Page 42 of The First Alpha on the Planet
I could only hope he had the tolerance against venom that he touted.
As I beat on the door, frantic scrabbles on the other side sounded out before they let me in with the heavy male and slid him onto the nearest flat surface I could find.
Cloth I was mostly sure had been clothes at one point made it my way as we pressed the wadded material to his neck to stem the flow, the glut of it already slowed.
“What has happened, Roan?” Tilmik, glanced up at me with bright-green eyes like acid glimmering in the sea of inky sclera. His trembling hands, as violet as Noel’s pater had ever been, pressed over mine.
“Colthraxian tried to…” I couldn’t think of the right word.Parasitize?Infect? Whatever it was, Tilmik understood me as he brushed white hair behind his ears and wrapped his tail around Zurok’s chest with a hearty squeeze so tight, it cracked ribs.
Bilious blood spilled from the hole and Zurok’s lips, but Tilmik didn’t relent.
“My blood…I bit the creature out.” I trembled as Tilmik glanced from Zurok to myself a few times before nodding sagely.
“There might be a type of bond there for some time, Roan. It won’t require copulation, but your venom now courses in his body.” Tilmik abandoned his tail squeezes to run off and returned with a first aid kit.
Before I could stop him, he reached for my arm, jerking and twisting as bones set into place with a harsh snap that made me heave dryly. From within the kit, he pushed an injector into my flesh, and a sharp hiss and prick sent adrenaline—or its lizardy equivalent—coursing through my body. Flesh and bone knit with a burning sensation, reseating itself before he urged me to leave. “Thank you, Roan. For this, I call you my friend.”
And for a Naleucian, that meant much.
I nodded once and staggered to my feet before he followed me to the door and let me out, bolting it behind me, sending me into the mostly defeated fray.
Crunches, heavy hits, violence, screams, and somewhere Gorm yodeled out a war cry—all of it was too much for a damning second, but I had energy to burn with that medicine in my system, so I ran and leaped onto the back of another then another Revulon, aiding my Terran-born brethren in defeating the last of our enemies.
A volley of horns sounded from above as the shrill keen of their ships inundated my senses.
Speakers lit up with Naleucian speech as the last of our foes lay defeated.
“The Revulon base has been destroyed! Everyone remain in place while biometric scans and spectrographs are run to see if any remain. All those in bunkers stay put until the alarm.” I stared up at the calling voice, wind whipping my short hair about, tossing the fluttering ends of my clothing.
I breathed a long sigh of relief and bliss, the adrenaline pumping its last through me before the comforting arms of my mate surrounded me with harsh breaths. “I’ve never seen you fight before. You’re fierce.”
“I have my mate and family to protect.” I would have said child, children, egg or eggs, but none of that seemed right. Zurok and Liru meant everything to me, the paters of my firstborn.
A sharp nose ran the length of my ear; brown flesh and coppery chromatic scales engulfed me as three words I never knew I needed tickled my mind. Roan’s smile permeated every breath. “I love you.”
If anything I ever needed to hear, it was that. “Love you, too.”
I hoped it sounded as genuine as I meant it to be, but I was prone to sarcasm and snark.
Because I meant it.
I didn’t even know if I could stand to leave the planet, to separate myself from him for more than a workday. All I knew was that I had some massive warrior wood going on and not a whisper of energy to show the stupid battlecook how much I wanted him.
Chapter Seventeen
Wallace
Noel never found the claw crackers he was looking for, but a big rock did the trick. Apparently Revulon were delicious?
I spent the better part of three days freezing, storing, cooking, and serving the creatures to hungry locals who had no objections to the meat.
The public kitchens roiled with steam and the oily scent of gamey meat. Low set tables spanned across a shaded courtyard, shaded by overreaching trees. And at each long table, omegas sat, armed with rocks, beating the fat claws of their enemies into submission to pick free the flaky meat within.
Of all our crews, only Gorm and Noel saw fit to eat the creatures. Noel, because he didn’tknowany better, and Gorm, because he would try anything once. Or twice.
Gorm was Gorm, and I refused to make excuses. But what did it say about me that I was totally willing to cook it?
Imaaaayyyyhave tasted the broth. Wasn’t bad.
