Page 27 of I Married A Catman

“Oluina is mad that I didn’t chase after her immediately upon my return,” Gaelec said with disdainful incredulity.

I snorted. “I could see that.”

He snorted as well. “That female is so incredibly entitled. She’s self-centered and a user. I was too young and naive back then to see her for who and what she was. If nothing else, my time on Molvi helped me become a much better judge of character and of assessing what motivations drive people. Oluina is no competition to you. Never will be. Since my return, my dislike for her has only increased.”

I smiled again, another wave of relief flooding through me. “And what about Ylis?” I asked, my voice bubbling with curiosity.

His face instantly softened as a smile stretched his lips. Despite the obvious affection splattered all over his face, it screamed of fraternal love, not lust.

“Ylis is a wonderful female and like a baby sister to me. Growing up, she was always a little rebellious. She convinced me to help train her in hunting and combat.”

“Is that so?” I asked, eager to learn more.

He landed the shuttle in front of a small wooden house, his face taking on a wistful expression as he nodded.

“Males do not train females as we have very different hunting and fighting methods,” Gaelec explained. “But Ylis wanted to learn every style as she felt it would make her a much more rounded huntress.”

“Is she good?”

The way he puffed out his chest like a proud father and grinned were answers enough on their own.

“She’s the best. So much in fact that she is increasingly undermining Oluina’s position as Head Huntress.”

“That could be a really good thing,” I mused aloud. “She seems to like you a lot. She would make a great ally.”

He nodded. “A very good one, and she stated as much.”

“I’m going to be a problem, aren’t I?” I said in an apologetic fashion.

He frowned and firmly shook his head. “No, not you. It’s all of them. What you said about standing by me meant a lot to me,” he said, that vulnerability I’d witnessed before fleeting over his handsome features again.

“I meant it, Gaelec,” I said with conviction.

He gave me a gentle smile. “I know. And all could see the honesty of it.”

“That’s good, right?” I asked, hopeful.

My heart sank when he snorted and shook his head.

“Actually, it might have the opposite effect. The Queens are all loyal to each other, not to males,” he explained in response to my confused look. “All the females within a single Pride are mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins, or aunts. Males are welcomed in at the height of their prime, used for their labor and their seed, and then cast out in favor of newer and younger males. If other females start thinking like you, it will undermine the dominance of the Matriarchs.”

My stomach knotted with a nauseous feeling at the matter-of-factly way he described such a horrific culture. And yet, the same had been true for women in ancient times on Earth. Where the Nazhrals treated their males like nothing more than stallions and laborers, women had been broodmares and servants.

“Is that what you want?” I asked carefully.

He snorted. “Absolutely not. I don’t want to be used anymore, and I want males to have better prospects than to only have worth during their prime years. But come on, let’s get out of here and get you settled in. We can continue this conversation later.

I nodded with an apologetic smile. I didn’t doubt people were still spying on us, wondering what we were doing just sitting inside the shuttle parked outside the house.

He hopped out of the small vessel and circled around to help me out. I picked two of my bags from the hold, and in the display of strength, Gaelec lifted one of the three crates with a single hand, carrying it effortlessly back to the house. I couldn’t help but chuckle when he further made a show of unlocking the door and opening it wide for me while still holding the massive crate with that one hand. I likely would have strained my back just trying to move it from the hold onto a hovercart.

He put it down inside the cozy little living area right at the entrance and hurried back out to fetch the remaining two crates, which he carried stacked upon each other in a single trip.

Yep, my mate was a beast.

He closed the door behind us while my eyes were still flicking this way and that, as I waited for him to give me the tour. At a glance, it struck me as the typical bachelor pad. It was clean, with basic furniture and no actual decor giving it a personal touch. Although it didn’t qualify as a primitive dwelling, it also wasn’t high tech or particularly modern. At least, the giant vidscreen on the wall across a comfy looking couch indicated that we weren’t cut off from the rest of the universe.

I lived among tribes that were completely off the grid. While it was great in terms of living in the moment instead of vicariously through various media, it also made us quite isolated. By the time we found out what was happening in the rest of that world—and more broadly throughout the galaxy—some truly shocking things had occurred or radically changed the course of entire peoples with us remaining clueless.

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