The First Alpha on the Planet (Scales and Tails of Fate #3)

Chapter One

Wallace

“Space meat.” Noel stared at a tray of food, shoulders rounded. Nexus, their little one, sat snugly in his lap and reached a little clawed hand up to grab a morsel of half-cooked flesh. Up until a few hours ago, the meat had been something that resembled an emu…with teeth.

“Space meat,” I agreed as I stared at it and took a bite. I wasn’t going to learn the name of the creature, but it was tasty as hell.

“Kipu!” their little one, Nexus, announced.

“Ki-poo-ah,” Noel enunciated, and for fuck’s sake, I wasn’t going to forget it. Dammit.

Nexus stared at the food before shoving another chunk of juicy goodness into his mouth. “Spess mea!”

He clawed for another and dropped down, capering on two feet as he escaped the dining room of their home. House. Whatever.

The stay was supposed to be temporary, but they’d given all of us homes, and Noel’s was the biggest, an estate, really.

I’d been given a small home, but the amount of amorous omegas they found excuses to come visit, gave me the creeps, and I’d moved my shit into one of their many spare bedrooms to hide.

Everyone else may have been prodigious manwhores, but I preferred my penis not to be public property.

Speaking of…

“How’s Gorm doing?” I shoved a fork into a piece of meat and stared at it. Sure as fuck didn’t look like what I remember chicken looked like. More like pork… And fish at the same time. Still good, though.

Noel glanced up from his meal and blinked. “Last I heard, he was in the infirmary with Doc being treated for dehydration…and chafing.”

I shuddered. “RIP his PP.”

Noel nodded sagely. “Space W-H-O-R-E.”

At least they were cleaning up their language a bit.

“I’m surprised there aren’t diseases on this planet you get from PP abuse.” What I wouldn’t give to be able to say dick again.

“Me, too.” Noel took a bite of some of the vegetables they offered. One of which, they’d showed me, had a tendency to scream when you plucked from it… Delicious, though. Learning to cook it was fun, too, if the omega teaching me kept his paws to himself.

The high-pitched laughter of children ransacking the playroom rattled out in the distance. The lack of children for so long had omegas begging to babysit and care for the little ones. And Nexus? He was the apple of their eyes.

A whirring noise drew my attention as a little drone hovered around the room, circling Noel with a huff of laughter. “Morning, dudes!”

“Wallace and I were having breakfast. How have you been, Merriel?” Noel put his fork down and daubed at his lips politely. Every movement he made had a calculated grace to it.

“Pretty good. I got the results from Wallace’s bloodwork.” Merriel let his drone hover a moment before landing on the table where little spider legs sprouted from the mechanisms on its side, and it crawled about, investigating things in a rather crablike way.

Why is it always crabs?

“Do we know why the transition didn’t happen?

” Noel packed up his tray and took it to a slot in the wall where an automated system took care of cleaning it.

He carefully didn’t look at me, which I appreciated.

Watching all my shipmates go full Progenitor on me had been a little jarring.

I’d been left looking mostly Tal, unevolved and strange.

I’d always lamented never having skin on my face, hair. Maybe it would feel weird?

“Pubes?” I glanced up and Noel turned in place, head tilted in that odd way he did when he didn’t understand something, like a puppy.

“Excuse me?” Noel’s pretty brow creased, light-blue hair and glistening scaled forehead a beautiful thing that I felt ashamed to have caused such distress.

Even if Noel and others thought he looked strange, I still thought him ethereal and gorgeous.

Probably because the same samples that they’d made Vil from had been the progenitor cells from my batch of soldiers.

“If I managed to change, would I have pubes?” I shrugged.

“Oh. I don’t think so.” Noel glanced up at the ceiling, the curved smooth, white surface, an organic flowing shape that allowed the humid air to circulate more effectively, increased surface area for their mortar to handle the moisture better without growing things.

They also had a species of moth that laid eggs on flat surfaces, so that helped, too.

“I don’t have pubic hair. Vil doesn’t. Gorm doesn’t…” Noel frowned at the last one.

“Can confirm, dude.” Merriel, operating his new remote probe, crawled over the table investigating things. It was truly amazing the amount of technology the Naleucians had accrued. “I’ve seen, like, everyone’s business.”

“You were human once, Merriel. It seems itchy. Is it?” Noel stared at the little probe, and Merriel tilted his frame to focus optical sensors on him.

“Man… I miss scratchin’ my nads.” Merriel sighed. “Yeah, and it was really bad if a seam in your underwear pinched a hair…”

Noel handled that piece of information like he did everything else, with straight-faced and humorless care.

He nodded and went about wiping off the table, cleaning up as I disposed of my tray and helped him.

Cleaning was my job on the ship, but Noel seemed to find a kind of peace in it.

Given half a chance, though, any one of the omegas that hovered about would do it for him.

“Well, that’s a plus. Anyway, test results?

” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what was going on, but I had to figure it out sooner or later.

I couldn’t hole up in Vil and Noel’s house forever until we could come up with an excuse to leave…

If we did. Nobody seemed to care, as if everyone was content to call the planet home.

“Yeah, so apparently alphas taking a change takes several tries sometimes.”

“Wait, alpha? I’m a beta. Noel said so.” I stared Merriel down as he turned in place on his little spindly legs and angled his sensors up at me.

“To be fair, dude, Noel hasn’t met that many alphas or betas in the first place.

Sure, you were made from beta genes, but so was Vil.

If you take the full change, you’ll end up expressing alpha.

” A little screen popped up on top of the crab robot’s head, for lack of a better term, and a smiley face emoji flashed.

“This is a valid point. But from his blood tests, it was beta and according to Doc’s paperwork, he’s never manifested a knot.” Noel sat back down at the table and drummed his fingers. “So, what’s the solution?”

“Doc doesn’t know. I don’t know. The med team says it’s trial and error, repeated exposure and all that. Alphas only really happened in Vil’s line.” Noel fidgeted in his seat and huffed. “Speaking of, when is Vil getting back?”

“Later this evening. He’s enjoying hunting.” I shrugged.

“I’m bored!” Noel stood abruptly. “This is why Naleucians need two mates.”

“I don’t follow.” I squinted at Noel. He didn’t usually get so anxious, emotional, or even reactive. “Read a book or something.”

“A book will not sexually gratify me!” Noel pouted. Genuinely pouted.

“Well, that’s out of my territory!” I threw my hands up.

Noel waved a hand at the wall and summoned a viewscreen, pacing as he made complex finger gestures that scrolled through pages of data. “If I can’t get off, I might as well solve a problem.”

Merriel whipped his sensors around to study Noel. A few whirring noises and clicks cycled through him. “Sensing some elevated hormones, man. Why don’t you both go to the infirmary and see Doc?”

“I know as much about Naleucian biology as he does.” I raised a brow at Noel’s snip.

“Someone’s hormonal and moody. Running assessment.” Merriel beeped and booped, earning a serious glance from Noel. With a final ding, Merriel answered, “Noel is menstruating.”

“I am not menstruating!” Noel cast his fingers through the air, tossing through both human and Naleucian documentation, eyes skimming the air. “Naleucians do not do that.”

One of the omegas that we spent the most amount of time with, a lovely magenta male with white hair and greenish-yellow irises, Zurok, strolled in, face a mask of concern. “Nexus expresses interest in eliminating.”

“I give permission,” Noel said, offering Zurok a flat-lipped smile and a nod.

“Also, I see you are stressed. Is there anything I can do to assist until your mate returns from the hunt?” Zurok rested a hand on his forearm.

“Not that I’m aware of. I’m bored and amorous. It’s very frustrating with so much coitus around.” Noel turned his attention back to the windows, panning one screen to the other.

“Something’s wrong with him.” I gestured toward Merriel’s probe, and he pointed his optical sensors about.

“He’s experiencing a hormonal shift.” Merriel’s little body did a sort of rocking bob that mimicked a nod.

“Well, yes. He’s in his period.” Zurok glanced him over, and Noel froze, brow clenched.

“I told you!” Merriel’s probe jumped and clicked its legs in excitement.

“I am not on my period!” Noel grumbled as I parsed my way through their words. My translator chip in my brain seemed to be feeding me more and more of their language, so I knew it organically as it worked on translating less.

“Your fertile period.” Zurok smiled, and Noel froze, glancing over. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m due for mine soon. Our seasons are aligning for you.”

Noel squinted at Zurok and opened another window, a call screen that had Doc on the other end after a few beeps.

“Is Noah okay?” The first thing out of Doc’s mouth made Noel huff.

Zurok glanced over. “He is perfectly fine. He caught a drulinith earlier and quite enjoyed himself.”

“One of the bird things? Is that sanitary? Is it going to give him some kind of parasiiiii—is that offensive?” Doc glanced around as Noel moved to grant Doc visibility.

“Not offensive at all. And no, there’s not much that can survive the Naleucian digestive system.”

“Not much isn’t nothing.” Doc glared.

“The only thing that can survive it is us and spermatophores, if you must know. And us is dependent upon if we’re mated or not.” Zurok clasped his hands and smiled. “We’re all so very eager to wait and see if any of us take. I anticipate a bit of a hatchling wave.”

“Excuse me? Noel, get your ass in here. I’ve not checked you in over a week. Holy shit. And bring Noah… I want to give him a cuddle.” Doc sighed heavily, and Zurok dismissed himself for a moment, returning with Noah in his arms, wiggling excitedly.

Zurok gave a polite whisper, letting him know that Nexus had been toileted.

“On my way.” Noel rolled his shoulder to release his wings and wandered off as I stood in place among fading screens of medical data.

“So, like, is anyone going to tell me about this alpha situation?” I held up my hands, and Zurok gave me a bright smile.

“I’m not having sex with you.” I pointed at the magenta omega and stalked off to my bedroom.

Zurok didn’t seem the least bit bothered by the rejection, though.

“I’ll be in the joy room if you change your mind! I do find you attractive,” Zurok called out, and I locked myself away.