Page 5 of Bred By Sor'en

Once we’re in a back room behind the hall, the male Oozarian speaks, but only to my mate, everyone ignoring her questionabout the validity of my claim. The female Oozarian has confirmed it already; there is no doubt. She is by law required to hand her over, and with every passing, dragging domtic, I grow more impatient. Some distant part of me is glad, comforted by the care they are showing her. That distant part is faltering. Do they realize it? Can they feel how close they are to death? Perhaps I should do worse; perhaps they deserve no less for keeping her from me. My heart jolts in my chest at the thought. It would bring me… joy, I realize, to kill them. To make them experience something far more horrific than death before I release them to the veil.

A monster indeed.

Suddenly, their hushed conversation finds me, making me curse myself inwardly. Then curse the benevolent gods for our species' underdeveloped hearing. Everyone too worried about their damn balance and keeping in the goddess's eye to use aids.

“He will not harm you, but there’s nothing we can do. Being a mate is sacred, I’m sure you understand—”

“No, no, I don’t fucking understand!” she hisses under her breath. “I… look, I just needed the dowry so I can get off Vortara!”

“Human, you must calm yourself. We cannot risk upsetting him,” the male adds smartly. “He has bonded to you. If he goes without you now—”

“So he says! Maybe he just wants a free breeder! You cannot seriously be about to just hand me over with no proof!”

The Oozarians share a loaded look.

Their shimmers dim, darkening ominously.

I slip my other glove off as the muscles in her small body tense. I’m going to do it. They’re stalling, whispering to her. What if they try to take her? Hide her? Darkness ripples, blotting out anything other than a pair of green eyes as they turn to me. Immediately, I stand taller, Iyieldto her attention, my heartmoving to liquify in my chest cavity before everything within me halts.

Their shimmers lighten again. Spared by my delicate, scared mate.

I see it in her eyes the moment she decides to run from me; the effect is nothing less than shattering. My own mate, scared enough ofmetorun,while she’s injured, and I can do nothing to help. The moment she bolts, both of the beings next to me make no move to stop her, likely hoping just as much as her that she’ll get away. Their bodies tense as I lift both of my hands, settling them a mere fraction away from their slimy flesh. My fingers twitch as they bud anew with toxin. “Nobody notifies the Port Authority. I was never here, and neither was she. You will wipe her file, data, everything. She never existed. You will do it now. If someone asks, you will saynothing. If the Alliance asks, questions anything, pray to your gods that they kill you before I do.”

They don’t nod, too afraid to move until I remove my hands, tucking them back under my cloak. I’m barely aware of the way he grabs her, tucking her in close to him so much so that their bodies meld. True soul-chosen mates, no doubt. I wonder if he can sense that her shimmer is darker than his, that he will, at some point, endure her death. I shudder at the thought, finding an ounce of pity for the male. With my heart wild in my chest, malevolence unlike I have ever felt dripping from the threads of my soul, I slip down the dark corridor hunting my female. The other half of my segmented soul.

three

Hue

I slip on a slick patch of floor as I veer around a corner, my knee jarring painfully against the metal. My shoes offer little to no help in the form of traction, thanks to their long years of abuse before I surge back to my feet. My pulse is whooshing in my ears like drums as I choose the halls and turns without rhyme or reason aside from I didn’t fucking sign up for this. Desperation fueling each twist, turn, and pumping of my burning legs. I can’t go with him, not like this. Memories of soft fur and even softer words brush against my mind.

A Xyrelith.Deathomen, one of the most dangerous species known to the wider galaxy.

He said I’m his mate.

I’m not, though.

I’m not anyone’s mate.

I’m nobody.

Human 74-B.

Hue.

“Female, please. I would never harm you.”

His voice shakes me as it sounds close, way too close, making my pulse jump. My eyes catch on a tech closet, the opening just wide enough for a small maintenance bot to slip through.

Or a small human.

I hit the opening with such force that my shoulder lets out an agonizing pang as it’s jerked at an odd angle, scraping more of my already abused flesh. The blood from my arm smears across the pipes and wires, but I don’t stop, wiggling, panicking as I try to force myself deeper into the compartment.

I try to kneel, squeezing myself through a particularly small section when I get caught. A pained whimper escapes my throat as I force myself in just a fraction more as the door to the compartment wrenches open, a pair of opaque white eyes finding me. My breasts scream in protest as I empty my lungs, trying to make them fit, my chest a vice around my pounding heart.

I don’t move more than a hair when the sound of his growl fills the small space, making a shudder break out across my spine.

I still, my own hyperventilation restricted in the tight space. Where they often brought comfort and sanctuary before, there’s none to be found now. I’m a sitting duck, trapped and defenseless. So far from Lunareth.