Insurrection
Page 13

She drew a ragged breath, wishing that they weren’t so different. “I also wanted to say that I was sorry, Commander. I didn’t mean to get anyone hurt.”
Josiah hesitated as he saw real remorse in her dark eyes. And he hated himself for letting it weaken him. She was a Drab. Plain and simple.
His worst enemy. She symbolized everything he despised in this world.
Yet when she stood this close to him, with her hand on his forearm, all he saw was an attractive woman.
A scared, vulnerable one. Especially given the way her hand lingered and trembled on his flesh.
And that weakened him even more. He’d always been a sucker for anyone in need, especially a woman or a child. It was what had caused him to join the police force against his father’s wishes.
Protect and serve those who couldn’t defend themselves. Might shouldn’t make right. It was the duty of the strong to bleed for those who couldn’t hold their own.
He just wished he’d done a better job protecting his wife and family.
“Don’t be afraid, Daria. If your parents are alive, I’ll bring them back to you. You have my word on that.”
The pain in her eyes was one he knew intimately. It was the same ghost that haunted him with every breath he drew. Day and night. It even stalked his sleep and made him dread those few hours when he had no control over his mind that ever wandered off, and left him exposed to his rawest emotions. Those hours when he would venture to the past to be with his wife and live in a time before the Drabs had destroyed his life.
They had taken everything from him.
She hadn’t. Daria hadn’t even been born yet, and she had nothing to do with their cruelty. You know this, Joey.
But it was hard to remember that when all he wanted to do was lash out, and use her as a scapegoat for all the injustices that had left him gutted and bitter.
Left him alone and bleeding.
The world was callous, and it had turned him into a monster long ago. Sadly, it was easier to be that monster than the man he once was.
“Xed told me that I could trust you.” Unshed tears made her eyes shine in the dim light. “I pray he’s right.”
Josiah stamped down his urge to hurt her in retaliation for all the ills of the past. Yet it was hard.
Indifference was the best he could strive for, given his innate hatred. And even that was difficult. “I won’t hurt you.” He hoped that wasn’t a lie.
She offered him a shy smile. “Again, thank you. If you need anything from me in terms of intel or insight, please let me know. . . . Stay safe, Commander.”
With those words spoken, she stood up on her toes and laid the most chaste kiss imaginable against his cheek.
Yet for all its innocence, it left his skin burning for reasons that didn’t bear thinking on.
She’s a child.
And a Drab!
Too bad his body didn’t listen. Drab or not, she was a beautiful creature. One who smelled like sunshine and spring. And it’d been way too long since he’d last held a woman in his arms.
Far too long since he’d allowed himself to look at one as anything more than a sister in need of saving.
But he was looking now ...
I need to gouge out my eyes.
Only problem was, he didn’t want to. And before he could stop himself he heard himself making an offer to her that wasn’t as disgusting as it should be. “Would you like for me to show you around later ... after we get back?”
Her cheeks darkened again, and she nodded. “I think I’d like that a lot.”
Why was he so breathless?
Why was she?
She stepped away, then hesitated and turned toward him. “How do humans say ‘roundabout’?”
He intended to answer with goodbye. Really, he did. Yet somehow, he pulled her against him and kissed her instead.
Daria gasped the moment Josiah’s lips touched hers. At nineteen, she’d only kissed Frayne, and he’d never tasted like this. Raw and powerful. All masculine.
Like divine paradise.
Closing her eyes, she inhaled the warmth of Josiah, and gave in to the fantasy she’d had earlier of rubbing her hands down his back over those bulging muscles. His body was every bit as ripped as it’d seemed.
She sucked her breath in sharply, wishing for a lot more than just this hot, insane kiss, and knowing better than to even think about it.
He tensed and pulled away. “Sorry,” he breathed with a sincerity that should insult her.
Yet she suspected it came from more than just the obvious.
In fact, she had a good idea of what might truly be bothering him. “Just how old are you? Really?”
Josiah ran his thumb along her bottom lip as if debating on whether or not he should kiss her again. That action made her chest tighten. “Physically, only five years older than you. Realistically, I’m horrifying and should be ashamed of myself.”
“But you’re not.”
A wicked gleam darkened his eyes. “Hard to be truly ashamed when every woman my age is long dead and decayed into dust. Can’t exactly date in my age group, you know?”
He had a point.
“And the one time I tried to date an older woman, it gave her such a complex over my age and appearance that I haven’t tried it again. Every time we went somewhere, everyone thought I was her son and she couldn’t deal with it.”
“Well, your age isn’t what bothers me,” she reminded him.
“My species does.”
She squirmed uncomfortably at his accurate guess. “Are you saying that mine doesn’t bother you?”
He dropped his hand from her lips. “It’s not as much a factor at the moment as it was before.”
“Truly?”
A deep, dark pain settled behind his eyes. It was so profound that it brought a lump to her throat. “I’ll make a deal with you, Daria Stazen. I won’t hold your black blood against you if you don’t hold my red blood against me.”
He held his hand out to her in a peculiar manner that suggested she was supposed to do something.
Arching her brow, she tapped her hand against it.
Josiah laughed, then took her hand and showed her what he wanted her to do. “It’s called shaking hands. This is how we humans make bargains.”
“You don’t post your bargains?”
With a snort, he shook his head. “No, we don’t.”
“Humans are a strange lot.”