Species Traitor: A Science Fiction Dystopian Novel by Kate Mary (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

same smell had surrounded me when we were huddled together in the alley, and when I’d pressed my nose against his shirt before giving it back to him. Then on the way up here I’d closed my eyes and leaned my face against his chest. I was in his bed, surrounded by his smell, and I had to admit the scent was as appealing as he was. The weeks we’d been apart definitely hadn’t lessened my attraction.

“Ava.” I cracked one eye to find Ione hovering over me. “I’m going to find Rye and make sure Arch is okay.” She shot a nervous look toward Finn, who was standing in the doorway. “You’ll keep an eye on her?”

Finn nodded but stayed silent.

“I’ll be fine.” I waved off my cousin’s concerns, wincing when my bruised head throbbed.

“I’ll be back.” She headed to the door but stopped next to Finn. “Be nice.”

His frown deepened. “Is your opinion of me really that low?”

“You haven’t said a single kind thing to me in all the time we’ve known one another,” Ione said. “What do you think?”

Again, Finn didn’t reply, but his silence must have been enough of an answer, because Ione left.

I closed my eyes once she was gone, pressing the ice against my cheek with one hand while the other probed the bump on my head. It throbbed, making me wince.

My eyes were still shut when a hand slipped beneath my head, gently moving my fingers aside. The feel of Finn’s cool skin against mine was like a jolt of electricity shooting through my body, and I opened my eyes to find his face inches from mine. His eyes moved to my face, and his frown deepened.

“You have a pretty nasty bump back here,” he whispered as his fingers probed my skull.

“I think I hit my head when I fell.”

He nodded, his gaze holding mine. Like a dozen times before, I felt trapped by those yellow-orange eyes. There was something about Finn that even his severe personality and extreme dislike of humans couldn’t overshadow.

He moved his hand from the back of my head but didn’t step away. Instead, he sat beside me on the bed, his hip close to mine, his presence wrapping around me.

“Why did you do that?”

I couldn’t think with him so close to me. “Do what?”

“Put yourself at risk for Arch.”

“Because they were going to kill him.”

Finn pressed his lips together thoughtfully, shaking his head after only a moment. “I don’t understand why you would care.”

“Because I’m not a monster, Finn. Arch didn’t do anything wrong. He doesn’t deserve to be beaten to death just because he’s Veilorian. He didn’t have any more control over what he was born than I did.”

“I think I’ve misjudged you.”

My lips turned up into a sardonic smile. “You don’t say?”

Finn’s hard expression eased, and his own lips turned up. It was one of the few times I’d seen him smile, and it lit up his eyes, brightening them. His features softened, too, making him even more attractive. I hadn’t thought it was possible.

“You should smile more,” I said. “It makes you less scary.”

“Am I scary?” he asked, his smile stretching wider. “You don’t act like you’re afraid of me.”

“I’m not afraid,” I said, “but I bet a lot of humans would be. You’re pretty intense.”

“Most humans would be afraid of a Veilorian toddler, but not you. You don’t see us as any different. It’s strange.”

“I’m not the only one. There are other humans living here, Finn. People like Ione who gave up everything because they love a Veilorian. We’re not all bad.”

“I’m beginning to see that.” Finn pushed my hair off my forehead, his touch feather light.

A shiver ran through me. I tried to hide my body’s reaction, but I doubted I succeeded. It was too intense, just like this thing between us.

If Finn noticed, he didn’t give anything away.

“I’m sure you already know I’m half-human,” he said after a moment of thoughtful silence.

“It’s pretty obvious.”

“Is it?” he asked, his eyebrows lifting in surprise. “I mean, I know Veilorians can tell, but I wasn’t sure if humans could.”

“Maybe not everyone, but I can.” I found my gaze moving over him. Across his broad shoulders and down his powerful arms, over his muscular chest. “I’m not sure exactly what it is, but there’s something distinctly different about you.” My gaze moved back to his face. “Then there are your eyes.”

“I guess that would give me away.” He exhaled and ran his hand over his head and through his sandy hair. “My mom is Veilorian, but I’ve never met my father. We don’t talk about him, so I don’t know the whole story, but I know he’s never been part of my life. When I was younger and asked my mom about him, she said it was too painful to talk about.”

“I understand being mad,” I replied. “Who wouldn’t be? But not all of us are like that.”

“Most of you are, though.”

I exhaled. “The election sure did make it seem that way, didn’t it?”

Finn only nodded.

Without thinking, I reached out and took his hand. It was cool in mine. Not warm like a full-blooded human.

“I’m not like that. No matter what happens, I won’t let their hate change me.”

He looked down, studying our hands. His seemed to swallow mine, its size contrasting as much as the color and temperature of our skin did. Mine was light brown and warm while his seemed as pale as the pictures of snow I’d seen and just as chilly. Still, our hands were basically the same. Just like we were. Two people searching for a place in a world that seemed determined to beat us down.

We stared silently at one another as new understanding dawned for each of us, only torn from our reverie by the sound of the front door opening.

As if we were about to get caught doing something wrong, Finn slipped his hand from mine and stood. He towered over me the way the buildings in the District