Page 27 of Possessed By the Leonid King

Gnawing desperation overcame her. For the first time in years, she didn’t feel hopeless and pointless. She had a contract she wanted —helping give someone a family. Rupex was a good man who needed a family.

Her insides got all fluttery and soft. Mushy.

Focus on the other things. Like hope! For the first time in...ever?

With the credits she earned, she could find Wendy, Dax, and Elio. She could buy their freedom herself. They wouldn’t have to agree to take a position on Rupex’s ship unless they wanted to. Layla knew she could have a safe place of her own, that no one could take from her.

Of course, all that was connected to trusting Rupex and giving him what he wanted, what he’d paid for.

Layla ran her hands through her hair. She felt like her skin was on fire, and it was only getting worse.

With a sudden stomp, she hopped off her bunk and marched in her plain white sheath of fabric down to see Marcus.

“YOU. MEDICAL MAN. WHAT’S wrong with me? You said the injection’s side effects would peak and then subside. I’m only getting hotter and hotter. And crankier.” Layla didn’t mention the other side effects, the side effects that left her feeling as though she was going to go insane if she and Rupex didn’t fuck soon.

Marcus looked up from his database computer. His screen was filled with complicated diagrams and calculations that made her eyes glaze over. “Ah.”

“‘Ah’ isn’t an answer! Am I sick? Did you poison me?” She chewed her lower lip.

“No. The side effects aren’t from the injection itself. It’s from... Well, trying to make your chromosomes compatible with a Leonid’s has variables.”

“What does that mean? In small, simple words.” Layla shifted, leaning on the wall, then the exam table, her hips restless and her neck flaming. She stopped chewing on her lip to puff a cooling breath onto her flushed face, but it didn’t help.

“My guess would be that the injection has put you in a state of prolonged pre-ovulatory or ovulatory sensitivity.”

Layla resisted the urge to march over and pluck out one of Marcus’ short, black whiskers. Those words weren’t short or easy—but she understood them. Sort of. She was going to be horny for a prolonged period of time while her body decided whether or not it was going to make eggs. “How prolonged?”

“A Leonid Queen remains in a heat cycle for about a month at a time.” Marcus frowned. His muzzle twitched and he smoothed a paw through his mane in a nervous gesture.

“What else do you want to tell me that you think I'll freak out about?” Layla demanded sharply.

“I was wondering if I haven’t miscalculated a few things. Oh, nothing to do with chromosomes, but the human propensity for only creating one mature egg per cycle. Leonid females produce more.” Marcus rubbed his eyes. Layla observed they were more sunken than Rupex’s and she hadn’t seen the younger Leonid sleep in almost two days.

“Yeah, you said, two to four is common.” Layla shrugged. “But won’t the booster—”

“The booster makes eggs compatible with Leonid sperm. It doesn’t make a bumper crop of eggs.”

“They used to make fertility drugs to increase the number of eggs so women could have multiple babies. But that’s banned now on Sapien-Three. The planet can’t sustain extra bodies.”

“No, no, I know. Such medicines are not banned in Felix Orbus. As you can imagine, after Queen Fever, they were encouraged. Now, if you and Rupex wanted...”

Layla waited, but Marcus didn’t speak. She imagined he was going to suggest she take those drugs, but she didn’t know if that would be safe. For one thing, they wouldn’t be formulated for humans. “Marcus? What were you going to say?”

“Hm. Oh, nothing. Nothing, yet. I was just thinking how unfair the fever was to so many people,” Marcus said softly, a sad smile crossing his face.

“Oh.” There would be a lot of people who would kill for this chance, a chance to have a partner and a family. At least the family part, she corrected herself silently. She knew Rupex had lost loved ones. Marcus must have lost them, too. “I think I’ll leave you to your work. I was just wondering how long before these side effects stop.”

Marcus cleared his throat. “Well, like I said, it’s not the injection. To be fair,” Marcus continued, “Queens often remain in a state of heightened arousal during the first two to three-fifths of their pregnancy. Then the focus on nesting and preparing the den for the cubs usually takes over.”

“Everyone keeps mentioning fifths, but I'm probably going to go closer to sevenths, right?”

“It may well be. We’ll have to see. There’s much we have to see. It’s as new to me as it is to you.”

Being the first one to cross a frontier always sounds so glorious in the history and science lessons. No one mentions it feels like teetering on the edge of the world, waiting to see if that “big step” makes you plummet into an abyss or soar to greatness. “There aren’t any other cases of human-Leonid couples?” Layla pressed.

“Not offspring-producing ones. As you know, Felix Orbus was closed off to intergalactic travel for the past few years. Now that such trade has opened again within the last year, a number of humans have allowed their contracts to be bought by planets in the Felix Orbus system. I’m sure that we’ll soon see some partnerships develop, and this technology could benefit them. Look.” Marcus tapped his screen. “I’m keeping records. I’m submitting all the research, successful or otherwise, to the Leonid Ministry of Health. Whatever happens, the cosmos will know if human partnerships could be a new hope for our species. And maybe for your own. Have you ever been to—” Marcus paused. “No, I suppose you haven’t.”

“Been anywhere off Sapien-Three? Nope.”

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