Chapter 125: She Was His
Midnight didn’t even bother to hold back the bark of laughter. "I always wondered where those eyes came from, so they were yours. He has kept them in great condition if that is any consolation."
"Sure. That is a great consolation," huffed the hermit as he leaped through the trees toward Midnight and Silver. "It makes it all worthwhile not to see anything for the past 230 years. Now, cub, why are you here?"
"I have questions that the Alpha is never to know about; who better to ask than you?" said Midnight as he looked up to see the elder Njeriuujk crouching on a low branch above the swamp water.
"Where is your ship?" demanded the Elder. "I don’t need the Alpha sniffing around here after all these years simply because he followed your trail."
"Far from here. Everyone on my ship saw me and Silver take my personal shuttle to a pleasure planet three light jumps from here for a much-needed vacation," answered Midnight with a shrug. "Well, they didn’t actually see me; they more had to take Silver at his word that I was on it with him."
"Something tells me that I am going to want to sit down for this," grumbled the Elder. "Follow me and stick to the trees. I don’t want to be washing the smell of swamp water out of my living room."
With a grunt, Midnight jumped up into the tree that the Elder was in, a few branches higher than most of his species would have been able to do. The Elder looked up with his blind eyes and grunted. "Yup, definitely going to need to sit down for this conversation."
Turning around, he gave Silver some room to jump up before quickly leading the other two males to his house.
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"All right, cub, what is going on?" demanded the Elder as Midnight and Silver made themselves at home around the Elder’s table.
"I appear to have had another transformation, only one that I don’t recognize," explained Midnight through a clenched jaw. He didn’t feel like there was anything wrong with his current form, but it was different, and he didn’t know how the Alpha would react to ’different’.
The Elder held out his hands to be able to touch Midnight, but the other male leaned back, not comfortable with anyone’s hands on him.
"I need to see you," explained the Elder, holding up his hands in a defensive position, "This is the only way I can see."
"Fine," growled Midnight, his upper lip coming up in a snarl. "Just be quick." The Elder placed his hands on the younger male and, starting at his head, quickly made his way down to his torso.
"Huh," grunted the Elder, taking a step back. Going over to the sink, he started to pour himself some tea.
"Do you know what is going on?" demanded Silver, not like the hermit’s silence.
"I do. I just don’t know how it is possible."
"Well, what is going on?!?" pressed Midnight.
"First, tell me what happened right before you realized that this... transformation... had happened," hedged the Elder, not willing to believe that such a thing was possible after all of these centuries.
"There was a threat; I neutralized it," replied Midnight, not wanting to go into any form of detail about what had happened on the space station.
"Was there a female involved in the threat?" asked the Elder. "It is of the utmost importance if you can remember her or her smell. You are going to need to get back to her soon."
"There was a female around," answered Midnight. "Now, tell me what is going on!"
"Have you ever heard of the Ethawainians?" asked the Elder, studying the two cubs before it.
"No," replied Silver, shaking his head. Midnight didn’t bother to answer, but that was more than enough.
"Fucking Alpha," growled the Elder under his breath before taking a sip of the tea he had made. "Fucking Alpha," he repeated, this time louder. "Fine. Listen up and hold your questions for later, got it?"
"Just hurry up and get on with it," answered Midnight as he shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable.
"Itchy, huh?" smirked the Elder before the smile was off of his face, and he turned serious. "The Ethawainians were known as the seeders of the worlds. The only species to ever be made of only females, they were able to call the best males of the universe to be their mates. Their chosen underwent a transition, becoming the best that their genetics had to offer in order to pass on those genes to any offspring they have."
The Elder paused for a moment to make sure that Midnight was understanding what he was trying to say. The young Alpha grunted but didn’t say anything else.
"The itch is a physical result from being away from your mate," continued the Elder. It is only going to get worse the longer you are away until you are driven completely insane and go on a murderous rampage."
"Already there," Midnight assured him.
"It will subside as long as you are close to your mate. However..." The hermit trailed off, not sure how he should put the next part. No male would accept what he was about to say, especially not a male as strong as the Alpha in front of him.
"Spit it out," growled Midnight. With every click he was here, the itching became worse.
"However, Ethawainians aren’t like us. Their very nature presses them to take multiple mates, producing the most genetically perfect offspring possible. However, that led to a lot of conflicts between the mates, the chosen mates, and any males wanting to be chosen. Even females became enraged as the Ethawainians took the most desired mates of any species. And Ethawainians don’t share. It is important for you to remember that."
"You think I would search for another female, knowing that I have a mate out there?" said Midnight as he slammed his hands down on the table and let out a roar.
"It needed to be said. Some males felt that if they were sharing their female with other males, then they could be shared with other females as well. It didn’t end well."
Midnight thought of Merciless and grunted at that statement. It would be a death sentence to cross that female... and she was his.
"What are the bare facts that we need to know?" asked Silver, realizing that his friend was lost in his own head for a moment.
