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

Chapter Nineteen

Vil

Noel slept like the dead, clinging to our egg as if his life depended on it. I could barely leave his side, admittedly because the pull of attraction to their vulnerability was too much. I was their protector. Their mate. And, as my fingers traced the slightest bit of exposed shell, my heart clenched because part of me had known for so long that fatherhood was impossible. I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. So, when it finally hit, I broke somewhere.

Hot tears stung my eyes, and I fought them back, clenching teeth and claws until my shoulders shook.

“You okay? Looks like you’re in pain, Vil.” Doc’s soft voice drew my ire, and I glanced up at him, earning a sympathetic nod. The glassine look in his eyes mirrored my own defeat.

I nodded jerkily, fighting tears in a way I hadn’t since I was a child. “I didn’t think we could.”

“I knew it was possible. You and your siblings were made for purposes and spawned so many different generations, but the likelihood of you finding compatible reproductive partners without extreme intervention is highly unlikely. For instance, you can reproduce with Tal omegas through nucleus exchange and IVF.” Doc waved a hand, dismissing me.

“So, you let me fuck him knowing that this could happen?” Anger rose to replace the tears, and he waved me off dismissively.

“No! I barely knew what he was fully. There’s only ever been one omega we knew about. Him. Everything else is suspect.” Doc stared me down as the anger subsided and tears finally came. “Hell, I didn’t even notice until I was scanning him for the heart. If I’d have known it was a possibility, I’d have never suggested it!”

I nodded and hung my head, tapping into the strange sensations of the song that Noel spoke of. That sound that I could only hear in my soul. The second, smaller sound held onto my mind like a hook, digging in to thin flesh that stung and wormed its way into me, as if forcing me to acknowledge it. I brushed my fingertips ever so lightly over it and sniffed. “I hear you, little one. You are mine and I will always hear you.”

Doc raised a curious brow. “Hear?”

“I—” I’d never thought to tell Doc about my feelings, the bond or what I heard, but I spoke, then, explaining to him the delicate song that let me sense Noel, and the growing little presence from the egg. Each bit fascinated Doc as he pulled up a viewscreen and meticulously noted down the details of the bond and how it drew us in.

“Telepathic,” he said, nodding fervently. “Would explain the electroreceptive pores. You’re communicating that way. Like you sense prey, he can sense you and vice versa.”

I didn’t care what it was as long as I got to keep Noel, to keep our young, to… I couldn’t imagine anything keeping me from him.

Doc sidled off, sighing in almost boredom as he bid me goodnight. I brought up a viewscreen to track our progress to the starbase and balked at the eleven hours we had left and a fresh message from Roan Canthem that I glared at for a long, hard moment before opening.

He would meet us at the docks promptly after arrival, where Doc would perform the surgery in our bay with his doctor. Nondisclosure agreements would be distributed, and during recovery, as a means of good faith, he would not keep his security on hand and would like to have a long chat about how one came into possession of such a being with honesty and compliance being rewarded with a complete truce. I wanted to watch the man die twice over, the low-blooded-hybreed moneygrubber. Though I had no room to talk. I was just less successful at it.

For the time, though, I could do little else but make sure Noel felt what peace he could.

***

Morning came soon enough, the early hours of standard galactic time coinciding with an ancient twenty-four-hour system that functioned well for humans and human breeds.

Frankly, I found the term human offensive. “Not sure why they keep calling them Earthlings and humans when they’ve all been outbred with everything. Half Progenitor, half Tal, half this or that.”

“Space sluts,” Noel said, stretching himself awake.

“You can’t just tack space onto everything.” I rolled my eyes and sat up, rolling out of bed to watch him wrap and tuck our egg into place amid pillows and blankets we’d collected. I wanted so many more to keep him safe. We had so much shopping to do after his donation.

“I can. I did.” He nodded succinctly as a blip went off on my monitor, telling me Doc was ready for me.

“You’re stranger than a Delbarian screwtail’s asshole.” I snorted and gave him a soft kiss, silencing his questions. “I’ll be right back.”

I shuffled my way across the room to rummage through my clothing. Shirts were mandatory when dealing with civilized folks. I threw on a tunic long enough to hit my waist and my tail base, splitting over the scaled appendage. The soft material of my slacks slid over my scales easily, obscuring my more reptilian features. And for once, I wore shoes, thick boots that matched my outfit, binding my clawed toes in a moderately comfortable way. Though, they’d blister as fast as they could heal if I had to work in them. I threw a tie into my dark hair, realizing for the first time that it was as silken and soft as Noel’s, a mane fit for a Naleucian. The vain thought brought me a modicum of pleasure as I marched out and into the med bay to greet Doc.

He sat in his clinic, legs crossed, leaning against one of his tables. The space had been cleaned and prepped for what was to come. “Sarge is already unloading with the brokers to get things into customs.”

I nodded sagely and glanced him over. His shoulder-length blond hair had the palest cast to it, almost silvery, maybe even blue. He’d changed in some small way, like being close to his Progenitor brought out some of the hybreed blood within him.

“Good. The men need something to brighten them up.” I nodded as Doc led me to the docking bay to wait with me as a small retinue greeted us.

Against the polycrystalline dome, our ship had latched, the airlock between us open temporarily. The empty cavernous space, metallic crystal in structure, served as a waiting port, quarantine between us and the outside world. The data from our ship analyzed viral load in the water to see if we carried any pathogen, and a quick scan of our air and water once boarded would complete the process.

If I’d have been any more with it, I’d have contaminated our water to prevent the latch, to buy us more time. Then again, that’d have locked us out for at least 72 hours. It would have cost us the money or caused worse issues with Roan and his temper.

When my eyes met his, the bastard stared back at me from a much grayer face than I’d once known. His cheeks, once full and firm, almost hung at the sides of his face amid graying stubble. I couldn’t muster a smirk for the pity I felt. “You look like shit, man.”

His schooled expression narrowed, but he didn’t comment, sunken eyes raking my body up and down as if assessing me. “Lucky bastard.”

“Depends on the perspective. Come aboard.” Doc gestured for Roan and what looked to be three medical personnel.

“Boys.” Roan halted before boarding. “Help Vil’s men unload and if anything is of value, give him 5 percent above market.” He offered me a wan smile that I didn’t return, only nodded in gratitude for. He was trying, that was for certain.

“Any particular reason?” I asked, leading the way for Doc, the medical team, and Roan to occupy the medical bay.

“I have a vested interest in what you hold not being questioned. I assume wherever you got this hybreed from with a direct line to N03, that it shouldn’t be public knowledge.” He brushed his fingers on his jacket and glanced about with a half sneer. “At least your facilities are somewhat up to date.”

Doc tensed at the comment but said nothing.

“What’s got you going into failure?” Sensing an opportunity to ask, I turned to face Roan and kept my stare impassive.

“Experimental procedure I had done to see if it could increase my hybreed percentage. The society is in on it,” he said, like it was some smug thing to admit.

“I take it you don’t need a heart replaced, then.” Doc sighed and stared Roan down as his smile widened.

“If I had a second heart, things would be better, but if it’s impossible, I’ll understand. One heart isn’t enough to deal with this.” Roan raked a frail hand through steely dark hair, his eyes far too human to be over a few percent, sclera white and pupils small.

“What you’ve asked for is going to cost me greatly, but it’s what he wants. So, be grateful,” I spoke through gritted teeth, and Roan narrowed his gaze before nodding.

“All I offered still stands.” He spread his palms wide and extended his arms, smiling at me as if we were friends. “And we can speak candidly after.”

I nodded politely and Doc left, saying he was getting the donor. I couldn’t imagine leaving our young alone for even a second and flinched when Doc glared at me. “Stay. He needs to see.”

I didn’t want him to stay, but Doc was a good man, better than I, at any rate. I froze and swallowed hard as Roan went about taking his tie and jacket off, his medical assistant’s doctor taking them from him. “You’re all under NDA.”

“And NDAs go both ways,” I said. The tone of my voice bit out, far more scathing than I’d liked.

He nodded sagely. “And I have somewhat of an idea what I’ve walked into and we’re both on the same side. It’s unfortunate it had to be you , of all people.”

I rolled my eyes but turned to face the door as Doc approached, Noel following in toe with his arms cradling our egg. Every spine on my body raised and tugged at my tunic as I rushed forward to take our young from him and protect him from view.

“Progenitors…” Roan’s whisper of a swear excited the room, mutters between his assistants teeming before silencing at his gesture. “When?”

“Last night.” Noel’s soft voice cracked gently as he slid the egg into my waiting arms with the utmost care. “He’ll be okay without me for this long. Please stay in our room with him until it’s over. I cannot bear for him to sense my pain or fear any longer.”

Roan’s calculative stare turned soft before he hesitated. “That’s why you delayed?”

Doc nodded sharply.

“And that’s…” His eyes dipped to the egg.

“Pure Naleucian, for all intents and purposes. Progenitor.” Noel’s blank stare turned vivid as his eyes ringed with blue. “So, your heart will come from as close to N03 as possible.”

Roan’s choked breath silenced before he nodded fearfully. “I—thank you.”

“You can thank me by doing my mate’s crew honestly. And understand that my happiness directly dictates whether I help in the future. Because once you have part of me, which I can already sense on you, in such a small, insignificant way, you’ll have use for me.” I wanted to reach out and hold him, but the fierceness in his eyes and posture came off every bit as regal and lovely as any Progenitor was said to be. He was beautiful, an image of royalty.

Roan nodded. “Thank you.”

Noel scoffed and turned to me, laying a hand on my arm. His tail found mine as they wound around one another, the last foot or so twining sweetly. “Keep him warm. I’ll join you soon.”

Fundamentally dismissed, I leaned down and kissed him ever so lightly, staking my claim, as a note of pride perked up in our young’s heart. He liked when I kissed Noel. Cute.

Noel’s smile saw me off and the last I saw was his stiff posture shadowed by the brightness of the bay as Doc took my place as protector. I prayed to whoever would listen, the gods that they claimed our ancestors were and Noel himself. Please let him wake up okay. I didn’t think he was ready so soon to rut and didn’t know what chemicals we could pump into him so soon after birth, or if he’d harm himself or others trying to escape.

Our egg seemed to know best, though, and he was content.