Page 72 of Choosing Her Alpha
His heart howled.
He threw himself into the madness of the loss. There were few ways for an alpha without affiliation or pack to make credits in Sector 2. Merrick soon found himself in the fighting pits, testing his strength against other alphas and creatures from the Un-lands. He came close to death many times, but always healed.
His mother's love still reached him, her blessing a boon other men lacked.
He fought until he was more animal than man. He fought to prove his strength to himself. He fought until no one would challenge him.
He fought until he’d earned his self-respect back.
The hulking shape of his friend, Bezeck, sat down in the chair across from him, interrupting his thoughts. It creaked under his weight.
While not fat, Bezeck was wide. Short for an alpha, he made up intimidation points with his frightening, powerful appearance.
They'd met in the fighting pits and had become friends after Merrick nearly killed himself winning the match. Bezeck, although having lost, had come out of it fairly unscathed after falling unconscious to a chokehold.
At such an insulting loss, he’d hunted Merrick down for a rematch. When he found the other man with a concussion and several broken bones, he'd laughed at the absurdity of it and declared them friends.
"Did you hear?" he asked, pulling a massive pack off his back and setting it beside him. Bezeck was big enough to carry a house on his back.
"Hear what?"
"The First Administrator's bond-mate has brought another omega into the world. Their third girl, I believe." Bezeck watched him carefully.
He knew Merrick's story. More than a few drunken nights together had loosened their tongues over the years. Merrick had spent a lot of time jealous, angry, and grieving the loss of something he had never had.
Time passed. He grew less emotional.
But his brother’s happiness still made him want to kill.
"I'll leave them to their happiness. We have our own destiny to make, my friend."
Bezeck’s smile showed his stained brown teeth. "Good answer."
"Are you ready to do this with me? You have made a life here. There is nothing where I'm going."
"Stop askin' me that, friend. I had a house and a couple of slaves. Sold the house, takin' the slaves. You got the transport. Let's go, already."
Cut off from the trade and prosperity of the rest of the eleven Sectors, Sector 2 had only one resource for survival: the Un-lands. The Unlivable, Unredeemable, Unlawful, Un-Lands.
The 12 Sectors, where King Rhineholth had established his regime over a hundred years ago, were a part of a larger continent. His King’s Army loosely patrolled the shattered cities and devastated lands around the sectors, taking out roving bands of wild drone cannibals, feral breed, and any other living thing that posed a threat. While the sectors were their own, self-sustaining environment, the Un was dangerous and full of unknowns.
Brave scavengers, or scabs, went out into the Un-lands and brought back resources for trade. They found things from before the great devastation, bringing back animal skins, fruit from ancient orchards no farmer had been able to propagate, and treasures from the past.
The scabs told stories of wild breed tribes that had children. They hadn't seen the children, but they had heard them, smelled them. Breed children.
It could be a myth.
But it was a treasure worth hunting. If there were breed children, there were breeders. Uninfected, healthy, wild breeders.
Merrick had lost his chance with Sasha.
He had screwed up his chance in the 12 Sectors.
But there was hope in the Un, and he was going to find it.
Merrick handed the keys for the transport to Bezeck. "You know where it is. Could you load your stuff, your drones, and keep it running? I need about twenty minutes." He considered, a sneer on his face. "Maybe fifteen."
Thinking of Sasha, Merrick had his eyes on the girl in the cage.
If Bezeck felt surprised, he didn't show it. He knew Merrick never paid for pussy.
"I'll be ready in ten," Bezeck said, heaving his bulk upward.
Ten minutes later, with all their bridges burned, they left the 12 Sectors.
Merrick made sure the breeder cage would stay empty.
