Page 60 of Loaned to the Leonid Knight

“I bet he had to repack all of his boxes—if there were any boxes. It wouldn’t surprise me if he just tossed everything in and shut the shuttle door. That Farhet guy seems like the kind that would make a mess for someone else to clean up,” Sasha muttered, surging in. “Gideon! Did he leave a huge mess? Talos and I can—mmf!”

Sasha had a split-second thrill where she thought Gideon had decided he couldn’t wait any longer to make love and had decided to be creative and surprise her in the shuttle. She almost giggled until she realized the body behind her was wider and thicker, not as tall.

The fur on the paw on her arm was golden, not black. “Farhet!” she spat, biting the paw over her mouth.

“Shush!” Farhet lifted her easily and sat her down with surprising care—before starting to strap her in to one of the cushy seats in the rear of the shuttle. “You stay still, and no harm will come to you. I just need my cub.”

“Sasha!”

Sasha’s head jerked to the side. “Gideon?” she gasped, kicking at Farhet’s ankles as he tightened the straps.

“Ignore him. Now, listen, I don’t understand how he persuaded you, but this cub is worth a million credits to me. Hmm? That would set you up for life, and in five cycles, you’ll be off, trekking around the galaxy. I have some contacts in other systems. The Servali System might suit you. Anywhere but the Leonid System.” Farhet continued speaking as if nothing was happening, as if he couldn’t hear Gideon roaring and throwing something against wherever he was confined.

“I’m not leaving theComet Stalker, and this is my baby. Not yours.”

“Technically, you can’t tell that. It might have been conceived before the surrogacy program ended.”

“It wasn’t. And it’s a girl,” Sasha said desperately, struggling to undo her straps as Farhet pressed something on the shuttle’s wall and the doors slid shut.

He froze, turning towards her. “A girl?”

“A Queen,” Sasha whispered, not caring if it was true.

“They can’t tell so early.”

“They can. You can go ask Dr. Marcus if you don’t believe me,” she insisted, working her small fingers under a buckle that was wedged so tight that only someone with Felid strength could undo it.

“Ha! Well...” Farhet seemed genuinely confused for a moment as he sat at the shuttle’s controls. “That doesn’t matter. No one will know that for sure until four or five cycles from now.In the meantime, all my father needs to see is that my cub is in your belly, and the line of the Imazi Pride will continue.”

“Not your cub. Gideon’s!” Sasha hissed, pushing both thumbs down and looking around desperately.

“Ah, but he’s insurance. Gideon will be kept safely in confinement at one of my properties. You can speak to him every day—as long as you let people believe that’s my child.”

“There won’t be a child without the medical protocol that I’m on, administered here! There’s no one on Leonid-One who can do it!”

“Doesn’t matter. Once I present you at Bastet Mercy, they’ll have to use the protocol. That old, graying Leonid doctor will have to help and tell them what to do, or the cub will die, and every cub is precious here.”

“Not to you, or you wouldn’t be putting me at risk like this,” Sasha argued, determined to keep him talking, to keep him distracted, and keep the shuttle on the ground.

“You won’t be at any risk if you simply keep your mouth shut. Besides, if you don’t cooperate—your lover can be jettisoned out on take-off. Or at any other point of the journey, or at any point of your stay. And if you’re thinking that he’ll save you, the same goes for him. He’ll keep you alive, something he wants, for some odd reason, as long as he’s nice and quiet and behaves. Five cycles will go by like nothing, I promise. I’ll even have some human media put on the media viewer for you.”

Sasha went silent.

He’ll kill me if Gideon fights back. And kill Gideon if I fight back. But if we’re good... If we survive, we’ll be okay. We’ll rebuild. But...“But there are so many problems with what you’re saying,” Sasha protested. In the corner of her eye, she caught motion. A tiny gap in the metal at the very back of the shuttle. Golden eyes. Dark fur.

Gideon was fighting to get free. Talos would be back in minutes and realize something was wrong when he saw the shuttle powering up.

“You know nothing of Leonid ways. Autonav coordinates... Why is there a delay? I told it to return the same day, but... Hmm.” Farhet poked at the screen, muttering to himself distractedly as if he weren’t in the middle of an abduction.

“Iknow that we’ve left the program. Everyone at Bastet Mercy knowsyouare out of the program. This isn’t your cub. How are you even going to pass it off as your own, or have it delivered? You think Dr. Marcus, Rupex, and the whole crew will just silently let you kidnap members of their Pride?”

“What Pride? You’re a human. A guest. Living cargo.” He slapped at the screen with a muttered curse.

“And you are so very,verywrong about that. You’re not fit to rule your Pride if that's what you think,” Sasha shouted, keeping one eye on Gideon’s progress.

“You little bitch! If you weren’t pregnant with the ticket to running all of the Imazi Hills District, you’d be tossed out the airlock.”

“Talos! Elio!Help!” Sasha screamed loudly as Gideon threw his whole weight against the door, hoping to cover the noise.