Free Damaged (Planet Alpha) by Erin M. Leaf

held me were evil. Terrible.”
    “I am not those Xyrans,” Kyuk said, voice steady.
    Reiyn had to speak. “A long time ago, centuries in the past, Xyrans were taught that self-control created the path on which an honorable life could be built.”
    “That’s impossible,” she said, still holding onto Kyuk as if he were a life-raft. “Xyrans are either barbaric, or cold. There’s nothing in between.”
    “No,” Kyuk said calmly. “Instinct can force us to lose control, that is true. But we are no more brutal than any other sentient race. Control over emotion is the key to control over our ability to change our skin. That control leads to honor.”
    “Then what happened? Why do you enslave everyone you meet?” she cried, tears sliding down her cheeks.
    Reiyn moved closer. “It is what happens when evil conquers the hearts of warriors.”
    She tried to pull away from Kyuk, but he didn’t let her go. “It is what happens when warriors allow instinct to overwhelm rationality.”
    “Is that what’s happening to me?” She yanked her hands away. “Instinct?”
    “What do you want, Cori? What do you truly desire?” Kyuk asked her.
    Reiyn stared at him in surprise. What did Kyuk know about Cori that he’d missed?
    “I want to not be alone,” she whispered after a long, agonizing moment.
    “You need not be,” Reiyn said, touching her wrist. The tenuous bond that had formed the first time he’d bitten her abruptly roared up like an inferno.
    Kyuk groaned as the energy shot from Reiyn to him through their blood-kin oath. “Is that not what we all want?”
    She didn’t respond, but her hair crackled around her head like a blonde halo. She’d never looked more beautiful.
    “Can you feel it?” Reiyn asked, not sure which of them would answer him.
    Cori nodded, suddenly collapsing into him. He staggered as her full weight hit his torso, but then Kyuk was there, steadying them both. “It is the bond,” he murmured.
    “Accept us, and you will never be alone again,” Kyuk said, his hands going around Reiyn and Cori. “I, too, am tired of hiding in the shadows, grief and violence my constant companions. I want to live a free life, with you. I wish to share my blood.” He looked at Reiyn, bare emotion in his eyes.
    Reiyn could not deny his blood-kin. He nodded, accepting Kyuk’s need.
    As Cori watched, Kyuk leaned up and bit Reiyn in the neck.
    Reiyn cried out as the energy within them flared higher. He lost control of his skin, color-cycling from brown to blue to red before settling into flesh-normal when Kyuk released him. Kyuk’s skin cycled as the bond raced through him. Reiyn drew his knife and nicked his wrist, waiting until the blood beaded. Then he lifted it to Cori.
    “Accept us,” he offered.
    Cori stared at him, then bent to lick the blood away. When she closed her lips over his wrist, Reiyn shook. Power flashed through his bones. She lifted away slowly, mouth open and Reiyn’s blood on her lips. He handed her the knife, and she clenched her fist around it. She turned and brought it right up against Kyuk’s neck.
    “My blood-kin has chosen you , and you have chosen him. Where he goes, I gladly follow,” Kyuk said to Cori. “You are worthy. Accept me, or kill me.”
    “I should kill you both,” she replied in a broken voice. “I was a slave for years.” Her eyes held tears, but they didn’t fall.
    “This is not slavery. This is liberty,” Kyuk murmured.
    Her hand trembled.
    “I will never hurt you,” Reiyn said, knowing through their tenuous bond that she was deeply afraid.
    “You lied to me.” She swallowed, trembling. “You lied. I let you inside me, took you into my body, and you lied with your skin.”
    Shame twisted his gut, but he couldn’t regret what he’d done. He would do it again, because she was their true mate. He felt it in his bones. And she was just as damaged as they were. She is a survivor. Our equal.
    “Reiyn cannot lie to you anymore,” Kyuk grated out.