“After being struck on the ass by lightning, she’s become even more demanding. Natalia views what Lila accidentally did to her as a challenge to her authority, so she’s being even more aggressive in her attempts to seduce us.” Sim sounds traumatized. His voice is shaky and he still won’t look at me. I can see his visible shudder and then genuine paranoia etched in his features.
What a terrible situation to be in.
“And I take it you’re not interested in this happening?” I question, frowning.
“Fuck no!” Trace exclaims without hesitation, and this time he does look up at me. “Natalia wasneversupposed to be on this trip. When the three of us signed up for the circus, it was her sister, Minx, who was originally supposed to be the female.” The more he speaks, the more disbelief and frustration coat his every word.
“The five of us are all from the top five streaks in the Laxsus region, which is also home to the Iceen royal family. Natalia and Minx are both daughters of the royal matriarch. Natalia is next in line, and as such, she should not have been allowed to be a part of the Galaxy Circus. Her role is to learn how to lead, but somehow when we all arrived to be transported here, she was there instead of her sister,” Fuse explains.
“Are you telling me that we may have an international incident on our hands?” I ask Fuse. My concern as to whether or not the Adams brothers are aware is rising every second.
“No, I made sure of it before we left the planet. Somehow, she convinced her mother it would be better for international diplomacy if she did a tour with the circus,” Maxsim explains, his fur rippling in annoyance. “But of course she has barely left our den since she’s been on the ship, and when she has, she certainly hasn’t made friends or taken any steps to do so.” He sighs and looks me in the eye. “Lightning cats are discouraged from having intercourse with the opposite sex until they are a mated streak, and the females are expected to remain chaste. It doesn’t always happen, hence the birth control mandate for us. As such, we are encouraged to fool around with one another to see to our sexual needs until that happens. They want us to form streaks of males first and then find a female once we reach maturity, which is usually around twenty-five years.” Maxsim pauses to make sure I’m following him. Their complex mating habits are truly fascinating from a medical standpoint. “Trace, Sim, and Fuse are one such streak, and they would have liked to have mated with Minx. That was their plan. Natalia is a jealous bitch and wants to take that away from her sister. She believes that as the future matriarch, she should have the most powerful mates for herself. She thinks that if she can seduce those three, she can bite and claim them. Getting pregnant would solidify her claim whether it’s wanted or not. We think she’s trying to force a rut, and we would like to make sure that our birth control is reliable so if she does somehow throw us into a rut, there’s no chance we can get her pregnant. We shouldn’t be able to because she’s a beta but who knows what devious plans she’s been conspiring.”
“Okay, but what about you two?” I point to Maxsim and Echo. “Do you want to be part of her streak?”
Echo shudders, and Maxsim reaches for his hand, pulling him close. “No, Echo is a very rare lightning cat. He’s an omega.”
Something prickles in the back of my data banks. “Oh, I think I’ve heard of this. A male who has both male and female internal reproductive parts. You can have babies, yes?” I raise an eyebrow in question, and he nods.
“Yes, but he has hidden it, and to most people, he registers as a powerful beta. A kind warlock took exception to the treatment of male omegas and has been providing his family and any others since with a spell to hide their designation, but Natalia found out. We’re not sure how, but she has been trying to kill him the entire time we’ve been with the circus. Female lightning cats hate male omegas because it means males have other options. Male omegas didn’t use to last long after puberty, when their designations were discovered. Alpha and beta females kill them so that they don’t take away their own mating choices. Echo was lucky in that his parental streak contains both a male omega and a female alpha, and he was protected because of their streak’s rank. They are one of the most vicious streaks in Laxsus,” Maxsim explains on Echo’s behalf, who still looks ill at the thought of being with Natalia.
As much as I try to remain neutral, I can’t help but feel a pang of empathy for his situation. Being different shouldn’t mean an automatic death sentence for Echo. His rareness as an omega should be embraced, but sadly, their matriarchal society views him as a threat. I take a deep breath to clear my mind and focus on the medical importance of their request.
“We’re fortunate that we’re all alpha’s and Natalia is just a beta. We can order her to stop,” Trace adds, “but she still tries once the alpha compulsion wears off. They get a couple days of reprieve before she tries again. Natalia is relentless, but what infuriates her the most is that they are a couple. Ultimately, though, Maxsim is her end game.” He pauses to look at Maxsim as if to apologize for stating what he believes is obvious. “His family is the one that would give hers a run for their throne if they were so inclined.”
“And you two are a couple?” I ask, gesturing between Maxsim and Echo, wanting to make sure I understand what Trace is saying. They both nod, and Echo snuggles into Maxsim’s side. “Do you not want a female mate as well?” The medical doctor in me is digesting as much information as possible to help them if needed.
“We’re not opposed to it, but so far we haven’t found anyone both our cats agree on,” Echo says quietly.
“Okay, so what I’m hearing is that Natalia needs to be returned to Iceen, because taking away someone’s will is wrong, not to mention it goes against everything the circus stands for.” Even if there are some races who are more than okay with taking away free will. “I’ll check your birth control and inject you with a rut prohibitor. Then, with your permission, I will speak to the boss men and see if we can make a trip past Iceen after we leave Earth to boot that bitch off this ship.”
I wait to see what their responses are before I move forward, because I want them to know I take patient-doctor confidentiality seriously and won’t break their trust. Looking at each cat, leaving Maxsim for last, I receive nods of confirmation. Their facial expressions have changed from worried to relieved and relaxed. I feel determined, more than ever, to help the cats be free of Natalia, so I rummage around in my supplies and insert the right capsule into the injector.
Going over to the exam bed, I activate my internal scanners and scan both Maxsim and Echo. Stopping over Echo’s stomach, I marvel at the makeup of his reproductive organs. They really are fascinating. Slotted behind his bladder are ovaries and a womb. The uterus connects to the rectum with a single direction flap to allow sperm to pass into the uterus to fertilize the eggs. The baby then develops inside the womb and is delivered through a birthing channel that sits behind the testicles on the male omega and only opens when the male omega is pregnant. At all other times, this channel is sealed closed. Before this, I never would have thought I would have to brush up on my knowledge of all the different breeding rituals for the species on our ship. First the krakens, and now the lightning cats. I need to add the information from the onboard database to my memory banks. I should probably read up on all the other species on board too, because I’ll never know when I might need the knowledge.
Once finished with their scan, I inject Maxsim with the rut inhibitor and Echo with the heat inhibitor.
“Luckily for you, if Natalia is a beta, then she can’t go into heat, but it can’t stop her from artificially triggering a rut, though I’m not sure how or why she thought you were all going to breed with her. The three of you are alphas too, aren’t you?” I ask Trace, Sim, and Fuse, and they nod. “Well, don’t you need to be able to knot your partner to breed?”
“Yes, and her sister is an omega. Natalia actually needs a beta partner to be able to breed herself. It’s theonlyway they can breed, but she’s a little bitter at the fact that she’s not an omega and refuses to acknowledge it. We also know that there are ways around a beta getting pregnant by alphas in this galaxy. She’s probably been injecting herself with omega hormones or something. The six of us never would have naturally worked as a streak,” Fuse continues to explain.
Trace shakes his head and snorts as if it’s the biggest understatement of the year. “Well, the five of us would have with Echo, but us three already have a thing with Minx, and those two have a thing with each other,” he jokes, gesturing to the lot of them. “Natalia hates that. But if she is injecting herself with omega hormones, all it’s going to do is change her scent. Even if she manages to trigger a rut, she still can’t physically take our knots, so there will be no breeding. That’s why omega hormones are illegal. The stupid betas end up being damaged when the alpha ends up hurting them through no fault of their own.”
Silence descends over the room as all of us become lost in our thoughts.
I concentrate on the task at hand and run the same scan on the other three. I inject them with the rut prohibitors as well before tossing the injector back onto a tray. “Okay, your birth control is fine for all of you, and I injected the rut prohibitors. Just get through the next few performances on Earth, and then we can take care of your problem. If we send Natalia home now, we won’t have time to get a new cat up to speed on the act. Only three more stops to go—Vegas, Asia, and Australia—and we’re done. I think you’ll find Natalia will be too distracted by Lila to worry about you five, which should help you in the short term. The boss men want her to start working with the acts sooner rather than later.”
“Ah yes, the powerless human.” Maxsim grunts. “That’s going to go over well.” I don’t miss the sarcasm in his voice.
“The warlock is having a look at her today. I have a funny feeling that Lila isn’t as powerless as Dylan told everyone she is. I think she’s going to surprise people,” I bluff, hoping it’s true.
Echo and Maxsim exchange a look. “Well, let’s hope so for her sake. I wouldn’t put it past Natalia to use her lightning on Lila.” Echo sounds worried, and with good reason. That lightning would be deadly for her.
“I’ll mention it to Xavier and see if he can give her some kind of protection from any attacks, whether physical or mental.”
“She’s going to need it,” Maxsim says like he knows something I don’t.
I deactivate the soundproof barrier and follow them out, waving goodbye without uttering another word. Josa has returned to the reception desk, and he’s filing his nails.
