Page 6 of Their Shared Mate
A sigh of frustration escaped Raphael as the retrospect drew him farther back. After an ordinary childhood and typical adolescence, Raphael and Gabriel headed off to college. They were fraternal twins who had always been close despite the differences in their appearances and personalities. Both scored extremely high on all the aptitude tests, so admission was almost guaranteed. Gabriel became an electrical engineerwhile Raphael chose chemical engineering. Attending different schools, however, never occurred to them. They’d been together their entire lives and had no interest in separating now.
Three years later both had graduated, but instead of joining the workforce, they chose the Planetary Defense Force’s Corp of Engineers. They found the projects challenging, but regimented structure and harsh discipline didn’t appeal to either brother, so they exited the military when their contracts ended.
Wanting to provide opportunities for other veterans, the brothers founded a startup company called Echo, Inc. By developing chemically similar formulas of popular medications they created cost-saving knock-offs. They launched with the four drugs most prescribed to veterans. By never claiming to be the real medication and keeping their formulas just outside the boundaries of pharmaceutical copyrights, the brothers were able to avoid costly litigation.
All Raphael and Gabriel had wanted when they began was to assist their fellow veterans, but the popularity of their little startup exploded. Within five years they employed three hundred people and had an inventory of forty-six medications. That’s when the buyout offers started coming in. They disregarded each until Nuevo Biotech submitted a proposal far different from the rest.
Raphael refused to review his interaction with Nuevo, so his mind rushed ahead. He ignored his years in captivity, the dramatic liberation of the lunar complex, and the hybrids’ forced relocation to a planet no one had ever heard of before. Instead, he thought about his new life here on Rydaria.
The hybrids had arrived three, no, almost four years ago. The necessity of separate villages quickly became obvious. Lionspreferred wide open spaces, while wolves liked to prowl through the trees. Raptor shifters yearned for the mountains, cool air, and plenty of room to stretch out their wings and fly.
Raphael climbed onto Gabriel’s front porch and knocked politely. On any other night he wouldn’t have bothered with the courtesy, but he was in trouble and he knew it.
Patrick, Gabriel’s second, opened the door.
Confusion furrowed Raphael’s brow. “I thought you went to the kitchen.”
“Been there and back. Jason and Levi wanted to help. They had everything under control, so I came here.”
Raphael nodded. Levi was the village cook, and he could be territorial. Anything involving food fell under his purview. “Has my brother made it back yet?”
“He’s up in the loft.” Patrick moved out of the way so Raphael could enter. “I hope you brought booze. He’s in one of his moods.”
Raphael lifted the bottle of whiskey as he crossed to the ladder leading to the semi-enclosed space over the two bedrooms. “Is it safe to come up or should I leave the whiskey and come back tomorrow?” he called from the bottom of the ladder.
“Climb up and find out,” Gabriel challenged.
Gabriel grew angrier when situations were left unresolved. The next hour or so would likely be unpleasant, but it was necessary. Holding the whiskey bottle in one hand, Raphael used the other to steady him as he climbed. A wide work bench ran along the far wall of the loft. The surface was cluttered with scavenged parts and components as well as partially completed projects. Gabrielhad turned his chair around and extended his legs, crossing them at the ankles. There was a massive skylight above the chair that provided a stunning view of the stars. Eagle shifters grew irritable unless they could see the sky.
“What are you working on?” Raphael asked, hoping to lighten his brother’s mood.
“You didn’t have the authority to sanction that mission. The wolves will consider it an attack, not a rescue,” Gabriel began, not bothering with pleasantries.
“I knowingly disregarded your wishes,” Raphael admitted as he crossed to the work bench. He took down the two glasses arranged on one of the shelves and filled both with whiskey. He handed his brother one of the drinks and raised the other to his lips. Arguing was pointless. Raphael knew what would defuse the situation and what would add fuel to the fire. “The decision had to be made quickly, and I knew we would disagree. We have both worked hard to avoid conflicts with the wolves, but this?—”
“Then how the fuck do you explain tonight?” Gabriel snapped as he came up off the chair.
Raphael took a quick step back. “Our alliance with the cats abolished any hope we had of neutrality. War is here whether we choose to participate or not. Those females were being held a few miles from our village. The wolves are in our territory. It’s only a matter of time before they attack us directly.”
“You don’t know that!” Gabriel set his untouched drink aside and rested his hands on the back of his chair. Anger burned in his orange eyes as his temper continued to smolder. “Interfering with their females guarantees that they’ll attack. Is access to pussy worth all that bloodshed?”
Pausing for a sip of whiskey, Raphael chose his words carefully. “Access tomatesis worth any sacrifice. There is no future without offspring, and there will never be offspring without females.”
“But why this? Why now? I agreed to the alliance reluctantly, but I never would have agreed to this.”
Which was why Raphael hadn’t asked him. “The wolves are in the middle of a bloody civil war. Half the ruling pack was slaughtered right in front of the females. Riverside pack is in control for the moment, but no one is safe until Alex, or some other alpha, can establish his authority. These females are traumatized and desperate. This was the right thing to do. It was the only thing to do.”
Gabriel sighed heavily and returned to his chair. He tossed back half of his whiskey before he spoke again. “Did you act alone or were the cats involved?”
“I learned of the incident from the cats. They asked me to do a flyover and see if the females were in the lupine stronghold. The rest was me. Our alliance with the cats promises us females, but courting them is almost impossible. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to solve that problem.”
“I don’t like it,” Gabriel grumbled. “We had a plan, and it didn’t include a ground war with the wolves.”
Standing while Gabriel sat felt confrontational, so Raphael lowered himself into the other chair. “Our original plan hasn’t changed. In fact, restoring off-world communications has never been more important.” He finished his drink and set his glass aside. “I’ll supervise the bunkhouse. Having the females here won’t distract you unless you want it to.”
Gabriel looked at him impatiently. “If I’d been in the market for a mate, I would have flown down to the feline village during one of Zion’s ridiculous parties.”
Gabriel couldn’t speak Zion’s name without scowling and filling his voice with scorn. The two hated each other. Well, Gabriel hated Zion and Zion resented his attitude. The conflict was old and ugly, but luckily it had not kept the two villages from forming an uneasy alliance. Besides, on this subject at least, Raphael agreed with his brother. The parties the cats were throwing were counterproductive. All they did was allow the females to pretend that they were still on Earth when they needed to adjust to Rydarian expectations.
