“I hate it,” I admitted. “To be honest, I’m jealous of you. You get to do whatever you want, go anywhere you want, mate with anyone you want…”
“That is true,” Koto agreed. “I’m sorry, man.”
I shrugged. “It’s not your fault. It’s just the way we were born. I wish I was a beta instead.”
“I guess, but it’s still not fair,” Koto grumbled.
I rolled my eyes and quoted my parents. “Life’s not fair.”
We sat in silence, listening to the buzzing night insects and high-pitched cries of the bats that hunted them. I watched a particularly big moth - drawn to the light of the elder’s hut - get swallowed up by a furry bat in one gulp. For some reason, it made me think about how close I’d come to death tonight. I shivered.
“Hey, Raja,” Koto said suddenly. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. “I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Well, they want you to get married, right? So why don’t you just get married?”
I stared at him, dumbfounded. “Gee, thanks. That instantly solves all my problems.”
“Oh, you’re such a brat sometimes.” He shoved my shoulder. “I mean, you don’t have tostaymarried, right? You just have to be married long enough to leave the village.”
I paused. “You mean like a fake marriage?”
“Exactly!” He gestured proudly, like he’d come up with the best idea ever.
“Do you know how much trouble I’ll get into if I get caught?” I asked. Faking a mate and eloping all sounded like fun and games until I thought about my potential punishment. Given the high status marriage was given in our clan, I knew that being caught faking it could end up with my banishment - or worse.
“Then just don’t get caught,” Koto said with a shrug. “Besides, it only has to work until you get out of here anyway. Then you’re home free.”
“Okay, great idea, genius. You’re missing a major piece of the problem - there are no alphas in the clan. And it’s not exactly like I can walk out to a different clan in the rainforest and justfindone!”
“You’re right, you can’t,” Koto said. “So we’re gonna need to bring the alpha toyou.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
Koto stood and offered me a hand up. “Come over to my place. I have something to show you, and I think you’re gonna like it.”
* * *
“Here. Take a seat over there.”
Koto gestured to the low table in the middle of the floor. Raising a brow, I slid onto the straw mat and waited for whatever he decided to pull out.
After digging out cables and miscellaneous electronics from an old wooden crate, Koto returned to the table and propped up an old laptop.
“You like?” he asked, looking smug.
“Is that a computer? Where the hell did you get that?” I asked.
He leaned in, glancing suspiciously over his shoulder. “Okay, well, don’t tell the chief, but Bodi and I stole this from a neighboring human village a while back.”
“Youwhat!?” I sputtered.
He flailed his hand in my face. “Shh! Keep it down. Oh, don’t look at me like that. They had a bunch, it’s not like they’re going to miss just one…”
After plugging in all the necessary items, Koto booted up the laptop. I peered curiously over his shoulder.
“How does it work?” I asked cautiously.
