23. Chapter 23

Chapter twenty-three

~Kitari~

K oum left three of the alphas behind to guard Bryce Bryce Gunner’s cell, but thankfully not the one who had searched him. If he had been the one to stay behind, they would have had to drag me away.

Koum led the way to the Melandar, where a crowd was already forming on the steps. We had to push our way through the crowd of bodies while they chattered excitedly about a captured human. I seethed. So much for keeping him to myself. Koum had ruined everything. No doubt my father would be waiting inside to eviscerate me in front of the council.

But when we entered through the wide doors, Jursin looked up from his discussion with the Second and Third with an expression of relief.

“Kitari. Thank the stars.”

He stood and came to me, meeting me in the middle, and embraced me. I stiffened, feeling awkward in his hold. He had not hugged me since I was a child, and public shows of affection were so out of the ordinary, I worried that he might have become ill while I was away. He stepped back, straightened, and seemed to gather himself.

“Kitari, I am so relieved to see you.” Then his expression turned from relieved to angry in an instant, and it seemed the moment was over. “I told you not to leave Amalya and you directly disobeyed me. Do you have any idea how worried Tallin and I have been? We thought you had gotten into trouble with the humans. You could have been killed. Thank the stars that Koum found you. How did you manage to fall into the caves?”

I glanced around at the high alphas assembled, irritated. But I had no one to blame but myself for the lie I had told Koum, which it seemed he had relished passing on—that Kitari the idiot fell into a hole and could not get out for three days.

“I am fine, Father,” I said.

“This business with the humans is escalating beyond our control and I feared the worst.” He turned his attention to Koum. “Is it true that you have captured a human?”

He bowed his head. “Yes, Arani . He is in the cells.”

Jursin frowned. “This is troubling. Where did you come across him? Was he near Amalya? Perhaps the humans have managed to locate us.”

I blinked at my father. He seemed to have finished with me already and moved on. Although he was clearly angry with me for disobeying him, this was not the rage I had expected.

It began to occur to me that Jursin did not know about my involvement with Bryce Bryce Gunner. I glanced at Koum standing stiffly next to me, his face a stern mask of seriousness. Had he kept my involvement with the human to himself as I had asked? Or did he want to take the glory for himself?

“But I have not told you the entire truth,” Koum said. “I did not find the human, it was Kitari who did that.”

Jursin frowned. “Kitari? How did he capture a human?”

Jursin turned to me, perplexed. As if the very idea that I could have done something like that was absurd.

“I will leave that for him to tell you, Arani ,” Koum said.

I nodded. “Yes, I found him.”

“How?”

I could not see a way around this. “I saved him from an ahk-bkèlearino , that is how I fell.”

“You saved him? I am confused. What were you doing near a human to begin with?”

“Perhaps it would be better for us to discuss this in private,” I said, aware of the eyes on us.

“I cannot withhold vital information from the council, they need to know.”

I cleared my throat and carried on. “I went into the jungle to observe the humans.”

“After I told you to remain here?”

“Yes.”

Jursin tightened his jaw.

“It was in the jungle that I saw the human being attacked by an ahk-bkèlearino, and I stepped in to prevent him from being killed.”

“So you purposefully approached and revealed yourself to a human.”

“He would have been killed.”

“It would have been his own fault.”

“I could not stand by and do nothing.”

“You could have, and you should have.” Jursin sighed. “And you thought it wise to not only show yourself to this human, but to also bring it here to our home? What possessed you to think that?”

“He only wishes to talk.”

“And you believed him?”

Koum spoke up from behind me before I could answer, his voice harsh. “He has not told you everything about the human, Arani .”

Jursin’s face settled into an all too familiar expression. His lips pressed together, his eyes hardened. It was the same expression that he had worn when I had brought a baby ahk-bkèlearino home as a child. Disappointed, angry, but not surprised.

“Kitari?”

I took a deep breath. “He is an omega.”

A ripple spread through the gathered Aldar that set my teeth on edge. They would have found out soon enough, but I felt like I had exposed Bryce Bryce Gunner. Now everyone in Amalya would be curious about him.

Jursin’s eyes widened. “An omega? And you thought it wise to bring him here ?”

Voices spoke up from the council, but I did not turn to see who they belonged to.

“He is an omega?”

“Are there more?”

“Will he be claimed?”

“No.” Jursin raised his voice, and they fell silent. “No one is to touch him, it will only make matters worse. Is that understood?”

At this point, Jursin was holding himself stiffly, and I knew a fire was raging inside. He was no longer looking at me, but staring at the ground by my feet. I had seen him like this several times, attempting to maintain control of himself in public.

“There is more, Arani .” Koum looked at me and I stared back at him, willing him to be quiet. “I found them together, Arani . Kissing,” Koum said.

I grimaced as Jursin hissed. I tried to think of something to placate him, but the next moment he rose to his feet, grabbed me by the arm, and hauled me away. All the eyes in the room followed us as he marched me across the room to a smooth white archway, shoved me in, and slid the door shut behind us before rounding on me.

“For Frernk sake! What is wrong with you?” he thundered. I opened my mouth, but he carried on without pause. “Tallin has been out of their mind with worry. We thought you had been killed . I have had scouts out searching for you day and night, putting themselves in harm’s way, attacked by the humans, just to find you. And all because you have been having a dalliance with a human omega? Did it even occur to you that we might have more important things to do than search for you? Did it occur to you while you were dallying with the human, that I might be trying to prevent a war? And then you bring him here? An unclaimed omega? Is it impossible for you to obey me at least once? Why must you go out of your way to cause problems?” He shook his head and turned away from me. “I really thought you were smarter than this.”

I stood with my hands limp at my sides. Shame bathed me. Shame at causing problems, shame that others were hurt because of me. But I was not ashamed of my actions. Of saving Bryce Bryce Gunner, or any that followed, save for my weakness and inability to control myself when he kissed me due to the pheromones.

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?” Jursin said.

“Arcay has a human mate, and you have no problem with that.” I did not know where the words came from, dredged up from the dark pit of my belly. Jursin spun back and stared at me, searching me.

“That was an entirely different situation,” he said. “And Arcay is not my blood.”

Not from lack of wishing. I would always be a disappointment when compared to Arcay the Second; the son my father should have had. I knew that was how he felt.

“Why should me being your son have anything to do with it?”

He pointed to the closed door, indicating the gathered council. “Because the way you behave reflects directly on me. You have brought shame on me with your actions. How can I expect them to follow me when my own child disobeys me so blatantly? You make me look like a fool.”

“I understand that you are angry at me for disobeying you, but this is the best way to resolve the issue with the humans. If you had just had faith in me to allow me to do what I asked in the first place, I would not have had to disobey you.”

“And why would I have faith in you when you give me no reason to?”

I remained silent.

“And now I must decide how to deal with this human. No doubt the other humans will be searching for him.”

“Then I will take him back to them.”

“After showing him the direct route to Amayla?”

“He will not use it against us.”

“How do you know? He is an invader, who you have known for less than three days. Anything he has said to you is a lie to gather information.”

“I am not that foolish.”

“Really? Because all evidence proves otherwise.”

I was tired of being treated like a stupid child. I had disobeyed him and acted recklessly, I would admit that. But it was only because he would not allow me to live an actual life or act in any way. How could I be expected to sit still and watch as everyone else was allowed to live their lives around me? For no other reason than who my father was? I was not useless, and I would prove it to him.

“I know why the humans are here. It is not to invade.”

“Then what do they want?”

“They want Clay. They think we are holding Clay against his will, they have come to retrieve him. They are not here to fight us or cause us any harm, they are simply here on a rescue mission. We would do the same for one of our own.”

Jursin worked his jaw, but did not dispute it.

“So it is Clay they want. Another human omega causing trouble for us.”

“We can end this peacefully. The human agreed to come here with me. He just wants to talk to Clay, then he can tell his people the truth, and they can leave.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“Bryce Bryce Gunner told me himself.”

“Bryce Bryce Gunner?”

I tilted my chin up. “Yes, that is his name.”

“And how do you know he was not lying to you?”

“I know.” I straightened. “But even if he was, what do we have to lose by just allowing Bryce Bryce Gunner to talk with Clay. That is all he wants. If you allow him to do this, I swear I will dedicate myself to the role you have assigned me.”

That made him stop. He studied me, searching my face.

“You will follow the path I have set for you and learn the ways of a scribe, without complaint or rebellion?”

“Yes. If you allow Bryce Bryce Gunner to do as he wishes.”

Jursin let out a weary sigh, and for a moment, he pressed his hands to his face. I watched him as he gathered himself again, shook his head, and threw the door open. Silence fell over the room as he strode back in and took his place at the head.

“I have decided the course of action. This new human will be kept in the cells interrogation. Clay will act as an interpreter and mediator to achieve a quick resolution – ultimately, the return of this new human to his people and assurance of no further human influence on our planet once and for all.”

Noise erupted. In his seat next to my father, Arcay stiffened, his eyes going wide. The betas behind him looked startled.

“Thank you, Father,” I said stiffly.

As I passed Koum on the way out, I hissed the worst word Bryce Bryce Gunner had taught me.

“Kunt.”

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