Read Breeder for Free Online Page B

Fresh.” Emboldened by his question, she held up the compound leaf by its petiole. “Do you wish to smell?”
    An indefinable emotion flickered before he shuttered his gaze and shifted the reins. She expected him to take the leaf, but he grabbed her hand and raised it to his nose. Her breath caught in her throat, and a flutter of whisperflies circled inside her stomach. He could have crushed her fingers, so mighty was his strength, but he merely held her securely as he sniffed. His breath breezed across her skin. “I would agree with your assessment.” He released her and transferred the reins, clicked his tongue at the beasts, and increased their pace.
    She dropped her hand to her lap. His touch lingered on her skin.
    * * * *
    At a roadhouse, they stopped for a meal of fresh-baked panna, roasted meat, and a bowlful of the sweetest berries she’d ever tasted. They carried their fare outside to eat under the shade of a tree. She tried to pick at her meal delicately, but hunger overcame decorum, and she ate every bite of meat, every crumb of panna, and every berry. By the time she finished, her belly pooched out, and berry juice stained her fingers.
    The Commander eyed her. “For a little thing, you eat like an alpha warrior.” The amusement in his tone relieved the rebuke of his words.
    They boarded the conveyance, and this time he helped her at the onset, boosting her into the seat. He flicked the reins, and travel resumed.
    Wrought by a wakeful eve, the fullness of her meal, and the rocking of the conveyance, a heavy weariness pressed upon her, and Omra had to fight to keep her eyelids from drooping.
    A clank and jolt jarred her awake. Her head leaned on something hard but warm. She blinked and stared at the smoothness of the dark gray fabric upon which her cheek rested. A shoulder, she concluded. Then with horror: Alpha’s. She was leaning on the Commander! She catapulted upright, an apology quivering on her lips. “Begging forgiveness, I am so sorry, Commander, I did not mean—”
    “Do not concern yourself.” He brushed aside her worries. “It was a long ride.”
    They had halted under a portico, its roof supported by two massive stone pillars. Builders had constructed the lower portion of the main structure from gray Parseon marble, the top half from an opaque reflective material. In keeping with Parseon culture, which valued function over beauty, the edifice formed a square, its corners and walls plumb, with not a single stone misaligned nor a single adornment to soften the starkness except for veins meandering through the marble in an unruly way.
    “My domicile,” Alpha announced.
    A massive wooden door opened, and a tall man emerged.
    Corren, she presumed, and studied him from beneath her lashes.
    If not for his insignia and his brown uniform, he could have been mistaken for an alpha. Corded muscles bulged in his arms and rippled across his chest. His hair was of some medium shade, cropped short like an Alpha rather than chin length like a typical beta. He spared her not a glance but focused on the Commander.
    Alpha alighted from the conveyance, and the two men embraced in a Bridge of Amity, a sign denoting friendship or a truce, depending on the situation. The Commander clasped Corren’s bare right shoulder, and the beta touched Alpha’s left uniform-covered one, their arms forming a link between them. She studied the two men and redacted her impression of Corren as alpha-like. Next to the Commander, he dwindled in stature and comportment. He stood almost a head shorter, his shoulders were narrower, his musculature puny, his bearing common. But who could compare to Alpha?
    “ Kianiko ?” Alpha asked, in the Parseon greeting used with familiars.
    “I am well,” the beta responded. “Kianiko?”
    “Excellent. The ride offered a pleasant diversion.”
    They broke apart, and Corren retreated. He continued to ignore Omra but eyed the beasts and the sheen of sweat glistening on their coats. “I do