Page 23 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"Why is that?" Toven asked. "Aren't you treated well?"

"I'm tired of being treated as an inferior," the guard admitted. "I'm young, so if there was a way for me to climb the ranks, I would have hope of improving my standing in the community. But I know that I will never rise above the station I hold now."

Dima nodded. "We are not even allowed near the hybrid females. Only the purebloods get to breed with them."

"Dima!" Anton hissed. "You're such an idiot."

It seemed that Anton was under the impression that their captors didn't know who they were, which was ridiculous, given the titanium chains. They wouldn't have been needed to bind humans.

"It's okay, Anton," Toven said. "We know all about the Kra-ell, the purebloods, and the hybrids, and the discrimination the hybrids are subjected to."

"Did Sofia talk?" the guy asked.

"I'm the one asking the questions, remember?"

Anton nodded. "So you know who we are."

"You are half Kra-ell and half human."

Anton's eyes changed shade, a purplish sheen appearing over his nearly black irises. "Are you going to experiment on us?"

Toven shook his head. "No harm will befall you at our hands. No one is going to experiment on you or even examine you. We just want more information to confirm what we already know and expand on it. Once we are done here, we will put you back in your car with no memory of what happened here."

"He's making them less apprehensive," Turner said. "Compulsion works better when people are not terrified."

The chief nodded. "I don't know about compulsion since I don't use it, but it's always easier to deal with people when they are not in a state of panic."

Toven continued, "I understand that you're unhappy about not having access to the females of your kind. Is that the main reason for your displeasure? Or is there more to it?"

Anton nodded. "Our children, if we have any, will be born human, and we will outlive them. The human part of me has a hard time with that."

Vrog and Emmett had voiced the same dissatisfaction with Jade, so it wasn't a big surprise to hear these males echo them. The question was whether there was dissent among the purebloods as well.

"Ask him if the pureblooded males are all loyal to Igor by choice," Kian told Marcel.

As Marcel repeated the question, Dima shrugged. "Maybe they are, and maybe they are not. They don't tell us."

"You seem like a smart guy," Toven said. "People don't express themselves just with words. They talk with their facial expressions and their bodies. Have you noticed any displeasure with Igor's rule?"

"No," Anton answered. "They worship him like a god. And why wouldn't they? He takes care of them. They are at the top of the hierarchy."

"What's your opinion, Dima?" Toven looked at the hybrid.

"Anton is right. They have no reason to resent Igor. All the pureblooded females want to breed with him. Even Jade, who hates Igor's guts. That's the Kra-ell way. They embody the survival of the fittest philosophy."

The females didn't choose the pureblooded males because they wanted to produce the best offspring. They had been compelled to comply with the pureblooded males' demands.

Kian looked at Turner. "Since he's wrong about the females, he might be wrong about the males as well."

"He's not necessarily wrong." Turner leaned back in his chair. "The other females might hate Igor just as much as Jade does, but their tradition and maybe even their instinct is to breed with the most powerful male. That doesn't mean that they are loyal to him. The moment he loses his power, they might tear him apart with their bare fangs."

The glow in Turner's eyes as he spoke was disturbing.

Kian shook his head. "Sometimes I worry about you. You have strange fantasies."

Turner shrugged. "I'm just stating the facts as they are without running them through a sensitivity filter. We both know that the Kra-ell are vicious."

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