by Jamie Petit
“Okay,” said Merrick. “Okay.”
“Take this with you,” Canthor said, pulling out a slip of paper—the one a guard had given him just before the would-be-execution. “Read it when you’re in the city. It could be the difference between ending this war and prolonging it.”
Merrick swallowed hard and took the paper. He shimmied down into the tunnel and listened to Canthor’s feet walk away. He wished he’d said something. Anything.
Canthor’s words were indistinct at such a distance, but it was clear that he wasn’t making quite as much headway as they’d have liked. The exchange was angry, threatening.
Merrick trembled in the cool, dark tunnel. The sound of steel on scabbard, racks on guns, and raised voices filled him with greater resolve. There were at least a hundred Wildmeres, he figured. There was no way that Canthor was walking away from this. Words would not resolve it. But he wasn’t about to let his love die alone. He shimmied up the hole again so he could see what was happening.
The leader of this new group had his sword out and pointed at Canthor, the tip just inches from his throat. The hoard was as he expected—nearly a dozen dozen men.
Adrenaline flooded him in a panic and his arms braced against the steel tubing, his back pressed against the stone. He howled as he pressed against the stone. His back felt like it would break, his arms like they would burst.
The hoard saw him now, along with Canthor. Canthor turned and began to run back to the tunnel.
The chasing Wildmeres surging forward gave Merrick another push. He swung his legs up and screamed as he pushed with leg and shoulder until the hole was finally just wide enough.
“It’s wide enough! Come on,” he screamed.
Merrick dropped through the hole and watched as Canthor leapt in, letting out a howl as the broadness of his chest caught him. “Fuck fuck fuck…”
“Exhale!”
There was a great puff of air, and with Merrick yanking down, Canthor fell at last, a blade turning a chunk of the stone into dust above his head.
“We’re going after them,” the leader shouted as he dropped in, shimmying as Canthor had.
“Well, that was dumb,” Merrick said, and fired off a stun round. The leader’s body went limp in the hole as muffled confusion bubbled above surface.
“Let’s run,” said Canthor, grabbing Merrick’s hand. “They won’t chase us into the city. They’re not prepared for that.”
They made a mad dash. In a minute they had climbed a slope and pushed up on a trapdoor leading into a maintenance room. Moments later they found an oily handle and pushed into the city beyond.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Canthor
“You’re not listening to me. You need to shut that warp gate.” Canthor’s voice wavered in the huge conference room. His wrists itched where the cuffs held him.
Andax and Tanner stood across the table from Canthor who was chained to a chair. Barely an hour had passed since they’d come into the city and already things were complicated.
“Tanner, what the hell are you hesitating for,” snapped Merrick. “Just shut the goddamn gate.”
“I know you know how expensive that thing is to turn off and on,” Tanner shot back.
“Not to mention what this obviously is,” Andax added. “Canthor’s almost certainly right that there’s a spy at the facility. Once the gate is shut, they signal back to Wynmere and those Wild bastards can unleash havoc, tear through the cities.”
“I didn’t even know about this until earlier today,” Canthor tried to explain. “I was handed a piece of paper with this confidential information. Just a part of keeping the leaders of the movement informed. They didn’t expect me to do anything new with the data. The plan was to kill Merrick and then—”
“And you trust this guy!” Andax was almost shouting in exasperation. “Just a couple days ago he tried to kill me and Tanner!”
“And then they’d blow the gate once the fleet was sent in,” Canthor finished. “It was meant to be a one-two-punch to demoralize the UNAC. Now that Merrick is alive and I’m a defector, who knows when they’ll blow it, but I’m guessing sooner than later.” He paused and focused his eyes on Andax. “I’m truly sorry about that. I’ll do whatever I can to make amends. But right now we need to fix this problem.”
Canthor considered how glad he was that he hadn’t found out about the warp gate spy a few days ago. If he had, it might have been enough to push him towards following through with the execution. He shivered at the thought.
“For God’s sake, Tanner, court martial me if you have to, but shut the goddamn gate down,” Merrick said. “Tell them I held you at gunpoint or something.”
“It’s too—”
“Expensive? What’s more expensive? Shutting down the gate until we figure out what’s going on, or losing the fleet’s largest warship and its entire crew? There’s still time to turn it around.”
Tanner’s eyes flew over an imaginary chalkboard. “On a purely dollars and cents basis, the gate restart procedure is significantly—”
“For fuck’s sake, Tan!” Merrick took a deep breath to steady himself. “Those are lives we’re talking about. Not dollars. Not cents. You shut that fucking gate down, or I’ll be removing your rank at the end of a motherfucking bayonet!”
“We don’t want to have to cuff you too,” said Andax with unnerving ease.
Canthor was at a loss. What do you do when you’re the planet’s most wanted man, but also the only one who can save it? “Here’s what going to happen if you don’t shut that gate down. The fleet ship will attempt to exit warp space. At the moment it begins to emerge from the gate, there will be a core eruption. The ship will be severed, almost certainly causing several extremely large explosions. Those will rip through the gate itself. There will be no more gate. Everyone on the ship and at the warp station will die.”
“And Wynmere will be completely isolated for a generation,” Merrick added.
“And if Canthor is lying?” Andax asked.
“He’s not.”
Canthor smiled slightly, hearing his love defend him like that, so brazenly.
Tanner laughed. “This son of a bitch tried to put a bullet through your head just about a week ago—hell, he originally wanted to do that to Andax and me! And now you want us to trust him?”
“What if Andax had—”
“Don’t even try to compare,” snarled Andax.
Merrick sighed. “You know what Alpha-Omega bonding does. You know that I can tell better than anyone if he’s lying.”
Tanner gave him a serious look, mulling it over. “I also know what it feels like to fall in love with your Alpha. You would do anything to protect him. Anything at all.”
Canthor was almost shocked at how severe Merrick’s expression had become. “I am still an Earthman. I am still a human. And you may be a war hero, but I am still your ranking officer.”
Canthor bit back a chuckle as he watched Merrick’s patience evaporate in an instant as he stood up and advanced to the other side of the table where Andax and Tanner stood over a handheld command screen.
“Your options are give me the goddamn button or put a bullet in me. But I’m not wasting another second with lives on the line. Every second draws us closer to them entering the gate.”
“We can send a message,” Tanner offered. “Tell them not to send any more ships through while we investigate.”
Merrick continued towards the touchscreen. “And if you sacrifice two thousand lives and a UNAC ship while that message is en route to Earth, what then? Give me that,” he said and snatched the pad out of their hands. He pressed the big red button and tossed the pad onto the table where it clattered noisily. He pointed at Canthor. “And if his cuffs aren’t undone in the next six seconds I’ll have you working mines in the Sol system until you breathe your last. Move.”
Canthor was absolutely tickled, and did his best to not laugh as Andax came around and undid his bonds. He’d found an incredible mate, indeed.
> “Now,” said Merrick, smiling and clapping Tanner on the shoulder. “We were getting along so well the other day. Let’s keep it up, okay?”
“You’re nuts,” said Tanner. As if by magic—or necessity—the tension in the room began to fade faster than it had formed.
“A little. But don’t let the other officers catch you saying that to me.” He gave him a short wink. “Now, there’s going to be hell to pay for that little button push. So if you could show Canthor and I to a room, we’d like to freshen up and get some rest before we spend the rest of our lives filling out paperwork.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Merrick
Their fingers explored each other under the hot water and soap, cleaning away dirt and sweat and blood, and massaging tired, sore muscles. Now, with time to spare, Merrick could enjoy a survey of all of Canthor’s features. He pored over the scars, grazed the muscles, teased the hairs. He fell into the delight of his love.
They finished their shower and immediately found themselves in bed. Even their yearning for each other couldn’t overpower the suffocating exhaustion they both felt. But that was all a part of their new love, and something they’d until then not had a chance to enjoy—just being together. Simple, vulnerable, presence.
Merrick woke first. He lay there quietly, fingers laced behind his head, looking at Canthor. He was making up his mind. Did he really want to take that next big step? The one that would change his life and his body forever?
These sorts of decisions were somewhat easier as a young man. But he was no young man. For one, he’d be the first Admiral in the UNAC to become a full omega while in his position. But, also, he’d had decades more time to be with his fully-human body than a typical human omega. Most omegas transitioned in their 20s. Doing so in your 40s was rare, and known to be an emotionally challenging process.
Plus, he’d have another little guy running around to take care of.
Everything would change.
Canthor’s face shifted as he snuffled lightly, coming slowly out of his sleep.
Merrick brought his hand to Canthor’s chest and ran it over his soft skin as he pressed his body to his love.
“Let’s do this.”
“Do what,” asked Canthor, softly.
“Make me your omega.”
“You are.”
“For real. Completely. Wholly.”
Canthor’s eyes opened and he rolled over to face Merrick. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“It’s a… a big thing. A huge step.”
Merrick didn’t need to discuss it any more. He pushed Canthor back and climbed on top.
There, in the quiet of their room, far away from the war, from consequences, from hate and fear, they made love.
Merrick sank down onto Canthor and rode him with an intensity of need neither of them had ever experienced in themselves or in another until that very moment. He drew the life out of his lover and into himself. Canthor came into Merrick and the seed filled him, changed him. Almost immediately, his anatomy began to shift, making room to accommodate the child that began to grow there in that same moment.
Merrick felt the transformation and held his stomach with a smile.
This was good. And the future looked bright.
He collapsed on top of Canthor and embraced him.
“I’m sorry for everything,” said Canthor. “I will always protect you from now on.”
“Me and your son.”
“Of course. Kom’hok-bvet’fes. Til my dying breath.”
“Kom’hok-bvet’fes.” Merrick smiled. “Let’s grab another shower. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Together they hopped out of bed, into the shower, and out into a world ready for a fight.
THE END
Final Note
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And if you want to read the first story in the series, you can find it here.
Wynmere
The future came faster than humanity expected, bringing with it new challenges and adventures—not all of them having to do with the trials of space travel.
The Wynmerians came to us from the heavens, searching for hope among our people. They were a dying race, genetically doomed on their own planet to never reproduce again. They scoured the void, seeking out compatible races across the endless stretches of our galaxy. They found none who could bear their offspring.
At last, as their species lost the last of its child-bearers, they found us—humanity.
With humanity they were able to engineer a way to breed with our men. In exchange for our hospitality, for our affections, they gave us their technology. They shared in our prosperity as we shared in their embraces. Together we forged a new bond—a shared astronautical navy, and a new means of communing, of sharing life between our species.
But not everyone was happy with this. On Earth, many despised the thought of mixing with an alien race. And on Wynmere too.
Far worse was the situation on Wynmere, where hopelessness led to the most severe mindsets. The world was split in two—those who lived in the cities and farmland behind vast walls, who yearned for human lovers, who were ready to fight for the future of Wynmere—and those who lived in the Wilds of Wynmere, who refused to give up their purity, or see anyone else do as well.
It was in those Wilds that Andax the Wynmerian and his new earthling lover Tanner fought for their lives. It was there that they forged their bond. And later, behind the safety of the city walls, in the warmth of a shared bed, they created new life.
But they made enemies along the way and set off a chain reaction that will change the face of Wynmere forever…