filled up.” He held his fist to his chest. “All I wanted to do was mark her and make her mine.”
“That might have made it a little awkward in the middle of the road. Do you really do that?” I wrinkled my nose.
“There’s no greater honor.” He steered his gaze to me. “It’s not as vulgar as it sounds. Our chemistry changes, and a unique scent lifts off our skin. It lets every other male know that this female is claimed, and it lets her know that she has a serious suitor. One who will die for her.” Claude leaned back on his hands. “She backed up a step when she caught it wafting off me. I didn’t mark her, but the imprint lifted off my skin as if it were searching for her. Josephine was like no female I’d ever known. She wore patchy bell-bottoms, and two flaxen braids were tied in the back. Her top was so skimpy that I almost took off my own shirt to cover her up.”
“People didn’t dress like that in your hometown?”
“In Williamsport? No. Even Cognito was a little reserved in those days, so Josie stood out.”
“Josie?”
“That was her nickname. I sometimes called her pussycat, after the comics. It was an inside joke.” Claude stood up and brewed a pot of coffee. “Humans were protesting the war, fighting for civil rights, and speaking out for women’s lib. But it was different for Breed. We had issues of our own, and maybe some of the human protests galvanized people within our own communities to make big changes. Josephine was outspoken against what she called the patriarchy of Breed culture. Almost every organization was run by males. The laws were riddled with holes, and women didn’t have all the protection they deserved.”
After the coffee brewed, Claude poured two cups and set them on the table. He sat across from me but turned his chair toward the door.
Steam rose from his cup, and he let it sit on the table to cool. “Josie wanted more female leaders. She was part of an activist group that showed up at all the meetings organized by our elders and the Lord. It wasn’t just Chitahs, they wanted change everywhere. Especially with the higher authority. Leaders were and still are selected by their peers. It’s not a public vote.” He sipped his coffee. “Change was more important to her than anything.”
“Even you?”
“Especially me.”
“Why?”
He released a deep sigh. “I represented something she was fighting against. She equated mating her kindred spirit as a step back. I never pushed her. She was willing to give me her body, just not her heart. Josie wanted to change the world.” The light in his eyes dimmed. “She mated another male. He was a Mage, a representative for the higher authority. She thought by publicly mating her natural enemy that it would bring everyone together, but I knew that wasn’t the real reason.”
I warmed my fingers on my mug. “What was?”
“Josie thought if she could mate with someone in power, she could be the puppet master who pulled the strings—that she could change the laws from the inside, because their efforts on the outside were failing. Her comrades didn’t understand, and their protests escalated to violence. They threw Molotov cocktails into the homes of important men, and when one of those incendiary weapons set fire to a Mageri councilman, everything changed. They became renegades and went underground. The higher authority declared them outlaws and wanted anyone affiliated with them killed.”
I furrowed my brow. “They can’t do that. Dead or alive is the rule, but they can’t order hits.”
He lifted his cup. “When eighty percent of the panel was Mage, they could do whatever they wanted. The Mageri formed first, so when the higher authority was conceived, it was hard to get leaders from all the Breeds to join. Nobody wanted to be the bad guy and have a target on his back.”
I got up and sat on the edge of the bed to face him. “So what happened?”
“There was an insurgence. When some of the revolutionaries were killed, others joined. The higher authority wanted to snuff them out before they lost control. Many lives were lost on both sides. It lasted several years. They eventually negotiated a peace treaty and allowed the rebels to remain in the Bricks with no fear of retaliation in exchange for adding a few women to leadership. By then everyone wanted peace.”
I reached for Claude’s baseball hat and held it