Chapter Seven
Rhydek
For a moment, Taryn looked defeated, and an uncomfortable twinge had me raising a hand to my chest.
I’d done that.
I was the reason she looked so ill and exhausted, as if the weight of humanity sat on her shoulders.
“Your system has accepted the new DNA and the changes are beginning. Symptoms will intensify over the next couple days before they start tapering off. Follow your body’s cues and keep taking medicine to control your fever until it breaks.
I’ll be sending some back with the Kethral on the Zeydrassk, and Saed will have some as well. ”
Taryn’s head rose, her eyes glassy as she stared at the doctor in confusion.
“I didn’t understand the last part of what you said.”
Saving Mara from having to explain, I stepped closer and drew Taryn’s focus.
“The Zeydrassk is our ship. Kethral is a title, similar to doctor. Saed is the Qy’shaeuhl representative overseeing this… alliance between our people, but he’s also a healer.”
She blinked at me before nodding once. Seeming to realize the doctors were done with her, she moved to stand but swayed when she got to her feet.
It was automatic to reach out and steady her, but she jerked away from my touch just as quick. Turning, she stomped from the room without looking at me and I had to swallow a growl. My fault or not, she had agreed to this.
“Where are you going?”
The Zeydrassk wouldn’t leave until the next day but watching her walk away from me still made my hackles rise. Alphas were possessive, and that part of me already saw Taryn as mine.
“I still have things to do.”
She called the response over her shoulder. My longer legs caught up to her before she made it through the waiting room into the hallway beyond, and I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
“That’s not an answer.”
A Morrak would have been snarling at me if the look in her eyes was anything to go by, and for some reason that made my shaft stir.
Ignoring the unwanted interest, I held her gaze until she finally lowered hers to my chest. She didn’t know it yet, but it was an instinctive sign of submission, and it appeased some of the irritation crawling beneath my skin.
Then again, if she worked with animals, perhaps she did realize what it was. Kael’s suspicion of Humans had dampened since he’d mated Serenya, but mine hadn’t, and I planned to watch Taryn to be sure she was what she seemed to be.
“If you expect me to leave with you tomorrow, I have to go home and pack.”
Something felt off, as if she wasn’t quite telling the truth, but I had no reason to stop her. And I certainly wasn’t going to follow her home to help the way Darev had with his Human.
“I can send warriors to do that.”
The offer was made before I could swallow it. Kael and Malrik both had sent Morraki to pack for their females so it wouldn’t be odd for me to do so, but I didn’t want to seem eager for this. I was as reluctant about her invading my space as she was to be with me.
Moving out from under my hand, she straightened. There was nothing she could do about her flushed cheeks or the scent of sweat and illness wafting from her, but she did her best to appear calm and unruffled.
“That’s not necessary.”
When she turned and strode away from me again I forced my legs to remain still. I would not go chasing after a female, especially when I had no valid reason.
Instincts were a curse.
Snarling to myself, I spun around and stalked toward the shuttle to take me back to the Zeydrassk.
Malrik had left shortly after his female returned and was confirmed earlier, and with Darev following his Human around as if she were already in heat, it had left me waiting for Taryn alone.
I wouldn’t have minded the solitude if I hadn’t had things that needed my attention more than the woman who clearly didn’t want it.
And yet, the more I tried not to think about her, the more she was the center of my thoughts.
My kethra were glowing yellow and my tail lashing everything behind me by the time I stepped onto the decking of the Zeydrassk. Instead of heading to the bridge or finding Kael for an update, I only took the lift up one level.
Grunts and the sound of fleshy impacts reached me as soon as the lift doors opened. The air was sharp with the scent of sweat, each inhale drawing pheromones into my lungs that only wound my muscles tighter.
Unfastening my belt, I worked my korrvek loose and dropped both against the wall once I made it down the short hall to the open space beyond. My boots joined a moment later.
The Pit wasn’t an area Kael visited often, and his arrival would have stopped the warriors inside, but my presence was familiar enough that no one paused.
I rolled my neck as I moved through the space, shaking my arms in preparation. The deck beneath my feet was padded, making each step bounce back, and anticipation had my kethra glowing brighter.
Entering the nearest unoccupied circle, I turned, scanning the warriors in the room.
This was where alphas came when instincts rode too high.
When our nature drove us to let out aggression, one way or another.
It was as common to see a pair rutting in a circle as fighting, but the warriors knew me well enough to know which I was waiting for.
Three approached, their eyes wary as they watched me. One paused outside the glowing line on the floor, but the other two nodded at each other and I flicked my fingers for them to come.
I lost track of time as I dealt and received blows. It wasn’t about being strategic or economical with my motions.
It was about pain.
I rarely went full force with any of the warriors.
There was no need when I could overpower many of the younger males with ease.
I’d pull blows that could have killed, just enough to make sure I did no serious damage.
It needed to hurt, otherwise they’d never learn, and if it only hurt a little, they would think it wasn’t important enough to avoid it the next time.
They were under command to never pull a blow. I expected them to treat me like an enemy willing to take their life, because that was what I was training them to fight. War didn’t reward those with a conscience who were willing to show mercy.
Sweat slicked my skin by the time I stepped out of the ring, leaving the last pair of warriors to pick themselves up once they caught their breath.
My muscles were comfortably loose after several rounds, and I was finally able to think of something other than the female I’d be sharing quarters with soon enough.
The rest of the day was spent catching up on reports and setting new drills for the warriors.
Even when we weren’t heading to a warfront, the warriors traveled with the Zeydrassk because there was always the chance we would be needed.
Especially with the Skarashk colony ship in a sector of space we were responsible for.
But that didn’t mean they got to lounge around.
By the time I dropped into my bed for a few hours of sleep I should have been tired enough not to have difficulty, but of course it wasn’t that simple. The thought that Taryn would soon share the bed with me crept in, and then all the work I’d done to distract myself and relax was wasted.
My shaft throbbed where it was trapped beneath me against the bedding, and no matter how I tried to ignore it, the need was insistent. No amount of snarling and denial made it go away, and even trying to plan new training drills had no effect on its stiffness.
“It’s not because of her.”
My growl echoed around me, mocking as I rolled to my back and wrapped a hand around my length. Alphas were almost as sexual as omegas, and needing a release was normal. I had to take care of it before Taryn was in the way.
I refused to think of the Human as I stroked my shaft, teeth bared at the empty room. I tried to bring up an image of Shaira, but time had worn her memory to nothing more than blurs and whispered words.
I didn’t go easy on myself, using a punishing grip and quick motions to bring myself to the edge as fast as possible. My tail writhed against the bed, my toes curling as I strained, but my release refused to come until angry blue eyes flashed through my mind.
My seed spilled over my fist, puddling on my stomach and splashing onto the bedding. Muscles going lax, I panted as I stared at the ceiling, every vile word I could think of calling myself playing through my head.
I wouldn’t have cared about lusting for another if she wasn’t an omega, and I wasn’t being forced to claim her.
I’d avoided available omegas since losing Shaira, but our situation left me no choice.
I had accepted the requirement since Humans weren’t naturally omegas, but the fact that Taryn stirred me without the influence of pheromones was a problem.
I couldn’t love her.
I didn’t even want her.
Rolling to my side, I sighed as I used a blanket to wipe the mess from my flesh. Taryn seemed like she understood I was only claiming her for the alliance, and I had to be sure it remained that way. I was a target for Shaevrin, and anything else would only lead to Taryn’s demise.
I remained in bed, refusing to admit I wasn’t going to get any sleep until I barely had enough time to dress before the shuttle left to retrieve the women.
I could have remained on the Zeydrassk, met her when the shuttle returned to show her to my quarters, but I refused to be seen as a less attentive alpha than Malrik, and he’d already mentioned going with Darev to get the females.