Loaned to the Leonid Knight (Felix Orbus Galaxy #8)

Chapter One

“Ididn’t open this communication, sir.” Gideon gave his employer a pocket database computer on a metallic tray carved with intricate designs. “All other business and social engagements and communications have been dealt with. Your brother sends word from Tigerite-Four that—”

“I don’t want to hear what Memhet says. My father may care, but I don’t.

Memhet isn’t going to find a Queen and produce an heir before I do.

Not after this.” Farhet, a massive Leonid with a dark red mane and bright golden fur, held out the computer in triumph.

“I’ve been accepted by Bastet Mercy, Gideon. My human surrogate awaits.”

“Congratulations, sir. How long will you be gone?”

Farhet tapped and scrolled on the screen, eyes glowing with triumph.

“Less than a cycle, I suspect. I’ll take the long-range shuttle to the beginning of the Leopardine System and meet with the pioneering scientist on his mobile clinic.

Let’s see... A week there. A week back...

They say it might take up to six cycles, but that’s foolishness.

People simply aren’t efficient. I imagine it’s the laziness of the humans. They’re stubborn and slow-witted.”

“Begging your pardon, sir, but if that is so, then why—”

“Because I’m forty and a realist, Gideon.

I’m not like you, who has no hope of securing a Queen.

I’m not like my brother, who is foolish enough to believe that the Queens who are still able to bear cubs—young beauties of eighteen and nineteen—will pick someone like him when there are richer, younger Felids who can offer them far more.

No, I’ve been assured that the techniques they use pass on very few human traits.

The child will look fully Felid—with slight coloring variations.

Nothing as—” Farhet’s eyes met his and skirted away.

Gideon held his tongue with an effort, knowing what his employer intended to say.

Nothing as noticeable as having Pantherite blood.

His hands flexed around the handles of the mithrium tea tray, dark black fur covering them, unheard of on a Leonid—and yet present on him.

Black silky mane that flowed down, not out.

White speckling through his legs and down his back.

A genetic lottery that offered no prizes.

No Queen would ever take him, not when there were specimens that didn’t carry the risk of a generations’ old recessive gene passing on his fatal coloring.

Farhet turned and faced the stained lumenglass windows of the palatial office.

“I should probably take the human Queen some sort of token gift from our Province. Pick up something suitable when you are at the market, Gideon. I have to go see Father and tell him that he mustn’t worry any longer.

At last, he can name a successor to lead this Pride—me. ”

“Very good, sir.” Gideon stepped back, his words still forming when his employer sped past, chortling and rubbing his paws.

Once Farhet was out of sight, Gideon’s face changed from one of careful deference to a mixture of envy, confusion, and disgust.

Memhet is doing this the honorable way. He will find a Queen one day, and woo her, and win her. They’ll have cubs and fill this Pride with joy again.

Farhet... Greedy and proud, always takes the shortcut. I cannot get him out of a mess this time, so let us hope he’s not making one.

Gideon quickly tidied up the breakfast tray on the desk, made sure the decanters were full in the office, and checked for any new communications, his dark-furred hands and simple cream-colored houseman’s uniform standing out in all the jewel-toned opulence of the Imazi Estate.

Soon it will be the Farhet Estate, once Master Imazi sees that one of his sons has produced an heir... Farhet will become even more insufferable.

What in the universe does one get for a human Queen to thank her for bearing your son or daughter? A castle full of gems would not be enough for such a gift.

Bitterness threatened to stop him in his tracks, and he had too much to do to let such sad thoughts overwhelm him.

No Queen will pick a servant, even one with a fancy title like personal secretary and assistant, not when even the poorest Queen can marry a governor or tycoon.

No Leonid will pick you, not when your great-great-grandmother was a Pantherite.

It doesn’t matter that you likely can’t pass this coloring on, or that there are plenty of Felids marrying other races—even Canids, even Avians!

Even humans now. In a few generations, we will have more unique colors and patterns in our fur than these stuffy Leonids from Imazi Hills on Leonid-One could ever imagine.

No one talks about it. No one treats me differently. If I were in another city, or another planet, maybe it wouldn’t be so obvious. But it’s obvious here, in the cream of the upper classes, side by side with Farhet.

Farhet is going to buy an heir.

I’ll probably raise the child. Mr. Imazi is so frail now, and soon Farhet will run this district. Fully run this house. Run everything.

Gideon stood frozen in the doorway to the majestic garden.

What do human Queens like, anyway?

He turned and went back inside the house. Before shopping—research.

SASHA WOKE UP TO HUMAN faces staring down at her, one pale and blonde with silver strands, the other dark with silky waves. Both smiling.

Her brain was foggy, and her tongue thick. “Hi?”

“Hi, Sasha! Or would you like to be called Miss Cordovair?”

“Sasha.”

“Let’s get you some water. We gave you an electrolyte patch about twenty minutes ago, and you’re coming out of hypersleep beautifully. Do you remember why you’re here? Where you are?”

“Surrogacy program. Comet Stalker?”

“We have a winner. A groggy winner, but that’ll wear off soon. You just rest and know you’re in good hands. I’m Abi, and this is Nessa.” The blonde woman waved.

Sasha’s eyes focused more, and she noticed that the blonde was wearing what looked like two giant sacks on either side of her chest. She began to sit up, and Nessa waved her back.

“Abi. I think she noticed your passengers.”

“Ohhh! This is Mara, and this is Valiant. Val, for short.” Abi lifted something from her chest, a tiny golden bundle.

A baby. “Leonid?” Sasha whispered.

“Mmhmm.”

“There are four Leonid cubs on board, one Tigerite, and a Servali one on the way.” Nessa laughed and patted her middle.

“We had a cute little Leopardine, but he and his parents are on Lynx-Nineteen now. Whole bunch of Lynxian cubs on that planet, too. Whole bunch of human-Felid couples,” Nessa spoke in a kind, reassuring voice.

“So if you're worried, or you have any questions, you just ask.”

“You’re surrogates?”

“No, our husbands are Felids,” Abi explained, nuzzling her cub’s cheeks. The baby nuzzled her back. “When you are a little stronger, you can hold them. And we’ll move you out of the med bay into your own quarters.”

“You guys are so nice.” Sasha smiled, but her insides twitched. In her old neighborhood on Sapien-Three, nice people were hiding something.

“You’re going to be here at least six cycles, probably longer—until the baby is born. It’s a small crew for a large ship. We’ve kind of become like a family,” Abi explained.

“Kind of?” Nessa snorted. “Totally like a family.” Once you’re here, you’ll at least earn the rank of distant cousin,” she chuckled.

Sasha nodded. At least, she hoped she was nodding.

Her body and brain felt disconnected, but she was feeling warm, and...

safe? What an odd feeling, especially in a strange place surrounded by Felids.

There were still rumors about them. The women who went to Felix Orbus never came back.

Some said they were eaten. What if these two women were just playing the game, sparing their own skins by feeding the beasts unsuspecting victims?

Sasha made a desperate gasping sound as the feeling of safety vanished.

“Are you okay?” Nessa demanded as Sasha made a flailing motion.

“Do... Do Felids eat people? The women don’t come back!” she gasped out the fears she had firmly squashed and ignored all through the extensive screening process.

“Eating their women?” Abi blushed bright pink.

Nassa let out a low laugh, her sinful smirk making it obvious that she was thinking about something sensual, not gory. “Once you’ve had a Felid ‘eat’ you, you never want to go back. Tongues with little bumps, special c—”

“Nessa!”

“Male equipment! Special, extra-large equipment, tails that tickle or help out with your wildest desires... No one’s eaten up in the sense of being killed and cooked, Sasha.

But since there’s no way to get Felid sperm to fertilize a female without actual him-in-her sexual activities, you might as well enjoy them, right?

I imagine that the person you’re matched with is going to treat you like a queen in every sense of the word. ”

Abi nodded, patting both of her babies as they snuggled on her chest. “Queen is the term for a female Felid, and it’s incredibly accurate.

Females are almost worshipped. Bastet and Durga are two of the most culturally significant gods, and they are both female.

Females are the life-givers, and in a galaxy stricken by a plague that took away almost all the adult Queens, females are even more precious.

I’m sure this is a lot to take in, but I know somewhere in that groggy mind, you remember all the hours of questionnaires, interviews, and discussions.

You’re not only safe here, but you might actually love this job and the people so much that you don’t want to leave. I know I didn’t want to go back.”

“Hell, no, I wouldn’t go back! My husband is here.

My friends are here.” Nessa hugged Abi with one arm around her shoulders and dropped a kiss on the nearest cub’s head.

“Sorry to remind you of all the carnal stuff when you were panicking. I have pregnancy hormones happening. If you don’t know about those—”

Sasha shook her head, eyebrows lifting.

“There are parts of pregnancy that you’ll love and parts you won’t like too much. The constant craving for husbandly attention is a big perk, one that he’s only too happy to help with. I’m pretty sure that Marcus—he’s the doctor running this show, you’ve met him—”

Sasha nodded, picturing the kindly, graying Leonid who had counseled her and interviewed her for hours on comm calls.

“Well, I’m pretty sure Marcus expects the male clients of the surrogate service to stay on board, for several reasons. Taking care of their expectant Queens is probably one of them.”

“It sounds like he thinks we’ll be more than just ‘business associates.’”

“Well, in this job, it’d be easier to combine business with pleasure. I’m sure it is possible to just keep things friendly,” Abi assured. “It depends on your mutual mindset.”

“Friends with very big benefits,” Nessa sighed. “Hey, I’m going to send Skyla and Kaylee in to keep an eye on our patient. I’m off to get my afternoon snack.”

Sasha watched the woman wave and speed off, a hungry glint in her eye.

“She’s not going for food, is she?” Sasha asked.

“Well... Her husband is the chef. There will probably be snacking. And then there will be ‘snacking.’” Abi gave her a bashful smile.

Sasha leaned back with a slow smile spreading across her face.

The feeling of safety was reasserting itself, along with a lot of questions.

That was only natural in a new place with new people, she soothed internally.

But she was also starting to look forward to meeting her partner in baby-making, this Farhet guy.

Would they fall in love like Nessa and Abi had with their Felid husbands?

Would she at least finally have a sexual experience that didn’t feel like she was someone’s puppet, someone’s way to get off?

Treated like a queen, in every sense of the word, that’s what Abi said.

Sasha fell into a natural, healing sleep, imagining her gorgeous Leonid suitor throwing his riches at her feet and sitting her on an old fairy tale throne.

I think I made a good choice...