Chapter 4
Talon was beside himself with rage. His men tried to stay out of his way. He needed an outlet for the unrestrained anger raging inside of him. Cat had hit him precisely where it hurt, and he was surprised at how well she seemed to see right through him. The animal inside him had reacted immediately and very strongly to the challenge in her words, and he had almost lost control. He needed to try to tire out his predator at least a little – and to do that, he had to let it out.
It was dangerous to shift here on Earth and to explore the area in his animal state. In the dark that existed here on Earth, he could still pass for a human in his normal state, if necessary. At least, he thought as he clenched his teeth, until he had taken his opponent out of commission. Humans were a strange species. They were so… unspecialized. Well, most of them, anyway. They had five senses but utilized only a fraction of each of them. Instead of working to improve their sense of smell or vision, they perceived everything happening around them with all of their senses at the same time. No wonder they were completely emotional and useless during battle.
He stomped past the guards he had posted at the entrance without saying a word. They opened the huge door without comment and watched him as he went out into the snowstorm. Talon stopped and took a few deep breaths. Nobody, neither human nor animal, was in the vicinity. With a growl, he rid himself of his clothes and remembered to stash them where he knew he would be able to find them later. The damned snow, that was falling in huge flakes, made it difficult for him to use his sense of smell. He stood in front of the library for a few seconds, completely naked, enjoying the feeling of being exposed to the elements, even though he would have much preferred the heat and dryness of his home planet.
He stretched his arms, fell to his knees and roared as loudly as he could, as the bones in his body started to shift all at once. The strong pain let up as quickly as it had set in. He felt his predator take over the reins and pulled himself back voluntarily. There was little danger in giving his feline predator the power to make all of the decisions in this godforsaken area. The less he tried to control the cat, the longer he would be able to keep it in check when it had to pull back again. He had no idea how much time they would have to spend in the company of the Kalatassians, so it was bitterly urgent for him to tire his animal out.
When he returned to the library three hours later, and shifted back, his feline predator was practically purring with happiness. They had roamed the area, had run, and had hunted. They had even caught a small animal. He didn’t allow his lion to do that very often. The more you let your animal hunt and kill, the more difficult it was to control it. When he pulled on his soaking clothes, he also pulled on his responsibilities as a commanding officer again. And then there was Cat.
What in the world was he supposed to do with her? He was sure that she was keeping something from him. It must have something to do with why she needed to leave her home planet. Cat had said that she was being pursued because of her special abilities. After experiencing the small taste that she had given him, he understood why all of the governments in the world were after her. It would be an invaluable weapon during times of war to have someone like her. Someone who could infiltrate the minds of others and read their thoughts, and there was always a damned war somewhere on this planet.
None of this explained the desperation he had seen in her eyes though. “Oh yes.” he thought as he passed the two guards at the entrance. She could disguise herself pretty well, but not well enough for someone like him. He could smell a lie before it even left someone’s mouth. Even if Cat wasn’t lying literally, she was still keeping a lot from him. When she had begged him to not leave her behind, he had practically been able to touch her self-hate with his hands.
He noticed that he had been clenching his teeth again. His lion still wasn’t tired enough, and probably never would be as long as Cat was in his life. It was just too dangerous to take an unmarried woman on board the Kalatassians’ ship. There is another possibility, his animal whispered in his ear in a quiet purr. He silenced it by banning it to the farthest reaches of his head. It could wait there until it was needed, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. If Cat were his partner…
He shook his head. It just wouldn’t work. She would just have to deal with staying here at least a few more days, until they had found a suitable spaceship to replace the captured space cruiser. Did you tell her that part, too? The lion’s voice whispered. It sounded both sarcastic and reprimanding. Talon stopped walking suddenly and thought he could hear soft laughter in his head. If he had been a human, he would have smacked his forehead with his hand. Cat thought he was leaving her here forever, not just for a few days! Damn, where had he left his usually well-developed common sense?
Without worrying about what his men would think, nor about the wet clothes he was wearing, he started running. He crossed through the book-filled rooms in long strides, until he reached Cat’s little camp. He looked around and used his well-developed senses of smell and hearing. Nothing. She wasn’t here. His lion roared in fury, a sound that made its way into the furthest reaches of the library and made his men stop what they were doing. All of them started making their way to him, one after the other, while he was searching every corner of the room.
He told himself to remain calm, even though the animal inside him was telling him to hurry. He took another deep breath, so he could take up her trail. Her scent of sun and hot wind filled his nose, but there was something else. Something dark. It smelled of mold and cadavers rotting in a damp cellar. He knew this smell. Talon tried hard to remember. Stay calm, he told himself and his lion. We won’t find her if we lose our heads.
Losing your head… that was it! It smelled like the woman who had contradicted Ferthoris III. The king had ordered his men to chop off one tentacle after the other. Her blood smelled just like the dark scent that was covering Cat’s. Talon thought feverishly. If the Krak’Heri had kidnapped Cat – certainly all traces in the room pointed to this – what did they want with her?
He could feel the presence of his men in the room and turned around. He looked at each and every one of them and saw nothing but determination on their faces.
“Men, we have a problem,” he said.
****