Page 56 of Loaned to the Leonid Knight

“Blood is wine to predators. And every Felid has the blood of ancient predators in his veins. Good night, Sasha.”

Sasha gave a shiver and slid back inside the quarters she and Gideon now shared. “Hey, baby?” She hurried back to Gideon’s sleeping form.

“Hm?” he said with a sleepy snort.

“One more round?”

“Sasha, you will be the death of me.” Gideon opened his golden eyes a tiny slit.

“Is that a no?”

“Not at all.”

Chapter Sixteen

“What? Wait.”

Gideon woke up to find Sasha sitting next to him on the bed, her personal computer in one hand, while the other was clasped over her mouth. She rocked back and forth on the edge of the bed as if in some distress or shock. “Love?”

“Check your comms.”

Gideon hurried to obey, snatching his up from the bedside table. “Ah. Farhet’s new secretary, or perhaps he himself, has officially acknowledged the end of my contract. It says he filed a protest, but the protest has already been counter-protested with an attestation from Dr. Marcus. I will say one thing that is superior about the Leonid Contract Management System—it’s very quick and efficient, and that is because of pompous, impatient people like Farhet. If I had been anyone else’s secretary, I do not know if—”

“Gideon. Not that message. They sent it to you, too. Looks like they sent it to a bunch of people involved with the surrogacy program—or whatever this new program is called. I see Dax, Skyla, Doc, you... There’s a bunch of com addresses listed that I don’t recognize, probably people from Bastet Mercy.”

“Why in Bastet’s name would they send your blood test results to all of us?” Gideon moved up his e-communications, which he had to admit were few and far between. It wasn’t until he looked at the old list with fresh eyes that he realized how lonely his old life had become without him seeing it. There were no communications from friends or family, only Farhet,businesses, and a few from his dealings with theComet Stalkerand the surrogacy program. “Sasha, what am I looking at?”

“These numbers in red. The numbers in red with the up arrows beside them.”

“It says that indicates a value has risen from the last test. You see this?” Sasha held out her comm, pushing it into his lap. Her slender finger tapped a number.FCG 500 per unit.

“What is FCG?”

“The hormone for human pregnancy is HCG. Is FCG the Felid version?”

Gideon stared. “Pregnancy? But... The window? The short, little window?” he gasped.

“I’m just... I’m not going to get too excited until I talk to Marcus.” Sasha bolted up. “Which will be now.”

DR. MARCUS WAS DOINGa whooping, cavorting dance with his twins in his arms, spinning down the hall with his babies in the double carrier that strapped to either side of his wide chest. “Guess who’s going to join the Cub Club?” he howled, waving his comm at the oncoming couple.

Gideon clutched his chest. “But... We can’t be? There was almost no time. Sasha’s window was small, and she didn’t reach the full heat, not based on her symptoms.”

“Yeah, I was noticing that, too,” Marcus beamed. “Because you two made some magic in your first few days, by the looks of it. This number shows that implantation of the fertilized ovum happened very recently. If you’re not pregnant, the number is under five per unit. Now, look back,” Marcus brandished his comm, swiping on the screen. “The day of the wedding, three days ago? 70 per unit. I should have flagged that, but it was a busy day, and you two wouldn’t come up for air,” he chuckled. “And now? 500. Tonight, let’s check and —”

“Can we check now?” Sasha begged, eyes luminous.

“Well, there won’t be much change, but... Okay. I can’t resist a request from a pregnant Queen. Come on, Papa.”

“Papa? Father. Me?” Gideon staggered and had to clutch the wall for support. “But... But, the window was too short...”

“And you two have had long, long odds right from the start.”

GIDEON STARED AT THEscreen.

750. In half a day. Halfway to double. According to Marcus, that’s what they want to see, steady climbing, even doubling in the first early days. A strong, healthy cub. Maybe two. Probably one.

“I don’t want to go to the resort,” Sasha said next to him. “In five cycles, we’re going to be parents. You know where I want to go?”