Alien Conquest (Fated Mates of Xaensskar #2) - Jude Gray Page 0,13

fine. “Still better than prison,” I whispered. “I guess.”

Vihn smiled. “Yeah.”

It seemed that as Dexx became more relaxed and less angry at us, so did his men. They watched us eat with something like awe on their faces, wondering how such skinny thieves could hold so much food.

But it was great food. Filling and flavorful, there were juicy meats and soft flatbread and sweet cream cakes after, and it was the food that reminded me about Dexx Tavin’s wealth. Even riding xildes into the middle of nowhere with rough men and two filthy street kids, his rich was showing.

Maybe he hadn’t always been privileged, I didn’t know his story. But now, he had everything he wanted. Maybe he was simply bored. Bored with a meaningless existence where money couldn’t fill the emptiness inside him.

As he sat back, his legs stretched out before him, relaxed and not frowning, for once, I studied him as unobtrusively as possible as I finished off the last of the little cakes. I wasn’t a child, and I wasn’t a boy. I was a young woman who could appreciate a good-looking man when she wasn’t half scared out of her wits. And Dexx Tavin was definitely a good-looking man. With muscles on muscles, perfect skin, and such a strong masculinity that he could never have passed for anything other than what he was—no matter how great a disguise he might have worn.

Unlike me. With my small boyish body and my unremarkable face, he hadn’t once suspected that I was anything other than a male thief. It was insulting, really. I wondered how he’d look at me if I suddenly dropped the disguise, unbound my breasts, and let my hair out of its tight restraints.

He could have any woman he wanted. If he saw me as I was, it wouldn’t make a difference. Still, my pride wanted to show him. And then I couldn’t believe that I was actually considering showing Dexx that I wasn’t a boy, as though I might want to date him or something. Disgusted with myself I blurted out, “Are you going to shove us into the deadlands and then hunt us?”

“Hey,” Bo said. “That wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Dexx raised an eyebrow. “Maybe,” he said thoughtfully.

Vihn gaped at him, then straightened slowly, poised to run—which was funny, really, since he could barely walk. “You’re going to hunt us? That’s why you brought us here?”

“That could be fun,” one of the guards said enthusiastically. “Turning loose two scrawny street kids who can barely stand up by themselves, then chasing them down with trevars and blades. Yes, that’s what we’re here for.”

I knew sarcasm when I heard it. I glowered at him but turned back to Dexx when I heard him laugh. It was a silky-smooth warm laugh and caused something deep in my stomach to tighten. I swallowed hard.

I had to admit the awful truth.

I was attracted to Dexx Tavin.

Shit balls.

Chapter Eight

DEXX

These boys weren’t bad kids, and I was beginning to believe the older one—Krey—when he said they hadn’t killed Jula. They weren’t killers of anything. They wore their feelings on their dirty faces, and I didn’t glimpse even a hint of cruelty in their eyes.

As they filled their sunken bellies with the last of the sweets, I stood, then gestured at Bo. “Gather soap and whatever clothes you scared up for the boys. The sun is as warm as it’s going to be today.” I turned to Krey and Vihn. “Get ready for an icy dip in the stream, boys. We’re going to wash that filth off you.”

Krey choked on his cake as Vihn stared at me, one cheek bulging as he forgot to swallow his food. I was well aware that young street boys would rather take a beating than bathe, but it had to be done. “Lesson one,” I said. “Regular baths are not just for females.”

Graez, one of my men who was always eager to fight the enemy and naturally sarcastic, laughed at the looks on the boys’ faces. “I remember when I was a kid. Hated baths more than just about anything. But you have to bathe, boys, or your dicks will rot and fall off—and you can’t get a pretty female if your cock is sick, now can you?”

“Build the fire up and keep it going, Graez,” I told him. “We’ll be back with a couple of icicles as soon as we can wrestle them out of those rags they’re wearing.”

It wasn’t Vihn who bolted, surprisingly enough.