1. Rivvac

1

RIVVAC

If I didn’t mate soon, I was going to do something bad.

Really bad.

It seemed that with every passing Steyatt, the urges got stronger, bolder, seizing control of my whole mind and physical body.

There was no hiding place because mating was all you could think about.

Your cock grew stiff and hard and your senses heightened until you could smell a female from across the street.

Some Ulsen were known to lose their minds completely by the end of Steyatt week.

It was our time to mate and it happened once every year.

I had always managed to stave off the worst of the effects and mate with a female—sometimes multiple females, but multiple partners were never ideal.

It was always better to have a single mate during that period.

The only trouble was I had the position of the youngest prince of the Ulsen Empire and although I was unlikely to ever inherit the throne—save for some freak accident that wiped out the rest of my family (the Creator forbid!)—I was seen as a lifetime meal ticket.

I’d seen it happen more times than I cared to admit. A disinterested female would turn away from me and make excuses to leave, only to immediately turn back the moment she heard my name and title. Suddenly, they brought out their best smiles and their natural pheromones clotted my senses.

I couldn’t think straight.

Before I knew it, they were in my bed, satisfying my every sexual urge—and during Steyatt week, it could be a very… tumultuous period.

My friends’ mates had ended up in the hospital to be treated for injuries. They were never done on purpose but sometimes a male could get carried away.

Especially during Steyatt week.

Steyatt week was the single most important event for all doctors and nurses throughout the empire. They made a killing while we killed ourselves in the bedroom.

I’d had several near-misses in the past, as many of my mates wanted to take the relationship further, or worse yet, after they had satisfied me a handful of times, would begin insisting on some form of payment halfway through or demand I carry out a service for them in exchange for the luscious wetness between her legs.

Often, they wanted me to use the Royal military to off a former lover. Which was strictly off-limits and easy to refuse.

Mostly, I managed to rein in my urges and leave my bedchamber, but others… I had been less successful.

Sometimes the craving was too strong and I caved, promising them whatever they wished, and was left with a headache I struggled to resolve the moment I blew my load.

Other times, it was a challenge to prove how much I cared for my mate—asking me to fetch them a rare type of flower that grew only on the upper reaches of the Archiaian Mountains.

I always accepted this request as they were my mother’s favorite and all I had to do was pluck one from a bouquet she kept in her rooms!

The mate was always angered because she wanted a fresh one. It didn’t matter that there was a good chance the pursuit would claim my life!

That was why I always weighed the request carefully. Semantics mattered—especially when my life was on the line.

But that was the way it was for a Royal during Steyatt week. You had to play games to ensure you didn’t come out promising things you didn’t intend on delivering.

Other Ulsen males hadn’t been so fortunate, had been unable to control their innate urges, and ended up getting caught and locked away behind bars.

It wasn’t only the doctors and hospitals that were busy during that time.

So was the morgue…

And the police stations and prisons.

And the last thing I wanted was to wind up behind bars with a raging hard-on that wouldn’t quit… I’d heard the horror stories and didn’t intend on living it myself.

My senses were on overdrive as I caught the scent of one juicy female after another.

In the Royal palace ballroom, the females battered their eyelids at me, their gorgeous scent filling my every pore. Many hadn’t washed in a week to ensure their pheromones were powerful enough to be picked up from across the large ballroom where we circulated.

Some even ate specific diets to encourage the production of their scent. Others with deeper pockets bought special fragrances said to drive a male wild. Some were scams, others were real and damn near impossible to avoid.

And avoid was exactly what I intended on doing at the Royal Steyatt Ball. And things were going great…

Until I smelled her.

* * *

I had been movingthrough the crowd of guests in the ballroom, greeting them and making polite conversation, playing the part of the dutiful prince.

There were many beautiful females, all with overpowering scents and wanton expressions in their eyes.

I had managed to smile and ignore the growing lust in my loins…

Until I picked up on a scent I had not encountered before.

Thick and strong, with an alien earthy undertone like playing with dirt in the garden as a child… and the strong presence of unknown flowers underneath that promised seduction and pleasure in ways I could only dream of…

Suddenly panicked, I peered around at where the scent might be coming from, then thought better of it.

I didn’t want to know where it was coming from!

With my Steyatt suddenly peaking and all the sights and smells of the females surrounding me and their deliberate traps designed to ensnare my senses, I was doomed to drag at least one of them to my rooms and mate with them.

All because of that damn smell!

I needed to get out of there. Now!

“Excuse me,” I said, sidestepping around a very lovely female Ulsen with red-painted horns. “I have to, uh, do something.”

I stepped away and was immediately confronted by a pair of gorgeous Ulsen, their horns carved with intricate patterns in the modern style.

“Prince Rivvac,” an older voice from behind them said, shoving her daughters toward me. “Have you met my daughters? They just came of age and are very keen to meet you—”

“Ah. They’re beautiful,” I said through eyes that I rapidly tore away. “I have something important I need to do—”

I moved like that from one female to another, but they didn’t make it easy. One reached up and ran a hand over my cheek, smiling seductively at me.

You could never tell when Steyatt would strike most strongly.

I made it out of the room and breathed a sigh of relief that I had managed to escape.

I hustled down the hallway, where half a dozen other guests raised their arms and voices to greet me, but I kept my eyes down low and hustled past them.

Sure, they might think I was rude, but how rude would they think I would be if I were to suddenly grab their Steyatt partners and drag them into a bedroom and use them for my own purposes?

And as a prince of the realm, there was nothing they could do to stop me.

Oh, their own senses would be triggered and their innate warrior spirit would compel them to attack… But I was better trained than they could ever hope to be, and if I failed somehow, then the palace guards would be on him before he managed to land many blows… And then I would be free to misuse his mate to my heart’s content…

But I had no such inclination to do something so evil to him or his mate.

I turned a corner but found another female wandering listlessly, lost, through the hallway. She saw me and raised her voice:

“Excuse me. Do you know where the ladies’ room is?”

“No!” I snapped, covering my eyes with one hand while clutching my other over my nostrils to keep her natural scent out of my nose, brain, and senses.

I turned another corner and found the hallway empty.

At last!

Free of any females!

Then a gaggle of them appeared around a corner, their gossiping stopping along with their footsteps for half a heartbeat as they looked up and saw me there.

I didn’t look at them, but judging by the redness of their cheeks and the massive twirl of the hair on their heads, they could be only on thing.

Sirens.

The very last females you wanted to see during the opening salvo of Steyatt week.

They were known to educate and teach other female Ulsens in the ways of manipulation and their sex skills were legendary and a force of nature.

Once you were in their grasp, they could manipulate you to their heart’s content, playing you like some kind of living instrument. And for those seven days, it was said you would know pleasure unlike anything you had ever known…

But by the end of it, they would have drained you of everything you were, took up residence in your home, and sucked your wealth from you until you were penniless and lost all respect.

I knew how they worked because that was what had happened to my father.

My mother, the Empress, was a former Siren, and she had wrapped my father around her horns tighter than the tiara that always sat perched upon her head.

She had taken everything from him, everything but his title as that was given by the Creator and could not be removed.

Then the strangest thing happened.

She ended up falling in love with him!

They turned out to be fated mates, which were the most powerful bonding link in the known galaxy.

Once it was formed, it could never be removed, and you were linked with them for the rest of your lives.

It was a true blessing as you would never know sadness or loneliness as that part of you was always wrapped up in that part of them.

But it was extremely rare and not something most people even hoped for these days.

It was like being struck by lightning.

Still, it was definitely not a risk I was willing to take right at that moment when my senses were glowing and spiraling out of control.

I thought all this in that split second the gaggle of Sirens had become silent and looked up to see me for who I was.

I growled at myself that I hadn’t thought to put on a costume or wear a mask or… something!

“Prince Rivvac! Prince Rivvac!” they called, and like a pack of hungry wulvik, they broke formation and tore after me.

They sang songs that ricocheted off the bare marble walls and chased me, nipping at my heels as I raced through the palace’s infinite hallways, turning one way and then another, my speed hampered by the fact my hands were clenched over my ears to prevent myself from hearing their ancient and powerful spellbinding seductive song.

Thankfully, their scent—harvested from the amigdala of the rare frogghian reptile on Micus Moon—hadn’t yet wafted into my nostrils.

And if it did, I was a dead Ulsen.

All right, not exactly dead, but I would succumb to their advances and be unable to fight it.

I would be doomed.

I would become nothing more than a scalp as one—or more—of them drained me of everything I possessed.

Except they didn’t know the truth of what they would get and would be very disappointed if they did…

I had panicked and lost track of where I was running.

Was I heading back to the party?

If I was, I would be slowed down and the Sirens would snatch me for sure.

I turned again and slammed hard into a waist-high balcony, almost pitching over the side.

I rubbed at my hip where I had struck it, hissing through my teeth. I heard that rolling tune of the Siren’s song behind me, I immediately forgot about the pain.

I limped to one side and pressed my back to the wall.

But it wasn’t good enough.

They would find me for sure.

I turned and peered down at the balconies arranged along the western wall of the palace, the city of Ulsen-Jirra spread out before me.

Right now, in those small, squat buildings, the Ulsen would be making love to each other in virtually every room they could find.

Some would even discover their fated mates.

Others wouldn’t be quite so lucky, and if I didn’t hurry and do something soon, I might very well end up being among them.

The Siren song grew louder and I hastily tore small strips from my shirt, balled it up, and jammed it into my ears to block the worst of it.

Of course, there was no real worst of it as it was known to be among one of the most beautiful melodies in the known galaxy—it was what happened after succumbing to it that was the ugly part.

“Prince Rivvac?” a soft voice cooed from behind me. “We know you’re here somewhere. Come out and play. What’s the matter? Don’t you want to play with us?”

Yes. And that was the problem. I want it more than anything!

My Steyatt forced me to let go of the banister and turn me toward the opening so the Sirens could find me.

Here I am, ladies! Come and get me!

But I ground my teeth and hastily climbed over the balcony, taking a moment to do what they always told you not to do in the Ulsen military, and looked down.

I was five stories up.

The fall might not kill me, but I risked being incapacitated for life…

And if the Sirens found me before the medics, they would take me to their Sanctuary and treat my wounds themselves, burying their claws deep into me.

It was worth the risk if I could escape.

I hurled myself toward the next balcony and latched onto the railing.

A scream went up from behind the billowing curtains as a couple inside, making mad passionate love, turned to see me.

“Don’t mind me!” I yelled. “Just passing through!”

“Get out of here! She’s my mate!” the male bellowed, raging toward me.

It didn’t matter that I was a prince, not when it came to mating during Steyatt week.

I didn’t confront him—it was never wise to do so in the midst of mating—and ran and leaped onto the next balcony.

This room was empty and I recognized it as my own suite.

I eased the window open, bolted toward the door, and turned the key in the lock.

I pressed my forehead to it and muttered a prayer to the Creator, thanking him for giving me the strength to resist.

“There you are.”

I stiffened, every muscle in my body becoming on edge, ready to explode and act upon the female in the room with me.

The voice was soft and gentle, caressing and feminine.

Her scent filled my nostrils and I felt myself already beginning to fall into the precipice of uncontrollable heat on the other side.

I turned around slowly, the movement seeming to take a lifetime.

Standing before me, almost regal in her silk dress harvested from the giant silkworms of Philliqua 4, stood the most beautiful Ulsen I had ever laid eyes on.

I took one step toward her after another, and soon, I forgot where I was and what I was doing there and all control just flew out the hatch…

* * *

I fellon my knees before her and sank my face into the soft folds of her dress, so close to her sex that I could practically taste it.

“Rivvac?” she said. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t take it anymore. The Steyatt… how can any male stand it? If I don’t claim one soon, I fear what might happen next.”

Flara chuckled before raising my chin so she could peer into my eyes.

It only made my feelings worse, as my cock now raged harder than I had ever experienced before.

“We go through this every year. You succeeded in controlling yourself. That’s admirable. But there is no fighting against the Steyatt. Not for the entire week.”

“Please,” I growled. “I need to bed you. Now. Here. If I don’t…”

Flara smiled and I already knew what her answer would be—the same as it had been the other years I had asked for her to be my Steyatt mate.

She would refuse.

She placed a hand on my cheek and spoke softly, her voice like that of angel—an angel from hell with the way she toyed so easily with my senses. She said:

“I know you’ll choose another for your Steyatt week. Another mate. It is only for a week and it is your right to bed her. But I will not be her. I refuse to be the subject of gossip among friends and family. I can’t allow my reputation to be sullied by gossip. My father would never accept it.”

And there was the real reason, I knew.

She was afraid what her father would say.

“But I want to mate with you,” I said, almost a cry. “We’re going to be married anyway, so why wait until the wedding night?”

Her smile tightened. “There are no guarantees in life. And if I were to allow you to bed me during your Steyatt, the husband I end up with might not be too pleased that I was bedded by a prince of the Ulsen Empire.”

“Gah,” I said, making the noise involuntarily.

She was right, I knew.

The higher classes of Ulsen society did not lend themselves or their bodies out for Steyatt week as mates.

But still, it hurt that there was still a chance she would end up mating with someone else, and even worse than that—end up marrying them too.

“Who?” I asked. “Is there another male you might marry?”

Flara blinked in surprise—not that I knew there was another potential suitor, but that I had asked so directly.

She looked away and unnecessarily smoothed her skirts. “My father has been favoring Crer recently.”

“Crer?” I spat.

Of course. He was handsome, from an old and powerful family, and better yet, he was rich.

More than rich enough to support Flara and her family.

“But you don’t love him,” I said. “You love me.”

Flara shrugged. “Sometimes love is not enough.”

That rubbed me up the wrong way as I felt it wasn’t the truth at all… At least, it could be true among the lower classes, where money was a constant worry. When you had nothing, you really could marry for love.

But when you were royalty or part of the elite classes, when you wore your wealth on your fingers and body… it was an entirely different game altogether.

It seemed so unfair that the poor could marry for love while the rich could not.

“I thought being rich meant we could be free to choose our mates?” I said.

“Not when it comes to marriage,” Flara said with a sigh, no doubt tired of having the same conversation with me each year.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her in close.

The scent of her filled my senses and I could barely control myself.

I planted my lips on her cheek and growled in the back of my throat.

She knew what I wanted. I didn’t make myself difficult to understand.

“We can’t do this,” she said. “You know we can’t.”

“But we can. We’re both of consenting age.”

“Yes,” she said, gently pushing me back. “But your family is poor now. And if you want to marry me, you’re going to have to come up with money to do so. My father knows your family has nothing.”

“We have our titles. Our land.”

“And it’s all now controlled by the Empire.”

“My family is the Empire,” I countered, parroting the words from the news and propaganda pumped into the minds of the Ulsen every day.

Flara reached up and ran a hand through my hair, gently caressing my horns. “Your family isn’t the Empire. You’re just the head of it. And all the titles in the galaxy can’t even buy a single meal. Only money can do that. And right now, you’re poorer than the average merchant in the street.”

I took her hands in mine. “But I will be wealthy. You’ll see.”

She let me kiss her fingertips, then took my face in her dainty hands and kissed me on the cheek.

“It’s not me you have to convince,” she said. “It’s my father.”

We had been betrothed since birth, and although it wasn’t a formal ceremony, it was nonetheless expected.

The thought of losing her now when she was so close, especially when there were other suitors sniffing around her…

It was too much to handle.

“How can I earn the money I need to prove myself to your father?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Flara said honestly. “But you’re going to have to figure out a way. And fast. I’m not sure I can force my father to wait much longer.”

My instincts went on high alert. There had never been a deadline before.

“How serious is he about Crer?” I asked.

She looked up at me through her eyelashes. “Very. But we shouldn’t talk about it now. After Steyatt week, perhaps. You need to focus on finding your mate.”

Flara she was always meant to be mine… and to be so close to her now, now that we had each come of age… it made my stomach churn in a way I had never experienced before.

“But we will be together, won’t we?”

“That depends on whether or not you can convince my father. Now I need to go. He’ll be wondering where I am.”

Now I had the worst of both worlds—the need to mate and without the will to go through with it.

“Choose your mate carefully,” Flara said at the door. “With any luck, this will be the last time you ever need to mate with another Ulsen.”

My cock sprang to attention immediately as she peered at me through her long luscious eyelashes, and the seductive curl of her lips promised everything I had ever dreamed of.

She unlocked the door and slid out, shutting it behind herself, leaving despair in her wake.

How could I have her without wealth?

I couldn’t. It was impossible. Her father would never accept me.

Maybe if I spoke with him, made him understand just how much I loved her, he might let me have her…

But I knew what the outcome of that would be.

He wouldn’t back down.

He was the Empire’s treasurer and he believed in reality, figures, fact… not some wishy washy promises of unaccountable emotions.

He would need to see I could provide for his daughter—and not just with titles—but real, hard, cold cash.

I fell onto the edge of my bed and buried my face in my hands.

I was doomed and someone else was going to claim her.

That would leave me alone, with no one…

There was no hope.

And then a knock came at the door.

* * *

I didn’t say “Come”as I didn’t want to encourage any females to take advantage of me in my current condition.

The door opened anyway and a figure popped her head around the door frame.

It was a human face and I figured it must have been one of the servants as they made up more than eighty percent of the serving staff.

They were cheap, hardworking, and much smaller than the average Ulsen, so they were easier to feed, clothe, and home.

They had been trained to control their emotions well too, and were often blank-faced and hard to read, although I often wondered what they were really thinking beneath the surface.

Behind her, sawing like some majestic bird, was the sing-song lullaby sung by the Sirens.

Worst still, I thought I caught sight of their bright clothing and high, complex hair designs.

“Shut the door!” I snapped.

The female human did so—after she had stepped into the room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I growled.

The female then turned the key in the lock, turned to face me, her tiny hands balled up into fists, and glared at me.

“I’m not leaving until I get my interview!” she snapped.

“Your what?”

“My job interview!”

I scanned her body language—it was the one thing that I could read when it came to humans—and there was no doubt in my mind that she honestly believed what she was saying.

“I’ve been waiting an hour!” she snapped. “Is this the way the palace runs things around here? Because if it is, I’m not sure I want to work here after all!”

I took an unconscious step back. I had never seen an angry human before, much less had to deal with one.

They were seen and not heard, for the most part.

Only the most senior members of the staff actually spoke to Royal family members.

Had this girl lost her marbles, or was she so new to our culture and way of life that she didn’t know how to address a member of the Family?

Or was she really that angry?

“I’m not sure I understand—” I began but got no further.

The girl handed me a piece of paper with “Resume” written across the top. “I’m here for the assistant position.”

Assistant?

I shook my head.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what—”

And then it hit me.

The scent of her.

Full and earthy and rich, unlike anything I had ever smelled before…

Save one time.

She had tried to conceal it beneath some kind of flowery perfume but her own body produced a much stronger, more pungent, and overwhelming scent than anything that could be captured in a bottle.

I unconsciously stumbled back one step and then another, reaching out to brace myself on a side table.

“Are you all right?” she said, her anger for the moment dissipating in favor of concern, although I could see it was still very much being held in reserve.

“I’m… I’m fine…” I stammered, not sure of my own words.

It was the scent—the scent from the ballroom earlier—the scent my nostrils had caught from the sea of writhing masses and shoved me over the edge, threatening to lose control of the Steyatt.

It had been so strong, so powerful and pungent that I could have followed it and sniffed her out at a thousand paces.

In the ballroom, I had been on a mission to escape the effects her scent had on me, and not to pursue its origins.

And now, somehow, it had been delivered to me.

Right here.

In my bedroom.

My cock throbbed so hard against the front of my pants that I thought it might burst free.

I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and make sweet love to her, but I knew such soft and romantic gestures would not last long.

They would quickly descend into deep and violent lovemaking that the Ulsen were so well-known for.

“Well?” she snapped, reverting back to her earlier anger.

“Well what?” I said, losing all sense of focus.

“What about my interview?”

“Your interview. Yes. Of course.”

My initial reaction had been to send her away to have her interview with whoever was responsible for such things—I had no idea who that person was as our staff was so large I couldn’t possibly know everyone—but I knew the head of Human Resources and she would doubtless be the one she ought to speak with.

But she was baked into my destiny somehow.

I wasn’t sure how—after all, she was only a human female, what significance could she possibly have in my future?

The fates had brought her here for me to smell, I had no doubt about that, and you did not ignore what the fates sent you, no matter how much you didn’t want to confront it.

“Then let’s do it now, shall we?” I said.

She nodded. “Good.”

I led her over to my desk piled high with papers, documents, and pressing business matters.

Having the desk between us also meant I could conceal my throbbing, aching cock from view.

But her scent had no such restrictions and virtually pummeled me into submission, the same way I wished I could pummel her right then and there.

And allowing myself to be led by my own instincts was gave me my idea.

When a human female had so willingly stumbled into my midst during Steyatt week, and as the fates had obviously conspired to bring her to me right here and now, at the lowest and most desperate part of my desire…

There could only be one reason.

Mia (as the top of this flimsy document called a Resume informed me) was destined to be my Steyatt mate.

And I would have her. No matter the cost.