Page 7 of Fever

I can tell this will be a waste of time, but I sit on the waiting bench and fill out my information on the holo anyway. It takes only a few minutes, and in that time, the restaurant grows silent. I hand the holo tablet back to the hostess and exit the place through the back, curious why the Hordesman told me to stay away from the beach. Loud chatter from the restaurant’s balcony stops me, and I look up. People are nearly climbing onto each other to see. There’s something out there. I brace for the worst. The hound must’ve followed me.

I march farther down and stop. Males that don’t look like the Regha aliens I’ve seen, but not human either, with star tattoos over one of their eyes, stand on the beach. Behind them and farther away, deeper, in the sea is a massive yacht.

“Ms. Jenkins.”

A big male steps out from behind a garbage can and blocks my exit. He looks like the ones on the beach, with a black tattoo over his right eye. A quick glance around tells me we’re pretty much alone, tucked under the patio’s awning and behind a garbage can.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he says.

“Yeah, okay.” Fear makes my heart race.

“Your Hordesman has something I want. I have something you want. At your earliest convenience, we will trade.”

“I don’t understand.”

The right side of his face twitches, and his shoulder rises and falls. He wipes drool from the corner of his mouth. It all happens so quickly that I’m unsure if I saw it or if my eyes are playing tricks on me. I step back.

He follows. “You will bed the Hordesman. When he goes into transition, you will take his gate control and leave. I will find you.”

“What?”

The male hands me a purple velvet bag and walks away.

“Hey.” I hurry after him. “Wait a minute. I don’t understand.” When he doesn’t turn, I round him. A bad move. He grips my throat and lifts me off the ground. His eye twitches multiple times, his shoulder lifts and lowers, drool flows freely from the corner of his mouth. It makes him seem menacing and insane. He’s both. He’s gonna kill me. I grab his fingers and try to pry them from my neck. “If I kill you now, I will find another Omega to bed the Hordesman and so on and so forth until my king has what he wants.”

“Okay,” I croak.

He sets me on my feet.

“What do you have that I want?” I ask.

“Your mother.” He begins to leave, then thinks better of it. “You will tell nobody about this. If you do, I will know, and I will toy with your mother right before I slice her throat.”

* * *

At home, I get in the shower and scrub my skin as if I can get rid of the bad omens that have been chasing me lately. Or perhaps not lately, but my entire life. Or maybe right when Latisha’s thalassemia major, a hereditary blood disorder, took a turn for the worse and caused her already weak heart to give out. She passed at fourteen. Daddy left us shortly after.

Once I feel like I’ve scrubbed and cried enough, I step out of the shower and dress in jeans and a black short-sleeve shirt. In the mirror, I’m not sure who I am anymore. This body is the shell of an old soul who’s lived a thousand lives in twenty-three years. There’s more to come.

I proceed to the kitchen, get a beer from the warm fridge, pop it open, and drink, eying the velvet baggie the alien handed me. Those aliens are called Swarm males, and the thought of a bee swarm just makes me more anxious. The Swarm once attacked the Stronghold and lost the battle. Rumor has it their king wants to overthrow the Regha prince who rules the Earth. I’m afraid to look inside the bag.

He has my mom. A sob escapes my lips, and I cover my mouth, trying not to fall apart like I did in the shower.

It could be jewelry.

It could be weed.

It could be anything.

Besides Mom’s finger.

Taking deep breaths, I try to settle my racing heart. I untangle the strings and turn out the baggy. Pills spill onto the counter, large and unmarked. I know what those things are. Betaren pills. What the hell does the Swarm male want me to do with this? Take them? Um, no, I don’t think so. While I may dislike my heat, I dislike messing with my natural functions even more. Immediately, I drop the pills in the garbage, then stare at them. Nope, that won’t do. I pick them out of the nasty garbage and flush them down the toilet. The Hordesmen arrest people for having the pills and put Omegas in compounds. I’m staying at home.

In the kitchen, I sit back down with my beer and wrap both hands around the bottle. The Swarm male wants me to fuck Sotay. That’s pretty clear. I didn’t understand what he meant by transition or what a gate control is. Regardless, he has my mom. Or claims to have her. I should check on those claims first. How can I do that? No how, that’s how.

An hour later, when I can’t get hold of my mom, I realize the only person who knows which hotel Mom went to is Fever, and that’s the one person I can’t ask anything. If I say something, Mom is dead. If I don’t say something…well, maybe she stands a chance.

Chapter 4

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