Page 35 of Their Shared Mate
Did you fill Diego in on our progress?Gabriel, with a strong assist from Raphael and several others, was weeks, perhaps evendays away from completing an off-world transmitter. Its range would be limited. But they planned to put a short message on auto-repeat and hope that a passing ship would pick it up.
He was pleased and agreed to give us the uritium.
Raphael nodded, forgetting that his brother couldn’t see him.That’s great.The final components for the transmitter couldn’t be completed without the mineral and the only source they’d found was in feline territory.
Diego asked about the rescued females, Gabriel informed.Do any of them want to return to the feline village?
Raphael pulled the kettle off the heat as he explained,We’re only a week into the trial month, so the courtships are just beginning. I’ll ask at the end of week two, and one final time when the month is over.
Sounds good. I’ll let Diego know.With his usual abruptness, Gabriel pinched off the link and ended the conversation.
Raphael made a mug of Rydarian coffee then walked to his workstation and sat down. The computer core from one of the ships had survived the saboteurs so the hybrids installed it in the bunkhouse. There were sixteen access points scattered throughout the village creating a miniature network. Raphael used it to track guard rotations, skimmer use, as well as greenhouse production. The tasks weren’t exciting, but keeping track of such things kept the village running smoothly.
A subtle shuffling in the bedroom told him Claire was awake. She emerged a few minutes later wearing the outfit Victor had left her. Her hair was neatly combed, and her eyes were luminous. “Good morning,” he greeted as he shut down the program. “Would you like some breakfast?”
“I don’t need anything fancy. Toast andsunjittea is all I usually have.”
“We need to throw some protein in there somewhere. I haven’t eaten either. I can make scrambled eggs or warm somebiforen.I’m out ofoatmeal.”
She made a face at the second suggestion. “Biforenreminds me of venison. It’s a little too gamey for breakfast. I’d much rather have scrambled eggs.”
He rose and walked into the kitchen, his strides easy, comfortable. “Did you sleep well?”
“Once you let me sleep.” She softened the complaint with a smile.
“I won’t apologize for wanting my mate. It’s unavoidable.” As if to prove his point, a wave of desire washed over him. His heart thudded in his chest and his cock began to harden. He took a deep breath and forced his body back into submission. Last night was about unbridled passion. Today she would see the calm, amiable side of his personality.
Her cheeks pinkened and she averted her gaze. “I won’t deny that we have sexual chemistry.”
The phrase made him chuckle. He touched her face, guiding her gaze back toward him. “Sexual chemistry might be all you feel for us, but our feelings for you go much deeper.”
“Why?” She crossed her arms, suddenly agitated. “We’ve known each other less than a week.One week. How can you be so certain?”
“You spent almost two months with the cats,” he challenged lightly. “Did you feel this sort of attraction with any of them?”
“No, but?—”
“It’s instinctual.” He put the kettle on to boil and sliced two pieces of bread from the loaf he’d served with dinner. “Victor sensed the connection as soon as he saw you. I knew for certain after we kissed.” Her confusion seemed genuine. She wasn’t just arguing for the sake of arguing, so he didn’t reprimand her. “You feel right in my arms. I can’t explain it any better than that. Your taste, your scent, even the sounds you make when we fuck you make it obvious that you are our mate.”
His candor deepened her blush, but she didn’t look away this time. “You and Victor aren’t blood relatives. Why do you have the same mate?”
He put the bread in a shallow pan and placed it in the oven before he answered the question. “Our human side is not related by blood, but the same DNA was used to transform us. Bonding fever is part of our animal nature.”
Her eyes widened for a moment, then she nodded. “I hadn’t realized there was a biological connection between you two. I figured you knew each other on Earth, so you simply chose to be roommates.” She lapsed into silence, yet her tense expression made it obvious she wasn’t finished with the conversation. “Can I ask a few questions, or would that be too painful for you?”
Everything about the past was painful. Still, her interest was encouraging. “Scientific curiosity?”
“I’m sorry. It’s my nature to wonder about this sort of thing. If you’d rather not talk about it, I understand.”
“I’m not a geneticist, but I’ll do my best to explain.” He cracked several eggs into a beer mug and added a splash ofdorrenmilk. Thejoselleeggs were twice the size of chicken eggs, but thetaste was similar. “Everything I’m about to say only applies to raptor hybrids. I have no in-depth knowledge about the other programs.”
She nodded.
Organizing his thoughts into succinct facts, he began, “Project Griffin utilized six separate genetic patterns when they transformed us. Each pattern consists of multiple segments that were meticulously woven into our natural genome. The patterns are complex and manipulated in ways that shouldn’t have been possible. It had to have taken years, perhaps decades, to achieve the desired results.” He scrambled the eggs as he continued, using the simple task to ease his surging emotions. “The patterns are like nothing my people had ever seen before. We refer to those transformed by the same pattern as belonging to the same tribe.”
“So you and Victor are part of the same tribe?”
“Exactly. We found documents that mentioned golden eagles, great horned owls, and Andean condors, but without a DNA database to use for comparisons, we have no way of determining the specific components that went into each pattern.”
