Page 15 of The First Alpha on the Planet
“And you willingly stuck your dick in him? I’d be afraid to draw back a nub.” I shook my head in disbelief. “I cede to you, Vil. You are a braver man than I.”
“Just don’t fuck with me anymore, okay? This is a new world for all of us.” Vil leaned in, his nostrils flaring. “But it’s not me you’ll be fucking with.”
I sneered. “If I truly wanted to, I could.”
That line made Zurok snort in laughter. “No, you could not. They are mated. An intruder on the bond they’ve formed wouldbe deleterious to the interloper. Though, I would be amused if you tried.”
Zurok hesitated for a moment, his tail doing something complex and limp. Sheepish? “I would highly recommend you do not, though. We have few enough Naleucians as is.”
“How many?” Roan hesitated.
“In our city, less than a thousand. Around the world? Eight, nine thousand, maybe? All omega. Though, that may soon change. With many prayers to our ancestors.”
“Right, while you do that, Zurok… I think Roan needsthe talk. Colthraxian style.” He gave the omega a hard look, and they exchanged a polite and perfunctory flick of tails with one another.
“Excuse me?” I hesitated and followed them in tow as they headed down the verdant streets. “At least tell me there’s real food here.”
“Lucky you, I finished hunting earlier. It’s still bloody… The blood is yellow, though… Still good!” Vil’s reassurance brought me no comfort, but food was food, so I followed to my doom.
Chapter Seven
Wallace
On my way out of the medical facilities, I passed a line of new hybreed alphas and betas, glancing around at one another with excitement bubbling in their bright eyes. “Good luck, dudes.”
“We don’t need luck! We already found it.” They shoved at one another as they hustled into Fel’s office. The sweet male had been pacing and excited for days, wanting to see if his egg managed to fertilize. In any case, sperm was there, an egg was released, and the sperm was alive! Against all odds. Even his Colthraxian body had dwindled down to proto-organs and a nervous system. All wonderful signs.
“I’m headed back home, Fel. When you decide to do the scan, tell me,” I called aloud, prompting Fel to stick his head out and grin brightly.
His tail flicked in a nervous little shiver, and I focused on giving him a reassuring lift and flex back toward him, telling him that I had confidence in the future. “I look forward to fulfilling the part of friend with you, Fel. And if not, I will fulfil the Terran role of friend and help comfort you if you’re disappointed.”
Fel brightened. “I look forward to either thing. We shall consume our entertainment together as companions.”
“Yeah!” I whipped my tail around as he stuck his from the doorway, and we exchanged a little fist bump equivalent they calledknocking. That was what the translator said, anyway. I was still learning.
The streets were less occupied than they once had been; the season in full swing still as our crewmates ravaged their way through the city. Gorm had found a third or fourth wind in all of it and was back out there. I was just happy to go back to theclosest thing to a home I had. I kinda missed waking up to Nexus barging into my room and racing all over me like the spaniel I had as a kid.
They’d evolved beyond a currency system since the population had become so small. Everyone had roles they needed to fill, and mine was in my culinary skills. So, in my passing training and assistance, a localbakerysort of equivalent had learned to make a hybrid of sweets pairing hybreed tastes and Terran cuisine to the local palette. They were adding new recipes to their repertoire by the day. But, as they were en route to the home I shared with Vil and Noel, I stepped in with a smile that was returned to me from two sets of eyes. A pink-scaled male and his dark-purple-scaled partner, Tee and Vish, waved at me excitedly.
“Wall-Esh! Your change is spectacular!” Tee called my name using their similar sounding word. “You are as your name implies, every time we meet.”
There was no direct translation for my name, not in a single word at any rate, but it translated out to the specific kind of relief one felt after scratching an intimate part of their body, with intimate being the precise term, as it didn’t mean merely genitals, but could be any vulnerable and erogenous place.
“I really should change my name, shouldn’t I?” I laughed as they beamed.
Vish waved me off, his tail flicking in annoyance. He flicked his light-lavender hair and gave me a devilish wink from pretty powder-blue eyes buried amid dark sclera. “Your name is fitting. You are a sweet relief to see. There’s no need to impress you, even as an alpha. You do not seek to breed anyone, so your rejection does not sting. And you always bring a sweet taste to my tongue.”
“Thatis the kind of flirting I respond to,” I said, waving a finger at Vish as I perused the walls of the shop where varioustreats lay behind glass doors in individual cells. There was one in particular, made from fruit that looked rather like a bright-red pear. The interesting thing was, due to crystallization of the pigment with their sugar equivalent—a sucrose adjacent molecule, refracted bright and almost-poisonous blue once cooked. “Where’s the rample tartlets?”
“We were running low, so I set two in back.” Vish brought out a little package made from a type of a seed pod that, once dispersed, left a rather soft and paperlike sack.
“You’re the best.” I walked to the counter to take it and halted when they added a slightly larger sack beside it. “What’s that?”
“This one is for Noel,” Tee beamed. “He will be very hungry.”
“News is out, already?” I shook my head and laughed.
Vish gave Tee a reprimanding swat with the tip of his tail. “Yes, due to unfortunate gossip. We have, what was Merriel’s phrase for it… Ah, yes, we have consumed the tea!”
