Page 20 of Possessed By the Leonid King

But the thought of another month full of daily mating...

No. Be good. Fulfill your contract.

Rupex nodded, his chin to his chest, mane catching the light of her room and making his fur shine like red gold. “Agreed. I will inquire. Finally, he told me there were no clothes appropriate to your small stature.”

“Are you calling me short?”

“I’m calling you human-sized. You are easily two feet shorter than most Leonid Queens. However, where we are going, there will be some clothing from adolescent Leonid females. Hrm. My sister, Alana, still has some things are still there.”

“Oh, Rupex. I’m so sorry. She died when she was only a—”

“No, she was not a child. She was an adult female. A Queen. Married and living on Leonid-One with her husband. My brother-in-law, Jaxson... He still mourns her, but he saw no need to return to our childhood retreat and collect her old clothes. They will likely fit you with some slight alterations.”

“I can sew by hand, the old-fashioned way.”

Rupex looked horrified. “You simply need to put it in the AAU. We have one aboard the ship, but I’m afraid it needs a new control module.”

Layla nodded. AAU. Automated Alteration Unit. All the rich people had those machines—and never used them. When they needed new clothes, they just bought them. She wondered if Rupex would ever understand her kind of poverty.

No. Probably not, and that’s good. That means your kids—I mean, his cubs, will never go through what you went through. They’ll never have to sell their bodies and souls to the highest bidder.

“You are sad. You smell like salt and grief. I thank you for mourning my sister,” Rupex said gravely, bowing low to her. “Or is it someone else you mourn?”

Feelings. Icky things to discuss. Unless they were the fun kind, the massive-cock-in-tight-little-slit feelings. “I was just thinking about how nice it’s going to be for your cubs to have everything they could ever need. I didn’t have that. I know a lot of people who didn’t. Dax, Wendy, and Elio didn’t have that. I couldn’t give them that. That’s why I’m sad. And I’m sad for all the Queens your galaxy lost. I can’t imagine what it’s like.”

Rupex nodded several times. His tail swung like a worried pendulum behind him. “I am sorry for your fears for your friends.”

“Thank you,” Layla gave him a half-baked smile. “You’re not good at small talk or deep feelings shit, right?”

“That is not a King’s way. The King of a pride must remain objective and goal-oriented. The captain of a vessel must do the same.”

“You get it with both barrels, huh?”

Rupex squinted at her. “I think so.”

She had to laugh. “I bet there are plenty of Leonid expressions I won’t get. It’s okay.”

RUPEX SMILED BACK AT the grinning girl. Naughty girl. No, naughty woman, he corrected himself. Actually, even though she was a human, the more he talked to Layla, the more he was reminded of a Queen.

She has the heart of a queen, he thought to himself. The way she protects. The fearless way she attempts to solve problems.

Rupex could imagine her hunting beside him, even though civilized Leonids did not hunt any longer. They got their meat from the farms and seas where things were bred to be eaten and the animals did not possess a higher intelligence.

Nonetheless, he was struck by the image of Layla stalking beside him on the sandy beaches of Leo Falls Island, entering the humid woodlands and catching the sand chickens and marsh ducks that liked to nest there.

“So. Um. Tell me about the place we’re going? You said you used to live there when you were kids?”

“Yes, during the summers, if my father didn’t take me with him. It’s a beautiful place. Overgrown by this time, I suppose.” Rupex frowned. Squatters could have taken over the small island. Outlaws. Smugglers.

Or maybe it would be like stepping back in time and finding a magical world where everything was the same—the two tiny shacks, his and Alana’s, under two Tigerwood palms. Two fishing poles left on the stoop.

But Alana wouldn’t be there. There was no magic in the cosmos to bring her back.

“If it’s such a sad place for you, why go back?” Layla asked gently, her voice soft.

My cubs would be fortunate to hear such a voice soothing them to sleep. “Because it is a safe place, as far as I know. I want to keep you safe. You and the cubs.”

“That’s good.” Layla waited for him to say more, her expectant little face peering up at him. She was standing so close his tongue was frozen to the roof of his mouth. So close—her scent, her warm, sensual scent, bombarding him whenever she shifted from foot to foot.

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