Breeder Read Online Free PDF Page B

shook his head. “Corren’s rules are to be obeyed, and he may recommend a form of punishment, but I will decide what is appropriate and mete it out. Other alphas permit their betas more leeway, but I do not.”
    “How long has Corren been your beta?”
    “About two years. I met him before my first trip to Terra. I required an administrative aide, and the High Council recommended him. I recognized his organizational skills, our personalities meshed, and so we had a civil union anointed.”
    She gaped. “You have been to Terra?”
    He laughed at her astonishment, his mirth vibrating with an unfamiliar sensation. He couldn’t recall the last time laughter born of true amusement had rumbled in his chest.
    “Many times. I am Parseon’s ambassador to Terra,” he answered without boast. Though the High Council found it expedient to maintain diplomatic relations with the planet, the other Alphas considered its culture and traditions revolting. His willingness to deal with the alien race made him the natural choice.
    “What are the Terrans like? Is it true they resemble us?”
    “Our genomes are not dissimilar, and we share some of the same DNA, since the Epic Radiation Flare damaged ours and we spliced in one of their genes to repair the deformities,” he explained. Females lacked the mental capacity for education, so she would not have learned the history of their race. “So yes, they look a lot like us, although there are some physical differences.”
    “Like what?”
    “They are smaller than we are, although you would be about average for a Terran female. Both sexes have body hair, although the females tend to have less.”
    “Terran breeders have body hair?” She wrinkled her nose.
    He chuckled again.
    “Where?” she asked.
    “Their extremities, underarms, genitals. Though sometimes they remove part or all of it.”
    She cocked her head, disbelief scribbled across her expressive face. He should have chastised her for disrespect, except she looked so comical he laughed instead.
    She studied her hairless arms and legs, and he eyed his hirsute ones. “It is true,” he insisted. He withheld mention that once a month, Terran females bled in a process called menstruation. She would never believe it. Nor did he bother sharing stories that females achieved pleasure in mating, because he was quite sure the Terran males had been joking when they delivered that alleged factoid. Even if it were true for Terrans, she was Parseon.
    “How else are they different?” she asked.
    Dak stretched his legs and leaned back in the conveyance. As Alpha, he could not risk idle conversation with other males, as an offhand comment could alter the course of history, undo interplanetary diplomacy, or end lives. He had to consider the nuance of every single word before he uttered it, making conversation taxing. Even with Corren, he maintained a caution. He’d made a lot of decisions from his gut, and his intuition had saved his life on more than one occasion.
    But Omra hid no agenda, secret strategy, or ambition to build or destroy an empire. True, she’d wreaked a fair amount of trouble, but she presented no political threat to his command or his life. Talking with her relaxed him.
    “Men on Terra do not have betas,” he said.
    She frowned. “Do they not need companionship?”
    “The Terran race doesn’t have alphas the way Parseon does. Alpha is not a concept Terrans understand.” The Protocol Personnel Council tested the physical, mental, and emotional fortitude of male children at the eighth year of their birth. The most intelligent, aggressive, and robust—those identified as alpha—underwent arduous military and leadership training. Not all survived. Betas, males deemed to be less assertive and commanding, were educated in support functions and helping professions. However, a lack of aggression necessary for leadership did not mean betas were less dangerous to cross. In his estimation, they often exhibited far more