Free Shield [New World Book 1] by C.L. Scholey

tell him,” Grace was pleading. Her face was upturned to him.
    “Tosk, you must mate carefully with human females,” Rask said at Grace’s distress. “There is a hormone in your fangs you will remember when her scent reaches your nostrils. You will mark her.”
    Rask turned Grace around and showed Tosk his mark on her shoulder blade.
    Tosk looked interested.
    “You did that?” Tosk asked.
    “My fangs marked her. Wait until she grows limp from your bite before you claim her or it will be very painful for her. Female humans cannot fight off a Castian warrior,” Rask warned. “When you’ve finished, bring her here. The water will heal her.”
    “Good, because this one is mine,” Tosk declared and strode off with Stacie over his back kicking and screaming.
    “Rask, please,” Grace whimpered.
    Rask felt sorry for her when he noticed her tears. His thumb lifted to stop one’s descent. “Tosk will be careful. Now that he has been told, he will remember the drug. Your friend will be fine.”
    “But if she doesn’t want him, it’s rape.”
    “Give him a chance to coax her. Tosk is also a virgin. Remember? He has no idea how to rape a female. He doesn’t know what goes where unless she tells him. She needs his protection on this planet…she will tell him.”
    Rask could see Grace was thinking about that. She suddenly brightened.
    “You’re right. None of the women from the shuttle can be forced. I think human women would like this planet.”
    Now there is a thought…
    * * * *
    Grace and Rask were lying together curled around one another in bed. Grace had been thinking.
    “Rask?”
    “Hmm?”
    “How is it possible that all the men here are the same age as you?”
    “Now that I do know,” he began. “I’ve told you each warrior needs a warrior mate to watch his back during battle. At one time in history, the armor on our shield wasn’t as strong on the back. It was survival. To this day, even though our shield has strengthened, we still choose a warrior mate. It’s more of a comfort now, I suppose. Our lineage goes back hundreds of thousands of years. Since our beginning, our women would go into heat at the same time.”
    “Wow. I’ve heard of women synchronizing their periods when they live together, but an entire race? That’s amazing.”
    “Just about every four hundred years our women would give birth to a boy to make certain there would be enough. Our males reach maturity at almost four hundred years then the cycle begins again with each of us mating with a female. Each warrior would find his warrior match when they begin training as a child of six. I was twelve of your earth years when Tosk and I joined.”
    “All boys? The women had all boys?”
    “Yes, all male, every four hundred years.”
    “What about females, girls?”
    Rask gazed at her thoughtfully. “I don’t know. My father didn’t think it important to talk about females since none would ever be born again. He only felt it my right to know why I needed a warrior mate. To speak of females would just be cruel.”
    “So, let me get this straight. You are basically saying that even though you are four hundred years old, you are just reaching manhood?”
    “I suppose that’s one way to look at it. Technically, I became a man at two hundred, but could not mate with a female until I reached almost four hundred,” Rask said. “I think it has to do with the hormones or the venom needed to age and strengthen. Also I’m not certain Castian females and human females are made the same way.”
    “I guess you wouldn’t since you’ve never seen a Castian female,” Grace said. “When we were at the pool and I was hitting Tosk and you touched me, I felt odd. Calm all of a sudden and it’s happened before. I was still upset, but had no more urge to hit Tosk.”
    “It appears my sweat also has a chemical that reacts to your fear. When it touches you, it penetrates your skin to calm you.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I didn’t until