Chapter 3

Rikash had lost the bet with his second.

After the initial invasion, it had appeared otherwise as his dominant males rutted their way through the submissive females of the human species with a wildness that had been alarming to Rikash, fearing that his belief that the lack of submissive females was the cause of the behavioural problems amongst dominant males was being proved incorrect, and that the Loren and dominant females had been right all along – the true problem was in the nature of dominant males.

However, after their initial almost gluttonous use of the females, the focus of many of the dominant males had shifted, and they had begun to display territorial behaviour over some of the females, denning and scent marking them. The number grew, until the public harems that the traders had established were less popular than the mate markets.

No one wanted to use a female that had already been overused by others, they wanted their own and they wanted the Bond - the telepathic link between male and female, dominant and submissive.

As the weeks had passed, the traders had been hard pressed to keep up with demand, raiding the domiciles of the humans for fertile females of the appropriate age to be sold as mates, and the next release of female slaves onto the market was as avidly discussed around the combat ring, as the fight taking place.

Initial reports had been encouraging as the dominant males forged Bonds with their chosen mate, but the reports had gone on to say that the Bonds had not formed completely. The incomplete Bond was a source of frustration and had an unsettling effect on the dominant males, the raising of hope being dashed so quickly resulting in behavioural escalations, and the death of several human females whose mates had decided to start fresh with another, blaming the female for the failed Bond.

Rikash had decided that the fault lay in the males dominance being weak and had decided to select a mate and forge a Bond himself to prove that it could be done.

He had attended many mate markets over the last two weeks, patiently waiting for the right human woman, his requirements clarifying in his mind as he had observed. His initial criteria had been for one that shared his colouring, so that his children would look like him, but watching the sales, the shrilly shrieking, sobbing, and shaking women had repulsed him.

The humans might be weak, and that weakness might appeal to him, making him feel invincible by comparison, but it did not mean that he wanted his mate to be a snivelling creature. She would, after all, be an influence on his children, and he wanted strong kits.

This one had stood out in the chain of women. She had not wept or cringed. She had almost been disdainful of the process, he thought with a flare of satisfaction. Watching what went on around her as if it did not touch her. She had bitten the salesman and received the reprimanding slap with indifference, barely blinking beneath the blow.

Her hair was satisfyingly dark, and her eyes were blue. An odd, blue, the colour of the sky on this planet, a different blue to his own, but a blue that he thought he would not mind seeing in his offspring s face should the genes fall out in such a way.

The comm on his cuff vibrated. Nadyr. His lip curled in a sneer. He might not have succeeded in getting his second to submit yet, but he would eventually.

"Nadyr."

"Arken Rikash," his second was cautious. "The Wrexan has arrived and is ready to disembark, and an exploratory team on the front line has gone missing."

Rikash ran his tongue over his sharp canine and premolars, irritated. "The humans rebel again," he growled. "For a frail species, they are determined."

"That is my theory," Nadyr agreed.

"Send Hunters. Bring any they take back. I will oversee their punishment."

"As you command."

"It is well timed that you have contact me," Rikash decided. "I have found a female to take as mate and will be entering seclusion with her."

Nadyr was silent for a long moment. "I volunteer," he said suddenly.

Rikash stopped walking. "You volunteer?"

"I will take a mate, so that you do not have to," Nadyr offered. "I know it was not your desire to do so. I will take the woman you have selected and will take her as mate in order to forge a Bond to prove that it can be done."

For a moment, Rikash was tempted. Taking a mate was risky. There were only three ways to depose an Arken - assassination by the Arken-apparent, a declaration of war by the Loren, or challenge by an unmated second. An ambitious and unmated second could challenge an Arken for his mate, and whichever man won would get the female, and the position of Arken.

Giving the human female to Nadyr would have two purposes – a mated second could not challenge his Arken, and it would appear to be a generous gift, an honour for Nadyr to be given the very female that Rikash had selected for himself.

But if Nadyr succeeded in forging a Bond rather than Rikash, that achievement would be recorded into history and would have weight with the dominant males, increasing the second s power and esteem.

Besides, Rikash thought, running his eye over the naked woman who waited at his side, having stopped when he had done so, he wanted her. And there was an appeal to owning a person to the extent of which he would own her, he thought, appreciating for the first time what was motivating his men to mate rather than use harems for release.

"No," he told his second. "I have set upon this course and so I will see it to conclusion. I will be in my domicile, until I succeed."