“She’s a wonderful female,” Tremak continued, giving me a gentle smile. “We do not interact much, but being part of her crew, I get to see her regularly. Speak to her. Allow her to get to know you. How could she fall for you the way you have fallen for her if you rarely give her the opportunity to see the male inside? Follow your heart as Harug and Wilan are. We do not know how long we will live. Do not let potential years of happiness slip away because you did not dare pursue the one you wanted. Didn’t I pursue mine when she wanted nothing more than to kill me?”
Despite the pain clawing at my heart, I snorted, remembering all too well what headaches his mate had put us through for months on end. After we had been created on Janaur, the General had captured young Janaurian females of fertile years to perform genetic modifications on them that would make them compatible with us. By the time we had derailed his plans with that program, a few of the females’ transformations had reached too advanced a state for us to be able to revert what had been done to them. As they would not have been welcomed to remain among their people who would have not only feared them but treated them as pariahs, we had convinced them to come with us. A few grew fond of us and picked one among my brothers as a mate.
But Sumin had been suicidal for months, seeking any opportunity to hurt herself. At first, I kept an eye on her, intervening anytime she would attempt the irreparable. But Tremak, who had been taken by her from the start, stepped in and became her watchdog. She hated him for constantly thwarting her plans of ending her own life. Eventually, she fell for him and the relentless way in which he refused to let her go, telling her all the wonderful ways she was a worthy woman and the one for him.
“You have given me food for thought, my brother,” I conceded reluctantly. “It still saddens me that they should settle this way, but they are mature, and I am not their jailer. I just hope they will not live to regret this decision in the months and years to come.”
“They’re not reckless,” Tremak said. “My reaction was similar to yours, but they have thoroughly thought through and discussed the matter. They are at peace with their choice.”
“Then so it shall be,” I said with a sigh.
“So it shall be,” Tremak echoed.
He cast a glance over my shoulder before an amused smile stretched his lips. Taking the bait, I looked over, seeing nothing but my brothers standing on the meditation circles a short distance in front of our hive. And then movement up in the sky caught my eye.
“Here comes trouble,” I whispered as I watched the Dragon leader flying towards us.
“Not trouble, brother,” Tremak countered with a glimmer of excitement in his eyes. “Bane always brings news of bloody battles ahead. That is the definition of fun.”
I snorted again and shook my head, unable to argue with his logic. There was undeniable pleasure to be had in spilling the blood of one’s enemies, hearing their screams of agony, and watching the light fade from their eyes.
Within seconds, Bane landed in front of us. My instinctive reaction was always to provoke him, even though I recognized him as my Alpha. As the Alpha of my own breed, I couldn’t help the urge to challenge any potential rival on my territory. There was a time, I would act on it. But not anymore. It was in the little things such as this, the ability to refrain from antagonistic behaviors that were such an intrinsic part of me, that proved to me that I was getting better, becoming more of a man, and not being controlled by the monster.
“Varnog,” Bane said in greeting with a friendly tone. “Tremak,” he added, turning to nod at my brother. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, we had just concluded our business,” Tremak said amicably.
“Good,” Bane said before turning towards me. “Would it be possible for me to steal you for an hour or so?”
“Certainly. My place?” I asked glancing over at the hive.
“If you don’t mind, ride to the Dragons Rise. I’ll race you there,” Bane said with a taunting glimmer in his multifaceted eyes.
He knew I could never resist the challenge, even one such as this one. The chances of me reaching the ridge with my hoverbike before he did so by flight would be a close call if I pushed it to the highest speed without breaking my neck in the process.
“Give me a minute to get my hoverbike,” I replied with a predatory grin.
He bowed his head in agreement, the light of the sun shining on the slick surface of his Deynian horn. Making haste, I fetched the vehicle and rode it back to where he was standing near the playground.
“After you, Dragon leader,” I said with a smirk.
“May the best Dragon win,” he replied tauntingly before taking flight with his translucent wings.
I couldn’t blame him and his brothers for labeling themselves Dragons rather than hybrids or worse. Like me, Bane hated himself for the way he was born. His sire, General Khutu, had violated his mother and countless other Soulcatchers he had captured over the years to breed himself an army of super soldiers. That had been one big mistake. The Gomenzi Dragon blood he had spliced the women with so that they could pass on enhanced traits to their sons in order for them to rival the Xian Warriors, had also made them utterly loyal to their mothers. Therefore, despite their Kryptid Deynian horn, black chitin scales, multifaceted eyes and bug wings, Bane and his brothers fully embraced their Dragon nature and rejected their Kryptid half.
It was less than a ten-minute ride to the Dragons Rise. Although he could cut across bodies of water and the forest landscaping the land while I had to stick to the flatter paths or defined roads, the insane speed of my vehicle helped me keep up with Bane. In truth, as much as I loved competing, I didn’t truly try to beat him anymore than I could sense him trying to beat me. The Dragon leader loved to fly when trying to deal with difficult or stressful situations. Although he flew at a punishing pace, he still allowed himself to perform the occasional aerial acrobatics. A part of me believed it was also because it gave him the sense of freedom that he’d been so terribly deprived of growing up under the tyranny of his father. For me, it was the sense that the wind whipping past me was cleansing me of the darkness within. The sense of danger, the adrenaline rushing through my veins as I yet again increased the speed another notch—keeping it at the very edge of what was safe—made me feel alive. It reminded me that I was not a mindless killer, but a sentient being capable of making choices and not merely driven by beastly instincts.
A short distance ahead, young Dragons were flying around surrounded by a handful of adults, clearly undergoing their flight training at the hands of their older brothers. That, too, made my heart soar. When Bane had taken us under his wings, his hundreds of brothers—all sired by the General on the various captive Soulcatchers—had become mine as well. And they had all embraced us, monstrous as we were, without judgment, without contempt, and with genuine compassion. Despite my cockiness and occasional asshole attitude, I would lay down my life for any of them, especially their leader.
As I pulled up on the left side of the large chasm that framed the shallow river of the Dragons Rise, Bane indulged in a couple more acrobatics as he made his descent. He wasn’t showing off to taunt; he simply couldn’t help it. It was one of the many ways in which the hybrid betrayed the playful nature that had been so repressed in his youth.