The Breed by EL Anders

said calmly. “Other plants
and animals there employ the same kind of biology. It’s an
evolutionary failsafe—designed to keep the species from dying off.
That’s why they have no extinction on Breedlow. Actually, their
biology is far superior to ours but we’ve set ourselves up as the
superior species simply because our culture is more advanced.”
    “God…” I whispered. I felt weak in the knees
and I was still having difficulty grasping the implications of her
words. Lukas wasn’t my brother after all. Not genetically.
Our DNA was completely different.
    “ I’m your mate,” I heard his deep
voice murmur softly in my head. “We were meant to be
together.”
    “Lexie? Lexie?” Sylvia’s voice finally cut
through my jumbled thoughts and I had a feeling she had been trying
to get through for some time.
    “Yes?” I whispered, coming back to myself.
“What is it, Sylvia?”
    “There’s one more thing you ought to know,”
she said softly. “Once the male and female have, ah-hem, have bred,
they are linked for life. There is no divorce or separation on
Breedlow—the male and female pairs are biologically connected in
ways that make them impossible to separate.”
    My stomach began to knot up again. “What
happens if they do get separated?”
    “That depends,” Sylvia said carefully. “The
female might survive—if her first heat has passed. But the
male…”
    “What about the male?” I asked, my heart
thumping. “What about him, Sylvia? Tell me.”
    “The ramifications can be severe,” she said
reluctantly. “Especially if the first breeding wasn’t long
enough.”
    “How…” I could barely get the words out. “How
long is long enough?”
    “In some cases it can take up to seventy-two
hours,” Sylvia said. “During that time the couple breeds again and
again, almost never separating. It’s a biological imperative to
make certain the male’s seed is implanted in the female’s
womb.”
    God! I put a hand to my head. No wonder I’d felt incomplete when Lukas had left me. That
feeling that we weren’t finished—it was my body telling me that our
breeding was only beginning. My own ache had been soothed but
Lukas…his cycle was just starting. And I had cut him off, sent him
away before his body had nearly enough of mine.
    “Sylvia,” I said, feeling sick. “You said the
implications could be severe. What did you mean by that?”
    “The male needs to breed the female often
and…and…” She cleared her throat. “And partake of her, uh, I think
my colleague called it nectar or…” She took a deep breath. “Or he
risks death.”
    “Death?” I was horrified. I kept seeing
Lukas’s face in front of me. His sad eyes, so filled with longing.
I kept hearing his deep voice saying he loved me… “He’s going to
die,” I whispered, feeling like I might throw up or cry or both.
“Lukas is going to die…”
    “Not if you go to him quickly,” Sylvia
said.
    “What?” I stared at the phone as though I
could see my friend if I looked hard enough. I had never meant to
reveal my secret but Sylvia took it calmly, almost as though she’d
expected it. “What did you say?” I asked.
    Suddenly the viewscreen flickered to life and
Sylvia appeared—using the vid conferencing feature which was
something she never had before. “Look at me, Lexie,” she
demanded.
    Feeling numb, I pressed the vid conference
button on my own phone. “Okay, I’m here,” I said.
    “That’s better.” She nodded briefly. “I’ve
always known something was different about you, I just didn’t know
what it was,” she said shortly. “You’re a Breeder, Lexie. And so is
Lukas. You’re a matched set, aren’t you?”
    “That…that’s what he claims.” My mouth felt
dry. “He said…he wanted to…” But I couldn’t finish. Couldn’t admit
what I’d let him do to me.
    “Whatever you did, there’s no shame in it,”
Sylvia assured me gently. “Remember, Lexie, he’s not really