Page 17 of The Omega's Unexpected Bounty
The tall guy with a goatee in the back now had a name and a thin smile. If I was in New Texas, I know which one I would’ve stabbed first. Even if I did nothing overt, one eye would always be on him. He said nothing, but I recognized that look. He was the type who let others do the fighting or stepped out of the shadows once the advantage was his. Can’t say I didn’t fault him since I kept my claws hidden.
The older guy – King Delius spoke to the orbs. “Access the other two.” I raised my eyebrow. Most people overlooked Tiny, and I would have preferred that Nate kept him inside. He looked like a child’s toy, but he was anything but. Electronic voices listed all my crimes, and I smiled at those I forgot.
“Sub-visual scan,” he said.
A holographic image appeared of me and my outer flesh turn translucent. Inside was the standard Volardi implant for language translation, nanites for healing, and my claws.
“By the Sacred Scrolls,” said Delius. “What have you done? You brought someone who’s sexually attacked a Volardi mate. His son is armed, and there’s a weaponized simulacrum. This will aggravate our relationship with Matros’ kingdom.” To the side, I saw Nate’s jaw tighten.
“The Separatist movement,” said Graden, “alreadyaggravated our standing. Since I now have a mate, we won’t leave. He will not likethis Natebeing here, but it’s preferable to us leaving the empire.”
“How about you all stop talking as if I’m not here?” Nate’s lips pressed together before he continued. “I don’t deny what I did, but it was twenty years ago or however long it would be on this planet. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t regret it. You two made, uhdecidedto bond. That means I’m free.”
He was smart, but I can’t say I approved of him usingmyagreement to make sure he’d be safe.
“This is unwise,” said Balo. “It brings dishonor to our kingdom.”
“How?” asked Graden. “We are traitors to the empire if we leave.”
“Survivalists,” said Balo. “We have no desire to hurt other Volardi.” His gaze lingered on me. “Or those made in our near image.”
I didn’t appreciate his leering look. For all their talk of honor, I’ve seen plenty of Volardi get around it. That hard stare was from two possibilities. Either he imagined himself with me inthat way.Made sense – what else would a Soturi do? Or he saw me as a fellow warrior. A compliment of sorts, but that would make things harder if we fought.
“First Father,” said Graden, “I need a mate and found one.” His brother said nothing, but that narrow-eyed look was all I needed to see.
As for his father, his eyes were closed. Either in thought or to think of more excuses. “Normally I would say this brings dishonor, I am merely surprised,” said Delius. “After all our combined efforts to find a mate for you, I found none. Yet, you found one on your own.” His shoulders slumped. “I’m sorry my son. This is a good thing.” He held his smile long before he spoke again. I foresaw a future where you had nobody, and this willnothappen. You have an Omega when others do not. This can only be a blessing from the universe.”
Delius was slightly taller than me and shorter than the rest. Still, he stood as if he was the biggest man in the kingdom and I presumed in his mind he was. “You will be here for a long time, but you aren’t like a normal Femeni or Omega. In previous generations, that would make you undesirable, but in Augo, you are wanted. We shall speak later. For now, I’ll go as to not interfere with your mating. Even kings have their limits.” With that, he turned around, and several of the silver orbs followed him as if a school of fish.
Balo nodded slightly to his father and then slowly strolled over to his brother. If it weren’t for the same eyes, I wouldalmostbelieve they weren’t kin. Graden had a high and mighty attitude, but Balo reminded me of the snakes back home. The kind you didn’t notice until the poisoned fangs went through your boot. He’s not someone I wanted around, but Augo ain’t my planet. For one of their years – now mine, I was stuck here.
Balo leaned in and whispered in his brother’s ear while I looked away. When I met Nate’s gaze, I turned away again and concentrated on what was behind me. Most folks figure if you’re away and you’re not looking at them, you can’t hear or they don’t think about you. Whether that was true in this case or he didn’t care, I couldn’t say. I still listened to the soft, smooth words all the same. “My brother, we are blood and the same.” I wish I could’ve seen Graden’s face, but I imagine he didn’t look pleased. “I’mveryimpressed you did this. It’s not hard to deduce. Instead of going through the official channels or even petitioning the Emperor, you went outside. How unconventional and non-traditional. You saw something you desired and took it like the warriors of old. My weak brother has a spine.”
“If you ever want to doubt my prowess, meet me in my dojo.”
“Oh you have the power, but you don’t use it. You give the ‘Hand’ too much and to those who don’t deserve it.”
“And you the ‘Boot’ to the undeserving.”
“Both have their uses,” whispered Balo. “Let’s see which is best for our kingdom. I will tell you this. You used trickery to ensure you will be King. There are ways to remove you if your beloved mate doesn’t produce a child. If that happens, we leave as intended.”
***
Chapter Eleven
CAAN
“I guess nobody wants me,” said Nate while Graden and I listened. “A few days ago, I had more,” his finger went up into quotation marks, “companythan I wanted. Now even most Volardi can’t stand to be near me. My son doesn’t want me either.”
To the right, stood a tall, pale female Ryba. She was taller than anybody around us. Her skin was grey but didn’t look sickly. White, wavy bones protruded from her shoulders as if they were coral. Then, blue streaks pointed to the center of her face away from the flowing ‘hair,’ although it looked more like colorful seaweed. My New Texas father used to share stories about ‘elves,’ and I think it’s what she reminded me of. Gills on her chest above her bare breasts and to her side opened and closed regularly. Every time they did, I saw slices of red against her pale skin. Deep black-blue eyes stared back at me and waited for me to do something – anything.
The king was kind enough to give me a local information dump into my implant. They were female Ryba and the only other race on this planet besides me. I’m Human no matter what the Volardi claim. In some species, the female’s the most dangerous, and it was true here. Ryba males were shorter more squat, greener, and not as capable. I guess goblin-like described them if I wanted to use descriptions from my childhood books.
If needed, they could fight well enough, especially with a mouth full of teeth, but the women were the experts against their amateur male fighters. They were stronger than me, but we both shared claws to a certain extent. Female Ryba was more like long fingernails but delivered neurotoxin when needed. They usually came in pairs of two and shared a single name, and I suspected it was the case with ‘Kala.’ If so, the other Kala was off in the distance making sure no trouble happened.
“Caan?”
I blinked out of my wonder. “Sorry.” Heat flashed over my face as he described his loneliness. If he was by himself, that was because of his choices. I delivered the man from his ‘service’ in the mining company, and he wasn’t attacked anymore. If my standoffishness was hurting him mentally, then he needed to deal with it. “I found you because I wanted to know where I came from and I got the answer. You attacked Peter, so you could...” There was a word, but I didn’t feel like saying it.
