A Forgotten Kitten (Sea-anan Saga Book 2) (15 page)

“Now I have something to fight back with.” She smiled. “And this time, it’s not a sword.”

Her meaning was lost on the two snakes, but she did not care. Her chances of winning were higher now, even though it was a tree branch and could easily be chopped down to size. Areo was in her element. The Acondas did their best to overpower her, but they were no match for the well-trained Seacat. Areo spun the branch in a figure eight, then unexpectedly whacked one of her attackers directly in the face and sent him spiraling backward. She then engaged the second Aconda. During the fight, she spotted Fern out of the corner of her eye.
What is he doing outside the castle?
He was getting too close to the dazed snake on the ground.

“Fern, no!”

“Areo, snakes take Erra!” Fern’s chubby little arm was snatched by the Aconda.

“No!” Areo rushed over to help him. “Get your scaly hands off him!”

“Give up, female, or I will cut off hisss furry head,” threatened the Aconda. He pressed his sword to Fern’s neck.

Areo could smell Fern’s fear. “Blast it!” she shouted. She knew she would have eventually won the confrontation if Fern had remained inside the castle. Now she was faced with a difficult decision. She had no doubt the snake would make good on his threat. After all, a half-pint female had just injured and beaten him; he was not happy.

Unwilling to risk Fern’s life, Areo dropped her branch and waited. The second Aconda grabbed her arms from behind. Areo watched Fern scurry off after being released. The other snake walked up to her. He raised the butt of his sword over her head. Areo refused to show any fear. She defiantly stared into the snake’s eyes. His hand pulled back. There was a sharp blow to her left temple, and then everything went black.

Sev searched the watchtower, Cat’s Cove, and found no one. He was seriously beginning to worry. He had never known Jugar to disappear without telling anyone where he was going. Nor were Uma or Serena prone to doing so. He tried repeatedly to reach them via their wristguards, but no one answered.

Miko informed him that nothing was amiss at Limbo’s Lookout. He and Angel were going to visit some of the nearby villages to inquire if there were any missing females.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Theo.” Sev stood in the middle of the Cat’s Cove control room, scowling down at the floor. “Something is wrong. I suddenly feel like something tragic is about to happen.”

“Have you tried checking the sword again?”

“No. Contact the castle for me, please. I want to check on Areo and make sure she’s all right.”

“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.”