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

We entered his house without talking, and once inside I moved to the bathroom, knowing from my first visit where to find the things I needed. As if he’d known what I was going to do, Finn was sitting on the couch when I came back, waiting. He watched me cross the room, making every inch of my body tingle. My bag was still draped over my shoulder, and I slid it off, dropping it to the floor so I could concentrate on what I was about to do.

Using the same bottle of clear liquid Finn had used on me the day before, I dampened the cloth and started cleaning the cut on his lip.

“I didn’t know half-humans had purple blood.”

“We do,” he said.

He didn’t react even a little as I dabbed at the cut, his eyes too intent on me. Too focused and intense.

“I don’t even know if you heal the same way I do,” I said, finding it impossible not to talk. Impossible not to say every little thought the second it popped into my head. “Can you get a cold? Do your bones break as easily as mine?”

“Yes, but I heal faster,” he said. “I’ll be okay by morning.”

I lifted my gaze from the cut on his lip, focusing on his eyes and said, “Is it the same with full-blooded Veilorians?”

He gave me a small smile. “Yes, it is.”

I nodded and went back to cleaning the cut.

With the blood wiped away, I saw it wasn’t bad. Small, less than an inch, and already it had closed up. It seemed miraculous, seeing a deep, purple scab covering the cut that less than ten minutes ago had been bleeding.

“It looks good,” I said, focusing on screwing the lid back on the bottle. “Which I guess is no big surprise to you.”

I started to turn so I could put the bottle away, but Finn grabbed my hand to stop me. “Wait.”

He stood, easing the bottle from my grasp so he could set it on the table. The cloth, clutched in my other hand, followed, and then it was just the two of us, standing face to face, both my hands in his as he studied me. He was so tall, so big. So…amazing.

Finn’s gaze moved to the bag at my feet. “You planning a trip?”

“My mom kicked me out,” I said. “She saw me on the news, and she didn’t want a species traitor living in her house.”

He looked at me again, his eyebrows raised. “So, you came here?”

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I thought maybe Ione and Rye would let me sleep on their couch.”

Finn shifted closer to me, his yellow-orange eyes holding mine. My heart beat harder, pounding against my ribs and echoing through my head, and I held my breath, waiting. He was so welcoming. So unlike anything I’d ever known.

“You’ll stay here,” he said, the statement possessive but begging at the same time.

I nodded, unable to find words but not the least bit hesitant. Even though I hadn’t acknowledged it before now, deep down I’d known this was where I’d end up. It was even possible a part of me had known it since the first moment I laid eyes on Finn.

When he finally pressed his lips against mine, it took my breath away. Literally. But I discovered I didn’t need air, not as long as I was kissing Finn. Not as long as I had him to cling to. He held my face between his hands as I clung to him, twisting my fists in his shirt while his mouth moved over mine. I’d been kissed before, but never like this. Never with such utter abandon. Never by a person who acted like my lips were sweeter than sugar, like he couldn’t get close enough. Like he hadn’t really lived, not one single moment, until now.

I gasped when he finally broke the kiss, filling my lungs with oxygen until it felt like they would burst. Finn still had my face in his hands, and like so many times before, his gaze held mine.

“I never thought I’d be attracted to a human,” he whispered, “but I can’t get you out of my mind. From that first moment I saw you on the walkway outside Rye’s house, you’re all I’ve been able to think about. It makes no sense.”

“Even when I thought I hated you, I was so attracted to you,” I admitted.

Finn gave me one of his rare smiles. “It’s because I’m so irresistible.”

I laughed even as my eyes filled with tears. Blinking them away didn’t help staunch the flow, and in seconds they were streaming down my cheeks, one after the other in a steady stream.

“No,” he whispered, wiping the tears away with his big thumbs. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay.”

“You don’t know that,” I said.

“I do,” Finn replied, “because I will do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens to you. Ever.”

He pulled me against him then, wrapping his long arms around me until it felt like his body had engulfed mine, and I leaned my head against his chest. Closing my eyes, breathing him in, allowing his presence to seep into me.

We were still standing like that when the front door burst open and Ione rushed inside.

Chapter Twenty

My cousin froze just inside the door, her eyes wide and filled with shock, while behind her Rye burst out laughing.

“Not exactly what I was expecting to find,” he said.

Finn released me, his hand moving down my arm and leaving a trail of tingles behind. “Do humans not knock?”

“Oh.” Ione snapped out of it, her cheeks flushing pink. “Sorry. I was just worried, and I wasn’t thinking.” She broke off, her gaze moving from Finn to me. “What the hell is going on? We heard there was some kind altercation at the gate and Finn was hurt, so we rushed here and find this. I thought you hated each other.”

“There’s