Page 20 of Decadence

“I’m going in.” Without further hesitation, the Lodan took one, two, three graceful steps and dropped right into the hole in the ice, his lean, muscular form making barely a splash as he disappeared beneath the water’s dark surface.

Nythian shrugged. “Can’t let him get the first catch. He’ll get big-headed again.” He followed in Lodan’s footsteps, entering the water just as silently as his battle-partner. Nythian might be big, but he could be as stealthy as the death-lord himself.

The dark surface of the water rippled and then went perfectly still, like a mirror.

Now only Ikriss and Tarak were left standing at the water’s edge.

The General turned to his Commander. “I trust all is going smoothly with the return of the human females.”

“I made sure the Federation representatives understand our position. They will not interfere.” At first, the agents from the so-called Nonhuman Affairs had tried to impose their conditions, but Ikriss had quickly subdued them with a few diplomatically veiled threats. He was very good at that kind of thing. “Riana and Zyara have spent time reassuring them all that we are not going to forcibly mate them—or eat them.” He smiled grimly. Their reputation for cruelty was proving hard to shake off, probably because so much of it was true. “The first group of females—those we have deemed fit—are boarding a cruiser to return to Earth as I speak. The rest will be returned once they are physically and mentally able. It seems that humans vary greatly in their ability to withstand psychological stress.”

“They are a confounding species,” Tarak agreed. “Vulnerable and yet strong. Unpredictable. Do what you must to ease their fears. What will be most effective is if they continue to receive visits from our humans—with all the necessary security arrangements in place, of course. As we discussed earlier, I want you to create an unseen ring of protection around each and every one of them. For whatever reason, these specific females were deliberately targeted. There is a chance they will be targeted again, and when that happens, we will be ready. Treat every prisoner we take as a potential lead. The ones that are behind this think they can hide from us by leaving their dirty work to others, but sooner or later, we will find them. Be patient, ‘Kriss. Sooner or later, you will be able to take your revenge.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ikriss growled as an image of Sienna flickered through his mind, sending a fresh wave of agony through his temples and a lance of desire right down through the pit of his belly and into his cock.

He had already decided there was no point in being present to see her off from Silence.

She was afraid of him, and she’d shown no interest in him whatsoever.

He didn’t want to see her again until he had these cursed symptoms under control.

“Ah, but you have a problem, ‘Kriss,” the General said softly, his crimson eyes piercing right through him.

“Is it so obvious?”

“For those of us who have been there, yes.”

“Then what the fuck am I supposed to do? She has expressed a desire to be away from anything that is alien to her. She is afraid of us. She does not even want to see our guards around her shop, although she has no choice in that matter.”

“You follow your instincts, Commander,” said the General. “You have no choice now.”

“And what if she remains unwilling?”

“You find a way make it work.”

“Take her by force?” Ikriss’s lip curled in disgust. “Are we still doing that kind of thing?”

“No,” Tarak snapped, his brows creasing into a frown. “You misunderstand. She must be willing, or else it would be pointless. There are a thousand and one ways to seduce a female, Ikriss. You are a brilliant commander. Now you are presented with a challenge of a different kind. Find a way.”

The irrational part of Ikriss seethed at being taken to task by the General over this. An involuntary growl escaped him. His claws threatened to flick out. He wanted to fight someone, and that bothered him, because he was usually able to keep a tight leash on his emotions. “Let me engage in a thought experiment for a moment, even if I do not believe in it,” he hissed. “For reasons none of us understand, our Kordolian women are no longer producing female offspring. We are a dying species. But now we have found a planet with billions of reproductively viable females that just happen to be genetically compatible with us. It is the solution to all our problems, and yet we take our time. We give them the freedom to choose instead of taking them by force. The tactician in me needs to know if the benefits outweigh the risks of your strategy, General.”

“And yet the Aikun side of you understands the reason behind my decision.”

“I understand that it is dishonorable to claim a female against her will, and personally, I would not do such a thing.”

“Even if the Mating Fever is driving you to madness?”

“Even if. But when it comes to matters as serious as the survival of our entire race, I cannot help but think like a former Imperial Commander.”

Tarak folded his arms and nodded in understanding, his gaze growing distant as he stared out across the ice. “It is a curious paradox that we, who are so used to taking whatever we want, are now beholden to these fragile creatures. Let me tell you this, my friend. You are correct. The logical option would be for us to breed in great numbers, and at all costs. I have thought about all eventualities, even the possibility of our males claiming humans against their will. That would be a very imperial response. But when one looks at sheer numbers alone; when one thinks like a commander, the most important details are lost. See, children, whether human or Kordolian, must be raised.” Now the General was looking directly at Ikriss, his crimson eyes holding truths that could only have come from darkness. “People like you and I were reared in the cold, Ikriss. We were forged in cruelty and tempered in violence. On our own, we do not have what it takes to nurture our offspring. Yes, we could easily take our mates against their will, but to what end? We could restrain them and force them to receive our seed and bear our offspring, but then our females would come into motherhood broken, cradling resentment in their hearts, and they would whisper malevolent dreams into our children’s ears and hearts and minds, and the next generation of our people would end up damaged and weak and destructive, and the whole infernal cycle would repeat itself over and over again. That is why the Empire fell, and I will not allow it to happen again.”

Ikriss held his breath. It was rare for Tarak to reveal this much of himself. His thoughts echoed much of what Ikriss felt, but as always, the General’s reasoning went just a little bit deeper.

That is why Ikriss had sworn loyalty to this man all those revolutions ago. Even then, he’d known that he would be loyal to Tarak al Akkadian above his Emperor and Empress.

As the truth seeped into every fiber of his being, Ikriss felt the storm of his Mating Fever abate just a little.

“The Claiming has changed you,” he said softly.

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