Othersphere Read Online Free

heart. But I unsheathed my claws and sliced through the remaining metal strands on the net around him. The silver burned my paws. I ignored the pain, taking care not to cut Caleb instead of the net.
    Weirdly, the truck with Amaris wasn’t racing away. With one cupped ear I followed the sound as it circled away from us and up to where Ximon and the other truck stood, in front of the helicopter.
    Caleb pushed free of the net. “I can take care of myself. Amaris can’t—”
    He broke off as I swiveled my ears forward and ran a few steps, using the up-turned truck for cover to see what Ximon was doing. I could hear the man inside the truck thrashing, trying to get free of his seatbelt and open his door to escape.
    But he was of no consequence. Caleb moved up next to me, face bleeding from tiny cuts caused by the net, breath coming fast. There was a tear in the sleeve of his coat.
    â€œFive of them, including Ximon, plus the four in the truck with Amaris and another truck.” He shook his head. “How did they find us? And what the hell are you doing here?”
    I turned one ear to him, but didn’t move my gaze from the two men lifting Amaris out of the back of the truck. I growled, just low enough for Caleb to hear.
    He squinted at them. “We’ve got to stop them from getting her on that helicopter.”
    I shook my head, a gesture which felt wrong in tiger form, but which was one of the few ways to communicate when I was in this shape. If they wanted to get her away from us fast, they would’ve driven away.
    Caleb eyed me, thinking hard. “No, you’re right. Why not drive away and have the helicopter pick her up down the road, far away from us?”
    It hurt having him read my intentions so well. We’d always been in sync, finishing each other’s thoughts, feeding upon each other’s ideas. Why then, were we apart? It was partly Caleb’s fault, for being a stubborn idiot with antique ideas about the Tribunal and the otherkin. But it was mostly my responsibility, for keeping him in the dark, for not trusting him when he needed me to trust him the most. For turning to his brother, Lazar, when I should have turned to Caleb.
    â€œWhat if we circle around from opposite sides?” Caleb asked. “They’ll never see you if you don’t want them to. I could provide a distraction. . . .” He pulled a postcard out of his pocket, but shoved it aside to display some chewing gum. “These have some interesting shadows.”
    It was as good a plan as any. Caleb’s ability to call forth strange and dangerous things from seemingly innocuous items was a game-changer. I chirped and nodded.
    â€œThank you for coming, Desdemona,” Ximon said, his deep voice easily coming to us over the chop-chop of the helicopter’s blades. Ximon’s voice was his greatest weapon. “Or should I call you Sarangarel?”
    I became very still. Sarangarel . That was what my biological mother had called me on two separate occasions. But Ximon hadn’t been there. How could he know?
    Ximon was still speaking. “And thank you, Caleb, for leading me to Amaris.”
    Caleb’s sun-browned face went gray. “But how could he follow me? How did he know you’d be here, and how could he know that name for you?”
    I had no idea how Ximon had tracked Caleb, but Ximon was an expert in predicting my decisions. He’d mistreated his son Lazar, knowing Lazar would turn to me for help, and counting on the fact that I would not be able to refuse him. Because of that I’d taken my friends into a terrible trap in the bowels of Ximon’s particle accelerator. Only my unpredictable connection to Othersphere had saved us, barely. And it hadn’t saved Siku. I still couldn’t quite believe my friend was dead. His killer stood before me.
    Without even realizing it, I was snarling.
    â€œPut her there,” Ximon said to his men, gesturing at