Chapter Text
Riddick powered down the controls, shifting the vessel over to the set autopilot route, the Necromonger scout ship starting up its slow orbit around Jupiter.
“Very good,” Alexander said from the co-pilot’s seat. “I’d say you’ve pretty much mastered the controls at this point. Not surprising, given our nature.”
Riddick leaned back with a sigh, stretching his arms and back. Only been two days since they broke atmo off Old Earth and tucked themselves behind the biggest planet in the system. Fuck if he’d jump them anywhere until he could fly the damn boat, and learning had taken up most the last forty-eight hours.
Alexander hadn’t pushed him about anything yet; Riddick wasn’t sure if the man even could or simply knew how to read the room. Probably the latter, given his nature as an Omega. While all this Furyan shit was still news to him, there was no denying the push and pull between them.
As the Alpha, Riddick controlled pretty much any interaction between them without any real effort. If Riddick stood up, Alexander followed. He moved, the other man moved out of his way. He steered away from a topic, the Omega let it drop.
But according to Alexander, Omegas weren’t completely submissive, just subordinate with unique the ability to sidestep the natural hierarchy when needed. He’d explained while his inclination and drives would always put him below Riddick in a Furyan society model, Omegas were valued advisors and confidants, and outside the squabbles of Betas and other Alphas jockeying for position. And if shit really got ugly, an Omega could defy an Alpha.
Riddick was pretty sure he was saying without saying he’d eventually leave to find another Alpha Furyan if Riddick didn’t bring down the Necromonger order.
Really did sound like a bunch of damn dogs, the way he fucking went on about it, but Riddick had dominated those mutts on Tirgris so what was the point in arguing. Still wasn’t sure how he felt about all that shit.
He propped his boots up on the console and crossed his arms. Stared up at the smooth, curving metal ceiling of the bridge. “Assume you wanna tell me what our nature has to do with piloting?”
He scented Alexander’s approval at the question; nothing trite or condescending about it. The man was just genuinely pleased when Riddick engaged him. “Not piloting specifically. Our home world Furya was a harsh mistress. No one knows for certain what triggered the deviations in our DNA, but it all stems around survivability. Why we have animal-like instincts, heal faster, our heightened senses and strength, etcetera.”
“Feels like that animal side takes over sometimes. Same with you?”
“I suspect that is an Alpha trait more than anything. You’ve described it as almost a separate force or spirit inside you at times.”
“Something like that, yeah.”
“That separation maybe be a result of isolation from others of your kind.” Alexander sighed a bit, mild frustration touching his scent. “Conversion drove mine into the ground unfortunately, though it was more mild to begin with compared to your descriptions. I hope it will heal, given time. Maybe yours will inspire my own.”
Riddick grunted. “Not much of the inspiring type.” Waved the topic away. “What else you know about this deviation shit? And Furya?”
“Furya was rife with dangers of all colors, which were constantly changing and evolving, so being able to catalog and retain the information was critical.”
“Explains why I never seem to forget much.”
“Yes,” Alexander confirmed. “To survive Furya, we had to be adaptable to new challenges, yet keep our existing defenses up. Hence the ease at which you mastered the controls.” He paused for a second, then noted, “Jack is doing quite well on her lessons.”
Riddick craned his head Alexander’s direction. “She’s sharp. Always has been.”
“You’ve known her long?”
“Seven years.” He leaned forward in the chair, inhaling deeply. There was a curiosity to this line of questioning, to bringing up Jack now that didn’t have a damn thing to do with the boat. “You got a point or just being fucking nosy?”
Alexander huffed a small laugh. “Nosy isn’t inaccurate, considering you’re in a position to continue our species where I am not.” When Riddick perked a brow, Alexander reminded him, “Conversion includes sterilization. That part wasn’t avoidable. Perhaps we can find a way to reverse the effects, but it was a necessary sacrifice.”
“Not exactly the fatherly type over here, case you missed it.”
“There may be a reason you aren’t feeling so,” Alexander offered, which made Riddick roll his eyes. “It relates to me being nosy, as you put it, but also to our nature.”
Riddick was still getting used to how Alexander could scent him. He’d said his senses weren’t as advanced as an Alpha’s and also slightly deadened from his time with the Necromongers, but they’d seemed to be improving since Riddick broke the conversion with a touch. Whole thing still felt fucking bizarre. Certainly wasn’t used to even footing in that arena.
“Alright,” he drawled, “So you want Furyan babies running around at some point. Ain’t it all pointless if the Lord Marshall is still kicking around, hunting us down?”
“Yes.” Alexander regarded him for a moment. “But we’re moving away from what I wanted to ask you about Jack.”
Riddick propped his elbows on his knees, knew damn well he was posturing, but found he couldn’t help it, his voice low and dangerous when he said, “What about her.”
“She’s young. And younger than you by a number of years?”
“Not sure what your point is. Doesn’t bother us, not really your business.”
“Furyans are long lived,” Alexander offered. “Some have exceeded the normal human lifetimes by fifty percent or more.”
“Still not seeing your point.”
Alexander showed his open hands. “I think you’re missing some information about how our people mate. I’m only trying to access your knowledge before I bore you with things you already know.”
“Well, we fuck. Sure you’ve heard it. We ain’t married if that’s what you mean by mated, but she’s mine and I’m hers even if we ain’t got papers or rings.”
“But you haven’t bonded with her yet.”
The question/not question stirred a flicker in his hindbrain. Riddick barely repressed a shudder, not sure why his heart rate suddenly sped up and his blood heated. “Guessing that means something special to Furyans?”
The Omega ran a hand over his head, leaving light dusting of tawny hair standing up in odd directions after. “Given the hostility of our home world and the small population we began with, there were never very many of us. Our population trends very, very heavily male, to the point it creates an unsustainable gene pool. Women never bonded outside our people given how rare they were, but men would go off world to find mates and bring them planetside after they’d bonded to them.”
“So what’s it mean?”
“Imparting our deviation, so to speak, to your chosen mate. By bonding to a woman, she becomes genetically Furyan. The most common way for the bonding to occur is pregnancy. The fetus contains the father’s DNA, the Furyan deviation, and infuses it to the mother.”
“Though we already discussed the kid shit? Not on the table,” Riddick said, feeling the inexplicable need to add, “Not right now at least.”
Fucking hell though, the longer this conversation went on, damned if he wasn't getting hard suddenly imagining Jack with his child growing inside her. It left him both uncomfortable and some strange kind of desperate. Felt like the animal wanted to go grab her and make it happen right the fuck now.
He strangled the thoughts down and away; even if he wanted to knock her up – Christ, he’d never even given it a thought before, given who he was, his life, his animal – what in fuck was the point having a kid if it was just going to be hunted by fanatics? And he had no idea what Jack would think of the idea. Wasn’t something they’d ever talked about. Before he’d gone on the run for three years, she’d still been a child herself.
He shook his head, all the other thoughts enough to drive the urge back, but he had a feeling this new desire wouldn’t just vanish.
The idea of bonding with Jack on the other hand, in a permanent way beyond promises and words? And if it could make her heal faster, shit like that? Sounded damn good, fucking perfect in fact. All sounded like shit to keep her safe.
“So is putting a kid in her the only way to bond? Make her…Furyan, like you said?”
Alexander studied him, his expression carefully neutral, but Riddick whiffed the faint doubt. Got him to his feet in a second, shiv flashing, although he wasn’t entirely sure he could kill this man.
“You’ve got about two fucking seconds to explain yourself.”
Alexander’s hands went up in surrender, no fear in his scent. “I only want you to have all the proper information about what you are and what bonding means, Riddick. I’m not looking to insult Jack or question your devotion to each other, but loving a person doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a proper bond match. Being an Alpha complicates matters further.”
Riddick couldn’t keep the growl out of his voice, the animal rearing up violently at the suggestion he’d give Jack up for fucking anything. He pointed his shiv at Alexander’s nose.
“Two. Seconds.”
A quick nod. “Bonding can also be done through an exchange of blood and intent, and I will happily teach you the details. But know regardless of how the bond is formed, it’s for life. There’s no breaking what you’ll share, no going back. Your bondmate would be the only person who could ever have your children. You’ll share a connection that goes beyond the physical – we are spirit warriors, after all. You’d share mental and physical connections with one other, giving part of your spirits to each other along with your Furyan DNA enhancing hers. And each bond is unique in how exactly the benefits manifest themselves. Compatibility, and more importantly the strength of the qualities of the woman who takes the bond, all influence this.
“The woman would change as we’ve already discussed, due to imparting the Furyan deviation onto their DNA. And a bonding can kill the female if she isn’t genetically compatible, or if her DNA has fundamental flaws. Our Furyan deviation won’t allow for weakness in the gene pool. It was common practice to have potential bondmates tested for genetic defects before bringing them into the fold.
“And then you’re an Alpha, which adds another layer of complexity. By bonding with you, a woman shares your status among our people. The queen to your king, for a simple analog. To put a woman in that position who is not of the proper caliber could lead to a social crisis, if she even survived bonding to someone like you in the first place.”
“Social crisis for what?” Riddick laughed. “The two of us?”
“There are more of us out there, Riddick, else my life’s work has been for naught,” Alexander said with a wry smile. “It could be dozens, but if we’re lucky it could be hundreds. We can’t know at this point. After hiding our people away, myself and the other Omegas who converted had to pretend they didn’t exist.
“All of which is not the priority at the moment. My concern is more the demands of bonding to an Alpha in the first place. I’m telling you this because you need to know as much as possible before you risk her. This is my point and I would make it to any Alpha regarding any woman.”
Riddick drew a deep breath, making himself really hear the man, because he hadn’t known any of this shit. Needed to do something to keep himself from the blind rage growing at all these words suggesting Jack wasn’t worthy of all that he could give her, of all that she could be to him – not that she wasn’t fucking everything already. He didn’t have a single doubt about her. Knew she was different from the moment she walked up to him in the Hunter-Gratzner wreck and stared him in the eyes, and she was only twelve at the time.
“I’ve known Jack two days,” Alexander added, as if sensing the dangerous terrain he was treading on. “I’m hardly in a position to pass judgment, nor am I trying to do so. You need to think through these things and understand them. And if you have any doubts, any at all, it may be better to keep her as a lover instead of making her your bonded mate.”
Riddick’s thoughts had been such a torrent and he’d been so focused on reading Alexander’s scent to gauge his motives, he physically startled when he caught a sudden and distinct whiff of fear.
He jerked around as Jack’s back disappeared down the stairwell, as she did the worst thing she could have done in that moment, with his animal thrashing and howling on a threadbare leash at the mere suggestion she wouldn’t be his, wasn’t already his, in everything but some fucking terminology.
She ran.