7 Vitus

Most of the other males spent the trip talking to each other about which females they wanted to chase. A few are just here for a quick steal of a pink and a weeklong honeymoon before the bonding ceremony. Others crave a red for her dominating qualities, some a blue for their docile behavior. One says he doesn't care what color band she wears as long as she has hair that matches his bronze skin.

A brazen male in royal armor nudges me. "What about you?"

The ship drops out of hyperspace, and we see the lunar surface grow outside the windows.

I dread the upcoming race. "I'll take whatever is left."

His smile falls. "You were given another's race ticket."

Rhynin was sitting up on his own when I left, but he has an arm in a sling and several surgeries lined up for his side. "My Second nearly gave everything against the Nebulous Empire who raided another ore bunker of ours. I want to be with my soldiers, not wasting time with this frivolity. There is no room for love in war. But I made a promise."

He rests a hand on my shoulder, and I get a complete view of his rank. "There is no war without love. Without families to love, we would not care for the survival of others, only ourselves. What kind of chaos would that type of universe bring? We would die young and purposeless.

"You know the bond of soldiers. You know the responsibility as a leader. Now you need only know the purpose of love."

"Forget love!" Another male shouts. "I'm hunting me a mate!"

He whoops and leaps out of the open doorway before we've even crested the top of the building.

The king before me sighs and hangs his head. "I try to teach the young recruits, but they're full of raging hormones."

He pats my shoulder then follows the others out as we land. Several males are already headed back to the Abr complex with females cradles in their arms. A few disappear in the bushes that tremble and swell with cries of pleasure. I hope they don't regret their choice later.

I am the last off of the transport. Checking overhead, I see my security detail dock beside my designated room, like many other small vessels. I'm not in a hurry to drag a female home with me.

The field is a mess of women in tight bodysuits, running in every direction. A few give a good chase to other males. Several hide in the huts and get cornered in the tree houses or on the array of rope bridges that crisscross over the landscape.

Camera drones swarm the space.

A red male passes a woman with blue bands climbs a ladder like a spider and launches himself at a female with bands the color of his flesh who stands on a bridge. The male approaching her from a platform shrugs and swings himself in a full circle over the edge, where he snatches up the blue-banded female and lands on the rope bridge with her in his arms. It's then that I see the similarities. If they aren't twins, they're definitely brothers.

I scan for the outliers, the females no one has their eyes on. She will have to understand isolation and be independent, if I pick one at all.

A camera drone hovers down beside me, lens on my face. Just before I glare at it, distant movement catches my eye. I drag my attention back to the hillside.

Long, frizzy brown hair bounces on the back of a woman who climbs the rocky cliffs with surprising speed. Another woman is close by. Her bands are white. She is nearly as fast. But it's the first female I spotted that makes my blood simmer and my feet move without my permission. When she disappears beyond a short rise, instinct sizzles to life and compels me after her.

Trees flash by as I dart through them. These women are strong, and yet no one seems to notice them except me. Both would bear strong warriors. It is honorable for Nytheralians to have many children, but only with a capable mate.

My movement catches the attention of a few couples and singles who dart out of my way. And then I am beyond them all, climbing the rocks after the two.

The terrain is rough going, even for me, but the challenge brings back a long-buried joy of adventure from when I was a youngling. I don't know what I'm going to find on the other side.

I drop down the short ridge into a notch between the shorter hill and the mountain's peak and find the second female scrambling toward the tree line. She looks back at me as if she expects to be tackled, then tries to smile. But I sense from her she is not interested in me. The feeling is mutual. And in that second, I know I must climb faster. The timer band on my wrist flashes red.

I have one minute left before the game ends. I want to catch my female the first time, not have a tiebreaker round.

My female.

The words sound strange in my mind. But it is a need coming from a subconscious and uncontrollable urge. My body reacted to her plump figure with compulsion apart from any thought.

Pulling myself up the mountainside over the loose rocks and obstructive boulders, I hear her grunt. The sound makes my cock stiffen.

What am I doing?I don't want this, but I can't shake myself out of the trance.

When I rise above the edge, and she sees my face, she backs up in surprise.

She is the most beautiful female I have ever seen, with eyes like amber agates and skin that's a warm, deep shade of desert sand. A flash of lust softens her face. I think she'll accept me.

Then, she darts toward the mountain's edge.

The movement is wrong. The railing has signs warning of a cliff's edge.

My heart slams against my bruised ribs.

I chase her on instinct.

I have felt like doing what she's about too many times myself. She runs up the guardrail, and I know I'm the only one who stands between her and death.

She jumps.

There is no hesitation in me to follow her. I feel it in my chest, the way my heart pumps with power, desperate that I save her.

Something in me has changed. Either she will become my mate, or I will die alone. I do not care to find another. But I cannot let her die either way.

I snag the railing as we go over and catch her by the waist. She cries out as if I've committed a crime.

We dangle over the crumbling mountain, the shield generators blazing blue below. I draw her against me and try to calm my racing pulse with deep breaths.

I want to ask her why she would do such a thing. But I know it is because she wanted the money, not a mate. And whatever her reason, it has made her desperate enough to die to keep her freedom.

She tries to wriggle free. Her elbow hits my side, and I almost laugh. She has spunk, but she has lost, and I am built to take a beating. When her attempts fail, she goes limp. It's then that I see the bruises and scars on her neck.

Someone had her under their control. That's why she wants freedom.

I haul her up and over the railing. She crumples when I set her down. Some part of me thinks I chose wrong. But I know her defeat. I just experienced something similar after our recent moon battle. I want to find a way to give her the freedom she desires.

Minutes ago, she was a powerful creature. I want to see it again.

I want her.

But she quietly cries as I sit beside her. I let her take in the sight of me and watch her reaction. The woman with silver bands hugs herself, tucks up her knees, and curls into a knot.

Someone has deeply hurt her, broken her trust if she views a mate as a terrible thing.

Thinking of my father, mother, and too many others who I have served with die, I do not understand her impulse to act on the feeling of desperation. "Life is not worth throwing away over money."

"Surviving is not living," she mutters.

The camera drones hover toward us through the trees. I do not want them to see her sad. I will surely get into trouble for whatever it is they want to blame me for.

"I will carry you down." I stand, pick her up, and fold her over my shoulder.

Hiking down the hillside, I encounter the woman I passed. She's also crying in the grass.

"Why are you upset?"

"You could've let her get away and picked me."

"I responded to her, not you. I'm sorry. I wish I had a better explanation." But she is fast and might pair well with Rhynin. "Do you like my species?"

Her brows knit. "Yes, but I'm not into sistermates."

I wave for her to follow. "I took my Second's place today because he was recently injured in battle."

"Bad?" she asks.

"Broken arm, some burns, and a punctured dualiver from a knife. But the doctor assured me he would heal."

The woman I've picked begs me to let her trade places with the woman I learn is Ihna.

I tighten my arms around my catch's legs. "No. I picked you." And I'm going to figure out who's hurting you, and I'm going to kill them."

She quiets for the rest of the trek back to the complex.

I wonder what she wants the money for. Ihna follows us back to the meadow, where most of the pairs are filtering inside the main building for refreshments.

"It's a bit uncustomary to do that, isn't it?" Ihna asks me. "To offer the winner a chance to meet someone from their planet?"

I pull a chip card out of my pocket and hand it to her. "This is my contact information. I think you would like Rhynin. He was heartbroken that he could not participate today. He was very much looking forward to meeting his human mate."

She takes the chip with delicate tact but looks off in the distance as if wishing she was anywhere else. Her attention darts to the woman I've captured. "This is backward. But it is what it is."

The Abr committee speaker joins Ihna with several other staff, one of which hugs her. Camera drones swoop in and Ihna smiles.

I assume Ihna meant that she was supposed to be captured, and the woman I have was supposed to get the money.

For a moment, I consider a swap. But an irritation stirs in me at the idea of letting my female go.

I caught her, and I want her. Not Ihna.

But it's more than that. The loneliness, failure, self-doubt, and regret I read in my female's eyes before she jumped resonated with me. I need to dig deeper into what's going on.