Rebel (The Draax Series Book 3) Page 18

  Krey was a few feet ahead of us and Inara and I both studied his, admittedly fine ass, when he bent over into a pose.

  “If anyone would make me forget that I’m here to work and not bone, it would be Krey,” Jane said. “Those blue eyes of his and that body…”

  She fanned herself before winking at us. “Anyone here get you thinking naughty thoughts, ladies?”

  “No,” I said.

  “Not really,” Inara replied.

  “Uh-huh, sure.” Jane’s gaze had already returned to Krey’s ass. “You keep telling yourselves that.”

  I didn’t know about Inara, but it was true for me. As good looking and, okay, I could admit it, sweet the Draax males were, not one of them participating in the yoga class today did it for me.

  I stretched out my legs and bent forward, easing the tense muscles in my back. While I’d enjoyed my week of new-found freedom, I still hadn’t seen Galan once and the ache I felt hadn’t diminished. In fact, it had only grown. It wasn’t just lust talking either. I missed him. My urge to know everything about him was an unquenchable thirst.

  I’d found myself lingering in the dining hall and the hallway outside of our apartments, hoping that maybe I’d run into him. More than once, I’d been tempted to knock on Galan’s door. But each time I’d worked up the courage, I’d lost it by the time I was raising my hand to knock. He was ghosting me, making it more than obvious that he wanted nothing to do with me, and how pathetic would I look if I just threw myself at him?

  You could tell him you just wanted to be friends. Then at least you’d get to see him.

  That was a good idea. Sure I didn’t want to be just friends and seeing him but not being allowed to kiss him or touch him or ride that deliciously thick dick again would be a massive bummer, but it was better than not seeing him at all. Besides, I’d told myself a thousand times that that day in Galan’s apartment was nothing more than a moment of insanity on Galan’s part and I was frustrated that I couldn’t convince myself it was true.

  Him ghosting me, his nearly supernatural ability to completely avoid me, was a sure sign that he regretted what had happened that day.

  Girl, the look on his face ten minutes after it happened should be enough to convince you. Or when he outright told you it was a mistake. Write him a note and slip it under his door that says you know it was a mistake too and you’re cool with being friends. You’re ruining his life, you know. If you weren’t here, don’t you think he'd be joining the garden yoga class, eating in the dining hall, trying to convince the other women to sleep with him?

  I felt a wave of guilt that almost made me nauseous. I’d been so swept up in my own needs, that I hadn’t once thought of how this was affecting Galan. Of course he would miss his friends. Maybe, instead of telling him that I was okay with being just friends, I should go back to staying in my room, so he didn’t have to worry about running into me.

  It's the right thing to do.

  Yeah, it was. I was being a selfish cow and while I couldn’t be blamed for trying to enjoy my freedom while I still had it, it didn’t make my actions right. I would try the note thing about being friends and if that didn’t work, I’d stop hanging out with the others and stay in my room so that Galan didn’t have to avoid his friends. Consider it practice for when I was living in a tiny cell and carving shives out of plastic spoons.

  “Sigan!”

  A Draax who I’d never seen before came bursting around the pathway of the garden. He was sweaty and out of breath, and Sigan turned and raised on eyebrow at him. “What is it?”

  “Come quickly. Our queen – she is in labour.”

  Sigan sprinted down the pathway, leaving his mat and his water bottle behind.

  “Holy crap,” Inara said, “Sabrina’s in labour.”

  The buzz of excitement from the Draax around us was kind of cute. Bitta clapped his hands at the front of the group. “She will not give birth in the next half hour. Let us finish our class.”

  He glanced over the others and pointed at us. “You three at the back. Stand up and finish the class, please.”

  I groaned but climbed to my feet before helping Inara to hers. “Oh God, if I make it through this class, it’ll be a bloody miracle.”

  Inara laughed before giving me a playful slap to my butt. “You got this, girl. Let’s show these Draax boys how it’s done.”

  * * *

  Galan

  “I have a son, Galan!” Quill hugged me hard.

  I returned his hug, the smile on my face so large my cheeks ached. “Congratulations, Quill.”

  “Thank you, old friend.” He released me before hugging Krey.

  Krey pounded him on the back and said, “I am happy for you, Quill.”

  Quill stepped back, his smile as bright as keo. “Thank you.”

  “How is Sabrina?” I said, as Jovie slid off the couch.

  “She is doing very well. He weighed almost ten pounds and the delivery was hard on her, but Sigan has given her plenty of gallberry serum.”

  Jovie wandered over. She was holding a cup of gallberry juice and she drank two big swallows before holding out her arms to Krey. “Up, Uda.”

  He picked her up and she wrapped her tail around his arm before leaning contently against his chest. He kissed her cheek. “You have a baby brother, meena. Are you excited?”

  She grinned at him. “Uda take Jovie swimming?”

  Quill laughed. “She has met her baby brother but did not have much interest in him.”

  “Is Sabrina still in the infirmary?” I said.

  “No,” Quill said. “She and Jota are in the bedroom. She did not want to stay overnight in the infirmary and Sigan agreed she could leave. He is with them right now but when he is finished, I will bring you my son so you can meet him.”

  “Your father would be pleased that you named your son after him,” I said.

  Quill nodded. “Yes, he would. I am thankful that my sadora agreed to it. It is a human custom to give them a second name. His second name is William after Sabrina’s father.”

  The door to the bedroom opened and Sigan appeared. He carried Quill’s son in his arms, and I smiled at the eagerness with which Quill took him. He pushed back the blanket and I stared at the baby. He was the spitting image of Quill with plump cheeks and thick eyebrows and thick dark hair.

  “He is beautiful,” I said.

  Krey moved closer and Jovie stroked her tail across her brother’s cheek. “Baby.”

  “That is right, meena,” Quill said, his voice thick with emotion. “This is your baby brother.”

  She stroked his cheek again before wrapping her tail around Krey’s arm. “Uda, see baby?”

  “I see him,” Krey said. “You must be a very good big sister to him, Jovie.” He kissed her cheek. “Look after him and protect him until he is bigger. All right?”

  “Yes, Uda.”

  “My king,” Sigan said. “Your queen asked me to remind you that her sister will be hologramming in a few minutes to see the baby.”

  “Right.” Quill shifted the baby in his arms before smiling at us. “Do you mind if we cut this first introduction short?”

  “Not at all.” Krey set Jovie on the ground and Quill took her hand. “Be with your family, my king. We will visit again in a day or two.”

  Quill gave us both a boyish grin before leading Jovie into the bedroom. Sigan had already left and Krey clapped me on the back. “Come, old friend. The others are celebrating the birth of Quill’s son in the garden. Let us join them.”

  A grin on my face, I followed Krey out of Quill’s quarters and toward the garden.

  * * *

  Ellis

  “They won’t even let you have a sip of it?” I stared at Jane. “I mean, I get why they won’t let me have any because technically I’m their prisoner, but why can’t you have some gallberry wine?”

  Jane settled herself on the bench next to me. “Because that stuff is super potent. Even a couple of sips would be enough to get us d
runk.”

  “Seriously?” I studied the Draax who were milling around the garden. Almost all of them had a wine glass in their hand filled with dark pink liquid.

  “Yes.” Candy sat down on my other side. “Evie told me she had half a glass once and it knocked her off her ass. She passed out within twenty minutes.”

  “Well, now I really want to try it,” I said.

  Jane laughed. “You’re so tiny, one sip would probably put you in a coma.”

  “If it’s as delicious as it looks, I’m willing to take the risk,” I said. “Although, again, I don’t know why they’re not letting the rest of you have some. I don’t know about you guys, but drunk Ellis is horny Ellis.”

  “Girl, same,” Jane said. “I swear, two tequila shots in and I’m whipping off my shirt and dancing on the tables. Such a cliché but sadly… so true for me.”

  “Right? So, you’d think the Draax would want to take advantage of that,” I said.

  “It’s why they’re not letting us drink,” Candy said. “They don’t want us to do something we’ll regret in the morning.”

  “So, they want to fuck you, but not enough to get you drunk and horny,” I said.

  “I keep telling you the Draax males are sweeter than human guys,” Candy said. “Women are important to them.”

  “Honestly, I’m surprised they’re even sending you back to Earth for your punishment,” Jane said. “It was such a small amount of juice and they’re trying to convince as many women as possible to stay on their planet. It’s weird that they aren’t just forgetting you tried to steal the juice and offering you a year long work contract.”

  “They don’t like the way I look,” I said, “and I’m breeding incompatible.”

  “What’s wrong with the way you look?” Jane looked me over with a frown.

  “These for starters.” I grabbed my small boobs and gave them a shake. “Draax guys definitely do not believe in the old Earth saying, ‘more than a handful is a waste’.”

  Candy laughed. “They do love big tits.”

  “They like big everything,” I said. “I’ll never have the curves they like, at least not like you guys.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re a little thinner than they typically go for, but I bet there’s, like, fifty Draax in the castle alone who are totally down with a slender girl,” Jane said.

  “It’s not just the body, it’s the face too,” I said.

  Jane blinked at me. “What? You’re super cute.”

  “Not to the Draax. They think I’m ugly.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “They told me.”

  “No Draax would tell a woman that she’s ugly,” Candy said.

  “Yeah, well, I guess I found the half dozen who would,” I said. “Anyway, doesn’t matter. I’m breeding incompatible.”

  “You know there are some who don’t want babies.” Inara showed up and squeezed onto the bench beside Candy. “I’ve already met four Draax in the castle alone who don’t want kids, and that’s not including Galan.”

  My chest tightened at just the mention of his name. We’d been in the garden celebrating the birth of the king and queen’s son for over an hour and I hadn’t seen him once. Mind you, there were a ton of Draax in the garden and I was pretty sure every Draax in the castle had shown up to celebrate. But still… it wouldn’t be completely unreasonable to run into him, right? I’d already seen Uzel and Melu and Sigan, plus a bunch of the other Draax who worked in the docking bay. It stood to reason that I would see Galan eventually.

  Unless he’s deliberately avoiding you.

  Yeah, there was that. Or even worse, he wasn’t celebrating the birth of his best friend’s kid because he didn’t want to run into me in the garden.

  My stomach clenched. That made me feel terrible. Galan deserved to celebrate with his friends. As nice as it was to be out of my room and around other people, I would leave. I could ask Sigan to message him and tell him I had gone back to my room.

  I stood up. “Have you guys seen Sigan? I need to talk to him.”

  “He was near the waterfall, the last time I saw him,” Inara said. “Want me to come with you?”

  “No, that’s all right.” Inara would try and convince me to stay if she knew I was about to leave. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  I walked away quickly before they could ask more questions. It took me only ten minutes to get to the waterfall and although there were nearly a dozen Draax gathered in the area, none of them were Sigan. I took the path that led further into the garden. The Draax were everywhere but most of them didn’t even bother to look at me, let alone flirt with me.

  I tried not to let it depress me. I didn’t expect them to flirt with me, and besides, by now all of them knew who I was and that I was a prisoner in the castle. Even if there was one who didn’t find me ugly, most of them just saw me as a thief.

  You are a thief.

  My inner voice made a good point. Sure, I hadn’t stolen anything while I’d been here at the castle, but this was literally the longest I’d gone without stealing since I’d ended up on the streets.

  Maybe you’re only a thief because you were forced to be one?

  I contemplated that for a few seconds before shaking my head. Nah, that wasn’t it. The only reason I wasn’t stealing shit was because of this damn tracker in my arm. The places that I was allowed to go in the castle, didn’t have anything helpful to steal. Which was a problem in my escape plan.

  Escape plan? What escape plan? You haven’t done a thing to even prepare for your escape. Too busy moping over the fact that Galan doesn’t want anything to do with you anymore.

  Ouch. That hit a little too close to the truth. I’d been so busy thinking about Galan that I hadn’t even tried to figure out a way to gather the supplies I would need to live on the Draax planet after I escaped the castle. It’s like I’d lost my damn mind and… oh, shit.

  I turned a corner in the path and slowed to a stop, staring dumbly at Galan and Krey and the giggling human females with them.

  I swallowed hard and stayed completely still. Maybe if I didn’t move, they wouldn’t see me. Their backs were turned to me and the women were so busy flirting and touching the Draax, they wouldn’t notice either.

  As I watched, the woman closest to Galan rested her hand on his forearm. “Are you sure I can’t have just a sip of that wine?”

  Her voice was breathy and low and while I’d seen her in the common room with the other women a couple of times, I’d never talked to her. She was beautiful with long dark hair and a plump and curvy body that I could only imagine made the Draax drool. Hell, I could practically see Krey drooling from here.

  “It is too potent for you.” Galan’s low voice washed over me and after days of not hearing it, just the sound of his voice made goosebumps pop up on my skin. God, he was so fucking sexy.

  “I have a pretty good tolerance,” the woman said.

  “We both do,” the other woman added. She smiled at Krey. “I would love one little sip.”

  “Perhaps just one,” Krey said.

  Galan caught his wrist before he could hand his wine glass over. “Krey, do not.”

  “Sorry, little female,” Krey said with a good-natured smile. “The head of the King’s Guard has forbidden it.”

  She pouted at him as the other female stepped closer to Galan. Jealousy and anger swirled in my belly and I wanted to go over there and stomp her into the ground. Fuck, I was an idiot.

  “Just one. Pretty please with honey on top?” she said.

  “What is this honey?” Galan said. “Is that the liquid that your Earth sting beetles produce?”

  The woman laughed. “Bees, they’re called bees and yes, that’s honey.”

  “I’ve heard it is very sweet,” Krey said.

  “Almost as sweet as me,” the woman flirting with Galan said. “Would you like to go for a walk, Galan?”

  My hands clenched into fists. What happened to none of the women being interested
in the Draax? Not that I could blame her, Galan was ridiculously hot, but the idea that she’d be hitting on my guy was infuriating.

  Not your guy.

  Okay, maybe not, but still… why should she get to ride his beautiful dick if I couldn’t? That didn’t seem fair or –

  “Human, why are you standing in the middle of the path?”

  I jumped about a foot when I heard Sigan’s voice behind me. The kadana joined me, holding a wine glass in one hand.

  “What are you doing?” he said.

  I made a shushing noise, but it was too late. The others had turned to face us. I studied Galan’s face, smiling tentatively at him. He didn’t look angry, but it wasn’t a look of happiness on his face either. It was mostly just… bored.

  For some reason that was more upsetting than him being annoyed or angry.

  “Hi there,” the dark-haired woman said. “How are you?”

  “Good,” Sigan said. “What is your name?”

  “I’m Lori and this is Stephanie.” Lori slipped her hand into the crook of Galan’s elbow and jealousy flared back to life in my belly.

  “I am Sigan,” Sigan said.

  “And you’re the thief.” Lori smiled at me and the look of contempt on her face made me bristle.

  “I didn’t steal anything,” I said.

  “That’s not what I heard,” Lori said. “I heard you stole a bunch of juice and then got so scared when you were caught, you vomited all over Krey’s boots.”

  “She was sick, not scared,” Galan said.

  “A malfunctioning translator had made her ill and caused her to vomit,” Sigan said. “I took it out.”

  “Oh.” Lori looked me up and down. “You’re so skinny. Do you have an eating disorder?”

  My face flushed but before I could reply, Sigan said, “Ellis is not nearly as thin as she was. She has gained a significant amount of weight now that she is fed daily meals. Her ass is much fuller than it was. Perhaps not as large as your ass, but it is no longer flat like it once was either.”

  I would have laughed if I hadn’t been so pissed at the way Lori was still touching Galan.

  “Right,” Lori said. “Well, it’s a good job you Draax like big asses, huh, Sidan?”