Emma shoots a knowing glance at Krav, rigid beside me. “In my experience, Ulfarri Alphas are all about the breeding. That’s basically the whole point of their desperation to find Omegas. Isn’t that right, my love?” She pats Khan’s hand. “You were so keen to knock me up, you kept trying evenafterI got pregnant!”
I chuckle.
“Omegas are known for their fertility,” Emma says. “Not sure how that affects human biology—whether it would mean a less risky pregnancy for you or whatever—but you could talk to the magicians about it. They might know.”
“Magicians?” I ask.
She waves an airy hand. “Back home, we’d call them scientists.”
“Right. Maybe I will.” I want to, if Krav will allow it. It took him long enough to agree for me to meet Emma, but he granted my request in the end. I glance at him. He’s back to doing a gargoyle impression, rigid and unmoving beside me.
Emma is still talking. “As to how I got here… it’s a long story. The short version is: I was abducted by aliens—a different species to Ulfarri, they’re known as Ogsul—and Khan rescued me from the auction block. Out of the frying pan…”
“…into the alien fire,” I finish for her. “Did the other women get here the same way?”
Emma shakes her head. “The Ogsul created this serum—the stuff that turns us regular lil humans into compatible Omegas. King Aurus wanted heirs, so he commissioned the Ogsul to find more of us and bring at least one here for him. The Stone King got wind of it, and decided he wanted a slice of that pie. God knows how many he had the Ogsul deliver before he met his well-deserved demise.”
I shake my head. “Ordering us like we’re pizzas. It’s disgusting.”
“I know. Don’t get me wrong, I’m deliriously happy now, but it was a rough start. I almost went home when I got the chance,” Emma says.
Out of nowhere, a chill spreads through my whole body even as a surge of hope fills my chest—like I don’t know how to feel about Emma’s revelation. “You found a way to go home?” I squeak.
Krav’s hand tightens on my thigh, the tips of his claws digging menacingly into my flesh through the gown. A not-so-subtle warning.
“Yes! Aurus has a team of eggheads—his magicians—who managed to find a way. Not entirely without risk, but possible. But when it came down to it…” she glances at Khan with a look of such devotion, it makes me ache, “I couldn’t leave him.”
“Awww. I’m a sucker for a romantic story,” I admit.
“That’s why we asked to see you,” Emma goes on. “The Ulfarri are known across the galaxy as the Brutal Ones. Just because I got lucky—and the other women so far—well, let’s just say not all the kings are good, or kind. The Stone King, for instance, was just…” She trails off with a shudder. “When we heard you had turned up here, we wanted to make sure you were okay. Cause if you want to go home, we can arrange it.”
A low, threatening growl bursts out of Krav’s chest and I grip the arms of my chair, my head spinning. I had low-key hoped that leaving would be an option, but it was the same kind of hope you have when you buy a lottery ticket. Not impossible, but improbable. Now, to hear it’s a possibility… that has to sink in.
“My pet has no desire to leave.” Krav’s voice is like thunder. “She’s happy here, with me. I have claimed her. I own her.”
Emma shifts her cool blue gaze to the demon beside me. “Respectfully, we’re asking her, not you.”
“Iamhappy,” I say hastily. Anything to diffuse the sudden tension. “Like you, I had a bumpy start, but…” I trail off, trying to corral my whirling thoughts. “And anyway, he’s claimed me now. Doesn’t that mean I can no longer leave?”
Khan scoffs. “You can still leave. The bond would ache—for both of you—but if he told you otherwise, he was lying.”
“He said Iwon’t want toleave,” I correct myself. I get the sense Krav is one wrong word away from ending this meeting, and I’m not ready for that. “My bad. He did explain it. Us being soul-bonded. The claiming bite being kinda like a marriage. He never told me I can’t leave.”
Khan’s piercing stare is fixed on Krav, who has puffed out his chest and is vibrating with outrage beside me. “Good.”
I squeeze Krav’s hand, still clenched painfully on my thigh. “Krav does everything in his power to make me happy,” I tell the couple reflected in the orb. “And like I said, we had a bit of a bumpy start but then things got a whole lot better.” I want to de-escalate the situation but as I speak, a glowing ember of doubt starts to fizz in my gut. Things got a whole lot better last night, after he claimed me. If I take off my rose-colored glasses, I do have to admit that it’s still way too early to tell for certain. New relationship energy is a thing.
“If you’re sure,” Emma says, shooting Krav some almost imperceptible side-eye before directing her gaze back to me. “If you change your mind, let us know.”
“How?”
“Krav will tell us,” Khan says. “After all, he’s declared his intentions to see you happy. If going back to Earth was what you wanted, surely he would help you.”
I open my mouth to reply but Krav is quicker. “I dislike your tone!” he bellows, leaning forward like he’s about to jump into the orb and throttle Khan. “You have no authority over me, and the only reason I agreed to this… this…” he waves a hand, “conversation was to please my Omega! I will not be insulted in my own home!”
Emma remains impressively calm in the face of Krav’s spitting fury. “Then we all want the same thing,” she says coolly. “For Renee to be happy.”
Krav has backed himself into a corner. To argue now would be to admit that Khan and Emma’s assumptions are wrong and he wouldn’t help me contact them if I wanted to leave. No doubt they said what they did on purpose to test him. And it worked. “Indeed,” he says at length, leaning back in his chair. Despite his forced display of ease, he’s squeezing my thigh as tightly as ever. “My pet only needs to tell me what she wants, and I will grant it.”
