“He’s fine! Completely fine,” she whispered. Well, hissed, voice sharp and glacial, upset that some puny little human had noticed her weakness.
Even if he was compact and muscular, and really quite handsome for an incompatible, inferior species.
That’s your father and mother talking, Ly. By their standards, everyone but a Wolfi general, surgeon, or government official would be inferior.
“Mind if I stay? Ever since I started helping Ardol more, I only get to see these little guys at meals. Geez, they’re getting big fast. Who do you think is going to be next? I mean, after Abigail? Nessa? Or Layla again? Or...” Elio sat down next to his sleeping niece and nephew, “or Dax and Skyla?”
“Dax and Skyla?”
“Marcus was talking about creating chromosomal boosters for other mammalian races like Canids. I figure he has a couple of test subjects right under his nose—if they’d wake up and notice they’re completely in love with each other.”
Lycen left Aran’s crib and nodded slowly as she paced the softly lit room. “Well. That... That could be. In her case.”
“You think? I know Dax is into her. He can’t hide anything, that goofball,” Elio said with brotherly warmth. “No matter what’s going on in that curly blonde head of his, it shines out of his face. I hope Skyla gives him a chance. He’s a good guy. He’d make her happy, I know it.”
Lycen had to smile at her crewmate’s passionate defense of his foster brother and friend. “Skyla likes him, too. There aresignals that Canid females make when they like a male, and she has been sending them more and more.”
“I thought so. Her tail is like a fluffy, come-hither flag whenever Dax is nearby.”
A stab of jealousy made Lycen bite her lip. Why should she care if Elio noticed Skyla’s tail? Or found it fluffy? Or thought it was somehow seductive? Her own tail did a slow, sweeping sashay as she leaned, long legs crossed at the ankles, her shoulder against the doorway.
Elio didn’t notice. He was staring adoringly at Wendy and Talos’ cub now. “She’s so beautiful, isn’t she? Chandra might look like a Tigerite, but I think I can see some Wendy in the shape of her face. Subtle, but it’s there. I wonder if a cub from Skyla and Dax would have blonde curly fur?”
“Pup. It would be a pup. And I don’t know. It might not happen. The chromosomal booster works on females to make them receptive to the male’s genetics.” Lycen skipped over the clinical terms, even though fertility and sex were fast becoming a daily topic of conversation, a part of life on board theComet Stalkeras they sought to become a floating clinic for Felids hoping to start a family. “A female Canid would likely have a human-looking baby. And that...”
She clicked her tongue, her disapproval evident.
Elio left the row of cribs and cots. “That’s a bad thing?”
“Well... In my family, it would be. It would be terrible in my family, in my pack, if I had children with anyone but a decorated, high-ranking Wolfi general or provincial governor. Once, I had a little crush on Jaxson—years ago!” she snapped as Elio’s eyebrows arched. “Anyway, my parents wereveryopen about their disapproval.”
“Oh. Well. That’s nice, I guess. That you have parents to care about you. I don’t. And Dax, Wendy, and Layla are the least judgy people in the universe.”
“I don’t know how much is about caring. It’s more like rules for maintaining our family’s status and the pack’s honor.”
“Well, honor, I get. When I got out of Metro Labs and my contract was bought by Rupex and Layla, I was basically a burden. But I told myself I’d take every chance, study hard, work harder, and I wouldn’t even think about a relationship until I was a useful part of the crew, earning real credits, not pity money for odd jobs. When Ardol leaves, I’ll be the freight coordinator. I have another twelve cycles of classes to take before I can apply for my Felix Orbus license, but Ru’s going to put me in the position even before the official qualifications come in.” Elio’s face was a hard mask now, a mask of determination. “I think I can do it. I’m not going to let this crew or this family down. I feel like I’ve learned more from studying under Ardol than I have in all the coursework.”
Lycen nodded, tail doing those stupid twitches again. Why was there something of a lone wolf in a scrawny little human man?
Not scrawny, she realized when his hand reached up and propped against the wall, showing a ripple of muscle that spread down his arm, across his chest, and drew her eyes to his shoulders.
“That’s a good plan,” she whispered, partially because of sleeping babies and partially because her voice had all but deserted her.
“Yeah. It’s a plan. And then, maybe after a year or two of making real credits and knowing I can handle the job, that I won’t lose it, then I’ll be able to think about a future with a wife and a family of my own.”
Lycen sat.
He sat next to her.
“That’s smart.”
“Thanks.”
Silence.
“Is there some Wolfi guy your mom and dad have in mind?”
“Nope. I don’t talk to them much these days. As far as they’re concerned, I’m doing all the right things, working hard, challenging boundaries, doing something they can brag about to the pack by being on a crew with a purpose. Some blend of skill and altruism. They figure that when I end my contract, I’ll come home and get snapped up by a local ESM crew at my father’s base. Marry an officer who has the potential to make general if I want to marry someone close to my age, or an actual general if I want to shop around for someone older. Sounds cold, doesn’t it?”
