Hunters Mate Read online

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  Hunter’s Mate

  By

  Bernadette Gardner

  © copyright by Bernadette Gardner, July 2007

  Cover Art by Eliza Black, © copyright July 2007

  New Concepts Publishing

  Lake Park, GA 31636

  www.newconceptspublishing.com

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

  Chapter One

  “The hybrid female can be found in this area, here....” Captain Sirris pointed to a dense, woodland area on the holographic map that hung suspended above the central navigation console on the bridge of the Katavarri.

  On the opposite side of the glowing map, Kash-Koori focused his gaze on the spot and mustered a glimmer of false enthusiasm.

  With a flourish of his foreclaw, Sirris continued. “The population in this sector is much lower than the surrounding areas. Our chances of finding the female alone are excellent.”

  “And if she’s not alone?” Kash gauged his question carefully, forcing himself to sound casual and curious rather than argumentative. Sirris’s plan was foolhardy and ill-conceived, but Kash had no choice at this time but to go along with it.

  The captain’s sapphire blue eyes flashed in irritation, just as Kash had expected. Sirris disliked being questioned. “Minor casualties are expected. Any human males in the vicinity will be rendered inert, by any means necessary. Other females, however, should be captured for future study if possible, though it’s not mandatory at this time. Once we’ve studied the hybrid female’s genome, we can determine if future cross-breeding will be worth pursuing.” Vague disappointment colored Sirris’s sibilant voice. “There are still unknown factors, but I have every confidence in our mission. Don’t look so pensive, Kash. Your future mate will be on board and at your disposal within hours.”

  Kash let out a breath to calm his inner turmoil which was intensified by Sirris’s unctuous tone. It took every ounce of his considerable will not to tell the captain just what he thought of this abhorrent mission. “I’m going to check the holding cell again, Captain. I believe our plan will have much greater success if we do all we can to keep our guest comfortable.”

  “Of course, Kash. I admire your attention to detail.” Sirris saluted, raising one clawed hand to his chest to cover the brilliant blue jewel that adorned the center of the leather harness he wore.

  Kash returned the gesture, touching his own amber jewel, then turned to leave the bridge. With his back to Sirris now, he allowed his features to curve into a ferocious grimace. Soon he would not have to answer to Sirris, and his true mission would begin.

  * * * *

  “I’m fine, really. You don’t have to cut your trip short, Dad.” Victoria Cambridge balanced the telephone receiver under her left ear while she rummaged in the back of the freezer. Behind the ice cream and frozen waffles she found her objective, a thick, porterhouse steak. She set the meat on the kitchen counter to thaw and dusted ice crystals off her hands while her father, Adam, counseled her long distance from Australia.

  “Be sure to call Chief Walters and tell him you’re there so he’ll send a patrol car around now and then. And prime the generator every forty-eight hours just in case there’s a power outage.” Her father’s unusual accent crackled through the line for a moment, then the connection cleared and his voice came through as clearly as if he were standing right next to Victoria. “Just say the word and we’ll be on the next plane home.”

  “Dad. Honestly, you don’t have to worry about me. I’m twenty-six years old. I’m perfectly capable of rattling around the farmhouse by myself for a few weeks.”

  Victoria was not only capable, but anxious to be alone for a while. The solitude of rural Pennsylvania would do her a world of good after what she’d come to consider her final, miserable winter in New York City.

  A disappointing foray into the refrigerator turned up no fresh vegetables or much of anything to go with her dinner. She hadn’t expected much since her parents had left for their long-anticipated trip Down Under a few days ago. Victoria’s mother, Alliana, would have cleaned all the perishable food out of the house in preparation. She would have to settle for canned green beans from the pantry and instant rice as side dishes for her first home cooked meal in a month. She bustled around, collecting ingredients while her father relayed their itinerary, moment by moment.

  Victoria raised her eyes ceilingward and said a quiet ‘thank you’ when he finished the exhaustive list of activities and flight schedules he and Alliana had planned. “I’m putting your mother on,” Adam said, his lecture voice softening. “Remember, if you need us, just call.”

  “I will. Hi, Mom.”

  A thread of worry laced Alliana’s normally cheerful voice when she greeted her daughter. “It’s not like you to come home and lick your wounds, sweetheart. I’m worried about you.”

  Victoria rolled her eyes. “I’m not licking my wounds, Mom.” She set a kettle on the stove and plucked a tea bag from the ceramic canister on the counter. “I’m just taking some time to regroup before I start my new job.” A job I don’t have yet, Victoria mentally added with a rueful sigh.

  Ah well. When one door closes ... her mother was fond of that adage, among others. Every ending is a beginning. Never say never and all that.

  “You’ll stay until we get home, won’t you? I want to have a chance to visit with you before you jet off again.”

  Victoria hunched her shoulders and dangled the tea bag in an empty mug from the cupboard. “I’ll be here for a while. We’ll have plenty of time to talk, so you two have fun. Please, don’t spend your vacation worrying about me.”

  “I don’t like to think of you sitting alone for three weeks.”

  “I’ll be fine. Right now I’m going to make myself some dinner, take a walk, and then I’m going to just relax. I brought a ton of books with me from New York and I’m going to enjoy lying in Dad’s hammock on the back porch reading. It’s going to be great.”

  After her parents passed the phone back and forth for goodbyes, Victoria hung up and let out a long, exasperated breath. She’d be lucky if the elder Cambridge’s didn’t cut their trip short on her behalf. Wonderful as her parents were, their over protectiveness often ran to the extreme, which was why she’d been deliberately vague about her reasons for coming home. She’d only told them that she’d resigned her position at Beck & Donnelly Advertising over a personnel issue. She hadn’t yet explained exactly how personal a personnel issue it was. Of course, they’d understand and support her decision to leave a job and a lifestyle that made her miserable, but she didn’t want sympathy right now.

  Victoria felt like a failure and she wanted time to get over that before her parents returned. After all those years of school and climbing the corporate ladder to earn the assistant vice president position she’d wanted, she’d found out she couldn’t handle it. Being on top hadn’t made her happy, as she had always believed it would. Now she had to decide what would make her happy and why she hadn’t been smart enough to figure it all out sooner.

  Admitting this to Adam and Alliana was going to be horrendous and she needed time to build up her resolve of good cheer and stiff-upper-lip or she’d melt into an insecure puddle when faced with their loving understanding. One thing Victoria Cambridge couldn’t stand was appearing weak and ill-prepared, even in front of her parents.

  She surveyed the steak which was still frozen solid and decided she wasn’t as hungry as she thought. Maybe after a walk out back, she’d feel like eating. Right now, the gnawing in her gut came from restlessness and the
need to put her mistakes behind her rather than lack of food.

  She grabbed a light jacket from the mud room and headed out the back kitchen door into the spring twilight.

  * * * *

  “The female has been sighted.” Cherra-Sha’s quiet voice intruded on Kash’s daily meditation. He looked up, bearing his incisors at the Katavarri’s medical officer. Her pure white fur bristled at his expression. “I’m sorry to disturb you, Kash, but Sirris would like you to take your place. We will have the female on board within the hour and you are to begin bonding with her immediately.”

  “Bonding.” Kash nodded and rose from his comfortable seat in the ship’s common area. He met Cherra-Sha’s amber gaze with his own. “Such a pleasant euphemism for tricking her into believing she can trust me.”

  Cherra-Sha hissed and shook her head. “It is the most humane way to illicit mating. We have no desire to harm the hybrid. She’s invaluable to us, but it’s highly unlikely she will accept breeding willingly. This subterfuge will ensure her cooperation and prevent unnecessary stress or injury.”

  The medic placed a hand on Kash’s shoulder and he forced himself not to flinch at the contact considering that, of the Katavarri’s crew, Cherra-Sha was the least offensive to him. “I know you have reservations about this procedure, Kash. I respect that you have agreed to lend your support to this cause despite your personal uncertainties. Many will envy you in the generations to come. Remember that you will be the father of a new race of Sha-Shiri. Your offspring will be the first of the true shifters and they will herald a new era. You are an ambassador to the future and the ‘relationship’ you forge with the hybrid female will set the precedent for human/Sha-Shiri cross-breeding. Your name will grace the annals of medical history.”

  Kash tried to ignore the sick feeling that rose from the pit of his stomach at Cherra-Sha’s words. If she only knew the true extent of his ‘personal uncertainties’.

  He stepped back, disengaging from her touch. “History is often unkind to the pioneers, Cherra. With all the opposition to cross-breeding from both the Avan’tek and the Sha’tek factions, I’m less than confident I’ll ever be hailed as a hero for my participation in this mission.”

  Cherra-Sha tilted her head and drew her lips back in a rueful grin. “Wait and see, Kash. Wait and see. Go, now and prepare to meet your mate.”

  * * * *

  Early spring rains had left the meadow behind the Cambridge farmhouse verdant and spongy. Evening dew glistened in the fading light, catching Victoria’s eye more than once with diamond like sparkles as she picked her way through the old hiking trails toward the beginning of the woods.

  With sweet country air in her lungs and nothing but the sound of birds for company, her problems began to fade from conscious thought. Maybe after a week or two of this place, she’d gain enough perspective to decide what to do next.

  For now, her only concern was putting Beck & Donnelly, and specifically Mark Beck, out of her mind and working up the good kind of tired that would permit her the decent night’s sleep she desperately craved.

  She jogged a little to get her blood pumping, but it felt too much like running for the subway. Victoria had never enjoyed running the way her mother did, and the lazy April evening seemed to be made for nothing more than a leisurely stroll. She was tired of rushing through her life, trying to achieve something she wasn’t sure she wanted. She settled back to a walk and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and enjoying the journey rather than focusing only on her destination.

  At the edge of the forest she paused, remembering her father’s caution. When she got back to the house, she’d call old Chief Walters and let him know she was at home. Likely he’d have patrols coming out this way anyway, since her mother always informed the local police when the Cambridge property was going to be empty for a stretch. In Victoria’s early childhood there’d been the specter of her mother’s ex-husband, a vicious man named Sid, who’d spent a good portion of his life in jail. Despite having Adam around, it had taken Alliana years to fully release the fear that he’d come to find her one day. The news of his death in prison when Victoria was a teenager marked a sort of exhalation, a release of tension that had underscored long dark nights and the rare occasions when Adam’s work as a zoologist took him out of town without his family.

  That milestone hadn’t made either of her parents any less protective, though, and to this day, the local police chief was informed of any and all unusual happenings on the Cambridge property. The last thing Victoria needed was to get herself arrested for trespassing in her own backyard.

  She’d just about decided to turn back home when she saw it. The flash of neon green among the trees struck a familiar cord within her and curiosity drew her deeper into the woods.

  Where the trees were most densely packed and the shadows the deepest, Victoria heard sounds. The whine of something electrical, heavy footsteps, and whispered words reached her over the light rustle of new leaves.

  A decade had passed since hunting had been outlawed in this area, but even the laws didn’t stop some of the die hard, trigger happy fools that roamed the designated hunting grounds to the north. At least once a year someone shot a buck in these parts and was usually arrested before they dragged the carcass off of Cambridge land.

  But hunting season didn’t begin until the fall.

  Victoria surged forward, unafraid. She might have been a city girl at heart but she’d been raised in Allegheny County and nothing in these woods scared her, armed or not.

  “Hey you! What are you doing back here?” Her voice sounded thin and fragile in the encroaching dark. She cleared her throat and prepared to yell again when the neon glow flashed like lightening. A shadowy form passed between the trees ahead. The dull whine she’d heard became an earsplitting hiss that made her head throb and her stomach churn.

  Victoria stumbled and put her hand out to steady herself as the world spun around her. A clawed hand grasped hers and deep blue eyes with vertical pupils loomed above her, visible in the center of a white haze that spread outward like a veil.

  She reared back, too shocked to believe what she saw. Before she could call for help, her body folded to the ground, and blackness closed over her.

  Chapter Two

  “Based on our limited knowledge of human physiology, she seems healthy.” Cherra-Sha’s report seemed to please Sirris, who nodded vigorously.

  The captain rose from where he’d been crouching in the holding cell with Cherra on one side of him and Kash on the other. The room seemed far too small now that the hybrid female lay unconscious in the center of the floor at their feet.

  With a nod to Kash, Sirris and the medic stepped out of the cell. Cherra activated the force shield that separated the cell from the rest of the Katavarri’s infirmary, leaving Kash inside with his new mate.

  While Sirris and Cherra huddled over the results of the copious medical scans Cherra had run on the female, Kash surveyed their guest. Her body was long and slim, with a curving musculature that gave her an interesting shape--much softer and more rounded than that of a Sha-Shiri female. Thin cloth of a nondescript shade of gray covered her from neck to ankles, conforming to the curves of her body. Her hands and feet were naked, completely furless, and her claws were rounded and blunt, hardly useful for defense. Dark hair swept back from high above her brows and reddish highlights glinted on the curls that obscured part of her face.

  Kash resisted the urge to poke her. Cherra seemed convinced she was not injured, yet she lay so still, Kash had begun to fear she might have been damaged by the tranquilizer net in which they’d captured her.

  When she finally stirred with a soft moan, Kash couldn’t keep the relief out of his voice. “I believe she’s waking up. You’d better opaque the field.”

  Cherra obeyed, and the glowing force shield solidified into a wall of silver gray that was indistinguishable from the other three that made up the sparse containment cell. At least there’d be the illusion
of privacy for Kash to begin his so called ‘courtship’ of the hybrid.

  He folded his legs under him in a crouch and prepared for her first reaction to his appearance. All the previous studies of humans had concluded that the primate race was terribly xenophobic. Hopefully the female’s Sha-Shiri genes would help her accept what she would see when she awoke. Though Kash wondered, what were the odds that she even knew her full heritage? She certainly didn’t look Sha-Shiri, even in part.

  Cherra’s examinations had revealed round pupils in her brilliant green eyes, little to no fur on her body, and nearly flat incisors. Her ears were rounded as well, and her tongue was moist and fleshy behind straight, white teeth and full, pink lips.

  Kash thought the Val’tek were out of their minds to want to merge human and Sha-Shiri DNA again if this pallid, soft, seemingly defenseless female would be the result. Cross-breeding would accomplish nothing.

  She groaned and Kash tensed. He sheathed his claws through force of will, determined not to appear hostile. Regardless of his personal distaste for human physicalities, he had no desire to frighten her more than necessary.

  In the blink of an eye she woke, wild eyed and angry. Kash shifted backward when she rolled to her knees in front of him. “What the fuck!”

  Kash had to admit her survival instincts were impressive for a human. Her movement immediately shielded vital organs from attack. She bared her teeth at him and by her scent he could tell her blood was awash with adrenalin--all this only seconds after regaining consciousness.

  “You’ve nothing to fear from me.” Kash wrapped his tongue around the guttural human words. He’d spent much of the journey to earth learning human speech and though he considered himself fluent, he couldn’t help but wonder how an entire civilization could communicate effectively using such nonsensical sounds.