Insurrection
Page 12

“That’s Drab philosophy.”
“And what’s the human, then? To cower and hide?”
Josiah’s gaze smoldered with his pent-up fury. “To survive at all costs. And to kick your gray asses back to the dark corner of the universe where you came from.”
“Why do you hate us so much?”
Josiah sneered at her. “For the lives taken that can never be restored. For stealing a world that didn’t belong to you.”
And with those words spoken, he turned into a black crow and flew off.
Daria gasped at the sight.
Still human in appearance, Xared took her hand and pulled her away from the others before they had a chance to unite against her again.
Shaking and terrified, she fought down her panic and grief as she realized how tenuous a position she was in. She’d been a leader of HELL. Their worst enemy. One they wouldn’t hesitate to kill.
How am I going to survive here? They hate me!
She couldn’t blame them. Not when she hated them back.
“What am I going to do, Xed?”
“I don’t know. But don’t be so harsh on Joey. The Matens took everything from him.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was a police officer when the Matens first came.”
“Police officer?”
“Law enforcement ... a Dawner. And he was protecting the first group of Maten ambassadors when their Dawners opened fire on his pregnant wife and killed her for protesting the fact that they were withholding the cure from humans.”
Daria gaped at news she’d never heard before. “What?”
“It’s true. We had the cure and could have saved them all. His wife knew it. The humans weren’t weak as we’ve been told. Rather, they just hadn’t been exposed to our germs. A simple inoculation and one round of Sinctin would have cured them. None of them should have died, or been mutated. Joey’s wife was a research physician and had the research and proof. So, she and her colleagues staged a protest at the embassy where our emissaries were meeting with the humans. To keep her from exposing the truth, the Matens opened fire on her and her research team, and killed most of them, then started the war to make sure no one found out.”
“No wonder he hates us.”
Xared nodded. “He witnessed the entire thing and was unable to stop it. I’m told they had to pry her body from his arms.”
“How do you know he’s not lying?”
“He’s not the only one who saw it. And I know my uncle. Hatred like that only comes from a soul-deep betrayal. From a pain so foul that nothing can dull it.”
Daria stood there in quiet reflection as she came to terms with the fact that everything she’d ever known was a lie. Her background. Her history.
Her family.
Everything.
“Is my name my name?”
Xared scowled at her. “Pardon?”
“My parents lied about everything else. Is that all fabricated, too? Am I even a Stazen?”
His stern expression melted beneath a wave of sympathy. “Darus,” he breathed, using the Maten endearment for her name. “Of course, you are. They were only trying to protect you as best they could. You know this. You know what would have happened to you and to them had anyone ever learned you had human blood in your veins.”
Yeah, red-blooded was the worst insult anyone could hurl at a Maten.
And she was one of them now.
No, actually she wasn’t. Unlike Xared, she wasn’t some Shif who could make herself blend in with humans. She was clearly Maten in looks and manner. But partly human in genetics.
I belong to both.
And neither.
Hated and hunted by both groups.
She would never fit in. Neither would ever fully accept her. No wonder her mother had wanted to go live among the Matens. It must have been unbearable for her maja here where the humans glared at her with hatred, like they were doing to her right now.
And Daria had exposed them all by one unconscionable act of gross stupidity.
You must learn to think ahead. Her father had been right. Too bad she hadn’t listened to him sooner.
Now, she, the leader of HELL, was stuck in hell and there was no one to save her. No salvation to be found.
 
 
Chapter 5
Daria froze at the sight of Josiah’s bare back, and the way his muscles rippled. Her breath caught in her throat as a raw, unexpected wave of desire tore through her and left her speechless and hot.
Holy gods...
Had anyone ever told her that she’d feel such for a human being she’d have laughed them off the planet.
Yet there was no denying the way her heart picked up its pace as he quickly added weapons to the concealed holster at his waist and underarms. Worse? Unwanted fantasies of her running her hands over his body flashed through her mind faster than she could stop them.
What is wrong with me?
She hated humans.
But they weren’t supposed to look the way he did. Ripped and lean. Handsome beyond measure. Delectable.
Lickable.
He was exceptionally well formed, for any species.
And when he turned and caught her staring at him with the full weight of her teenage hormonal surge, she felt heat instantly scald her cheeks. Time seemed to stand still as he froze with one hand on the locker door.
For several agonizing heartbeats he said nothing as her mortification claimed her completely. They merely stood there in awkward silence.
Until he pulled his shirt over his head and closed the locker in front of him. “Did you need something?”
That deep, resonant voice sent another shiver over her. It made her entire body tingle. Stop it, Daria! Get a hold of yourself! She wasn’t some prepubescent child. Technically, she was a grown Maten.
Though at the moment, she felt some inexplicable urge to giggle and hide her face.
Or runaway and hide.
Yeah, that would be a bad idea.
So, she made herself take a step toward him and at least pretend like she still had some sort of brain activity. “I just wanted to thank you. It was rude of me not to do so earlier.”
He tucked a peculiar black knife into a sheath at the base of his spine. “It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting any kind of thanks.”
From the likes of you. He wasn’t rude enough to add that last bit out loud, but the tone of his voice implied it.
As he started past her, she stopped him. His nearness hit her with another wave of desire that made a mockery of the earlier one. Every part of her was alert to him now. And it took everything she had not to kiss those lips that seemed to be made for just such a thing.