Page 4 of Taming the Alien Outlaw (Brides of the Bohnari #2)

Janik

I don’t understand this female. Despite Olivia believing me to be under attack by a vicious beast, she attempted to defend my life. Even after saying she doesn’t like me—a point I will admit hurts to acknowledge, although I’m not sure why.

Her anger is palpable as we stride through the rainforest toward the rebel camp, and she does nothing to quiet her footsteps or hide her emotions. In a world full of people I can’t fully trust, it’s almost a relief to know exactly where I stand with Olivia.

There are still those within my ranks who are unsatisfied with the time it’s taking for Alik to give up his throne to me.

Ones who can feel the mating fever becoming more difficult to control.

It doesn’t help that our supply of kanet powder isn’t nearly enough and grows smaller every cycle.

One more grievance to lay at the prince’s feet.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going.”Olivia’s voice washes over me.

“I didn’t think you were talking to me?”

“Are you always such an asshole?”

Oddly, only with her. Maybe because I enjoy how flushed her face gets when she’s angry. The way her eyes spit fire at me. She unsettles me in ways I can’t explain and have never experienced before. It’s only fair she should feel as unsettled as me.

“Not always. I guess you just bring it out.”

To my surprise, Olivia laughs, but it sounds hollow. “That’s what my ex-boyfriend used to say, too. He was so nice to everyone else. The perfect guy people loved. Me, though? Me, he treated like shit and it was always my fault, because I’m the one who brought it out in him.”

Guilt strikes me. Shame. The greatest, though, is rage. How dare some male blame her for treating her so badly?

Isn’t that exactly what you just did?

As much as I enjoy sparring with Olivia, I don’t want to hurt her in the way it sounds as though this male did. “Once again, I must ask for your forgiveness.”

She glances over at me. “Are you being sarcastic?”

“Not at all.”

Confusion crosses her face. “Thanks, then, I guess.”

That’s better than anger. Perhaps I merely need to keep her off-guard without being—as she says—an asshole. “To answer your question, we’re going to my camp.”

“Where I’m your guest.” Olivia makes a strange gesture with two fingers of each hand when she speaks the last word.

“ Honored guest.”

“Yay, me.” Her dry sarcasm is amusing. “You do realize Alik and Horek are going to send people to rescue me, right?”

“They will try, but they will fail.”

Olivia blows out a harsh breath. “You sound awfully confident.”

“I am. The prince does not want a war, and he knows that’s what he’ll get if he attempts to raid our camp. It’s the reason he hasn’t done so already.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that anymore. You used to be just an annoyance until you killed Konek.”

Instinct has me wanting to snap at her, but I take a calm, measured breath. “I told you before, if this male was killed, it was not my doing.”

“ If he was killed?” Olivia scoffs. “So you’re telling me you had absolutely nothing to do with someone hacking into the mining facility’s computer system and overriding the safety mechanism on one of the machines so it would keep running?

It overheated and started an electrical fire that triggered the explosion that killed Konek.

Can you honestly say you—or a person under your command—weren’t responsible for that? ”

Yes, it was under my instruction that the computers were hacked into, but not to keep the machinery running.

In fact, Ferik was supposed to do the complete opposite.

The mining machinery was meant to be shut down temporarily.

Long enough to disrupt the excavation process in order to slow the retrieval of the pikela stones and reduce the profit Alik was making from selling them.

I had also been assured numerous times that the mines would be empty, just in case something did go wrong.

“That’s what I thought,” Olivia says when my silence lengthens.

“And yet, in spite of the fact you believe I killed someone, you’re not afraid of me?”

She raises and lowers one shoulder. “Should I be?”

Perhaps. I am drawn to her in a way I don’t understand. My fangs ache and images of me biting—marking—Olivia continually flash inside my head. But physically hurting her? Never.

“I have no intention of harming you.”

“I won’t be here long enough for that to happen anyway.”

Her blind faith in Alik rubs me the wrong way. I clench my fists and my lengthening claws dig into my palms. “You’re awfully confident the prince will rescue you. Are the two of you close?”

“You sound jealous.”

“Why would I be jealous?”

Olivia does the thing with her shoulder again. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

“I have absolutely no reason to be jealous of Alik.”

“Then why do you have such a hard-on for the throne?”

“Because it belongs to me.”

Olivia laughs. “The last time I checked, Alik is the prince. You, on the other hand, are a rebel who thinks that by being annoying enough, he’ll just hand his crown over to you.”

I rein in the anger her words cause. She’s only repeating what she’s been told by those under Alik’s command. None of them know the truth, either. If they did, then they’d see why I should be the one on the throne.

“Did I touch a nerve?” she asks.

I offer her a smooth smile. “Not at all.”

She makes a noncommittal sound but nothing more. Mak comes rushing out of the trees and circles us repeatedly.

“We’re at my camp.” I need to prepare her for what to expect. “Most everyone here has never seen a human before.”

Olivia glances at our surroundings as if trying to see it and then over at me. “So I’m some sort of freak show you kidnapped for entertainment purposes?”

I come to a stop—Mak as well—and wait until she does the same. She turns to look over her shoulder at me.

“You are neither a freak nor entertainment.”

“Then what am I?” Her brow raises.

Mine. The voice inside my head growls it so loudly I’m surprised Olivia can’t hear.

“As I said, an honored guest.”

She nods once. “Right. How silly of me to keep forgetting.”

“Follow me, and stay close.” I continue forward until I come abreast of her and she falls in line with me.

“Whatever you say.”

Once again, Mak rushes ahead through the trees that keep the rebel camp hidden from view.

Olivia and I step through them and when we reach the other side, she sucks in a sharp breath.

From the corner of my eye I can see her wide gaze taking it in.

Of course, it’s nothing like the city where she’s lived since arriving on our planet, but I am curious how it compares to her former one.

Large structures have been built within the clearing. Most of them house no more than two or three rebels each, but we also have our own medical facility, a central gathering building where we take some of our meals, and a small strategy room.

“This is where you all live?”

“Yes. At least until I become Prince.”

“You really are arrogant, aren’t you?”

“There is a difference between arrogance and confidence.” Although I have plenty of both.

It’s apparent that Ryvik has already spread news of our…visitor. Bohnari trickle out of various buildings, their curiosity evident. They stare at Olivia. I’m not surprised she stares right back, as though daring anyone to say or do something. She is a female with her own fair share of confidence.

“This way.” I guide her deeper into camp, ignoring the way my claws threaten to extrude at the other males watching her, and the voice whispering inside my head to tear their eyes from their heads.

We tread along the dirt paths that have been packed down by countless steps since I made this camp a temporary home until I’m given the crown.

Whispers follow Olivia and me, but I don’t pay them any attention.

I cast a quick glance in her direction. She remains tense, and I can tell she’s alert for anything.

Mak lopes toward us and falls in line at my side until we reach a modest structure to the right. I open the door and gesture for Olivia to enter.

“After you.”

She briefly hesitates but proceeds inside.

I instruct Mak to remain and enter next, closing the door behind me.

The female slowly turns in place and takes in my living quarters.

The furnishings are simple despite the size of the home.

A large sofa takes up most of the living space.

It’s the one luxury I allow myself and had to be smuggled into the rainforest in several pieces. The only other furniture is my bed.

An image of Olivia lying beneath me flashes through my head, the picture so sharp and clear my cock hardens, and a burst of fiery pain stabs me in the gut.

I nearly double over from it, but by some miracle I manage to stay upright.

A groan still escapes, and she turns my way with a crease between her brows.

“What’s wrong with you?”

I swallow down the pain and take in a deep, shuddering breath to try and soothe the sting of fire that still burns inside. “Nothing, I’m fine.”

Olivia narrows her eyes, but she doesn’t argue. Before either of us can say anything else, the front door bursts open, and my mother storms inside.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

I stiffen. “I’ve merely brought a guest home.”

“A guest?” she scoffs. “You’ve brought a distraction. Now is not the time for you to be thinking with your cock, Janik. Our goal is too important to lose sight of by this…female.”

My brow rises. “ Our goal? Don’t you mean mine ?”

She waves me off. “They are one and the same, and that is for you to sit on the throne as the rightful ruler of Bohna.”

“Olivia being here doesn’t change my goal.”

“Can’t you see? It changes everything.”