The Gender Lie (The Gender Game #3) Bella Forrest (most read book in the world TXT) 📖

faction based in Patrus? Why hadn’t I heard of them? What did they stand for?

The last question worried me quite a bit, so I decided to ask, “Where do their loyalties lie?”

Owen’s face looked resigned. “I’m not going to lie to you, Violet—they are Patrian through and through. Which is why I had you and Amber change before we even got off the boat. They are paranoid, enough to have set up lookouts to make sure we are what we claim we are.”

“And that is?”

Owen’s face flushed red—not in embarrassment, but in something else that I couldn’t exactly place. “Matrian flesh dealers.”

“WHAT?” I exclaimed, rising to my feet.

My shout was loud enough to wake the others, from the groans and whispers below.

“Everything okay up there?” Solomon called. I glanced over to see him backing away from the boulder, his hands over his eyes to shield his gaze from the sun.

Owen sighed heavily and hauled himself onto his feet to stand before me. “I guess it’s a good thing we talked about this now,” he spat, brushing dirt from his clothes. “Because if this is how you’re going to react, you’re going to break our cover.”

“So what—Amber’s our Matrian female, whom we abducted to auction off to a rich Patrian?” I asked.

Owen laughed, and I took a step back, stunned. How could he be so blasé about this?

“Violet, we aren’t really going to sell Amber. You know that, right?”

“Of course I do, but—”

“And she’s perfectly okay with it.”

“Am not!” Amber declared from below.

Owen grunted. “Amber, what’s the reason you’re not okay with it?”

“Dresses are stupid,” she said.

“But other than that?”

“Oh, yeah, if I didn’t have to wear the dress, I would be perfectly fine with it. I don’t care.”

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. “Missing the point here, guys,” I said, addressing all of them.

Solomon pulled himself up the rock and came to stand next to us. “All right, what’s the point?” he asked, his voice even and calm.

“If we have to pretend that Amber is a Matrian woman we kidnapped just to get a ride from these people, shouldn’t we be asking if they are the kind of people we should be dealing with in the first place?”

Owen shook his head. “You’re looking too deeply into it, Violet. They are providing a service. In order for us to complete our mission, we have to do it. There are no other options available.”

“But—”

He cut me off, holding up a hand in warning. I felt my anger grow at being silenced so rudely, when suddenly I heard it—the distant sound of an engine. Solomon and Owen exchanged a look, and immediately sprang into action.

“Quinn, get Amber’s hands tied up and get the remaining gear together. Solomon, go out in front of the boulder and have your weapon out, but not pointed at them. Violet… get off the rock and get down here to help us.”

I raced to follow his orders. As much as I wanted to fight it out with him, now was not the time. I didn’t want to risk jeopardizing the mission over an ideological squabble. My own reservations didn’t matter at that moment, only Viggo did. Except that I was still unable to get the uncomfortable feeling in my stomach to go away.

I meant what I’d said to Owen—any people we had to put on an act for, especially one as demeaning as this, were people we should be steering clear of. It bothered me how matter-of-fact Owen and the others were about it, like it was just a walk in the park.

But I kept my mouth closed and began grabbing the gear. I could hear the vehicle getting closer while I worked to make sure everything was in order and accounted for. I was just pulling a bag onto my shoulders when brakes squealed.

The sound of the engine died, and Solomon gave a greeting. A deeper male voice responded, and suddenly I remembered I hadn’t taken my Deepvox pills. Shooting a glance at Owen, I took off my pack and began rummaging around in it.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“I forgot to take the pills—if they talk to me, they’re going to know.”

Owen clenched his jaw and then nodded. “Just keep your mouth closed for as long as possible. They won’t work instantly, and they’re a little old, so I don’t know how that affects their potency.”

I grabbed the box of pills and dropped two in my hand. Pulling up my canteen, I swallowed them down and dumped everything back in the bag. Owen pushed by me with his own bag on his shoulders. I hurriedly replaced everything in my bag and pulled it on.

Running a hand over my face, I checked to make sure my goatee was still in place. It was hard to know without a mirror, so I looked over to where Quinn was passing me by with Amber in tow. I frowned at her bound hands and the rope that hung between them like a leash.

I knew I shouldn’t feel so repulsed by it—after all, Viggo had tied me up like that once. Of course, at that time, he had been angry with me, and had a hard time believing that I was being honest with him. Still, I doubted I would be able to pretend to be the prisoner for something as disturbing as this.

Amber didn’t complain though, just made a goofy face at me as she walked by. The face made me smile a little, and I pushed my complaints about the mission aside.

I was reacting too strongly—I needed to let it go.

I moved to follow, coming around the rock to take a good look at our escorts, and then froze. A man was standing before Solomon and Owen, talking with them. I didn’t recognize him, but the tattoo under his eye told me more about who we were working with than talking to him ever could.

The black triangle tattoo was the mark of the Porteque gang. The gang that had been