Page 66 of I Married A Catman

“Hello, Ophelia and Gaelec,” Kayog said with his legendary enthusiasm.

“Hello, Kayog,” I said in a similarly cheerful tone.

Gaelec gave him a polite, if somewhat stiff nod.

The Temern’s silver eyes flicked to my mate’s hand on my lap, and the subtle quirking of the stiff corners of his beak seemed to hint he’d guessed the meaning of that possessive display. Obviously, he couldn’t read emotions through a vidscreen, but I bet he was a master at reading body language.

“Marriage seems to agree with the both of you,” Kayog continued. “I’m assuming things are going well?”

“Perfectly well,” Gaelec replied, sounding slightly belligerent.

I barely kept myself from rolling my eyes while Kayog’s smile broadened to the extent his beak allowed.

“Unsurprising. After all, I’m never wrong,” he said smugly.

I snorted, not so much because of the shameless boasting, but because my gut told me with a certainty I couldn’t explain that the comment had been directly aimed at my husband to tell him to stop being so silly. And it worked like a charm. Gaelec immediately relaxed. I gave him a mocking sideways glance, to which he replied by scrunching his face.

“What can we do for you, Master Voln?” Gaelec asked, a bit of grumpiness lingering in his voice.

“Actually, I’m calling to tell you whatIcan do foryou!” he said with a grin.

Gaelec and I exchanged a confused look before glancing back at the Temern.

“Whatyoucan do forus?” I repeated.

He nodded. “If you recall, before leaving the spaceport, I mentioned that I would be late sending your wedding present.”

“Oh, wow! Right. I forgot about that,” I said sheepishly. “But you don’t have to give us anything. Pairing us was already the best present you could have come up with.”

My throat constricted at the sweet and paternal expression that descended over his features when I said those words.

“Oh, my dear… While your words touch me deeply, and although I couldn’t agree with them more, reuniting two soulmates is only indirectly a gift to them. It’s an even greater one to myself. Which means I still owe you a present. And from what I hear, it would come in extremely handy to the two of you.”

I blinked, taken aback by that last comment. Gaelec and I exchanged another confused look, laced with the same curiosity.

“Okay, color me intrigued,” I said.

“I heard about your request to the UPO,” he explained, his face suddenly taking on an unusually serious expression. “As the UPO has a vested interest in the type of changes your plan could help bring about for your people, I can be significantly more generous in the type of presents I can offer.”

My heart skipped a beat. My eyes still glued to the screen, I blindly reached for Gaelec’s hand, squeezing it tightly. He placed his other hand on top of mine, giving it a soothing caress even as he also continued to stare at the Temern with the same anticipatory tension I felt.

“As you may know, my agency has a discretionary budget for presents to newlyweds. On rare occasions, the UPO will give us the green light to increase it, which was the case for you.”

“Why?” Gaelec asked, suspicion seeping into his voice.

“Your success could have the type of domino effect that the UPO and the Enforcers are looking for,” Kayog explained. “For them, this constitutes a long-term investment without them having to send in off-worlders to meddle daily with the local population—which usually doesn’t go too well.”

“What’s the catch?” Gaelec insisted, his suspicion cranking up another notch.

Although taken aback by his reaction, I couldn’t deny the validity of his inquiry. Having always worked under the umbrella of large charities, I never really bothered with the politics behind the funding we received. I was just happy to get my hands dirty and see how my work helped improve the lives of people facing hardships. But now, I was starting to think myself a little naive as my brain started listing all the things that could indeed be problematic for my husband. I didn’t go into law because I couldn’t be bothered with the fine print. Yet that was the most important as it was how they always screwed you over.

“The requirements are that everything you will receive must be used exclusively for your new Pride, not be resold or traded to a third party. Your Pride must commit not to engage in crimes or piracy and pledge to expel any member who breaks that commitment. The UPO will also want some oversight on—”

“No!” Gaelec said in a tone that brooked no argument, interrupting him halfway through that last sentence. “The first two requests are entirely acceptable. Giving away whatever technology you share with us would be stupid, and the whole point of leaving Nevian Pride is specifically because we no longer want to be forced into committing crimes. But the last demand is a deal breaker. The UPO will not get to dictate anything that happens here. We will be our own people, with our own rules, not puppets to be controlled and manipulated according to the whims of some overseer.”

To my shock, Kayog didn’t launch into a vehement argument as to why it is entirely reasonable for the UPO to want to have some sort of say, considering the substantial investment they might make in us. Instead, he gave Gaelec a mysterious smile. In that instant, I realized he not only approved of his response, buthe likely also hoped my husband would have shut him down on that point.

“Expect them to try to push,” Kayog said in a slightly teasing tone.

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