5. Chapter 5
Chapter five
~Kitari~
T hese creatures were extraordinary but completely oblivious to their surroundings. On several occasions, they passed within striking distance of a kasp nest. One wrong step, and they would have been swarmed with the stinging and biting creatures with venom like burning coals. And once, they narrowly missed stepping into the path of a prowling qualark . Luckily for them, it appeared to have eaten recently and was not on the hunt for food.
It was so astonishing that I became enthralled, and for the slightest moment, my curiosity got the better of me. I edged forward a step too far before I realized my error, but it was already too late.
The lead insectoid spun in my direction, weapon raised.
Had it seen me? I sank back into the safety of the branches and vines, cursing myself and my stupidity, ready to run.
The creature floundered for a moment, searching. Then it raised a hand to the back of its neck, and the hard, metallic surface of its head shifted. I lurched back, disgusted at the grotesque sight of its outer layer of skin sliding back, before I realized it was not the creature’s head at all. It was a protective helmet. And the hard, black material of its body was not its skin, but an armor suit. Of course. I chided myself for being so foolish.
The helmet withdrew completely, revealing the creature’s real face.
I stared.
The creature’s skin was smooth and pale. It turned and, as its face was lit by a beam of light through the leaves overhead, I unconsciously leaned closer. From what I could make out, it looked to be a male. His eyes were dark, a warm depth to them. The hair, which was flattened and damp from the helmet, was the fair color of dried rhootra stems, darker at the sides and lighter towards the tips, almost golden in the sun.
He was one of Clay’s people. A human.
I could not take my eyes off him. Apart from Clay, I had never seen a living alien creature in the flesh. Images and representations, yes, but never first-hand exposure. I had expected many things—amazement, awe, even horror. I had not expected attraction. But there was something about the set of his features, the depth of his eyes, and the tilt of his jaw, that sparked something strange inside me. Something I had not felt before. It was as alien as the human in front of me, and just as fascinating.
He looked around with an intelligent alertness, his eyes slightly wild, breathing deeply, as if he had just run a great distance. If I were to judge his movements, he seemed to be in some kind of distress.
One of the other figures retracted its helmet, revealing an older human with wiry gray facial growth around its mouth and cheeks. Another Male. Clay sometimes grew hair in the same place and had to cut it away with a sharp blade. I found myself wondering if the lead human—the younger one with the warm eyes—grew it too. What color would it be? The same as his hair? And how would it feel to touch?
The older human spoke, and I recognized the language as Panlin. Even though many planets used it as a common language, only the high alphas had knowledge of it until Clay. He spoke it fluently and had taken it upon himself to teach anyone who wanted to learn.
Though some of the sounds were recognizable, this human had a strange accent that I could not decipher.
He spoke again, and as I shifted to try to get a better vantage point, the leaves around me rustled as the wind shifted. Up until that point, I had remained upwind, but now a gust carried the scent of the humans to me. The smell hit my senses like a tidal wave. I instinctively drew in air, my chest tightening, and my heart speeding up. I knew the smell deeply in my very bones, even though I had not scented it for many, many years. It was ingrained in my very being, as it was with all Aldarian alphas.
Omega.
This strange human was an omega, just like Clay.
I took another deep lungful of his scent, ignoring the smell of the other humans and the jungle around me. His stood out like a violent slash of red against a white background.
He was unclaimed.
An unclaimed, human omega. Here, right in front of me.
Was this how Arcay felt when he sensed Clay for the first time? My whole body was thrumming, reacting instinctively.
I moved through the trees, my being pulled towards him like a leaf in water, my muscles taking over, my limbs moving of their own accord. The only thing going through my mind was his scent. It washed everything else away—every sense I had, any urgency to return or remain hidden. It all evaporated in the stream of his scent.
The human had turned away from me, talking to his fellows in an urgent voice. The leaves parted. He turned, and his eyes met mine. Deep brown, intense, and wide. It was as if a tunnel formed between us, everything else fading to gray.
My heart trembled.
He raised his weapon and fired.
The blast traveled a hair’s breadth from my shoulder and slammed into the tree behind me, sending a shower of wooden chunks and singed hair.
It was enough to snap me back to reality. I gasped, fell back into the cover of the leaves, and ran.