3013: GENESIS (3013: The Series Book 11) (16 page)

Daimon
growled, while Mya tried not to laugh as the cousins glared at one another.

“You
need to learn how to be more respectful to your alpha, brat.”

Kahla
smiled sweetly at him. “Right now, you aren’t just my alpha, you’re my cousin
who needs to go talk to my sister. Besides, how are we supposed to talk about
you if you’re sitting here? Now, go away.”

He
growled again. “I don’t know how we put up with you.”

“Aww,
if you guys keep saying that, you’re going to give me a complex.”

Daimon
sighed in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go find Zorah and see what she wants.” His dark
eyes gleamed with amusement when he added, “But Maddox will be here soon. Try
telling him to leave.”

Kahla
groaned as she sat down. “Go away.”

“I’ll
be back soon,” he said as he leaned down to brush his lips lightly over Mya’s
before he headed toward the bar where Zorah and her two mates were pouring
drinks.

Reva
took a sip of her drink, then her eyebrow lifted. “Damn, Zorah looks pissed.”

They
all turned to watch Zorah giving Daimon hell. He stood with his arms folded
over his broad chest, a dark expression on his face.

“Is
something wrong?” Mya asked.

Kahla
snorted. “It’s nothing he doesn’t deserve. My cousins made us promise that our
staff wouldn’t put anyone in the med-center during the TechCon. The problem is,
we’ve been packed all damn day, and some of those people were assholes who
deserved to get their throats ripped out. When four Reema started harassing one
of our waitresses, my sister shifted into beast mode and took them out.”

“Sorry
I missed that,” Reva said.   

“It
was fun to watch.”

Mikal
shook her head. “Females are terrifying creatures, no matter the race.”

“True.”
Kahla shrugged. “I know the promise was meant specifically for me, so I haven’t
been doing my job like I usually do. My sister is pissed at me now because she
broke her word, and she’s pissed at them for putting restrictions on us. I
would have taken care of the Reema before they hurt our waitress, but I wanted
my sister to understand how much I take care of so she doesn’t have to. Maybe
this way she’ll help keep my cousins off my back from now on.”

“They
shouldn’t be telling you how to run Sanctum,” Mya said.

“Exactly,”
Kahla said with a grin. “And now that you’re their mate, you can make them
listen to reason. But honestly, I can’t wait for this damn convention to be
over.”

“Why?”
Pia asked. “We walked around a little, and it’s awesome.”

“You
don’t have to deal with a mass amount of drunk people.”

“True.”

Mya
smiled. “It’s only for two weeks. Think of all the credits you get to take from
the stupid people you hate so much.”

“There
is that,” Kahla conceded.

“I
think the TechCon is fun,” Mya declared. “And did you know that Ayla D’Nye is
doing a concert in the ballroom on the last day of the convention?”

“Really?”
Mikal perked up. “The D’Aire singer?”

“She’s
pretty awesome.” Pia smiled. “We love her. I bet Mya can get us some great
seats for the concert.”

Mya
laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

As
she sipped her wine, she glanced around Sanctum. She’d never seen it so busy.
Still, their table was in the back corner, away from most of the crowd. She
noticed three females staring at her from another table. One of them was a pretty
Helios in a tight green dress who was glaring at her as if they were mortal
enemies.

Taken
aback by the hostility she saw, Mya asked Kahla, “Who is that?”

Following
Mya’s gaze, Kahla snorted out a sound of disgust. “That’s just Leanna. She’s a
bitch. Ignore her.”

Mya
thought that was easier said than done since the Helios female stood up and
stalked over to their table. She sneered down at Mya. “This is the little human
that the Adaro brothers have been fucking? You have to be kidding. She’s
nothing special.”

Before
Mya could react, Reva jumped up from her seat and snarled at the Helios female.
“What the fuck did you say?”

Fear
flickered over the Helios female’s face, but she stood her ground. Mya had to
admire her for it. Reva was pretty damn scary when riled, and she’d probably pee
her pants if the large Helios female got in her face like that.

“You
can’t touch me in here,” the Helios female insisted with misplaced bravado.
“We’re standing in a sanctuary.” She glanced over at Kahla and smirked. “Or are
you just going to ignore your own rules?”

Kahla
slowly rose to her feet. “The rules change when someone attacks the alphas’
mate. Physically or verbally. We are well within our rights to put you on your
ass.”

The
Helios female’s face went pale, and she backed up a step. “Their mate? This
puny human is their mate?”

“Yes,
she’s their mate. Take a look at her neck and you can see she wears their
marks. She is family now, so if I ever hear that you even look at her the wrong
way, I will kick your ass. But what the hell, why wait?”

Kahla’s
fist shot out and slammed into Leanna’s face. The Helios fell back in a dead
faint, and her two friends rushed over. The other Helios snarled, but the
Krytos of the group held her back.

“What
the fuck just happened?” the Helios demanded. “You broke the rules of the
sanctuary!”

Kahla’s
smile was fierce. “She insulted our alpha female.”

The
Helios sputtered with anger, but the other Krytos female understood what Kahla
had just told her. “We’re sorry.” She turned to Mya. “Forgive us for bothering
you, alpha.”

The
Helios began to argue, but her friend gripped her arm hard and hissed, “Do you
want to be banished from New Vega?”

“What?
Of course not!”

“That’s
what will happen if the alphas decree it. Let’s get out of here.” The Krytos
and Helios females picked Leanna up off the floor and carried her away.

Kahla
let out a happy sigh. “Damn, I feel better now.”

Reva
grumbled as she sat back down. “You got to have all the fun.”

Pia
lifted her glass in a silent toast. “I have to admit, that was pretty fun to
watch.”

“I
just don’t get it. Why would that Helios hate me so much?” Mya asked.

“She’s
just jealous. Leanna is one of those females who thinks she deserves more than
she has. I heard she challenged her tribe leader, and when she lost, she moved
here. She works at one of the clubs on sublevel five, and she uses sex to
control males.”

“Females
like that are never going to get what they want.” Pia shook her head. “They
always want more, and when they get it, they just find something else to covet.”

“Her
tribe leader should have just killed her instead of letting her leave,” Reva
stated. “Someone like that is a danger to the tribe and everyone around her.”

“Harsh,”
Mikal said. “But I see your point.”

“Leanna
won’t bother you again,” Kahla assured Mya. “Everyone who works on New Vega
considers themselves part of the Adaro pack, but it’s different with the Krytos
who live here. Every single one of them would protect you with their lives now
that you’re our alpha female.”

“Let’s
hope that’s not necessary,” Mya said with a shaky laugh.  

“Stars,
I keep forgetting that you’re alpha now. I know you are, but I guess I’ve
overlooked what that really means,” Pia admitted.

Mya
had asked her mates to hold back on making the official announcement of their
mating until the TechCon was over. She’d told them she was still getting used
to the idea of being the alpha female to one of the largest packs of Krytos in
the universe. That was part of it, but the other reason was she feared she
wasn’t strong enough to be a good alpha. She also worried that the pack members
would hate her because she was human, and she wanted time to prove herself.

“I
haven’t asked, have you considered converting?” Mikal asked. When Mya only
stared at him blankly, he explained. “Humans can be converted into Krytos. At
least, that’s what I’ve heard.”

Kahla
shook her head. “My cousins would never do it. Conversions are extremely
dangerous. There have been as many humans who have died trying it as there have
been of those who were successful.”

Mya
stared at them, her head reeling from the information she’d just heard. She and
her mates had never talked about conversions, and it was something she didn’t
even know was possible. Wanting a few minutes in private to compose herself,
she stood. “I’ll be right back. Mind if I use the private bathroom in your
office?”

Kahla
waved her hand in the air. “Go ahead. You’re programmed in.”

Mya
made her way to the hidden door near the end of the booths lining the mirrored
wall. The last time she’d been in the office, Kahla had let her in. It touched
her that the other female had made sure Mya had access to the office.

Kahla
had said Mya was family now, and she’d obviously meant it.

A
few minutes later, Mya had taken care of her pressing needs, but she didn’t
rush to go back and rejoin her friends. Giving herself a little more time alone,
Mya stared blankly at the wall of video screens. She’d go crazy working in an
office like this. One wall might have looked like mirrors from the outside, but
inside the office, they were dark windows that overlooked the entire bar. The opposite
wall had multiple screens displaying the security feed from various sections of
the bar.

Despite
being alone in the room, Mya felt surrounded.

She
knew she was just being silly. Being with Maddox, Daimon and Tavius made her
happier than she’d ever been, but she hadn’t really thought of the reality of
being mated to the alphas of New Vega. She’d come to care about all the people
she’d met, but there were so many more she hadn’t had the opportunity to speak
to yet. Would the rest of their pack accept her like Kahla, or would there be
others who reacted like Leanna had?

New
Vega was her home now, and she took pride in what her mates had created. She
wanted to help them, to learn how to be the alpha female they needed her to be.
But could she do that as a human or would they want to convert her at some
point?

Her
inner musings were interrupted as something caught her eye. She’d seen a
strange flicker of light coming from one of the screens. Walking toward the
wall, she pressed the button to zoom in on a couple sitting in one of the dark
booths. Mya felt guilty as she entered the command to initiate audio. It wasn’t
right to eavesdrop on a private conversation, but something pushed at her,
telling her something was wrong.

Mya
could see that the man was an elite by the uniform that he wore. The woman was
dressed in a formfitting black jumpsuit that showed off every curve. Around her
neck was a thick black choker that looked like a collar. There was something
about the stone on the front of the choker that reminded Mya of something she’d
seen before.

At
first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The man looked angry about
something, but it was the woman that Mya continued to focus on. Her expression
was cold and there was a calculating gleam in her eyes. It was difficult to
hear their conversation over the music and other voices in the bar, but Mya saw
that she could filter the background noise out and zoom in.

This
is wrong, she scolded herself even as she turned the filter on.

“Dr.
Whitmer-Fields called a halt to the Genesis Project on Avox after she
discovered the new side effects of the altered enhancement drug. A different
group of scientists kept working on the project at another lab, hoping they
could prove to her that it was still viable, but they just made it worse,” the
man said. “When they were discovered, Dr. Whitmer-Fields reported it to the
regents and high command.”

“What
did they do to the formula?”

“They
were fucking with the enhancement drug that all elites are given by adding
xili
and some other shit that was supposed to make it easier to learn. It didn’t
work because the enhancement drug is based off of D’Aire, Helios and Krytos
genetics, and when the new shit was added, it created something new that isn’t
safe.”

“I
want to know exactly what the side effects are,” the woman snapped.

The
man shrugged. “I have no clue. All I know is that it’s bad. What’s left of it
is being taken back to Earth, where it will be destroyed.”

“You
were paid to get me samples of the drug, not information that’s useless to me,”
the woman said coldly. “I want those samples.”

“I
told you. I can’t. There are only five small canisters, but they’re in a locked
bio-container that Commander Macy has in his quarters. He’s under orders not to
let them out of his sight. What I did to tell you all this is bad enough. Stars,
I’m going to get sent to the Mars penal colony if they find out I’m the one who
fucked with the
Intrepid’s
system so we had to land here for repairs.
There’s nothing else I can do.”