Page 3 of Thief

“I see you’ve had dinner.” From the sack strapped on his side, I pull out a thick fur and cover his sharp scales, then lay the female belly-down over his back. I mount him, and we’re off, nice and slow, as if we have no care in the world. Once more, and from afar, I pause and survey the merchant’s house—the largest home in the town. The Horde swarms it, the uniform way they emit their rattle sounds raising Horley’s shackles. I pet him. “Easy, boy.”

Having king’s males such a short distance from my illegal operations is gonna be a problem. Best course of action is to lie low until they take care of their business and leave. The Horde never lingers in one place. They come, they conquer, and they leave. I’m counting on that.

I chuckle, the alien female with the sweetest scent safely stashed on my hound.

2

Kate

I awake with a jolt, cold sweat dripping from my brow. I wipe my face with a soft blanket, then bring the blanket to my chest. I pull up my knees, lean my back on the wall. When I look around, I find the same sage green cobblestone-like walls. I wish they were white hospital walls, and that someone was telling me I awoke from a coma and a distant relative left me with a million-dollar inheritance.

The bed, as big as two king-sized ones, with a cold, black, metal frame and warm beige sheets adorned with narrow lilac stripes, dominates the room. I want to curl up there, but I stick to the floor instead. One thing my previous owner allowed me to do was to nest in my room, meaning he brought me furs and blankets, so I could make a blanket fort in the corner and sleep there. If I misbehaved—which was often—he’d take it all away, and I’d sleep on the cold floors.

Voices drift inside the room, and I scoot over to my left, to see past the bed. The Regha Alpha male who took me from my captor (and now is my new captor) sits on what appears to be a lounge chair, outside, on his…balcony. He’s talking to a woman. A female—there are no women on Regha. They’re Alphas, Betas, or Omegas, and since I’ve only ever met a Beta female, I presume she’s a Beta too. A wrinkled hand holds the pipe she smokes and tells me this female is older. This comforts me, but in a way that annoys me. It bothers me this male sits with a female, but it’s okay because she’s older. Yes, my feelings are utterly inappropriate and irritating.

The stacked blankets next to me look soft and furry. Though it’s hotter than noon on the Fourth of July, and there’s no air conditioning on Regha, I grab another blanket, snuggle with it, and lie back down on the floor, to stare past the pair and into the pitch-black glass-like enclosure covering their balcony. Why would anyone block their view of the town? They’ve got something to hide.

A soft breeze brushes against my face. It carries tobacco smoke and a scent I don’t recognize, but the moment I inhale it, my nipples perk, my pussy clenches, and I feel liquid heat spill out of my channel and trickle down my leg.

Mortified, I cover my head with a blanket. He’s probably brought me to a brothel, and this is Madam Beta, who’s gonna be kind to me while I whore my way through the pack of Alphas to make her money.My body is ready, as they say, my damned pussy just about gaping for this male. It’s all so wrong, and I just want to melt away. But before I melt, I’d like to go to the bathroom. Because humans waste. Trying to contain my bladder proves futile, and reluctantly, I get up and look around, hoping against hope I’ll find a bathroom. Of course, like at my previous captor’s house, I don’t see doors, and even when I know that the green-stone walls part like magic passages, I don’t know how to make them part. It’s like the doors work with fingerprint recognition.

A rattle sounds, and I roll my eyes. I know what that means. The male is purring for me, thinking it’s gonna make me feel better. Alphas of Regha do that for females, especially for Omegas. I’m no Omega, so to hell with his purr. “I need to pee,” I say, knowing even if I whisper, this guy can hear me from miles away.

The woman stands first, and I stare. A Regha female but she doesn’t look like a Beta. She’s an inch or two shorter than my five three, not too thin, with flaring hips and large breasts. But it’s her face that’s caught me, and I can’t look away. A hazel rim surrounds her black, slanted, almond eyes. She’s sort of humanoid in the face, but with a flatter nose, plush lips, and sharp cheekbones. Around her large eyes, her skin is hazel, but further out, the color flares out to deeper yellow, then light green, then dark green, like the rest of her body. It makes me think of butterfly wings, imprinted on her face. It’s stunning, and in a way, beautiful. Her ears are not flaps either; they’re small but pointy, and they twitch as she wrinkles her aged face.

“Welcome, human female named Ka-te. My son has chosen well.”

Oh! His mom. “Well, ma’am, he didn’t choose. He choked me, and then I woke up here. Where is the bathroom?”

The woman stands there, blinks.

“Humans are a wasting species.”

“Ah! Yes, of course.” She leaves the balcony area, and sweeps her hand toward the room. “Anywhere will do. The staff will clean.”

While I have urinated in corners, buckets, and just about anywhere, my humiliation days are over. I’m over them. I’m done with it all. If I’m to live a life such as this, I’ll rebel against it. Even if it gets me nowhere with the stubborn Alpha, I’ll have stood up for myself. “I need a private place of my own.”

“You cannot think you will waste in your nest, child. We keep the nest clean.”

She thinks I wanna pee in my bed? Um… I won’t do that, but I don’t correct her. I’m more worried about thewepart. “We?”

“Omegas. Don’t you have instincts?”

“No, because I’m not one of you.”

The woman giggles. The sound is musical and comforting, and I’m annoyed when she runs her gentle hand down my face. “Child, if my son smells the scent of an Omega, then that’s what you are. Alphas know best.”

“I’m gonna pee, and he’ll smell that all night.” I pick at the hem of the transparent white dress nobody has removed. Oh hey—there’s one good thought. This male kept my clothes on. Thank you for the positive thought, brain.

“So pee,” a baritone voice says. I didn’t even see him come in. It’s like I’m blind and deaf around this guy, and yet my body is so very aware of his presence. The male swipes the wall, and it parts. This is a door, on Regha.

I step forward, but he rattles out a warning. Wincing, I lower my my gaze. I want to beat myself over the head, for not having the balls to sprint out of here. What’s holding me back? Self-preservation likely, but I’m tired of that too.

A whoosh of fabric, and his mother leaves, as quiet as a mouse. The Alpha’s footsteps are also quiet as he approaches me, but I feel him everywhere in the room, and as he stands before me, I smell the scent that makes my body heat up. A claw touches my chin, and I follow the unspoken order to look up.

“I will treat you well, my Omega.”

“Omegas are the king’s property,” I blurt out.

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