Chapter 2
APODIS
“Can we return home?”
Apodis shook his head, his eyes on the orb in the sky as it glowed red, lighting the forest floor. He lay in the lush moss, hands propped behind his neck, turning to glance at Zenith with a smirk.
“We haven’t been here long,” he said, eyeing the caerulian who was sitting next to him.
Zenith glared, his dark eyes narrowed and his mouth curled into a frown. His electric blue fur bristled, triangular ears flattened to the back of his head, and his nose turned up to the stars.
“I am unsure why we are out here in the first place.”
The caerulian was grumpy, that much was clear, and Apodis tried to resist a chuckle, lest he feel the wrath of those claws. He reached up, scratching under Zenith’s chin, the effect immediate as the caerulian started to purr reluctantly.
“We’re watching the stars, Z.”
After decades spent mapping them from his apartment in Aerumi, it was different to actually see them, feel their light shining down on him as they lit his forest in an ambient glow.
Well, not his forest, but the forest in which he resided—his state-of-the-art cabin providing the perfect retirement pad.
Breathing the fresh air and feeling the wind on his skin made it clear he’d made the correct decision.
He’d worked hard and saved up, forgoing anything beyond the bare essentials to retire early. Oh, his coworkers used to make fun of him for never taking time off, but he was the one savoring his newfound freedom in the peace and quiet of Lumeris.
He still took odd jobs here and there, a telescope and quantum scanner occupying the back room of his cabin, which allowed him to detect cosmic anomalies and provide safe travel routes for enterprising Oslieths who didn’t want to use one of the big companies.
“Stars are stars, Apodis. You will never find a mate out here.”
Apodis groaned, placing his hand back under his head, much to the consternation of the caerulian.
For a creature who had no romantic or sexual interest in others, Zenith certainly seemed to care a lot about Apodis’ love life.
Apodis had come to terms with the fact that he would never have a mate, and he was fine with that.
He’d had his fun in his youth, experienced his fair share of ruts with a partner or a group, and now he had Z.
The day he’d adopted the caerulian as a youngling was one of the happiest memories of his life.
They’d been together every day since then, and that was all he needed.
Though he felt the biological urge to procreate as much as any alpha, the logical part of his brain knew that parenthood—beyond attending to Z, who mostly took care of himself—was not for him.
He valued his freedom above all; the serenity of his solitary life calmed his ever-racing mind.
It’s why he had avoided serious relationships for so long, knowing how deeply the reproductive imperative ran in the blood of his people.
A childfree alpha was a deal breaker for most Oslieths, and at some point, he had stopped trying. And now, he was long past his prime.
The orb on Zenith’s chest dimmed, making his disapproval known.
“You bring us to this wasteland, and for what? To spend all day outdoors? In nature. My fur has never been dirtier.”
Oh, the caerulian certainly could be dramatic.
Apodis supposed he could understand some of Zenith’s trepidation.
He had never known anything other than their tiny apartment, so the breeze and the dirt and the plants were new to him.
Trees replaced skyscrapers, and stars replaced city lights, a big change for such a little creature.
They were new to Apodis too, to be honest, though he had transitioned easier than Zenith had, reveling in the lazy days spent foraging and cooking and mapping the stars to his heart’s content. What else could an Oslieth possibly need?
If a part of him felt like there was something missing, it was easy enough to ignore with the misty sunshine and the wildflowers and the great storms which rumbled the walls of his cabin.
“Your fur looks fine, Z,” he said with a smile, but Zenith just gave him a disconcerted huff.
“It is absolutely uncivilized out here. An alpha—”
“None of that,” Apodis interrupted, not in the mood for one of Z’s little lectures.
Sometimes, it seemed like the caerulian cared more about an alpha’s purpose than he did.
Apodis had never been interested in the dominance hierarchy that ran within his designation’s blood, the alpha’s obsession with leading.
Sure, he’d worked hard at his job, but not to try to move up.
He’d been offered managerial positions on more than one occasion, but had always declined.
He truly loved the orderliness of his work, the way the precise mapping tingled his brain in just the right way. It was easier to focus on the stars as opposed to interacting with others.
It’s not that he didn’t enjoy being around other Oslieths on occasion, it just always seemed so difficult to find ones he could relate to, ones whose sole focus wasn’t on what they could get out of him as an alpha.
He knew not everyone was like that, but after a few unpleasant experiences with aggressive alphas, jealous betas, and overeager omegas, he’d turned inward, focusing on his work.
Zenith let out a sigh, his slender tail flicking with annoyance.
Apodis was about to suggest they return home when a scent wafted past his nose, forcing him to attention in an instant. He sat up, sniffing harder, trying to determine what it was. There couldn’t be someone out here, could there?
As far as he knew, he had no neighbors, at least not anywhere nearby. That was the whole point of leaving Aerumi, and he’d made sure he was able to buy a plot of land large enough to keep out any outsiders.
The scent was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it, Zenith eyeing him with concern.
“What is it? Are you alright?”
“Don’t you smell that?” Apodis asked, standing up and trying to follow the scent.
“Smell what? It smells like nature out here,” Zenith huffed, and normally Apodis would chuckle at the little creature’s consternation, but he was too out of sorts to notice.
“Something different. It doesn’t belong.”
It didn’t belong, and yet it did, the scent scintillating and intoxicating and otherworldly in a way that made no sense.
The aroma got stronger as he hurried through the forest, sweat beading on his brow and his heart thumping quickly.
His cock stiffened in his pants, and he let out a low growl, trying to calm himself as he approached a clearing on the edge of his property.
Apodis crouched in the underbrush, feeling every bit the beast as he stalked his prey.
The aroma of alona blossoms filled his nose, sweet and floral, with a subtle hint of spice. It was overwhelming, a scent that tingled his entire body with warmth, though the fact he was smelling it right now was surprising.
It was late heat season, and alonas had long since gone dormant, yet the smell was unmistakable. As he peered into the darkness, he zeroed in on the source, a source that shocked him to his very core.
A human stooping low in the clearing. Alone.
Even in the low light, he could see her perfectly, his vision adapted to the darkness. She was exquisite, far different from the newsreels he had seen of human reporters on the planet they called home. Earth.
Hair as red as the sun’s rays glowed in the dusky light, loose and falling to her shoulders in waves. He wanted to press his nose to her neck, take in that delicious scent—grip a fistful of her pretty locks while he gave her his knot—though he tried to push those thoughts far aside.
The human had a sharp nose and full lips, keen eyes that scanned the plant in front of her. Tan shorts showed off her toned ass, a sight which made his mouth water shamefully, a white shirt and dark overshirt completing her look.
She was completely unaware of him, immersed in her study, and he wondered if humans lacked the same instincts that Oslieths had.
Search, stalk, chase, bite—it was the prey drive that still lay within the alpha, though for a distinctly different purpose now that his species had learned to synthesize meat.
Such a beautiful creature, her delicious scent making his pulse quicken, his cock throbbing in his pants.
Not the reaction he wanted to have while stalking a female in the woods, at least not one of a different species.
He knew little of humans beyond the fact that they liked to trade with his government, though he wondered what this female was doing out here in his territory.
Yes, the floral aroma was definitely coming from her, a fact that filled him with trepidation.
Why would a human smell like alona blossoms?
Of course, he knew it was a scientific possibility, but the probability of him encountering a non-Oslieth with such a familiar scent seemed astronomical when he lived alone in the woods.
And yet, here she was, practically on his front doorstep.
“Go talk to her,” Zenith said, and Apodis jerked backward in surprise, stepping on a twig in the process.
The crack was loud, and a moment later the human was standing, eyes as wide as an animal caught in a trap.
She was looking in their direction, though he was fairly certain she couldn’t see them, not with the way her gaze darted along the line of bushes like she was trying to find the source of the noise.
He could hear her blood pumping through her veins, could taste the sharp scent of fear in the air, and it was intoxicating.
What a beast he was! She was a frightened female, a member of a strange species, and here he was enjoying the sweat dotting her brow, the way she trembled like a little prey animal.
He needed to get a hold of himself before he frightened her further, though the best course of action would be if she just moved on. Returned to wherever she had come from.