by Smith, S. E.
“What about Heather and Zeke?” Trescina quietly asked.
Mason sighed. “Ann Marie is trying to explain everything to her,” he admitted.
“I have a question for you, Trescina,” Chad said, turning to look at her with a piercing look.
Trescina’s body stiffened. “Wh…what would you like to know?” she hesitantly asked.
Chad turned to study her face. “Why did Qadir refer to you as a Sarafin female?” he inquired.
Trescina trembled. Her fear that Heather or Zeke had revealed her secret evaporated. Her head was shaking in denial even before she choked out the words. “I don’t know what you mean,” she lied.
Chad’s expression softened. “I think you do,” he gently contradicted.
* * *
Walkyr slowly crept forward. The two tigers silently moved down the long hallway. They cautiously slipped through the opposing doors on each side that led into the exam rooms. Each section of exam rooms opened to another corridor. On the right side, it opened to a large room divided into a section for lab testing and receiving. On the left, Walkyr could see the spacious cages along the wall that lined the room and were stacked from floor to ceiling.
He shape-shifted and pulled the laser pistol from the holster at his hip. He stepped into one of the rooms on the left. It looked as if this room was used for operating on the poor beasts that were sick or injured. He shuddered to think of such primitive methods of healing.
In the other room, he heard the screech of a terrified animal. He wasn’t sure if it was one of the tigers until he heard a soft growl of warning from Spice. He’d found the traitor.
Walkyr.
Walkyr stiffened when he felt the familiar mental touch of his brother, Qadir, reaching out to him. He glanced over his shoulder with a frown. Their connection in this form only worked if they were in close proximity. He saw Spice pause in the doorway across from him. The tiger stared at him as if waiting for guidance. Walkyr sent an image of his brother in both his two-legged and leopard form with a sense of calm to let the tiger know not to attack.
Where are you? Walkyr replied.
Pallu and I are coming in now. Is the traitor here? Qadir replied.
Yes, down the corridor and to the left. He is moving along the animal holding area. I am in the third room on the left, he answered.
Send the tigers out. We will take care of this, Qadir instructed.
Walkyr sent a silent command to Trescina’s tigers to return and protect their mistress. He watched as Spice exited the room across from his and silently moved toward the open door. He peered around the corner to make sure that Cinnamon had also followed his instructions. He saw the tigress following the male at the same time as he caught sight of the shadowy forms of his brothers.
Pallu had shape-shifted into his two-legged form while Qadir still retained his cat form. This would allow Qadir to connect the three of them and they could work as one. He motioned for Pallu to go up through the right corridor while he and Qadir approached from the left. Pallu nodded and disappeared.
Is there just the one? Qadir asked.
Yes. I think he is looking for me, Walkyr stated as an idea formed.
What are you going to do? Pallu questioned with a slightly resigned tone.
We need him alive to give us information. He is searching for me. There is a holding room at the far corner of the building. Pallu work your way around. I hope you have one of those poison strips on you. We may need it. Qadir, be ready to attack. I think it is time I played dead, Walkyr chuckled.
Walkyr returned his pistol to his holster as a new plan formed. They needed information. Killing the traitor wouldn’t help them learn how far the treachery had gone. His body shimmered as he shape-shifted. He silently crossed the corridor and moved down the hall to the room where he had woken after his accident.
He slipped through the open door, nudged it closed behind himself, and took up a position on the thick padding. The soft tread of footsteps told him that he had barely made it into the room in time. His cat bristled at playing dead. He wanted to attack.
Walkyr calmed his cat. If this traitor used the same tactics the others had, the man would be dead from poison before Walkyr could restrain him. With his brothers’ help, they could use the element of surprise to capture him and force the antidote strip into the warrior’s mouth. They would have seconds—depending on the warrior’s determination to commit suicide.
The sound of the door opening was his cue to look up with a dazed expression. Ranker’s face lit up with triumphant satisfaction as he aimed his laser pistol at Walkyr.
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” Ranker stated.
“Not as long nor as much as we have, I’m sure,” Qadir replied from behind the man.
Walkyr rolled to the side and jumped to his feet at the same time as Ranker’s finger depressed the trigger on the laser pistol. The blast cut a scorching path across the pad, setting it on fire. Walkyr assumed his human form in the blink of an eye and grabbed for Ranker’s outstretched arm at the same time as Qadir pulled the man backwards and off balance.
Ranker’s furious roar sent the animals in the back of the rescue center into a panic. Their loud calls of terror added to the chaos. Walkyr ripped the pistol from Ranker’s hand and held him down while Pallu kneeled on the man’s other arm. Ranker bent his head and bit down on a section of his vest. Foam began to bubble from between his lips.
“Open your mouth,” Pallu growled.
Ranker defiantly glared up at them. Walkyr could see the glaze of death starting to settle over the man’s eyes. A malicious smile curved his lips.
“Keep your mouth closed through this,” he snarled, bringing his knee up into Ranker’s groin.
“Got it,” Pallu stated, shoving the strip between Ranker’s lips when the man’s eyes widened at the intense pain and his lips parted on an agonized groan.
Qadir looked over at Walkyr and grinned. “Cat’s balls, but that was low. Does your mate know you fight dirty?” he chuckled.
“How do you know my mate?” Walkyr demanded.
He released his hold on Ranker when the man suddenly went limp after Pallu placed a sedative patch on his neck. Pushing up off the ground, he glared at his brother. Qadir paused in the process of flipping Ranker over onto his front so he could place a pair of restraints around his wrists behind his back.
“She is at the end of the driveway with the two humans Vox told us to contact. What were you thinking? I can’t believe you brought your mate on a mission with you,” Qadir said in a tone filled with disapproval.
“I never knew you had a mate, Walkyr. You didn’t mention it back on our world,” Pallu added. “I don’t even know how you got her onto the long distance transport. Gable never said anything either.”
Walkyr looked back and forth between his brothers. They were both giving him dirty looks. He shook his head.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I just met Trescina this morning—or yesterday morning depending on the time here,” he said, pulling their very groggy prisoner to his feet for transport.
“This morning! That’s impossible,” Pallu exclaimed, looking at Qadir in confusion.
Walkyr frowned. “Why is it impossible? You know that our cats recognize our mates immediately, often before we do. What’s so surprising that I found my mate here on Earth? Vox and Viper are both mated to human females,” he replied with a shrug.
Qadir looked at him with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. “You don’t know, do you?” he prodded.
Walkyr’s frown deepened. “Know what?” he demanded.
Pallu grinned. “That Trescina isn’t a human. She’s definitely a Sarafin female,” he said, reaching out to grab Ranker when Walkyr suddenly let go of the man.
“Sarafin…. How….?” he started to protest when the image the two tigers had sent him earlier formed in his mind again. “Black tiger with blue stripes…. She has stripes. She covers them…. Cat’s Bal
ls!” he snarled, thrusting past Qadir and striding down the corridor.
“And I always thought he was the observant one,” Pallu commented behind him.
“You’d better go after him. I’ll take this one up to the ship,” Qadir said with a shake of his head. “Mates! Who needs them?! Who wants them?!”
17
Trescina raced through the house gathering as many items as she could. She shoved the clothes out of her dresser drawer into one bag and the few pictures she had of her family into another. She would have to leave some things behind.
At this point, she didn’t care anymore. She could always replace most of the material things if she needed to do so. She was more concerned with the few sentimental items that she had left from her mother and step-father.
She was too stressed to cry. Instead, she channeled that emotion into action. Spice looked at her with mild curiosity while Cinnamon followed her from room to room, a quiet, supportive shadow.
“It’s okay, sweetheart, I won’t leave you or your brother behind,” she promised, running a loving hand over the tigress’ head.
Trescina lifted a hand and pushed her hair out of her eyes. With a frustrated growl, she went into the bathroom, opened a drawer, and pulled out a hairband. She grabbed the long length and twisted it up and off her face before she wound the elastic hair tie around the mass to keep it out of her way.
She looked in the mirror and froze. Her eyes looked too big for her face at the moment. The makeup that she normally wore to cover the markings had disappeared. Now the tiger stripes that ran from her temple down along her right cheek and along her neck before spreading across her shoulders and chest were plainly visible. She shook her head and refocused on what she needed to do.
The moment the tigers had reappeared, she had piled them in the Suburban and taken off. Walkyr didn’t need her help any longer. He had his two brothers, as well as Mason and Chad. They should be more than enough to take on one measly alien traitor.
Her gaze moved to the tigers as she zipped up one of the bags. At first she hadn’t been sure what she would do and where she should go. Then it had dawned on her—why not join Katarina and the circus? The members of the circus were always on the move and very protective of her sister and her pets. She would also blend in better with the circus members and there wouldn’t be any aliens to worry about!
Satisfied with her plans, she grabbed one of the bags and carried it out to the Suburban that she had parked in the garage. She would call her sister once she was on the road. Her first stop would be to South Florida where she would pick up her truck and camper. Then she would find out where Katarina was and meet up with her. It was the perfect plan, she concluded.
Except mate, her cat snipped.
“Oh no you don’t. You were the one who kept yelling ‘run’ if I remember correctly. Don’t start whining now about mates. I’m not…,” her voice faded when her throat tightened. “What am I supposed to do with an alien?”
It was impossible. No, run, keep going, and don’t look back. She’d lived her life like that ever since Vladimir Mirvo returned to kidnap her and her sister, Katarina. Killing their mother hadn’t been enough for the poacher. He wanted to capture her and her sister and sell them to the highest bidder.
There were a lot of sick people in the world and Vladimir Mirvo was one of worst of them. He justified everything he did by how much money he could make—even murder. She and Katarina knew he was responsible for their father’s death, but Mirvo knew a lot of politicians, judges, and members of law enforcement that owed favors to different people.
She had enough issues without adding alien shape-shifting warriors and far-off worlds to her list. If that wasn’t enough to convince her to run, the idea of living on another planet was enough to send her screaming. No, sometimes it was good to know your limitations and this was hers.
She returned to the house and looked around the room. The place had come furnished and she hadn’t added much since her arrival. There was only one more thing that she needed to retrieve: the necklace that her mother had given her.
“Ok, I’ll get the necklace, and we can be on the road. If you two need to go to the bathroom, you’d better do it now,” she warned the two tigers.
Spice yawned while Cinnamon turned and headed for the door leading out to the garage. She scowled at the male tiger. He was notorious for wanting to stop and mark the mile marker post every ten miles.
“You’d better go, Spice. I’m not stopping this time,” she threatened.
The tiger snorted when she sent him a mental impression of him having to hold his bladder. He rose to his feet and quickly disappeared down the hallway. A surprised chuckle of amusement echoed through the room. They really were such amusing characters.
“That will teach him,” she muttered, turning to return to her bedroom to gather the last, most important gift from her childhood, the necklace that her mother called The Heart of the Cat.
* * *
“No response,” Airabus quietly shared.
Raul’s face tightened. The fingers of his metal hand curled into a fist strong enough to crush rock. He looked at the holographic map of the region hovering above the makeshift table they were using.
“We will return to the ship,” he replied.
Airabus’ expression remained neutral. “What about The Heart of the Cat?” he asked.
Raul looked at the map again. “The last signal was six months ago. It was tracked to this area before the signal stopped. We’ve detected nothing since then,” he said.
Airabus sat back against the wall of their portable shelter. This was the end of the first week of their search and they had discovered nothing but endless snowy terrain and a wide variety of beasts in different sizes. Scattered among the mountains and forests were very few human dwellings that they intentionally avoided.
“We could return to the ship, move it to a different location and continue monitoring. Are you sure that the signal is the one mentioned in scrolls?” Airabus pressed.
Raul snarled and swept his hand across the table, sending his cup, the holographic mapping device, and the glove he normally wore over his metal hand and arm to the ground. Airabus silently rose and retrieved the items. He was about to store the holographic map when it emitted a distinctive chime. His hand froze in midair and he looked up at Raul.
The other man turned and looked at the map. Raul had told him that the holographic mapping device was known as the key. Raul had stolen it centuries before out of the ancient archives. He had returned for the scroll that would describe The Heart of the Cat and tell him how to harness the power of the Goddess, but the scroll had disappeared before he could safely retrieve it without being caught.
Realizing that he might be suspected in the disappearance, he had returned home to serve the King and Queen as their Captain of the Guard. He had requested Airabus join him. Not long after his return, Raul had set his sights on the young Princess.
Each step had been carefully planned and plotted. Raul’s goal was to learn the royal secrets, be accepted into the Royal family and gain the trust of Queen Mia in the hopes of discovering everything he could about The Heart of the Cat. Raul eventually learned of Queen Mia’s abduction from the royal family when he uncovered the sealed documents hidden beneath the palace. He had discovered that the first Queen Mia was actually the direct descendant of one of the original four brothers who’d been given the gift of The Heart of the Cat.
The first Queen Mia had been unable to carry a cub. In desperation, she had sought the help of a surrogate to carry the King and Queen’s child. The Queen had died before the child was born. Devastated by the death of his mate, the King soon followed her in death.
Eventually, one of the healers revealed what the King and Queen had done. The council decided to bring their young Queen home; and so, when she was little more than a cub, the new Queen Mia was stolen from her surrogate family and returned to her rightful home. She would later give birth to another g
irl, Princess Mia Elena, who would fall in love with the handsome Captain of the Guard, Raul T’Rivre.
Airabus shook his head and stared down at the holographic map. He placed it on the table. Raul stepped closer, his dark eyes glittering with determination and greed. The silence grew to a deafening roar before another chime filled the small area.
“We’ve found it,” Raul murmured, looking at him with hard, glittering eyes. “Mark the location. We need to leave immediately.”
* * *
Raul couldn’t believe that they had been less than a mile from The Heart of the Cat. It had only taken a few minutes to pack up their camp. If he had known that the gem that he’d spent centuries searching for had been so close, he would have left everything behind.
The signal led them to a small yellow and white frame house. They watched from the shadows as a human female carried things out to a transport.
The signal was strong here. The Heart of the Cat must have been deposited here centuries ago where it remained undetected until recently. His eyes narrowed on the slender young woman. She had dark hair that she had piled onto the top of her head. There was something about her that felt vaguely familiar to him. Perhaps it was the graceful way she moved. It had been a long time since he’d noticed how a woman moved.
“What do you wish to do?” Airabus quietly asked.
Raul glanced at Airabus. At one time he would have considered the man a friend, but his need for friendship had died centuries ago. Now all he needed in his life were those who could fulfil his commands.
“Return to the ship and make sure that Ranker and Nastran have repaired it. We will need to depart as soon as I have the gem,” Raul instructed.
“Don’t you want me to help you retrieve The Heart of the Cat? I am here…,” Airabus started to protest.