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By now, the smell of food was all I could pay attention to, and my stomach complained loudly about how hungry it was. Technically, I hadn't eaten since yesterday, and that had only been a few bites as I was trying to conserve food.
We ended up back in the great room, which had completely morphed in our time away. It had been mostly empty before, but now it was filled with large floor cushions set in many small circles around the room. At the center of each circle was a low table set with place settings.
“At events like these, the food is served family-style. It's weird at first not sitting at a table, but you'll get used to it,” Tasha said. “Kadrixan chairs aren't very comfortable for us, and they find our chairs awkward with the way their legs are shaped, so we meet in the middle and sit cross-legged on cushions.”
I remembered the chair I’d seen in Krxare’s room.
“What do you mean by events like these?” I asked, taking a seat on a fluffy cushion next to Julie.
“I mean during the days leading up to the rut when there are new people to get to know. Usually, each section of the stronghold eats on their own,” she explained. “We’ve been doing Christmas since the first year too.”
“Are you telling me these giant demon-like aliens celebrate Christmas?”
“We kind of made them. It's not like we're super religious and traditional at the colony. We already celebrate a bastardized version of it anyway, so it’s just an excuse to get together and have a party. They really don’t mind as long as we’re happy.” She made a gesture with her hand.
That was when I noticed the scar on her arm. It was faint, barely there.
“Your arm,” I started before I had the time to process the meaning. “That’s where your chip is.”
“Oh, that thing?” She held out her arm to show us better. “I took that out the first year.”
Julie, Michelle, and I exchanged three-way glances. The other three women were just as shocked.
“You took it out?” one of them asked.
“But the chip is basically your ID and a bank card.” I said, frowning. “Without it, you can’t go to work or ride the public rail. You can’t even buy anything. It has all your money on it.”
“Here, let me show you rather than tell you.” Penelope stepped over to a pair of warriors, spoke to them briefly, and returned with something we all recognized: a chip scanner. “Let’s see your chip.” She held out the scanner waiting for my arm.
I hesitated. If I scanned it, everyone in the room would know I was broke and jobless. And of course, it would now also show that I was a participant in the monsters’ rut this year, though I suppose that wouldn’t matter to these women.
“Whatever yours says, I guarantee mine looked worse.” She gave me a wry grin.
I held out my arm to the scanner.
“According to this, you can’t get a job, ride the rail, or go shopping anyway.”
I made a face. “I can too ride the rail.” It was the only thing I could do. “I still have—”
She turned the device around to me. Instead of the twenty-eight fifty I’d still had in my bank account the last time I checked, I was now in the negatives.
“What the fuck?” I snatched the scanner from her.
It was only twenty-eight fifty, but I’d made triple sure I never went below zero. That was a cardinal sin. It was better to be late on a payment than to have less than zero on your chip. I’d starved myself and ate nothing but stale sweet crackers, the only thing I could afford, for a week.
“That’s not right.” I clicked into my finances and gasped. “Those assholes charged me a thousand-dollar processing fee for choosing the rut!”
“Surprise! They did that to me too, and they seemed pissed we were coming here instead of to Utopia. I wonder how much they got if we went to the project.” She took the scanner back from me and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “I’m sorry you’re in the negative. I was too. I decided staying here was the best choice, even though none of the Kadrixans has bonded to me yet.” She shook her head and sighed. “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, even—”
Our circle of women went eerily silent as every eye at our table looked up behind me. I felt his presence a split-second later. I knew who I’d see when I turned around. His heat permeated the gap between us, making the hairs on my arms stand at attention.
Krxare stood there with a large frown. Menacing. Imposing. And his entire focus was on me.
Chapter 7: Krxare
My female was unhappy. I felt it in the air and saw it in the way she held herself when I walked into the Great Hall. I immediately searched for the cause of her distress, looking for something, someone, I could destroy to bring her happiness, but there was nowhere to direct my violence.
I’d hated leaving her alone so soon after we met, but she was safe with the other females. The females had also assured us that spending time with them would calm the new arrivals and show them that there was nothing to fear from us. They’d formed something called awelcoming committeewhose sole function was to make sure the new females settled down well among them and felt welcomed.
