Space Invaders by Amber Kell Read Free Book Online Page A

headed towards the exit.
    “He was right, you know,” Zander babbled as he scurried after Kres.
    “Right about what?” Not that he really cared. Kres’ eyes were busy scanning the area for possible enemies to give the other man much attention.
    “You really are a kickass warrior.”
    “Then let’s go kick some ass.” He was willing to do a lot more than that if it got his Thresl back. The bastards better have made their peace with whatever deities they worshipped, because if they resisted returning Kres’ Thresl, they were going to go visit them in person. He might have hesitated to claim Vohne before, but the utter fear he’d felt when he’d watched the Thresl disappear into the smoke told him they needed to be together, if only to see how far this bonding would go.
    Kres kept his weapon close to his chest as he peeked around the corner. There was no one in the halls. The bastards were ahead of them. Zander rushed over to a numeric pad on the wall. Kres watched him press a series of buttons.
    “Lock down commencing,” the robotic female voice announced.
    “Nice!” Kres approved.
    Zander shrugged. “They told us the code during training. You haven’t gotten that far yet. I hope they haven’t escaped.” Zander tucked himself close to the wall beside Kres and scanned the area with his brilliant blue eyes. The man might not be a soldier, but he had good instincts. His Thresl stood beside him, its gold eyes gleaming with anger. The cat wasn’t taking the abduction of one of its kind well.
    “Can you feel him?” Zander asked.
    “No.” For a moment despair threatened to drown Kres, but he shoved it aside. This was no time to feel sorry for himself. He had to get his Thresl back.
    “You should’ve bonded with him,” Zander scolded.
    “Shut up!” Kres snapped. He didn’t need a lecture on something he already knew.
    A roar had them turning to the corridor on the right. As quickly and silently as he could, Kres rushed down the hall, only pausing when he reached an intersection. The noise became louder. Someone was getting an education in the abduction of Thresls, and it wasn’t going well for them.
    Kres let a slow smile cross his lips.
    “Don’t hurt him,” a male voice said. “He’s no good to us if he’s dead.”
    He wasn’t going to be good for them at all.
    There were only three men left. Two of them carried Vohne between them while the third ordered and cursed.
    Kres didn’t know if the others had gone ahead or if their bodies were left on the floor in the smoke-filled cafeteria. All he knew was that they weren’t there and he wasn’t going to let these three idiots take off with his man.
    Leaning around the corner, he aimed his weapon at the only one not holding his Thresl. The man went down with a shot to the back of his neck.
    Kres hid behind the wall as the other two men shouted.
    “We’ve got to get out of here.”
    “The door’s locked.”
    Kres smiled. The bastards were trapped.
    The sound of booted feet thundered behind him.
    “What’s going on?” The commander’s voice was hushed behind him.
    “There are two of them left. They have Vohne.”
    “Leave one of them alive for questioning. I want to find out how they got in here,” the commander ordered.
    “I’ll try.” Kres refused to make any promises. If the choice came between keeping one alive and saving his Thresl, there wasn’t any question.
    “You’d better open this door,” one of the abductors shouted. “If you don’t, your Thresl is history.”
    “Let go of the Thresl and we’ll let you leave,” the commander responded.
    “I don’t believe you,” the abductor shouted back.
    “He’s smarter than he looks,” Kres muttered.
    Fear almost stopped his heart. The creature that had at first seemed like an interruption to his well-planned life now was the most important thing in it. What would he do if Vohne were killed?
    Vohne’s voice whispered in his head, “ Mate. ”
    “Vohne.”
    “Shoot the