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The first rays of daybreak cast a garish light across the gruesome remnants of the previous night. Thanks to the combined forces of Nkosi security and Deka Obu’s Safari team, the dead and wounded were cleared from the grounds in short order.
Still, the lack of bodies strewn across the ravaged property did not dismiss the fact that something major had occurred the night before. Nkosi security had managed to stave off inquiries from local law enforcement who had arrived shortly after the department received reports of gunfire. Now, they wanted answers.
Thanks to Cafrey and Saiida, the group agreed on a convincing story. Armed thugs had descended on the property with violent intentions. This could be proven, given there were several of the wounded thugs alive to question. Alive, but heavily sedated. Answers would be a while coming.
As for Julien Dwele aka Deke Obu, and his accomplice Haddad Nkosi, the two had already been air-lifted from the property. They were now en route to Safari headquarters in Cameroon.
Once all official explanations had been offered, a car was sent into town for Max Davis. The doctor’s presence was requested and necessary for the next and most important explanations to be given.
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After a filling breakfast, everyone gathered in the main sitting room. They had all showered away the madness of the earlier hours. Miraculously, wounds were minimal save a few scratches and pulled muscles.
“Kam, what you feel is...wrong with you cannot be cured,” Deka began, “It cannot be cured,” she tacked on quickly and intensely, having spotted the upset soar in the woman’s eyes, “because it is a natural occurrence, dear one. You were defending your home- a need stemming from the insatiable, unquenchable desire to protect your child and the home you intend to make for it.”
“But, I-” Now, confusion took the place of Kam’s upset. “I’m not pregnant,” she looked at Chisulo, “I’m not pregnant,” she insisted.
“Dr. Davis?” Deka encouraged Max.
Clearing his throat, Max turned to Kam who he sat closest to. “Honey, do you remember when we first met?” he asked her gently and reciprocated the smile she gave in response to the memory. His smile lasted until he heard what sounded unmistakably like a wicked growl below Chisulo’s breath.
With a lazy eye roll, Kam looked at Chisulo where he stood near the fireplace. “Stop,” she whispered and turned back to Max. “Of course, I remember the beach. Your shorebirds.”
“That’s right,” Max nodded, his smile returning. “I was studying migration habits and how much of that had to do with pre-breeding instincts.”
“Pre-breeding,” Kam carefully repeated the phrase.
“That day we met, I told you about bird migration. People most often associate migrating birds with weather change, but there’s more involved than that. It’s also a preparation for the breeding cycle. Everything from migration to the nesting colony to fat deposits in females can critically influence reproductive success.”
“Even though I’m not at all trying to get pregnant?” Kam asked with a worried look to Chisulo across the room.
“It’s a perfectly natural occurrence, Kam,” Max assured. “Hormonal changes in parrots can occur from the bird simply being in the presence of artificial light. That light can cause the animal’s reproductive organs to grow, thus heightening hormonal activity.”
“This is why I contacted Max for his input,” Saiida leaned in to tell her cousin.
“Kam,” Max scooted to the edge of his chair. “During the pre-breeding period, heightened hormonal levels could have a bird doing any and everything to prepare a place for its young. Shredding every chair cushion in sight, attacking anyone who comes close to its chosen nesting area- it’s all within reason.”
“Max are you trying to tell me that all this is a result of really bad PMS?”
Everyone laughed with the exception of Kam and Chisulo. The scientists immediately sobered, understanding this was no laughing matter for the couple.
“My apologies, Kam,” Deka said, her expression now grave. “I don’t know what it’s like to have something this frightening going on inside you- and you as well, Chisulo.”
“Me?” he frowned.
“Your bout with what you thought was the maneater strain,” Deka clarified.
“What?” Chisulo’s dark eyes grew dangerously narrow. “That? That was part of...” he silenced as Deka nodded.
“We’d need to run a battery of more specific tests on you, but yes, I believe so. Much like a father experiencing morning sickness instead of his wife. All of these unexplained, seemingly impossible things,” Deka added, “I observed so much of it with my cousin Suleja.”
“Suleja?” Cafrey asked, having noticed Mustafa’s and Ali’s tense reactions to the name.
“Suleja Waddi,” Mustafa said. “Over eighty years ago,” he drew a hand over his face and sighed as though the timeframe was unbelievable even to one blessed with a shifter’s long life.
“Ali and I- we were both in love with her. She became pregnant with my child,” Mustafa’s features grew progressively tighter. “She died because of it. The child had the maneater strain-same as me.”
“That isn’t what killed her, Mustafa,” Deka’s quiet words had both Mustafa and Ali looking on in stunned surprise.
“That strain isn’t exclusive to tiger and lion shifters. Many panther couples have successfully brought children into the world.”
“Panther couples,” Chisulo observed. “Any of those successes between mixed couples?” he asked.
“No,” Bach spoke up then. “There haven’t been any successful matings, have there?”
“From what I’ve observed among the Safari, there have been no successful births by couples of mixed cultures. Then again, there’s always a first. After all, tigers aren’t indigenous to the Continent, but that changed with the arrival of the African shifter culture. There’s also the fact that I don’t have access to the health records of every mixed shifter couple. There could be successes. Speaking from my own experience, in the last two years alone, I’ve seen more than fifty miscarriages.”
“Fifty,” Kieli whispered, a shaky hand going to her mouth.
“Which is why I was so grateful to receive Saiida’s call,” Deka said.
“What made you think she could help?” Kam asked her cousin.
“I’ve always known of Ali’s heartbreak over Suleja,” Saiida explained. “Reading Max’s work and our subsequent conversations made me look more closely at the complications of Suleja’s labor. I wondered if some aspect of that could explain what’s been happening to you.”
“These theories,” Cafrey chimed in, “are you saying Kam’s strength and ferocity are part of some hormonal surge that could be a way of her body readying itself for the child she might one day have with Chisulo?”
“There’s much more to it, Cafrey, but yes,” Max said.
“And what proof is there?” Ali challenged his cousin.
Saiida looked to Deka, who reached into the large black tote propped along the base of her chair. Withdrawing a folder, she opened it to several pages each with typed text below images of what appeared to be blood cells.
“I’ve spent decades trying to make sense of what happened to my cousin. Like you,” she looked to Mustafa and Ali, “the Safari believed the child being half lion with the maneater strain, was a death sentence. When talk began to circulate about a new serum, I decided to look for my answers elsewhere.”
“New serum?” Kieli asked.
Deka smiled. “For ages, it’s been every clan’s mission to develop a serum to beat the maneater strain. People were talking about this version like it could be the answer for everyone- not only the lion and tiger clans. Lion couples and tiger couples have always mated successfully whether or not the strain was part of the father’s chemical makeup. The same is true for couples in the Safari.”
“Back to my brother’s question, Dr. Obu. You proved it, didn’t you?” Chisulo probed. “The trouble isn’t with the strain- the trouble is with the mixing of the cultures.”
Deka gave a reluctant nod. “It would appear so-but again, I don’t know the experiences of all couples,” she said. “These images,” she gestured to the photos, “they’re patient samples I’ve studied for years. When Saiida called wanting to collaborate, she shared the formula as it stood.”
Mustafa observed the images. “These look the same,” he said.
“You’re right,” Deka placed another image on the table.
Mustafa frowned, straightened on the chair he occupied. “What happened to it?” he asked.
Again, Deka smiled. “Those are the same ravaged cells after they were treated to a dose of the serum fortified by Kam’s blood.” She waited while the revelation took its toll on the room’s occupants.
“I didn’t understand why-how the new version could do what I saw with those cells. Then Saiida told me what happened when Kam was born and I used some of the blood she sent with the serum to run my own test.”
“I don’t understand,” Cafrey said.
“There were blood tests to prove Kam’s paternity,” Chisulo said.
Kam’s eyes flared. “You knew that?”
“Saiida told me,” he replied quietly. “She also told me how in love with you your father was.”
“Amen to that,” Ali confirmed with a grin.
Saiida moved to the edge of her chair. “It wasn’t until the DNA tests were run, re-run when Deka conducted hers, that I finally saw what was staring Max and I in the face.”
“What did you see?” Anxiety gripped Kam’s voice.
“Listen to me, Kam,” Saiida scooted closer. “The markers that identify us as shifters take years to develop. Most of us don’t shift until our seventh or eighth birthday. Your markers were fully developed when you were born.”
“It’s a wonder you weren’t born in tiger form, Kam,” Max said.
“But I wasn’t,” confusion mingled with humor as Kam studied the scientists. “I can’t even shift!”
“And the legend took shape,” Ali said.
“Exactly,” Saiida slammed fist to palm. “The only one in the long history of all shifting clans without the ability to shift. There must have been a reason.”
“A reason? Such as?” Kam shook her head, bewildered. “The serum’s just starting to sound like another in a long line of placebos.”
The scientists’ faces all came alive with an emotion akin to reverence.
“Not a placebo, Kam,” Saiida held clasped hands to her chest, “not a placebo by a long shot.”
“Then what?” Bach queried. “Are you saying this really could reverse the shift?”
Saiida folded her hands over Bach’s. “We’re saying the serum was never intended to be a tonic. It never felt...complete to me and that’s why. It wasn’t meant to prevent or incite a shift. The purpose was much greater,” she squeezed Bach’s hand. “The serum infused with Kam’s blood, allows a woman to bring her child safely into the world regardless of who its father is.”
“But how?” Cafrey’s whisper held the disbelief that was vivid on nearly everyone’s face.
“Relaxin,” Max raised his hands as if to urge his audience to stick with him as he went on. “Doctors search for a specific hormone in the urine to determine pregnancy. In human females, it’s called HCG or human chorionic gonadotropin.”
“That’s a mouthful,” Kieli said.
“True words,” Max agreed with a broad grin. “In tigers, Relaxin has been reliable in identifying pregnancy.”
“In tigers,” Saiida continued the explanation, “Relaxin is only present in high levels during mid-pregnancy. Later, it falls near obscurity. You’re not pregnant, cousin. Not yet,” she smiled reassuringly at Kam. “But your blood is teeming with Relaxin.”
“Kam, we think that’s why,” Deka gestured to the repaired cell images, letting them speak for themselves.
Quiet fell over the room as everyone processed all that was shared.
“This can change lives on a massive scale,” Kieli said once long moments had passed. “Every feline clan could benefit.”
Bach took Saiida’s hands and squeezed.
“Not to bring clouds to sunny skies,” Chisulo said, “but given recent events, this could easily signal more unrest.”
“Chisulo’s right,” Ali said. “Maybe it won’t build a fearsome army, but the promise of healthy, full-term pregnancies would be a lucrative opportunity.”
“An opportunity many would easily start another war for,” Mustafa added.
“Well maybe the answer to preventing that is right in this room,” Kam said,
“How, love?” Chisulo rested back on the mantle.
“Nearly all the clans are represented here,” Kam said. “Saiida, Max and Deka are the ones who figured out the serum-but we’re still just a few people. Maybe the answer isn’t to put it in the hands of the few, but the hands of the many. No war, no round tables, and endless debate. We leave it to our team of scientists.” She looked at Max, Saiida, and Deka. “Once they thoroughly test it and can speak on any side effects...we make it available to the masses.”
“Freely,” Cafrey contributed.
“Right,” Kieli added. “A price tag only opens the door to greed.”
“Not a bad plan, cousin,” Saiida said.
“Not a bad plan, at all,” Bach agreed, chuckling in reply to the beaming smile he earned from Kam. “Fellas?” he prompted the guys and watched as nods began to circulate.
“Deka?” Chisulo called for the woman’s input.
Deka’s eyes brimmed with hope. “I never imagined this could ever be possible. I’m honored to be part of it.”
“Davis?” Chisulo looked to Max next.
The doctor appeared stunned.
“It’s a no-go without one hundred percent buy-in,” Chisulo left his post at the mantle. “We could still be chasing our tails-literally- if you hadn’t stepped in to give Saiida the guidance she needed.”
“Th-thank you Chisulo,” Max’s tone was solemn, yet powerfully appreciative.
“Thank you,” Chisulo offered a hand.
The stunned look on Max’s face intensified before it mellowed into renewed gratitude and he accepted the shake.