Sarai

wondered why — did they want to breedhim and the unknown catwoman to create some sort of exotic speciesof pet?
Maist hadreturned, a tray holding a vial of oil and what looked like aninjector in his hands. Tiff immediately took the injector andpressed it against Jamie’s thigh. His sight fading as the sedativetook effect, Jamie saw Tiff tip the oil over the end of theimplement and then lean forward once more. “Yes, most definitely;in fact, the best I’ve ever seen. He will carry kits more easilythan most …”
Thank god,thought Jamie, I had it wrong. No breeding for me, I’m just goingto carry their kits.
_______________________________
ELED, TIG AND BRAM WAITEDanxiously in the corridor outside the examination room. Alekyngestured to them and they followed him into the room, halting in agroup to talk. Healer Tiff was entering something on his e-tab,while Maist was tucking the sheet closely around Jamie Munroe. Whenhe finished, he stood back and incautiously ran a hand over hishead then jumped nervously as Alekyn snarled.
“I’msorry, sir,” he said shamefacedly, then dughimself deeper into the hole. “He’s just so unusual, so pretty. Hishair feels extraordinary, so soft.”
Healer Tiffgrunted in annoyance, pointing silently to the door, and Maist,after casting one more look of longing at Jamie, scuttled by theangry, looming pard and left the room hurriedly. Alekyn had nodoubt news of his mate would be all over the city, and probably theplanet, within hours; he didn’t know whether to be proud or upsetthat others might see and desire his treasure.
Proud, hedecided, sounded about right. Then he scowled — others could seeand envy, but not touch! Not ever!
He thencleared his throat, studying his pardmates…the news was so good hecould hardly believe it himself.
“It seems wehave reason to celebrate, my kin. Healer Tiff thinks my littlething — my Jaimie Munrow — will be a breeder of note — ”
“It iscompatible, then?” asked Tig, his voice shaking. Alekynnodded.
“Yes, heis.”
Eled’s smilespread wide across his face. “I thought it smelled male. Bram, youand Tig owe me 200 creds. I’ll take cash, not kind.”
“Prick,” Tigresponded good-naturedly. “As long as you spend it on Alekyn’smate.”
Alekyngrinned. His beautiful, unusual little mate — the first of theirpard’s sarai — was going to be so spoiled; he’d want for nothing,ever, and when they’d found more like him …
HealerTiff interrupted Alekyn’s musing. “It isindeed unusual to see such a specimen…he offers great promise, sogreat that I am obliged to present a report on him to the HighCouncil.”
Alekynnodded; he’d suspected as much from the meticulousness of Tiff’sexamination. It means nothing, he assured himself — his matebelonged to him, and would become part of his pard, the Clan Furis.The High Council would, however, want more information on JaimieMunroe’s species. And the PanGalactic Federation would need to knowmore of his sarai’s world.
“It seems mymate’s species is a close cousin to us,” he informed the others.“He carries the Foretimer genome like us and, with a little geneticmodification which Healer Tiff will perform shortly, he will beable to bear my offspring.”
“Thank theGoddess,” muttered Eled. “I want one like him anyway, and now weknow his kind can breed with us …”
“When willyou report to the High Council?” Bram asked Tiff. “Is the Councillikely to want to see him?”
Tiffshrugged. “Shortly, but I cannot say definitively what will happen.Although my report and the accompanying data and images will besufficient, they may want to inspect him. Your discovery,” headded, with a small smile, “is one that may change the future ofour species, particularly if he is as fertile as his test resultssuggest. The fact that you recognised him as your sarai almostimmediately is astonishing…others will want the sameopportunity.”
Thepardmates gazed silently at each other, the significance of theirdiscovery dawning on them. The Naferi race was intersex but itsnumbers had been in decline for generations; no one knew why, butit was becoming harder and rarer with each passing generation forNaferi Sarat, the dominants among their species, to find the saraithat would bear offspring.
Before theNaferi population loss reached the point of no return, theirhealers had discovered how to manipulate the DNA of males fromNaferi-compatible species to enable single-sex breeding, but thepregnancy failure rate was high, too high to ignore the breedingprospects offered by their little mate’s people.
Tiff wasright, Alekyn acknowledged grimly, other Naferi would want a shareof this good fortune.
Times wereabout to become very interesting indeed — not just for Clan Furisand its newest member, not just for all Naferi, but also for hismate’s species and the rest of the member races of the PanGalacticFederation.
Alekyn found himself fervently hoping thatthose times would not become too interesting.

Chapter Four
ALEKYNSTUDIED THE face of his sleeping sarai,and touched it gently with his fingers, marveling anew at itssmooth perfection. The healers had put Jamie into a restorativesleep after his physical examination. He would shortly take Jamiehome to the den he and his pardmates shared in the city, and thenJamie would be allowed to wake naturally.
He sighed.Unfortunately he couldn’t remove Jamie to his country den in theVamiet Mountains — orders had come from the most senior levels thatthe human had to remain in the city. He could guess why and theknowledge was eating at him. Everyone, it seemed, was interested inhis sarai. His fears about the interest Jamie’s species wouldgenerate had been fully realised. Healer Tiff’s preliminary reportinto his genetic makeup had sparked incredible interest. Scientistsand researchers were jostling to examine Jamie; in fact, severalhad been caught trying to enter his room unauthorized, while othershad tried to bluster their way into his presence. An image someonehad taken of him illicitly was now circulating on the compnet andon PanGal’s open communications network. The increasing clamor formore information had prompted a lockdown of the medcentre. Alekynshivered. After the image had appeared, he, Tig, Eled and Bram haddecided they would take turns being with Jamie at all times. Eventhe High Council’s request to see Jamie had been put onhold.
It wasobvious that public interest was growing into obsession, and therewas a real risk Jamie could be kidnapped, possibly even illegallyclaimed. Alekyn felt uneasy — what if someone managed to take hisprecious