3013: Renegade by Susan Hayes Read Free Book Online Page B

the star as he did so. The line smudged.
    What the fuck?
    “Griz, wake up,” he hissed and Nikolai came awake in an instant. His eyes flew open and he turned his head, looking completely alert despite having been asleep the previous second.
    “What’s up?” he asked, his voice hushed.
    “I’m not sure.” Colin kept his voice low. He didn’t want Alayna awake yet. Not until he knew for certain that his suspicions were correct.
    “You woke me up because you’re not sure about something? What the fuck, man?”
    “No, moron. I’m pretty sure about this, but you need to see it to believe me.” He pointed to the star on Alayna’s face and then ran his index finger through the center of it, pressing down a little harder this time.
    The line blurred under his finger, and he knew he’d been right. The marking on her face wasn’t permanent, and that meant it wasn’t a real tattoo.
    “Fuck me,” Nikolai swore under his breath as the implications of what they were seeing sunk in.
    “I know. The question is , what do we want to do if that fake tattoo is covering a real one?”
    Nicolai’s dark brows shot up and he looked from Colin to the still sleeping Alayna. An expression Colin had never seen crossed his best friend’s face, and he recognized it as longing. He knew it right away, because it was the same feeling he had every time he looked at her.
    “If she’s a scroll, then we claim the little minx and deal with the consequences later.”
    “I agree. And if she’s never been tested?”
    “Then we get her tested right away, and pray she’s fertile. I don’t want to let her go. She’s perfect.”
    “Yeah, she is. And she’s going to try to kill us if we claim her.”
    Nicolai grinned at him. “I know. That’s part of what makes her perfect for us. She’s worth the risk.”
    “Then let’s find out what’s under that star and go from there.” Colin eased himself away from Alayna, slipping out of bed with care so that he didn’t wake her. Once she figured out what was going on, she was going to fight them tooth and nail. Whatever her secret was, that star helped her keep it. If it hid the scrollwork tattoo of a fertile woman, then all three of their lives were about to change forever.
     
    * * * *
     
    Alayna hadn’t intended to fall asleep. She wouldn’t have thought it possible considering her surroundings. She never slept well away from the security of camp. Years of living rough had honed her instincts, to the point that couldn’t happen. At least she had thought so. The fact she had woken up still wrapped up in the arms of her lovers would be pretty damning evidence her instincts were not as good as she thought they were.
    Fuck.
    Disgust at her failure to stay awake turned to ice-cold terror as she felt something scrubbing at the right side of her face. Adrenaline flooded her system even before her eyes opened and she launched herself out of bed. At least, she tried to.
    Instead, it felt as though a pair of steel bands tightened around her, pinning her arms to her side and holding her tight against a solid mass of muscle. Colin was the only one she could see, and he had an expression of wary determination on his handsome face. A trickle of water ran down her cheek, and she knew what he was doing. While she’d been asleep, her make-up must have smudged, betraying her secret.
    “Get your hands off me!” She channeled her fear into anger, desperate to somehow salvage the situation. Her arms might be held, but her legs were free and she lashed out with them, hammering her heels against Nikolai’s shins.
    “Not going to happen, vorovka. We need to see what you’ve been hiding from us,” Nicolai murmured from behind her. He threw one leg over hers, quelling her thrashing.
    “You’ve seen me naked. Just what exactly do you think I’m hiding?”
    Colin swiped something across her face again and then exhaled sharply. “That, for starters.” There was only one word to describe the expression