Page 128 of Tamed By Her Touch

“So,” she said, wiping her fingers and reaching for her data slate. “Science.”

Kaelus nodded.

“Science. Tell me—what did you find?”

Clair projected the molecular structure she had discovered into the air between them.

“This is veloria.”

Kaelus leaned forward immediately.

“This is the nectar you drank this morning?”

She nodded.

“Right. Or rather, this is one of the major compounds in the blossom itself. The researchers here call it VEL-7. It’s a precursor molecule.”

“Precursor to what?”

“That’s the interesting part.” Clair brought up the second structure. “This.”

Kaelus frowned as he studied the compound. His brow furrowed and he seemed to be examining part of it very closely.

Clair noticed.

“What? What do you see?” she asked eagerly.

The big Hybrid didn’t answer. Instead, he reached for his own data slate and activated it. A moment later, another molecular structure appeared beside hers.

Clair’s mouth fell open.

“No way,” she breathed. She enlarged both images and found they overlaid almost perfectly. Clair felt goosebumps rise along her arms.

For several seconds neither of them spoke.

“Where did you get that?” she asked at last.

“From the blood of Titus Four males,” Kaelus rumbled. “Every male sample I examined contained this compound.”

“How many in the group?” Clair asked.

“Twenty-five initially. I checked more afterward. It was present in all of them.”

Clair’s heart began pounding.

“What about the Glenvarren males?” she asked.

Kaelus shook his head.

“The compound was conspicuously absent.”

Clair stared at the molecule.

“Holy shit!” she breathed.

Kaelus gave her a wry half-smile.

“My thoughts were considerably more professional, but essentially the same.”