Page 44 of The First Alpha on the Planet
In the office where we stood, there were five pulsing beacons, not four. Roan and myself had been improved by Noel’s genes, and Zurok and Liru had their spots as Merriel zoomed in to our location. But what also lit up…
Everyone glanced at Tsul as he pried apart another claw mercilessly to reach for more meat. As if only then sensing our stare, he glanced up and blinked.
“You’re related to Noel, apparently.” Merriel’s laugh petered off. “Like, really related.”
“Well, his patrons did originate from Delta.” Zurok scratched at his neck lightly, fingertips grazing the mark that Roan had left on him, one that had drawn them closer. Part of me wondered if it’d morph into something sexual in time, and strangely, I didn’t mind.
“Nah man. I’m not certain, but they’re like—” Merriel changed a few things, and Tsul lit up while another dot somewhere else lit up, too. “Yeah, half-siblings.”
“Oh, my egg was brooded from a lifeseed farm before they were compromised. We very well could be siblings.” Tsul licked at his fingers. “Only certain eggs are selected to be opened and altered to become lifeseeds, so we could have been born from the same clutch and only him selected. My egg was put into stasis for a long while.”
“Technically, he’s only sixty years old. We tried waking the eggs from stasis only to find them already infected with Colthraxians.” Sarka’s lips twisted wryly. “Despite his naïve nature, I do care for him.”
Tsul took another wet bite as if the revelation meant nothing to him. It was hard to have sibling bonds, one supposed.
“I feel like such an ass asking this—” I stared at the two. “Um. I’m not from here and the customs throw me off. You identify as alpha, Sarka?”
Sarka nodded, no shame in it. “Managers typically do. We’re more dominant. We’ve found that when there’s no alphas or betas around, some omegas kind of adapt. So, our theory goes, as we say.”
“Lucky me, right?” Tsul took another bite and hummed. Something about his feckless mannerisms and general lack of concern for the things around him that I once thought was a Naleucian thing, was likely genetic. Tsul, such a dark blue, the more I stared, resembled Noel a lot. “Our bond is eternal and perfect.”
“Eternal and perfect.” Sarka nodded, letting his tail entwine with the smaller one’s with a gentle squeeze and lingering coil that borderlined on inappropriate, from what I’d seen around.
Liru and Zurok exchanged a little squeeze of their tails. And I supposed I felt the moment a little when I gave Roan, who was a few steps out of my reach, a little curl of my own that he pointedly ignored, despite his tail echoing the sentiment back.
“So, using this program, we’re going to keep watch of our territory, and you’re going to destroy them. Once that’s complete, we’ll send blood serum over to merge your host inseparably.”
“Sarka!” Tsul dropped the eviscerated Revulon claw and stared up with big, pleading eyes. “Does this mean we get to have an egg? Can we?”
Sarka’s cheeks warmed. “If they so choose to provide us with genetic samples… We can induce a season for you.”
Tsul’s eyes widened further; the kittenish appearance of the male enough to make me want to hold him and give hima squeeze. “Hatchling! Can you imagine? I’ve never seen a hatchling before… Well, I saw myself, I suppose. Please, Zurok?”
“Gorm’s available for beta donations if you’re willing to take it straight from the source.” Roan snickered and Sarka growled lightly.
“My mate will not be touched by another unless we so choose to bond with one.” Sarka’s tail squeezed his mate’s again. “And we’d prefer genes a little less prolific.”
“Give me ten minutes and a glove, and I can get you a sample off Wallace.” Roan’s snark made my cheeks burn. “He’s only produced two eggs in his life and both with me.”
If it wasn’t for how proud Roan puffed up when he said it, I might have sneered.
“Roan and Wallace had two eggs in their clutch and one of the eggs chose us and bonded.” Liru’s soft voice warmed my heart. I felt such guilt for letting one of my children go, giving them away, but the joy the two held on their faces, the sweet delight, and the utter peace between them made my heart soar.
“It is very difficult for a mated pair to bond to more than one egg. Triads can handle two, but pairs find it so difficult that one of them often suffers.” Sarka offered a slight smile.
“They end up small and violent, like me!” Tsul dug into the basket for another claw, snapped it open, and offered it to Sarka who took one, finally. “This Noel is small and violent, too, yes?”
“Uh, he’s about…” I held my hand a few inches below my own height. Still, probably six or eight inches taller than his probable sibling.
Zurok cleared his throat. “That is likely because Nirem and Raziel imprinted him and he bonded. With their own eggs destroyed, they likely craved the bond so badly.”
“That’ll do it.” Tsul cracked open another claw and shook it at Roan, who politely declined. Zurok and Liru took up the offer and munched away, slurping at the juices inside the shell.
“Mmf! How did you get that salty creamy taste in there?” Tsul sucked at an empty shell.
“A seed oil I was able to extract and cream with mineralized salt.” I smiled because in my research, the Naleucians had spices and flavors at one time, but Colthraxians neglected them because taste was such a foreign concept to them, a sensation they never fully understood.
“Hehehe… Seed oil.” Tsul sucked at the claw again and earned a little swat of warning from Sarka.
