Page 290 of Hunters and Prey

But what fascinated her the most were the similarities. Like the slightly pointed canines that Roman possessed. “Can you retract those?” she asked. She had canines as well but never had them out on display.

Roman shook his head, still studying her – processing her words.

Chiara considered the prince before her. Ever since she’d volunteered to travel to the Hai System with Princess Adelina on a fool’s mission, she’d been exposed to more royals than she cared to be. How this had happened to a physician who had done nothing but study and work her whole life, minding her own business, she would never know.

Agreeing to join the risky trip to the Hai System hadn’t been for the glory of it. No, Chiara had simply wanted access to a race of humans no one had had contact with for centuries. What could their medicine and science do for her own research? What genetic secrets could their biology tell her?

The fabled Drakesthai.

Most had thought them a myth or legend, but they’d been there when the princess had crossed the border, waiting. No one had believed Princess Adelina could succeed, but Chiara had.

There had always been something about the shy princess that hadn’t quite made sense to Chiara – not when compared to everything she’d accomplished even before the mission to Hai.

“Do you want me to explain what the mate bond means to my people?” Roman asked her carefully, noting her intense scrutinization of him. But he didn’t verbally mention it which was unusual for a neuro-typical. They usually hated the way she stared.

“Will you get angry if I say no?” she asked, tilting her head to get a different angle. The sun really worked in his favor. It made the blue of his eyes practically sparkle in the light.

“Angry that you’re denying me, or angry that you don’t want to know?”

The question made her actually smile. So this one was intelligent at least. “Angry that I don’t particularly care what it means to your people,” Chiara clarified.

Roman stiffened when she smiled, but didn’t get angry. “No, I won’t get mad,” he promised. “But since I’ve already got my answer, I’d like to know if you plan to deny the bond.”

“Would you mind if I take a closer look at your wings?” Chiara asked, squinting to try and see if the blue was indeed scales or not. “I’ll answer while I study them. If that is all right with you of course.”

Roman huffed and it almost sounded like a laugh. “You may take a closer look, but be aware that only those who are close to us are normally allowed to touch our wings, unless they’re injured.”

Chiara stood and crossed the room quickly in her excitement. Roman flinched. “I won’t touch you,” she promised. “I don’t like to touch people if I don’t have to, so I understand.”

Again he considered her as she leaned so close he could no doubt feel her breath on his talon.

Fascinating. There were scales on the membrane, but they were so delicate to be soft if her eyes were right. Scales that reinforced but didn’t protect well. The difference between a snake and a pangolin she supposed.

All human races had come from the Ancient Humans after they’d migrated from a destroyed Earth, searching for habitable planets. After discussing the destructive nature of humanity, an idea had been presented to perform genetic alterations. The hope was that they would prevent such destructive habits and behavior from occurring again.

Of course no one could agree on one alteration in the transcripts she’d read. So Ancient Humans had broken up into different factions and claimed their own systems.

Kalans, her own people, had chosen the wolf to base their genetics on. Certain aspects of their biology had been changed to create a society that relied on dominance and submission to thrive. They took the Draga System. The Kala sun provided life for most planets after terra-forming.

Corinthians had chosen the lion. Strength ruled in the Khara System. The Corinth sun was slightly smaller, but it still made the planets habitable after terra-forming.

And then the Drakesthai took Hai, choosing some creature called a ‘dragon’ though there were many debates on whether it was a dragon or a dinosaur. But everyone knew dinosaurs weren’t real—just a myth.

Chiara had thought it all a load of crock until she’d been able to see them with her own two eyes. The empirical process was much more reliable after all.

The Drakesthai sun sheltered two races though.

There was also the fourth faction who had chosen to do nothing other than alter only their society. They kept the gene-scrubbing for health and longevity reasons, but otherwise were straight descendants of the Ancient Humans. They shared the Hai System with the Drakesthai and had a strong alliance that gave them protection as they were notoriously peaceful.

What the Neprijat were…no one really knew. Nothing more than monsters if she were to believe the whispers.

“So?” Roman prodded.

“Right,” she said, pulling away from his talon and yanking her mind back to reality. “Could you spread your wings as far out as they go?”

He sighed but didn’t argue, which she appreciated. He could feel however he wanted to about it as long as he let her inspect the wondrous design.

“I don’t plan to deny the bond,” Chiara told him, watching the way his muscles moved in his back to get the wings to expand and retract. “At least not yet. I don’t know you and thus denying the bond without any information at all would be quite stupid. Could you pull them in now?”

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