Alpha Siege (Omega Mates #1) - Pearl Tate Page 0,3

forest. The trees are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.

Huge, the trunks are—house sized—twenty-feet in diameter, but I’m zipping by them so quickly! There must be some kind of sensor built into this craft, because now it’s become a mouse trap ride with me being jerked from side to side, narrowly missing the trunks. The entire experience is just adding to my upset stomach, but it appears to be slowing down.

Long moments later, the craft’s become painfully slow, finally gliding to a stop. It continues to travel seemingly on ball bearings across the ground. It’s slow enough now that I begin to look around, wondering how to get out. There are no handles or latches… or anything that looks remotely familiar.

Seconds after my ride comes to a complete halt, hovering approximately five feet or so above the ground, the entire top of the enclosure around me gives off a strange hiss before springing up and into the air behind me.

So this is it?

Now what do I do?

CHAPTER TWO

- Kaneer

LOOKING OVER AT Pascel, I watch him build up the fire, taking his time as he rotates the spit loaded down with our latest catch. I’m glad I brought him on this acquisition hunt. Most of the other males in our group wouldn’t agree with that decision, looking at his limp as a handicap. There’s no doubt he takes longer to get around, but he’s also a harder worker than the other two with us put together.

“Benluk, go scout upstream. Pleace, you go scout downstream. He won’t go far from the water.”

“Do I have to right now? I mean… I’m the one that brought in the garlick.” Benluk waves at the small skinned animal roasting over the fire as he licks his lips.

Rolling my eyes, I take the half a step forward and cuff him up the side of the head. “And you’ll eat last now.” They always have to test me, pushing the boundaries of my authority.

Pleace has already left, smart enough to know not to question my orders. Benluk wisely heads upstream without another word. Happy that they’re gone, I settle into a crouch and pull out my message board to re-read our orders. Sent with a visual video yesterday, I left our settlement early this morning after dispersing three other groups to track the acquisition around our current encampment.

Orders from the low dwellers cannot be ignored. I don’t know exactly how they pinpoint where we all are on the surface of Alta, but they always do. There must be old tech that they utilize to know our locations at every point in time because the communication came directly into the Hub that we stayed at the previous night.

Not that I mind the orders. In fact, they did let me know that there are five other encampments that have been given the same acquisition order. By making it a competition, they ensure that their latest escapee is found and brought back to them as soon as possible.

Pulling up the visual record, I study the escapee’s head shot. With short hair and wearing a shirt that reaches up to his jaw, he looks like every other low dweller. I wonder how he ended up on their recovery list? Pale skin and the lack of scars on his face set him apart from the above dwellers.

Years of fighting, not only for your life but just to eat, have crisscrossed the exterior skin on all of us. We wear them with pride along with the ritualistic ranking marks. Of course, the more you have, the more you've been challenged… like me.

“Is that him?” I don’t even mind that Pascel is looking over my shoulder. Nodding, I glance up to see him already moving away.

“Well, he won’t last long.”

I have to agree. For a low dweller, just being above ground is dangerous, but his unfortunate escape has not been in the most fortuitous of surroundings either. Here, the hills hide many large predators, especially among the praline trees. Their large trunks have been burrowed out even more than they grow naturally by the saks for their breeding. This is the worst time of year to enter the area.

If the saks aren’t already carrying or birthing their young, then they’re fucking in a never-ending cycle to attempt to have them. Like most creatures everywhere, their yearly cycle ends with either pregnancy or death from trying. I’ve personally never been into this area during this time of the season, and for a good reason. If it