The one that looked as if it had been removed with extremely large, extremelysharpblades.
Hmm…
Perhaps ‘helpless’ wasn’t the right word.
I didn’t know exactly what species I was dealing with here, because no one did. The distress signal Astrum Force originally received—which Honnor and Bron were still trying to track—had simply mentioned the abduction of a youngling of great rarity and importance.
A creature that could “bring great power to whoever possessed it.”
I growled low, furious once again that I’d been forced to choose between my high-level mission and my mate.
Fuck this.
Extending a few tendrils into the duct, I tasted the air, aiming to not only determine which direction the asset had gone, but its mental state.
The more frightened, the better.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get much of a reading. So, with an irritated sigh I felt all the way to my nonexistent bones, I floated upwards.
Only to come face-to-face with an impossibly large pair of glowing yellow eyes.
What in Stellaria’s?—
Before I could finish the thought, a dark shape was lunging for me, its sharp claws extended as an ear-splitting yowl echoed in the close confines of the air duct.
It was nearly impossible to catch a Stellarian off-guard, but I didn’t have the luxury at the moment of examininghowthis creature had accomplished it. Recovering quickly, I dematerialized before it made contact, reappearing behind the little shit and unleashing dozens of tendrils to entrap and immobilize my prey.
Only when my tendrils tightened on empty air did I realize that—somehow—the creature had not only escaped my clutches, but it was already bounding away.
I AM GOING TO KILL IT!
Of course, I knew Icouldn’tkill the “rare and important’” asset I’d been assigned to rescue, but the insultwas enough to make me see red.
And no one said anything about not teaching it a lesson.
With this satisfying compromise in mind, I took off after my prey, smirking inwardly when I found it backed into a corner and hissing wildly.
Time to learn.
“Is everything okay up there, Zig?” Micah’s muffled voice sounded below us, instantly silencing the creature. “Do you, um… need my help?”
My mate’s translation device meant he could now understand Stellarian, so I called back to say I had the situation under control.
Because I do.
Thanks to my night vision and the glow from my tendrils, I was finally able to take a closer look at what I was dealing with.
I could make out a thick coat of shaggy, chestnut-colored fur, along with pointed ears drawn back as it hunched low, attempting to squeeze itself into a ball. Its enormous eyes were locked on me, unblinking, while a thin, hairless tail twitched against the metal wall behind it, but I couldn’t be sure what the movement meant.
Since I can’t get a read on this thing.
Its front paws and pangolin claws were lowered—which I took as a good sign—but I could see even larger claws on its hind feet as well. In sharp contrast, two tiny fangs peeked out as it started to hiss under its breath and, all at once, I realized it reminded me of the Earthlingfelis catus.
I’m facing off with a fucking house cat.
It scuttled further into the corner, revealing a circular grate I recognized as being part of the kitchen’s new range hood system. A plan immediately sprang to mind, and I knew just the man to help me accomplish it.
Aside from his impressive brain, one of the many things I admired about my mate were his superpowers—his seemingly magical ability to create almost anything out of thin air.
