Page 25 of The Alien Minotaur's Bride

What struck me first was the size of him – the extra inches of height over Keth, the broader shoulders, the horns that curved higher and wider. He filled the doorway completely, blocking the light from outside, and his eyes swept the interior of the dwelling with the casual assessment of someone pricing stock.

They found me at once.

"Keth." His voice was smoother than Keth's, the translator rendering it with an oily fluency that set my teeth on edge. "I heard you'd returned. And with such an interesting acquisition."

"Vorreth." Keth's voice was flat. No greeting, no warmth. "You're uninvited."

"I'm making a social call. Surely that's still permitted, even for hunters." Vorreth stepped forward, and Keth didn't move. For a moment, they were simply standing there, two massive bodies occupying the same space, neither willing to give ground.

Then Vorreth's nostrils flared.

I watched his pupils widen, watched his head turn towards me, tracking my scent across the room like a predator following blood. His gaze fixed on me with an interest that was evaluative and entirely unpleasant – the way you'd look at livestock at auction, calculating weight and breeding potential.

"A Peritan," he said. "Producing already, if I'm reading her correctly. How fortunate for you."

"She is none of your concern."

"Everything that affects the hierarchy is my concern." Vorreth smiled. It didn't reach his eyes. "A producing omega is extraordinarily rare, Keth. You must know that. The council will want to be informed."

"The council has been informed. The bond-claim is registered."

"Ah, yes. The bond-claim." Vorreth's tail swept, a slow, considering motion that looked nothing like Keth's version of the same gesture. "Registered, but not yet permanent. No mating bite, if I'm scenting correctly. Which means she's still technically available for challenge."

Keth's stillness changed. I couldn't have said how – he was already motionless, already silent – but something in the quality of it shifted. Became denser. More dangerous.

"She is not available," he said. "For anything."

"That's not your decision to make, hunter. It's the hierarchy's." Vorreth's eyes found me again, and I fought the urge to step back, to hide completely behind Keth's bulk. "The rules exist for a reason. A producing omega is too valuable to be monopolised by…” He paused, looked Keth up and down with obvious disdain. "By someone of your standing."

"My standing is sufficient to hold a bond-claim."

"For now." Vorreth's smile widened. "But standings can change. Challenges can be filed. A formal assessment of bond-strength, conducted by the hierarchy panel – well. These things have a way of going badly for mid-ranked alphas who overreach."

He was threatening him. Threatening us. Explaining, in polished words and smooth tones, exactly how he meant to take me away.

My hands curled into fists at my sides.

"You should leave," Keth said. His voice hadn't risen, hadn't changed in pitch or volume. But there was something underneath it now, a vibration I felt in my chest, low and rumbling, like distant thunder.

Vorreth heard it too. His smile flickered.

"I'm simply offering you options, Keth. A private arrangement might be more... comfortable for everyone involved. I have resources. Connections. A female like this would benefit from proper support, proper housing, proper– "

"She has everything she needs."

"Does she?" Vorreth's eyes swept the dwelling – the modified furniture, the nest in the corner, the humble scale of everything around us. "This is hardly suitable for a producing omega. My household would offer– "

"Your household would offer nothing she wants." Keth stepped forward, and Vorreth stepped back, involuntarily, I thought, a response to whatever he read in Keth's posture. "She is claimed. She is mine. And if you file a challenge, I will answer it. You understand what that means."

Nobody moved.

Then Vorreth laughed, a smooth, polished sound that made my skin crawl.

"Such devotion. How touching." He adjusted something at his belt, a casual gesture that felt anything but. "I'll leave you to your domestic arrangements, hunter. For now. But do consider my offer. A private transfer would be so much simpler than the formal process. Less... stressful for the female."

He turned and walked out without waiting for a response. The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.

Keth didn't move.