Chapter Three
Rhydek
My tail lashed over the noise echoing around me, the assault on my ears starting a throb within my skull. Once again I was required to attend the Humans’ ridiculous display when it would have been far simpler to put the women in a room and let us choose one and be done with it.
Zorresh, they could have given me a list of names and spared us the posturing. It wasn’t as if we were looking for true matches. We simply needed hostages.
Snarling under my breath, my eyes narrowed as I tracked Kael and Serenya moving through the crowd, smiling at the Humans.
My Torvakai had gotten lucky, somehow finding a female who managed to be the perfect omega for him despite not being Morraki.
She was sweet and soft the way her dynamic demanded, but she also had enough spirit and honor to stand up to him and others when it was called for.
I forced my tail to still as I shifted within the crowd.
If I didn’t appear to mingle and search for a female, Kael would say something, and I didn’t want to end up lashing out at him, even if this was his fault.
If I could never have the omega of my heart, I could take a Human for the sake of Morrakan.
I’d sworn never to bond after I lost Shaira, but mating a Human wasn’t the same.
At least the Humans had chosen a better location than previously.
Space didn’t bother me, it was dark and comforting, but dangling high above the ground with no cover at the last Selection had made my skin crawl.
This time they had placed us inside a room, and even though its ceilings were high with arched windows revealing the outside, it was enough like the caverns of home for me to breathe.
I spotted Malrik across the room talking with two of the Humans marked as candidates. It was the UEC’s idea to signal which of the females we could choose from by making them wear bright colors, while the ones in black were only there to take up space and make noise.
It was ridiculous.
Noticing a counter where someone poured drinks, I stalked towards it, then almost turned away when I saw one of the females wearing color, but a subtle scent called me forward as she accepted a clear container of amber fluid from the person behind the table.
“Thanks.”
Her voice was neutral, lacking the fake brightness the other Humans projected, and when I caught sight of her face as she tipped the vessel back to drain it, her eyes were tight around the edges.
While she held her body upright with a warrior’s stiffness, her shoulders curled inward and she kept her other arm around her middle, as if that was enough to hide her curves.
Humans were strange creatures.
I couldn’t help eyeing her broad hips and the thick roundness of her backside as I approached before stopping at the edge of the counter.
There was a sharp scent coming from the container she still gripped, cutting through her natural crisp notes.
One that burned my nostrils and stirred my curiosity.
“I’ll have one of those.”
I spoke to the Human behind the table without taking my attention from the female beside me. She appeared not to have noticed my arrival until my voice broke through the noise around us, her chin jerking towards me as her lips flattened.
At the last Selection Gala, I’d been approached by several women wearing color, and had chosen the one who refused to be scared away despite my attitude.
I’d come to regret the decision due to her incessant talking and forwardness, and had been relieved when the injection failed to change her into an omega, releasing me from my commitment to her.
I should have known that Kael would force me to pick another, but I clung to the hope that my luck might hold, and the serum would fail again despite Nyrel’s assurances that they’d improved their screening process.
Still, I trusted Shaevrin as far as I could throw a warbeast, which meant I had to view my options a bit differently this Selection.
In case the injection worked, I needed to choose someone I could stand for more than a few moments.
Instead of preening and chirping at me the way others had, this female turned away while I pretended to watch the Human behind the table pour a measure of the amber fluid into another clear container.
She seemed as if she wanted to leave, which was odd since Kael had included new stipulations for the females being offered for Selection.
They were supposed to be informed of our expectations for them, and willing.
As the person behind the table slid me the vessel of liquid, she held hers out, revealing the reason she lingered. I lifted mine towards my face, recoiling slightly at the intensity of the burning scent, but when she tossed back the full amount once more, I followed her lead.
The liquid struck my tongue like heated resin. A sharp, volatile burn that flared and spread, searing the back of my throat and flooding my sinuses with the acrid bite of smoke and bitter sap.
My tail lashed as my chest tightened, breath hitching when the foreign burn cut down to my stomach to sit like a coal. It tasted like fire distilled for pain. Bitter and earthy, with a sting beneath it that crawled across my tongue and down my throat.
Heat rose behind my eyes and my vision blurred for half a breath as I coughed. If that was the Human version of liquor, it was crude and undisciplined, just like the makers.
I coughed again, the reflex involuntary. The vessel slipped from my grip as I turned my head away, blinking through the sting. My kethra were glowing bright, and I forced them to dim even though heat still clawed at my senses.
I turned to the woman beside me who’d drank twice as much of the foul liquid.
Only to find her gone.
Somehow, her absence hit harder than the liquor. Even though I’d been the one to request the drink, it felt as if she’d set me up, then escaped as I dealt with the aftermath of her scheme.
I scanned the crowd for her, unable to pick up her scent with the vapors lingering in my throat. Her shoulders had been exposed by her blue dress, her unmarked neck an invitation to my instincts, and running had only stirred them more.
The female wanted chased? Well, I enjoyed a hunt.
Taller than the Humans, it wasn’t hard to spot her working her way across the room. Her yellowish hair wasn’t as common as darker hues, and pulled up into some kind of knot on her crown, it made the pale expanse of her shoulders easy to spot.
My lips spread in a grin as I stalked through the other Humans. If they tried to speak to me, I didn’t notice, my focus locked on the female who’d challenged me and then ran. No one else mattered, because if she was brave enough to do that, she had the courage to withstand life on Morrakan.
She would be mine.
My steps faltered at the unexpected thought. I wasn’t looking for a mate, only a Human to claim to fulfil my duty. I would never care for her.
I shook off the sudden doubt. She was the obvious choice because her physique meant she would be able to survive a heat and bearing young if the serum worked on her, plus her quieter temperament would make her easier to bear living with.
The other women flitted about like lyrek on a kill, irritating in their jerky movements and high voices, but she was focused. Almost predatory.
A rough noise left my throat at the thought of a Human being a predator, but some of them came close. For her species, she was likely the best they had to offer.
She slowed near a group speaking together with tall, thin glass vessels in their hands. The liquid inside was paler than the one I’d tasted, bubbles trapped beneath the surface, and when I tested the air as I approached I thought I picked up a fruitier scent beneath the heaviness of rot.
It made me want to sneeze, and I swore never to taste another Human drink. Their water was poisoned and their alcohol was primitive.
Keeping space between us, I circled around the group, eyeing them as the woman I had followed greeted another amongst the group.
Older, the other female was dressed in black, and I recognized her as part of the UEC.
There was enough similarity in the shape of their eyes and jaw for me to assume they were of the same bloodline, so it had to be her sponsor.
“Everyone, this is my niece, Doctor Taryn Calder. She’s been the Veterinarian for the North American Alliance Combat Dogs Unit that is being disbanded. Did you know they were going to euthanize the dogs without even trying to find them places to go?”
My hearing was good enough to catch the councilor’s words to her companions even though I didn’t understand all of them.
The North American Alliance was a specific part of the Earth governing bodies, and I knew a dog was a small, four-legged, furry animal Humans kept as companions.
I had never heard of a “combat dog”, nor several of the other words the woman had spoken.
My Common was fluent, but English was a difficult language to learn, and she was speaking her native tongue.
I got what I wanted, though.
My target’s name.
Taryn Calder.
Doctor was an honorific title for those Humans like our Kethral who studied and healed living things. I was a bit surprised the Humans would offer one as an option for us.
Her name was all I had needed, but I found myself reluctant to leave. It had been my plan to choose a woman quickly so I could be done with the farce of the gala, yet I lingered near the woman who drank fire without a wince and ignored a threat at her side.
Taryn didn’t laugh with the ease the others did. She wasn’t relaxed, her body posture suggesting a blend of determination and discomfort. She displayed the attitude of an alpha, with only hints of an omega.
It might mean the serum wouldn’t work on her.