Alien Conquest (Fated Mates of Xaensskar #2) - Jude Gray Page 0,22

was aware of me.

Finally, when I said nothing, he growled, “What do you want?”

I resisted recoiling at the harshness of his voice. “I wanted to thank you for taking care of Vihn,” I said, then I added, “and me.”

“Bo,” he bellowed, ignoring me.

“Yeah?”

“Throw some dinner on the fire so we can eat and get on the road.”

“I’m on it.”

Because he didn’t tell me to go away, I quietly watched him as he brushed his animal. Truthfully, I found it hard to take my eyes off him. Now that I knew he was supposedly meant to be mine, it changed everything.

He’d thrown off his coat and long-sleeved button up shirt after he’d ridden into camp, as though the ride had made him uncomfortably hot, and his thin, short-sleeved pullover shirt clung to his muscled torso.

His arm muscles bulged as he wielded the brush, and though his jaw was clenched, not even that could take away from the beauty of his handsome, masculine face.

The longer I stood there, the stiffer his body became. The tension was as thick and gooey as syrup, and I knew he badly wanted to turn around, throw the brush at me, and demand that I get the fuck away from him. He wanted me to leave him alone.

And he didn’t want me to leave him alone.

“You don’t look like a man who works in an office all day,” I said.

“Maybe that’s because I don’t,” he muttered.

“Bo told me that you run a huge company that has made you very rich,” I said. “And very powerful.”

He turned to look at me then, his eyes narrowed. Then he threw an unfriendly glance toward the fire, where Bo was currently cooking our dinner. “Bo talks too much,” he said.

“He said it was called Arya Industries,” I continued, as though he hadn’t said a word. “And that you build ship, shuttle, and other vehicle parts.”

Nothing.

“He said that companies send people from all over Xaensskar, and even from other worlds, to commission you to build parts for them. To create things for them. He said that sometimes, no other companies in the world can do what you do.”

“He also said,” I went on enthusiastically when he didn’t try to stop me, “that you would rather be in the deadlands than in the city. He said the city sucked your soul dry and made you grouchy.” Fine, now I was just trying to get a reaction from him. Bo hadn’t said that last bit at all.

He turned toward me, finally, and when he lifted his hand to massage his temples, I noticed his torn knuckles. Without thinking, when he lowered his hand, I caught it, frowning in concern, and gently rubbed my thumb over his wounds. “Can I—”

He jerked his hand away from me violently. “Leave me the fuck alone, kid,” he bit out.

I went completely still. “I’m not a kid, Dexx.” I caught his gaze with mine and held it securely. “I promise. I’m all grown up.”

His internal…mate finder, or whatever he called it, was tormenting him. I wasn’t sure if he thought I didn’t know or if he thought I did know and was coming on to him. Bo said I should let him get to know me, but it seemed to me like it might be impossible for him to get to know me when his primal brain was screaming at him to claim me and the rest of them believed something was screwed up with his fated mate detector.

One thing I did know for sure. I didn’t want to tell him I was a girl and then have him be so relieved that he’d accept me no matter what. He didn’t want the Drimuti in me, so the likely scenario—if I showed him myself now—was that he’d be relieved but still just as repelled by the blood inside me.

This match could never work. There were too many obstacles. Maybe Dexx was right and something really was screwed up with his Craeshen brain.

“Go eat,” he told me. “We have a long, hard ride ahead of us.” Then he closed his eyes and shuddered.

I couldn’t have said why.

I sighed and went to Bo, who was loading stew into our bowls. “Bo, I’m not sure we’re doing the right thing by not telling him.”

“You need to let him find out on his own.” He handed me a bowl. “And when he does, he’ll deal with that discovery in time. In the end, it’ll work out the way it’s supposed to.”

“You have a