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

did, tall and strong, and I felt like I was really seeing him for the first time.

“She’s in here,” I heard Ione say only seconds before she made an appearance.

Dean was with her.

“Shit.” He hurried to the bed, kneeling beside it, and took my hand the way I’d taken Finn’s only a few seconds ago. “Are you okay?”

“My head hurts, but otherwise I’m all right.”

Another figure moved into the room, drawing my attention.

“This is Geela,” my cousin said. “She’s a physician.”

The Veilorian woman was over six feet tall and slender, her arms and legs seeming to go on forever as she glided across the room. Like the boy I’d saved, her eyes were a soft pinkish purple and her hair golden yellow, worn in a long braid that went past her waist. She smiled when our eyes met, conveying both professionalism and calm in the small gesture.

“How are you?” the woman asked in a soothing and slightly accented voice when she’d reached the bed.

“Okay.” My hand went to the back of my skull, my fingers once again probing the bump. “I think I hit my head.”

“Did you lose consciousness?”

“I don’t know—” I paused, trying to remember, but it only filled me with uncertainty. “I remember things getting dark like I might pass out, but I don’t know for sure if I did.”

The woman’s lips, which were thin and nearly the same shade as her eyes, turned down. “You could have a concussion.” She glanced at my cousin. “Someone should stay with her tonight. Make sure to monitor her.”

“I have to work,” Ione said, frowning.

“She can come back to my place,” Dean said.

“You can’t be serious,” Finn snapped. “You want to take her back into that mob? They’ll attack her.”

Dean stood, my hand still in his, and turned to face the other man. “You have a better suggestion? She’s my girlfriend. I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

“I think,” Geela said, “it would be best if she doesn’t exert herself. Just until we’re sure she’s okay.”

“She can stay here.” Finn’s back straightened. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Like hell,” Dean said. “She’s not staying in the house of a—” He broke off, flushing, and looked around like he suddenly remembered where he was and what he was about to say. “Stranger.”

All eyes were on me now. The gem colored eyes of the Veilorians, Ione’s hazel eyes, which were so familiar they almost felt like home, and the piercing blue eyes of Dean. His were the most expectant, but they were also the ones that made me the most uneasy. What would he have said if he hadn’t remembered where he was?

“I think,” I started, “I’m a little too dizzy to make a trip across the city at the moment.”

“We’ll take the motobus,” Dean said.

Ione snorted. “Were you hoping to get home this century?”

Dean’s face reddened, but since he couldn’t really argue with that statement, he said nothing.

“Then you’ll stay here,” Finn said.

Heat moved up my cheeks when I thought about being alone with him. Not just being alone but being in his house. In his bed. It was already impossible to hide my attraction. I was certain everyone—Dean included—could see it written on my face, and I had no idea how I’d keep things comfortable once Finn and I were alone.

Somehow, I managed to maintain a steady voice when I said, “As long as you’re really okay with it.”

“It will be fine.” Finn nodded once, his focus entirely on me.

Dean still had my hand, but his grip had stiffened, his fingers tightening until my bones felt like they were grinding together. I wiggled them, trying to make him get the hint without having to look at or talk to him, but he didn’t loosen his hold.

Finally, I tore my gaze from Finn and focused on Dean. My boyfriend—that was a word I hadn’t used and one I honestly didn’t think fit our relationship, but that was a conversation for another day—was glaring at Finn.

I cleared my throat. “You’re crushing my fingers.”

“Sorry.”

Dean released my hand but didn’t look away from Finn, whose own expression was dark and angry. A fire seemed to crackle between them, but it was something I couldn’t account for. Could it really have been about me? It seemed much too intense for jealousy, but it was the only explanation I could come up with.

Sensing the tension, Geela stepped between the two men. “Let me do a quick exam just to make sure nothing else is going on, okay?”

“Do you even know anything about human anatomy?” Dean practically snarled.

Geela looked at him, her face a mask of calm. “I do. In fact, we aren’t that different, if you can believe it.”

Dean stayed quiet as she moved to my side, but his expression said that no, he did not believe it, and it was enough to make me want to slap him.

Chapter Seventeen

Geela left once she’d made sure I was okay, giving me instructions to rest and drink lots of water—something I felt immediately guilty for since I knew water rations had been cut the same way electricity had. On her way out, she pulled Finn to the other side of the room to let him know what to do, but I wasn’t able to pay attention to what they were saying because Dean was immediately at my side.

“I hate the idea of leaving you here,” he said.

He had my hand in his and was kneeling next to me, acting like I was an ailing princess in some fairy tale, and he was the dashing knight sent to save me. Not likely.

“I’ll be fine.” I had to resist the urge to rip my hand from his.

Dean glanced toward Finn, who was listening to Geela but watching us. “I don’t like that—” He broke off, frowning like he was searching for a word, then said, “Guy.”

Halfling. He’d been about to say halfling, I realized, but caught himself in time.

Ione frowned like she, too, knew what he’d been about