Kinn by Mina Carter

7

The test was positive.He knew it would be. Her scent had told him, but he had to be sure.

Kinn suppressed a growl as he stood in the middle of his lab and looked at the test results on the screen. His omega was pregnant and everything should be perfect. She’d accepted him as her alpha and submitted to him. The days of her heat had been the most blissful of his life. Exhausting, and their constant fucking had damned near rubbed his cock raw… Gods, when the others had said omegas in heat were insatiable, they hadn’t been wrong. He was a trained and battle-hardened warrior at peak fitness and even then, a few times he’d thought she’d wear him to exhaustion.

But… he ran a hand through his hair. The female who had come out of heat hadn’t been the same as the one who had gone into it.

It didn’t make sense, but nothing about Serena ever had. She was contrary and stubborn with a sharp tongue and an even sharper mind. She was nothing like an omega should be. At least, nothing his kind had seen since… He tugged at his hair in frustration.

There had to be an explanation. Some reason why these humans showed some of the same characteristics as the Tolath’s original omegas. Only some, though. Serena’s current behavior wasn’t anything mentioned in the medical archives. She was… fading. The sparkle in her eyes was gone, as was the fire that had so infuriated him.

She would sleep in the nests she made. In fact, she slept too much and ate too little. And the nests were still not big enough. They were just for her, not him as well. He’d tried urging her to make them bigger, so he could comfort her as she slept, but she continued to ignore all the extra bedding material. Even trying to provoke a reaction from her was pointless. She just agreed with everything he said.

He closed his eyes, tipping his head back. He never thought he’d miss the argumentative side of her nature. Ever. Now? He’d do anything just for her to wrinkle her beautiful little nose and deliver a stinging set-down about him being a brutish alien or something.

Anything.

Every test he ran was inconclusive. He was the best healer on the planet, but these omegas—especially his omega—confounded him. The bit of membrane she’d used to somehow control or hide her omega nature had been too old and used up to give him the answers the Lord Overseer wanted. All he could confirm was that they had at least one way to escape detection.

Asking Serena was pointless. She’d stay silent and look at him with eyes that reminded him of the broken omegas he saw among the L’crav.

He pushed the thought away. She wasn’t broken. He hadn’t broken her. Not like the L’crav had done with their omegas. He cared for her and gave her everything she needed. Food, bedding, safety… the comfort of his body when she asked for it.

He opened his eyes, gazing at the patterns on the ceiling without seeing them. She didn’t ask, though. She didn’t deny him, but she didn’t seek his touch either. Not as he’d seen Var and Rath’s omegas do. She didn’t look at him like they looked at their mates either, nor had she bitten him.

With a growl, he slammed his hands down on the counter in front of him. This stopped now. Turning, he stormed from the room, determination filling every line of his body. She would be happy. He would make sure she was.

And then she’d sass him again with fire in her eyes, and they would be a properly mated pair.

He found her in one of the side rooms she’d claimed when she was still turning his life and healing hall upside down. She wasn’t alone. The Mother Superior was with her again. It occurred to him he didn’t even know the female’s name. Everyone used her title, a mark of status that he didn’t quite understand. She was a female, and not even an omega.

“Mother Superior. I will speak to my omega now. You may return to visit another day.”

He expected her to murmur her goodbyes and leave as ordered. She was a beta, and they were conditioned to serve. But she didn’t. His frown grew as she ignored him and reached forward, her hand over Serena’s as she linked gazes with his omega. After a long moment, she nodded. Squeezing Serena’s hand, she rose gracefully.

“If you need me, Serena, you know where to find me.”

For a moment it was like Serena didn’t realize Mother Superior was leaving. The other woman was halfway to the door before she responded. “Yes, Ari.”

The beta woman locked eyes with him and nodded toward the door, an unspoken order that surprised him enough to get him moving before he realized it. Then instinct almost had him digging his heels in. This was a beta, for xarth’s sake. No alpha took orders from a beta.

But… she obviously wanted to talk about Serena, the concern clearly written in her eyes.

“Yes?” he demanded once they were in the corridor, folding his arms over his broad chest as he glowered down at the female. Lord Tane needed to get her under control. He was a reasonable male, but if she started ordering some of the younger alphas about, she was going to get hurt.

The female stared up at him with a serenity he’d only seen in the eyes of priests—a sense of knowing that was as annoying as it was indefinable. “Do you understand what’s happening to your omega?” she asked, her tone too soft to take offense to.

“Yes.” Of course he knew. He was a healer as well as Serena’s alpha.

“We call it the Fade.”

That was news to him. The humans knew about this? “We have no name for it,” he conceded. “What else can you tell me?”

Her expression was serene, but her eyes were filled with sorrow and something else. Maybe anger?

“The kindest thing you can do,” she said, glancing toward the blaster holstered at his hip, “is to walk in there and kill her.”

He bared his teeth and growled, the deeper rumble hinting at how close his other side was to the surface. “Never.”

“She is dying, Healer T’kinn. You alphas can force a claim, but you cannot force an omega to accept it. She will die before she accepts you.”

“She will not die! I will make her happy.”

Again, that small, sad smile. “How?”

“I—” His words dried up and then he snarled. “I just will. She is my omega. I have given her everything. She will be happy. I will make sure she is.”

“You have given her everything but the one thing she wants.”

He focused on her, meeting her look with a hard one of his own. A beta should have looked down submissively, unable to meet the gaze of an alpha, but not this one. If anything, her look was hard with an edge of challenge.

“What is that?”

“Freedom.”

The word dropped into the silence between them. It rang with truth. Finality.

“What?” he barked a laugh, hating the unsure note in it. “She has the freedom of the city. She can see you, her friends… I do not curtail her movements.”

The Mother Superior laughed. It was like listening to crystal bells chiming. “You curtail her life, Tolathian. Since the L’crav came, we have all lived under the yoke of enslavement. You cannot undo what was done simply by being nicer about it than your predecessors. I have tried to explain this to the Lord Overseer, but he doesn’t see it. Not yet.”

“Var and Rath’s females do not have this condition. What do their omegas have that Serena doesn’t?” If this slip of a female wouldn’t answer him, he’d go to Var next. Someone must know. It was important to all their kind that they learn how to stop this from happening, starting with Serena.

“I cannot answer that. I don’t know what the difference is, but there is one. There are only three kinds of omegas, Lord Healer. The ones that fade, the few that thrive… and those who live free and never have to make that choice.”

His blood froze in his veins. “The ones that fade. Tell me about them. Now.”

She didn’t back up as he crowded her, no fear in her eyes nor in her scent. She tilted her head back to meet his gaze, way too bold for a beta.

“Healer, I would advise you to back up. Now.”

Before he could give voice to his anger that she was once again ordering him—an alpha—around, a low and dangerous snarl filled the corridor. The sound of death and destruction was instantly recognizable.

Hands out to his sides, he took a step back and then another before turning.

“Lord Tane, I didn’t see you there.”

The deadliest being on the entire planet made a slight nod to Kinn but never took his eyes off the Mother Superior. “I have warned you not to antagonize my alphas, Ariadne.”

“I was not the one doing the antagonizing.” She smoothed a hand over her white blonde hair, her face a neutral mask once more. “But as the Lord Healer has reason to be unsettled, I forgive him.”

Kinn had to bite his tongue to keep from reminding the female that she was in no position to forgive anyone. “The Fade. Tell me what you know.”

She raised her hands in a gesture of elegant surrender. “I already have. They make a choice, Healer. Serena has made hers.” Her eyes met his for the briefest moment. “The only thing that might stop it is if you give her what she needs. I can’t be sure, though. None of your kind have ever willingly made that choice.”

He looked from Tane to the tiny woman in front of him. “What choice?”

“Her freedom.” A note in Mother Superior’s voice made him feel like a small child once again, one who had missed the obvious lesson.

“Freedom?” He shook his head. She couldn’t mean what he thought she meant. “As in, to not be my omega anymore? That’s—” he looked to Tane. “That’s ridiculous! The bond cannot be broken. It would kill her!”

“As opposed to what is happening now?” She glanced pointedly over her shoulder at the closed door to the room Serena still sat in.

The Lord Overseer shook his head. “The bond is unbreakable. It’s always been this way. Once claimed, an omega and her alpha are bound for life.” Tane touched his chest. “And for every life thereafter. It is our way.”

“And it was our way to be allowed to make our own choices.” The Mother Superior bowed in a surprisingly elegant and formal motion to the Lord Overseer. “But ways change. I have given you what advice I can, Healer T’kinn. Do I have permission to depart?”

“Not yet.” Tane cocked his head in a way that made Kinn glad he wasn’t the one the overseer was looking at so intently. “What do you know about the membrane T’kinn found on Serena’s foot? The one that seems to allow omegas to hide their nature from us?”

“I have no idea what you mean. What membrane?” The expression on Mother Superior’s face didn’t change. Not by so much as a minute muscle tic. Her blue eyes, as serene as a mountain lake, looked back at them, wide and free of guile.

Tane sighed, the sound filled with a rattle of frustration. The hairs on the back of Kinn’s neck rose. That was not a good sound to hear the Lord Overseer make. Ever.

“Kinn, you may depart to care for your omega.”

He couldn’t leave the beta here with the lord, not with the tension mounting in the small space. She knew more about this Fade than he did, information that would be lost if Tane killed the woman. “My lord, I think I shou—”

“Go! Now!” Tane’s voice rose to a near roar. “Ariadne, you will stay.”

Interestingly, the woman hadn’t flinched, not even in the face of the overseer’s anger, whereas Kinn knew to withdraw. Quickly. It might be his healing hall, but it was Lord Tane’s citadel.

“She is just through here. I will take her another way.” He thumped his fist to his chest in salute to the overseer, nodded to the Mother Superior, and entered the room where Serena waited.

She hadn’t moved.

He took her hand, which was cool and slack in his. “Come, little star. It’s time for you to eat.”

“Yes, my alpha.” The words rang hollow in his ears. He was her alpha, and he was losing her. Worse. He was losing them both.

* * *

“You know more than you’re telling us. Don’t you, Ariadne?”

Frustration rolled through Tane as he stalked toward the tiny human female in front of him. As always, she looked down demurely, her hands folded in front of her. He growled, the sound low and dangerous, wanting to rattle that damned calm she wore around her like the blue robes of her faith and calling.

He stood in front of her, willing her to look up at him and meet his eyes with those blue pools of her own. She rarely looked him directly in the eye, but he lived for the days she did, and often deliberately rattled her to get her to do so. Today was not one of those days.

“I have always been honest with you, Lord Overseer.” She didn’t look up at him, but her voice changed so a hint of a smile was buried in the words.

“When I ask you a direct question, yes.” And that was one source of his frustration. She would answer his questions, but he had to guess which ones would be useful. He only tolerated her behavior because she was important to the humans. Her being in the citadel was a declaration of his intent to do better than the L’crav. It was also insurance against the humans trying another foolish attack.

He pulled the wickedly curved knife Rath had given him out of his pocket and showed it to her. “You’ve never mentioned these before. Your people call it a mercy. Don’t you think that was something I needed to know?”

She shrugged her slender shoulders. “The L’crav knew. Didn’t they tell you?”

He bit back his growl. If the L’crav had known, they hadn’t seen fit to share it with the H’thor and therein lay the problem. He was fighting a battle on two fronts—the human resistance and the memories of what the other clan had done here, the untold damages they had wreaked on the human population. But to admit that would make him look weak, and he refused to look weak even in front of one insignificant beta female.

He stepped forward, crowding her space and making her back up against the stone wall of the corridor. Her startled look flicked up to his face but then darted away again before their eyes met. Then her back was against the wall, and he was so close her body heat beat at his skin.

“You’re not afraid,” he murmured, leaning in to run his nose along the side of her throat. He scented her but didn’t touch her. He stood so close he felt the small hitch in her breathing and heard her swallow nervously.

She was nervous. Good. She should be.

“Yes. I’m afraid,” she murmured. “You’re an alpha. Only someone who was insane wouldn’t be scared of you.”

He stilled and inhaled deeply. Her scent was as it always was. Neutral. Faintly floral but unalluring, and yet there was something about her… “And yet you were antagonizing T’kinn a few moments ago. Defying him. Angering him.” He touched the chain around her neck, sliding one finger under it to lift the holy symbol she wore a bare inch off her flesh. “This won’t protect you from him, Ariadne. Or any other alpha. You must be more careful.” He toyed with the chain some more. “The only thing protecting you from them… is me.”

Her lips parted on a gasp and she wrapped her fingers around the symbol, something with two crescent moons, the meaning of which he’d never bothered to ask about.

“My faith does protect me.”

For a moment he thought she was actually arguing with him. Adrenaline and awareness flooded his veins. Yes! He wanted her to argue, wanted to see something other than the bland mask she always presented him with. He’d seen glimpses of it sometimes—a look or an edge to her voice when she wasn’t careful and in conversation with others when she didn’t think he was near.

And… he wanted to see more.

She bowed her head, her body language sliding back to neutral and deferential. “But so do you, my lord, and I am grateful for that.”

He wanted to snarl, his lip curling back. His words held an edge as he spoke.

“How grateful?”

“You are in my prayers each night, Lord Tane.”

Prayers? He didn’t want her prayers. He wanted… He cut off that line of thought with another snarl. D’warr was right. He should just find a willing beta and slake his pleasure on her like the others did. Only he wasn’t interested in any other betas.

Just this one.

He released the chain and moved back a few inches before changing the subject. “Can you save Kinn’s omega from the Fade?”

This time, she did meet his gaze for a brief moment. “No. Only he can do that.” She stared down at her hands. “Humans have an expression, Lord Tane. It is said that if you love something, you must set it free. Only if it comes back to you is it truly yours.”

He frowned. “That makes no sense. If you let something go, it’s gone. If he lets his omega go, they will both die. One cannot exist without the other.”

“And that is the difference between our species, my lord.” She looked, tilting her head to the side with a frown on her face. “You said they would both die? Why? T’kinn is an alpha. They do not suffer the Fade.”

He hesitated. This was knowledge the humans didn’t have, and he was loath to give it to someone who might use it against them someday. “They do not suffer if the mating bond is weak. The L’crav do not appear to have formed any lasting attachments with their omegas. But in the case of a true bond…” He inclined his head to the door Kinn had left through. “When one alpha is called by the scent of his omega? That is a different thing. If Kinn has truly bonded to Serena, he is unlikely to survive their separation. To experience that… it drives us mad.”

“But he might survive. Whereas I can assure you, she will not survive here. Neither she nor the baby will live.”

He sighed. “I hoped it would not come to this. Once he realizes, he will perform the Iratzi Tarn to save her.”

She tilted her head to the side, interest lighting her eyes. “The Iratzi Tarn? What is that?”

“The Leavetaking. The ritual suicide of a warrior.” He paused, studying her expression carefully. “He will take his own life to free her from the bond.”

The reaction was barely there. Her eyes widened and her lips thinned, but it was gone so quickly he almost missed it. “He would do that? For an omega?”

“For his omega and his child, yes.” He leaned over her. “Or do you think your people are the only ones strong enough to make sacrifices for the good of others? We are H’thor. We have honor!”

He surged forward, slamming his hands to either side of her head on the wall hard enough to crack the stone.

“More than that, little female,” he murmured. “We are what it means to be alpha. We protect our omegas, always. Even if it means we must die. Understand now?”