1
The boot was tiny. The female wearing it had been tiny as well, especially compared to him.
Warr glowered, growling under his breath as he glared at the footwear sitting on the table in front of him. Her blood was still on it, the memory of the scent blooming in the air still fresh in his mind. She’d cut herself free of it, catching her own skin before the mechanism she’d used to escape yanked her up and away from him.
He simmered in the darkness of his rooms with the blinds drawn, his anger almost at boiling point. It hadn’t taken him long to get to the top of the walls. Her scent was still strong when he reached the parapet. But she’d gone, the dangling rope and abandoned winch all that was left.
He snarled and slammed his fist into the table. Somehow, the rebels had managed to get escape equipment right into the citadel. His citadel. The one with his xarthing army guarding it, and one little female had managed to elude him and escape. It wasn’t just frustrating. It was embarrassing and called his competence into question.
Which was why he hadn’t told the Lord Overseer about the boot.
It was his prize—a talisman to focus his rage on until he could get his hands on the female it belonged to. Once he did… she would answer all his questions and share all her secrets with him, or he’d tear them out of her himself.
He rose and stalked around the room again. Xarthing humans were nothing but trouble. They didn’t know their place. Hell, twenty years of subjugation by the L’crav should have weakened even the strongest species, but these humans were insane. That had to be it. Why else would the males leading the rebellion use females as scouts? Even beta females deserved better than that. Were their troops so depleted they were recruiting females to their cause? And why did her scent seem so wrong? What were they doing to them?
Betas were not as valuable as omegas, but they still had worth. He ran a hand through his dark hair and snarled in frustration. This made no sense. No sense at all.
He found himself in front of the boot again. It sat there, taunting him. She was taunting him. Even though he’d told himself he wouldn’t, he found himself reaching out and wrapping his hand around the leather. The boots had been well-made, but they were old. The leather was worn but obviously taken care of. He let his fingers trail over the contours. It was almost like he could feel the shape of her delicate little foot in his hand.
A grumble of frustration rattled in the back of his throat as he lifted the boot to his nose. Her scent crowded into his nostrils, almost overwhelming him. The blood had worried him. Kranov knew why since these humans were an utter pain in the ass. And it wasn’t like she was an omega, but still… she was female and the alpha side of him rose in unwanted protectiveness.
He closed his eyes, drawing the scent deep into his lungs and rolling it over his tongue as he tried to figure it out. She wasn’t an omega. Her scent said beta. Screamed beta. But it was wrong. Too bright, too flashy… too everything. Like it was trying to hijack his attention and make up his mind for him.
He stayed still, his mind quiet as he let the scent settle.
There… almost at the tail end of the scent’s half-life, just before it began to fade away, were other notes. His eyes snapped open. He wasn’t sure what she was, but she wasn’t what she pretended to be.
Somehow, that knowledge helped settle him. Not much, but enough to start making plans. Lord Tane had granted him whatever he needed to track down his mysterious female. He intended to use every resource his clan had, starting with the best engineer they had, S’jaxx.
He sent a beta servant to find the other alpha. After the Iratzi Tarn ceremony had ended with the return of Kinn’s omega, everything had fallen into disorder. At least, that’s what he assumed. He’d been too busy chasing the defiant little female to see for himself, but he wasn’t going to waste time looking for Jaxx. He was the general of Lord Tane’s armies. Jaxx could come to him.
Warr looked down at the boot in his hands and then stomped over to a small cabinet and yanked open the door. He placed the boot gently on one of the shelves and shut the door again. He wouldn’t share his prize with anyone else. Not the boot… and not the female it belonged to.
It didn’t take long for Jaxx to arrive. Warr had barely closed the cabinet on his prize when the door chimes went off.
“Enter,” he growled, stalking back to the table and activating it with a sweep of his hand. Maps of the local terrain flared to life, each site of an altercation with the rebel forces marked. He stood in front of it, his arms folded over his chest as he rubbed the stubble on his jaw. There was a pattern here. There had to be a pattern. And somehow his little female fit into it. What is she, he mused. Some kind of scout or spy? A female who had been pressured into passing information to the rebels? What did they have on her… anger rose with a growl. Were they threatening her?
“I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What’s happened?” S’jaxx strolled in as if he were roaming the marketplace and not reporting for duty.
Normally Warr wouldn’t have cared. Today he did.
“You’ve been reassigned. To me.”
Jaxx blinked, his normally open expression growing absolutely opaque. “For how long, sir?”
The sir helped him rein in his emotions. Jaxx was a brilliant engineer, but he loved to dissect things to understand how they worked, and that included people. “Until I say otherwise.”
“Is this about Kinn and his omega?”
“In part. While we were watching our companion contemplate taking his life in order to free a damned female, we were being observed.”
“By who?” Jaxx’s eyes narrowed. “Is that why you vanished?”
“I didn’t vanish. I went after a target. A human female who had no place at that ceremony. One no one seemed to notice but me!” And he’d be addressing that issue with his men shortly. This shocking lapse of security should never have happened. Even worse was that despite the chase, he hadn’t gotten a good look at her face. She’d been wearing a damn hood all the time.
Jaxx frowned, already moving to the table and calling up security footage. Warr grunted, his arms still folded. He’d already trawled through everything that was available.
Jaxx’s expression grew harder as he tried to track Warr and his prey through the footage. The most he got was a slight shadow and the broad bulk of Warr’s shoulders occasionally. “Whoever this is, they knew exactly where the security cameras were.”
Warr nodded. “You think? Now tell me how they found a path through what should be impenetrable security? We have omegas in the palace for xarth’s sake. We must protect them.”
Jaxx didn’t look up as he answered. “Between the rebels and the L’crav, we’re surrounded by enemies.” He grunted as the footage reached the part where’d cut herself free to escape him. It wasn’t a clear shot, but his fall was captured well enough to make him remember the pain of landing all over again.
“A female did that? To you?” Jaxx’s voice was carefully neutral, but something in the way he held himself made Warr tense. Was that amusement? It better not be.
“A human rebel did that. With gear already stashed on our damned walls. They’re getting brazen. The Overlord wants me to track this one down and find out how she knew so much. Someone is supplying them with intel. We need to put a stop to it.”