AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Excited, I cut him off. “Is that a Gladiator governing body?”
“Yes. According to Gladiator law, all matters that concern the welfare of the entire Gladiator race have to be voted on by the Council of Five—one Alpha from each sector. There are seven sectors, but only Alphas from sectors one, two, three, four and five sit on the council.”
“Sector one? But that’s where the women are heading after leaving sector seven. So sector one must be in favor of buying Earthlings.”
“They are, along with sector two. This is what my intel told me prior to leaving my pack.”
“Tagah!” I yelled. “So the council agrees with the nonsense of buying humans.”
“No, not all of them agree. My last update was that the Alphas of sectors three, four, and five opposed the idea of purchasing females. Meanwhile, sectors one and two were advocates for acquiring Earthlings, whereas sector six distanced itself completely from the council’s decisions and the entire notion of buying Earthlings. Post-vote, rumors circulated among the Gladiators that despite the council’s decision, sectors one and two clandestinely proceeded with their plans to purchase Earthlings, but having left my pack for the wilderness, my knowledge of subsequent events was limited until your revelation about the Earthlings destined for sector one.”
I didn’t like this situation at all. “You’re an Alpha. Why aren’t you on the council?”
He sighed heavily. “I valued my pack’s independence and did not want to cede any authority over my sector to the council. Remaining autonomous was important to my pack. But now…”
“Now what?” I couldn’t help but press.
“With the progression of the problem with the Omers abducting and selling Earthlings, when I get back my position of Alpha, I must join the council to effect change both in law and the belief that purchasing females prevents the mating sickness.”
The tension in my body ebbed from relief. I needed Naxer’s support to help us humans. We needed law to stop human abduction from Earth, and I couldn’t effect this change without his help. Like it or not, Planet Omers was now the home of all the kidnapped humans, and we needed to wrench the power from the slavers.
“I can’t believe Gladiators really believe that abducting females is the right thing to do,” I said.
“Most of us don’t. But our interplanetary visits via our teleport chambers resulted in no females of breeding compatibility.”
“Teleport chambers?” I perked up with excitement. “Can they take us back to Earth?”
He shook his head. “Teleports can only transport to short distances; therefore, it is incapable of sending you back to Earth. Many moons ago, they tried it with disastrous results—many people died.”
My stomach sank with disappointment. “How about stealing the Omers ships?”
His head remained on a swivel for danger. “We don’t know how to fly them.”
“Now I understand why the Omers have a power grip on this planet. They control the ships and are transporting what Gladiators want desperately—females.”
“But no matter how many females they abduct, it doesn’t negate one simple truth. They cannot force our mating. Our Wulfaen chooses our Sheleki, and only that match allows us to breed strong female pups.”
“But that does not stop the slavers from abducting us from Earth.”
“Agreed. The Gladiators’ desperation for survival has undermined our morals.”
A whipvine tendril reached for my shoulder, and with a hard slash of his blade, he severed it. I turned partway, aimed, and shot the thing in the tentacle-ball that topped it. Its vines twitched convulsively as it died.
“Fucking hate those things,” I growled. It felt good to be annoyed, to be aggressive, to lash out. The rush of heat through my blood beat back the cold of reality a little.
“Everyone does. Many moons ago, an Omers warlord built a fortress in the jungle just outside sector one. He tried using a ring of those things to keep attackers from the walls. The problem was, they grabbed a lot of his guards just out on their night rounds.” He sniffed. “The trees are still there, and the fortress, but all the males of that place are long dead.”
We continued to trek in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts, but I had so many questions whirling around in my head.
“Where do you see us humans fitting into your society?” It hurt to ask that question, but I had to have some idea of what to expect, if staying here really had to be part of my long-term plans.
“I’ve heard that sectors three, four, and five have a plan to offer the Earthlings asylum and protection under the council’s authority.”
“Interesting,” I mused.
“But I left my pack before I found out how they would determine where the Earthlings would live.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
