Dangerously Mine by A.M. Griffin Page B

there all alone.”
    “Come here.” Taio lay back down, pulling her on top of him. “Go back to sleep. If anyone can find her, it is Ship. But I can assure you he won’t find her tonight.”
    She nuzzled into his arms. Her protests died away as sleep claimed her once again.
    Late the next morning, Eva rolled over to find Taio’s side of the bed empty. Taio had since gotten up and was no doubt in his office tending to “official Sonis business”. That man worked too damn hard. Taking care of Sonis was definitely more than a full-time job.
    Ship explained to her that Sonis had a total population of fifty thousand people, which definitely wasn’t enough to occupy an entire moon. He was working hard, trying to make Sonis a thriving world, and she was proud of him for that. He ruled over the people on Sonis, but he had their utmost safety, livelihood and happiness in mind with every decision he made.
    Before taking a quick dip in the large pool that passed for a bathtub, she straightened their room, made the bed and folded the clothes that he’d left scattered around the floor. She was aware that as soon as she left, there would be someone in to clean up, but she felt compelled to do it herself. There were no maids in the orphanage and definitely not in her small apartment back in Michigan.
    She donned her training jumpsuit. The special material let the wearer’s skin breathe while providing protection from the penetration of sharp objects. With her new jango strapped to her back and Lo’Ren by her side, she left for the training field.
    She had to give it to Taio, ever since Lo’Ren started shadowing her, the other females in the palace were being nicer. Even now, as she walked through the halls, the females she passed nodded to her. Eva hesitantly returned their greetings. These same females had previously turned their noses up at her. What a difference a week made, she thought.
    She didn’t know what the big deal was. So what if she liked to be able to take care of herself? Apparently, that belief made the local female population avoid her as if she carried the plague. Plus, if they could accept Lo’Ren, they should accept her. Lo’Ren was pink with hot-pink hair, for God’s sake!
    “When is Taio going to give up this idea that his whore can train on the same field as warriors?” Coyl said as Eva led her training simulator out to the field.
    Ignoring him as she had for the past couple of days was getting harder by the day.
    “Whores are good for one thing only.” Coyl laughed, holding his hand between his legs.
    As the days progressed, his audience had significantly dwindled from a handful to two. Briefly, she had thought to tell Taio but had decided against it. If Taio found out there was trouble on the field and it was because of her, he might take her training privileges away. If she had to suck it up and deal with this asshole, she would, in order to keep her training time.
    She turned her favorite training simulator on and started through the warm-up exercise. Without warning, the simulator immediately jumped from the warm-up stage to stage four, the most advanced stage. She was in a world of trouble.
    The large tail whipped around, knocking her down. She fell to the ground. The sand and dirt temporarily blinded her as it mushroomed around her. As it cleared, her vision was of a large, scaly foot that tried to smash her head in. She rolled out of the way. The simulator had definitely been tampered with.
    “Help!” She leaped to her feet as she avoided the green foot that landed inches from her face.
    As she struggled, Coyl and his friends laughed and smacked each other on their backs. Her only hope was to try to overtake the simulator. With every move she completed, she tried to turn the stupid thing off. Appearing out of nowhere, Rasha lunged at the simulator’s back and disengaged it. The simulator froze with its claws reaching out to grab her. She wanted to throw up.
    “Eva, why would you set it