Space Invaders by Amber Kell Read Free Book Online

wondered where Zander was and if they had captured Zander’s Thresl. He still wasn’t sure what the soldiers were doing there, but he had a bad feeling. He agreed with Vohne that they were there for the Thresls. If they could catch the valuable cats, they could rake in a fortune on the black market with the ones that hadn’t bonded yet. He wondered how they had got past security. Someone was going to be court-martialled for letting the invaders in.
    From what he’d overheard on the shuttle to the moon, they were on a secret facility. Someone, somewhere had said too much, and now Kres was going to lose his man-cat before they’d even completed their bond. A weapon rattled as it hit the ground beside him.
    Kres snatched it up, quickly familiarising himself with the controls. He might not have his Thresl’s massive size, but he wasn’t a weak, quivering soul to cower under the table and let someone else fight his battles.
    Carefully feeling along until he had a wall to his back, Kres stalked the men who had dared to come and try to take what was his.
    A sharp shout had him stepping back in time to avoid the body falling to the floor. Without a second thought, he relieved the dead man of the knife strapped to his thigh and tucked it into the back of his waistband.
    He still couldn’t see more than a few inches in front of him. The smoke bombs were the high quality kind that created a lot of smoke and kept it in the air. Staying perfectly still, he tried to hear any signs of Vohne nearby. He silently cursed their lack of bonding. If he’d got over his trepidation with the Thresl, they’d already have a link and he wouldn’t be blindly searching for the man-cat. When he found Vohne, he was going to make sure they bonded so well he’d be able to sense him in a Zevan mud storm during swelling season.
    A sudden silence filled the room, more chilling than the screams and fire-fight of moments before. Kres dared to breathe, but only in quick silent gasps. However, his heart was knocking so hard against his chest he was worried the sound alone would give him away.
    “I got him!” A strong arm was wrapped around his throat. “Drop the gun,” the man growled in his ear.
    Kres was surprised at the lack of fear he felt as his weapon clattered to the floor. Being held by the enemy, he expected to feel something other than the complete and utter calm that took over his mind. As the stranger tried to choke the life out of him, Kres slipped his hand between them, grabbed the handle of the knife out of the back of his pants, and with ruthless precision plunged the knife into his enemy’s stomach.
    Howling, the man released him. For a moment it felt like the world was moving in slow motion as Kres scooped up the dropped weapon then fired it into the forehead of the other man. With a dispassionate eye, he watched the soldier drop to the ground.
    “Remind me not to piss you off,” Zander whispered beside him.
    Kres spun around to see his new friend crouched along the wall. Still wrapped in the odd calm, Kres replied, “I don’t think you’ll need a reminder.”
    Zander’s Thresl meowed imperiously.
    “My Thresl says they took Vohne down the hallway.”
    “You can understand him?”
    Zander gave him an odd look. “You couldn’t understand Vohne?”
    Kres shrugged. “A few words while he was a cat but not sentences. We weren’t together for very long in his cat form.” Impatient with their conversation while his Thresl was being taken, he scooped up another soldier’s weapon and handed it over to a bewildered Zander.
    “What’s this for?” Zander asked with wide eyes.
    “To shoot people.”
    “But I’ve never shot anyone before.” Kres could hear the fear in Zander’s voice.
    “You aren’t a soldier?”
    “I’m a diplomat.”
    “Well, get your diplomatic ass in gear. If they get Vohne off this station because I was chatting with you, I’ll shoot you myself.” He crammed the weapon into Zander’s hands and