The Breed (4 page)

“Not really.” Lukas sat back and began
ticking off traits on his fingers. “They have oval eyes like a
cat’s—usually a metallic color like gold or silver or copper. They
have retractable claws instead of fingernails. Oh—and all of them
have a Breed mark located right…here.” Standing, he unbuckled his
belt and began to push down his tailored slacks.

“Lukas, what are you doing? Stop!” I
implored, really alarmed now.

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Don’t
worry, Lexie, I’m not going to show you my cock. Not yet, anyway.
Just look here.” He lowered his pants slightly and raised his crisp
white shirt, giving me a glimpse of his corded abdomen. There, just
above the neatly clipped edge of his pubic hair, I saw a small
white scar.

I sucked in my breath before I could stop
myself. “My God, I—” I stopped myself abruptly but Lukas already
knew what I was going to say.

“You’ve got one too, don’t you? Right
there
.” He nodded at my lower abdomen.

I placed a hand over my belly protectively.
“What does it mean?”

“The Breed mark—the mark each Breeder child
is born with that identifies him or her as a member of a specific
tribe—the same mark which tells who their mate is destined to be—is
gone. Surgically removed from both of us.” Lukas pulled up his
pants and re-tucked his shirt before sitting back down.

I stared at him blankly. “So you’re
saying…?”

“That we’re adopted. Both of us. And both of
us, my dear little sister, are of the Breed.”

I couldn’t believe it. I just sat there and
stared at him for a good two minutes. Lukas stared mutely back and
as I looked into his coal black eyes I realized something.

“You’re wrong,” I said triumphantly, feeling
a deep sense of relief. “We
can’t
be, Breeders. You just got
finished saying that all Breeders have metallic colored eyes.”

“Surgically and permanently dyed,” he
answered promptly. “And since the only color that will cover such a
bright metallic is black, that’s what we both got. By the way, you
may remember,
sister dear,
that Mom and Dad both had blue
eyes.”

“But…but…” My mind scrambled for reasons it
couldn’t be true. “The claws—you said they had retractable
claws.”

“Gene therapy. It’s horribly expensive but
then, money never was an object when Mom wanted something, was it?
And just about the time she got us, she wanted some
children—badly.”

“But
why?”
I said desperately. “Why
wouldn’t dad just…just buy her a human baby on the black
market?”

He smirked. “Not very up on your history, are
you? Did you forget that around the time you were ‘born’ the whole
planet was going through a fertility crisis? Remember the B
virus?”

I realized he was right. The B virus—or
Barren virus as it came to be called—had been created in a lab
somewhere in China to control their burgeoning population
explosion. It was supposed to be tailored to only affect people of
Asian ancestry. But then the virus had gotten out of control. It
swept the planet, mutating so fast it was impossible to check,
infecting every culture and race. In a matter of years the Earth
was down to a birth rate of almost zero and it was looking like
humans might go the way of the dinosaurs.

Luckily a cure was found at the eleventh hour
but Lukas was right—at the time genuine, viable human babies had
been incredibly hard to come by. Even if you were the owner of a
multi-billion dollar company as Dad had been.

I looked up at Lukas, feeling dazed. “So
we’re saying we’re adopted? That we’re not really related at
all?”

“Adopted? Hell, we were
stolen
,” Lukas
growled softly. “Snatched away from our true parents and raised
here on Earth. ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ changed everything they could but
they still couldn’t quite make us fit in.”

I thought of how I’d never felt quite right
around other girls. About how Sylvia, who was as cold and logical
as I was, was my only real friend. Could it really be? Could what
Lukas was telling me be right?

“How?” I said slowly. “How…how did you know?
How did you find out?”

“When I was in that damn military school, I
started putting two and two together,” he said simply. “It started
my second year there. We had this archery class and I never missed
the target. The other guys were giving me a hard time about being
perfect so I started showing off. I had them shoot arrows at me and
I dodged out of the way just in time. Then I started picking their
arrows right out of the air.” He gave a humorless laugh. “That’s
when it stopped being fun. It scared the shit out of them—and me
too, a little. Especially when I started realizing all the other
things I could do that I took for granted—things none of my class
mates was capable of.”

“Such as?” I whispered, my eyes glued to
him.

“I could see in the dark—I bet you can too,
right? You turn the lights off and on from force of habit but you
don’t really need them.”

Slowly, I nodded. I had always had excellent
night vision and it had surprised me to learn than most people
couldn’t see as well as I could in low lighting.

“Fast reflexes—abnormally fast, as I said,”
he continued. “I could hold my breath under water for up to ten
minutes at a time. That one
really
freaked them out. It
would have been a real asset on the swim team of course. I wanted
to join but Dad blocked me—had the headmaster refuse my
application. He knew, you see,” Lukas continued, a slight tone of
bitterness creeping into his voice. “Knew where Mom got us—what she
did to make us look human.”

“But…but we
are
human,” I protested.
“I mean, the way we were raised, the culture we live in—”

“Doesn’t change a goddamn thing,” he said
harshly. “You’re human, huh? Then what about that?” He nodded at my
chest and I looked down to see I was leaking again—already there
were two large, sticky spots on my white blouse. The nectar flowing
from my breasts turned the white silk transparent and made it cling
to my tight, aching nipples obscenely.

“Oh God.” I crossed my arms over my breasts
as a hot blush crept over my cheeks.

Lukas shook his head. “Don’t, Lexie,” he said
softly. “Don’t cover yourself. It’s beautiful—
you’re
beautiful. The nectar is just a sign of your fertility.”

“A what?” I demanded. “What are you talking
about, Lukas? I’ve been having my period since I was twelve and
this has never happened to me before.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Because you’ve
never come into heat before.”

It was so much like what Sylvia had been
saying earlier than I nearly lost it. “Come into
heat?
Are
you
serious?”
I glared at him. “Lukas, you have
got
to be kidding me.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Look, it’s
perfectly normal in the Breed. In fact, if we’d been raised on
Breedlow with no interference you would have had your first heat at
around fifteen.”

“I’m twenty-five now,” I said. “What am I—a
late bloomer?”

“Your cycle was being suppressed.” Lukas
looked grim. “Remember that tea you and Mom were always
drinking?”

“Mom’s special blend?” I couldn’t believe it.
“You’re kidding.”

“Afraid not. It was laced with sexual
suppressants. Drugs that were specially designed to curtail the
normal female Breeder cycle.”

“But…I can’t…” I shook my head. “I can’t
believe this.”

I could still remember the first time my
mother had given me her special tea. It was just after I had
started my period and she had taken me aside and told me I was a
woman now. And as such, I would be allowed to join her every
morning for tea. My mother had been a cold woman, not very loving
or demonstrative. So the idea that she would willingly spend time
with me—even just a few minutes every morning—seemed almost too
wonderful to believe. It had become our ritual—tea before
breakfast—and I had observed it religiously even while I was away
at college. It was only since Mom had died that I had stopped
drinking it because it reminded me too much of her. Made me too
sad.

“Believe it,” Lukas said grimly. “It’s the
truth—Mom was drugging you for years to suppress your cycle.
Unfortunately, it also suppresses emotional responses and any kind
of sex drive. Tell me, Lexie, up until a month ago have you ever
had any kind of desire at all?”

“No,” I whispered through numb lips. Oh, I
had gone through the motions. I’d lost my virginity at college to a
socially acceptable boy. It hadn’t been great but I had comforted
myself that the first time isn’t supposed to be. But the next time
wasn’t very good either. Or the next or the next. By the time I’d
gotten out of college and started helping my father run the
company, I’d become resigned to the fact that I just wasn’t a
sexual being. Oh, I could
have
sex well enough—it didn’t
hurt or anything. But I felt very little during the act. No
emotional connection and certainly no pleasure. It was more an
annoyance than anything else—just another waste of time when I
could have been doing something productive.

“I didn’t think so,” Lukas murmured, shaking
his head. “I hate to tell you this but I’m afraid you’re in for a
hell of a shock.”

“What do you mean?” I couldn’t keep the fear
out of my voice.

“I mean you’re about to have ten years of
suppressed hormones coming down on you at once.” He shook his head.
“No wonder your breasts are so sore and your nipples are leaking so
freely. Your body is trying to make up for lost time.”

“I won’t let it.” I jumped up, feeling
suddenly wild. “I’ve still got plenty of Mom’s tea. I’m going to
drink a cup right now! Hell, I’ll drink a whole
pot
.”

Lukas was on me faster than I could see him
move. “The hell you will,” he said harshly, grabbing my arm. “Don’t
you know that interrupting your cycle could kill you? Especially
after such an extended suppression.”

“What about
you?”
I glared at him.
“Why didn’t she give you the tea too? Why only me?”

“She didn’t have to,” he said simply. “If the
female of a breeding pair doesn’t come into heat, the male won’t go
into rut either. My hormones—my body’s responses—are dependant on
yours.”

“What? What are you saying?” My head was
spinning and I stumbled and would have fallen if Lukas hadn’t
caught me. I wanted to sit back down in Mom’s chair but he led me
to the loveseat instead and pulled me into his lap. “Stop,” I
protested weakly. “I can sit on my own.”

“But I don’t want you to,” he said softly.
“And I don’t want you so far away from me.”

“Lukas,” I said, trying to sit up and get
away from him. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say but you’re
my
brother.”

“I’m your mate,” he countered, pulling me
back down. “Or I should have been. Remember I told you the Breeder
mark indicates not only the tribe but also the individual’s
intended mate? Well I believe our marks matched, Lexie—matched
exactly
. You were meant for me and I was meant for you.”

This was all too much for me. Lukas was my
brother—I was sure of it. Every fiber of my being said he was. And
here he was telling me that it wasn’t true—that instead of being my
big brother, he was my predestined lover. The only man I was
supposed to be with for the rest of my life.

“I can’t accept this,” I said, putting a hand
to my head. “It can’t be true.”

“It’s true, all right,” he said softly. “I’ve
been waiting for you, Lexie—waiting for years. Ever since I
uncovered the truth.”

“Which was about the time Dad disinherited
you, I guess,” I said, frowning at him. “What did you do—go to him
and accuse him of stealing Breeder babies?”

“Pretty much,” he said calmly. “He blustered
and tried to deny it but by then I had already tracked down the
surgeon who dyed our irises and did the gene therapy. He still had
the records—he was also supplying Mom with her special ‘tea,’ by
the way.”

“But…” I shook my head. “Why didn’t you tell
me before?”

“You wouldn’t have listened,” Lukas said
softly. “We were close as kids but they did a damn good job of
separating us.” His black eyes were suddenly sad. “I barely even
know you anymore, Lexie. And I’m sure you probably feel the same
about me.”

It was true. I remembered what I’d thought
earlier—that my big brother was nothing more than a handsome
stranger. Since he’d been sent away to school more than twelve
years before, we’d barely even spent an entire hour in each other’s
company. In fact, this was the most we’d talked since we were kids
and I used to go to him for comfort when I was sad or hurt.

But I still wasn’t ready to start thinking of
my brother as my lover.

“About the tea,” I said. “Are you sure…?”

He frowned. “You’re in heat, Lexie. It could
kill you in your present state.”

“But…but I can start taking it again
after…after this is over?”

Lukas looked sad. “You really want to do
that? Want to go back to not feeling anything? To being numb and
emotionless?”

“Numb and emotionless can be comfortable,” I
snapped. “Especially when you’re used to it.”

“You were
robbed
, Lexie. Your
emotions, your sex drive—they were stolen from you. Are you
honestly telling me you don’t want them back? That you don’t miss
them?”

“How can I miss what I’ve never had?” I said
softly. “I’ve been drinking Mom’s tea since I was twelve. I’ve
never known anything else. And maybe…maybe I like it that way.”

He shook his head. “That’s like a blind
person saying they don’t want to have sight because they’ve been
blind all their life. There’s a whole world out there, Lexie—full
of vibrant color and incredible beauty. Don’t shut your eyes to it
because you’re afraid.”