by A Y Venona
“You’re an omega, right?” His voice was thick with desire.
And my reaction? I swore to god, I froze. Am I?
“I’m more than that,” I managed to say.
A wry smile appeared on his face. His gaze turned hungry, gleaming against the soft light in my room. He did not seem aware of the panic racing through me. Or perhaps he mistook it as anticipation? Drawing strength from my desire to please him and complete this mating, I tossed the panic aside by focusing on him. I drank in the sight of my mate above me as he undressed himself, exposing his muscled torso. He moved a little to pull his pants down and then tossed all his clothes aside. Grinning, he leaned down and knelt in between my bent legs.
“Now, your turn,” he said in a husky voice.
I dragged my hands to my belt, but he moved them away and proceeded to unbuckle it for me. He then opened my tunic to expose my chest. My face warmed in embarrassment. I knew I was not as muscular as he was.
“Hmmm. Perfect.”
This word. This single word. It was so powerful, it awakened something in me. When his hands resumed discarding my clothes, from my tunic to my pants, I pressed one hand over his toned chest and played with his nipples. My other hand stroked his back and slid down to squeeze his ass.
My heart lurched when his fingers slid between my ass cheeks and opened up. My fear returned. If I didn’t self-lubricate, he’d find out I wasn’t an omega. But would it matter to him? He was my mate. I gasped when he started massaging the puckered skin of my hole. My ass clenched involuntarily, and despite my apprehension, I began thrusting my hips down, trying to get his finger inside my asshole.
“Oh, so you like it, huh?” he said, grinning as he entered me with one finger. “You’re so sensitive here. But wait till I get to that spot.” His voice was pitched low. He added another finger and dove deeper. My stomach clutched as I gave out a stuttering moan.
Whatever it was he was searching for inside my ass? He must have found it, for my eyes rolled back in my head. I felt like his fingers broke through my anal wall and as though his cock was already lodged inside me. Slick oozed down my legs.
“There it is,” he said, grinning like he’d just won a battle. And with that, he slid his hard length inside.
Oh, I moaned and begged for him to move faster and deeper. And faster and deeper, he did. He was ramming his cock into me like there was no tomorrow. But I was loving every bit of it. Every thrust. The maniacal force that drove him into wantonness, the urgent, frantic coupling. I knew this because I felt it. I was needy. I wanted him to thrust with abandonment. Deeper. Harder.
“Harder!” I screamed unabashedly.
He withdrew only to impale himself again. He repeated this rhythm until we both felt it. The tension. The point of no return. Our orgasms rippled through us. A light flashed into my eyes, and I swore he saw it too. It was like there was a star in our midst, exploding into its death.
And we were drowning in the sea of bliss.
CHAPTER 29
“They say it’s a naturally occurring metal, but it only occurs on one planet,” he said.
Whatever he was saying had long been lost to my preoccupation with ways I could make him stay. He was already up on his feet and gathering his discarded clothes on the floor. And I was still lying on the bed, completely naked. He pulled his pants up over his underwear and buckled his belt. My only consolation was that his torso was still naked from the waist up. But still, I sighed. Rather loudly. Inadvertently.
His gaze shifted to mine. Frowning, he said, “You’re disappointed? What, do you have plans for it?”
“Yes,” I replied with a tinge of shyness. I wanted him to stay a little longer. But the look on his face said he was averse to the idea. “It’s not what you want?”
“I’m just not too invested in it. It’s an obsession, one that makes people lose their rotten minds!”
But it was worth losing myself to sex with him, over and over. Didn’t he like it? Did he think it magical?
And then—
Oh.
It was as though I was struck by a lightning bolt of clarity. His words finally connected.
“You’re not talking about sex, right?” I asked just to make sure we were on the same page.
He stared at me. Sternly. Like a father reproving his misbehaving son. And then I realized that I just made a father reference and regretted it instantly. So ew. Now my dick was soft.
“Certainly not. I was talking about the dicrowtium.” He sauntered toward the bed and sat on the edge of it. “Come here.”
I scooted over to his side. He pulled me toward him and hugged me so tight it squeezed the light out of me. Since his bare neck was accessible to my lips, I showered it with kisses. I heard him chuckle. Upon releasing me, he aligned my gaze with his.
“I want you to know that I like your company. The sex is the best I have ever had. Had I not had any other responsibility, I would still be lying here with you. But I’m a captain of my ship. As soon as our business here is done, I’ll have to leave. However, I promise, I’ll be back. I’ll visit you every so often.”
The thought of him leaving was so devastating I felt a knot in my chest. Why couldn’t he remember me? Why didn’t he know he was Adrian?
“Can you at least stay a little bit longer?”
He smiled. “I think I can. Let me just call my crew first.”
I nodded. He kissed me on my lips and finished putting on his tunic. Instead of thinking about how I was beginning to miss his state of nakedness, I jumped off the bed and started getting dressed.
* * *
Enk steak?
Angus’s roast beef?
I was in the kitchen, standing in front of the synthesizer the size of a refrigerator. They were similar enough that they had to be put across from each other to avoid mistaking one with the other. It was for my benefit, I believed. Going back to what I was thinking. Yes, my mind was preoccupied with making a list of food that could jog his memory of being Adrian. What about coco-buttered chicken? Although it was my favorite and not Adrian’s, I still put it on the list.
“Is there a way I can contact my ship without reactivating your AI?”
Shifting my gaze from my list to his now-clothed body, I said, “Yes. I can contact the reception area, and then they will contact your ship for you.”
“Good. Let’s do it, then.”
We padded out of the kitchen and down to the corner of the living room where the communication device was located. It was just a small square plate attached to the wall. I pressed the red button.
“Suite-7 to RH?” I said to the speaker.
“RH?” he asked.
“Reception Hall.”
“This is RH,” the voice came out of the speaker.
“Can you contact a ship for me?”
“Affirmative. What is the ship’s identification number?”
I turned to him.
“SS1-C5AS-450KL7S426,” he said.
I repeated the number to RH, who then contacted it.
“C5AS here,” an unfamiliar voice answered.
“Hey, Ricket, this is Mardek,” Adrian replied. He then turned to me and mouthed, “I’ll take it from here.”
I was used to Adrian having his guardian business discussed in private, so I went back to the kitchen to write out the ingredients. That is if I could still remember them.
Growing up as Eli, I’d spent a lot of time watching Angus cook, so I knew the ingredients by heart—well, at least my top five on the list. Those that I could not remember ended up being crossed out with a note that said to research with Four-five.
One by one, I encoded the ingredients into the synthesizer program manually with no AI to help. I was down to the last meal when Adrian—I would always think of him as Adrian—sauntered back to the kitchen.
“All settled?” I asked.
“That is correct. I gave them a one-day break. Told them to get out of the ship and pamper themselves at the health spa. Thi
s moon has the best spa in the entire galaxy.” He walked over to my side of the kitchen island. “What are you doing?”
“Cooking? I mean, of course, the synthesizer will cook for us.” I pressed the button to begin cooking. The synthesizer could simultaneously cook a maximum of five plates, though in this case, since they were all different meals, they would be cooked one at a time.
Instead of sitting on the stool of the kitchen island, he stood beside me. “This is your synthesizer?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What’s its type?”
“Synth one-thousand.”
“Wow. This type can feed a planet dying from famine.”
Was he implying I was living a luxurious life while others were dying from poverty? I didn’t even buy all of this stuff. I turned my head to him. His gaze was still on the synthesizer.
“If it is possible to carry this out of the moon, then I’ll donate it to whichever planet needs food. But I bet the maintenance will also cost much.”
He stared at me, assessing. A few heartbeats later, he reached for my hand, which was at that time perched on the edge of the stool, and brought it to his lips and kissed it. My heart warmed.
“You are so…innocent. Naive even,” he said, releasing my hand back to the stool. “I don’t want to corrupt you.”
Wait, what?
“Even if I’m a willing victim?” Thinking that it would make him think of me otherwise—that is, worthy to be corrupted by him—I added a little seduction: I threw him my version of a come-hither look.
He responded with a soft chuckle that died down into a smile. His gaze focused on me, smoldering with desire. A short exposure to it was enough for me to get hard. But the machine dinged.
“Excuse me,” I said and quickly removed the dishes from the synthesizer.
“Let me,” he said and carried some of the dishes to the small dining table next to the island.
“What kind of wine do you want?” I asked after all the dishes were set on the table.
“Let’s see if your high-accuracy synthesizer can make me a genuine Larkan 604.”
“Larkan? I’m not familiar with that.” But I strode back to the synthesizer and checked on the wine list.
“You haven’t tasted Larkan? You heathen! It’s the only god I worshiped,” he said and came to stand behind me.
“Oh, sorry, it’s not here,” I lied. After I pressed the button that would begin the process of replicating the wine, I quickly swiveled my attention to him. “What is your second alternative?”
His jaw dropped. “Tell me that you’re a hologram designed to seduce me and I’d believe you. But a Synth one-thousand not having a Larkan on the list is not possible. It’s freaking impossible!”
When the machine beeped again, I opened it and pulled the Larkan out of the synth and grinned.
“You imp!” he said and took the bottle from me. He sauntered back to the table and put it down. “Where are your glasses?”
His excitement was contagious. I pulled two glasses out of the drawer and placed them on the table. His gaze was hot on my skin, following my every movement. Burned herb mixed with the pleasant smell of spices hung in the air. I made an introduction for each dish while he sat at opposite side of the table. Looking at him patiently listening to me triggered a memory of us eating together at a long and much bigger table. Angus had been with us too. A pang of sadness and melancholy sliced through me.
“What’s wrong?” His face registered alarm, and I hastened to assuage.
“Just a memory—nothing to be concerned about. I just…missed my father…the…one who raised me. Go on. Let’s eat.” I forced a smile, which turned genuine when I saw the enthusiasm in the manner he feasted on the food. He started with the steak.
To fill the awkward silence with noise, I asked about the dicrowtium. It also bothered me that this town was heavily guarded by towers made of the rarest and strongest metal. What for? Were they afraid of any titanic explosion?
“Come to think of it,” he said after he finished a chunk of steak. “No one knows which planet has the dicrowtium mining. But guess what, the Alpha Imperium knows. Only them. Why do you think they are the dominant force in all galaxies? Because of it. No weapons can penetrate the Alpha Imperium ship.” He took a gulp of the wine and then continued. “Which made me suspect that your town…”
Bracing myself, I waited.
“Is housing gods,” he finished.
Oh. I picked a piece of the coco-buttered chicken, my favorite, and started nibbling at it while sneaking glances at Adrian. He was now down to his second helping.
“I don’t know what the gods look like, so I can’t confirm your suspicion,” I said after finishing a drumstick.
“On second thought, the gods wouldn’t want to stay too far from the homeworld. However, I believe…” He paused, grabbed the glass of wine, and emptied it. “Where am I?” he said after.
“You believe?”
“Oh. I believe that the town is hiding Imperium’s deadliest weapon. It’s close to Kronos, an Imperium stronghold. But here’s the thing that puzzled me. Why would your parents send you here?” He filled his plate with coco-buttered chicken. “You seem to be enjoying this one a lot.”
“Help yourself,” I said.
“I’m sure the towers will probably activate a dome shield made of dicrowtium in case any of those weapons of mass destruction explodes.”
“But why would they hide the weapon in the infirmary moon? Should it be better in Kronos instead of here?” I asked.
“Who would suspect that their galaxy destroyer weapon is in the health spa moon?”
“You’re right. It makes sense that they would hide it here.”
I was munching the last piece of the chicken when it all started.
The glass tipped over, spilling blue wine onto the table. I ran to his side and caught him before he collapsed, but his weight brought me down to the floor with him. I immediately activated my AI.
“Send help, hurry!”
“Right away, Landry.”
I put my arms around him and placed my fists against his abdomen.
“They’re on their way. Landry, Athor Mardek is not choking. I scanned his body and found his throat clear of any obstruction.”
Four-five proceeded to give the vitals while I sobbed, cradling Adrian in my arms.
* * *
“It’s rare for a hybrid to experience Zizu,” Lamek, my Diviner, said.
We were inside the hospital, sitting on the chairs next to where Adrian was lying unconscious. It was the same bed I’d woken up on. Three hours had already passed from the time we’d brought him here.
“A hybrid? He’s an alpha in his other life.”
“It’s not possible. The soul remains the same. I sensed him to be an alpha hybrid.”
“How can a soul be a hybrid?”
“It will be if an alpha mated a non-omega.”
“So he is still an alpha.”
“An alpha hybrid.”
“How would you even know that?”
“Close your eyes.”
“Huh?”
“Just close them.”
And I did.
“Think of the light.”
And I did.
“Then open your eyes.”
When I did, Lamek looked different. He was transparent. There was a light glowing in his brain. It was faint like a candle in the dark, struggling to fight back the onslaught of the wind.
“You’re not strong,” I said, for whatever reason. “You’re not an alpha, nor an omega.”
He smiled. “Now look at him.”
I turned my attention to Adrian. He appeared transparent too, but the glow at the center of his brain was strong. Stronger than Lamek’s. Much stronger.
“You’re wrong.”
“Snap out of it!”
And just like that, I returned to myself.
“What just happened?”
“You’re becoming upset. I had
to pull you back in.”
“But what did you do?”
“It’s a strategy we developed to rein the titan back in. Yours is getting stronger.”
“I’m sorry.”
“But you said something…that I was wrong.”
“Yes. Adrian is an alpha.”
“But his record said he is a hybrid.”
“My soul says otherwise.”
“This explains then why he is experiencing a Zizu. Only alpha and omega go through this.”
Then I recalled what I’d seen in Lamek’s soul. “You’re not an alpha, nor an omega.”
“Because I am omicron.”
“But you work here.”
“Although some omicrons are members of the Resistance, a majority of us adheres to the Natural Order.”
“Which is?”
“That we are born with predestined roles. The alphas lead. The omicrons provide the tools to maintain the order.”
A groan coming from our side interrupted our conversation.
“He is waking up,” I said, moving the chair even closer to the bed. I held his hand.
“Where the hell am I?” Adrian asked.
“Athos?” I said. “Athos Mardek?”
“Who the hell is that?”
At his confusion, my heart leaped with joy.
* * *
“All right, say it one more time.”
We were standing at bay-5 where his ship was currently docking. It was small compared to the rest of the ships around, but it was beautiful though a little rusty. According to the record, the ship was a star-system class, which also meant that he could only travel in a one-star system.
“You’re the captain. What’s your name?”
“That’s easy…Athor Mardek.”
Lamek said that each individual had different Zizu experiences. My scient was able to resurface in just a short time without losing memories of my former life. It was a rare kind of Zizu according to him.