Chapter 14

His mate had claimed him with a mate mark. Rikash felt the adrenaline rushing through him, numbing the pain of the injury. He had succeeded where his men had so far failed, and he had successfully formed a Bond with the female. It had been growing stronger every day, giving him insight into her behaviours and needs, and dopamine and oxytocin laden rewards during rutting. When she had succumbed to her instinct and bitten him, he had felt the Bond click into place, an almost physical sensation that had made his pulse race with excitement. With the mating mark as physical proof, it was indisputable that he had led his male dominants to a solution to their greatest problem - the lack of submissive mates. His lips were pulled back from his teeth in a snarling grin as he strode along the streets to the off-duty soldier s combat ring. He could hear the swell of sound as he approached, smell the blood and sweat heavy with the pheromones of combat. The guards saluted him as he pushed his way through the double doors into the ring. The crowd was thick, not just soldiers, but colonists come to bet upon the battles. The city no longer met the dominant need for blood, it s natives becoming docile and resigned to their occupation, and the soldiers spent their off-duty in the battle-ring or f-king, if they had taken a mate, in order to wear off the energy and satiate the needs of being dominant. He would need to lead them into real battle soon, or they would become destructive, he noted as the ripe smell of rage and blood-lust hit him. There was only so long the dominants would be content with games, over combat. There was a section of raised and tiered seating against one wall, but no one sat on them, standing and roaring their support for the battle, or standing around the central circle, pressing against the line to form a physical barrier for the fighters within. The floor was covered in sand, absorbing the blood and sweat of the combatants and he felt the slip of it beneath the soles of his boots as he pushed forward through soldiers too far gone in blood-lust to recognize him as their Arken from scent alone. And he was deliberately ripe with scent, having not bathed after taking his mate on the floor in the workspace of his domicile. He pushed forward into the ring, and the soldiers finally realized that their Arken was amongst them, the battle ending and the combatants falling, bloody and bruised, to their knees, panting as they humbled themselves to him. High on the pheromones of the crowd, and his own success, Rikash tore off his uniform top baring his still seeping mate-mark to the men and roaring, his lips peeling back from his teeth as he snarled and gnashed them. The men responded, driven almost feral by his revelation, roaring and growling back, circling and scenting him, nostrils flaring. The artificial lights that hung above were over-bright to Rikash s eyes, casting halos, and he knew that his pupils would be pinned, the iris reflective, his hunting senses triggered by the adrenaline and his body preparing him to hunt for prey through the dark night. His skin grew swiftly glossy with sweat from his posturing and he could scent the hot rise of pheromones from him, potently rank with aggression, and a combination of his rutting, come, and adrenaline. There was a sweeter, feminine undertone to his scent, that Rikash recognized as his human mate. He knew the scent of her come would have his men s c-ks hardening in instinctual arousal. It was an inciteful mix to inhale, raising his men s instincts to rut and fight, but also cautioning them to be wary around him and to recognize him as the dominant male. Every man in the room would know the scent of their Arken s mate, and every soldier in the city would know that the Arken had succeeded in doing what no one else had managed to do. He postured, tensing his muscles in order to display his strength, flicking his hair and vocalizing his ferocity in roars and snarls. They crouched as they approached him, displaying submission to a more dominant male, drawing in the scent of his rutting and his mate, his blood and the mate-mark, before moving back. Suppressants and simulacrums, Verika had said, Rikash thought snarling at the memory. He did not want to suppress what he was, and he did not want to mindlessly rut a pulse-less artificial body, both were unnatural and unsatisfying. Nadyr was amongst the men, and Rikash was pleased to see that he approached cautiously, though he would expect no less of his second. He knew that the second could see that he was intoxicated on adrenaline and pheromones, and was wary as a result, knowing that it would take little to provoke him into combat. In ancient times, a second might depose an Arken by challenging him to his mate. They were more civilized now, but Rikash snarled a little at his second, warning him and reminding him of his right to challenge Nadyr to combat, and that they both knew that the Arken dominant would win, as he had won since they were boys learning their skills together. "Congratulations, Arken," Nadyr kept his eyes down in order not to accidentally offer challenge. "You have succeeded ahead of your men." "I am Arken dominant," Rikash declared proudly on a growl. He tensed his muscles, cording his neck and flicking his hair as he bared and snapped his teeth, posturing to the men who continued to press close. Nadyr did not respond, but took up guard position behind him, a posture designed to reinforce the authority of the dominant and contribute to his prowess display. Riken s fourth took the third s position, as the third level dominant had taken a mate and was not present at the battle ring. Together the sub-dominants bared their teeth and tensed and released their muscles, cording their necks, displaying their strength as well as their subservience to the Arken. There was a flare of pain through the bond, and Rikash frowned, distracted from his display. What was his mate up to? "I will return to my mate now," he announced, with a final snarl and growl. "I am in the mood to rut." This time the crowds parted before him as he strode out of the ring, and into the street. He kept his pace unhurried, although that flare of pain concerned him. It would not do for his men to see him running through the streets in order to return to his mate. They would begin to wonder who dominated who in the pairing. The door into his domicile was heavy to open and a quick glance identified the cause to be a chair. His mate was lying unconscious on the carpet. He chuckled, amused. He had wondered how long it would take for her to test what the lead would do. He had caught her looking at it many times. Not docile, his mate, not by any means. "I admire your spirit," he said to her in his language. "But you will need to be punished for this." He returned the chair to its place and picked his mate up off the floor. She groaned a little as he carried her into the den and placed her on the mating surface. He retrieved his scanner from the workspace and scanned her for injuries. She would have a headache, a sore back and arse from her landing, and feel the burns on her hand for several days. He examined her hand and arm where the silver energy strike branched across her skin. It might scar. He was tempted to let it do so, as a reminder to her of the cost of disobedience, but evidence of her small rebellion might make his men doubt his control over her. He retrieved the medical kit and used a salve to cool the burns, watching as the silver faded to red, and then as the red eased and shadowed away. He lay on his back beside her, his eyes automatically fixing to the paint flaw, as he contemplated how to punish her. He did not want to undo his success in building the bond by administering a punishment that would cause her to withdraw from him, but there had to be consequences, or she would be encouraged to test other boundaries. The solution was simple. He would remove her access to clothing. He was still high on adrenaline and his own aggression, and wanted to rut - so he stripped off her dress and, after tossing it and the other articles of clothing he had been slowly adding to her possessions out the domicile door to be removed back to the hoard on the level below, he took the oil from the cleansing chamber and stripped his own clothing off in order to rub the oil into his erection, before positioning himself over her.