Page 32 of A Monster's Light

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He took my hand and shook. “Sorry if I’m coming off unfriendly. I don’t mean to. But we’ve got a little problem.” He turned the screen of his device toward me.

“Omnia Pictures Journalist Kidnapped for Monster Rut,”I read out loud. “What! That’s not true.” I shook my head. “But it’s something Omnia Pictures would publish as long as Nova Vita paid the right sum.”

I kept reading. The bullshit article even had commentaries from my parents, who were begging the authorities to do everything in their power to bring me back. Except both of my parents were long gone. My dad passed when I was really young in a work-related accident, and I was raised by my mom. I lost Mom in the floods of the Big Tsunami.

But hey, they interviewed my neighbor, andthatpart was probably real. It was an Omnia Pictures special, seamlessly mixing truths and lies so you could never tell what was what.

“I’m so livid I can’t keep reading, but I’ve spent my whole life writing articles like this. I swear, I tried to find another job but couldn’t. And then Julie went missing, and I knew I had to use my contacts to find her.”

Mark’s face softened. “We understand. We all had to live.”

“Yeah, we get it. You had to publish what they wanted,” Tasha said, nodding. “Have you met Kat?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve met so many people in the last two days that I don’t remember.”

“She was Councillor Dubois’s assistant.”

My eyes widened. “Oh! That Kat! I have met her. But not here in Ellaston. I interviewed her once. She’s here? And alive?”

Councillor Dubois and his assistant had disappeared shortly after the information on the Utopia Project had leaked. It was assumed that they’d gone into hiding together, abandoning his “poor” wife. It was “true love,” they’d said since she was willing to go on the run and disappear with him, even after he’d lost it all. I’d always thought it was a crock of bull.

Mark nodded solemnly. “She is. She splits her time between here and the stronghold. And if the other settlers can accept her, then they can accept you. So your old job isn’t the problem. Keep reading.”

I did, and the words had me fuming. Nova Vita was considering it an act of war!

“They’re using me as an excuse to start a fucking war? Hell no! They’re after the ore in the mountains. Have been since the treaty with the Kadrixans ended. I’m not going to let it happen. Do you have a way to broadcast to Nova Vita? I’m assuming you do because I watched the documentary with the survivors you rescued from one of the labs.”

“We do.”

“Good. I’m going to make sure Nova Vita knows the truth.”

“Good for you!” Tasha gave me a double thumbs-up. “You show them who’s boss.”

“We can film it right now if you’re ready.”

“I sure am.”

Tasha continued to the library, and I stepped back into the community center with Mark, ready to rip Nova Vita a new one.

Chapter 18: Gnnar

Our leader paced in front of the brig, a stern look on his face. “Do we need to confine you for the rest of the rut?”

Considering the number of fights I’d started in the last planetary rotation, I didn’t blame Krxare for throwing me in the warship’s holding cell. While fights were common between warriors during this time, they were usually easily diffused by the human females with an offer to help us cool off. Problem was, I didn’t want them to help me cool off. I wanted Dana. My ability to think properly was eroding away by the minute.

Krxare to turned to Grtirr, our medic. “Do you think the foreign chemicals are still in his system?”

“Negative, I do not believe so. He’s fully metabolized it, and there are no traces of it left at all.” Grtirr was at the edge of his rut; I could tell by the way he kept clenching his jaws and fists. “This is the rut. He’s displaying all the classic symptoms of a male denying himself.”

I had yet to tell anyone that Dana was my mate, but perhaps that had been a mistake. I needed help looking for her before the rut consumed me, making me dangerous to my own people.

Dana wasn’t anywhere in the stronghold. I’d looked everywhere. At least, that was what I told myself. The alternativewas that another warrior had found her compatible as his mate and taken her to his nest, and that was unacceptable.

“Dana is my mate. Vostak said she stayed for the rut. I’ve looked everywhere for her, but she is not here.”

Krxare visibly relaxed. “That makes sense now. I was getting worried that the chemical somehow damaged you, making you more violent permanently. In this case, the solution is easy. Go find your mate.” Then he paled. “Unless she has rejected you.”

We had protocols in place in case a warrior was rejected by his mate. First, we’d try to help them work out the issue. We’d had females reject a warrior that first year we had the treaty with Nova Vita simply because they were scared, not understanding our customs or our biology. We encouraged them to spend several days together in his nest, or even better, through an entire rut. Then, if she still found him unworthy, we watched the warrior for signs he could become dangerous.