“Oh my God.” Reaching up to pat her cheeks, Lucy grunted when her hand hit the helmet. “What’s wrong with me? I feel…hectic inside. You know what I mean? That feeling you get when there’s so much to do and not enough time to do it in?”
“I have absolutely no idea what the fuck you’re babbling about.” Standing directly in front of her, Rue braced her arms on Lucy’s shoulders and peered into her face. “But you’re starting to freak me out a bit, and I don’t like it. Normally, I’m the one acting coo-coo for cocoa puffs.”
“I don’t like it either,” Lucy murmured, her eyes cutting to Sparx and Tabitha again where they stood.
Chapter Thirteen
Sparx leaned away from the Earth female who was annoying him.
“Do you have something in your eyes?” he asked, worried at the amount of blinking she was doing.
“Huh?” she asked with a blank look on her face before swatting at him with her hand and giggling. “Don’t be silly.”
“Silly?” Sparx echoed growing more confused, and uncomfortable, by the second. “Maybe you should join the other—”
“Why would I do that when I’m exactly where I want to be?” Swaying forward, the female squished her lips together in a weirdly exaggerated pout that reminded him of the cluoak fish they hunted in the rivers closer to Gunninng.
It was unappealing. Extremely unappealing.
“Are you well?” he asked when she continued to flutter her eyelids and smack her lips. If these were symptoms of an illness she had, they seemed to be worsening. “I’ve called for the healers to meet us at edge of the city to take care of my—” Sparx stopped and frowned at the claim that was ready to flow off his tongue. Squashing that idea before it could grow, he kept repeating to himself the mantra he’d begun when he’d turned away from Lucy.
She’s nobody to you. You’re simply reacting to a female after abstaining for far too long.
“To what?” the woman repeated with more blinks and odd-looking lip quivers.
“To take care of the other volunteer that is injured.” He gestured to the screen mounted near the gate. “I can call for additional healers before we leave this cavern and begin our walk back. Do you need assistance as well?”
“No, silly.” The female pursed her lips again, giving him a creepy smile. Flicking her gaze to the side, she looked towards the group of women before returning her attention to him. “That woman is a menace, by the way. If I were you, I would’ve sent her back on that bus thingy and let the Phaetons deal with her. She’s going to drive everyone crazy.”
“Who?” he asked, not really caring to continue the conversation but with no idea how to stop it. He wanted to avoid seeming rude, but she made his head hurt.
“That fatty you practically hauled off of our ride just a bit ago,” the female snipped before leaning forward and running a hand over his muscled arm. “You’re so strong. I bet dragging her lard ass around didn’t seem like such a big deal at all. You should have just left her strapped into the seat and sent her back. I’m sure it wouldn’t be the first time she was sent home early.”
The venom of the woman’s tone and words disgusted him greatly. Jealousy and hate weighed heavily on each word as she attacked the female with whom he’d already felt such strong desire and to protect.
“Enough,” he gritted as he took a step back and out of her reach. “That is more than enough.”
“What—what do you mean?” she stuttered, her face froze in confusion.
“I am unsure who you are, but I would appreciate being given some space,” he said coldly, glaring at the hand she reached toward him. He had no problem turning his back on her, even as her mouth dropped open in shock at his words. “Once Colby has returned to the cavern and the gate’s secure, we will begin the walk to the city. Until that time comes, it would be best if you remained with the others.”
Figuring that his dismissal was blatant enough that the strange female couldn’t ignore or misunderstand his orders, he proceeded to monitor the radar showing his second in command’s progress.
However, she didn’t move away. In fact, she moved closer. Trapping him between her body and the cavern wall.
“I’m fine right here,” the woman murmured, placing her gloved hand on his back.
“Do not—”
“Personal space!”
Sparx whipped his head to the side at the yell, narrowing his gaze on the hobbling figure quickly closing the distance between them.
“You shouldn’t be up—” he began to protest only to stop as the annoying woman before him patted the furs covering his chest. With a grimace, he tried to step back but came directly up against the screen he’d been so focused on moments ago.
“Don’t worry, honey,” she whispered as if they were sharing a secret. “I’ll handle this.”
“Personal. Space,” Lucy repeated again, this time adding a harsher enunciation as she came to a stop—with her helper—directly in front of them.
Sparx held up his hands, as if accused of a crime. He had no idea why, but he needed Lucy to know that this woman’s attention had not been forced and not desired. He was innocent.
“Not you,” Lucy snapped with a roll of her eyes in his direction before narrowing her gaze on the desperate woman who’d refused to leave him alone “You. What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tabitha?”
“What do you mean?” Tabitha simpered, putting a hand to her chest in feigned innocence. “I’m just over here talking to this fine specimen—”
“He’s not a slab of meat for you to manhandle,” Lucy growled, leaning forward as if she were going to slide straight out of Rue’s grip and tackle the other woman. “Don’t. Touch.”
Sparx couldn’t help the wave of heat ignited in his loins at the ferocity Lucy displayed. With red cheeks and fury in her eyes, Lucy stood firm as she challenged Tabitha’s forwardness. It
