Chapter 1
Varnog
The light of the morning sun shimmered over the clear blue waves of the Mistral River, making it shine like diamonds. Lifting my face to the heavens, I surrendered to the warm caress of the rays on my scales and on my skin. Eyes closed, I inhaled deeply the fresh air of Khepri, my ears filled with the joyous laughter of our children running around our growing city under the watchful supervision of Sumin and our other females.
Skogoth, the civilized and respected city of the Scelk, was an impossible dream come true—and was my home.
I opened my eyes again, the back of my head tingling with psychic energy from the courtesy warning of my brother approaching from behind. We were predators. Sneaking up on one of us unannounced could yield unpleasant outcomes. I didn’t have to turn around to know it was Tremak—Sumin’s mate—and my closest friend… after Bane.
“You seem well this fine day,” Tremak said as he came to a stop next to me.
“How could I not?” I asked, giving him a sideways glance. “We are home, our people are thriving, and our females and offspring are fed and safe. Even our neighbors are being exemplary and quite generous in sharing the product of their hunts. What more could I wish for?”
“All is well indeed,” said Tremak with a tone that I knew all too well, one which implied he had something to say that I wouldn’t be pleased about.
“Lay it on me,” I said, not being one to beat around the bush.
“It is not terrible news, although you may not agree,” Tremak said looking at me with an amused stare.
“If you believe I will not agree, then it is terrible news,” I deadpanned. “Speak. You know I have no patience for games.”
“Says the male who loves pulling mind fucks on people,” Tremak retorted with a snort.
“That’s different,” I replied without the slightest inkling of remorse. “I’m merely making life more interesting for those around me or being informative by making sure they realize what idiots they are.”
Tremak chuckled and shook his head at me. “You were always hopeless, my brother. But do not change for you indeed make life more interesting for those of us not on the receiving end of your insolent tongue.”
I smirked but said nothing, still waiting for him to reveal what news he had to share.
“We have a new coupling in our midst,” Tremak said matter-of-factly, his eyes locked on his mate Sumin who was telling their son to behave.
My head jerked towards him in shock. “Who?” I asked, baffled.
I knew every one of the Scelks and every female—however few we actually had. Whatever couple was to be formed had already been. We hardly mingled with any of the residents of Khepri, aside from the Vanguard, and even then. People still feared us for the most part, except for the Dragons. But that wasn’t surprising considering that Bane—the leader of the Dragons—had rescued us from our original fate. The General had bioengineered us to be parasites and monsters hellbent on eradicating Khutu’s sworn enemies: the Xian Warriors and the Intergalactic Coalition as a whole.
“Harug asked Wilan to become his female. She consented,” Tremak explained in the same peaceful voice he always used whenever he wanted me to remain calm.
Our nature gave us a volatile temper, which Bane had helped us learn how to control. Nevertheless, it was an endless battle that required constant vigilance. I wanted to believe I couldn’t be so easily triggered anymore. Still, the first sparks of anger ignited deep within me.
“They’re not in love with each other,” I argued, my voice taking on a harsh tone. “If he dared—”
“He did not,” Tremak interrupted me, knowing what thought had crossed my mind. “He is not mind-controlling her and has in no way influenced her decision. They have been friends for a long time now, and they both acknowledge that while not in love, they have love for each other. They also both wish to have offspring and believe the other to be a great parent to raise children with. Obviously, they don’t hope to have what I share with my Sumin, but believe they will make each other happy enough especially since they’re going into this with open eyes and realistic expectations.”
I ground my teeth and turned my back to my brother, my mind racing. As much as I hated what this couple was resorting to, a part of me understood all too well the kind of loneliness that would drive them to such a defeated solution.
“It is absurd,” I bit out through my teeth. “She’s still young. There is still hope she could find—”
“Find what?” Tremak interrupted in a harsher tone. “Find a man among the tens of thousands that populate Khepri? Find a willing male that will be swept away by her alien beauty during one of the countless visits we receive here?”
Spinning on my heels, I growled menacingly and took a step forward in a dominant way. To my shame, as much as I loved dishing out sarcasm, I didn’t respond well to it. But my brother was no pushover either. He was the only one among the other Scelks who dared standing up to me—within reason. Hands clasped in the back, he lifted his chin, and his large black eyes devoid of sclera held my gaze unflinchingly.
We weren’t blood brothers. In fact, only a handful of us were blood related—or rather our hosts had been blood relatives. Just like the Xian Warriors, we were just the successful births of the bioengineering experiment we stemmed from. But where they had been created to be self-sufficient and heroes, we had been no more than enhanced bugs created as parasites to latch onto the body of a host and slowly take it over, killing the person it had once belonged to in order to make it our own.
“There is no hope for any of the others either,” Tremak continued in a softer voice. “No one comes here. And we are not welcomed in places where we could meet potential mates. The Vanguard may have granted us access everywhere, but the civilians flee us. You know this well.”
I gave him a warning glance, which he naturally ignored.
“How can there be any hope when our own leader has none?” Tremak said.
“You know not what you’re talking about,” I snapped in a harsh tone, my fingertips burning with the urge to let my claws out.
“You were never one to hide from the truth. It is telling that you should do so now,” Tremak added, tilting his bald head covered in shiny chitin scales to the side. “I don’t need to read your mind to know how you feel. We have been in too many missions together for me not to notice your longing gazes. It isn’t fair to you, but being a leader of one’s people is always about duty and never about fairness. Bane paved the way for his brothers, you must do the same for the Scelks. We have a handful of children who will soon grow into adulthood. What will become of them as we age, and they remain isolated?”
Every one of his words felt like a searing blade through my chest. The face of my beloved flashed before my eyes, and my heart constricted with the familiar longing of an impossible desire. The Scelk children, although happy and careless today, would indeed have no one to mate with in the future unless they fall to inbreeding, which would only be a greater disaster. The Dragons and the Xians both only sired males. Indeed, how would they or the rest of my people stand a chance if I, their leader—who had actually found my soulmate—didn’t believe there would be any hope of her accepting one such as me?