He took pity on her.“No.She was like a blood sister to me when we were young.Now, it is like we never knew one another.We hardly cross paths.”
“Did she ever have feelings for you?”
Vaxa’an sighed.“Yes, she did.”
Kat stilled on his lap.“And?” she prompted.
“Ever since the Jetutian attack,” he started slowly, his fists clenching at her sides, “I knew my duty lay elsewhere.”
“Your duty?”
“My duty to the future of our race.”
Kat frowned, but a sad understanding dawned in her eyes.“You’re talking about her inability to have children.That’s not a reason to reject someone, Vaxa.What if you were happy with her?”
“I did not return her feelings of affection,luxiva, so it matters not.My Instinct did not choose her.”
“And what is this Instinct everyone keeps talking about?” she asked, letting the topic go.He felt mildly relieved.
“It is a force inside every Luxirian that drives us to breed.”
Her brows rose.“I hate to break it to you, but that’s just called being horny, Vaxa.”
Vaxa’an let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed in the bathing pool.“It is a little more complicated than that, female.It is a voice.A presence that is a part of us the moment we are born.It matures as we age and makes itself known when we are able to procreate.The Instinct led me to you but I knew when I first saw you that you were much more.”
“You didn’t have a choice,” she whispered, realization dawning in her gaze.
“Tev.Our Instinct chooses the most compatible Breeder and drives us to mate with them.”Her pupils dilated.“But you are not just my Breeder, Kat.”
“Oh,” she murmured, suddenly growing shy.“Last night…I thought…I thought you meant that you only chose me because I wasthere.That I was available.”
His chest rumbled.So that had been why his female pulled away from him…because of his careless words.He’d foolishly assumed that she would understand.
“I should have explained more fully to you, female,” he said.“I did not wish to cause you distress.”
“I—I’m sorry,” she said.“There are a lot of things about you, about this place that I don’t understand yet.”
“There is much that I will teach you, that I will show you,” he murmured.
“It’s a little overwhelming, Vaxa,” she admitted.
“There is time, female, after theravraxia.”
Kat cleared her throat.“That’s another thing…”
Vaxa frowned, preparing himself for another round.“Yes?”
“Tell me the truth…can you get me pregnant?Are we biologically compatible in that way?”
Vaxa’an told himself that he needed to tread carefully here.“Tev.My Instinct would not have chosen you unless we are.”
“But…you don’t know for sure?”
“I planned on taking you to Privanax tomorrow.He is a researcher in our labs.We will find out ‘for sure’ then, but I already know that we are.I feel it.”
“In that case,” she said, determination crossing her features, “I’ve decided that I will not have sex with you unless there is some sort of protection, Vaxa.I cannot get pregnant.”
“Nix,” he grumbled.
