Puma Pride, page 23
“The werewolf mythology started with them,” Mia interjected.
“Yes, I’d love to read the mythology books on the drive if you feel like sharing,” Marcel said. “There was extensive testing done on this person including DNA mapping and their ability to heal. The first shifter was…”
“Tortured,” Bryan provided a description. “I remember learning about this.”
“Yes, it became part of why shifters made the move to takeover the government. From that point, the government thought they could create their own shifters. Initially it was to do spying and other military work. By the time they got to your grandmothers, they identified a lot of animal shifters but hadn’t been able to narrow the DNA to find the shifter gene per se.”
“I remember dad talking about how important it was to keep shifting a secret,” Brady said.
“Yes, because the more shifters they got, the more they tortured them. The women or girls they took were put through hell,” Marcel said. “By the time your grandmothers were taken, they had at least stopped trying to impregnate them with animal sperm. This didn’t work because of the chromosomal differences between the animal and the human. But they switched to altering their DNA to include animal DNA. They messed with the mitochondrial DNA.”
“That’s the DNA a mother passes down unchanged to her children, right? Some geneticist said humanity could be traced back to seven women at the beginning of time,” Jolyn said. “I read a book on it.”
“Yes, it’s unaltered from mother down through children. But the females have the original going back to the beginning of humanity,” Marcel said. “By altering it, it put you in a new category.”
“A shifter,” Mia asked.
“No. Not a shifter. I’ll get to this in a minute,” Marcel said. “Humans have twenty three pairs of chromosomes. They get twenty three from mom and twenty three from dad to pair up and make an offspring.”
“I studied that in biology,” Jolyn said.
“What they knew at the time was all animal DNA was coded into the fourteenth chromosome. Each animal has a different sequence and humans can have multiple animal DNA. I could check all of you and find a variety of different animals along with your human DNA. Jolyn, I could tell you which animals you have in you.”
“Wouldn’t it be limited to the ones they introduced to my grandmothers’ DNA,” Jolyn asked.
“Not necessarily,” Marcel said. “There’s variances and cross species mating.”
“Making hybrids,” Jolyn nodded her understanding.
“But none of them can shift,” Mia said. “We read in the experiments none of the offspring were able to shift.”
“Because they didn’t know about the shifter gene,” Marcel said.
“So why aren’t I an animal,” Jolyn asked.
“That speaks to whether those animals are recessive or dominant,” Marcel said. “Now looking at you as you sit before me, I don’t see any animal traits. Do you have any unusual skills?”
“Do you mean like cats seeing better in the dark or hounds hearing better,” Mia asked.
“Yes, or it can be something small, like getting sick when she eats meat.” Marcel held up his hands.
“If one of the animals were an herbivore,” Bryan caught on to what Marcel meant.
“Kids like me,” Jolyn said. “I have human normal eyesight and hearing. Mom and dad said I was never sick as a kid.”
“Those don’t really fit,” Marcel said. “Without doing a blood test, I’d say it likely your human DNA is dominant and your animal DNA is recessive.”
“If the animal DNA were dominant then I’d be one of them but weird with human DNA,” Jolyn asked.
“Likely but again, we’re dealing with new genetics here,” Marcel said. “They messed with the fourteenth chromosome. There’s likely to be mutations between your grandmothers’, mother’s, and your DNA. I have the first two generations. You must remember there’s a lot of extra stuff in DNA.”
“Why can’t I shift,” Jolyn asked.
“This is where they completely missed the mark. You see back then they didn’t know about the twentieth chromosome and the role it plays with shifting. There’s specific coding on the twentieth chromosome which gives shifters the ability to change shapes. In the samples they had access to, none of the people involved had the shifter coding.”
“I’ve got animal DNA but not shifter DNA,” Jolyn asked.
“More like your DNA likely has animal DNA but isn’t coded to shift,” Marcel said. “It’s a minor difference.”
“What does this all mean for me?” Jolyn looked from Brady to Marcel. “How do I know who I am?”
“I can take a blood sample back to my lab and sequence your DNA to find out,” Marcel offered.
“How long would that take,” Brady asked not wanting Jolyn to worry about this longer than necessary.
“Do you know anyone locally who could do this,” Bryan asked.
“It takes about a day and I actually might know someone,” Marcel said. “Give me a couple minutes to check.”
He walked out of the room. They heard him talking.
“How are you doing,” Mia asked Jolyn.
“I don’t know,” Jolyn said. “What happened to my grandmothers is terrible and my parents… awful but I guess they did their best to give me a normal life outside of being kept as a lab rat.”
“My friend says I can borrow her lab,” Marcel said. “Do you want this done?”
Jolyn stared at the floor. Did she? Would it help? “Brady?”
“Will it ease your mind?”
“I don’t know,” Jolyn turned into his arms.
Mia watched Brady rub her back to sooth her. “Jolyn, if you do this, you’ll have some of the answers you’re asking yourself. Isn’t it better to know than to wonder?”
“Yes,” Jolyn agreed.
“I can’t even pretend to know how you feel finding out about how your parents and you were conceived,” Marcel said. “It’s a nightmare. But we can at least examine your DNA and see where you stand.”
Slowly Jolyn nodded, “Let’s do it.”
Marcel took vials of blood, and accompanied by Chet, went off to do the testing.
“I’m going to the children’s playroom for a couple hours,” Jolyn stood. Brady tugged her into his arms. “I need some time away from all this.”
“A good idea,” Mia said.
“I can find my way there,” she put a hand on Brady’s chest. “But will you come get me when you’re done for the afternoon?”
“I will,” Brady tipped her chin up. “I love you. Remember no spiders or crickets, otherwise we’re good.”
She smiled for a moment and pulled him down for a kiss. “I thought that was a secret?”
“Oh, I know about his aversion to those critters,” Bryan said.
“He’s probably responsible for the aversion,” Mia grinned.
“Thank you for… all of this,” Jolyn gripped Mia’s hand before she left. Brady waited for a count of three and walked to the door to watch her walk away.
“She’ll be all right,” Mia tried to reassure him.
“She will,” Brady waited until she turned the corner. She looked up and waved at him. He raised his hand, waved, and touched his heart.
“Shall we get down to discussing the immediate changes you want to make,” Bryan asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, let’s tighten up our security so Mia and Minnie are safer.” Brady stepped back into the office closing the door. He felt like he closed off his air but he had a job to do and she needed kid time.
A sharp wrap on their door brought Jolyn out of the bathroom in her robe. Brady showered so she went to the door.
“Hi Chet,” she said.
“Mia asked me to let you know Marcel is back,” Chet didn’t quite meet her eyes.
“I didn’t see,” she said. “I wanted to respect your privacy so I didn’t look.”
“Oh,” Chet cleared his throat. “I don’t want Brady to think…”
“I like you Chet but Brady’s my mate,” Jolyn said. “I know I’m new here but is this always an issue?”
“Not among the shifters. There’s an understanding,” Chet said.
“And I’m not a shifter,” Jolyn said. “It’s okay. I’ve assured Brady he’s the only one I’m interested in.”
“They’re in the office and Starry is taking breakfast there,” Chet patted her upper arm before turning away.
“Thank you,” Jolyn said as she closed the door. She turned and bumped into Brady. “I told you…”
“He didn’t see me,” Brady said.
“But he probably smelled you,” Jolyn put her hands on her hips. “I can’t fit in if you’re intimidating everyone to accept me.”
“I doubt I could intimidate Chet,” Brady said. “You handled it well. You addressed it straight forward and reminded him you’re mine. What’s really bothering you?”
“I’m not human. I’m not a shifter. I’m not an animal. What the hell am I?”
He slipped her robe off her body, let it fall to the floor. “You look all woman to me,” he murmured as he dropped his towel. His arousal pressed between them. “You are my Jo.”
“Brady,” she sighed as he picked her up and pushed her against the door. His mouth dropped to her breast. His hands explored swiping across her core. She caught her breath. He aroused her with a look and when he touched, she wanted all of him.
He scented her arousal and need. He knew they should dress and go but he needed her. He joined their bodies and she trembled. “Mine,” he growled while his cat purred.
“Yes,” she submitted to him. “Take me.”
“Every day,” he murmured before his lips stopped any further conversation. He thought of her needs, her pleasure, her love as their bodies moved together. “More,” he demanded from her.
“All of me. Take all of me,” she gasped out gripping his shoulders, pressing her body to meet his. Her eyes met his. His golden eyes held her honey colored eyes as they mated.
“For eternity,” he murmured as he thrust into her, feeling her climax, and releasing his.
“We’re late,” Jolyn sighed.
“No. It’s early.” He huffed out. He wanted to take her back to bed and show her how much he cherished her.
“Brady?”
“Always yours.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the thought of life without you is unbearable.”
“What if they want to…”
“You aren’t owned. Your parents weren’t either no matter what Ladika told them.”
“At least I don’t have a stamp on me anywhere that says property of the government.”
Brady stopped stared and laughed. “Can I put one on you that says Brady’s heart and soul?”
“Maybe,” she grinned when he swept her into his arms. “Can I put one on you?”
“Hell yeah,” he murmured.
“Jo’s.” She murmured it right before she stole his lips and mind. She sighed contentedly when she raised her mouth. “Let’s go find out if you’ll be squishing me.”
He laughed, “There’s only one way I plan to squish you any time soon.”
She grinned as he let her down. “Is that how you treat spiders and crickets?”
“Hell no,” Brady grinned. “But I’ll make an exception for you.”
She laughed as she stepped into the office. He stepped in right behind her. “Sorry for the delay,” he said before he tugged her onto his lap.
“Having a good morning,” Mia teased.
“Damn right,” Brady said as Jolyn blushed. “I’ve got the most beautiful mate and she’s not a cricket or a spider.”
“Not even in her DNA,” Marcel laughed.
“See I told you,” Brady kissed her. “No squishing.”
“Like you would,” Bryan said. “Tell us what you found.”
“You have interesting DNA,” Marcel crossed his legs and opened a folder. “You have an array of animals across the vertebrate subkingdom. There are a couple from each phylum for mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. This is surprising as no one has contained all of these in their DNA.”
“Come again,” Bryan shook his head.
“As you know, there are billions of species which we categorize into…” Marcel laughed as their eyes got bigger. “We’re not sure what it means. But in looking at the big categories of animals she covers all the subcategories for vertebrates.”
“Basically, lots of animals categories,” Jolyn said.
“When you went visiting shifter groups, were there any animals which didn’t like you,” Mia asked.
“Not that I remember,” Jolyn said.
“Several of our members have commented about your scent,” Mia said.
“What do you mean,” Jolyn raised her eyebrows.
“You don’t smell like a shifter or a particular animal but you also don’t smell like a human,” Bryan explained. “It wasn’t said to insult you.”
“What am I,” Jolyn asked.
“You are like almost all humans on this planet, human with some anomalies in your DNA,” Marcel explained. “When we examined your twentieth chromosome, the shifter coding was not there.”
“Not a shifter, not an animal but a human with animal sequences,” Jolyn said. “But no crickets or spiders.”
“No so Brady doesn’t have to be afraid of you,” Bryan grinned.
“I don’t know, I think it’s good for our mates to be a little afraid of us," Mia teased.
They chuckled a little over Mia’s comment.
“Does this help,” Brady held her close to him.
“Yes,” Jolyn said. “I can’t do anything about how they were created or how I was. I can only accept what happened and move forward.”
“Having seen your parents’ work, I’ve got a big ask for you,” Marcel said.
“What,” Jolyn asked.
“I’d like to take their data and put it into some papers,” Marcel said. “They have a unique point of view and perspective. Plus, they crossed many animal species.”
“I…I…hmmm,” Jolyn stopped to consider. “Everything’s been a secret. Would your papers compromise the shifter communities?”
“I don’t think so,” Marcel said. “It would in some respects reveal more about the experiments and the results from the experiments.”
“Can I give you a tentative yes with a request that I read anything before you publish,” Jolyn asked.
“I respect that limitation,” Marcel said.
“We’ll get you a logon and password for the data,” Bryan said. “Please don’t share any of the data.”
“I agree,” Marcel said. “You want to draw up a contract?”
“Yes,” Mia jumped in. “We’ll all be on the same page.”
“What do you plan to do with the mythology books your mother created,” Marcel asked.
“I don’t know,” Jolyn said.
“We wanted opinions from the other shifters,” Brady reminded her.
“You should get them published,” Marcel suggested. “Go ahead and get opinions from the others but they are well researched and written.”
“We’ll look into it,” Bryan said. “We do have a publishing branch of our corporation.”
“We’ve got Daryl coming over in a couple days to discuss the shifters’ council,” Brady reminded them.
“If I have your permission, I’ll be studying your DNA and your parents’ work and if I find anything new, I’ll let you know.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Jolyn said.
“Not a monster,” Brady murmured.
“No, the monsters were the scientists who performed the initial experiments,” Marcel said.
She spent the morning with the kids. Brady spent it working on projects to tighten up their security. A dozen of their men and women worked together as a team to become more cohesive. He wanted her, not just sexually, but he wanted a hit of her scent. He’d realized he always wanted her sexually. A whiff of her scent made him hard and sometimes all it took was a thought of her. Today they rose early, ate with the Pride, and went off to their duties. When he stepped into their rooms, he smelled her lilac scent and closed his eyes.
She was there but he didn’t see her. One of their French doors stood open. He walked to it and heard her talking.
“Thank you,” Jolyn held her phone.
“You make sure you keep Brady in line,” Molly said.
“I’ll do my best,” Jolyn smiled.
“We’ll come visit as soon as Bryan says it’s safe,” Brooks deep tones rumbled across the phone line. “If he doesn’t give permission soon, I may have to come challenge him just so we can visit.”
“I know Minnie misses you,” Jolyn said. “Where are you traveling to next?”
“We’re headed to Ireland,” Molly said. “We leave the day after tomorrow.”
“It must be exciting to see all the new places.” Jolyn lay her head back on the chair.
“I’ve always wanted to travel,” Brooks said. “But duty came first. The Pride’s in good hands with Bryan so leaving him in charge made stepping back easier.”
“What a nice thing to say,” Jolyn said.
“What are you doing this afternoon,” Molly asked.
“We have a meeting with alphas from the hounds, bears, and a few other shifter groups,” Jolyn said.
“It’s a logical move,” Brooks sounded pleased over the phone. “It’s better the shifters are trusting and connected. Then when they deal with the humans, they present a united front.”
“I agree it helps us all get along but don’t you think the same could be said for the humans as well,” Jolyn argued mildly. “Part of the problems over the years has been the ‘it’s us or them’ attitude but we all live in the same space. We need to share and put our best foot forward.”
“Well now,” Brooks was surprised by her extrapolating the situation out to include all.
“You’ve stumped him now,” Molly laughed. “He will come back with an answer next time we call. We must go to dinner now. We’ll talk very soon.”
“Thank you for calling me,” Jolyn said. “I look forward to meeting you in person but until then, I’d love to talk more.”
