Page 4 of The First Alpha on the Planet
The elderly man stared at what must have been a blank screen on his end and frowned. “Turn the camera on, Roan. I hate speaking to empty space.”
“I don’t feel like it.” I leaned back and grumbled.
“According to my records, we green-lit an organ transplant from ananonymoussource who bore a very high Progenitor bloodline percentage. Now, you never specified, but it appears to be 99.9 percent.” A smug note curled in his voice, and I raised a hand, hovering a finger near the button to hang up. “And theonly Progenitor I knew at that time was Noel… And trust me, I knowwhenthat heart was harvested.”
I froze, both my hearts flopping in my chest.
“Now. Turn. On. The. Camera.” A hiss of anger caught in Sonderson’s voice that I couldn’t ignore. As a bishop, he could seize my entire fortune. Everything I held dear, really.
“Fine!” I handwaved the option to turn visual feed on, and Sonderson’s eyes took a moment to adjust.
A wide grin stretched his face to an uncomfortable and almost-inhuman extent.
Yep.I braced for it. Barely three seconds passed, me watching the timer on our call countdown, before he fell out laughing.
“You’reperiwinkle!” Bishop Sonderson’s laughter cracked off the walls of his office, the pitch growing higher in intensity as he doubled over.
“I am notperiwinkle; I am dusky purple!” I stared at my hands; the grayish purple of them transitioned to a darker indigo over my back into brindled stripes. My hair had turned such a dark indigo that it was near indistinguishable from black, a saving grace, truly. I grimaced at Sonderson as he bobbed his head around and squinted.
“Looks periwinkle to me, my child. And eyes. Pink?” He snorted.
“And yet you do not seem shocked.” I crossed my arms.
“Of course not. Should have done more research. He’s a gene seeder, and you put one fat payload right into your chest, dear.” He bounced in his seat. “Oh, this is too lovely.”
“Is this the only reason you called, to gloat?” I stared him down. “I’m an abomination.”
“No. You’re a pure-blooded Naleucian, now. You’re a god.” Sonderson waved a hand dismissively. “So, what are you up to?”
I’d been up to nothing. I’d been wallowing in my own self-pity for months, trying to understand what about the new heart triggered the external changes in my body so vividly that I changed species in entirety. Curiosity had been my only outlet, searching for answers to questions I wasn’t even certain I wanted to ask.
“I’m trying to find the NO1-5-7’s crew… Vil’s crew, the Scavengers, or whatever.” I bit my own tongue, newly sharpened teeth hard to control. I touched at my lip and tongue, pulling back a streak of magenta blood.
“They went in search of their homeworld. I received contact that they’d found it and all was precarious, but their place will be there for at least a year on their planet. Five hundred days, give or take?” Sonderson waved his hand dismissively.
“I’d like to go there, too. I—I feel a calling.” I clenched my fist as a burning sensation twisted my insides, my mind humming in thought about alphas and betas, amorous thoughts. If I masturbated any more, my dick would fall off. I needed tofuck. No matter how many hybreeds I mounted, it wasn’t enough.
“I bet you do. Their holidays are upon them.” His glib tongue-in-cheek smile made me sneer.
“Well, I wish to go. Would you stop me? I’ll give you the location I fou—”
“No! Keep that to yourself. At all costs.” His wild-eyed expression pinned to me. “There’s a reason. Trust me. You’d do well to go. Permission granted.”
I didn’t like that response, so I finished my email as we spoke of what I needed to bring. He apparently had gifts for me to take to Noel and their little one—as well as Murdoc’s little one.That’s news to me.I hadn’t known Murdoc was capable of becoming pregnant. I didn’t know how I felt about that. Certainly, I felt he should have disclosed it, being as hehad headed my surgery. A life bringer? Technically. Complicated emotions.
“I’ll leave Tarvis and Anjala in charge of business while I’m away—”
“As if you’ve not been away for months, already. People are starting to talk.” Sonderson angled his head about in the screen as if trying to see behind and around me. “For Progenitors’ sake, clean up or something. Depression doesn’t suit you.”
“I’m not depressed!” I slumped back in my seat—angry, not saddened. What time I wasn’t spending on searching for answers to my body, I spent searching for Vil and his mate. The change had been subtle at first, eyes going darker, scales in places. I thought it merely the heart until I needed a top-up dose. That was when the trigger happened. It was like the first hint of serum to touch my blood, knocked dominoes down a line. “I’m figuring things out.”
“Well, figure something out in a place that doesn’t involve rumors about you holed up in a bunker, punishing your little bishop.” He glanced down, despite my camera not showing that. Hell, even if it did, all he’d see is the vast emptiness of a doll’s groin. Progenitors had internal genitalia. From what I could search up on Noel, it was his case at least.
“Punishing my little…” I must have made a face because he smirked at me.
“Get going. I’ll greenlight your docking request immediately.” He sighed and stared at me for a moment. “And do keep me updated on how the population looks.”
The way he said it gave me an unpleasant shiver, but before I could ask further, he ended the call.Jerk.
