Free The Renegades (The Superiors) by Lena Hillbrand

Cali’s garden. Tonight the parking lot lay empty. After the last time,
he could not risk calling with Byron home. He had nearly caught Draven drawing
from Cali. If the wind had not abated for a moment before Byron opened the
door, Draven would not have heard his approach. He had already betrayed Byron
through disobedience and defiance, and he could not risk Byron discovering that
he now called upon Cali on a regular basis.
    Draven
dropped from the roof to the side of the garden that Cali could reach with her
chain. Though he could not reach the door through the bars, he could reach a
pot of soil and a few scattered pebbles the sapiens had culled from the dirt.
When he grew impatient of waiting, he began tossing small pieces of gravel at
the door. After a few minutes, the door opened and Cali’s mate stepped through.
    “Hey
you,” he said, swishing his hips on his way to the bars. “Cali don’t want to
see you. But you can suck on me if you’re hungry.”
    “Oh?”
    “You
know it.”
    “Thank
you.”
    “I’m
Shelly, if you wondered. And you’re the famous Draven I’ve heard so much about.
Been itching to meet you for real.” Shelly pressed himself against the bars.
    “I
would draw from your arm.”
    “Any
way you like it.”
    Draven
shook his head and tried not to smile. Men who liked men always noticed him,
for reasons he didn’t understand—even sapien males who liked males, apparently.
Shelly seemed intent on emitting a steady stream of chatter while Draven ate.
Draven could hardly mention his annoyance, though. He ignored the boy’s voice
and drew quickly, knowing he was lucky to eat at all.
    “Thank
you. Is Cali alright?” he asked when he’d finished eating.
    “Oh,
you know,” the sap said with a wave of his hand. “She’s just being a girl.”
    “Does
she not wish to see me tonight?”
    Shelly
shrugged and cast his eyes about, refusing to meet Draven’s.
    “She
does not wish to see me ever?”
    “Who
knows,” Shelly said, then lowered his voice. “You know how she gets.”
    “Will
you ask her to come and bid me adieu then?”
    Shelly
paused and then sighed. “Oh, alright. The two of you, I swear. Not that I blame
her. You’re pretty cute for a Superior.”
    “Thank
you. And you are a cute sapien,” Draven said, though the words jarred strangely
in his mind and hung just as strangely in the air.
    Shelly
laughed and went back inside, shaking his head. Draven waited for Cali again,
wondering what Shelly had meant—not that he blamed her for what?
    After
a few minutes, Cali came out dressed in her usual jumpsuit with a thin towel
wrapped around her shoulders as well. “What do you want?” she asked before
she’d finished closing the door. She turned to him. Her face looked pinched,
though Draven could not make out any new bruises.
    “I
only wished to know why you wouldn’t see me.”
    “Well,
here I am. But you can’t come back here. Master will kill us both. I had to lie
the other night, and I’m not sure he believed me. I hope he didn’t see you. But
I can’t risk my life just so you can eat. Go find someone else to feed on.”
    “You’re
quite right. I’m sorry that I was careless last time. Byron is out tonight,
though. I will not return when he is here.”
    “Then
why didn’t you come last night?” she asked, her voice accusing.
    Draven
drew back to study her. “You’re angry with me.”
    “Why
would I be angry?”
    “I
don’t know,” he said slowly. “Are you upset that I didn’t call upon you last
night?”
    “Of
course not.”
    He
reached out and took her arm and drew her close. “Cali, he was here last night.
I checked several times, and his car was here each time. I did not want to risk
your life or my own. I know as well as you what sort of man he is.”
    “Oh.”
She looked down at his hand on her forearm.
    “I
am sorry I didn’t get to close your bite. Does it hurt you very much?”
    “Some,”
she said. They stood together for a few minutes,