Sarazen's Claim, Book One (20 page)

She was sleeping now, curled in a ball on the cot in the med bay, huddled under the blankets like she was cold. He lay another blanket over her and she gave a sleepy little purr, snuggling deeper, until all there was to be seen of her was her bright hair, her lips, and her nose where it peeked out from under the sheet. “Commander,” He looked up, shifting his body to shield the sight of his mate from the warrior who intruded, but the male kept his eyes respectfully focused on him and nowhere else. “Ga’rae and his mate have made progress in determining the stressors for the human female’s…transformation.” The warrior said the word with such reverence, he knew the other male was imagining a mate of his own from the human race, and the hope such a thing brought. “Is that all?”

“No, Commander. He requests a final scan, now that they are at rest, after which they may return to your quarters.”

“Very good.”

He moved to the cot where Clary lay, murmuring her name softly before he tugged the edge of the blankets down to reveal her face. He touched her cheek, and her eyes snapped open, pupils slit vertical to reveal her cat, but after a blink, her beautiful eyes returned to normal and she shoved a hand through her hair, looking, smelling confused and wary. “What happened now?” She asked, her voice a sleep roughened purr. “Nothing, my one. Ga’rae and Gwen have made progress enough to allow us to return to our quarters, after one last scan.” She blinked again, licking her dry lips as she sat up farther, holding the sheet tucked up under her armpits. “I’d rather be in the crew quarters with my people.”

It was on his tongue to immediately deny her request, deny that she would be anywhere but with him, but he forced back that desire to command her, fearing he would provoke her beast and make it rise. Instead he took a deep breath, “Given the current situation, do you think that wise?”

“Wise?”

“If something angers or upsets you, do you feel comfortable knowing you may shift shape and react instinctually to the scent of their fear, or the need to chase them if they run?”

“Right. Scan, you said?”

It cut deep, how she declined the hand he held out to her and climbed off the cot herself, wrapping the sheet securely around her, twisting her hair over one shoulder nervously. His jaw hurt from how tightly he clenched his teeth together, curling his fingers into a frustrated fist when he went to set his hand on her waist, and she took a step to the side to avoid it. Gwen was just climbing off the scanner table when they got to Ga’rae’s lab, and the little female gave Clary a supportive nod. “Is this curable?” Clary asked, and both he and Ga’rae froze, immediate insult taken, denial that she would wish to not see this miracle for what it was, filling his mouth. He looked at his medic, and Ga’rae looked at him, his expression clearly confused, both of them not knowing why Clary would ask that. “No. I already ran those tests,” Gwen said with a sigh, a sad sigh, furthering the negative reaction, the surprise of her mate. “Maybe if we hadn’t shifted fully, but the mutation is as of now, for the four of us, permanent. Come, look at the scans.”

Clary moved to join the other female at the computer bay, the two of them discussing the changes to their physical bodies, the differences in their initial scans versus the ones now. Ga’rae moved to stand just to one side of him, facing him, his back on their females. “My mate refuses to speak to me of anything concerning our bond. She asked to return to the crew quarters with her own people, so too has Falken’s mate. Ohlen is the only one of us whose mate is still speaking to him. I do not understand this,”

He looked past Ga’rae to where his mate stood, her fingers moving over the tablet to review the results of the testing little Gwen had done. Listened to the words she spoke in reaction to reading them. “Our base code has been changed, obviously, cellular regeneration is such that our bodies will repair any environmental damage, from too much radiation exposure, to…” Clary shifted to pull the side of her sheet away and stuck her leg out, palming the smooth length of her thigh, “Huh, to unnecessary fat deposits. I expect, from these scans, from the rapid nature of that cell regeneration, our life expectancy will have increased as well.” He acknowledged then, what she had said to him after Brennaugh’s departure. “I did not explain our culture to Clary, because I assumed she would not understand. She does not, but it is because of my failure to explain, not because of her inability to do so. Because my assumptions. Our, assumptions.”

“Our bone density has increased, as well as our muscle mass, metabolism, shit, is this our DNA strand?” Clary asked, and Gwen confirmed it was, both of them falling silent for a time, until Gwen stated it was Clary’s turn for her scan.

He moved towards her then, standing beside the medical table while the green lasers moved over her body in repetitive, rhythmic sweeps. The damage to her womb was now completely healed, her body in perfect condition, though to him it had been perfect from the start. “Can you copy the results to my tablet?” Clary asked Gwen, and the smaller female confirmed she would do so, “All of you must rest, your transformations were violent, extremely violent.” Ga’rae interjected, and after looking at him, Clary looked to her own medic and asked if that was her advice as well. “For now, yes. I’ll be reviewing the data from my quarters, I had thought to return to the crew quarters with the other women, but until we know for sure we can control this new change, it’s smarter, as much as I hate to say it, if we’re supervised. Seven of Commander Brennaugh’s warriors, including himself identified seven of our females as potential mates. As of now, they’ve agreed to be patient and keep their distance, until we can explain this new…development.”

Clary nodded, agreeing that was best, commanding her fellow human to keep her updated regularly. There was a tone there, that hadn’t been before, her cat, making itself known. He tensed, right alongside Ga’rae, ready to intervene when Gwen’s lips peeled back from her teeth in a natural, instinctual challenge. It was natural for their beasts to assert dominance, for one to be more powerful among a grouping, and often those challenges were violent. Gwen growled, and Clary’s head snapped towards her. She was silent, just staring down the other female, the only change to be seen were the crystal tips of her claws, and the vertical slits of her pupils.

Several tense heartbeats passed until Gwen looked away, shaking herself, taking a step back as her cat bowed to Clary’s. He released a soft breath, unsurprised now by that sensation of pride in his female.  Gwen raked a hand through her hair, licking her lips and looked back at Clary, who was still staring at her with her cat’s eyes. “Sorry, don’t know what that was.” Clary turned her hands over, as though just realizing she had released her claws without thought towards it, swallowing thickly as she examined them. “I’m guessing dominance display,” It was the first time since waking that she acknowledged his presence, glancing at him for conformation. He inclined his head to her, knowing that soon they would have such a display of their own. He understood it was necessary, inevitable for them to find harmony together, but understanding it made it no easier knowing that he could further alienate her and her affections towards him.

Twenty One

She held her hands carefully at her sides, stiffly, unable it seemed to make her claws retract, but unwilling to appear weak by showing her discomfort. Gwen agreed to send her regular updates, and even wearing nothing but a bedsheet, his mate was as regal as any queen of his race as she acknowledged her subordinate and moved towards him. He nodded to Ga’rae, moving to allow Clary to fall into step beside him, both of them silent all the way back up to his quarters. Once inside, he called her to a stop and took her wrists, squeezing gently when she made to pull away. “Your claws will be the easiest change your body will make. It is sometimes effortless and will happen even when you are not thinking of it. Will it interest you to know, that no Sarazen in the existence of our species, has ever had crystalline, white claws like this?”

She sucked in a soft breath, holding perfectly still while he stroked the pads of his fingers up along the underside of her sparkling, almost delicate claws. “Um, yes. All data is good data, right now. Maybe a physical identifier to say we are a mutated version of your kind.” He snorted in distaste, hating that was how she felt about what she was now. “How do I make them go away?” He pressed a kiss to her palm, turning his hand over so the back of his knuckles rested in her palm. “Feel the muscles, the ligaments, how they shift. You are still, beneath the façade, distressed. Your cat knows this, and offers you the tools to protect yourself.”

He flexed his hand slowly, tensing his muscles to allow his own claws to press from under his nailbeds, Clary, watched with a determined sort of focus. “Gwen presented you with challenge, and your cat answered, ready to defend herself, defend you, and your position as alpha female. This will not be the last time this happens, and when you look back on it later, this will be the easiest challenge you ever faced. However, you have proven to me, beyond all doubt or question, that you can do the impossible. Not even our cubs are able to change back so quickly, or have such control of themselves after their first shift. I don’t pretend to understand how you accomplished it, though I suspect it is just your nature. Your stubborn refusal to meet anyone’s expectations or the restrictions those expectations place on you. Even mine. Well done,”

She jolted when she realized that while he had been speaking to her, using the power of his cat to soothe the tension in her with the pitch of his voice, she had relaxed enough for her claws to retract. She pulled her hands away from his, turning them over, rubbing at her fingertips, flexing them, “Your voice, you used it to calm me down.” She accused, and his lips twitched, “There is a reason, my one, why I am the commander of the Sarazen armada.”

“Because you have a voice to soothe the savage beast?”

“No, because I am the most savage of us. I have been a warrior longer than any other, my cat was bred and tested for war, and I have not once failed. I am among very few who can say the same, and those few have just called mates to them, human mates who can share our beast. The Gods have conspired to reward us, after so long, and already we have made a mess of underestimating such beauty. It distresses me greatly, that I can no longer feel you, here.”

He touched his fingertips to his chest, and she was unable to hold back the little rumble of desire. A rumble of sound, her throat had never made before. She wrapped her hand around her neck, and a half smile canted his handsome lips in response. Thankfully he made no move to press that advantage, her clear desire for his body. “It distresses me even more, to know that my actions, my lack of them, caused you to lose faith in me. Lose trust, in me. I did not keep the truth from you intentionally, about the festival. I wished for our bond to become stronger, the foundation was already there, our senses opening to one another so that you could feel my emotions, and I yours. With enough time, your thoughts would have been open to me, and mine to you, as I did say. What I did not say was, you could be floating in the void between universes, and I would be able to hear and find you. Amidst the thousands of voices of the festival, to hear you would have been as easy as breathing.”

Thanks to the animal now living and breathing inside her, she could literally smell the truth in his words. Could smell, his sincerity that it had in fact distressed him, more than he was saying verbally, that their bond had been severed. It made things a hell of a lot easier, while at the same time more complicated, and difficult to remain mad. She glared at him regardless, doing her level best to ignore the other scent, the one she could taste, sweet like the coveted honeyed candy she had been given over the years, rolling across her tongue and making her body react in kind. The deep, musky, mouthwatering scent of his lust. His need for her. It was all she could do to keep her mad face and not allow another weird purr to come out of her throat. “Why wouldn’t you have just told me that before?”

Seeing a seven foot tall warrior’s ears turn a bit pink with his discomfiture made her cat snicker. He cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at her with that edge of desire making his eyes flicker yellow gold. “It did not occur to me that it would affect you so greatly. I was relying on your trust.” She and her cat both snorted derisively. “How long has it been since you’ve been around any species of female?”

“Several of your centuries.”

“Clearly.”

Her new friend made a huff of displeasure when she made herself turn and walk away from Tarek. The pissy little cat curling her lip, urging her to stop and go back to him, but she forcibly ignored that, and told her to be quiet for now. Another testy huff was her response, but no further fight or objection was given. Thankfully. She felt strange, noticing the way she moved now, walking forward with more…confidence maybe? Sinuous, her muscles stronger, shaped differently or something, because when she crawled onto the bed, she used only her fingertips and her knees to propel her forward, and for some reason she rolled down onto the mattress like, well, like a cat. She imagined if her tail manifested again, the tuft of it would be twitching right now. Tarek stepped into her line of sight and her eyes rolled up to pin him to the spot. “I’m resting. Now tell me your plan to explain to my crew, how this new development affects them.”