Page 38 of Her Broken Alpha
"Gems with value."
"Send them on, then. You know what to do. Anything else?"
"Berandal, on the Southside? He had men waiting on tithe day. We lost a guy."
Darre looked out the window thoughtfully. Berandal liked to hide behind a wall of men and metal. He ran a few pit fights and a lucrative brothel. He must think he was ready to take down Darre.
"Give him until sunset tomorrow to accept my challenge. If I don't hear from him, take him out—everything but the females and the drones. I don't have time for his games." He picked up an apple slice from the tray and bit off the end, handing the rest to his quiet mate. "Do we have enough men for that?"
"No, but we have enough credit for it. I can get bodies easy. It will be messy, though."
"I like messy," Darre said with relish.
"Since you are setting up a home now, you want me to keep the females and drones?"
Naya's sweet voice piped up. "You're talking about killing people, aren't you?"
"Not females and drones," Darre clarified.
"I usually sell them," Mac said.
"Sell? You're slave traders?" The pitch of Naya's voice climbed in horror.
"This is Sector 2. There are no free females and drones here," Mac said flatly.
Darre felt his mate process Mac's declaration. He'd been holding off telling her where she was or who he was. As a little omega breeder princess from the King's civilized society, she would naturally become outraged at the discovery. She might hate him for it.
"I'm in Sector 2?"
Mac looked around him at the room, at the windows, and at Darre, his eyebrows twitching with confusion. "Miss, where did you think you were?"
"Don't sell them." She was looking at Darre, watching his face.
Naya was already breaking his third rule. Since breeders were known to be soft-hearted, it wasn't surprising. Holding back his smile, he gave her what he hoped was a mild, blank expression rather than the lewd and hungry one he felt stirring. He'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to wait too long to punish her.
He bit off the end of another slice of apple and handed her the rest, watching her put her mouth where his had been.
Mac knew Darre didn't keep slaves. Ambivalent about the practice of enslaving drones, Darre represented a stronger position when he forced weaker alphas to obey him. He allowed the appearance of it, though. The five male drones on his staff who did menial labor for him all wore a collar with his mark for their protection, but they earned a salary and could leave his employment any time. There was just nowhere to go.
He had never allowed any females in his tower or other holdings. He couldn't stand the smell of them, nor did he want a lot of extra bodies around.
Drones were too easily injured and prone to sicknesses. They caused more problems than they were worth, and betas only irritated him.
Since weakness was a commodity in this sector, he permitted Mac to sell drones like any other asset. Setting them loose as free agents would just get them killed. There were no uncollared women or drones because there was no one to ensure their safety and freedom other than their owners. Might made right in the land of the damned, and drones didn't have the might to oppose alpha strength.
With Naya here, other females were now a necessity. It would be unhealthy to isolate her. Having a whole building full of them plus a bunch of drones, all of whom would need policing and protecting, was going to be a gigantic pain in his ass.
"Bring them here," Naya said. She didn't ask; the command was tentative, but she made it anyway.
"You heard her. Have them make a place for themselves in the empty floors above C Building. Use any resources you recover from Berandal. Get them collars with my mark. I want all his usable goods. But no male breed. You get any volunteers, they have to face me in the pit and I don't want them in the tower."
"That's a lot of new people." Mac didn't look happy about it.
"Time for a change, Mac. No choice now." He tugged at one of Naya's curls and fed her a cheese-covered cracker.
"Females are gonna cause me a shit-ton of problems. Let the men know I'll only allow contract marriages. I won't be running a brothel. There will have to be two signatures. And everyone works. There's a lot to be done over in C.
“Now, is that it? I want to know what you have on the crow and my girl here."
