Page 58 of I Married A Catman

“I will get straight to the point,” Rozel said, putting an end to my wandering thoughts. “Your presence here defies our rules. We’ve been debating at length without coming to an agreement as to how we can possibly justify letting you stay among us.”

That hit me hard. On my way here, I mentally rehearsed answers to the hypothetical questions I expected that would be thrown at me, all of them revolving around how I could contribute to the Pride and Gaelec’s ideas for missions. This specific question had not been in the cards.

I pursed my lips, not wanting to rush into an answer before I fully comprehended the root cause of their problem with my presence.

“Before I answer, I would like to ask a couple of questions to better understand the issue,” I said carefully, and proceeded when she gave me a stiff nod. “If one of your Queens or huntresses had fallen in love with a human, would you ask her to leave or forbid her mate from coming here to live with her?”

Rozel waved a dismissive hand. “That situation isn’t comparable. All the females here are of our bloodline. In any Pride, the only females allowed are all closely blood related.”

My stomach knotted, but I kept a stoic expression as I nodded slowly. “If that is an immutable rule, then I fail to see the point of this conversation. However, if it is not immutable, then I would like to discuss what you feel could be done to mitigate your discomfort about something that no one can change. My blood is my blood.”

“It is a golden rule that is strictly enforced by every single pride on Nazhral,” she insisted.

“Then it sounds like your decision is already made,” I said with a sliver of annoyance that she kept circling around the answer instead of just being blunt. “In which case, I would respectfully submit that it is a little narrow-minded. All laws and rules evolve with time.”

“Rules are made for a reason,” Rozel countered, sounding a little miffed, no doubt due to my comment about narrow-mindedness.

“They are,” I conceded. “But they’re always based on the circumstances of the time they were established. Back when your people first created these Prides, you didn’t know of the existence of off-worlders. Therefore, the chances of a female of another species marrying one of your people was never even a possibility. Times have changed. If I’m here today, you can be certain that more will come. There are already countless humans in your capital city. I bet if we do a little digging, we’ll find out that some of them are married to Nazhrals. And more of your males are likely to meet their off-worlder mates, especially if you adopt the safe missions Gaelec suggested.”

“We never consented to go that route,” Rozel immediately said, sounding defensive.

“Rozel,” I said in a reasonable tone as if speaking to a difficult child, “you saw Ranor’s reaction when Gaelec named the company involved in that lucrative mission he was coming to recruit people for. If a Warden informed my husband of the fact that it was a trap, then you know it is true. Sacrificing your males will give your Pride nothing.”

I glanced around the room to assess how hostile my audience was. To my relief, aside from Rozel and Oluina, the others seemed receptive, although a bit guarded.

“You may not be aware of this, but my arrival here was delayed because Nazhral pirates attacked our vessel and failed. Our cruise ship had a literal defense fleet onboard. They swarmed the pirates and obliterated them.”

“What ship?” a female I didn’t know asked, her voice tense. “What was the name of the vessel you arrived on?”

“The Behemoth,” I replied carefully.

The female took a shuddering breath, and her face contorted with a sorrow she failed to hide. She shook her head as if in denial while blinking away the tears that threatened to surface. One of the females next to her gently rubbed her back in a soothing fashion.

“Did any of the Nazhrals survive?” the Matriarch named Pryia asked—Ylis’s mother.

I cast a hesitant look at the younger female still struggling to rein in her emotions, before looking back at the Matriarch.

“Hmm… Unfortunately no. The Nazhral vessel was obliterated. There were no survivors.”

The younger female emitted a choked sob and ran out of the room.

“Andrane!” Ylis called out after her.

But she left without looking back. The female who had been trying to soothe her cast an apologetic look at the Matriarchs before going after Andrane.

“Her brother was part of that mission,” Ylis explained in a tired voice. “He turned eighteen two months ago, so he had to leave our Pride.”

My heart ached for him. The poor boy never even had a proper chance to live. He’d likely been sent on that mission as a requirement to join whatever Pride he had approached. What a pointless waste.

“You must understand that more and more ships like the one I traveled on are doing the same now. Piracy will soon have no chance of succeeding at all. If you pursue this, you’ll only be sending these males to their deaths,” I said in a pleading tone. “I’ve researched the law changes on Molvi that Gaelec mentioned. He’s right. They won’t allow Prides to receive a single credit from the prisoners’ work. And right now, the United Planets Organization members are so fed up, they have begun applying sanctions on your planet.”

Rozel shrugged. “We have nothing to do with those sanctions. What happens in the capital has little impact on the Prides.”

“That’s partially true, but you need credits to buy all the things that you cannot create here from the capital, especially equipment,” I argued. “If Melelyn starts facing multiple embargos, you will feel the pain from it. It always trickles down to everyone.”

“Which is why we need the credits from the missions,” she retorted stubbornly.

“But that’s not viable!” I exclaimed, my annoyance seeping into my voice.

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