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

everyone in the District. His parents, his sick sister, his friends, a girlfriend if he had one. They’d all had to watch him die.

Mayor Waters continued to talk as behind her a couple guards got to work removing Arch’s body. “My supporters have asked me when I’m going to enact some real change.”

My head was spinning, forcing me to lower myself to the couch, but I never looked away from the screen.

“I promised a lot during my campaign, and I haven’t forgotten those promises. Nor will I. Until now, I was hesitant to enact too much change too fast, but these tragic events have made me realize waiting would be foolish. Next week, I will be proposing several bills to the council that I hope will help ensure the safety of every human in this city.” The crowd roared again and the mayor had to raise her voice. “Mark my words! There will be more restrictions placed on Veilorians and any human who chooses to inhabit the District. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe!”

The roar got louder, drowning out anything else she had to say, but it didn’t matter. I’d heard enough.

“What will she do next?” I said to myself.

“Whatever it takes to destroy us,” Finn replied.

I looked up, meeting his gaze. His citrine eyes were cold and hard the way they’d been when we first met, and a shiver shook my body.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I’d hated my job on the cleaning crew, but having nothing to do was even worse. Especially when Finn went to his own job, leaving me alone for hours. He still hadn’t told me what he did, but I hadn’t pushed him either. I was a guest in the District, and as much as I wanted him to open up to me, I had to accept that there were things he wouldn’t be able to tell me.

Spending my day alone meant watching the viewing screen. Old and outdated shows from the past aired throughout the day, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the news, most of which revolved around the mayor and the changes she’d promised. Two days after Arch’s death, his execution was still a hot topic, and it had for some reason revived the rumor that there was a radical group of Veilorians inside the District plotting to overthrow Waters.

With each mention of this theoretical group, I found my thoughts turning to Finn. He couldn’t have been alone in his hatred of humans, not after everything they’d done. Could this group be real? Could he be a part of it? Was that why he wouldn’t tell me what he did all day?

Maybe, I thought, there were some things I didn’t need to know. For my own good.

It was early evening when he arrived home from wherever he’d been, and he frowned at the viewing screen when he stepped inside. “I don’t know how you can stand watching that every day.”

“I don’t have anything else to do,” I said as I swiped the remote up off the table and hit power. “I need a job, Finn. I’m going crazy.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “A job?”

“Yes.” I tossed the remote down, frowning. “I know I don’t have any real skills. Not like Ione. But there has to be something I can do.”

“I’m sure there is,” he said as he pulled his shirt off and headed for the bedroom. “We’ll talk to my mother about it tonight.”

“Tonight?” I called after him.

He’d already disappeared from sight when he replied. “She asked us to come for dinner. She wants to get to know you.”

My stomach flipped.

I hadn’t seen Melora since the night we met, and thinking about her once again broaching the subject of sex made me uneasy. Finn and I hadn’t taken that step, but we’d come close, and I knew it was only a matter of time. I also knew I was a horrible liar. If Melora brought it up, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hide the truth from her, and I didn’t know how she’d react. Finn was her only child, after all, and she’d spent his entire life trying to protect him from harm. Getting involved with a human and having a baby that might soon be illegal didn’t exactly fall in line with keeping him safe.

Finn and I headed for his mom’s house after he’d changed, but the sight we were greeted with when we stepped through the front door wasn’t what I’d expected.

The council was gathered.

They were speaking in their native Veilorian tongue, but the conversation still cut off the second we stepped into the house. I didn’t need to see their expressions to tell me something was wrong. The tension was palpable, but the worry in the eyes of the Veilorians added to the heavy feeling that had been following me around since before Veronica Waters was elected.

“What is it?” Finn asked, his gaze on his mother.

Anara was the one who answered. “A group left the District late last night, hoping to flee. The humans have captured them.”

“What do you mean?” Finn asked, scanning the faces of the people gathered in the room. “A group of who?”

“Veilorians and humans, as well as their children,” the council leader replied. “We do not know the exact numbers, but we believe it was a large group. Perhaps close to forty souls.”

Finn let out a deep breath.

He looked beaten down, and while the grave expression had my own dread building, my confusion overshadowed the feeling. The idea that anyone would flee the city made no sense. We were surrounded by wastelands, and as far as the eye could see there was nothing but dead land and desolation. Running would have been a death sentence to anyone who tried, because there was no water and no plant life, and the few animals that managed to somehow survive in the desert were dangerous. Lethal, even.

“What do you mean, they were trying to flee?” I looked from the