Taken (Calliston Series - Book 1) (9 page)

"Enticing into mating," Viktor said.

"Do not be absurd," S'rea said. "With the exception of my niece, they are all mated. Lyrissians are not like U-mans. There is no
divorce
."

Viktor let it go. She was probably right. Her sisters were just being friendly and welcoming to the strange alien their father had brought home. They were not human women rebelling against daddy with an unsuitable man. He ran a hand through his hair and forced a smile. "Sorry. I'm tired."

The door behind them opened, revealing Ne'a. "There you are," she said, and stepped out into the Lyrissian night.

Viktor and S'rea shuffled away from each other and let Ne'a join them. The young Lyrissian pushed herself between them and smiled up at Viktor. "I was looking everywhere for you," she told him.

"I was right here," he said. "Talking with your aunt and Harom."

"Harom does not talk," Ne'a said. "He is mute. Mute and nose dead."

S'rea answered Viktor's unasked question: "Harom suffered an accident that destroyed his olfactory system."

Viktor nodded and looked over at Harom. That would explain why Tarn let him guard his daughter. Harom was the Lyrissian equivalent of a eunuch.

Something touched Viktor's thigh, and he knew it wasn't S'rea. He looked down at Ne'a, who grinned back at him. He was not being absurd like S'rea claimed. Her niece was definitely hitting on him. What he didn't understand was why she kept rubbing her neck. Still, he had no idea how to dissuade her, at least not without touching her and giving everyone the wrong idea. There was no way he would mate with Tarn's granddaughter, especially not one who was the equivalent of a sixteen-year-old human girl.

Viktor needed a way to put the girl off. The only thing he could think of was just a bit gross, but it was a surefire way to turn off women everywhere. He just hoped Lyrissian females had the same sensitive sense of smell as their male counterparts.

All three Lyrissians jumped at the strange sound that came from Viktor. Harom was the only one not to react to what followed it.

"What, what is that smell?" Ne'a said. She gagged and covered her nose.

S'rea also looked discomfited but said nothing.
 

"It smells like death," Ne'a continued. "What is it?"

Viktor shrugged. "It's called a fart," he explained calmly. "It's a normal human male reaction to fertile females."

Ne'a hissed. It was a very good imitation of the noise S'rea usually made. "I think I will return to the party," she suddenly declared, and ran back inside.

S'rea glared at Viktor. Her hand covered her nose and she looked as if she too would leave.

"Sorry. Breathe through your mouth," he said. "It'll disperse soon."

She did has he instructed, and after a while the smell was gone. "Is that true?" she finally asked him.

Viktor raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "How often have I farted when I was around you?"

"Never," she replied. "You did that for her benefit?"

He nodded. "Crude, but it worked. She's a bit young for me."

"Thank you," she said. "I must also apologize. I did not believe you until I observed my niece attempt to
flirt
with you."

"Don't worry about it."

"Just do not make that smell again in my presence," she said. "Ever."

Viktor grinned. "No man could ever promise that," he said, and turned back to the sky to enjoy the rise of the triple moons.

* * *

S'rea reentered her father's house with Viktor and Harom in tow. Even though she also lived there and would until she mated, it would always be her father's house. She watched as several female members of her family avoided the U-man when he came near. He smiled at her. Obviously Ne'a had warned them about the terrible stench he emitted. S'rea had to admit that it was a novel way of avoiding female posturing.

S'rea tensed. She could feel a familiar, unwanted presence waiting behind her.
Karo
. Grudgingly, she turned to face him. He was a strong male—shrewd, calculating, wealthy and almost as highly placed as her father. Traits that fathers admired in potential mates for their daughters. To borrow a word from Viktor's Common vocabulary, he was a male that fertile females would
flirt
with. Any female, except for S'rea. Instead her skin crawled, a reaction she disguised well.

"S'rea," he greeted her, his nostrils flaring. He knew.

"Karo," she said blandly.

Undeterred, he continued. "Ne'a has blossomed into a fertile female."

S'rea merely nodded in agreement, intent on getting away from him. She scanned those gathered in the great room, hoping to attract the attention of her father so he could rescue her. He was nowhere to be seen. She spotted the U-man talking with one of the lesser government officials. He noticed her watching him, and he gave her a sidelong look before his gaze moved to Karo.

Aware that he did not have S'rea's full attention, Karo cleared his throat loudly. "Yes, the U-man. How Tarn managed to communicate with him is beyond me. Such uncivilized creatures—unlike the Orka, who are capable of intelligent conversation. I participated in many elegant and insightful discussions with-"

"This male bothering you?" Viktor asked S'rea in near-perfect Lyrissian.

"No," she said, and Karo had the audacity to look smug. "He is, however, boring me. There is a subtle difference."

"Not really," said Viktor. He stuck his hand out to Karo and introduced himself. "Viktor Jacobs, U-man peacetalker."

Karo looked down his nose at the outstretched hand. "Karo, son of Larn," he finally sniffed. "And your parentage?"

"I doubt you knew them," he said.

S'rea watched the two males size each other up, looking for weaknesses. She already knew what Karo thought of the U-man—from what he had said to her just before and because she too had come to similar conclusions when she had first met him. What the U-man thought of Karo, though, she could not tell. She would be interested in comparing notes with him later.

"That was quite an entrance you made at the meeting," Viktor said.

"Yes, it was," Karo said. "I am sorry to interrupt your time with the lesser government."

"No you're not," said Viktor.

Karo barked. His laugh was nothing like Tarn's. Tarn made a deep noise that resonated from his belly. Karo's was just loud. Loud and grating. It hurt S'rea's ears every time she heard it.

"Your grasp of the Lyrissian language is…"

"Unexpected? I had an excellent teacher," he said, and smiled at S'rea.

"You understood the basics, just not the subtle nuances," said S'rea, brushing off the compliment.

Viktor switched effortlessly back to Common. "I would have singlehandedly extended the war by another decade if it hadn't been for your help."
 

"My father would not have killed you," she said, and hoped it irritated Karo that he was being left out of the conversation.

Karo shushed them, and it was then that S'rea realized the whole room had gone silent.

Viktor sidled closer to her and whispered, "What's going on?"

S'rea didn't answer him; she was too busy watching her niece and the young male with her. This was it. The moment every young and newly fertile female waited for. A potential mate. Most matings were initiated like this in public during a female's first fertile month. S'rea had rejected every hopeful mate that had approached her. She did not want to be mated, and that was her choice. She knew that every female was different, and her opinions were shared by a very small minority. Still, she hoped her niece would make an intelligent choice and be able to live with her decision.

* * *

Viktor watched the quiet spectacle as it unfolded before the large audience. S'rea's niece, Ne'a, stood exposing her neck to a young Lyrissian male, who circled her. The male's nostrils flared, and Viktor assumed he could pick up on the pheromones S'rea had mentioned.

An awful thought hit Viktor. What if they were expected to stand here and watch them mate? If that were the case, would he have been expected to watch S'rea mate with the government representative when they had first arrived? If she had accepted him, that was. That thought disturbed him more.

Something in his features must have given his thoughts away, because the next thing Viktor knew he was being glared at by the very females who had been shunning him earlier.

"U-man," S'rea hissed. "We leave now."

"Oh, good," he muttered, and followed her and everyone else from the room. He couldn't help but glance over his shoulder at the young couple. The male made his move and pounced on Ne'a. She didn't fight him off like Viktor had expected; instead she let him bite her neck.

Viktor was quiet for the next few minutes as he stood in the smaller room with everyone else. He kept close to S'rea, hoping for an explanation without having to ask for one. She wasn't talking, but Karo was.

"The families of Tarn and Larn have joined," Karo said happily.

"We do not know that for certain," S'rea said, but Karo ignored her.

"My little brother and your niece," he said, "bring us even closer, S'rea."

Viktor watched the exchange. He had become very familiar with S'rea's mannerisms and body language over the past month. She didn't like Karo. He wondered if she had rejected him before and if Karo were unmated. The flaring of Karo's nostrils when he came closer to S'rea gave him away. Just like his little brother had done with Ne'a.

Viktor didn't like what he saw, and inserted himself between the two Lyrissians, careful not to touch either of them. A move that seemed to stun both.

Karo recovered first. "Step away, U-man. You do not know what you are doing."

"I know that you want to do to S'rea what your little brother is trying to do to Ne'a," Viktor said. "I know she doesn't want you to."

Karo narrowed his dark eyes and glared at Viktor. "You are going to stop me?"
 

Viktor opened his mouth to say he would, but the sudden cheer that erupted around them drowned him out. S'rea used the distraction to drag him away. He had only a few seconds to realize the young couple had presented themselves, and the male appeared uninjured, before S'rea closed a door and led him along a hallway. He had had no choice but to follow. She was too strong.

After a few turns, S'rea shoved Viktor into a room and locked the door behind her. He barely had time to acknowledge that they were alone in a bedroom before she started in on him.

"Are you insane?"
 

"Shouldn't Harom be here?" he asked, worried.

S'rea ignored his questions. "What were you doing?"

"Saving him from getting his arms broken."

"You should be more worried about your own arms," she said.

"Why?" he asked, and wondered if she would break them because Harom wasn't there.

"Because you were challenging Karo," S'rea said. "For me."

"For you?" Viktor asked, confused. "There's more to this mating thing than you've told me, isn't there?"

S'rea sighed and the anger left her. She crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. "Males sometimes fight each other for the right to mate with the same female," she explained. "Your interference, no matter how well intentioned, is a challenge to Karo. The female has no choice but to accept the victor."

"That's stupid," Viktor said.

S'rea glared at him, and he knew he had said the wrong thing. She looked away and said, "I know."

Viktor pulled a chair out from under the desk and sat down. After a long silence, he finally said, "He'd kill me."

"I would kill him." She said it so quietly that Viktor wasn't sure he had heard her correctly.

Viktor studied her. S'rea's hands were clenched tightly around the bedcovers. Something told him she wouldn't be killing Karo to avenge his death. His attempt at chivalry had backfired.

"We should go back," she said, getting to her feet, "before they notice we are missing."

"Will you have to break my arms?"

"No. The mating should be enough of a distraction that they do not know we are alone together," she said.

"I'm sorry," he said, and he meant it. Viktor knew she did not want to mate, and he might have forced her to do so with someone she hated.

"Just stay away from Karo," she told him. "Stay away from me."

Viktor took her seriously and remained in the room until long after she had left—long after he realized they had been in her bedroom.

* * *

S'rea did not know what time it was when her father joined her in the library. One of the moons was still visible through the window, so she knew it wasn't yet morning. It was late, and everyone had either left for their own homes or retired to the bedrooms.

"You cannot sleep?" her father asked after studying her from the doorway. He walked farther into the room and eased back into the seat across from his daughter's.

"No," she said, and closed the book she hadn't been reading.

"If you are worried about Ne'a's mate, you should not," he told her. "Sern is not like Karo."

"I know," she said. "She chose well."

"Then what is wrong, my daughter?"
 

S'rea looked at her father and said, "Karo made his intentions clear tonight."

Tarn frowned. "Did you reject him?" he asked.

S'rea shook her head, and before her father could jump to the wrong conclusion, she said, "The U-man intervened."

"Did you reject him?"

"Father!" S'rea growled. "Karo did not take it as a challenge. Thankfully."

Tarn contemplated that for a moment. "What if the U-man had won, would that be so bad?"
 

"How would that look to the government, your supporters and your enemies?" she asked. "It would be seen as some kind of stunt to gain favor with the king so your negotiations would be signed. No, that would not look good."

"I do not care how it would look," he said. "S'rea, I only care about you and your sisters and my grandchildren. I want you all to be happy and well mated."

S'rea snorted.

"You doubt what I say?"
 

"No, father," she said. "I just want to be left alone to do my own work. I should sleep. I might go to my laboratory this morning."