Page 6 of Possessed By the Leonid King

“No! We don’t even have queens on Sapien planets. We’re all democracies. Or worse.”

“A Queen. A female Leonid or Felid of cub-bearing years. Queen Fever raged for over two years, killing almost every female from fourteen to fifty.”

Layla could tell when she blushed. She could also tell when all the blood vanished from her face. “Oh my God. Like the Maximus Virus in 2800?”

“Yes, except that ours was deadly only to Queens. Something to do with their hormone levels.” The Leonid looked away. “Millions died. Millions more sacrificed their ability to have cubs to stave off the disease. Some wealthy families in the Felix Orbus Galaxy actually went so far as to ‘reserve’ the reproductive services of young female cubs who wouldn’t mature for years in advance, hoping to have offspring of their own later.”

Layla felt a drizzle of warmth for the big beast who was now pacing in a perfect line, turning in sharp right angles at the end of the walkway in front of her former quarters. “I’m so sorry. I honestly didn’t know. I didn’t get to sit down and hear about the intergalactic news and affairs growing up. I was in survival mode, just like your people were. The reasons were different, but the struggle was real.”

The hulking figure in black paused in front of her long enough to nod and then paced away again. “Poverty is a greater problem on Sapien-Three because humans are reluctant to innovate and trade with other mammalian species.”

“And we have a shitty environment, corruption, war, and disease. But sure, blame the stubborn jackoffs who won’t buy cheap groceries from the interspecies couple down the street.”

A growl that rippled the air around her made Layla bite her tongue.

They could eat you, you know. Or just kill you. Starve you in that little glass cell. They could do all of that, and no one would ever know.

No one would ever care.

“Reasons aside, Leonid credits exchange at eighteen to one with Sapien credits.”

Layla blinked. “That much? Damn. Never mind. Take me to the kitty planets.”

Rupex slammed a paw to his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. “Kitty planets? No. No, this is pointless. Worthless. Insane. Goodbye, Miss Layla. I will prepare quarters for you and hope your stay is comfortable. We will find a ship to take you to a planet where you can negotiate a contract for your services.”

“But I thought the little old lion-man said you wanted my services!” Layla protested, the sound of credits inflating her pitiful account drowning out the irritation and woe in his voice.

“That was before I talked to you!” Rupex pushed a button on the wall and it lit up, showing a warm green light under the pads pressing it down. The silvery panel of the wall slid up, and he was gone.

Chapter Four

Marcus was a cruel, sadistic bastard to toy with his hopes like this.

Even if the girl herself had spirit.

Even if she was suitably curvaceous and pretty (for a human) and would not damn his offspring with undue ugliness, scrawniness, or temerity.

Rupex stalked back to his quarters, a growl clawing at his chest, longing to break loose like a feral hunter of old.

We don’t do that. We would scare the humans and timid species if we did that. We can’t alienate anyone else or we’ll die out.

“Rupex! Captain! Wait!”

Curse his canines. She had followed him.

“Go, Miss Layla. Marcus will escort you to a guest chamber when it is prepared. Later.”

“Look, I’m sorry I offended you. I didn’t mean anything by it! I just said kitty planets. If someone called Sapien-Three a human burrow, I wouldn’t get huffy.”

He smirked. “Wouldn’t you?” Somehow he doubted that.

“Maybe a little. Depending on who it was coming from. I know it wouldn’t make sense to a King, but I’m from a mean cesspit of a city where you get a thick skin and a big mouth. I’m sorry. Should I bow?”

Rupex shook his head in wonder. How were humans so... different? “A King is the term for the male leader of a pride. It is not a term that requires scraping and bowing. It means loyalty from my pride and denotes that my responsibility is to them above myself, at all times. Queen Fever proved that in many cases King is an empty title. I could not save the females in my pride. None.”

To his surprise, the little human who barely came a foot above his waist reached out and tried to pat his arm. She drew her hand back at the last second, but the gesture was... thoughtful. And her wide eyes with their odd blue color and their perfectly round black pupils were wet and woeful looking. “That’s horrible. I know it’s not the same, but I kind of get it. I couldn’t save my ‘pride’ either. There were four of us assigned to the same shelter in the Sapien-Three Public Childcare System. I was the oldest and I couldn’t prevent the other three—um—cubs, I guess you’d call them—from being taken from me.”

She looked so pained—and it had been so long since he had anyone but Marcus to speak to about anything other than freight rates and schedules—that Rupex let his curiosity get the better of him. “What happened to them?”

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