Free Taken (Calliston Series - Book 1) by Erica Conroy Page A

board, Ne'a craned her head around and said to Viktor, "We are having a party. You are one of the guests of honor."
    "Who are the others?" he asked. To S'rea, he seemed genuinely interested in his conversation with her young niece.
    "Me!" she declared. "We are celebrating your arrival and my being ready to mate."
    "Ne'a," her mother growled.
    Viktor's smile faltered, but he caught himself. "Congratulations," he said, and glanced at S'rea. She foresaw answering a lot of questions later tonight.
    * * *
    For the first time in hours, Viktor found himself without someone to talk to. He seized the moment to escape outside. The climate on Lyrissia was mild, the sky a slightly different hue. Of course, that could have been due to being in the center of the city. It always surprised him when the Alliance found another earth-like planet that also sustained intelligent life. The odds always seemed too great in his mind.
    He was brought out of his reverie when the door behind him opened. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that S'rea had followed him outside. Harom thankfully loitered nearby.
    "You have a large family," he said when she joined him.
    "You do not?" she asked.
    He shook his head. "Only child."
    "I am sorry," she said.
    "I'm not," he said. "I don't think I could handle twelve sisters like you have."
    "You are overwhelmed."
    Viktor looked at her and smiled. "I'm outnumbered."
    "I understand," she told him.
    Viktor nodded. He supposed she would. "I have questions," he said, and when she didn't respond, he forged on. "Why do the Orka look so different? The males and females?"
    "From what I have studied, I have hypothesized that the male gender are considered to be the intellectuals of the species and the females to be the best suited for brute force."
    "That's the opposite of what most species believe," he said, and was almost rewarded with a smile from S'rea. She fought it, however.
    "The females do not look like that from birth. They appear very similar to the males. After their childhood ends, they are divided up. Either they are used for breeding purposes or are artificially transformed into the creatures you saw today and encountered on the ship."
    Viktor couldn't find words to describe his disgust. What the Orka did was barbaric and unethical. "They're evil," he finally said.
    S'rea nodded in agreement. "My hypothesis is only based on genetic studies I have been able to conduct on captured Orka females. The alterations are remarkable, but they have clearly been tampered with on a genetic level."
    "Do you have notes?" Viktor asked. He couldn't hope to understand everything, but he could at least try to.
    "Of course," she sniffed, as if to suggest otherwise were an insult. "You are saying you want to read them?"
    "Of course," he parroted with a grin. "I have to know my enemy if I hope to beat them."
    "I will bring them to you tomorrow," she said.
    "Good," he said. "Now, my other question. What the hell happened when we got off the shuttle?"
    "When we-" S'rea started, but abruptly cut herself off. "I rejected an offer to mate."
    "You what?" Viktor exclaimed. "In public?"
    S'rea frowned. "Yes, in public. Offers are made anywhere. I am currently fertile. Unmated males are sensitive to this and either give in to the urge or control themselves. He was unable to control himself and, once rejected, removed himself in shame."
    "And this happens all the time?"  
    "For approximately one month in every year," she replied.
    "That's crazy. That's unnecessarily complicated," he said, turning her own observation on human mating rituals back on her.
    "It is, unfortunately, the way it is," she said.
    "But how do they know," he said, "that it's that time of the year?"
    "Pheromones. All males are able to discern the scent; however, it is the unmated ones that are driven by it. I believe your olfactory sensors are not developed enough to be affected."
    "I'm glad," he said, and then paused. "So both you and your niece are fertile?"  
    S'rea