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The pre-race buffet is overloaded with options from charcuterie boards and sandwiches to colorful trifles and slices of cheesecake with decorative flowers. But while most women fill up on them and drinks, I know I have to take it easy with real food after living on protein bars for months.

But the chocolate-covered fresh fruit and the macaroons—

I take a little bit of everything, swearing I’ll just taste it. But after an hour, my plate is empty, and I’m sipping a sparkling cocktail, trying to ease the fullness in my stomach.

“Hey, didn’t know you had such light hair.” Cora slides into the booth seat across from me.

“Grease and dust from working in starship engines make it look black,” I tell her, wondering what she wants.

She looks down at the racegrounds below. “So people like you are the ones who get us up here, huh? Wow.”

I’m not sure if it’s a she’s-impressed wow or a she’s-being-polite wow . Or a wow, can we please move on…

I mean, she is a pink. She probably thought starships were magic.

“Believe it or not, I worked as a pharmaceutical scientist’s assistant,” Cora says.

The way that she says it, as if even she is surprised, makes me think she’s looking for an ego boost. “How’d you end up a pink?”

Cora shrugs and tills her eyes skyward like she’s thanking Heaven that I asked the question she hoped I would. “I was born into money. Anything I wanted to learn or try, I could.”

I’m weary of her entitlement already and push my plate aside. She may have gotten into this race selling a hot fart, but as far as I understand, we are equals this week. “So you’ve never been so tired you couldn’t sleep.”

Her smile wanes. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“There’s a point where the stress of staying awake makes you too wound up to relax. I call it zombie mode. If you start seeing a concrete slab as a bed, you’re there.”

She laughs once, then smiles. “You’re funny.”

“Maybe funny looking,” I mutter under my breath.

“What? No.”

“Do you see anyone else looking like a stripper in a huge fishnet body stocking like she’s trying way too hard?”

Cora snorts. “For real, that harness must’ve been painful.”

I lean back in my seat, shifting from my uncomfortable fullness. “Only time I’ve ever been on enough drugs to see a unicorn in moon boots rocketing around my room picking broccoli and singing trance beats.”

“Must’ve been morphenerine.”

“Think so. Don’t really remember, to be honest.”

“I bet.”

“So you’re hoping for a Mindor?”

“What can I say? I’m used to being taken care of. If my mate dies, I don’t want to be alone. Never have been. The thought scares me.” Cora’s finally getting a bit real.

“It’s not that bad,” I offer. “Sometimes, the silence is nice.”

“How can silence be nice?”

“No one is giving you their opinions on how you’re screwing up, lying to you, or manipulating you. Besides, you can let one rip, and no one will hear.”

She hums a note of amusement. “I see why they banded you purple.”

“Oh?”

“Quirky attitude covers struggle, helps you keep going through a tough life.”

A tough life. She has no idea. “Ah. I wasn’t sure. To be honest, I’ve never watched the show. I just picked up the packet one day in a minimart.”

“For real?”

“No time or credits for holovid shows.”

She taps something on her glossy new wristband, one far more high-tech than my gauntlets. She tilts her arm, and it flips the image so it’s correct for me. “This is a mash-up vid from a news company with the most insane things that have happened at the races over the years.”

I watch as women run through the arena, chased by males of all colors and types of uniforms. My pulse quickens as a dark blue alien in a loin cloth tackles a woman. “How do they not just take us in the field?”

She taps an acrylic finger on the screen. “Drones can carry us away, zap wily dudes, and call for assistance from Abr security.”

A woman is taken by an invisible force. Another is tackled by Ginarigon after Ginarigon until a human guard puts them in their place with blunt force.

“Oh, yeah. That one wasn’t human. Green dude was her security and ended up snagging her as a mate. He’s wearing concealment augments. Guess they wanted her father’s treasure, not her.”

“This is crazy.” I’m way out of my element. Then, I find myself more perplexed by Cora’s attendance. “Why are you here if you can have anything you want?”

She chews a cheek and looks down at the smooth green grass of the race fields below.

“You would be surprised how meaningless everything feels when you have all the stuff, but no one looks at you like you are important. My inheritance is all they care about. So I put out a prenup statement that no male who picks me will get any of it. After the bounty hunter’s daughter was abused last round, I wanted to feel chosen in a primal way, not premeditatedly. ”

“Why talk to me?” I finally ask.

“Heard your answers in the sleep recovery center of the medical wing. Knew you wouldn’t try to ruin me.”

I rub my stomach as the announcers call us to the race grounds.

“Eat too much?” Cora smiles.

“Never had so many options or so much fresh food in years. I wanted to try everything. Not sure I can run like this.”

She opens a chamber in her customized wristband and slides me a white pill. “Metabolism enhancer, one of the things my lead scientist created.”

“I don’t do drugs.”

She nods like she understands. “I have an eating disorder. He made these to help me balance my intake without losing my head at work.”

“What kind of disorder?”

“Anorexia. So I’ll work through breaks and lunch, sometimes dinner. Then I’ll eat because I’m starving and eat way too much. Then I’ll be miserable and worthless at work the next day.”

She shows me another slot with pink pills. “These make me hungry. I have to take them at lunch every day.”

I hesitantly take the pill from her, feeling like she’s being honest. There are a lot of cameras watching. If it does cause any trouble, I’m in the next safest place to a hospital. And I’m desperate to make my stomach stop hurting.

It has a strange minty lime flavor but instantly calms my stomachache.

“And don’t worry,” she says. “We get an hour by the arena to help us digest. They don’t want women getting sick on the field.”

“Oh, good.”

“Speaking of—” A woman in an Abr uniform, holding a tablet, motions to the elevators. “We’re starting to form everyone up now.”

Cora jumps up and quickly gets in line for the elevators without so much as a goodbye or good luck.

“Hey!” The other pink-banded woman from the locker room stops beside me. “Ready?”

I’m perturbed by Cora’s flighty personality, but I let it go. She’s already in an elevator headed to the arena.

I join her. “That was a switch flip.”

“Eh, Cora’s just Cora.” She shakes her head like she’s annoyed with the woman, then hooks an arm around mine like we’re best friends and have known each other for years. “Aren’t you excited?”

Instinct makes me want to pull back, but I’ve waited too long to feel this connection, to have this chance. So I push aside the unfamiliarity for courage and smile. “Yeah. Just nervous.”

She hugs me stronger than I anticipated. Something about the gesture calms me as the elevator lowers us to the fields.

“It’s going to be okay.”

“How do you know?” I ask as we get our turn in the large elevator.

“Because Abr will protect us. These males have signed up because they have money, kingdoms, starships, soldiers, and the desire to take care of a female. If what he wants isn’t what you want, you can opt not to pick anyone at the end of the week.

Or, you can work for Abr until you can afford another heat.

“You put up the money for this first round, which shows your dedication. Abr doesn’t throw that away. You got yourself here. They’re never going to let you fall backward. You think it’s just an escape, but Abr, at least Ohni’s Abr, is a stepping stone to greater things for Earth women.”

“Can I be honest?”

“Sure.”

As we step out of the elevator onto the fields and I get my first look at the massive arena where horny males will chase us and claim us, I can’t help but wonder. “Why here, for you, I mean. You must have money to go anywhere. Why not just visit places and meet someone the natural way?”

Cora bumps into us as we make our way to the railing.

“I mean, take the time to do that or get a high concentration of hot, wealthy, capable alphas in one spot that will fight over me? Plus, all the fancy dining, spa evening, the space tour, and the hormonal games? Like, who wouldn’t want to speed up the process, feel like an object of lots of guys’ desires, and have a great time doing it? ”

“Oh, please,” my other friend whispers. “She’s here to be the center of attention.” She waves to a group of blue-banded women. “I might be a pink, but even shy girls are here because, deep down, we all want to be valued and desired.”

“Cora? Is that you?”

Cora turns around and hustles off, shouting at someone else she knows.

“I’m Eira, by the way,” the woman beside me says. “Overheard your conversation with Cora. I was in the booth behind yours. Amphirans will like that crass humor. Use it! I like your choice!”

She gives me a thumb and then points to someone else. “I’m going to say hi to some others.”

“Sure. Thanks for—” I’m not sure what to say. Being nice?

“Don’t mention it.” She walks off. “Ohni! It’s been years, girl! I can’t believe you’ve taken over the races, and I’m so sorry to hear about your mother’s and Ruby’s passing. If you need anything—”

I smile to myself and stop listening because I really do feel tons better. Cora might be odd, but she would be good to a pack of Mindor. It’s clear she has a pack mentality, monitoring the health of others.

“See you met Cora.” A green-banded woman leans up against the white railing beside me. “She’s nice. Gave me a pill, too. Did you hear about the changes this round?”

“Would only matter if I’d ever had the time to watch the previous ones.”