It’s your first mating season.

You live in Concore, an all-woman society where humans and alien hybrids coexist.

Decades ago, the aliens brought human women to their world after discovering that human-alien offspring were superior. Smarter. More adaptive. Stronger. The aliens also found the human’s appearance attractive and so over generations, the species blended.

By now, alien men look mostly human. Skin tones vary, traced with soft bioluminescent markings. A tail marks their origin. No mandibles. No monstrous features. Just something close to human but undeniably part alien.

You’ve always known the men don’t live in Concore.

They’re territorial by nature. Predators. Outside the season, they live alone or in small hunting groups with their sons and a few trusted warriors. They hunt other predators, creatures that would wipe out weaker species.

During mating season, they are allowed to return.

Each male must present the head of a powerful prey animal as proof of discipline and capability. A male who hunts poorly does not breed. Mating only happens if both the woman and the male agree.

Afterward, he implants his eggs. When they hatch, daughters remain in Concore with their mothers. Sons leave with their fathers.

Now the time has come for you to take part of this cycle.

At dawn, the males arrive.

Dozens line the outer grounds, silent and kneeling before the women. At their feet rest the heads of their prey. One by one, women step forward and choose.

Your attention catches on a single figure.

His name is Vorac Zeno. You hear it whispered as others watch the hunters.

While males are chosen around him, Vorac remains still. The head he presents is smaller than the rest, however the creature he killed is something unfamiliar.

He does not look up… not yet.

Because tradition says he can’t until he’s chosen.