Free Heart Fate by Robin D. Owens

said I would not hurt you. I am taking shelter just like you .
    I won’t hurt you, either , she sent, but she kept her gaze on him as the physical discomfort of sleeping on wadded clothes atop a stone floor faded and her eyes drifted closed. Her very last thought was that she was free.
    Without food in winter, but free.
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After the tests that evening, Tinne took a chance and teleported directly to his waterfall stall. Before he stripped off his clothes and sent them to the recycle bin, he contacted the Residence and issued a “Do Not Disturb” request for all communications systems and the sigil to be applied to his door.
    He didn’t want to see anyone or listen to anyone, and most definitely he didn’t want to do any more fliggering talking. He turned up the heat, flow, and noise of the waterfall, so it was all he experienced— a torrent of cleansing white water bubbling over him, though he sensed people tiptoeing outside his door. His Mamá, his father, his brother. Lark, his brother’s wife and the Holly Healer, didn’t show up, but since T’Heather was her MotherSire, Tinne figured the man would have talked to her. Thankfully the rest of his Family honored his wishes.
    He let a gentle spell dry him as he staggered in the early winter darkness to his bed and fell facedown on it.
    The soft rumble of a purr wafted to his ears, and a cat—his hunting cat, Ilexa—stepped onto his back, kneading his stiff muscles. He grabbed the corner of the spread, pulled it over his lower body, and grunted. “Greetyou. Nice to see you after all these years.” Not that he was seeing her, his face was mashed in a feather pillow and he’d closed his eyes. But somehow just having her back loosened a tight knot inside him.
    I returned because you need me. The cat spoke in obviously female tones.
    It was the last thing either of them said for several moments as she worked on him. Finally as he was sinking into sleep, he opened one eye to see her curl in her regal cat bed on the floor. Mutated from Earthan cheetahs, the sturdiest feline that had adapted to Celta, her coat was golden with beautiful brown markings. But she appeared a little ragged. He’d always pictured her as elegant and deadly. Thank you for leaving the wild for me, Ilexa .
    Of course I would. Wild is too hard, anyway. No good food. No warm shelter. No FamMan.
    A corner of his mouth curved up. “So you’ve decided to return and be my Fam.”
    â€œYesss,” the cat said. Residence and Family no longer cursed.
    â€œMy parents fulfilled their Vows of Honor over a year ago,” Tinne mumbled.
    Took time for rotten Flair smell to vanish from Holly land.
    â€œOh.” Then sleep claimed him.
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The next morning Tinne awoke with the awful anticipation that doom was about to crash down on him. Then he remembered and doom fell, flattening his spirits before he rolled from his bedsponge.
    He lay there, enervated, for long minutes, when, just like the day before, his Mamá’s voice came. “Tinne? The Residence told me you were up. Are you coming to breakfast?” She’d always be the one to gently keep the Holly sons in line.
    He grunted, groaned, but it was no good. He knew he couldn’t escape a Family breakfast, Lady and Lord help him.
    He had ducked his Family the night before, but it wouldn’t be possible today.
    â€œIlexa?” he murmured, then the cat strolled in from the waterfall room. He didn’t know what she’d done, but every hair on her looked sleekly groomed, even her whiskers.
    â€œYour appointment with the Healers is in a septhour,” his Mamá said, and her voice was so neutral, without its usual lilt, that he shut his eyes in hurt—for himself, for Genista, for his Family. “I’ll be down in quarter septhour,” he replied with his sleep-roughened voice.
    â€œYes, dear.” She sounded relieved.
    â€œOh, and Ilexa