Chapter 2
Zayd
My alpha instincts scream to claim the omega sitting next to me on the ride back to the Alpha Center. I swore I would not, and I will keep my promise. It is the law.
“Why did we have to bring the alpha?” Her voice catches on the sadness filling her throat as she tries to stop the tears.
“He is not from the Center. If anything about him can give us a clue as to where he has been, we need to know. There are most likely more out there like him. Do you have any idea what direction he came from?”
She shakes her head. “We didn’t know he was there until he tried breaking in the front door.”
“Did he say anything?”
She nods this time. Struggles to swallow before answering, “He told Sutton, m-my husband, he said, ‘she doesn’t belong to you.’”
“Did you know this alpha?”
“No.” Her answer is angry. Forceful. I have offended her with my question. To stir any feeling in her that does not soothe her breaks my heart.
This job forces me to go against my instincts. I have been doing it for long enough that I feel I have lost touch with my instincts altogether.
“I am sorry for upsetting you, Mrs. Sutton Nash. I hope you understand I am only trying to figure out how this alpha found you and why he broke the Accord and killed your mate.” I have my guesses, but I cannot tell her about the ship that went missing when we first arrived on this planet.
Nor can I bring attention to the other women who have gone missing, whom we believe other alphas like this one have been snatching human mates.
No need to spread more panic until we have more answers.
The sweet omega’s breath shudders. Tears roll down her round cheeks that I want to catch with my tongue, to lick away her pain.
I wordlessly curse my hardening cock, fighting back the primal need to claim her. It is good to know that instinct still functions. The same instinct the dead alpha in the back of my transport had when he caught wind of her sweet citrus and vanilla scent.
“I understand.” She fidgets with her tiny fingers in her lap. I have to fight the urge to reach over, wrap my hand around them to calm her.
The transport console blinks and beeps, signaling its next turn as it drives us back to the center of the colony.
“When did you first scent—did you know you are an omega?” I ask.
“I’ve had my suspicions. Nesting. Certain needs. Sutton…” She buries her face in her hands. Her body shakes as she sobs.
This time, I cannot help myself. I wrap my clawed fingers around her little wrist and pry her hand away from her face to hold it firmly in mine. “It is all right, Mrs. Sutton Nash. No one will fault your grief. Cry all you like. As loud as you like.”
“Layla,” she whispers, keeping her eyes on our linked hands. “My name is Layla.”
“Layla.” When I speak her name, she takes a deep breath. Her racing pulse under the pads of my clawed fingers slows to a steady rhythm.
If I had not promised her I would not claim her, I would pull her onto my lap right now, damn the blood test, and risk being overpowered by our bond and the death that could follow.
But I am not like the dead alpha behind us. As much as I want to claim this omega, I will keep my promise and uphold the Accord. Until her blood has been tested and categorized, and she decides she wants to be claimed. The process is slow, but I will honor it.
“I wonder how you could have scented without knowing. Without causing a riot around the alpha who triggered it.” I ponder out loud.
“That’s what I was trying to say. Sutton never let me go with him to the inner districts. He always collected supplies on his own because he didn’t want me around the alphas, just in case I scented, but… I don’t know. It’s weird. The signs have always been there.”
“Always?”
“Yes. Actually… Now that I think about it… Since not long after I met Sutton.” It seems she is coming to the same conclusion I have.
But that cannot be. The only designations we have found in humans are omega and beta.
Thousands of tests. Not one human we tested resulted in an alpha designation.
However, everything Layla has said points to Sutton being an alpha.
Except that I cannot smell his mark on her. She wears only her own sweet scent.
“I apologize for the insensitive nature of this question, but I must ask: when was the last time you and your mate were intimate?”
Tears well in her eyes as she slips her hand from mine.
I have wounded her heart. All I want to do is rip out my own to show her how her pain breaks me.
“Sutton had a terrible flu. About a week ago. While he was recovering, I got it. The most we’ve done in the last seven days or so is kiss each other on the cheek. Too exhausted to do anything else.”
A Throkyn alpha’s mark would not have worn off in that time, but maybe a human alpha’s mark is not as strong.
I surveyed the scene and the bodies. The injuries the alpha sustained were from more than the shotgun blasts. Sutton certainly fought with the strength of an alpha.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking? That Sutton was an alpha?” Layla asks.
“We will know soon enough. If you are willing to authorize the blood test.”
“Of course. I just want answers.”
The Center comes into view after the console chimes the final turn, exiting the Beta district and entering the Alpha district.
In range, I hail the Center on the comm. “Lieutenant Zayd, requesting entry and assistance with an unmated omega, her deceased human mate, and the deceased alpha that attacked them.”
“What the f—I mean… Roger that, Lieutenant,” the voice of chief enforcer Kydax’s mate, Ellie-Mae, responds. “A receiving team of mated alphas and their omegas will meet you in transport bay three.”
“Thank you, Ellie-Mae.”
“Thank you, Zayd,” Layla says after the comm disconnects. “I will not forget the respect and kindness you’ve shown my husband and me. I hope we can see each other again soon.”
I nod, but the reality is that unless she wishes to bond with me or she bonds with another alpha, I will never see my sweet Layla again.