by Jenny Foster
Talon nodded, and Cat groaned again. This really wasn’t going to be easy.
“Weren’t you worried that your fake identity would be blown at one of the checkpoints?”
Cat shrugged. “It isn’t exactly legal to put oneself up for sale in a game of poker,” she replied. “I thought that you would probably fly in and out of Earth’s orbit under a protective shield, or that you would disguise yourselves as traders, and I was right, wasn’t I?” Her green eyes flashed at him defiantly. “Now, maybe you could tell me why we are flying back.” With a little luck, maybe she would be able to change the subject, and he wouldn’t ask her about her talent. Cat had no intention of telling anyone how far her abilities could really reach – that would only lead to someone trying to misuse her as a means to gain power again. It was enough that Talon and his insane king knew that she could read minds.
She saw his slender fingers wrap around the arm of the chair until his knuckles were bright white. “Pirates have captured our ship, and I gave my men orders to leave the ship in the rescue pods. They will land at the spot where I picked you up. The area is deserted enough that we can stay there for a few days without being discovered. That will give me time to find the damned pirates. This is the fourth time now that they have ambushed us, but this time,” he emphasized the word with a threatening growl, “they were successful while I was on my way to pick you up.” The last part sounded a little like an accusation, but Cat ignored the undertone.
For an alien man who was trying hard to look as cool and emotionless as possible, he sure was damned close to losing it. He pressed his lips together until they were just a thin line on his chiseled face.
A thousand thoughts raced through Cat’s head all at once, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out the first one. “You must have a traitor on board. How else would the pirates have known that you weren’t there?”
With one pounce, he had jumped up from his chair and was leaning over her. “What are you saying? Are you saying that one of my men would betray me?”
Adrenaline was racing through Cat’s body, and fear flooded her brain. He leaned in so close that their mouths were almost touching, and she could feel his hot breath on her skin.
And then he started to change. The bones under his skin shifted, forming a new and different face. Razor-sharp teeth jutted out from his jaw, and just when she thought she would faint from fear, she couldn’t help but admire the beauty with which the predator lowered his head in front of her. His eyes turned gold-yellow and fixed her coolly as if she were his prey. Before she could prevent it, her talent took charge, and she was in his head.
The things she saw took her breath away.
She didn’t find any of the things she had expected. No desire to destroy her, to extinguish her personality, or even to kill her. There was fury, but it wasn’t directed at her. It was directed at himself, because he hadn’t drawn the obvious conclusion himself. Anger about his increasingly crumbling self-control. She saw herself through his eyes and trembled under the onslaught of feelings. Talon desired her. Even now, when her talent was controlling her every thought and action, she knew that Talon would never hurt her. Neither physically, nor mentally. He wanted her with every fiber of his being, and the thing that was hidden inside him desired her. She had never experienced anything like this: a man who had a predator inside him, and whose other self was a hunter.
And… he could feel what she was doing.
With a jerk that hurt her physically, she withdrew from him.
Cat was shivering uncontrollably and pulled her knees to her chest. She hugged her knees, trying to feel a semblance of warmth and security.
Talon stared at her. “Why did you do that?” he whispered in a voice that was deeper than usual. The hunter may have disappeared from his face, but not from his thoughts and feelings. He knelt in front of her chair and put his hand on her cheek. “Who are you, really?” Ever since Cat could remember, men and women had thrown that question at her, with either a disgusted or greedy expression. Talon’s face showed neither. He looked surprised, curious, and maybe also a little thoughtful and shocked, but he was not afraid of her, and he didn’t want to use her for his own purposes. Instead, he wanted to protect her without taking away the air that she needed to breathe. You also haven’t showed him what you are really capable of yet, a voice whispered in her head, but she pushed it aside vehemently.
This was the moment when Cat knew that she wanted to stay with him.
Chapter 3
Talon replayed the moment when Cat had come into his thoughts, over and over in his head. He had felt, without a doubt, that she needed only a few seconds to understand his complex feelings. When she understood that a predator was hiding inside him, her eyes had filled with a heartbreaking fear, but just a second later, her mouth had changed to a round “oooh” in surprise, and she understood that she was safe. Every time he thought about that wonderful expression, all he wanted to do was rip his clothes off and to get her to say “oooh” again, but this time, out of lust instead of surprise. He yearned to love her, and to mark her as his own, but his instinct told him to take it slowly. Cat was not the kind of woman who would be wooed by his physical attributes. Even though the feline predator inside him was whining impatiently, he forced it to stay calm. His co-pilot, who was usually on the receiving end of most of his considerable bad moods, took it all in good humor, although he would never dare to raise even a single eyebrow in his presence.
He thought of his men who had been able to escape the captured mother ship successfully. He beat his fist on one of the bookshelves, trying to get rid of at least some of his excess energy. He knew he needed to make contact with one of the friendly races who hung out near Earth, but he had put it off for as long as he could. He couldn’t justify staying on Earth much longer, not to himself, nor to his men. Even though he had been sending them out in small groups to get food, they were starting to get impatient. An animal was sleeping in each of them, and the only thing keeping the beasts in check was each soldier’s iron discipline. He let them out in pairs, so they could transform and run until they were tired, but most of them found the icy temperatures on Earth difficult to deal with and came back too soon – long before they were really worn out.
Maybe he should be on the lookout for a few smugglers, so they could help him get a spaceship. The only problem with that was that he couldn’t pay for a whole ship, at least not one that was big enough to transport him, his men, and Cat home. He only had enough money for a mid-sized pile of junk, and since they weren’t on the blue planet on an official mission, he couldn’t take out a loan.
Talon cursed to himself softly. Who was he fooling? He was enjoying the evenings with Cat, their conversations, and the growing trust between them, far too much, and he knew that their time on Earth together would come to an end as soon as they were on their way to Kanthari 7. There would be a small delay while he pursued the pirates, but even those days would be borrowed time for which he would have to pay. He was not only in danger of losing the fight with his predator, who was ready to mate, but also his own life.
And today, of all days, the damned Kalatassians had sent word that they were ready to pick them up from Earth. His men longed to return to their desert planet, and if he didn’t want to have a mutiny on his hands, he would need to accept their offer and take passage on the Kalatassians' space cruiser. If he rejected the offer, he would not only risk his men’s discontent (a justified discontent, he had to admit), but also that the king would find out about his delaying tactics.
In the moments when Cat let down her guard and looked at him, he thought about a future in which he would never lay eyes on his king again. Her shady past fascinated him, but every time he tried to find out more about it, she would close up and fall into a stubborn silence. One day, she would tell him everything; when he and Cat were finally… At this point, his dreams regularly fell apart. Talon could not abandon his men, nor could he betray his ruler, no matter how
much he deserved it. He banged his fist into the bookshelf one more time and watched as the wooden structure, loaded with immense amounts of paper, started to sway. There had to be a way for him to uphold his honor! Every moment with Cat was both heaven and hell. He couldn’t go on like this.
And then, there was still the business about the traitor.
The longer he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that the small woman had hit the nail on the head, but who was the man, and why had he done it? The longer he thought about it, and considered each of his men in his thoughts, the more convinced he became that he could trust his people 100 percent.
The shelf landed with a crash, and thousands of books spilled out all over the floor. Instead of feeling the relief he had expected, he just felt more frustrated. Destruction for destruction’s sake – how far had he strayed?
****
Cat had never believed in love at first sight, and still didn’t now. After spending a week in the deactivated and abandoned library with Talon and his men, she knew that a hard road lay ahead of her. Most days, she hardly saw him at all, and snuck away to the floor with all of the historic novels. Her parka served as her pillow while she stared out of the glass windows, daydreaming, or while she read. She had learned more about men and women than she had in all of her previous 25 years combined.
Talon had made it his habit to seek her out in the evening and to eat with her. She didn’t know where the food was coming from, but suspected that he and his people went out to hunt when it started getting dark. When she asked him how he would get a new spaceship, he had merely smiled and told her that she would have to be patient. “Are you anxious to find yourself in Ferthoris’ bed? Is that why you are urging me to leave this place?” His question had only been half joking. He knew that she knew about his feelings for her, but didn’t dare ask the one deciding question: Do you have feelings for me?
Cat was relieved that he didn’t, because she wouldn’t have known how to answer. On the one hand, she felt safer in his presence than she had ever felt in the presence of any creature up until now. There were moments she practically had to bite her tongue to keep from telling him everything. The temptation to share her troubles with someone was almost overpowering. Sometimes she imagined the two of them looking for her brother together, and finally finding him. Surely they would make an unbeatable team – he with his predatory instincts and she with her special abilities to read other people’s minds. Sometimes she was close to asking him to leave everything behind and to escape into a new life. He should leave his king behind, just as she had left her past with the Mind Readers behind. Every time she looked at him, however, she knew that she had no choice but to flee. The things she had seen in Talon’s head – his loyalty and honor – were the way they should be, but as long as his moral obligations were going to force him to deliver her to Kanthari 7, she saw no other way, other than to slip through his fingers the first chance she got.
She had known what she was getting into when she had offered herself to the organizers of the poker game. She had not been ready, however, for a man like Talon. He stirred up her heart and hormones like crazy. She briefly considered just staying on Earth, but that wasn’t a good option, either. The authorities would arrest her, and she would land back in jail, or the PGL would send a hunter after her to force her to honor her contract. Her chances would be better if she disappeared to a strange planet far from Earth. By now, the thought of going behind Talon’s back felt as unnatural as the idea of giving up on Coran for good. She had one other option, but it was a last resort. She would only go down that road in case of an absolute emergency – and even then, only to save Talon from pain.
A rumble, coming from the room next to her, tore her from her dark thoughts. It sounded like someone was slamming their fists into a hard object. The object gave way in the end. Something fell to the floor with a crash, and when she finally saw the source of all the noise, she couldn’t keep from smiling. Talon was standing in front of a huge mountain of books covering the library’s wood floor in an incredible mess. He looked at his hand with some surprise, as if he couldn’t believe the strength it possessed.
“What did you do?” she asked, driven by insatiable curiosity. Even though Cat had spent a few seconds in his head, Talon was not familiar to her. Unlike in a human head, she had only been able to take in what moved him the most at the time. When Cat was able to go into a human’s head, she could see the present and she could instinctively find the innermost being, and the most powerful motivators. It was that specific ability that had interested the military and secret service so much. That, and the small bonus she had received from one parent. No other Mind Reader had ever had that.
“Nothing,” he said, still staring darkly at his fist as if it had a will of its own. He looked up and made a face. “That isn’t true, of course, but I would prefer not to talk about it with you.” He sounded a little stilted, but she showed her agreement with a short nod.
“As you like,” she said, pointedly indifferent. “But maybe you would like to keep me company for a while?” she pointed at the other room, where she had made herself comfortable. He followed Cat carefully into the room, as if he didn’t trust her, nor himself, and settled into the nest of blankets and curtains. When she saw how he was sitting, crisscross applesauce, his back completely straight, she wondered if he ever relaxed. He could probably wake up from one second to the next, when the situation demanded it, and take out an opponent with a few aimed punches.
“What’s so funny?” he asked. For the first time, Cat heard the slightest hint of an accent. Interesting. So, he wasn’t using the integrated translation chip anymore, but was looking for the right words himself. Talon was a quick study, quicker than was good for her. A few more days in his presence, and he would be able to interpret her every move, and every twitch of the corners of her mouth. She needed to be very, very careful around him.
“Nothing, really,” she answered. “It’s just that this absurd situation also has its funny parts. I am sitting here, wanting to get away from Earth as quickly as possible, and here you are, spending your time destroying book shelves for some unknown reason.”
“Don’t lie to me,” he grumbled, and Cat saw his nostrils flare. “I can smell your lies just as well as I can smell your feelings.”
Damn it. He must have the predator inside him under excellent control if he still had access to the animal’s resources when he was in humanoid form. “Fine,” she admitted and smiled a little. “I had to grin, because you were looking at your fist with such surprise.”
“Grin?” he repeated, his brow furrowed. Apparently, he hadn’t encountered that word yet.
“Smile,” she explained. “In a friendly, mischievous way. I wasn’t laughing at you,” she added hastily, when she could see storm clouds gathering in his eyes. “More like with you.” He nodded, and his amber-colored eyes already looked less dreary. A smile started to form on his face. What was it about him that made her want to look at him all the time, and even think about kissing him? The last thing she needed right now, was to have feelings for a man.
“It doesn’t matter,” he explained. “I came to tell you that I have established contact with the Kalatassians. They will be passing through Earth’s orbit tomorrow at 20.42 hours this time and have said that they are willing to bring me and my men on board.”
“Yes?” she asked, patiently. “I can hear a ‘but’ coming.”
“The Kalatassians do not allow unmarried women to board their ships. They are… somewhat specific.”
He waited for her to understand, and when it had sunk in, she grew pale.
“You are leaving me behind?” It hurt more than she had expected.
Cat pushed the feelings of abandonment into the farthest corners of her heart. It took all of the strength she had left. “But why? I don’t have anything against men who love other men.”
Talon looked at her as if she had just said something completely ridiculous. The churning
in her stomach grew stronger when she understood. Homosexuality wasn’t the issue causing the headache. “You need to listen more closely. I said unmarried women.”
Cat shook her head in confusion. “I have never heard of the Kalatassians. You will need to spell out what you are trying to tell me.”
He blushed, much to her surprise. “The Kalatassians are sexual omnivores,” he explained. “Evolution has given them a trait that allows them to take on both genders. That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be so bad, but the concept of restraint is foreign to them – as long as he or she, who comes into their circle of influence is not committed to a partner. My men and I are strong enough to keep them in check, but you…”
Cat gulped. “Can’t I just stay with you the whole time?” She hated herself for having to ask for Talon’s protection, but if it would help, she would throw herself into the dust in front of his feet. Anything, just so he wouldn’t leave her behind on Earth.
Something flashed in his eyes – something she couldn’t interpret. “I would accept the risk any time, if this were just about me, but even I cannot stay awake longer than 48 hours at a time. I will not risk my men – not for a woman I have to deliver to someone else’s bed.”
“So you are going to leave your lord and master’s bride behind? What will your king have to say about that?” Anger was coursing through her veins – even more so because she wasn’t angry at just him. He knew that she needed to get away from Earth but hadn’t the faintest idea how far the government would go to get their hands on her again. She wondered if she could confide in Talon, but the moment had passed. She couldn’t tell him everything anymore. Her thoughtless words had put the distance between them back into place.
She could see that her reminder to him that he was nothing but a subordinate, was having an effect. He turned pale and his eyes changed color. The growl coming from his chest was deep and threatening. Good. Let him feel at least a fraction of the pain she was dealing with right now. Cat was certain that Talon’s most sensitive point was his pride. She would need to use this knowledge to find a solution, so that he wouldn’t leave her behind on Earth.