Space Invaders (5 page)

Kres laughed. “You don’t need to protect me. I’m just going to the store.”

“You don’t go anywhere I don’t go.” His tone was so definite, Kres knew he wasn’t going to get out of it. Maybe in time the creature would become less possessive.

“I’m going to take a shower. We will discuss this when I’m done.”

Vohne took a step to follow, but Kres pointed at the bed. “Stay. If anyone jumps out to attack me under the hot water spray, I’ll give a shout.”

Fuming, Kres stomped to the bathroom, making sure to slam the door when he entered. He quickly felt foolish. In an unfamiliar environment, the Thresl was just sticking with what he knew—protect his human above all other things. Strange none of the other Thresls appeared as protective of their matches as Vohne was of him.

Still thinking over his odd relationship, Kres turned on the water and sighed beneath the hot stream. Slowly his muscles relaxed until his stress rinsed down the drain.

Maybe he could call someone and have some clothes delivered. Pleased with the new plan, Kres finished up his shower and pulled open the curtain.

“Ahhh!” Clutching his chest, he glared at the large man who had invaded the bathing space. “You scared me.”

Vohne looked at him with concern. “You are injured?” He reached for Kres, who stepped back from his touch. “You are afraid of me?”

“I’m afraid of anyone who appears in the bathroom while I’m washing. I wasn’t expecting you.”

Vohne looked Kres up and down. A wide smile crossed his face. “You should expect others if you are going to walk around wet and naked. You are very pleasing to the eyes. I am honoured to call you mine.”

“I-I… Never mind.”

He didn’t have it in him to tell Vohne that he didn’t belong to the shifter. They both knew there was a bond between them. He just wasn’t sure what that meant in the long term.

“It is a waste to wrap clothes around you. The only reason I will allow it is because I’ve observed that your kind doesn’t walk around naked due to your fragile skins.”

“You have a fragile skin now also,” Kres reminded him.

He got an indecent smile in return. “Maybe we should see what happens when you rub the two of us together.”

A knock at the outer door had them both turning.

Kres wrapped a towel around his hips. “There sure is a lot of traffic this early in the morning.”

Before he could reach the main living area, Vohne raced past him and ripped open the door.

A messenger stood there holding out a package. “The commander said you might need this.”

Kres shoved Vohne to the side, pushing his way past him. “I’ll take that. Tell the commander thank you.”

The messenger looked Kres up and down in appreciation. “Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.”

Vohne let out a growl and yanked Kres back into the room. “Get your own human.” With a snarl, he slammed the door in the messenger’s face.

“Nice.” Kres folded his arms and glared at the Thresl. “If you’re going to pretend to be human, you have to learn to have better manners.”

Vohne narrowed his golden eyes. “Why would I want to do that?”

“So people don’t give in to the urge to shoot you with their side arms.”

“Not that.” Vohne waved a hand as if swatting away a pesky fly. “Why would I want to pretend to be human? I am a Thresl. I am not human and never will be. Despite my form, I will always be a beast inside.” The creature gave Kres a toothy smile. “Don’t worry so much about what other people think.”

With that sage advice, the creature walked past Kres into the bathroom, leaving the door open behind him.

“I am in so much trouble,” Kres groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. Forcing his eyes away from the bathroom, he finished dressing, making sure his uniform was tidy and his boots had a nice shine. He was certain that by the end of the day he’d need as many extra points as he could get with his commander. The stress he’d lost in the shower came back with a vengeance. Grumbling about naked, sexy Thresls, Kres opened the package the messenger had brought, pulled out the clothes, and laid them out for the man-cat to find when he got out of the shower.

* * * *

Commander Tiller sat behind his desk as he regarded them with his cool grey eyes. His beautiful Thresl, Muir, gave them a nod as they entered. Kres nodded back. Vohne gave a low growl. Muir tilted her head in acknowledgement of his alpha status.

Kres resisted the urge to roll his eyes since Tiller was watching him, but it was close. It would take some time to get used to the pecking order of Thresls. They appeared to take it seriously if Muir’s behaviour was any indication.

“Please be seated,” Tiller indicated the chairs set before his desk.

Kres settled in the chair on the left. He wasn’t surprised when Vohne stood behind him instead of taking a seat. Sitting would be too laid back for the Thresl. After all, how was he going to protect Kres from all those imaginary dangers if he relaxed enough to sit down?

“Piers, I’m not going to tiptoe around the problem. Your Thresl is dangerous. I’ve never seen one transform that quickly before. The faster they transform, the more powerful the Thresl.” His cool eyes looked Vohne over from head to toe. “I’ve also never seen one so big. There are a lot of people who are going to want your Thresl.”

“B-but I thought now that we were bonded we had to stay together?” He didn’t want to sound like a whiny child, but he was just now getting used to the idea of having this large creature follow him around.

“That’s why they will try to grab you, too. Your Thresl will do anything if they have you under their control.”

Kres took a deep breath. “Won’t Vohne just kill them?”

Tiller gave him a disapproving look. “You really don’t know much about the Thresl, do you?”

“What he doesn’t know I can teach him,” Vohne growled behind him.

The commander looked them both over. Sighing, he reached into his desk and pulled out a thick book. He slammed it onto his desk. “Take this and look it over. It should tell you everything you need to know about bonding with a Thresl, but don’t think just because you’re bonded no one can use him.”

Kres frowned. “What would they use him for?”

Tiller looked Vohne up and down. “Yours they would use as an assassin. Thresls are excellent killers, especially if they’re trying to get their mate back. Even if they don’t have you, the promise of reuniting the two of you will keep him under their control for a while.

“It is your job to protect him as much as he protects you. I’m putting the pair of you on a special training task force. You will have limited contact with other people until your bond is secure. The stronger the bond, the better you’ll be able to sense each other if you get separated. Understand?”

“I thought we were already bonded,” Kres said.

Tiller smiled. “Read the book. It’ll explain everything. Dismissed.”

Kres picked up the heavy volume, more than certain the complicated question of his feelings for the man-cat wouldn’t be answered inside.

Kres took the Thresl to the cafeteria. He couldn’t help looking at everyone he passed with suspicion. It disturbed him to learn that someone could still try to steal his Thresl or kidnap him to control Vohne. Possessiveness sat oddly in his chest when he looked at the man-cat. He still wasn’t quite sure what to do with the creature, but he certainly didn’t want anyone else taking him either.

“It will be all right.” Vohne rubbed a reassuring hand down Kres’ back.

He almost dropped the book.

“Um, thanks. I…I just thought once you were bonded, you were safe from poachers. I mean, I’m sorry you didn’t get to your destination, but I don’t want you stolen either.”

Vohne gave him a wide smile, exposing all of his extra sharp teeth. “I’m hoping someone tries. Then they can learn the Thresl truth.”

“What’s that?” Kres was positive there was more going on in this conversation than appeared on the surface, and he was almost as certain he didn’t want to learn what it was.

“Kres!” Zander ran up to him like he was his new best friend. Vohne gave an unfriendly growl.

“Hi, Zander.” He saw Zander’s Thresl plodding behind him. The animal was caramel-coloured and several shades lighter than Vohne had been in that form. He gave a friendly smile to the creature, but its eyes were focused on Vohne. The creature tilted its head submissively. With a satisfied nod, Vohne turned his attention to Zander.

“Wow, I heard your Thresl converted early, but shit, he’s big.”

The awe in Zander’s voice made Kres laugh. He liked Zander and hoped they could become friends.

“Hey, did you hear what happened with Brice?”

Kres leant forward as the other man lowered his voice. “He was arrested and thrown in the brig. He tried to steal back that Thresl he’d bought even after the commander said they weren’t a match.”

A chill went down Kres’ spine. Brice reminded him a lot of Barley. Maybe there was a law—if your name started with a B, you had to be a total asshole. Kres quickly reviewed the people he knew whose name started with B and decided it was just a fluke.

“How did he get caught?”

“The Thresl bit him. When he started screaming, the MPs came and discovered he was trying to steal the Thresl. It’s a felony, but his rich father will probably get him off.”

“Probably.” Kres bitterly reflected from his own experience that that was usually the case.

“What’s the next step in your training?” Zander asked, regarding the pair.

“We’re supposed to bond.” He waved his book at Zander. “The commander gave me this to review.”

“Huh.” Zander looked at the book curiously. “I wonder if there are diagrams.”

“What are you talking about?”

Zander gave him a wide smile, his electric blue eyes lighting up with laughter. “There’s only one way to truly bond with a Thresl.”

Kres had a bad feeling he already knew what it was. The hand settling on his lower back reinforced the feeling. It stroked temptingly close to his ass as Zander spoke.

“You have to have sex.” Zander looked the Thresl up and down. “Maybe a lot of sex.”

“Crap,” Kres muttered.

Vohne let out a low rumble behind him. Apparently converting to human hadn’t removed his ability to purr.

Kres gave an involuntary shudder. The thought of being intimate with the gorgeous creature behind him overwhelmed his senses. What the hell had he got into? He’d gone from thinking he’d never have sex again to discovering it was a requirement for the safety of the being that had already claimed him. This entire bonding situation was taking over his life. How had he gone from a simple soldier with an eye on becoming a captain to the other half of a killing machine? A sigh passed his lips as Kres realised how truly different his future would now be.

Vohne stroked a hand up and down Kres’ back.

“Why don’t you join us for lunch? I was going to get a plate and sit over there.” Zander pointed to an empty table in the corner of the room.

“Go sit. I will get you sustenance,” Vohne offered.

“Are you sure?” Kres wasn’t certain he wanted to chance letting Vohne get his food, but the look he got said the Thresl wanted to do this for him.

“Go.” Vohne gave him a little nudge.

Kres shrugged and went to sit down.

Vohne turned to the other human and glared. “I was trying to break it to him gently.”

“That’s because you don’t know anything about that kind of human. I’ve only known Kres for a little while, but I can already tell he’s the type of person it’s best to tell everything at once. Once the shock wears off, he’ll make a plan to cope. If you give him things in bits and pieces, it gives him time to panic. He’s a soldier. He’s used to dealing with the unexpected.”

“Hmm.” Zander did make sense. “I will take your advice and not harm you after all.” Vohne smiled, letting the human see the sharpness of his teeth. He might not have his tail anymore, but he didn’t want the other man to confuse him with a human either.

“I understand that my human will need some friends, and it will benefit him to know someone who also has a Thresl. However, if you harm him, I will have to kill you.” He made sure his look said he wasn’t kidding. Vohne wanted Zander to know he took his responsibility seriously.

“Um, okay.” Zander gave him a weak smile. “Will my Thresl be like you?”

Vohne laughed. “You humans still don’t get it, do you?”

Zander shook his head. “Don’t get what?”

“How Thresls choose their form.”

“No one understands that,” Zander argued.

Vohne had to admire how Zander rallied after Vohne’s intimidation. He would be a valuable friend for his mate.

“Thresls understand.” Vohne looked over at his human, who was watching him with a worried expression in his eyes. “Thresls become the essence of the person they bond with.”

“So the commander is, deep down, a female diplomat?”

Vohne nodded. “He probably appreciates art and music but was told when he was young it wasn’t manly enough to pursue those interests.”

“And Kres? Deep inside he’s an almost seven foot man with violent tendencies?”