The Felidae 2: Asad’s Mate
Jade Buchanan
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Copyright ©2007 Jade Buchanan
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ISBN: 978-1-59596-631-5
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The Felidae: Asad’s Mate
Jade Buchanan
Asad Gatti knows what he wants. Asad has lusted after Catan ever since the pride rescued the little Lynx from a brutal attack, but he is afraid his desire for him will push Catan into running from him. Yet, he wants Catan as his mate.
Catan Lynxis is afraid of what he wants. Catan’s dreams are filled with terror. He can’t rid himself of the overwhelming fear he has for the men who attacked him and his family. The only man he has ever wanted is Asad, but he isn’t sure if he can ever be what the big Leo needs.
When Catan is captured by the same men who brutalized him once before, with the help of his pride, Asad must do everything he can to save him. Can Asad and Catan ever have a future together when their love is haunted with fear from the past?
Prologue
Catan Lynxis paced in the tight confines of his quarters, waiting for someone to tell him he was needed again. They were on their way back from retrieving his pride leader Laithe’s mate and he wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole situation.
He was thankful he was lucky enough to have a room to himself, at least. He didn’t want to appear this indecisive in front of the others.
The four Gatti brothers had their own rooms, of course. So did the other three pride mates, but that was to be expected. After all, it was their pride. Catan wasn’t supposed to be part of their pride. When they’d found him they hadn’t had a separate room available for him. His options were to sleep with one of the others -- a fate that he couldn’t fathom -- or find a space where he could sleep by himself.
He had been lucky that Asad had decided to clear out a small cubby -- previously filled with mechanical spare parts -- in order to make very tight sleeping quarters for him. Catan couldn’t imagine what he’d have done if the older Gatti brother hadn’t found him somewhere to sleep. Although there was barely enough room for him to stretch out, it was perfect, and he wondered if Asad hadn’t realized that when he’d picked it out. He, like all of the Lynx clan, preferred his resting place to be in confined places, in crevices or under ledges. He liked to hide, and the small cubby was the perfect size for him.
It was considered rare to have so many males in a single pride, which was why there simply wasn’t enough room for all eight of them on the ship. Then again, he supposed there were now nine of them with the addition of the little human. Little? He snorted quietly. She was the same size as he was.
Some of the others tended to go back and forth between quarters, sharing beds and each other. Fahd used to be a prime example. He frequently shared a bed with the others when he grew frustrated from longing for Laithe but not being able to have him. Laithe had always avoided Fahd, his responsibilities as pride leader causing him to abstain from the pleasure they could offer each other. His duty was to find his destined mate, and provide a female for the pride. But if what Catan had heard earlier was correct, then Fahd and Laithe were together again.
Catan wanted a mate, and he wanted his first time with his mate to be meaningful. However, he was tainted and undesirable. He could still remember the hot, stinking breath of the monster on top of him as he breathed out the words, “You are undesirable, an abomination. You are not worthy of being in the same room with me, Lynx. Your entire species should worship the strength of the Leo and bow down before us.”
He shuddered, moving to his bunk to curl up on his side, his tail quivering. Although it was really more of a stump, not anything like the long thick tails the Leos possessed.
Not like Asad’s tail. Catan knew that he wanted him, and truth be told, Catan watched Asad when he wasn’t looking. He knew that Asad held himself apart from the others in the hopes that he might get a chance with Catan, but every time he thought about being with Asad he could remember the heavy weight of The Other One thrusting on top of him before he let the rest of his men have at Catan’s body.
Shivering imperceptibly, Catan brought up an image of Asad in his mind. He wasn’t like The Other One. He was honorable, strong, and loyal. His large body was heavily muscled. His light, tawny fur highlighted the ropy cords of muscle when he moved. His thick, heavy mane was a darker color than his body, although it wasn’t as dark a brown as Laithe’s was. And his tail… his tail was beautiful, thick and sleek with a tufted end Catan wanted to reach out and touch whenever he was near.
Asad towered over him when they were together, dwarfing his smaller frame completely. Catan barely reached his chest, and his own tan-colored long hair masked the leanness of his body. He was no match to the Leo in strength and he never would be.
A light knock on the outside of his door interrupted his musing. Catan looked up, considering whether he wanted the company before realizing who it probably was. None of the others would interrupt him in his private space.
Scooting forward, Catan released the door latch to see Usama Gatti standing in the corridor. He was very similar in size to his older brothers; although he was younger than them, he was just as strong. The only difference was his coloring. Where they were tawny and golden, Usama was pure white. He was one of the only white Leos alive. Most of them didn’t survive childhood. It was hard to be a hunter when you had no natural camouflage.
“Do you want to come in?” he asked.
“Do you really think there is enough room for both of us in there?” Usama stuck his head into Catan’s cubby, taking a quick glance around at the tiny space.
“Probably, but it might be tight.”
“Never mind, come on and let’s go walk to the bridge. We need to talk about something, and I thought it would be better if you heard it from me and not from one of the others,” Usama said, backing away and standing in the hallway.
“Wh-what’s going on?”
“Come on, Catan, I won’t wait for you forever. Oh, wait, isn’t that supposed to be my brother’s line?” Usama laughed and cuffed him lightly on the shoulder.
He hunched his back in reaction. “That’s not funny.”
“Oh, ho, I think it is hilarious! Do you have any idea how long he’s waited to be with you? I heard Morgan complaining the other day that the only Gatti willing to play with him was Lev, and we all know Lev will fuck pretty much anything or anyone.”
Hooting with laughter, Usama started down the hall. Catan realized that Usama knew he’d follow him out of curiosity, if nothing else.
“Well, we all know that Morgan would be more than happy to fu-fuck you. Maybe you should take him up on it and then he wouldn’t be complaining anymore.” Catan scuffed his feet along the floor, depressed that he never seemed
to fit in with the rest of them. No one would think twice to proposition Lev or Fahd, or Usama even, but they all avoided the poor little Lynx. Like he was still a child or something.
“Yeah, well, I just might do that.” Usama shrugged, his white mane bouncing as he walked. “Although, pretty soon we are all going to be a lot closer than normal.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” Catan looked up at his friend.
Usama paused, drawing Catan’s attention to a small movement up ahead. Placing a finger against his lips, he silently cautioned Catan to be quiet. Lifting his toes, Usama carefully set the pads of his feet on the floor in slow, measured steps.
Catan looked further up the corridor, curious to see what held his friend’s attention. And then he spotted it. A tawny yellow tail covered with black rosettes came into view. He looked up, trying to detect the rest of Morgan’s body, but all he could see was his tail.
Morgan and Fahd, typical of their kind, preferred being off the ground, and Laithe had ensured that his warship, The Shahnaz, was built to suit them. Roughly fifteen feet above each corridor a walkway had been installed where an enterprising member of the Pardus clan could hide himself, and walk among the narrow spaces. It mimicked the arboreal habitat on their home world, Seren. The Felidae clans, for all their similarities, could be quite different in their behavior. Those differences definitely made things interesting in the pride. Catan had grown up on Kanad, the planet where the Lynx made their home, without much contact with the other clans. He hadn’t realized before being rescued that the Pardus clan liked heights.
Usama was now almost directly below the swinging tail, reaching upward. Catan just knew he was going to try to pull on the Pardus’ tail, but he was interrupted by Morgan’s sharp threat. “Don’t even think about it.”
Usama jumped, obviously startled. “I thought you were sleeping. You are always sleeping.”
Morgan stretched above them, his nails clicking against the metal of the walkway while he curled his tail around Usama’s arm. “It’s impossible to sleep with the two of you bumbling your way down the hall. Could you possibly make any more noise?”
“So-sorry, Morgan.” Catan winced.
“Not your fault, little one. I’m placing the blame squarely on young Gatti here. Now get on with you both, and leave me in peace.”
Usama and Catan quickly made their getaway, reaching the end of the passage and running up the stairs at the end. When they entered the bridge, Catan was again taken aback at the view in front of him. He was always taken aback by the view. The bridge covered the entire top of the warship, surrounded by walls that allowed them to see right out into space. It was as if they were actually among the stars. Catan would never tire of this sight and every time he saw it he was surprised by the vastness of the space around him.
Moving toward the rear, skirting Rajiv while he monitored the controls, they entered a small room. The door swished closed behind them at a tap from Usama. Similar in build to the other pride warships, the bridge of The Shahnaz opened to the stars, and all rooms below deck were entirely enclosed. Laithe had set up the atrium to give them an area where they could stargaze without interrupting the crew on the bridge. Catan loved coming up here to watch the stars. He had never thought he would get this chance when he was growing up among the Lynx clans. The Lynx as a rule did not travel off their small planet. It was mostly the Leos who patrolled the stars, protecting their territory.
“Okay, it looks like we are alone here. Now you might want to sit down for this,” Usama interrupted his thoughts.
“What are you talking about, Usama?” He wandered over to a bench set up along the wall and slid into the chair set in front of it.
“Well, how much do you know about the prides? I know that the Lynx don’t really have anything similar. You guys prefer to hunt in small family groups or by yourselves. And the Tigris definitely prefer to be solitary. I figured the same can be said for the Pardus to a lesser extent.”
“Usama, I know all of this. The reason the Leos are the ruling clan of the Felidae is because they’re the only clan to form large coalitions of males. I know what we have here is unique in the clans. It’s never happened before.”
“Exactly, but…” Usama paused, looking as if he was weighing his next words. “But each of the clans faces the same problem. All of the Felidae are suffering from having too many men. Our men outnumber the women by at least ten to one. So the other clans are often forced to form coalitions to protect a single breeding female. The Leos have always been better at this because we actually prefer to form prides, unlike the other clans, and so we are better suited to protecting our women.”
“Yes, and over time, the pride leaders have been genetically altered to be matched at birth to a single female. Once he finds the woman that completes him, he can bring her into his pride and his pride mates will protect her,” Catan repeated the tale he had been told by his father when he reached his maturity.
“Have you never wondered? When a Leo pride leader gets a mate, it is incredibly rare for his pride to revolt. They never try to take her for themselves -- to breed with her instead of going childless.” Usama looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to make the connection.
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m talking about Laithe’s mate. The one we just rescued? She may be Laithe’s, but he will share her with the rest of us if we all wish it. But that isn’t all. It is normal for the males in a pride to share quarters and each other when a new female mate is brought in. Something about the pheromones in the air. If you thought Morgan and Lev were bad before, just wait and see how horny they get now.”
“What?” Catan shouted, panicked at the thought.
“I didn’t think you would know that part of it. In the other clans, it is always the strongest male that becomes mated, and it will be up to him to keep her with his strength, but we’re different. We have bred differently. We like to share. A lot. Call it a survival benefit.” Usama grinned down at him.
“Now do you understand, Catan? As a part of this pride, you are going to have to come to terms with the fact that very soon you will be in very close contact with another male. Better get used to it.”
Catan tried to come up with something to say, but he was saved by Rajiv’s deep, coughing grunt through the door. “One of you better get your ass out here. We’re nearing Felid.”
Catan rushed to the door, opening it to the displeased face of the imposing Tigris. He was massive, dwarfing everyone else on the ship. His fur was a shade of orange that took on glints of red ochre in the sunlight. The thick bands of fur extending down his sides were pure black. Catan had always wanted to count them to see exactly how many stripes there were, but he was afraid that Rajiv wouldn’t like it. He usually avoided the man. If Rajiv wanted, one swipe of his paw would kill Catan.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Usama said, rolling his eyes for Catan’s benefit. Rajiv snarled, lifting his lip to show off his impressive canines.
Turning to try and hide his smile, Catan waited until Rajiv and Usama left the atrium before he walked over to the bank of windows. “What does he expect me to do?” he whispered. “Even if that is true, there is only one man I actually want to be with. And there is no way that a woman would want to be with me when she has the rest of them at her disposal.”
Huffing, he leaned into the glass, fogging it up with his breath. With one finger, he drew C. L. + A. G. onto the misty surface. His lips curled up in a goofy grin while he watched the letters disappear.
“What are you doing up here, Catan?” growled a deep voice from behind him.
He gasped at the intrusion. He hadn’t realized he was no longer alone.
Turning, he spied the larger figure of Asad blocking the doorway to the bridge. Panicking, Catan backed up into the wall at his back.
A brief look of displeasure ran across Asad’s face, before he replaced it with the blank mask he often wore.
“I’m sorry…” he whisp
ered.
“Don’t apologize, I know better than to startle you. I just wanted to make sure you were all right,” Asad rumbled.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked, turning to look through the wall to the stars outside.
“I know my brother was in here with you. I’m assuming that he told you about Laithe’s mate. I was worried that you might be upset about it,” Asad muttered.
Catan didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want to talk about the human right now.
There was a presence against his back, the heat of the larger male coming up behind Catan. Asad didn’t touch him, but he was just there. He had a sudden urge to lean back into him, to see what it would be like just once not to have to think. To just be.
Not giving himself any time to doubt his actions, he quickly leaned back, pressing his smaller frame into the body behind him. Asad drew in a deep breath, stiffening behind him, and he dreaded the thought that he had done something wrong.
Before he could pull away, two hard hands grabbed him at his waist, and he was thrust against the wall. Asad leaned hard into his back, purring when he rubbed his body against Catan’s. “You don’t know what you are asking for, kitten. I am no boy that you can play with.”
“Please… Asad, I didn’t… I… please.”
“What do you want?” Asad sighed against his ear, his breath ruffling through the thick tufts of hair curling around his face. “I don’t want to hurt you, kitten. I don’t want to scare you away. Tell me what you want.”
Catan panted, shifting to feel the rub of his fur against Asad. A low groan was his only response.
Hot breath blew against the side of his face, a rough tongue coming out to lick against his cheek, his jaw and then his lips. “When you find out what it is you want, come find me, kitten.”
With those words, Asad grabbed hold of his chin, pushed their mouths together. Catan was suddenly filled with the taste of him. Asad’s tongue thrust into Catan’s mouth. Catan whimpered, utterly surrendering to the powerful man he had desired for so long.
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