He is Male Therefore… Page 2

“Sorry, Meri.” she was beginning to hate the shortened version of her name, it usually meant she was being screwed. “I really do regret this.”

  She wasn’t going to make it, but she sure as hell was going to give it her best shot. As his arm flexed, she jumped, drew her weapon and rolled as she aimed for his arm. Laser fire erupted around her, screams and curses echoing through the alley as she began to shoot wildly at each eruption of fire she glimpsed.

  Where the hell Kyle had gotten off to, she wasn’t certain, but she felt a moments satisfaction at the smoking disseminator laying in the middle of the street. That didn’t solve the problem of over half a dozen lasers firing at the pitiful piece of cover she had found though. As covers went, doorways weren’t the best.

  Until they were opened. This one opened, and rough hands jerked her rudely inside then began to rush her through the deserted shop.

  “What the hell...” she tried to turn back, to get a glimpse at her sudden savior.

  “Keep moving.” a harsh voice ordered her, pushing her quickly out another door as hard hands wrapped a long black cape over her. “Put that hood up and keep it there.”

  He jerked her around a corner, then brought her to a sudden stop. Pushing her against her wall, he leaned in close enough to whisper.

  “If you want to live, keep your mouth shut, your head down, and stay at my side. I can get you out of this, but you damned well better cooperate.”

  She nodded quickly, not prone to argue as she heard Kyle barking out orders, and soldiers curses as they entered the street. The hand on her arm pushed her forward and began a sedate, if nervous walk along the crowded walkway.

  As she peeked through the folds of the cape, she realized she was blending in with the various miners wives as they went about their daylight business. Hoods were drawn over their faces to protect them from the harsh sunlight, and on their feet they wore boots similar to her own, for climbing back into the mountains with their purchased goods.

  “Who the hell are you?” she directed her question at the tall, broad form at her side. “And why help me?”

  “Because you’re such a sweet, gentle woman.” he answered her dryly, the hand on her arm directing her to turn down another street.

  “Why else?”

  “Okay, that answers my last question.” she bit out, “Now answer the first.”

  “All in good time.” he informed her. “Let’s get you out of this mess, before you immerse yourself in another.”

  She frowned, as answers went, that one was less than satisfying,

  but she was content to wait a while. With Kyle on her ass, and a troop of League soldiers trying to sniff her out, it wasn’t as though she had a choice.

  They turned down several other streets, working their way deeper into the maze of shacks and small houses that sheltered the colonies workers at the base of the mountain now being mined. Finally, he drew her into one of the houses, bolted the door behind them, and stationed himself at a small, boarded window. There, he watched the deserted street through a small crack in the boards.

  “‘bout time.” she turned quickly, drawing her weapon as Kregar stepped from one of the back rooms.

  “For Gods sake Meri.” he raised his hands quickly, his face paling as he stared down the barrel of the laser gun. “Put that damned thing away, I’m just trying to help you.”

  She grabbed him by the throat, and threw him against the wall, her nose butting into his dangerously.

  “What the hell do you have to do with this you little rat?” she bit out furiously. “Why didn’t you warn me at the bar?”

  “I didn’t know then.” he cried out hoarsely, “I swear Meri. I only found out after you left.”

  The laser was taken quickly from her hand, the man at her back moving away swiftly as she kicked out at him.

  “Settle down.” he ordered her quietly as he tucked her weapon beneath the folds of her cape. “And sit down. We’ll be here for a while, so we may as well make ourselves comfortable.”

  She watched in silence as he moved to an old fashioned cold unit and drew out several tins of drinks.

  She turned back to Kregar, narrowing her eyes and flexing her fingers as he swallowed tightly.

  “Come on, Meri.” he smiled weakly. “I only wanted to help you.”

  “Why?” she lowered her voice dangerously.

  “Hell if I know.” he muttered, shifting his narrow shoulders beneath material of his own cape. “You treat me like waste. I shoulda just sat back and watched that assassin fry your nerves for you instead of trying to save you.”

  “Both of you sit down, and relax.” the stern order as the stranger placed the drinks on the table which sat along the wall, had her bristling.

  Merinus turned on him, a snarl on her face.

  “Why don’t you stop ordering me around and tell me who the hell you are.” she was just about mad enough to tackle the broad form bare handed.

  Instead, she stood stock still in amazement when he whipped the cape from his body and stared down at her with mocking amusement.

  “Son of a bitch.” she whispered, “I knew this wasn’t going to be a good day. I just knew it.”

  Before her, his hair flowing down his shoulders and around his face like a lions mane, his amber eyes mocking, his feline features sensuous and deeply tanned, stood the King of a race which should have never existed.

  Merinus lowered her head, and shook it slowly. She had been saved by the man she had been sent to kill. Callan, known as the strongest, most intelligent of the strange breed which had escaped League laboratories nearly a century ago. He was the grandson of the first Lion man, and by all accounts, the breed was growing more dangerous, and coldly intelligent with each generation.

  “Sorry Meri.” Kregar sat down across from her, his hands clasping around the cool can Callan had sat on the table. “I didn’t know about the contract on you until Callan told me. We saved you though.”

  “Yeah, you did that, Kregar.” she whispered, shaking her head again. “You saved me.”

  She glanced up at the Lion man, frowning as he watched her with a slight smile. She didn’t like the _expression in his eyes one little bit. The amber color seemed to glow, and deepen when their eyes met.

  “Seems we’re stuck in similar messes.” he told her softly as he sat down in the remaining seat. “We both have contracts out on us. Where will your loyalties lie now Merinus?”

  Where did they lie. She had given her life to the League, swore to defend it, and they had turned on her with no apparent reason. It had happened too fast, without warning.

  “I have to find out what’s going on.” she reach back and freed her hair from the thong that held it, then massaged her scalp wearily. “This has happened too fast.”

  “What’s going on, is you are now a liability to the League.” she raised her head as Callan’s soft voice wrapped around her. “Three days ago, your father slipped through a net they had set for him as well. I believe he’s now on his way to Centarie Three, if the League cruiser’s don’t catch up with him first.”

  “That doesn’t make sense.” she whispered, trying to grasp the information he was giving her. “My father is a League council member. They would never turn on one of their own.”

  “You Father, and those who oppose their new mandates will be systematically outlawed or killed.” he told her. “Those new mandates are being drafted as we speak. Immediate imprisonment of all genetically altered life forms. They will then be bonded out in slavery or summarily executed. The League favors purity in the human form.”

  She had known it would come, she had just hadn’t thought it would happen in her lifetime. Since the escape of the Lion Men nearly two centuries before, League scientists had experimented with other genetic combinations, looking for specific humanoid traits that would serve as soldiers. Obedient, yet vicious in war. They hadn’t succeeded in giving life to any of those alterations, since the Lion men.

  The treatment of that race had been und
er question for nearly a decade. They had been hunted, used in slavery, and abused until they revolted over ten years before. The League had been in several skirmishes with organized bands of the warriors both in space, on Earth and its outlaying colonies. The Lion Men refused to surrender and accept the Leagues position that they were inferior humans, and therefore not deserving of the fair treatment.

  “They’ve moved fast.” she whispered. “Father only told me about the rumors of it last month. We never thought it would happen in this century.”

  “It’s happening.” Callan growled. “My people are being secretly taken from their homes in the middle of the night, and imprisoned. Several high ranking members of the Lion community have already been murdered, as well as those within the League who oppose the mandates. We’re at war, Merinus, and now you’re sitting right in the middle of it.”

  She lowered her head and covered her face with her hands. She had friends within the Lion community, friends within the League who she knew opposed those mandates. This was madness. It seemed history was doomed to repeat itself once again. The systematic removal and murder of a race the League deemed unworthy. As though they were gods with the right to give life or take it as they chose.

  “Choose your side now, Merinus.” Callan told her softly, causing her to raise her head and stare into those mesmerizing eyes once again.

  “Because there’s no escape for any of us now.”

  ******’

  Marinus Fortuna studied the male specimen before her. The tawny eyes were near golden, his thick pelt of hair fell from his head and below his shoulders in a luxurious mane of shifting sun streaked colors. He was tall and muscular, his face broad, his forehead high. He was an exceptional product of a species began by science, then cast aside when the experiments went awry. The species had refused to die out.

  She examined his hands. Large, rough palms, the nails carefully cut and filed down to ease the claw-alike appearance they naturally assumed. His large body was covered with a nearly invisible pelt of ultra-soft hair that felt especially fine against the skin. As King of the Lionmen, Callan’s arrogance was more than offended by the inspection process, she knew.

  Royalty, she thought with a sigh. It didn’t matter the species, they could all be a pain in the ass.

  “He is male, therefore he may be hard to control.” The Control Master of the auction pens on Delta Two snorted grotesquely, his pig-like features scrunching up as he sneered at the Lionman they were discussing. “The female of the species seems to be much more domesticated, and easier to contain. I would not advise buying this particular specimen in any case. He is more unruly than others, and often the instigator of escape attempts.”

  “What is this particular specimen’s date of extermination?” Marinus asked as she ran her hand over his tightly muscled derriere. She nearly smiled at the outraged tensing of muscle, and low growl of warning which resonated from his throat.

  She raised her hand to halt the Control Master as he made to shock the Lionman with the long wand he carried at his side. Then Marinus raised her brow as she awaited the answer to her question.

  “Date of extermination is midnight,” he responded with an air of glee. “He’s been here for several weeks, and he’s been nothing but trouble.”

  “Where was he captured?” She moved back to face Callan,

  staring into the arrogant features which looked down at her in growing fury. His lips were pulled back to show the excessively sharp incisors which could shred flesh from bone within a mill-second. The flat, broad contours and his nose flared in anger, his slanted eyes narrowing at her as she flashed him a deliberately sultry look.

  “He was captured outside the Vinci parameters.” Control growled as Marinus continued her examination “Several of his pride were captured that week, and he was obviously trying to find a way to release them.”

  “And where is that pride now?” her hand smoothed absently over the hard muscular back she was inspecting as she questioned the Control Master.

  “The pride is still in Vinci,” the Control shrugged. “Four adult females, and several children, along with eight full-grown males. This habit of males banding together within the pride is becoming extremely worrisome to the Coalition,” she was informed. “Such evolution can be quite harmful in keeping the natural order maintained.”

  Marinus nodded as she received confirmation that the Pride she had sent several of her agents after, was where she had expected them to be. She did not remark on the growing unrest within the ruling council of planets. The Coalition seem to be nervous about many things these days.

  “He is male, therefore he will suit my needs. A very arrogant one no doubt, but he can be controlled with the right incentives. Have him cleaned and dressed and ready for departure within the hour.”

  “Departure!” Control burst out. “But, the extermination date has been set. It’s too late to sell him, mistress.”

  “So, falsify the records. You are quite good at that, are you not?” She turned, her dark eyes flashing in irritation. “This is the specimen I require, Control. I told you I was searching for a particular type of male. Did you not want to sell this one, then you should not have shown him to me. Now ready him before I call your superior and make my displeasure known.”

  She ignored the little Swine’s sulk, the way his snout seemed to tremble in anger. The Swine were rarely a pleasant lot, but this one seemed to consider himself much above his betters. If she wasn’t mistaken, she would swear the breed was beginning to develop a higher advancement of intelligence. Now, wouldn’t that worry the Coalition, she thought as they had taken Swine off the extermination lists altogether.

  “I want to see no more marks of punishment, either,” she ordered him as she turned and walked away. “I counted the ones he carries now. For each new one added, you shall receive three.”

  Knowing her orders would now be carried out, she sauntered to the doorway of the auction house and out into the bright sunlight of the desert. She drew a deep breath, thankful to be free of the stench of the specimen pens.

  “Was he there?” Ansell Cordman, a Lieutenant within the Rebellion, moved to her side, his low voice barely audible as he moved from the entrance of the holding pens to join her.

  “He’s there,” she answered. “He’s being delivered within the hour. What about the rest, have they been purchased?”

  “The Pride is now being loaded on Demalina’s ship. I received a transmission from her before heading here. We’re to meet her in Quadrant Three in a days time. All is going well.”

  “Keep it that way.” Marinus nodded. “This is a serious undertaking my friend, and it could be made more difficult by the fact that I was forced to purchase him so blatantly. I don’t think he cared much for the inspection process.” She would have smiled if she wasn’t so worried over how he would react when he was freed of the chains which bound him.

  “You know him well?” Ansell asked as they reach the relative safety of their ship.

  “I know him.” She wondered how much Ansell had heard about her relationship with the Lion King. “He’s one of the few Lionmen left of the original strain. That’s what we need, the intelligence, stamina, and strength he possesses. The women of the Pride are just as exceptional. Royalty among a race which should never exist, and yet thrive against all odds.”

  “You sound quite fond of him, Meri,” Ansell watched her closely.

  “Just how well do you know him?”

  “Well enough to be wary after the way I purchased him.” If the situation weren’t so serious, she would have found amusement in the anger Callan had displayed.

  “I’ve heard he’s barbaric,” Ansell warned her as they entered the main control deck of the ship and he took his seat. “Is that true?”

  “He can be barbaric.” Marinus began a careful check of the ships weapons, energy cells, and food stores. “He’s civilized in his own way, though. Don’t worry, you won’t be in any danger.”

  Marinu
s pretended interest in the displays coming up on her boards. Her heart was thundering, her palms still moist from contact with the flesh of the animal she had purchased. She had made him angry, and that made her nervous.

  “When the League learns he escaped so easily, you may lose your place within the Coalition,” he warned her. “They’ll punish you, even though we’ll make it appear none of your fault.”

  “I’ll not be returning to the Coalition,” she said softly as she thought of the ruling council which control the planets beneath it.

  The Coalition had turned barbaric, issuing death warrants by the millions against the non-human species which had been created so long ago. Even the children born of human and sub -human species were to be put to death, or used only for slave labor on the harsh mining colonies of the moons.