by Amber Kell
With that sage advice, the creature walked past Kres into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind him.
“I am in so much trouble,” Kres groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. Forcing his eyes away from the bathroom, he finished dressing, making sure his uniform was tidy and his boots had a nice shine. He was certain that by the end of the day he’d need as many extra points as he could get with his commander. The stress he’d lost in the shower came back with a vengeance. Grumbling about naked, sexy Thresls, Kres opened the package the messenger had brought, pulled out the clothes, and laid them out for the man-cat to find when he got out of the shower.
* * * *
Commander Tiller sat behind his desk as he regarded them with his cool grey eyes. His beautiful Thresl, Muir, gave them a nod as they entered. Kres nodded back. Vohne gave a low growl. Muir tilted her head in acknowledgement of his alpha status.
Kres resisted the urge to roll his eyes since Tiller was watching him, but it was close. It would take some time to get used to the pecking order of Thresls. They appeared to take it seriously if Muir’s behaviour was any indication.
“Please be seated,” Tiller indicated the chairs set before his desk.
Kres settled in the chair on the left. He wasn’t surprised when Vohne stood behind him instead of taking a seat. Sitting would be too laid back for the Thresl. After all, how was he going to protect Kres from all those imaginary dangers if he relaxed enough to sit down?
“Piers, I’m not going to tiptoe around the problem. Your Thresl is dangerous. I’ve never seen one transform that quickly before. The faster they transform, the more powerful the Thresl.” His cool eyes looked Vohne over from head to toe. “I’ve also never seen one so big. There are a lot of people who are going to want your Thresl.”
“B-but I thought now that we were bonded we had to stay together?” He didn’t want to sound like a whiny child, but he was just now getting used to the idea of having this large creature follow him around.
“That’s why they will try to grab you, too. Your Thresl will do anything if they have you under their control.”
Kres took a deep breath. “Won’t Vohne just kill them?”
Tiller gave him a disapproving look. “You really don’t know much about the Thresl, do you?”
“What he doesn’t know I can teach him,” Vohne growled behind him.
The commander looked them both over. Sighing, he reached into his desk and pulled out a thick book. He slammed it onto his desk. “Take this and look it over. It should tell you everything you need to know about bonding with a Thresl, but don’t think just because you’re bonded no one can use him.”
Kres frowned. “What would they use him for?”
Tiller looked Vohne up and down. “Yours they would use as an assassin. Thresls are excellent killers, especially if they’re trying to get their mate back. Even if they don’t have you, the promise of reuniting the two of you will keep him under their control for a while.
“It is your job to protect him as much as he protects you. I’m putting the pair of you on a special training task force. You will have limited contact with other people until your bond is secure. The stronger the bond, the better you’ll be able to sense each other if you get separated. Understand?”
“I thought we were already bonded,” Kres said.
Tiller smiled. “Read the book. It’ll explain everything. Dismissed.”
Kres picked up the heavy volume, more than certain the complicated question of his feelings for the man-cat wouldn’t be answered inside.
Kres took the Thresl to the cafeteria. He couldn’t help looking at everyone he passed with suspicion. It disturbed him to learn that someone could still try to steal his Thresl or kidnap him to control Vohne. Possessiveness sat oddly in his chest when he looked at the man-cat. He still wasn’t quite sure what to do with the creature, but he certainly didn’t want anyone else taking him either.
“It will be all right.” Vohne rubbed a reassuring hand down Kres’ back.
He almost dropped the book.
“Um, thanks. I…I just thought once you were bonded, you were safe from poachers. I mean, I’m sorry you didn’t get to your destination, but I don’t want you stolen either.”
Vohne gave him a wide smile, exposing all of his extra sharp teeth. “I’m hoping someone tries. Then they can learn the Thresl truth.”
“What’s that?” Kres was positive there was more going on in this conversation than appeared on the surface, and he was almost as certain he didn’t want to learn what it was.
“Kres!” Zander ran up to him like he was his new best friend. Vohne gave an unfriendly growl.
“Hi, Zander.” He saw Zander’s Thresl plodding behind him. The animal was caramel-coloured and several shades lighter than Vohne had been in that form. He gave a friendly smile to the creature, but its eyes were focused on Vohne. The creature tilted its head submissively. With a satisfied nod, Vohne turned his attention to Zander.
“Wow, I heard your Thresl converted early, but shit, he’s big.”
The awe in Zander’s voice made Kres laugh. He liked Zander and hoped they could become friends.
“Hey, did you hear what happened with Brice?”
Kres leant forward as the other man lowered his voice. “He was arrested and thrown in the brig. He tried to steal back that Thresl he’d bought even after the commander said they weren’t a match.”
A chill went down Kres’ spine. Brice reminded him a lot of Barley. Maybe there was a law—if your name started with a B, you had to be a total asshole. Kres quickly reviewed the people he knew whose name started with B and decided it was just a fluke.
“How did he get caught?”
“The Thresl bit him. When he started screaming, the MPs came and discovered he was trying to steal the Thresl. It’s a felony, but his rich father will probably get him off.”
“Probably.” Kres bitterly reflected from his own experience that that was usually the case.
“What’s the next step in your training?” Zander asked, regarding the pair.
“We’re supposed to bond.” He waved his book at Zander. “The commander gave me this to review.”
“Huh.” Zander looked at the book curiously. “I wonder if there are diagrams.”
“What are you talking about?”
Zander gave him a wide smile, his electric blue eyes lighting up with laughter. “There’s only one way to truly bond with a Thresl.”
Kres had a bad feeling he already knew what it was. The hand settling on his lower back reinforced the feeling. It stroked temptingly close to his ass as Zander spoke.
“You have to have sex.” Zander looked the Thresl up and down. “Maybe a lot of sex.”
“Crap,” Kres muttered.
Vohne let out a low rumble behind him. Apparently converting to human hadn’t removed his ability to purr.
Kres gave an involuntary shudder. The thought of being intimate with the gorgeous creature behind him overwhelmed his senses. What the hell had he got into? He’d gone from thinking he’d never have sex again to discovering it was a requirement for the safety of the being that had already claimed him. This entire bonding situation was taking over his life. How had he gone from a simple soldier with an eye on becoming a captain to the other half of a killing machine? A sigh passed his lips as Kres realised how truly different his future would now be.
Vohne stroked a hand up and down Kres’ back.
“Why don’t you join us for lunch? I was going to get a plate and sit over there.” Zander pointed to an empty table in the corner of the room.
“Go sit. I will get you sustenance,” Vohne offered.
“Are you sure?” Kres wasn’t certain he wanted to chance letting Vohne get his food, but the look he got said the Thresl wanted to do this for him.
“Go.” Vohne gave him a little nudge.
Kres shrugged and went to sit down.
Vohne turned to the other human and glared. “I was trying t
o break it to him gently.”
“That’s because you don’t know anything about that kind of human. I’ve only known Kres for a little while, but I can already tell he’s the type of person it’s best to tell everything at once. Once the shock wears off, he’ll make a plan to cope. If you give him things in bits and pieces, it gives him time to panic. He’s a soldier. He’s used to dealing with the unexpected.”
“Hmm.” Zander did make sense. “I will take your advice and not harm you after all.” Vohne smiled, letting the human see the sharpness of his teeth. He might not have his tail anymore, but he didn’t want the other man to confuse him with a human either.
“I understand that my human will need some friends, and it will benefit him to know someone who also has a Thresl. However, if you harm him, I will have to kill you.” He made sure his look said he wasn’t kidding. Vohne wanted Zander to know he took his responsibility seriously.
“Um, okay.” Zander gave him a weak smile. “Will my Thresl be like you?”
Vohne laughed. “You humans still don’t get it, do you?”
Zander shook his head. “Don’t get what?”
“How Thresls choose their form.”
“No one understands that,” Zander argued.
Vohne had to admire how Zander rallied after Vohne’s intimidation. He would be a valuable friend for his mate.
“Thresls understand.” Vohne looked over at his human, who was watching him with a worried expression in his eyes. “Thresls become the essence of the person they bond with.”
“So the commander is, deep down, a female diplomat?”
Vohne nodded. “He probably appreciates art and music but was told when he was young it wasn’t manly enough to pursue those interests.”
“And Kres? Deep inside he’s an almost seven foot man with violent tendencies?”
“Yes.” Vohne smirked. “Deep down, my mate is a soldier who can snap your neck if you bother him too much. But don’t worry. He never will.”
Zander dared to look the Thresl in the eyes. “Why is that?”
“Because I would do it for him.”
Pleased he’d made his point, Vohne went to get his human some food. He didn’t tell Zander that as he evolved he would lose some of his more violent urges and Kres would gain more aggression. They would find a balance until they were so close their minds would almost be as one while their bodies would feel the urge to join. The magic of Thresl-human bonding was they would both become stronger. He also didn’t share what being an alpha really meant.
He would share that information only with his mate.
Chapter Four
Kres didn’t know what Zander and Vohne had discussed while grabbing food, but his fellow classmate was giving him a cautious glance from time to time, as if he worried Kres was going to jump across the table and attack him.
“Is there a problem?” Kres asked before popping another piece of meat into his mouth. All morning he’d had an odd craving for red meat. Since he was usually a borderline vegetarian, it was extremely strange—but then, what hadn’t been weird lately? The fact that Vohne had known he needed meat and had brought him a giant platter also needed further investigation, but he’d do it later when he wasn’t shoving beef down his throat as fast as he could.
“Um, no?” The answer was more of a question than a statement of fact.
“What did you say to him?” he asked the Thresl.
Vohne shrugged. “I told him where the Thresl form comes from.”
He could see getting a straight answer would be like yanking out one of the Thresl’s fangs—difficult and potentially painful.
Taking another bite of food, he gave Zander a curious look, silently prompting the other man to continue.
“He is your inner form,” Zander said.
Kres choked. He was saved from a blocked airway by a pat on the back from Vohne that nearly broke his spine.
“You are my inner form?”
The Thresl smiled, exposing full fangs. “Surprise.”
Kres looked the large man up and down. “I must have a great inner warrior thing going on.”
“Yes, you do.”
He was unsettled by the serious expression in Vohne’s eyes. A loud explosion startled him out of their locked gaze.
Billowy, black smoke filled the cafeteria as smoke bombs detonated in the doorway. Kres tensed, wishing he hadn’t left his weapon in his room, but he hadn’t expected a synchronised attack over a steak dinner. He saw Vohne’s eyes glow in the dim light. A large hand clamped over his wrist and pulled him farther into the room, away from the invading smoke.
“They’ve come for us,” Vohne said.
“Whoever they are, they can’t have you.” There were many things Kres was uncertain about in their relationship, but there was no way he was going to let some Thresl-kidnapping bastards take his Vohne. Kres held his breath against the smoke as the room was entirely darkened by the bombs.
Blinding lights cut through the blackness as at least a dozen men entered wearing masks and carrying weapons with light scopes.
Vohne dropped to the ground, pulling Kres with him. “Whatever happens, don’t let them take you. I will always return. Remember that.”
“What?” Kres gasped. He tried to figure what was going on as a loud roar filled the room, and the air closest to him was displaced by Vohne’s departure as the Thresl ran directly into the blackness.
Choking on the smoke, Kres tried to stay as still as possible as screams echoed about him. He 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 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.