Chapter Sixteen
Kael
My teeth ached as I clenched my jaw and forced my tail to remain rigid behind me. At the same time, I willed my vorran to soften, its stiffness making the confines of my korrvek painful.
I’d almost lost control.
Again.
The scent of her still filled my nostrils and made every breath torture.
The sweet musk of her slick induced a craving I found hard to resist. Between that and the way her kethra flared for me, I almost forgot where we were and that she still needed time to adjust. The Morrak were not opposed to public mating, our location would not have stopped me were she already mine in full, but I couldn’t afford to scare her.
She hadn’t flinched from the touch of my tail, though, and the skin beneath her clothing seemed just as soft as I’d imagined.
I pressed in the code to the door of our home and stepped aside for her to enter first. The interior lights bloomed slowly, a soft golden glow around the tops of the walls that reminded me of her kethra.
My home was shaped to mirror the canyons, with sweeping curves, high ceilings, and layers that created flow rather than corners.
It was cut from the stone of the ravine, subtle layers of red sand compressed until it could withstand all but the strongest tools.
It was nothing like Human boxy architecture with its sharp angles and hard edges.
The scent of polished stone and veyla oil was a soft undertone that was both familiar and comforting, but I held my breath as I waited for Serenya’s reaction.
The Morrak came from the ground and found comfort within its embrace, but I had heard stories of Humans who panicked in enclosed spaces, and I didn’t know what I would do if Serenya found my home unlivable.
“This is your home? Your meyr…kal?”
I swallowed my laugh at her hesitation over the word as I locked the door behind me. It was something I’d never bothered with before, but I had an omega to protect now.
“Yes, this is our meyr’kal.”
Her eyes were wide when she glanced at me, the pale blue shining. Under the red light of Vorrashan they had been a captivating lavender, but I found I liked this shade better.
I watched her eyes move from the curved archways to the open living space beyond. Vorrashan was setting, but some light still reached the crystals above the main hall, casting speckled byzantine light across the floor.
“I can show you the rooms, unless you’d rather rest and wait until skorr?”
Her brow furrowed and I corrected myself.
“Morning.”
She glanced around again.
“I’d love to see it now.”
She followed in silence as I stepped down into the living area.
“This is the common space.”
I moved across the room and up three steps. There was a half-wall that partially separated the areas, but it didn’t hide much from view.
“This is the shar’keth. Shar before another word is room. Keth is ‘to feed’, or maybe ‘offer a meal’.”
She smiled at the explanation, and I could practically see her storing the information. Many Morraki spoke at least a little Common, but she would fare better if she learned Morraki, and I was glad to see she had already taken an interest in it. It was better than I could have hoped for.
I walked around the sturdy black stone table.
It was rare, the vekorith hard to come by since it was only found on the single island on Morrakan.
Morrakan was a desert planet, most of our water was below ground, and my people naturally avoided the one place where surface water was abundant enough we couldn’t walk through it.
Humans would call it an ocean, the water so mineralized it was undrinkable, but we called it Zhalvok.
Poison.
“The elimination closet is through there,” I said, pointing to the appropriate door. “And we prepare zorhen, food, here.”
Pushing a button flush with the wall, I revealed the food closet.
“Daylen buys what I need and prepares the meals, so if there is something you would like, let him know.”
Serenya nodded but her lips were pressed together as if something displeased her. I didn’t know if it was the lack of cold storage or something more.
“We get fresh zorhen daily, so there is no worry of spoilage.”
She nodded again, and the look remained.
My tail slipped from my control, flicking once before I stopped it. It was instinctive to want to please an omega, to keep them happy so they would cycle and allow an alpha to claim them, but I didn’t like how I was reacting over her apparent displeasure.
“The shar’nessha is there.”
I gestured to the next archway. Besides the elimination chamber, it was the only room with a door, and it could be locked just like the outer door, for safety.
Hers, because there wasn’t anyone on the planet who could sneak up on me, and there were few who might have a chance against me in a fight.
She stared at me for a moment before moving towards the door. There was the sharp edge of worry in her scent, so I remained where I was, gripping the sturdy stone prep table in front of me. This was the most important moment, because to an omega, the nessha was everything.
Her little inhale at the door had me holding my own breath, my tail stiff with the tension coursing through me. My kethra were glowing, and there was nothing I could do about it as I waited.
“This…”
She stopped after one word, the agony in my gut like someone raking their claws through me. I didn’t want to crowd her or make her feel trapped, but she’d moved into the room where I couldn’t see her, and my instincts were screaming to follow.
The instant I made the decision I was at the door, staring at Serenya as she spun under Vorrashan’s red light.
The massive crystal above the nessha was one of the largest that had ever been found, precisely where it still rested.
Wider than I could reach, the bottom edge exposed to the room looked like it was melting.
The drips refracted the light in unexpected ways, glowing and throwing dapples across the walls and floor.
The walls sloped away from the crystal, stained black, making it the focus of the space, although Serenya was what held my attention.
The nessha sat on the far side, a round, raised dais topped with the softest cushions and blankets that could be found.
A bench followed both walls away from the nessha, padded on top, with storage beneath.
The only lighting in the room other than what the crystal brought in was a few draping plants hanging from the sloped walls that glowed in soft blues and purples.
“This is beautiful.”
She was staring up at the crystal, gazing at the plants, but all I could see was the amber glow of her kethra, shining through her clothing where it was covered.
Lines of pulsing light traced her body from collarbones to where her thighs met, and my mouth watered at the scent filling my room.
There was nothing more seductive than a happy omega, and my own kethra pulsed in response, my vorran stiff once again.
She stopped spinning when she noticed me staring, ducking her head to look at the floor.
“I—don’t know what else to say. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”
“Neither have I.”
The words left me before I could stop them, but I wouldn’t take them back.
She was drawing me to her, her scent and kethra weaving a trap I’d walked right into, and I couldn’t stop myself until I was standing before her.
Reaching out with one finger, I lifted her chin until I could see her blue eyes, the round pupils looking less and less strange the more I stared into them.
“Does my meyr’kal please you?”
She let out a soft breath before licking her lips. The way they glistened stole my attention, and for a moment, I wondered what they would taste like if I licked them too.
“Yes.”
The way she said the word had my vorran tensing, the knot at the base threatening to swell already. I watched her nostrils flare as she dragged in a breath filled with the scent of us. Even if she didn’t understand them yet, her instincts were guiding her.
“In the past, omegas would go from nessha to nessha, nest to nest, built by the alphas courting them. The alpha they returned to when they went into heat was who was allowed to claim them in the Zha’Khorr Valryn.”
“Zha…? You’ve said that phrase before.”
She trailed off, the little crease she got between her brows appearing.
“Zha’Khorr Valryn. The Vow of Uniting Flame. It’s the sacred bonding ceremony where an alpha may claim his omega. It can only happen here, in the Bonding Hall of Korvashan.”
Serenya blinked, then blinked again and stepped back. My muscles twitched with the urge to follow, to chase the retreating omega, but the look on her face kept me still.
“Bonding Hall?”
I kept my eyes on hers as I nodded.
“So, like, a wedding hall? A special room?”
My own brows drew together as I nodded again, but something felt wrong.
“Were you not informed of the Zha’Khorr Valryn?”
Her breaths were coming short and fast, and she kept blinking as if she had sand in her eyes. Her throat moved and she licked her lips multiple times, biting on the plush bottom one before she finally shook her head.
My fingers curled and I fought the urge to snarl. The women who were interested in attending the gala were supposed to receive an information transfer prior to submitting their DNA for selection, so they knew what to expect, but Serenya had seemed surprised by too many things.
“Did you not read the packet?”
The confusion on her face answered before she did, but I already had a suspicion that I knew what she would say.
“Packet?”
I couldn’t keep the growl in any longer, but when Serenya recoiled I managed to pull it back until it was barely audible.
“Before you submitted your DNA for testing to go to the gala, you were given a data transfer. All the women had to be confirmed to have compatible DNA to receive an invitation, but anyone who was interested was told to read the packet so they knew what would happen if they were chosen.”
Serenya’s mouth hung open, her eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. It was exactly the type of thing I had expected to happen, but if she was faking, it was the most believable act I’d ever seen.
“I—I didn’t submit anything. I didn’t know about anything until the invitation arrived. I didn’t want to go to the gala, and I certainly hadn’t wanted to give up the life I’d worked for!”
Unspoken words hung in the air and I snarled, turning away from her. If what she said was true, her father had caught us both in his plot, because it couldn’t have been anyone else.
And for her to say she hadn’t even wanted to go to the gala, when I was struggling to resist taking her already…
I sucked in a deep breath and shook that thought away.
One injection had failed. If Serenya refused to bond, or if it got out that she hadn’t submitted herself for the process, nothing would stop my council from demanding an end to taking Humans as mates, and likely the alliance itself.
It would prove they were the oath breakers we accused them of being.
But while the knowledge we wanted from the Qy’shaeuhl wasn’t as vital to our survival as what Earth needed, if Nyrel had been right in his predictions, the Morrak only had a few generations before it became so.
Less and less omegas were presenting.
Less and less luthra were being born.
After losing so many of the High Family bloodlines through battles fought to keep Morrakan safe, the Lifeforge was the only option to correct the decay that he’d found in our genes.
Omegas would disappear first, but alphas and beta wouldn’t be far behind.
I could forgo the Auralis energy crystals, but we needed the Lifeforge technology for my species to continue.
“Kael?”
Serenya’s voice was small and soft, fear marring her scent. I could sense her behind me, she’d crept closer, but she still kept a careful distance.
“Please tell me what happens. I’m here. I’ve—I’ve accepted my future here on Morrakan… with you. No matter what it is, I can’t go back now.”
Can’t.
It wasn’t the same as choosing. But she was right. She was an omega now, and there were no alphas on Earth.
And if I rejected her, if I sent General Hale’s daughter back to Earth, it would be as good as a declaration of war. The planet we could have ignored would become an enemy instead, and it would be my fault.
Rolling my shoulders, I smothered the glow of my kethra with the ruthlessness that had earned my place as Torvakai. Turning to face her, I pinned her with a stare, watching her shrink back, but not letting her escape.
“When you go into heat, the Karzhari will come to prepare you, then take you to the Bonding Hall. There you will nest, in the center of a vast cavern ringed with tiered seating. I will not be allowed to touch you until your nessha is complete.”
Her eyes were already wide, anxiety rolling off her, but I took a step closer, staring down at her, not bothering to hide the alpha side of me.
“And then I will mount you, Serenya. Knot you, right there, in full view of every Morraki who can fit into the cavern. I will place my claiming bite on your neck, and you will officially be mine, in every way that matters.”
Serenya trembled, but she held my gaze. Moisture beaded along her lashes, growing until a single fat drop escaped, trailing down her cheek to drip to her heaving chest, but she didn’t look away.
She didn’t try to hide or refuse right away.
Perhaps she was stronger than I thought.