Sarai

of its flesh as soon as possible. The real problem isthe smoke it inhaled…it’s struggling to breathe and that’s notgood.”
Alekyn’sface tightened. “Let’s get it to the ship to treat it and thenwe’ll take it back to Naferi’s.”
“That’s notnecessary. I can fix its woes on board ship and we can releaseit.”
Alekyngrowled low and threatening. Tig’s ears flicked; his topaz eyessharpened as he studied his clan leader warily. Then herelaxed.
“It’s apretty little thing,” he repeated thoughtfully, “and it looksNaferi, except for the size. And the ears, of course; noretractable claws, but apart from that, very like us.”
“Yes,”Alekyn answered tersely. “Tig…it is mine, my sarai.”
Tig’s earsshot back, then forward. He nodded then smiled. “It’s beautiful.Alekyn…you are the first in our pard to find a mate.”
Theyexchanged a long look. “This sector has not been explored,” Tigextracted his medkit and carefully began wrapping the sarai’s ribs.“We didn’t even know its void path existed until we followed theZill scout through.”
Alekyngrunted his assent, his big hand smoothing his sarai’s brow. They’dbeen on a routine patrol when a Zill scout ship was detected notfar from a Naferi star base. They’d pursued it, not expecting theirquarry to enter an unknown void. They’d been even more surprisedwhen the void exited so close to this uncharted world.
“Thetargeting of my sarai by the Zill — it is a coincidence,surely?”
“Or fate.”Tig finished his task, then rose and respectfully stepped away fromAlekyn and his mate. “We need to get your sarai to the ship beforeits breathing worsens.”
Alekynpicked up his sarai, cradling it against his chest carefully. “Yes,then I wish to get it home as soon as possible. Where are Bram andEled?”
“Gurneyingthe bodies back to the ship. Alekyn, about the little thing…itlooks so similar to us that it should be examined by the healers.It could be a breeder.”
Alekynconsidered the matter briefly before nodding. “I agree.” He sighed.“My sarai smells so good, soft and warm like the forest in earlysummer, I can barely think.”
Tig stilled,staring at him sharply. Unable to resist the impulse, he leanedforward to sniff the exposed flesh of the creature’s slim furlessthroat. “You’re right. Under the smoke, it smells…it smellsdelicious. How intriguing.”
Alekynjerked his arms, pulling his sarai away from Tig. “Mine!” hesnarled, and then looked abashed.
Tig jumpedback, his face warm with embarrassment. “My apologies, brother.It’s just that your sarai smells so good, almost intoxicating. Ifit is a breeder — even if it is not — do you think we could comeback and look for others of its kind?”
Alekynwasn’t sure. “It depends on its breeding status, although maybe wecould get a dispensation to come back. After all, my little thingwill need the company of others of its kind when it is notservicing my needs.”
“If it is abreeder …” Tig mused, “there won’t be an issue about comingback.”
“Nonewhatsoever,” Alekyn agreed.
If thehealers determined his sarai was capable of bearing him young, hewould help his pardmates find more like his little creature. Hiseyes gleamed — they would each of them have a sarai, and they’dkeep their breeders in a traditional family harem, safe andprotected. Visions of Naferi pardlings racing around, play-fightingwith their sires, learning to hunt, learning to fight, lit hismind’s eye.
Hislittle one moved restlessly in Alekyn’sarms. He pushed his fantasies to the side and tightened his grip onhis sarai. That was all for the future. Right now they had toreturn to the ship and go back through the void.
Once theyhad his sarai onboard the ship, Tig could attend to its physicalhurts, and when they were home the healers could work out whetherit could breed. Whatever happened after that was up to theGoddess.
A far-offhigh-pitched sound had him wheeling around. In the distance hecould see blue and red lights flashing — two small vehicles,followed by a larger one emitting that goddess-awful sound, hadappeared. Somehow his sarai had sent off a message for help, andhere help was, roaring and screaming towards them. He hoisted hissarai over his shoulder and gestured to Tig.
“Time tomove — we don’t want to confront them right now.”
Tig wasalready moving fast into the nearby darkness. Alekyn cursed as abeam of light danced around the ground near him. He turned andraced after his pard, knowing that his little one’s kind had seenhis silhouetted outline. Still, it was only a matter of time nowbefore they knew all about the Naferis and PanGal — and the threatof the Zill, if he were any judge of matters.

Chapter Three
JAMIESTRUGGLED TO WAKE UP. For some reason,his eyelids seemed almost too heavy to open…maybe he hadn’t gottenenough sleep during the night? He’d been tormented by nightmares inwhich strange metallic-skinned monsters endlessly stalked him,creatures with fangs ready to rip into his flesh, a smell ofburning, even an odd, uncomfortable feeling of being carried upsidedown. He shivered. God-awful dreams. Thank fuck he wasawake.
He gruntedand tried to rub his eyes, and found he couldn’t. He took a deepbreath and slowly opened his eyes, trying to control the panicspiraling through him.
Shit, whatthe hell was this — not only were his arms restrained to the sidesof the cot he was on, his legs were strapped into stirrups attachedto some sort of device that separated and raised them.
Under thelight sheet, he could feel sweat pouring off his body, his heartracing insanely fast. Where was he? What had happened? Who had donethis to him? A psychopath? Was some madman even now watching him onclosed circuit television, grotesquely excited by his obvious fear?He’d seen a few television shows featuring that sort of thing…thevictim usually ended up horribly dead unless rescued in the nick oftime or managed somehow to escape.
He triedagain to jerk his feet out of the restraining stirrups, butcouldn’t budge them…that left timely rescue.
Which alsoseemed unlikely, he acknowledged, as he forced himself to calm downand take note of his surroundings. He discovered that a strapacross his neck wouldn’t allow him to raise his head, so his visionwas restricted to what he could see immediately to the sides of hisbody, but he saw enough to learn that the room was small andutilitarian. Some sort of machine was monitoring his vitals — heworked that out by watching as