Page 26 of Healing the Leonid Doctor’s Heart (Felix Orbus Galaxy #6)

T alos put down the boxed meal he’d purchased on the small table where the media viewer rested and sat cross-legged on the floor. Leonid-One was overwhelming, even to someone who had recently been at the Tigerite System’s largest university in its biggest city.

Sighing a deep, calming sigh, he opened the carton and smiled at the beautiful assortment of fish and crustaceans served over the beautiful jungle green rice that was native to his planet.

He’d heard that there were good Tigerite restaurants on the Leonid planets.

His nose told him the rumors were true. He hoped the Comet Stalker would have a decent chef on board.

As he popped a beautiful sesame-encrusted crayfish roll in his mouth, Talos opened his personal computer to make sure he hadn’t missed any important communications from his captain, a big, powerfully built Leonid called Rupex (who seemed a lot more mellow and less haughty than some of the other Leonids he’d met).

A photo flashed across the screen, blinking urgently.

Talos scowled.

Not at the picture itself—it was a perfectly nice picture of his mother, father, and his two younger brothers, Alexander and Khan.

For the third day in a row, he ignored it. He was a grown Felid. He had his training. He had a job waiting for him.

The food lost its delicate flavor and beautiful bouquet. Talos rose and began pacing the small room he’d gotten on the edge of the port, a cheap place meant for short stays. There was barely enough room for a good, angry stalk.

You are a grown male. You are not a cub! Call your father and face him.

Striped tail lashing angrily, Talos sat and grunted as he returned the call with a flick of thick white paw tips.

“About time!” his father greeted him without a smile.

Straight to business. That was very typical of his father, and of most adult Tigerites Talos knew. “I’ve been preparing for travel. We’ll be heading to the Lynxian System and the ship has had only minimal security upgrades over the last six years. Like most ships.”

“Do you blame them?”

“No, but—”

“You think perhaps they should have been worried about their software while their mothers and wives were perishing by the thousands, yes?”

“No!”

He hadn’t meant to bring up Queen Fever.

Did every damn thing have to relate to the damned virus? Durga pardon him for thinking irreverently, but not a day could go by without a reminder.

Heaviness settled on his shoulders like sacks of rice. His mother had survived because their farm was isolated and his father had done all the marketing in the nearest town, bundled in protective gear and sleeping in the barns for a week in between trips to ensure he was not ill before coming home.

“No, Father. Of course not. I am only saying that there will be lots of retroactive work to do on this ship, as well as continuing to keep its security systems running smoothly. Gainful employment and a use for my degree.”

“Fine.”

Talos blinked. His father didn’t usually agree with him—on anything.

“How long did you sign on for?”

“A year for the first contract.”

“Excellent. I think Laxmi’s parents can wait that long.”

“Laxmi? Little Laxmi from the shipping office?” Talos felt the crayfish roll flip in his stomach. “Laxmi is—”

“Turning sixteen. Her parents have agreed to have you officially recognized as a mated couple now, even though you cannot wed for two more years. They respect your earning potential as well as the fact that you will come home and run the farm. You can work locally and still consult on security matters. Even go into the cities when you need to.”

Putting a paw to his head, Talos protested, “Father, no! Listen to me, please. I don’t know yet what I’ll do about a future career, but you don’t need me at home. You have Alexander and Khan!”

“Mere cubs. Fifteen and nine.”

“Then why not betroth Alexander to Laxmi?”

“You are my eldest son! What would people say if you did not have a bride and yet I offered Laxmi’s parents my middle son?”

“That it’s less creepy to set up a long engagement between two youngsters turning sixteen as opposed to betrothing a sixteen-year-old Queen to a Tigerite who’s twenty-two?

It’s not okay, Dad. I’m not doing it. See if Laxmi likes Alex, okay?

” From what Talos remembered, every boy in the village liked Laxmi, who was not only stunningly pretty with pearly white fur and rich inky stripes, but also clever, and simply available in a time when few other females were.

His father’s face was dangerously still. If Talos was a marsh duck, he would fear for his life.

“There are less than one hundred females between thirteen and thirty in our entire district. Most of those are married or already spoken for. Your father owns a farm. You are a handsome boy, distinguished in your studies, traveling, and having adventures. That’s the only reason you have a pig’s chance in paradise at getting a bride! ”

“Then let Alex have my chance! He deserves a chance to court and woo a girl! He wants to work on the farm. I don’t even know Laxmi except by name. Aren’t she and Alex in the same courses at the local school?”

A long pause. “Are you uninterested in females, my son?”

“No! I mean, yes, I want a female!” Talos growled at his father, which was always a mistake.

His father roared back, showing long, saber-like canines.

I’m about to be disowned.

“I go to all this trouble to find you an eligible mate and you throw it in my face? Fine! Even though the Tigerite system fared well in comparison, you know females of breeding age are scarce!”

Talos winced. “I don’t want a mate just so I can ‘breed’ like livestock, Dad!”

“You are turning down a one-in-a-thousand, maybe a one-in-ten-thousand chance. Preserving the family name and finding someone able to carry our blood is your duty . It is your honor .”

“But you have other sons who can—”

“The eldest son marries first! You are also older, Talos, much older than the others! That means you have the least chance, Talos! The available Queens are all so much younger or older than you, my son!”

Talos said nothing, trying to choose his words carefully.

His father was not always patient. He took his silence for defiance.

“I see. You know I’m right, but you won’t admit it. Just like you wouldn’t admit that you were shirking your responsibilities by leaving the farm.”

“I—”

“No! Don’t come groveling to me when you are cold and lonely, when you are an old Tigerite and you aren’t rich enough to entice a young bride to carry on your lineage!”

Talos shot off a retort, regretting it as the words left his mouth. “If I’m that old, you’d be gone, wouldn’t you?”

Talos watched the screen scramble and flip to black. His father had hung up in a rage.

The bad temper and sullen attitude seemed to run in the family.

Maybe I am stupid.

It’s not like I am going to find someone to fall in love with aboard the Comet Stalker .

He had sat down on the edge of the bed, and now he sank back across it, worry and regret gnawing at him.

His father might move behind the times (like a lot of families on Tigerite-Seven) but he was regarded as a man with good common sense and a respected elder in the district.

His father wasn’t rich, but his advice was sound and his word was law.

Talos didn't for one moment doubt that his father would quickly make up some excuse to take him out of the picture and renegotiate the betrothal so that Alexander would be the one engaged to Laxmi.

When word got around that Talos had rejected a match with one of the most beautiful and eligible females on their planet , a match brokered by his revered father, it would be a nightmare.

If he ever did want to find a wife, no respectable family would consider him for their daughter.

By rejecting this match, Talos had probably made himself a permanent bachelor—all in the space of a five-minute conversation.

That was never what he wanted. He just didn’t want a match to be forced. He certainly didn’t want to marry a bride someone else assigned him simply because she was all that was available. If only his father hadn't sprung this on him so suddenly!

I could have had time to consider my words. Why didn’t he tell me when I came home on leave?

But no. Someone thrusts, I parry. They run, I chase.

Talos had always been told that was one of his flaws. He listened to his gut and followed it more than his head.

His mind was clouded and his skin felt clammy under the thick full ruff of snowy white fur around his neck that spread down to his chest and fluffed around his cheeks.

The crunchy crayfish roll was definitely going to make another appearance.

As Talos lunged for the commode he had one thought.

Well. This is a brilliant way to start my career.