Page 107 of Tamed By Her Touch

Maera’s expression changed to one of guarded sorrow.

“I do not know. Our historical records from our earliest years are incomplete. It was a terrible time.”

“The men were violent?” Clair guessed.

“Yes.” Maera’s voice was quieter now. “We do not speak of it often. It was before our current culture fully developed. There are records of males becoming irrational, aggressive—possessive in cruel ways rather than loving ones. Women were hurt.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Some were killed.”

Clair’s stomach tightened—it sounded exactly like Glenvarren. But there was no way to be sure if the veloria was involved since Maera didn’t know when the women of Titus Four had started drinking it.

“What changed to make the men less violent?” she asked.

Maera spread her hands.

“Everything, slowly. Medicine improved. Customs changed. Our people became what we are now.”

Clair frowned in frustration.

“That’s not an answer.”

“No, I’m afraid not.” Maera looked troubled. “To be honest, I have never thought much about why. I was taught that the virus itself changed over time.”

“That’s what everyone assumes?”

“Yes.”

Clair stared at the newly transformed molecule. A virus that supposedly changed over generations…a plant every woman on the planet consumed…a plant that produced an inactive precursor which became something entirely different inside a Titus Four woman’s body.

Maybe it was coincidence but Clair didn’t believe it was.

“I need to see the oldest records you have on veloria,” she said. “Not modern research. Traditional medicine. Agricultural histories. Women’s health records. Anything from around the time the Savage behavior started disappearing.”

Maera nodded slowly.

“I can access some of those records here.”

“Good. Thank you.” Clair looked once more at the molecular display. “I need to know exactly what this new compound does.”

She enlarged the transformed molecule until it hovered between them, glowing pale lavender in the air. Something about it mattered—she could feel it. They had come to Titus Four looking for a cure hidden in blood and viral genetics.

But Clair was beginning to wonder if the answer had been growing quietly on a vine all along.

16

KAELUS

Kaelus followed Sendar away from Varell and Maera’s home, trying very hard not to think about the fact that he could still smell Clair on himself. Her sweet feminine scent clung to his hands and his clothing, and he could still feel the softness of her full breasts against his lips and the heat of her body when he had knelt between her thighs to perform the ridiculous—and incredibly arousing—Kiss of Parting.

Even now, his cock was still half-hard from the experience and his mouth practically watered when he remembered the scent of her desire rising through the thin fabric of her dress.

He had almost lost control back there. If they had been alone, he wasn’t certain he would have been able to stop himself from lifting the skirt of that metallic blue gown and burying his face between her soft thighs as he had been fantasizing about doing since the night before.

Which is exactly why you need to get yourself under control, he reminded himself sternly. She is your coworker—not your mate. None of this is real.

Unfortunately, the dark silver band wrapped around his upper arm—the one Clair had personally fastened there to show that he was “cherished and claimed by the woman who owned him”—felt very real indeed.

“You seem distracted, Doctor Kaelus.”

Sendar’s voice broke into his thoughts and Kaelus realized the other male was watching him with an amused expression.