“I am sure she is fine. What we need to do is search the area for signs of a struggle.”
Sev’s gaze slowly rose from the floor. He angrily hissed. “When I want someone to question my words, then I will ask for an opinion. Until then, please do as I say without questions. Get me Areo!”
Theo stared at him. The narrowing of Sev’s eyes snapped him out of it. After several tries to reach the lair, Sev left the room without saying a word. Theo ran to catch up to him.
Sev’s countenance darkened each time he failed to contact the lair through the hovercraft’s communicator. Areo not answering his hails had him imagining the worst. He was consumed with worry by the time the castle was in view. Theo opened the dome’s ceiling panels via remote. Before the hovercraft landed in the docking bay, Sev opened the cockpit, jumped out of the passenger seat, and ran at full speed through the castle to the control room.
“Areo!” he shouted, bursting into the room. He scanned the space. No one was there. Where in the blazes could she be?
Sev hurried over to the control panels and used the surveillance cameras to search the entire castle. An icy-cold hand wrapped around his heart. Areo and the prisoner were gone. The castle’s front doors were wide open.
No. I told her to keep those blast-it doors shut. Sev made a second run with the cameras just to make certain.
“What did you find?” asked Theo, rushing into the room.
Sev did not hear him. His focus was on the monitor, which displayed the front doors.
“Sev, are you all right?” Theo placed his hand on Sev’s shoulder.
“They’ve taken her. Those monsters have taken her!”
“Who has taken whom?
“They’ve taken Areo!” Sev reached for his sword. “Sword of Power, let me see what is there to be seen. Where have they taken her? Where is Areo?”
The sparkling sapphire responded to his command. The colors began to swirl. Sev waited, but in the end, all he saw was fast-moving smoke. He roared at the top of his lungs and threw the sword across the room. It banged against the wall, then clanked on the ground.
“The blast-it sword is useless! Completely useless!”
Theo’s jaw landed on the floor as well. No one before had ever dared to treat the mystical and powerful weapon in such a way.
“Sev, calm down—”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! Blast it moons of…” His voice tapered off in profanity. Breathing heavily, Sev tried to control both his rage and his terror. He had to remain calm, or he could lose everything—including Areo.
“Sev! Since when have you started to—” another one of Sev’s loud roars cut Theo off.
“Have Miko and Angel get back here immediately. We are going into battle!”
Picking up the sword, Sev said a couple more oaths and stormed out of the control room. He headed for the weapons chamber, seething with outrage that the Aconda had the nerve to touch his mate. He did not watch where he was going, and his right leg collided with a solid object. He spotted a Feron on the ground.
He angrily tapped his translator on. “Fern, what are you doing here? I have no time to visit with—”
“Sev! Aliens take Erra, Areo.”
“What!” Sev gruffly snatched the brown Feron off the floor, whose eyes went as big as saucers. “What did you say? Tell me! What happened to Areo? Answer me, blast it! What happened to Areo?”
Theo grabbed Sev’s shoulder. “Sev, you are scaring him. You either restrain yourself, or forget him answering your questions.”
Sev realized Theo was right. The Feron’s round eyes glittered with fear. He released Fern and took a step backward. Sev massaged his own scalp, for his head had started to throb painfully when he had discovered that Areo was missing.
Theo knelt down to speak to the Feron more calmly. “Now, Fern,” he said, placing a supportive hand on Fern’s small shoulder. “What did you say about Areo and Erra?”
“Aliens take Feron females. Take Fern’s mate. Fern go Seacat castle. Seacats gone. Find Areo. Areo help Fern. Lock Fern castle. Fight aliens. Fern help Areo. Aliens take Fern Alien hurt Fern. Areo save Fern. Aliens take Areo.”
Sev felt increasingly light-headed as Fern explained what had happened. “It was a trap,” he whispered.
Theo stood. “They must have come for Sirt.”
“And Areo,” added Sev.
Theo nodded. “Apparently Areo and the Feron females are not the only ones the Acondas have taken. Angel has just informed me that there are other villages with missing females. Many have been missing for several days.”
“And we were unaware of this!” Sev growled. “I don’t like being in the dark, Theo. Nor do I like it when the lives of our felines are threatened. The snakes are slave traders. We must contact Space Control, locate the Aconda’s mother ship, and put a halt to their dealings once and for all.”
Theo agreed. Without another word, they went to prepare for the arrival of Miko and Space Control.
Left for dead, Jugar awoke to find that he had been tossed into the river. He thanked Onssa for his good fortune, for he could have easily drowned. Instead, his shirt had snagged on the protruding branch of a dead tree that lay partly in the river. The water had refused to release its icy grasp on his unconscious form. Unwillingly, it had assisted in flipping his body over, allowing him to breath.
Jugar coughed. The air burned his lungs. He struggled to unhook his shirt from the branch and then slowly made his way to shore. Too weak to stand, he dragged his wounded body onto the riverbank. He flipped onto his back, raised his left arm, and used his wristguard to contact home base.
“Oceanica here. Jugar, is that really you?”
“Theo…” Jugar coughed. “We have a problem.” He gingerly touched his two laser wounds.
“Jugar, where are you?”
“At the river’s edge, near the Amgarean village. I’m badly injured.”
“I am on my way, old friend. Hold on.”
Sighing, the forty-three-year-old mountain cat leaned back onto the cold, muddy ground, already conjuring up all the painful ways he was going to repay his attackers.
Pain, pain, and more pain was all Areo’s mind registered.
“Uma, she is waking up.”
Uma? Areo peeked out from beneath her lashes only to receive a bolt of fiery pain for her efforts. “Ouch!”
“Do not try to move. You have a serious head injury. Probably a concussion,” explained a familiar voice.
“Serena, is that you?”
“It is. Other than your headache, how are you feeling?”
“Don’t ask.” Areo mustered up the courage to take another look around. “Where am I?”
“Aboard the Aconda’s ship,” replied Uma.
Areo looked at the two Oceanans grimly. “I guess I was right.”
She was not surprised when it was Uma who asked, “What do you mean?” She was the more curious feline of the two.
“I suspected something was wrong when you guys didn’t contact the lair after arriving at Cat’s Cove. Sev and I had a run-in with one of those snakes in the forest.”
“I see. Then the others know of all the female disappearances?”
“They do now.”
“Then Sev will save us,” put in Serena excitedly, gripping Uma’s hand.
“Sev?” Areo asked knowingly.
“Yes. He is the greatest cat who has ever lived. He will come for us. I know he will.”
“You like him, don’t you?” She wanted Serena to confirm her suspicions.
A dreamy expression fell over Serena’s face. “He is magnificent.” Areo swallowed and closed her eyes, feeling light-headed. Whether it was from her injuries or from Serena’s confirmation, she was not sure. She fought against the jealously and hurt she felt at picturing Sev with another woman. It was a possibility. Serena was a beautiful, pureblooded Oceanan quite capable of giving Sev strong, healthy litters.
I hate my life. She touched her right ear. “Where’s
my translator?”
“They took it. I guess they believe limited conversation between us is best,” replied Uma.
“Do you know if we’ve left Oceanica yet?”
“After they tossed you in here, I overheard them say they had captured enough females, and now it was time to sell them off to the highest bidder.”
“Great.”
“So we believe we are no longer on Oceanica,” Serena finished.
“Just great.”
The Seacats successfully contacted Space Control, the headquarters to the Space Guardians, and notified them of the situation with the Acondas. In response, Space Control notified their nearest agent and instructed him to aid Sev in his pursuit. However, the Space Guardian said he could not make it until the following morning.
Extremely distressed, Sev went off alone. He spent the entire evening sitting in the throne room. In his hand, he held one of the blouses he had gotten for Areo. He tried to recall their relationship on Oceana, but his cursed mind drew a blank. He felt similarly empty when he considered a future without her. He buried his nose in the material, deeply inhaling Areo’s scent while he prayed.
The Guardian’s ship had barely touched ground, and Sev was ready to board. Seconds before liftoff, there came a signal over the radio.
The Space Guardian reached to the right of the control panel and flipped a switch. “Guardian Sleth speaking.” The thin headphones around his head translated his words. He reached for a second button and pressed it. “Go ahead, Jugar. You are on the main speakers.”
“Sev, our security cameras have picked up two alien vessels heading this way. E.T.A five minutes.”
“Five minutes?” interrupted Sleth. “Jugar, are you sure? How is that possible if your cameras have only detected them seconds ago?”
“These ships are traveling at an enormous velocity. Also, they bear a similar insignia to one of our ships in the docking bay.”
Sev leaned forward in his seat and asked, “Jugar, is it one of Areo’s ships?”
“It’s a possibility.”
“Then we’ll wait for them to arrive.”
“What? Sev, we are a day behind the slave traders,” said Sleth.
“Trust me. These Seacats have extremely fast ships. We can use that speed to our advantage.”
“Seacats? What are you talking about?” asked Miko, who sat beside Sev.
“I was going to tell you cats at a more appropriate time, but I guess this is as good as it will get.” Sev took a deep breath. “Areo is a half-blood Oceanan.”
By the time the five men had exited Sleth’s ship, the new ships were arriving. The men were transfixed by the two alien black vessels that touched down. They were awed by its sleek design and maneuverability. On one ship, a sparkling golden light outlined a door seconds before a wide plank extended outward. Two tall, hooded beings dressed in long black robes exited the dark, shiny vessel.
The Seacats at the bottom of the castle’s stairs scanned the aliens’ attire as they approached. There was a small medallion on the left side of their robes. It was an altered replica of their insignia, identical to the one on the ship. The cloaked strangers stopped before the group. Sev noticed they were just shy of his height.
The slightly shorter of the two asked, “Which one of you is the leader here?”
“I am.” Sev stepped forward. Their low hoods kept him from seeing their faces. “I’m Sev, Lord of Oceanica.” He hoped his name and title would elicit recognition from these strange, mysterious visitors, similar to Areo’s response when she had heard his name. When it did not, it made him suspicious. “Who are you? What is your mission here?”
“We are in search of one of our own. Perhaps you have seen her, since her signal has led us here.”
“What is her name?”
“Her name is Areo McCall.”
Sev closely regarded the new arrivals.
“Have you come across her?”
“That depends,” Sev said, irritated by their guarded and occult behavior.
“Depends on what?” asked the taller one, who sounded a bit annoyed.
Sev’s lips thinned. “On who in the blazes is asking!”
“Is this where you reside?” inquired the shorter man, completely disregarding Sev’s question. His hooded face lifted toward the castle.
“It is,” replied Miko from beside Sev. “Why do you wish to know?”
The second hooded man glanced up at the castle. Sev realized they were getting nowhere. He was about to admit to finding Areo when the strangers gasped. Sev switched his attention to the castle and spotted Jugar carefully making his way down the long flight of stairs. He stopped at the foot of the stairs beside Angel.
“Jugar?” called the taller man.
Sev watched how Jugar thoughtfully considered the cloaked men.
“Do I know you, stranger?” he replied.
The hooded men took a few steps backward. They faced each other without saying a word. They remained in that position for at least a minute. Sev and the others watched the peculiar exchange, wondering what was happening. The dark figures walked over to Jugar, and the Oceanans prepared for the worst, placing their hands on their weapons. However, the strangers only removed their hoods. Sev’s eyes doubled in size, as did Jugar’s, but for different reasons.
“Jugar, it’s me. Arnold. Arnold McCall.”
“Arnold?” Jugar scanned the man’s strong features. Tears sprang to his eyes. “Arnold!” He embraced the man.
“I thought you were dead,” croaked Arnold.
“I’m too ornery for that. Dear Onssa, Arnold, I’m overjoyed to see you again. How you have grown.” Jugar smiled, staring into a pair of gray eyes that sparkled. “You are the splitting image of your sire, right down to the length of your hair.”
His sire! Sev regarded Arnold more closely. I knew it.
Arnold beamed. “Thanks. So I’ve been told.”
“And this is?” inquired Jugar, pointing to Arnold’s companion.
Arnold chuckled. “This is my little brother Mike. You do remember him, don’t you?”
“Mike?” Jugar looked him over. “Great Onssa, you have grown so much.” He embraced him. “Areo told me that all of you survived, but she failed to mention how greatly you have all changed.”
Mike and Arnold grew serious at the mention of their cousin’s name.
“Where is she, Jugar?” Mike wanted to know.
“Before I tell you that…” Jugar gestured to his left. “I want the two of you to meet Oren’s son, Sev, the new Lord of the Seacats.”
“Yes, we heard,” replied Mike, unimpressed. “Where is Areo?”
“Show respect to your leader, cat,” Jugar scolded him.
Sev saw both sets of gray eyes ignite with hatred.
“We have no king, godfather. We never did. You know that,” said Arnold in a frigid tone.
“Arnold—” began Jugar, but Sev cut him off.
“Later, Jugar. Right now we have to rescue the females.”
“What is he talking about?” Mike asked his godfather. It was obvious he was ignoring Sev and the other felines.
“Areo and many of the women of Oceanica—that’s this planet’s name—have been kidnapped by the Acondas,” explained Sev, electing not to pay attention to how the men slighted him. “We were about to give chase when you arrived.”
Arnold questioned Jugar. “Did he say Aconda?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Blast it!” Arnold depressed his medallion. “Billy.”
“Ranger Superior Bill here.”
“Just a second, Billy.” Arnold looked at his godfather. “When did the Aconda ship leave?”
“A day ago.”
“What!” exclaimed Mike. “And you’re leaving now?”
“We had no ship to pursue them with until today,” replied Jugar.
Mike glanced away, growling.
“Do you know where they were headed?” asked Arnold.
“Sadly, no.
”
“Of course not.” Mike passed a hand over his features, obviously frustrated.
Guardian Sleth decided to speak up after seeing that Jugar actually knew these two men. “It has been reported that the Acondas make their sales on a small planet by the name of Cerko. It is basically an ungoverned planet used by aliens to sell and buy merchandise.”
Sev watched Arnold and Mike consider the Guardian’s appearance. Sleth was from a race called Raven. He wore his shoulder-length hair in a neat pony-tale. His skin appeared bloodless and translucent. Sev saw how he stared back at the new arrivals with his solid black eyes, revealing nothing within. Even though he was dressed all in white, Sleth still looked eerie and dangerous.
Arnold and Mike tapped the small translators hooked on their ears.
“And you are?” asked Arnold.
“Space Guardian Sleth at your service.” Sleth bowed slowly and dramatically.
“From Space Control?” asked Mike.
Sev answered before the flamboyant Guardian did. There was no time for more elaborate gestures. “That’s correct. Have you heard of them?”
Mike and Arnold stonily regarded him without answering.
Arnold addressed the Guardian. “What is your ship’s maximum speed?”
Irritated, Sev scratched his head.
“One of the fastest around,” Sleth proudly announced. “Warp speed ten. It was creat—”
“Warp ten you say?” interrupted Mike, again unimpressed.
Sleth’s bluish lips curved in a smile. “That is correct.”
Arnold spoke into his medallion. “Ahem, Billy, are you still there?”
“Yes, Commander.”
“I want you to locate the merchant trade planet called Cerko. Notify the other White Star. We’ll be pursuing and arresting several Acondas on our next flight out. We’ll also be rescuing some women who have been taken against their will, Areo included. Have the med labs prepare for their arrival. In addition, contact Sea Base Five and tell them of our situation here. We will unfortunately be delayed a day or two. Did you get all that?”
“Affirmative, Commander.”
“Good. Arnold out.” He pressed his badge.
Sleth spoke. “Why, may I ask, are we leaving in your ship, when Space Control has the fastest ships in this part of the galaxy?”
A Forgotten Kitten (Sea-anan Saga Book 2) Page 11