“What is it?”
“All the things I missed while we were on the station and disconnected to Earth’s network.” She shook her head. “That felt so weird to say. Earth’s network.”
He smiled. “Well, your people need to get used to the idea that your universe has expanded, and it is now more than just your planet.”
“True,” she said. She would stroke the screen, stare intently at it and then brush whatever it was away, and go to the next thing.
With each little screen she saw, her expression got darker.
Her body language shifted, and so did Mister Fluffikins.
The cat raised his head and looked at Jenny.
“Something’s wrong,”he said.“Bad. Very bad. She smells upset.”
“Thanks for the tip,”Karuk answered the cat, though he’d figured that out already. He turned to Jenny. “Has something happened?”
“It’s my landlord. My apartment. One of my neighbors reported that someone has been coming and going there.”
“Was someone supposed to be watching your domicile while you were gone?”
“Yep. My landlord. My neighbor across the hall knew I would be gone. I only told the couple that lived there because I didn’t want them to think I was dead on the floor when they didn’t see me for a while.”
“Do they know where you went?”
She shook her head. “I told them I was leaving for work for a while, but didn’t give them any details.”
She kept staring at her device.
She was reading, her hands trembling.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I, um. Uh,” She held the phone out.
You’re sick. How dare you touch those aliens!
You’re going to destroy our world!
You’re a whore. A menace to our society.
The world will self-destruct because of horrible bitches like you. How dare you allow aliens to come to our planet!
Her thumb stroked the screen, and the messages kept coming. No names attached to them, but the horrible harassment and degrading words burned a fire in Karuk.
Whoever did this would pay for this. He would bring the full fury of the King’s Assassin on the monsters who dared threaten his mate.
“What are these,” he growled.
She stared at him for a minute.
He could see the fear in her eyes.
“Who is it?” he asked again.
“Phil. My ex, Phil.”
“Did he do this? Send these horrible words to you?”
