hiss of pain, and at my side Ione whimpered. Finn, on the other hand, let out a growl.

“I see you decided to go full species traitor,” Dean snarled as he poked me with his weapon a second time, urging me to move faster. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You were nothing but a cock tease anyway. You were probably only using me to get information.”

He poked again, this time sending me forward a few steps. I stumbled and almost fell but somehow managed to regain my footing before face planting on the ground.

Finn growled again and took a step toward Dean, although what he thought he was going to do with his hands bound behind his back was a mystery. My guess was, he wasn’t thinking.

“No.” I stepped between the two men before Finn could do something stupid. “Don’t.”

Behind me, Dean raised his pulse rifle, aiming it at Finn’s head. “Give me an excuse, you piece of alien shit.”

Finn growled again, but thankfully didn’t make a move. His hard gaze was focused on Dean, and I was pretty sure if he could have shot poison out of his eyes, he would have killed the guard right