Page 6 of Decadence

“What would happen on Kythia?”

“The female would choose.”

“Then apply the same principle here… either that, or you will fight one another to the death, because we all know sharing would be unacceptable.” Ikriss smiled savagely, even though he was half-joking.

This time, there was a darker note to the soldiers’ laughter.

In truth, if such a situation occurred, Ikriss didn’t know how they would deal with it.

Goddess forbid it would ever happen.

“And what happens if, say, a lad gets hit by the Mating Fever but the female doesn’t want a bar of him?” Lukin’s thick white brows drew together, creasing the old scar that ran from his forehead down to the bridge of his nose.

“I do not know,” Ikriss shrugged. “We haven’t come across that situation before.”

“Do we take her by force, then?”

“No force. The General forbids it. That is counter to what we fought for when we dissolved the Empire, and there are very good reasons for it.” Ikriss frowned. The soldier had a point. Once the infamous Mating Fever hit, it could be suppressed for some time with medicines, but the ultimate—and only—cure was to claim one’s mate. An uninterested female would present a real problem. “If such a situation arises; if you even suspect that you have the beginnings of the Fever, you are to inform me immediately. I do not want any incidents. Not here, and not on Earth. Mating Fever has been known to turn males insane if left to run its course. In some cases, it has even been fatal.”

“Well, we don’t want that,” Lukin said sagely.

“No, we do not,” Ikriss snapped as the injured human female—his charge—entered his thoughts yet again. He couldn’t forget the way she’d felt as he held her in his arms. Soft, light, and delicate. Like nothing he’d ever touched before.

She truly was from another world.

And the thought of someone harming her; the fact that someone had harmed her...

He could go all kinds of mad over it if he allowed himself that luxury.

But he couldn’t afford that.

So he put his thoughts and feelings on ice.

She will be fine. You’ve done your duty. Forget about her for now.

He had a damn holo-meeting to attend. This one would be with representatives from the infernal human authorities, who were expecting their Citizens to be returned to them as soon as possible.

Ikriss had some bad news for them.

These human females were theirs until Ikriss and his one-and-only superior—Tarak—decided otherwise.

They were to be healed and fed and taken care of, and they would only be returned to Earth when and if he deemed it was safe.

As he exited the chamber, he barely noticed Kail, who was leaning against the wall, watching him with a cryptic expression on his scarred face—until the big warrior spoke. “Mating Fever,” Kail said slowly, lowering his voice so that only Ikriss could hear. “You’ll want to watch that.”

Ikriss cursed softly in Aikun, shooting the warrior a dark glare. “I don’t know what you’re on about.”

The enigmatic warrior gave him a cool stare. “Strange things happen whenever our kind come into close contact with unmated human females. It is an unexplained pattern of behavior. What was once perfectly controlled suddenly becomes unpredictable. It can happen quickly, without warning. Even you are not immune, Commander.”

“Tch.” Ikriss made a soft sound of irritation. He couldn’t say a thing, because the twin echoes of arousal and fury were swirling through his body. He put it down to simple instinct. If any Aikun warrior worth his blades encountered a vulnerable, defenseless female, he would feel the same way.

“What are you going to do with the buyer once we have him?” The big hunter’s gaze turned predatory.

“That will be for the boss to decide,” Ikriss growled as the whisper of anger in him threatened to ignite. “But I will ask for the right to take revenge on behalf of the one I rescued.”

“That is not your usual style, Commander.”

Ikriss knew what Kail was trying to say. He’d once held the second-highest rank in the Kordolian military. He’d been a commander of hundreds of thousands of men and almost as many warships. Ikriss rarely took matters personally, although he wasn’t afraid of stepping out onto the battlefield himself. “But I’m not a Commander anymore,” he shrugged. “And I was the one that found her.” I held her in my arms. I felt her softness, her delicateness. I saw her injuries, saw her eyelids flutter, saw the light fade from her eyes…

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