Chapter 2

My eyes are wide, taking in everything I can as I follow my band of brothers through the pleasure station Lux. I've heard nothing but their excited chatter ever since realizing our latest bounty would take us past it, with enough time to spare a rotation or two to enjoy it.

"Madame Althea keeps the choicest pussy," Bran tells me, slinging one of his four arms around my neck while gesturing ahead of us with another. "She has females and males of all species. I even heard she has a pure-blooded human."

I nod along with him, although I'm not here to find a pleasure partner. I'm simply here alongside the males who have become my family. I was barely considered full grown when I made the decision to leave my home planet. Not because I was unhappy there, or because of any family strife—at least, not any more than the usual kind. There wasn't a war or disaster. I left because it was simply what I needed to do.

Raised to let the spirits guide me, I woke one morning after a particularly vivid dream and let them choose the direction.

In the dream, I was in a place I'd never been before, looking out across the vastness of outer space. All around me were shadowy figures I knew were my family, but not the family I was born to.A family I would discover and who radiated love and happiness beyond anything I'd ever known. I knew at that moment I would need to leave my home in order to find my destiny.

That was tens of revs ago, and today I'm a male in my prime.

"I doubt she's pure human," Crank snorts, coming up behind us. The half-Pazit, half-Beiste male is built like a brick, and when he slaps a big hand between Bran's shoulders, he nearly knocks the Dheanad off his feet. "She's probably just a Vam'il with a high enough genetic ratio to pass as human."

"That's not what I heard," Bran argues.

My mind wanders from the familiar bickering back to the station and all its gleaming glass and rounded metal. Vid screens flicker with tasteful advertising, designed to titillate and perk interest without coming across as vulgar.

The ground floor is filled with cafés and shops that line both sides of the concourse, much like any other space station. A glance up, however, reveals the dozens of floors that circle the spherical station, all the way to the soaring glass ceiling that projects a clear blue sky and wispy clouds instead of the inky darkness of deep space.

For a moment, I wonder what those floors hold. Living quarters and private rooms for entertaining is the likely answer. Just then, something colorful catches the corner of my eye, and I freeze in place.

Across the concourse, walking leisurely past the storefronts carrying bags filled with their purchases, is a pair of females. One is tall and pink, but it's the shorter brown-skinned one that has my attention. She's wearing a slim sheath-like dress splotched with various bright colors. A matching silk shawl is wound around her shoulders and through her arms. Straight black hair falls down her back in a silky curtain, the ends almost brushing the dip just above her round bottom.

My hands clench, suddenly aching to settle them around her wide hips. Goddess, I want to draw her ass back until it's pressed against the claspers that line the sides of my hips. I want to rock my hips against her soft backside and show her how hard I am for her. Gritting my teeth, I imagine dragging her thick hair over her shoulder and exposing the side of her neck so I can bite her.

My eyes grow heavy as I imagine that she'll smell like the sea, warm and salty. Her blood will be rich and metallic on my tongue when I mark her, warning all males that she has been claimed. That she is mine.

The pink female she's with says something, and I watch her head tilt back with a laugh. The tinkling sound makes its way across the concourse to me, and I can't think of ever hearing anything more pleasant.

Sliding my eyes closed, I savor the light sound of it. When it stops abruptly, my eyes pop back open, and I realize she's looking at me. She's still walking beside the other female, but her steps have slowed, and her head is turned toward me. For the briefest of moments, our eyes meet. Hers are dark, sparkling disks the color of jet set against white. Her lips, curled up at the corners, are full and painted a deep red. She cants her head to the side curiously, watching me as I watch her.

I wonder, does she feel the same pull I do?

"Nita? Are you coming?" The female she's with has a door held open for her, and I feel a physical loss when she pulls her gaze away from me.

Glancing around, I realize my brothers have moved on and left me behind, so I ghost into mist to catch up with where they've gathered around a kiosk further down the concourse. Bran is scrolling through a list of females, and the rest of the group is laughing and jeering at him as he makes his choice of entertainment for the night.

As usual, I stand back and simply watch them. I never partake at the pleasure stations we stop at. I much prefer females who approach me, not the other way around. Except this time… this time is different when I catch sight of a familiar image as Bran scrolls. An ache settles deep in my chest, a strange longing for the female I only glimpsed from afar.

When Bran makes his choice and steps away, I push through the crowd to take his place at the kiosk. There is a moment of shocked silence before my brothers all explode into cheers and jeers.

"Whoa, Shuvo!"

"Shuvo's gonna take a female?"

"Go Shuv!"

I ignore them as I type in the name I heard the other female call out.

Nita.

The same image I saw when Bran was scrolling comes up, and I take a moment to just look at her. She's beautiful, with smooth brown skin and large dark eyes that stare back at me. Next to her image is her price in bold red characters.

Someone whistles.

"Go figure, the first time Shuvo decides he wants a female, he picks the most expensive one on the whole station."

While my brothers all laugh, I wave my wrist above the scanner so the kiosk can subtract the credits from my account.

"Vittu! I can't believe you just did that!"

"Have you lost your kurving mind?"

Probably. I have enough saved to buy this female dozens of times before I would need to worry about running low on credits.

The kiosk spits out a slip of paper that shows which room and the time to arrive.

"Looks like you've got yourself a bit of a wait," Brand sighs as he grips me by both shoulders. "Let's go get a drink while we wait."

I nod as I quickly transfer the information to my wrist comm. After the rest of my brothers have chosen their females for the night, we all head deeper into the station to one of the many bars to wait.