The Last Omega in the Galaxy (Scales and Tails of Fate #1)

Chapter Seven

Vil

By the time I could stop fucking and bathing the Naleucian, I was sure a few solar days had passed, but their eyes, that ecliptic ring of blue in them like the sine waves of a stone tossed into a midnight pool, had thickened a little and their posture had become more certain.

We’d ended our first shower by rutting again, and again, before a nap was required. We’d bathed again, and it wasn’t until my stomach growled that we discussed maybe leaving. Their appetite hadn’t returned quite yet, but when a chime over the speakers alerted me to a polite request for contact from Sarge, I accepted and sat up in bed, carefully drawing a blanket over us as the camera came into play.

“Progenitors’ sake, Vil. Are you two still fucking?” He sighed at his screen and the expression of pure disappointment gave me pride.

“Currently we were napping,” I said with subdued delight when Noel stretched out and rolled over, exposing a very fine ass to the camera in part, his tail curling over my leg through the covers with a possessive twist.

“Well, the boys have been emptying that base and we’ve found another kanoik. Juvenile and a nest of eggs. Mind getting off your ass and his ass for long enough to take care of it?”

“Kanoik?” Noel yawned and lifted his bed-tousled head and grunted.

I pulled up a holoscreen beside me and loaded an image of the thing.

“Giant space scorpion.” He nodded sagely, and I wanted to argue, but the description was fairly apt.

“With acid venom and pure hate.” Sarge bared his teeth in mock aggression over the screen. Noel canted his head and stared at him with an odd blink. It was a bit like watching a puppy discovering the ways the world worked and not comprehending them.

“If it’s a bother, I can kill it.” Noel sat up and stretched, arching his back in a salacious display that begged me to breed him all over again.

“Only Vil has the outright balls to go challenge a kanoik.” Sarge snorted, and I didn’t know if I should dismiss Noel or see what he was capable of. Though, some deep-seated evil part of me wanted to keep him captive in my bedroom, to treasure and hoard him, to enslave him to my cock and never share. An even deeper part of me said to protect him.

“Omegas do not have testicles, so I do not have balls. Would this impede my ability to conquer this sort of beast?” Noel sat up straighter and Sarge’s eyes wandered, dipping down between his legs where he’d find nothing of particular interest. This pleased me for some strange reason. The cock he kept hidden was for me alone.

“I—” Sarge blinked in surprise. “No. Should be fine to do it if you’re strong enough. Vil?”

I shrugged and offered Sarge a grin. “I’m curious to see what he does. I’m sure he’ll do fantastic.”

Noel sat up on his knees and tilted his head, face a mask. “I’ll get to stretch my wings a bit.”

Sarge’s brow furrowed, and I hesitated. Wings were… Actually, not rare for what we were but uncommon. And in the days I’d been rutting him senseless, he’d not shown me once. Hell, I’d not shown him mine, either.

As if sensing my thought, he rolled his shoulders and from two stripes down his back where dorsal slits ran through his scales, he pushed free two thin, batlike wings, the reptilian appendages shaking and flexing to regain blood flow. The troutlike skin stretched with blueish-gray tinge as they caught the light and shimmered, almost translucent in places, save for dark, spidering veins.

For fuck’s sake, I wanted to have him again at least once before we came out. They were gorgeous.

Without asking, I reached forward, clawed fingertips tracing his spine and traversing out toward the delicate webbing. As thin and vulnerable as it was, it was hardy, could regenerate quickly, and nothing short of very high caliber bullets or laser weapons stood a chance against them. “Progenitors…they’re fantastic.”

Noel did something akin to a flick with them before rustling the appendages to rest over his shoulders like a capelet. I wanted them stretched out again, fanned over me as he rode my cock. I groaned low in my throat with need. Just one more rut… “Sarge…”

“No! Absolutely not. You’ve had how many days now? No more fucking. Your dick is gonna fall off.” Sarge waved me off and gave Noel a put-upon glare. The poor Naleucian had no chance against Sarge’s browbeating. He shrank and drew his wings in with no complaint and glanced between me and him a few times.

“He is your command?” Noel’s head swiveled to me and my jaw dropped in defense, unable to answer the question before Sarge snorted.

“No. Vil here is in charge. My job is to keep him fit to serve. I guess your job is to keep his cock wet?” Sarge glared and Noel froze, eyes wide, expression blank. A classic dissociation flashed and as I got a good look, his pupils had slitted once more, that hollowness taking him over. I wondered what else besides the surgeries had been done to him. We both knew there were far worse things than organs they could take.

Innocence.

“At ease, Noel. Your job is whatever you want. There’s plenty of people here to fuck if you don’t want to.” Whatever I said seemed to disarm him, dropping the mood his mind had evidently spun into.

“But you cannot.” Noel blinked a few times. “Because you picked this o—me.”

“Alright, no jealousy here. Everyone’s a whore and we all share.” Sarge waved Noel off, but the sudden doubtful expression on his face had me worried.

“A discussion for another time, then.” I grinned and gave Noel a wink that seemed to satisfy him on some level before we were readied and ushered out to the bridge, where Gorm sat spinning idly in one of the chairs—specifically my chair.

I glared at him.

He glared back.

A flick of his gaze toward Noel made him startle before he slinked out of the seat and gestured for me to have it. And without questioning, as we slipped by him, Noel sat obediently on the floor by my feet, legs crossed beneath him, dark eyes dilated too wide once more. I didn’t even fight the urge to reach over the arm of my chair and stroke his head. A god, almost. They’d been a creature so rare and revered they’d ended worlds. And, with their presence alone, had changed the course of human evolution. By me. At my feet. I shook the thought from my mind as Sarge asked Merriel to display photos of the kanoik, the nest, and what they’d harvested.

I swiped through things as Noel watched on with quiet fascination. The shape his lips made, a soft pink O , when they parted, made me want to kiss him. Part of me was jealous of the floor he sat on, wanting him in my lap instead. He was a creature of mystery, and I would tame him. He’d be mine and nobody else’s. The thoughts ramped in my mind as Gorm approached, sniffing at Noel curiously.

“Back the fuck off!” I said, my entire face aching with how fast it shifted into a vicious snarl. Gorm reeled back, eyes wide as he deflated a little in submission.

“Was just curious, boss.” Gorm’s reproachful stare usually elicited a little empathy in me, a modicum of some sort of surrender, but not then. He was too close to me, too close to my mate.

Mate? I didn’t like that visceral response. I shook the sensation off and went back to the viewscreen, absentmindedly stroking the feathery locks of Noel’s sky-blue hair.

“If you’re curious, ask.” I gritted my teeth as a fierce pride of protection pulsed in my chest, earning an almost-affectionate nuzzle against my leg from Noel as he leaned in. Likely seeking comfort more than attention, I took no issue with him.

“Wanted to know what the percentage the new hybreed is… And he smells awful good.” Gorm didn’t move, a submissive scent permeating the room, creating a tension in the air that Sarge probably wouldn’t notice.

“Not a hybreed,” I said, enunciating clearly without another rude snarl by sheer effort.

“Too humanoid to be a Tal. Sorry, newbie. Don’t mean to be rude.” Gorm’s mere presence in the room had me ready to attack, and the defensive energy melted when Noel rubbed his cheek into my leg.

“Progenitor.” The word came out sharp and quiet, followed by several long seconds of silence.

“Nah, man, what percent?” Gorm snorted when Sarge closed the bay doors, locking Gorm in.

“One hundred. Full Naleucian.” Noel turned his head to stare at Gorm, and following his gaze, I turned with him, staring the other hybreed down. He blinked slowly, jaw dropping before he sank to his knees in submission to my precious prize. My chest puffed in response and a deep-seated part of my lizard brain preened.

“A whole-ass dragon… That’s what they had in that cryotank you took? It ain’t an unstable hybreed? He kicked ass like one.” Gorm’s whispered voice barely went above the hum of the ship’s machinery.

“He was unstable as fuck for a while, man. Good thing Cap’n has that magic dick,” Merriel said, interrupting a tense moment with his inappropriate brand of commentary that made me sigh heavily.

“Aw, man, he’s been fucking some sense into you for a few days straight, then? Your Mages—how do I address you?” Gorm’s face wrinkled.

Noel shrugged. “Raziel only called me by my hatch name. I chose to be Noel. So, you may call me that.”

“Ra—” Gorm’s eyes widened.

“N03-1.” My confirmation had the dark green of Gorm’s scales going sickly pale.

“Holy shit. A real one. They’re real. I—” Gorm’s tail flicked excitedly, a sharp-toothed grin spreading wide across their face before subsiding. “Are they worth anything?”

The question took me by surprise before it took Noel, who turned his attention to me with an expectant stare.

Noel was priceless. He was a Progenitor, a pure-blooded Naleucian, the— My thoughts went blank as I realized what they’d used him for. Why he’d been put away.

His cells had been harvested and pushed and used so much in the human population that any gene center harvesting off high-blood hybreeds would never consider taking them for anything but show. They were worthless but invaluable, organs stable for only a select few of the population. A bauble. My mouth opened and before I could say a word, Gorm shook his head, lips twisted. “Not a penny I’d be willing to take, I bet.”

Noel nodded slowly. “Over harvested.”

“Isn’t he in us?” Gorm shrugged at Noel.

I shook my head. “They couldn’t back cross any of N02 and N01 samples with N03. We knew little about third gender reproduction with an anucleate host. Only low-percentage hybreeds carry his mark.”

“Hmm. Checks out.” He nodded sagely and turned his attention to Noel. “So—N0—Noel.”

Noel nodded, staring at Gorm expectantly.

“So, is it true you guys got two dicks?”

I blinked. Noel tilted his head for a moment, genuinely thinking of how to answer the question. I’d never once before taken issue with our rudeness, but this was different. I bristled until Noel shook his head. “It takes two to breed one omega, so I technically need two sets of reproductive organs, but each individual only has the one penis. Alphas typically have a deep proximal erectile bulge, if you’re curious about that sort of thing. Omegas do not have testes, but we have a ventral slit that contains both our reproductive canal and penis, though the penis is largely pointless at this point in evolutionary history with omegas.”

“I found it quite useful.” My admission made Gorm snort and Noel glance over, blinking curiously. “Whenever I stroke your cock, your insides ripple…”

Gorm’s face lit with predatory interest and my glare must have been something to behold as I glanced over. He backed off, hands raised with a shuffle backward. “No disrespect. Acting all lizard primal there, Vil.”

“Because he’s mine!” The admission escaped my lips before I could take them back, and I nearly choked.

“Woah, dude, possessive?” Gorm narrowed his slitted gaze at me and studied me for a long moment.

“Nah, man. According to the footage I got—” Merriel played a clip of a rather carnal session of me rutting ruthlessly into a prone Noel, biting onto his neck. “He engaged in a monogamous mating ritual with Noel, effectively cockblocking himself for like…all forever.”

Noel nodded in agreement. “He claimed me as his mate.”

The bottom dropped from my stomach as Merriel kept going and playing that private clip. Noel watched it with unbothered fascination. “He was good at it.”

“Wait. Wait, wait, wait! One moment. Wait.” I held up my hand. “A monogamous mating ritual?”

Noel glanced back up at me, tearing his gaze away from the screen. “That’s what the biting thing is when we lock.” He pulled his sheet of pale hair away, letting me gaze upon the garish marks of my teeth imprinted onto his neck and shoulder. Those endless eyes stared at me, blinking with pure innocence, too sweet for a creature that moaned like a banshee and fucked like a wild cat being given a bath. He was absolutely feral in bed.

Gorm gestured midair, interacting with Merriel’s interface as he sped through far too much footage of our last few nights.

“For fuck’s sake! Gorm, stop! Privacy?” I wiped a hand down my face in pure exasperation and earned a bewildered squint.

“Since when are you shy about being watched?” Gorm scoffed and my temper rose, petering out as Noel nudged my leg affectionately, settling me with his presence. “Or is this part of that mating ritual thing? Is this like that time I accidentally married that bloke on Epsis twelve because I went to bed wearing pink with him?”

Merriel chimed in. “Actually, it’s a hormonal thing. Noel’s biology is extraordinarily compatible with Vil’s. The Naluecian omega has a pheromone that’s nearly irresistible. True omegas on their own homeworld, according to documentation left behind, are harvested shortly after full maturity and have their glands and wombs ablated. So, Noel is rare as a Naleuician omega for being in-tact as it were. So, he’s essentially drugged our captain with his sex stink and chemically locked him into forced monogamy.”

“Holy shit. Really? Not even a blowjob? Lemme see!” Gorm licked his lips and stood, but I found myself snarling.

“No!” I pulled back and found Noel bristling at my side, shoulders pinched. A dangerous aura clouded around him, not anything physical but as if a static rose in the air.

“Progenitors! I get it.” Gorm lifted his hands and backed up before puzzling. “You are Progenitors… Who do we swear to now? Your parents?”

“They were not my parents. N01 and N02 were my…” Noel’s eyes unfocused as they twitched, pupils shifting before he gestured a hand ambiguously. “Patrons?”

He muttered to himself, doubting his word choice. “I was to mature and be compatible reproductive materials.”

“You were their child bride?” Gorm’s ever tactless words made me groan.

“No. They were genetically matched to fifty eggs for best genetic diversity, and we were loaded onto the ship when we came from our world. Something in the ship’s pressurization caused many of the eggs to rupture and fail to develop. On a fluke, only I survived. In the mix were two of Raziel and Nirem’s eggs. They did not make it.” Noel leaned more into my legs and rubbed a smooth cheek along the scaled flesh there with a sigh. “I was a consolation prize, but I didn’t know—I suppose I was not wholly lucid. I understood you were mating me, but by the time the bite had been given, all I could think about was rutting.”

I wanted to be angry, to hiss with displeasure and cause a scene, but my body craved Noel, and I’d noticed that even before we found him, my body had lost interest in sex. “Fuck… This is worse than the marriage thing, Gorm.”

“Got a way to undo it?” Gorm tilted his head and glanced at Noel.

He promptly nodded. “If I perish, there will be a physiological period of mourning . There will be a chemical depression, and after a season or two, you’ll be receptive again. But it’s difficult to dispose of a being like me. I suppose if we part ways, it could cause a similar reaction with enough time and distance.” Noel seemed to be genuinely processing the question.

“No,” I said automatically. My body tensed and the seat’s armrests creaked beneath my fingers. “There’s no need. I’m fine with just him for the time.”

“Yeah, but what if he needs to fuck around?” Gorm gestured toward Noel, who shrugged.

“He’ll do fine with just me.” I nodded and enjoyed the sensation of ownership. The omega was mine. I had mated him. Lizard brain was pleased. Ten out of ten.

That was dumb. Of course, lizard brain was pleased. I’d fucked for longer and harder than I ever had in my life. I constantly hungered for touch and pleasure that I’d never get from anyone else unless… Two seasons wasn’t a long time in the grand scheme of things. I could part from him. I could lea— As my mind processed this, I drew Noel into my lap to sit across my spread legs, soaking in my possessive touch.

“Yeah, we’ve lost him. You guys need more time?” Merriel snickered, and Gorm sighed heavily.

“No, they don’t need more time. We have a schedule and we’re running low on reserves.” Sarge’s voice bit through my stupor of lust.

“There was a space scorpion that needed exterminating?” Noel’s question seemed to take Sarge by surprise.

“A kanoik, yes.”

“Okay. If I kill this thing, we can finish and leave?” Noel sat up straight and swiveled in my lap, eyes wide with alertness.

“Uhh…” Sarge glanced at me and I shrugged.

Either he died, and I got off the hook of the mating bond, or he lived and I could fuck him harder than anything I’d ever been permitted.

Win—win.