“Aren’t they human as well, Vernon?” her mother asked gently. “Humanity can overcome a lot of things, even selective breeding. You’re talking about men here, not animals.”
Her mother, Delaney Marion had a voice like silk and a heart as soft as a marshmallow. But she made sense. As Amanda listened to the conversation and studied for the all-important final test before receiving her teaching certificate, she admitted her mother’s argument made more sense than any others she had heard.
“In this case, we’ll have no choice but to pray that’s true,” her father sighed, running his fingers through his thick, gray hair. “But the Coyote Breeds are going to be trouble, Della, you can bet on it. I can feel it.”
Her father’s instincts were always good.
“They’re animals,” her brother had stated, his voice icy cold, his eyes matching the tone as he looked up.
“They’ll be more than trouble, they’ll be a blight. We should just give Lyons sanction to kill them all like the diseased creatures they are.”
The memory wasn’t a pleasant one. As Amanda ate the breakfast Kiowa fixed and fought the lust rising within her, the memory taunted her. So far, the Feline Breeds were being accepted reasonably well by the world. The reports of their creation, treatment by their creators and the plans to use them against the general population were horrifying. The fact that so many Breeds had died rather than kill, and fought so hard for their freedom redeemed them in society’s eyes. Reports of the Coyote were another story. They were created and trained to guard and hunt the others. The reports on that Breed were terrifying. Vicious, bloodthirsty, as cruel as their handlers.
But Kiowa was none of those. He was a man, with plenty of faults, she admitted, but he wasn’t bloodthirsty. If he had been, he would have helped the kidnappers rather than rescuing her. The Feline Breed leader seemed to accept him well enough; he actually seemed to like him from what Amanda had seen.
“Stop thinking so hard.” Kiowa moved her empty plate from in front of her as well as the glass that had held the milk he forced on her.
She watched him curiously as he washed up quickly.
“I need to take a shower.” He placed the last dish in the drainer minutes later. “Stay in the cabin. The mountains are heavily patrolled by Feline guards and they don’t know you yet. We also have several trained wolves and a mountain lion or two patrolling. They definitely won’t like you. If you don’t smell like a cat, they eat you.”
She knew her expression reflected her shock.
“Go on to bed and try to sleep. It’s been a hell of a night.”
Weariness seemed to drag at her anyway, but it did little to dim the need burning bright in her womb.
“Where are you sleeping?” she asked him.
He stiffened.
“On the couch. If you need me, just let me know. I won’t bother you otherwise.”
If she could handle it. The words seemed to linger in the air around them despite the fact that she hadn’t voiced them.
Could she handle it?
Could she handle the consequences if she didn’t?
“How did your mother conceive you?” She didn’t know where the question came from. He watched her closely for several, long moments.
“She was taken while coming home from college one night. The Breed scientists often kidnapped their breeders. If they were ovulating, they kept them and bred them. If they weren’t, they tried to force ovulation. If they couldn’t make them take, then they let them go.”
“How did your mother escape?”
“She was ovulating. She was artificially inseminated with the altered sperm and then locked in a cage. A week later, tests were negative for conception. They released her. Evidently, there are very few women compatible enough with the altered genetics to actually allow conception.”
“How was it negative?”
He smiled sarcastically. “You’re a smart one aren’t you? Coyote sperm is evidently viable for much longer periods of time within the female womb. Up to two weeks was the latest report I believe. The unique hormone created by the altered genetics can also force ovulation on its own. As it did with my mother, I guess.
“Once they learned this, they started searching for the breeders they had turned loose. It was years later unfortunately. Shit happens. My mother died in a car crash when I was five, no one but my grandfather knew of my existence. Even her new husband had no idea I existed. By then, there was no checking the body for previous birth since she was more or less cremated in the crash. Too bad, so sad. Kiowa got away.”
“Then…” Her heart was racing in her chest now, a hard anxious beat that unfortunately had negative results.
“You’re ovulating now.” He nodded. “I’ve locked inside you twice and chances are you have all kinds of little Coyote sperm racing around in your womb. But you might hit it lucky, baby. As I said, most Breed sperm isn’t compatible with a normal female. Chances are good it won’t catch.”
That was not regret she heard in his voice, she reassured herself.