Alpha Warriors of The Cause - Tamara Rose Blodgett Page 0,56
led to believe,” Kennet states, his legs planted wide, muscular arms crossed over his chest.
Beth fights the temptation to roll her eyes.
He's just a horny Reflective male, ogling the gorgeous Bloodlings.
Graceful and tall, the willowy females are delicate, in direct opposition to the males. With skin so pale gray, it could almost pass for human complexion, their deep eyes are the only features that scream their otherness. The irises are so dark that the pupil blends with the deep brown.
Oh—and the fangs.
Even those are delicate, though. Beth was glad for the curious distance the females had maintained from her.
Beth has always been one to freely state her opinion. And because she is alone with Kennet, she doesn't hold back. “You just want to have sex with a Bloodling female because all our Reflective females are no longer in close proximity to be your whores.”
Kennet strides to Beth, his reaction immediate and visceral, his body trembling with rage.
“How can you presume I partook? There are many willing Papilio females who would spread their legs for a Reflective warrior.”
His crass words sting Beth's ears.
“Listen to yourself, Kennet.” Beth slaps the flat of her palms against his chest, and he staggers backward. “You are like the rest of the male Reflectives. We are not the gods of the universe. I've been beaten into my humility the old-fashioned way. You, Calvin, certainly Ryan, and sometimes even Jeb never see yourselves as you really are.”
Kennet grabs her wrist, and Beth pops her elbow to the side, twisting hard and forcing him to loosen his grip.
“Don't even try to make me see reason by manhandling me because you don't like my words—keep your hands to yourself, Kennet.”
He glares but drops his hands.
“You forget who I am,” she reminds him.
“It's easy to do when you're slobbering all over the Bloodling instead of a Reflective warrior who has declared you.”
His comment gives Beth a wicked hiccup's pause. “Even if I were, what have you been doing? Preening before the Bloodling females like a peacock?” Beth whirls away from him in disgust. “Principle help me!”
The silence is total. Only the wind can be heard beyond Kennet's borrowed tree home. The structure is tiny but accommodating—though right now, it suffocates her. Beth's eyes tear over the highly polished wood, not really seeing, as she seethes.
“Beth, I apologize.”
She closes her eyes, sensing him step closer, but she remains facing away.
“Jeb asked me to watch over you. I can't condone you leaving for an expedition. What does it matter if the lake is the only surface that reflects on One? We are not set to leave until Jeb returns with Rachett.”
Frustration pulls between them like taffy. Beth knows how her conduct appears. Kennet and Calvin were always fair to her, unlike many of the Reflectives.
Beth exhales softly and turns.
Kennet holds his palms away from his body in apparent supplication. “Just listen. The Bloodlings and nightlopers are the natural inhabitants of this sector. One is the most dangerous explored sector for a reason. It's heedless to run off in search of a secondary reflection. Just wait for Jeb and Rachett. We will depart this place together.”
The lies Beth has uttered sit like carrion between them. She inhales deeply, nearly gagging on the stench of her deceit.
Just a moment more. Beth prays to Principle Kennet's attention is focused solely on her.
Her gaze remains on Kennet as Jacky sneaks up behind him. Kennet senses something and begins to turn, though Beth telegraphed nothing and Jacky was soundless in his approach.
“Kennet…” Beth calls softly, and he turns back from the weapon about to bludgeon him.
The wood comes down hard on Kennet's skull, and he crumples.
“I'm sorry,” Beth finishes softly.
“That sucked,” Jacky says in an ashamed voice.
Beth meets his tormented eyes. “It was the only way.”
“He can kick your ass for real?” Jacky asks.
Beth remembers Ryan's viciousness in the ring, her pause speaking for her. “I couldn't take the chance. And even if I could subdue a fellow Reflective, I'd be so damaged from the effort, I'd be worthless to you and Maddie.”
“You're not worthless, Beth,” Maddie says quietly, a sad smile rounding the corners of her lips. She steps over Kennet's still form splayed out on the rough wood floor.
“No,” she whispers, head hung low.
The Threes come to her, wrapping her in arms of solace, and Beth does something she rarely allows herself.
She sobs.
*
Poor Kennet is tucked underneath his cot-like bed and snoring faintly.
“See?” Jacky throws his palm toward Kennet. “He's alive and everything. Just gave