Taken (Calliston Series - Book 1) by Erica Conroy

tensed. She could feel a familiar, unwanted presence waiting behind her. Karo . Grudgingly, she turned to face him. He was a strong male—shrewd, calculating, wealthy and almost as highly placed as her father. Traits that fathers admired in potential mates for their daughters. To borrow a word from Viktor's Common vocabulary, he was a male that fertile females would flirt with. Any female, except for S'rea. Instead her skin crawled, a reaction she disguised well.
    "S'rea," he greeted her, his nostrils flaring. He knew.
    "Karo," she said blandly.
    Undeterred, he continued. "Ne'a has blossomed into a fertile female."
    S'rea merely nodded in agreement, intent on getting away from him. She scanned those gathered in the great room, hoping to attract the attention of her father so he could rescue her. He was nowhere to be seen. She spotted the U-man talking with one of the lesser government officials. He noticed her watching him, and he gave her a sidelong look before his gaze moved to Karo.
    Aware that he did not have S'rea's full attention, Karo cleared his throat loudly. "Yes, the U-man. How Tarn managed to communicate with him is beyond me. Such uncivilized creatures—unlike the Orka, who are capable of intelligent conversation. I participated in many elegant and insightful discussions with-"
    "This male bothering you?" Viktor asked S'rea in near-perfect Lyrissian.
    "No," she said, and Karo had the audacity to look smug. "He is, however, boring me. There is a subtle difference."
    "Not really," said Viktor. He stuck his hand out to Karo and introduced himself. "Viktor Jacobs, U-man peacetalker."
    Karo looked down his nose at the outstretched hand. "Karo, son of Larn," he finally sniffed. "And your parentage?"
    "I doubt you knew them," he said.
    S'rea watched the two males size each other up, looking for weaknesses. She already knew what Karo thought of the U-man—from what he had said to her just before and because she too had come to similar conclusions when she had first met him. What the U-man thought of Karo, though, she could not tell. She would be interested in comparing notes with him later.
    "That was quite an entrance you made at the meeting," Viktor said.
    "Yes, it was," Karo said. "I am sorry to interrupt your time with the lesser government."
    "No you're not," said Viktor.
    Karo barked. His laugh was nothing like Tarn's. Tarn made a deep noise that resonated from his belly. Karo's was just loud. Loud and grating. It hurt S'rea's ears every time she heard it.
    "Your grasp of the Lyrissian language is…"
    "Unexpected? I had an excellent teacher," he said, and smiled at S'rea.
    "You understood the basics, just not the subtle nuances," said S'rea, brushing off the compliment.
    Viktor switched effortlessly back to Common. "I would have singlehandedly extended the war by another decade if it hadn't been for your help."  
    "My father would not have killed you," she said, and hoped it irritated Karo that he was being left out of the conversation.
    Karo shushed them, and it was then that S'rea realized the whole room had gone silent.
    Viktor sidled closer to her and whispered, "What's going on?"
    S'rea didn't answer him; she was too busy watching her niece and the young male with her. This was it. The moment every young and newly fertile female waited for. A potential mate. Most matings were initiated like this in public during a female's first fertile month. S'rea had rejected every hopeful mate that had approached her. She did not want to be mated, and that was her choice. She knew that every female was different, and her opinions were shared by a very small minority. Still, she hoped her niece would make an intelligent choice and be able to live with her decision.
    * * *
    Viktor watched the quiet spectacle as it unfolded before the large audience. S'rea's niece, Ne'a, stood exposing her neck to a young Lyrissian male, who circled her. The male's nostrils flared, and Viktor assumed he could pick up on the pheromones