It was two o’clock and the afternoon sun was relentless. Everyone moved just a bit slower than normal, the heat making them sluggish and more irritable. It had been one of the hottest summers in the past ten years and most didn’t quite know how to handle such extreme weather. 

Reid wished he could be at home basking in the cool air from his half-broken air conditioner–the only thing good about his crappy home–but his boss had called him in to take an extra shift since someone else called out. Reid needed the money and couldn’t refuse the offer, no matter how badly he wanted to. 

That’s how he ended up here, standing at the entrance of the Bowie terminal, taking tickets from each person that wanted to board. It was a simple job and didn’t pay much, but that was all he could get. As the years went by, it was steadily becoming harder and harder for his kind to find jobs. Most have accepted their fates and lived off the wealth of their bonded pair. 

Reid’s lip curled in disgust at the thought of them. Those creatures, the Naerians, took humanoid forms and forced his kind into submission. 

Reydra. 

That’s what they called him and the other natural inhabitants of the planet Earth. Reydra meant something lower, something owned. They were objects with no say or will like a porcelain doll on the shelf to be dusted and displayed. They had one purpose and one purpose only.

Time and time again, it had been shoved down their throats that as reydra, they would be claimed. Their purpose? To breed more and more of those disgusting beasts until there was nothing left of the human race. 

They put laws in place to keep humans separated. Breeding facilities were developed to keep them plentiful but contained. One by one the calling would come and their Naerian owner would claim them, using pretty words like “bond mates.”

Reid would not succumb to such a fate, he’d rather die. It sickened him to see people, like those in the Naerian-Redyra Coalition, fighting to unite humans with the aliens. They even used that goddamned name for humans, acquiescent in their degradation. They were such cowards, ignorant cowards. 

And then there were the Nirks. 

It was difficult for Reid to determine which was worse. Humans who accepted their fate as redrya or Nirks…who willingly underwent transfusions to mix their DNA with the Naerians. They were half breeds, and the only subspecies that the Naerians bothered to acknowledge with some modicum of respect. Most of the upper class in the Old World had transformed. Politicians. Celebrities. Business tycoons. They were all sellouts. 

But in the past couple of years, there has been a rise in operations. The procedure was made cheaper and some couldn’t pass up the opportunity to rise up in status. Reid didn’t blame them entirely. It was the closest they could get to having their lives back. 

Reid understood the need for self-preservation after it became abundantly clear that there was no way to combat the Naerians, whose technology and strengths were way beyond them. He may have only been five years old when The Change happened, but he still remembered the freedom they once had. He remembered the tenacity and fiery will that had kept humans strong and on top for the majority of their existence. 

In two months, the Naerians shattered it all, wiping out any form of resistance. Any army or firepower they had as a species was rendered useless and ineffective, unable to pierce their armored scales. Their razor-sharp talons sliced through metal and bone like water, staining the world red in a matter of seconds.

Filthy Dragons, the lot of them.

It had been twenty years since the invasion and they had thoroughly conquered the human race. It was embarrassing. Reid felt sick to his stomach just thinking about those strange crystals they brought with them and how it changed the genetic makeup of every human inhabiting the planet. Gave them strange reproductive organs, made them experience rut cycles, and bear this undeniable desire for the alien race. 

Once the rut came, it was impossible to fight it and it put any human in danger of being bred by the nearest Naerian. Barbaric. For a species so advanced, it made no sense for them to have such brutal and archaic methods of reproduction. 

Alas, there was not much they could do. The humans still haven’t figured out how to build a resistance that was adept enough to take the Naerians on. They hadn’t figured out how to pierce their impenetrable flesh. But the fight wasn’t completely forgotten. 

“Reid!” A slippery voice hissed. 

Reid blinked and noticed a line had gathered in his queue. Naerian and Nirk alike, were annoyed with his lack of action. He didn’t even realize he stopped taking people’s tickets and now Gres was practically blowing smoke from his nostrils. 

The Naerian was a stout male, not at all like the beautiful creatures that he was used to. It was the reason he even took the job here in the first place. He didn’t want to be tempted by their comeliness. 

This Naerian was old, with a receding hairline, showing more of those strange black swirling marks that Naerians usually had etched into their faces and bodies. It glowed brilliant colors depending on what they were feeling. And right now, his were a startling red. 

He had beady black eyes and a thin pointy nose that didn’t look like it fit his round frame. His lips were thin, always chapped, and cut from his sharp fangs that he didn’t bother hiding. He had a permanent stick up his ass so they were always unsheathed. 

As much as Reid hated the male and his entire race, he couldn’t afford to mess up. He needed this job. He had to provide for his mother who grew thinner and thinner as the days passed. 

His mother, who was looking forward to when a Naerian came to claim Reid. 

He loved the woman, but that was the one thing he couldn’t stand about her. She completely surrendered to the takeover. She ogled them whenever they showed up on their beat-up hologram that could only stream the local news and glitched every five minutes. 

Reid knew that she just wanted him to be taken care of, but that was because after Reid’s father died, she had a mental breakdown, and something in her once intelligent mind just...snapped. She was never the same. Most of his childhood he spent raising himself and taking care of her. His father died a month after The Change in a rebel battle. When his mother caught word, she wouldn’t speak for three years. It was only when he was eight years old, that she started to speak and it was words of awe. She was watching the news as one of the members of the Naerian council spoke about some new laws they were putting into place. Her brown eyes which had been vacant and dull had a sparkle in them that Reid hadn’t seen since The Change. She was entranced by the male’s beauty and that was the beginning. 

Since then, she’s never missed an announcement or any chance to see them. She started wishing she was like them, then began pushing her ideals onto Reid. He was mature enough at that point, having to become the adult in the house at such an early age, to realize that his mother was not mentally sound. At first, he was shocked that she would glorify the very beings who destroyed not only their freedom but the love of her life. He would bring up his father’s death, but his mother pretended she had no idea who he was talking about. And that is when he knew. 

So he smiled and nodded, changing the subject whenever she mentioned him being bonded to one of them and breeding. She always sounded so happy, it broke Reid’s heart. 

And it wasn’t just her mind that was sick, but her body...it didn’t accept The Change very well. There were few humans who rejected the alterations in genetics. Their bodies became fragile and slowly ate away at itself, treating the new genes like a disease to be fought. His mother happened to be one of them.

The medicine for her condition was expensive. Between that and needing his suppressants...he was barely making ends meet. Reid was determined though, he wouldn’t give up. He didn’t have a choice. 

“I’m sorry, sfiad. It won’t happen again,” Reid rushed out quickly, bowing his head and averting his gaze the way he knew Naerians liked. Submission was always their end goal. 

“It better not! Or I’ll have you shipped off to the Breeding House!” Gres hissed. 

Reid bristled at the threat, his whole body stiffening until he nodded weakly. 

He only raised his head after he heard the thunderous stomps get further away from him. Releasing a breath of relief, he looked to the people waiting in his queue, ushering a soft apology, before continuing to collect their tickets. The Nirks that passed and were close enough to hear, shot him pitying looks. The Naerians barely even glanced at him, like he was invisible and insignificant. 

And he supposed he was…to them at least. 

When his shift was finally over, he sagged in relief. He changed out of his navy blue uniform and shook out his dark hair that had flattened from his cap. Slipping into a comfortable pair of dark blue jeans and a thin black shirt. He tied his metal collar around his neck to protect himself from any forceful bonding. It was a special metal created that Naerian talons could not penetrate, infused with Gemma Crystal powder. He spent an arm and a leg getting one of them when they were first released. 

It was the only good thing the Naerians had ever done for humans. Though it was only because the suicide rate for humans increased after the constant attacks on the street. The sad part was that no one could really afford them. 

The only reason Reid had gotten one was that a friend of his was bonded to a Naerian who owned part of the company that created them. They managed to swipe him one for a price. Twenty-six silver kefé. One kefé was two weeks of pay. But he couldn’t complain too much, because it was worth it. He was only vulnerable when at work; Gres didn’t allow any of his workers to wear them during their shifts.

Grabbing his satchel, Reid dipped out into the busy streets. The sun was beginning to set and the lights from the city bled across the horizon. Reid knew his mother would already be asleep and didn’t rush home. Instead, he walked a couple of blocks to the not-so-great part of the city. Most of the unbonded human housing was in the slums. His home was no exception. But this was a particularly bad part of town. 

Muggings and murders happened on a regular basis. Reid was well adept in the art of combat, but he still didn’t flounce around like he ran the place. He was cautious, keeping to the shadows, aiming to blend in and not be seen. 

Naerians didn’t usually bother with this part of town unless they were snatching up an unfortunate soul who happened to be chosen for a bond mate, which rarely happened, seeing as most of the humans here were infertile or sick, unable to adjust to the Gemma Crystal’s genetic alterations. They left the undesirable humans to rot. They were the cast-offs. That’s what made it the best hiding spot.

The buildings were rundown and decrepit, a lot of them without any source of power or electricity. The streets were dimly lit by the city lights in the distance, but when those went out, the entire town was shrouded in darkness. 

Reid reached an old abandoned flower shop with chipped red paint, missing letters from the sign overhead, and broken glass that once displayed lavish floral arrangements. He didn’t bother with the door and stepped right through the opening in the glass. His boots crunched as he stepped through forgotten debris and traces of what life was before The Change. 

Wooden displays were overturned, heavy with twenty years worth of dust. The air was stuffy like an attic despite having the breeze from the entrance. Little nests had been made in some of the corners as wildlife made their home here. Cobwebs littered the place and roaches skittered across the scratched vinyl floors. 

Reid kept walking toward the back of the store where there was a small hallway and a couple of doors. One was falling off its hinges leading to a non-functioning bathroom, but the others were still intact. Reid reached for the furthest door, letting it creak open before slipping inside.