Page 15 of I Married A Catman

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” she said, still sounding both curious and a little concerned.

I accepted the vidcom request, which was to commence in fifteen minutes, and hurried back to my dwelling. How in the world did Kayog Voln have my contact information? What could he possibly want?

All thoughts of scrubbing the stench of fish off me were gone as I frantically paced in front of the couch in the small but comfortable living area of my two-bedroom dwelling. Thesix minutes remaining before the time of the call dragged on endlessly as I stared at my vidscreen. My mind was running wild with speculations as to why he would reach out to me after all this time.

I still remembered our meeting, four years ago. The prospect of using the agency to get out of prison quickly had been extremely enticing. Foolishly, I had entertained the thought that Oluina would see the error of her ways and present herself as my soulmate—which I stupidly believed her to be at the time—and we would be reunited.

To my dismay, when we met, the Temern informed me that she declined an interview with him, which would have enabled him to confirm whether she and I were indeed soulmates. That crushed whatever lingering feelings I still harbored for her. After the initial pain, I was grateful for it giving me the final clarity needed to move on.

Anyway, shortly thereafter, the Obosians cleverly amended the law. From that point forward, any spouse would have to come stay with us in our Quadrant, if they couldn’t wait until our liberation. It had been a devastating blow to all the hopefuls. But as my heart had already been broken for the second time by then, it just felt like further confirmation that we were never meant to be.

I barely swallowed the yelp rising in my throat when the beep of an incoming call went off. I all but threw myself onto the couch before accepting it.

The smiling face of the Temern filled the screen. I couldn’t say for sure where he was, but he appeared to be in a mostly barren room, probably some sort of temporary office aboard a spaceship. I speculated about the latter because the clarity and strength of the signal indicated he couldn’t be too far from my homeworld.

“Greetings, Gaelec,” Kayog said with enthusiasm.

“Greetings, Master Voln,” I said cautiously. “I expected you to be shocked to see my face and promptly apologize for calling the wrong number.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Not at all, my friend. You’re exactly the person I wish to speak to.”

“What in the world for?” I asked with genuine confusion.

“To tell you that I have finally completed the task we initiated four years ago and found your soulmate!” he said with a grin as one would announce wonderful and long-awaited news.

“What the fuck?!” I blurted out after a few seconds of stunned silence.

“I said I found your soulmate,” Kayog repeated, looking as if he was battling the urge to burst out laughing.

“Why would you keep looking for her?” I exclaimed, flabbergasted. “I don’t want to mate! Truth be told, I didn’t really want one back then. It was only a means to get out of prison early. But I am free now.”

“All the more reason to enjoy your newfound freedom with the love of your life!” Kayog continued with the same joyful tone. “Ophelia is quite eager to meet you.”

Ophelia… That’s a pretty name.

But that didn’t change my total disinterest in what he was offering.

“I am surprised and impressed by the dedication you put into pursuing this matter,” I said in as diplomatic a fashion as I could. “However, I’m in no position to take a mate. Beyond the fact that my current situation is precarious, I genuinely don’t want or need a female right now. Anyway, what species is she?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Ophelia is a human,” Kayog said with a grin.

“A human?!” I exclaimed, shocked, not to say horrified. “How in the world could a human be my soulmate? Are our species even compatible?”

“Yes, my friend. Humans and Nazhrals are perfectly compatible. Previous unions between your two species have yielded the most adorable offspring,” he replied smugly.

“Be that as it may, humans are furless, clawless, ridiculously slow, can’t hunt to save their lives without all kinds of equipment, and are embarrassingly weak. Our females are huntresses. How would she even fit in?”

“While you are correct in your brutal assessment of humans, they have many other qualities that compensate for those other perceived shortcomings,” he said in a slightly chastising tone. “They are incredibly adaptable, smart, resourceful, compassionate, and extremely loyal.”

“Not all,” I immediately argued at that last comment. “There were plenty of them in Molvi, ready and eager to backstab anyone if it could profit them.”

“With all due respect to you, Gaelec, the inmates from Molvi cannot be used as reference to assess the morals and personality of an entire people. Every species has their rotten folks.”

I begrudgingly grunted in concession.

“But Ophelia is your soulmate, of that I have no doubt. Don’t you want someone who will never betray you and stand up for you? Someone who will wish nothing but your happiness for your own sake and not for how they can benefit from you or use you? Someone who will stand by you through thick and thin?”

I crushed the intense longing his words stirred in my heart and shrugged. “Your human doesn’t know me. She has no reason to show such loyalty or devotion.”

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