I still remember my mother’s scent. I hear her humming songs late at night. Perhaps that is why I never stopped hunting for what our planet has lost.
And now that I’ve found Emma, I must give her up. Her life is my life. Her happiness is my happiness.
“I hope I will come to possess an Omega as beautiful as yours.”
He thinks he will possess his Omega, when truly she will possess him. She will turn his life upside down. I cannot wait.
“Emma is beautiful. She is also headstrong. She is upset we are taking more Hoo-man females,” I offer.
“It cannot be helped,” Aurus says, his tone turning grim. “If the Alphas die out…”
“I know.” I do understand. The survival of our planet depends on our greatest, strongest dynamic. And with Beta/Beta only pairings, Alphas will become even more rare.
I cannot stop more Hoo-man women from being taken. But I will do all I can to see my Omega happy. Even if that means giving up all I ever wanted.
TWENTY
Emma
We're backon Khan’s spaceship. Khan is quiet. I'm sitting in his lap because he refuses to let go of me.
I didn’t ask what was happening when he bundled me into his arms and carried me from the nest. I didn’t care. My head is throbbing like tiny ice picks are being shoved into my temples, and my mouth is dry. Maybe it’s the estrus. I feel like I’ve been in one since I met Khan. Maybe I have, although Khan swears they only last a few days at a time. Or maybe I’m still adjusting to the planet. The new environment. My fucked up new life.
Not all of it is fucked up, though. Altrim is beautiful. And Khan is… complicated. I peek at him from the corner of my eye. His features are composed, somber. Almost thoughtful. The bond between us is like a lead weight, radiating pain. It wasn’t like that a day ago. The ache has grown in the past few hours, filling our connection until I’m afraid to probe it. Like a rotting tooth.
I resist the urge to rub my chest or look at Khan any longer. Instead, I stare out of the large window. For most of the journey, the scenery has flashed by but as the ship slows, I realize the landscape has a familiar golden glimmer.
A shot of trepidation makes me shift on Khan’s lap.
“Did Aurus call another Kings’ Council? Is that where we’re going?” I break the silence. My hands are rigid in my lap, my nails biting into my palms. I don’t want to sit through another horrible meeting where the Alpha kings discuss the fate of human women.
Khan strokes my hair. He senses my nerves but isn’t purring. That alone puts me even more on edge. But maybe he’s just heeding my plea to stop purring every time I’m distressed.
“No. There’s no council meeting,” he says simply.
Then why are we returning to the Golden Palace? Aurus’s gaudy place glimmers in the distance. The suns are setting but in the low light, the gold and white structure is no less breathtaking. This time, there are no lines of Alpha soldiers on the golden road. There’s no sign of anyone at all. Rising high in the sky is the cluster of five moons, the half outline of each one fainter than the last.
The ship sails up to the Golden Palace and hovers near the steps. Outside, the evening air still holds the heat, but there are no sounds like birds or any living thing. The place is opulent as a picture, and silent as a tomb.
Khan carries me out of the ship and into the palace. My sense of dread grows as he strides down the silent halls between the giant columns. Glowing orbs hang in the air between each set of pillars, lighting our way.
I have another terrifying thought: he didn’t rut me before we came here. Didn’t mark me with his scent. Why not? Is he not worried about another Alpha taking me, like he was before?
We head back via the same route to the same set of doors leading to the council room—or one identical to it. His steps slow and falter a moment but then the doors open slowly, automatically.
This room has no round table and no chairs. There are a few glowing orbs in the corner but they show mostly robed Betas. I recognize Betas more easily now—they're smaller in stature. The chief Beta has purple robes, long, spidery fingers, and a bald head. He’s standing in front of a giant mirror-looking thing in a golden frame. Instead of glass there’s a milky white substance, like fog, moving and forming a thick wall between the gilt sides.
Khan strides in and stands before the creepy mirror thing. The head Beta and all the rest bow low.
“Wanderer King.”
Khan doesn’t acknowledge them, or put me down.
“Khan.” Aurus enters, as big and broad as I remember him. His hair is shorn short, and he looks like a fancy gladiator in his armored chest plate. He bows his head solemnly, more respectful than I've ever seen him. “King-Who-Found-the-Omegas.” He says it like a title. That’s new. Then he turns to me. “Omega.” He bows a little bit more deeply.
“What have you found?” Khan says, sounding impatient. My Alpha doesn’t stand on ceremony. Which I prefer.My Alpha.Funny how much has changed. How quickly I’m thinking of Khan as mine. I’m glad I ended up with Khan instead of Aurus. Or another—like the Stone King.Shudder.
Aurus nods to the purple-robed magician, who steps up and clears his throat. I grilled Khan about the magicians but never got a straight answer. He doesn’t seem too bothered with the details of what they do. Magicians seem to be something like a cross between scientists and engineers. But their tech is like magic to the Ulfarri.
