Page 1 of Bound By the Vori

One

Rykaal held himself stiffly high on his black coils as the Great Matriarch studied him from her throne. Although she had added many of her guards to her harem, Rykaal had never been summoned for that purpose. As much as he longed for the touch of a mate, he never regretted the fact that the Matriarch had overlooked him. At last count she had ten males in her harem. No sane male would wish to be just another added to that crowd. For all that she seemed to dote on her males, he wondered at times if she truly knew anything about most of them as she only truly kept company with a few select favorites outside of satisfying her desires.

He glanced over at the large, dark male stationed at one side of her throne. Esheb was her primary mate and never left her side. At her other side was her second mate, Inkol, a male possessing pale blue markings over sapphire scales. Both males regarded him with hard looks, and Rykaal’s stomach dropped with worry. Was he to be chosen now, after all this time?

He wanted to deny it and demand that she choose another. Unfortunately, that would not be tolerated either. All he could do was stand there resolutely and await her decision. All the same, the scales on his hide tightened with dread as she chuckled.

“Why do you look so worried, Rykaal?” she purred, her red eyes narrowing thoughtfully upon him. “Are you not pleased with your station here in the palace?”

“I am, Matriarch,” he replied dutifully, which was partially true.

Evading the Matriarch’s desires aside, he enjoyed the active life of being a guard. He liked that his duties were during the valkut hours, from sunrise until midday. It made him glad that he had hatched and grown to be considerably large and that he lacked the nerves that made him responsive to a female’s mating vocalizations, since those were the sole requirements for selection.

“Good,” she murmured, settling back into her throne comfortably. “It pleases me when I am able to see my guards so fulfilled. Which brings me to the subject of why you are here.” He eyed her warily, and she offered him an enticing smile. “Do not look so worried, ah…” She looked over at Esheb, and the hard line of his mouth twitched with amusement.

“Rykaal,” he supplied quietly, but not so silently that Rykaal didn’t hear and understood that the Matriarch did not remember his name.

Not that he was surprised.

“Ah, yes. Rykaal,” she murmured thoughtfully. “Of course. You are a loyal servant, Rykaal, and it gives me pleasure to reward that. I have become aware of the fact that you are within the first fifteenth among my guards. And at such a young age too,” she adds with a careful glance toward her primary mate to which the male replies with an affirming nod that made Rykaal suspect that Esheb had more to do with whatever selection she was speaking of than the Matriarch herself. This was natural, however, given that she was a busy female. “This is most impressive.”

“I thank you, Matriarch,” he replied with a low bow.

Her chuckle of amusement sent a shiver of worry up his spine. “Do you not wish to know why are you thanking me?”

“My apologies, Matriarch. Of course. It is just a great privilege to accept any gift from you.”

“Yes, I know. You are properly loyal in every way that matters, which is why I am releasing you for your oath.”

Rykaal’s eyes shot to her face in alarm. He was being released from his duties? What would he do? His maternal nest was not a prosperous one that could provide for him.

The Matriarch made a small sound of exasperation in the back of her throat. “I said oath, not duties. It has occurred to me that with Dr. Vadal’s cure that it is time for me to relax my hold on my guards. You have proven yourself beyond a doubt, and there is no risk of you being waylaid by an amorous female or being distracted from your service to me. It even occurred to me that I may have needed the cure myself,” she admitted stiffly. “Taking it has helped.”

She looked to Esheb for support, and the male nodded and moved to her side, the massive coil of his tail curling around hers. She leaned into him, and for the first time Rykaal glimpsed the Matriarch’s vulnerability.

“It is not an easy thing to admit that I have been selfish,” she continued, her gaze fastening on him in resignment. “I have claimed all of my guards for myself as if they were my harem.” She chuckled grimly. “A good portion of my guards are my harem. But it seemed natural—a matter of tradition. With the cure, I see it differently, and I feel shame and regret that this tradition has continued as long as it has. A tradition that never should have begun, since you are selected for your size and invulnerability to the natural response of males who would transfer their loyalty to any scheming female who may wish to usurp me.”

Rykaal did not know what to say. Should he agree? It did not seem wise to agree when she was castigating herself in such a way.

“With this considered, I have made my decision. You will retain your oath of fealty to me and all oaths of service but one. The oath of solitude is hereby severed for you. You are but one among a small handful of males within the first fifteenth who are being granted this. You are authorized to mate, but my only requirement is that you do not mate a female of Vora. Even with the cure, I will not tolerate another female Vori’s nest that close mine.”

“Then who …”

“I am providing you all-expenses-paid access to a female supplied to you by the Mate Index. Your mate shall be human,” she elaborated as if he had not heard of Mate Index Distribution Program and all the human females that had arrived on Vora to mate with lonely males.

His tail trembled in anticipation. A human of his own? He could have a mate—a family!

“I do have one request,” she added, and he could not quite suppress his frown of dismay. Rather than look annoyed, the Matriarch gave him a sympathetic smile. “I do ask that my guards choose at least one other to nest with them. Your duties will still occupy your days, during which you will not enjoy your mate being alone and vulnerable in a nest among so many others in the capital. You may not feel that worry now, but it is one that Esheb insists will come once you have her without a territory in which to hide her.” Her lips curled with amusement. “And since I cannot risk having my loyal guards running away from the capital with their newly won mates, I must insist that you select whatever male, or males, you require to keep your nest.”

That… was reasonable. He would not wish to have many. But one… one would be sufficient. He even had an idea of exactly which male he would trust the care of his mate with, but there was one small problem.

“What if the male select is on the valkut hours as well? I do not know many males outside those with whom I am stationed,” he admitted despite how pitiful it sounded.

While many males enjoyed all manner of entertainment while not on duty, Rykaal preferred to use his resting hours to read. Everything from human fiction to stories that took him to far off worlds. He recently discovered romance books, however, and was enthralled with tales of males winning the love of their mates, enthusiastic displays of intimacy that made his cocks rear up in his salet. He had long wondered if human females really did the things that they did in those books. That he was now being afforded the opportunity to find out sent a shiver of excitement through him.

The Matriarch blinked at him in surprise. She glanced over at Esheb again, this time for obvious reasons since the male was also the head of her guard.

“We would be able to adjust the schedule, correct?”