“You’ve completely ignored some of the coyotes we’ve planted to figure out what you’re asking.”]

I lift a finger, “Some.” I shrug, “Just because I like the coyotes doesn’t mean I don’t know something’s off when they suddenly get really friendly.”

His ear twitches really irritably.

“Listen, if you're half-way decent at your job you’ve probably had the prodigy eavesdropping on me and the other first years I hang out with. I’m a little unserious when I say I am obsessed with them when I talk to everyone. I intervene with the pets and unclaimed Omegas as well.” I feel my tail twitch and then fold my arms, “Besides there are full blooded wolf aliens that feel the same way I do due to the harsher restrictions on the coyotes.”

“You are the first person who has gotten this close to the chief's son.” He gets back on track.

I flush a little remembering just how "up close and personal" I got with him. 

“You are a dangerous person to get close to.” He continues, “You think the Captain would ever lower his guard around you just because you became a loyal soldier?”

I flush a little angrily but growl, “I never said he wouldn’t, I have had to deal with his paranoia over my actions for years. He made it mandatory to have a mind reader examining my “progress””.

“Well you did have a meltdown over a pet.”

“He was getting beaten to death.” I growl.

“He was just an insect.” 

I tremble angrily knowing that he’s probably working me up on purpose. But I have nothing to hide.

I know why they treat insects so poorly now, considered food for most aliens and uncompatible mating wise. If they tried to convert one they'd more then likely become an abomination. They only consider the compatible species the closing thing they get to "equals".

But of course the dragon-fly aliens flipped the script by being useful in technology and medicine. Having equal partnerships with other wolves until they almost all went back to homeworld.

"I'll be sure to let Typhoon know you think his Omega is "just an insect"." I growl. He takes a step back and wrinkles his snout at me. An insect Omega throws out all the old ideas and rules. They are just as fiercly guarded by their Master's as a mammalian one. Despite Typhoon being unorthodox he'd specifically gone higher up to report the Captain's swift, unfair punishment of an Omega, whilst being blinded by grief.

His report had been awarded with a position of status over others that could negate the command of even a Captain. Something about the King's blessing. That's the worst thing, the rules change and have exceptions and nothing makes sense. It's stupid. Because it's based off of some idea or law created forever ago. I'm betting it was originally only to stop Wolf aliens from trying to convert insects, causing most attempts to die slowly and painfully but now it's turned into they're below the aquatic aliens who are below the mammalian ones. And everyone is ranked on strength. It makes me sick.

“If you’re just here to question my loyalty you can be there for my next “check up”.” I make quotation marks and move closer to him. I am tired and just want to flop on my bed. Which still smells like… I feel my mouth twitch but it fades as I realize he’s probably going to get executed soon.

“Funny how Omegas are so precious until they’re the wrong species or have a dominant gene that we don’t think makes us stronger.” I sit on the bed.

“Nothing is ever perfect.”

“Omegas were supposed to be.”

He looks at me for a long time,“Help us determine if he’s actually an Omega.”

My neck tingles at the outright order, “And?” ‘What do I get out of it? A promotion? Maybe a tiny inkling of trust, no, I’ll never be a real wolf.’

“What do you mean, and?” He growls. I put my collar back on.

“You pretty much told me that he’s not trying to cause an uprising, that he’s not even trying to use his evil seductive powers to mind control us. He’s actively dampening the only thing making him a threat and trying to stay under the radar. And you want me to get him to trust me enough to show me what he really is so you can kill him.”

The wolf looks me up and down smelling the defiance. “Yes, he’s too dangerous to keep alive.”

“No.” I say. “I will not help you and I know, I know, the Captain is going to hear about this and I’m going to be put on cleaning duty or in the brig for a week or if he’s really pissed a month.” I stand. “Or maybe you’ll kill me too.”

He bares his teeth a little more for the eye contact than what I was spouting off about. “I doubt breaking your arm would change your mind either.” 

“If violence worked you would have used it first.” I cross my arms moping, “When are you guys ever going to learn that threats and being mean only are going to do the opposite with me? Make me even more protective of the coyotes and pets.” I raise my eyebrow, “Unless you are purposefully trying to help him out by making me be friends with him, are you secretly part of the coyote revolution?”

He looks really annoyed now, “Just keep him in check.”

“You sorely misunderstand our relationship, we had a nice, “thing”, but that doesn’t mean he’ll ever want to speak to me again.”

He wrinkles his nose as he sniffs the air, “He’ll want to see you again.”

I roll my eyes “whatever,” but I kind of hope he’s right.

I lay down and he looks surprised as I wave him off, “turn off the light when you leave.”

He leaves so quietly I have to check to make sure he is gone and then I get up with a groan flicking off the light. As I put my back to it the door opens and I turn. “Did you forget something?” I ask and pause as I recognize the silhouette slightly glowing bronze from the lights in the hallway. I grab him, pulling him in and checking the hallway. 

“Woah.” He whispers, holding up his hands, “Not here for that.”

“Sh!” I cover his mouth. I know the room is probably bugged. I grab my tablet and type furiously. He leans over my shoulder resting his chin on it familiarly as I type. ‘Just had a spy in here talking about you. They know you’re trading contraband and think you’re a threat.’

I look over at him and he smiles. “Can’t read.”

I touch my collar then paranoidly unclick it and check it for any signs of tampering. I put it down and then mess with my scruff and the collar of my soldier uniform.

I start stripping and he knows something is up but casually says, “Still not here for that.”

I pat down anywhere he may have attached a bug and then thoroughly check the loose undershirt and pants I change into. I take his hand and he lets me lead him out of the dorms and through the long halls of the ship.

“So what is going on that’s making you so paranoid.”

“Well, for starters, you’re apparently the chief's son.”

“So?”

“So they also know you’re trading contraband.”

“Again that’s not abnormal.”

“They told me to spy on you!” I whisper harshly, “Because they want to kill you. Is that serious enough for you?”

He tilts his head at me, eyes looking tired for a brief moment. “Why do you care? If you have to report me or you’ll get in trouble, just do it, I’m sure they already know everything and are just wanting you to confirm it.”

I step back a little overwhelmed with how calm he is, tail swishing I lean against a wall. “They think you’re an Omega.”

“Thought they don’t exist?” He grins.

“They don’t.” I wink but my smile fades, “I guess you’re used to people trying to find a reason to suspect you for an uprising all the time.”

He doesn’t really answer, just looks at me.

“What did you visit me for?” I ask curiously.

“Ah well I wanted to talk about…last time.” He says and presses up against the wall next to me. “You are interesting.”

I flush and he looks at my neck. I guess it’s weird for me not to wear my collar.

“You also covered for me a few times so I feel safe enough with you, it’s not often I get to hang out with aliens that aren’t coyotes or constantly just wanting to bang.”

I sputter, “Obviously I like talking to you and don’t want anything bad to happen to you  but banging, that’s why I started talking to you.” I hold up my hands consolingly. 

“You realize I only starting talking to you because I could use a lust filled soldier boy to sneak me food and information.” He leans forward causing little tingles to go up my neck as he breathes on the exposed fur. 

I shiver a little. ‘That makes me feel better.’ “Speaking of which, are you hungry?” I grab his hand excitedly and run to where I know there’s a garden.

Drac looks up as I scrabble over the fence. He folds his “tattooed” arms as the bronze coyote peeks his head over the top to see wide eyed the large, beautiful garden being guarded by an intimidating gray skinned alien.

“What did I say about bringing your fuck toys to my house?” He wrinkles his nose at the coyote hybrid a little and my eyes sparkle as I realize he’s good at telling mixed aliens species. ‘I’ll have to ask him later.’

“Missed you too.” I smile at him feeling affection as he softens the tiniest bit, unable to resist my big soft eyes. 

“Are you here to visit or steal food again?”

I pluck some food pointedly from his tree and he huffs rolling his eyes to storm off. I picked up a lot of attitude from him. “Don’t be mad,” I call after him, “You know it’s both!”

“Who’s he?” The Bronze coyote asks me, pressing a little against me before wandering the garden a little. “I can tell you have history.”

“Jealous?” I wiggle my eyebrows and he gives me a raised eyebrow look that I know will hurt my feelings if he answers honestly. “He loved the original, the one I’m a clone of.”

“Do you love him?”

I stiffen a little, “I like him a lot and he’s…affectionate but I think I mostly make him sad.”

“That’s not what I got when you interacted. He cares about you a lot.”

I eat the fruit to avoid talking as I think about that. “Help yourself.” I say finally. I watch Drac from a distance. We had some really good times but he gets weirdly standoffish whenever I have someone else around. He said it’s not jealousy but it’s hard to tell sometimes and I have made it very clear to him multiple times that I am not good at reading minds.

I jump when lips press against the exposed back of my neck. I whirl around a little bit and he’s already jumped back laughing playfully, “What you said I could help myself.” 

I approach and he cockily lets me. “I didn’t mean like that.” I offer him some fruit from the tree beside him. “Here.”

“Let’s go talk to him.” He says taking a bite from the fruit, “He’s obviously giving us space if we want it but you’re pining over him a little and it’s making me feel like I’m third wheeling.” He laughs and I feel a tension I didn’t know I’d had, relax. I walk over to Drac as he just hands me a potted plant. I look over at the bronze coyote wide-eyed as he is also handed a potted plant. Drac silently leads us to where they needed to be transplanted apparently.

“So Drac how do you like the plants I got you.” I notice them thriving in a dark shaded spot of the garden.

He looks at them and smiles a little. “They’re needy and fragile so they remind me of you.”

The bronze coyote snorts. He suddenly recognizes and gestures to a tree, “I noticed that you’ve let it bloom. Do you not harvest the buds for tea?”

Drac looks up at him and then I notice a flicker of annoyance before he brushes it away. “I like tea about as much as I like eating mud but no I didn’t know the buds could be used for that.”

“Does my being part coyote bother you?” He says it gently and I wish my stomach didn’t twist when I see the gargoyles expression sour.

“Of course it does, especially what happened to-” He looks at me. “I am not going to stop him from doing what he wants,” he smirks, “or who he wants.” He looks at me for a really long time, “I just want him to please be careful.”

I look down and scuff the dirt, “Well that’s the hard part.”

“If it helps he’s actually been recruited to spy on me.” The coyote says placing the pot down where the gargoyle gestured. “Perks of having to be a loyal soldier I guess.”

The side-eye Drac gives me makes me suspect I’ll be interrogated by him later.

“Hey baby.” A soft reconstructed voice comes from the house. Blue is looking out shyly in nothing but a shirt. Drac looks back. He stands, “Need something Blue?”

“Oh hi V. And?” He tilts his head at the coyote. The coyote when I look at him makes me smirk a little, he’s mimicking the head tilt. ‘Not many people have seen the see-through type of alien species before. And a lot of their reactions are like this.’ 

Blue and Drac being together, together are a newer development and Drac always treats him like he’s made out of glass. Blue steps forwards and offers his hand. “I can make you something to drink if you want to come inside.”

I start as the coyote steps forward boldly. “What kind of species are you?” He hesitantly asks, touching him. “Not sure if you’ll recognize the name but I’m a-.” Blue and him go inside and I look back at Drac.

“Who is he?” Drac asks, “That you were assigned to spy on him.”

“Chief's son.”

“Vestige.” He groans. 

“I didn’t know until afterwards. And it wasn’t supposed to be serious but.” 

“But you can’t help but get into these situations.” He sighs and messes with his gloves taking them off.

“I’ll be okay.” I say and he gives me the look he always does.

“I’m going to go out on another run soon.” He says. I look down at him as he wraps me in his arms, wings curling around me protectively. “If anything happens, screw everybody else and run. For me and Blue and everyone else who cares about you, get on an escape pod.” 

“I know.” I whisper and I soothe him as best I can. “I promise I’ll be selfish and save myself.” My stomach twists at the promise. ‘My duty as a soldier is to protect the ship.’ He pulls away and seems a little more relaxed.

“Come on.” He goes inside the house and I follow slowly remembering it from someone else's memories and it’s always so different. Blue fixed it up and cleaned it, bringing plants inside as well so Drac stopped throwing things. I think it also really helped keep him calm and relaxed, being surrounded by plants. He also got a lot less aggressive whilst angry because Blue would flinch if he yelled, and cry if he shattered furniture. He hates Blue being scared of him more than anything.

Drac’s room on the other hand was still a mess. I pause as I pass it. Claw marks still cover the walls but the shredded sheets are gone and the bed is made cutely, probably by Blue. The wrist chains are out. I think, ‘kinky’ and then go to the kitchen table where the other two are talking relaxed as if they’ve been friends for years.

I listen happily to Blue’s reconstructed voice, the little collar around his neck perfectly modified to replicate how he remembers he sounded before. Soft, melodious. The complete opposite of Drac’s gravely, gritty voice. 

The coyote smiles at me and then goes, “So uh you and Drac how do you know each other?”