Page 152 of Tamed By Her Touch

After a few bites, Clair decided she liked it. It was weird, but in a good way. She wished she could give Kaelus a bite to see what the big Hybrid would make of it…damn it, there she went again! Why couldn’t she stop thinking of him?

They ate several blossoms along with slices of crisp green fruit and a chilled broth that changed from pale blue to pink when Clair stirred it. By the time they returned to the laboratory, she felt refreshed and ready to attack the data again.

The breakthrough came less than an hour later. Clair had begun comparing the male saliva samples against the women’s results when she noticed something odd.

“Maera, come look at this,” she said.

“What is it?”

Maera joined her at the display and Clair enlarged six male profiles.

“These men all have the active metabolite in their saliva,” she said.

Maera raised her eyebrows.

“That is expected, is it not? We already know it circulates in male blood.”

“Yes, but look at the collection notes.” Clair pointed.

Maera read them…then her expression sharpened. Each of the six men had provided two saliva samples—one early in the morning before eating or drinking and another shortly after the traditional morning greeting with his wife.

In the first samples, the active compound was present only in very low concentrations. In the second samples, the levels had jumped dramatically.

Clair’s heart began pounding. She pulled up another set—same result. And another and another and another…they were all the same. She began working faster.

“Look at this one. His baseline saliva level was almost negligible. Twelve minutes after kissing his wife, it increased sixfold,” she said excitedly.

Maera leaned closer.

“And this man increased nearly eightfold,” she said, pointing.

Clair dragged another group into the comparison.

“Every single paired sample shows the same pattern!” The laboratory suddenly felt charged with possibility. “They’re getting it through saliva,” Clair breathed. “That must be it!”

Maera’s eyes widened.

“The Kiss of Parting,” she murmured.

“The morning kisses. The evening kisses. All of it.” Clair began pacing. “It isn’t just symbolic. They’ve been dosing each other.”

“For centuries,” Maera said.

“Yes!” Clair rushed back to the analyzer. “But wait. That can’t be the whole thing.”

She began comparing concentration levels. The amount transferred through kissing was measurable, but it was small compared with the amount circulating in male blood.

She frowned.

“This explains maintenance doses. Frequent kissing could keep the metabolite circulating, especially if the compound builds up over time. But look at the concentrations.”

“They are too low,” Maera said.

“Exactly.”

Clair’s mind raced.

“The men are carrying much more active compound than simple salivary transfer seems able to account for.”