It was worse than death. The male was left completely impotent until the day his mate died.
Dante shivered at the thought. Him, impotent? Those were two words that would never be said together.
He would die first.
He headed through the lobby in hot pursuit of his "mate."
Pandora was seething as she headed blindly through the crowd. All she wanted was to put some significant distance between her and Dante.
This was awful.
Terrible!
Wasn't it?
Most Arcadians dreamed of finding their mate as their first lover. That way, they wouldn't have to fear their prowling instinct, which would debase them as they hopped from male to male, trying to find the one who could breed with them.
It was a dream come true to find a mate so early and so easily. Most of her kind spent centuries looking. And many died without ever being mated at all.
Technically, she'd been lucky, and yet she was angry because she was bound to a Katagari male. Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire! This morning her worst fear was being enslaved to a Katagaria pack.
Now she was captured even more fully than before. If she left Dante, she would never be able to have children. He was the only one who could give her that.
"Damn these hormones," she snarled as more tears gathered in her eyes. It was hard to think straight.
Someone grabbed her from behind.
"Gotcha," a deep, masculine voice said in her ear.
It wasn't Dante.
The panther inside her roared to life, rejecting any male not her mate. She whirled about and struck without thought, making contact with the stranger's groin.
Doubling over, he hissed in pain. But before she could escape, another male took her arm.
She froze as she realized he was an exact, equally handsome copy of the man she had just racked.
"Leo." The lethal growl cut across the tense air and shivered down her spine. Dante's voice threatened violence and death. "Let go my mate, boy."
The panther holding her let go instantly and cursed. "You've got to be kidding me."
Dante shook his head as he joined them. "I wish I were." He scowled at the other male, who was still cupping himself. "You okay, Mikey?"
"Yeah," he said, grimacing as he forced himself to straighten. His face was still an awful shade of red and he was panting. "Just my luck that you would find a mate who is as pissy as you are."
"I take offense to that," Pandora said.
Mike gave her a menacing scowl. "And I take offense to my sudden need for testicle retrieval. You know, I would have liked to have fathered some children one day."
Leo laughed at his twin brother's discomfort. "I'm just glad you got to her first."
Mike curled his lip. "Shut up."
Dante rolled his eyes before introducing his brothers. "Pandora, meet my brothers, Leonardo and Michelangelo."
"Like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" she couldn't resist asking.
"Like the Renaissance painters," Leo snapped. He exchanged a snarl with his twin brother. "I seriously hate those damned turtles."
