'What is wrong with me?' Feral growled to himself as he tried to get his morning reports done. 'I can't seem to concentrate and my body is burning and twitching on me.' He got up from his desk abruptly and left his office. Making a low rumbling noise in his throat as he boarded the elevator caused the other enforcers on board with him to eye him nervously during the ride down to the flight line and made the flight deck officer salute but not get close to his Commander. They watched him stride rigidly to the end of the flight deck, stop and just stand there gazing out over the city.
The breeze soothed his raw nerves and made him feel more at ease. He just couldn't figure out why he was so troubled today. There was nothing going on of major concern. Tye was busy on a project of his own in the mountains north of the city. It was a surprise he'd told Ulysses. 'So why...?' Sighing, he straightened his shoulders and marched back to his office.
It was after lunch, during a meeting with his top officers that he lost it. Steele noticed the Commander was no longer paying attention to the report on local crime lord activity. Commander Feral was constantly shifting in his seat and gazing out the window. It was totally out of character for him. Steele looked around the table and saw that the others had noticed the Commander's inattention as well.
Clearing his throat, Steel asked hesitantly, "Ahh, Commander Feral,...sir?...Is something wrong?"
Feral startled and hissed suddenly making Steele jerk back away from him. Bristling and tense, Feral lunged from his chair and went to stand facing one of the large windows, his back rigid. Steele and the other officers watched him nervously.
"Maybe someone should call Sunsinger?" Murmured Major Tallon. The others nodded in agreement. Still watching the Commander, Steele carefully slipped from the room. He went to Feral's secretary and had her dial Sunsinger's number. When she connected with the Phoenix Squad Leader she handed the phone to Steele.
"Mr. Sunsinger, this is Lt. Commander Steele. We have an odd situation with Commander Feral." He said and told Sunsinger what was happening.
There was a sharp inhalation on the other end then Sunsinger said, "My mate has gone into heat. Do not approach him. Open a window and I will be there immediately."
"Open a window...why?" Steele started to ask but Sunsinger had hung up. Confused, Steele went back into the conference room and circled around to a window not far from the Commander then went back to stand behind one of the other officers who had remained in their seats.
"Why'd you open the window, Steele?" Squad Leader Forman softly asked.
"Sunsinger said the Commander is in heat and told me to open a window. He'll be here soon." Steele answered in a low tone.
Everyone stayed still and waited. At the window, Feral felt antsy and hot. He was waiting for something but wasn't certain what it was. Minutes later, flying in from the north was Tye. As he came closer to Enforcer Headquarters, Feral stiffened and made an urgent warbling sound then moved rapidly toward the open window and lunged out it dropping his glamour and clothes the moment he was in free air.
The officers jumped from their seats and went to the windows. Feral had opened his wings and was flying fast but not toward Sunsinger instead he flew straight up with the golden Gryphonskat in hot pursuit.
"Wow! Look at him go! But why did he fly away from Sunsinger?" Steele asked the room in general.
"I read that during mating the female will 'play keep away' with the male for as long as she can then he catches her and they mate furiously in flight. They continue until they can't stay aloft. Apparently it causes the female to ovulate making breeding possible." Colonel Strandon said.
"But the Commander has lived here for a long time and we've never seen him act like this before?" Steele protested.
"It has to be because he's now mated. That's the only explanation that makes sense." Colonel Strandon said shrugging.
"Crud! That means we'll have to deal with a pregnant Commander. He'll be even harder to deal with." Steele groused. "Well we won't be seeing him for a while so we might as well reschedule this meeting." Steele said annoyed. Everyone agreed and the meeting broke up.
High in the sky over Megakat City...
Feral felt giddy and hot. He kept flying with all his strength to evade Tye catching him too soon. Instinct told him that the longer he kept Tye at bay the better his chances of breeding a clutch. He couldn't resist making 'come hither' calls to his mate...egging him on to further effort.
Tye was excited and thrilled. He'd hoped Uly would rise to mate but wasn't certain since hermaphrodites didn't always do so. Uly's calls of enticement were making him hot and eager. He put on more speed closing the gap between them.
Ulysses had reached the thin air by the time Tye finally grabbed him and hugged his body tightly to his own. He had latched onto his mate's back and drove his mating fangs into Uly's ruff. Uly screamed and raised his tail letting Tye drive himself home. They groaned in unison. Tye's wings held them aloft when they connected but now that he was thrusting into his mate vigorously, he had folded his wings and they began to plummet to the ground. They screamed their climax just a hundred miles from the ground then parted instantly spreading their wings and grabbing air. Feral raced back up again with Sunsinger in pursuit. The Commander did this one more time before tearing away from Tye and heading out over the ocean.
The Turbokat was making an arc out over the ocean on their way home from patrol.
"Crud!" T-Bone shouted pulling the jet up suddenly to avoid two fast moving objects heading straight for him.
"What the heck, T-Bone!" Razor shouted back in surprise at the sudden maneuver.
Returning the jet to level flight again, T-Bone turned the jet to follow the fast moving objects.
"Something just came right at us and I'm going to see what it is." T-Bone gritted his teeth angrily.
"Well my radar says the pair of objects weren't going faster than us so we should catch them in seconds." Razor commented studying his radar screen. Moments later the unknown objects came into view.
"Well crud!" T-Bone snorted in surprise. "It's Feral and Sunsinger. Where the heck are they going in such a hurry?" He wondered then blushed as he watched Sunsinger latch onto Feral from the back and take him while keeping his wings going. "Aw sheesh, get a room for crud sake." T-Bone snorted. Minutes later the pair parted but Feral's wings faltered and he started to spiral down to the water.
"T-Bone! Get under him and catch him on the wing of the jet. He's obviously too tired to stay aloft. Looks like Sunsinger is too." Razor ordered his partner.
T-Bone quickly got under the falling pair and carefully maneuvered the Turbokat to match their speeds so they wouldn't hit the jet too hard.
The exhausted pair hit the jet's wing with a thump but T-Bone didn't lose control and held the Turbokat steady going to VTOL mode. He shot back the canopy.
"Hey! Are you two okay? What the heck were you flying over water doing that?" T-Bone demanded.
Sunsinger was panting but glanced over to T-Bone. "Breeding flight...no control over where it goes...Uly is driven by instinct and I can only follow where he goes. Thank you for catching us...appreciate the landing spot." He said getting his breath back.
Gaping at them both, T-Bone was shaking his head in annoyance but Razor was fascinated and asked, "Wow! Feral's in heat? I thought that wasn't likely since he isn't full female?"
"You're partially right but sometimes it can happen and I'm very glad it did. Now I have to hope our breeding will be successful." Tye grinned.
While they were talking, Feral was lying nearly flat on the wing, his wings splayed out. The fierce ache in his wings was finally subsiding. He had been so wrapped up in his mating heat that he'd pushed his wings too far. Finally rising to a sitting position, Uly carefully folded his wings and looked about himself. He was shocked to find himself sitting on the metal wing of the Turbokat.
"Hey love! How are your wings?" Tye asked in concern turning away from his conversation with the SWAT Kats.
"Uhm...a little tight but they aren't aching as bad now." Uly told him and eyed the SWAT Kats irritably.
"Should watch where you are heading Commander. We just saved you from a dunk in the ocean." T-Bone said sardonically.
Feral hissed then ignored the SWAT Kat as he experimentally spread his wings to see if they would hold him. He wasn't happy about being near other males right now.
"Well that's a fine thank you!" T-Bone growled annoyed.
"Maybe we should have let him hit the water. Might have cooled his temper a bit." Razor snorted.
"Sorry, but that is an instinctual reaction to other males. Nothing personal. Uly's still in heat mode and isn't really aware of you." Sunsinger apologized for his mate's prickly behavior. He lifted off the Turbokat and hovered over his tense mate.
Standing up, Feral let his wings vane slowly then leaped off the jet catching a thermal draft that allowed him to float without straining his wings further. Sunsinger waved a friendly farewell as he flew close to his mate as Feral headed back inland.
"Well that's a first! Feral not knowing or caring we're here. Only thing on his mind is sex! Weird!" T-Bone said in amusement as he turned the jet toward home again.
"What's even weirder is a pregnant Feral." Razor smirked.
"Oh please! That's an image I could do without!" T-Bone scrunched his face in disgust. Razor just laughed.
Feral glided on the thermal for many miles before finally flapping his wings and aiming for the hidden lake in the high mountains. Reaching the crystal clear lake he dove in. Smiling, Tye followed his mate in a bit of frolic in the water before climbing out onto a rock shelf to dry and preen their wings. Uly moaned softly at Tye's gentle caresses as they preened each others wings and backs. Finished, they lay twinned together letting the warm sun dry them while they napped and recovered their strength.
The sun was low in the sky when they rose. Ulysses woke ravenous. Tye nuzzled him and told him to stay put while he hunted. Tye soared over the forest nearby and was immediately successful in taking down a young buck coming down to the lake to drink. Killing it instantly, he heaved it into the air and flew it to his mate. Dropping it at Uly's feet he landed nearby letting his mate eat first. Ulysses tore into the carcass hungrily. After a little, Tye walked up to take his share. The carcass was soon reduced to bone and skin. Tye carried the remains some distance away for the other predators to finish. He returned to wash and drink as his mate did the same. They moved together into the meadow nearby to let their dinner digest. They talked and cuddled until darkness fell.
In the moonlight, Uly rose to mate again, his mate chasing him into the star-studded sky. It felt soo wonderful flying fast and high leading his mate in a wild chase across the night sky. Tye was glad he was almost finished with their new home hidden among the rocky crags of these mountains. If the fates were with them a new brood of Gryphonskats would fly in the skies above Megakat City by late summer.
Now if only that dangerous sorcerer Pastmaster would make an appearance so that they could defeat him utterly and Megakat City would finally have peace.
As if to conjure him up, in the dark past, the dark wizard in question was deeply immersed in research. The ugly gnome was muttering to himself.
"I know I saw that spell somewhere. If I can just find it I will finally succeed in taking over Megakat City at last and making Briggs my mate. With her latent powers at my command I will be invincible."