Syn-En: Plague World: The Founders War Begins Read Online Free Page B

muzzle, holding it an inch from Nell’s bottom. “Just because she lets you sleep on our bed doesn’t mean you have other privileges, feather-face.”
    Shaking her head, Nell broke the telepathic connection with the Amarook. Good God, she’d almost smelled... She shut down the thought and mentally bleached it from her brain.
    Elvis shimmered into focus. Standing on his four paws like a wolf, he used his third set of appendages to free his snout from Bei’s grip. Furry hands plucked at Bei’s fingers until her husband released the Amarook. Elvis sneezed then ran his furry hands over the black feathers comprising a trademark Presley do. His blue eyes stared innocently at her. “He would not have known I was here, if you hadn’t given me away.”
    Bei grunted. “I recognized Nell’s scent.”
    Great, they both could track her. But if one of them peed on her... She scratched Elvis behind one pointy ear. “I didn’t give you away.”
    Her husband winked.
    Her brain box buzzed. Ah, yes. When she merged with Elvis’s mind, she’d broadcasted his thoughts into the WA where her husband had picked it up. For some reason, the Amarook evaded Bei’s sensors. Which made the Amarook’s crystalline fur perfect for a cloaking shield.
    Elvis squeezed his hindquarters between Nell and Apollie and plopped down. “You should select a new mate. This one has failed to impregnate you. Again.”
    Nell sighed. No matter how many times she’d told Elvis about her decision to wait to start a family, he refused to believe it.
    Bei cupped Nell’s arm and moved her to his right side, placing his body between her and Elvis and Apollie. “I found schematics for a dog house. It looked really uncomfortable.”
    Elvis bared his fangs. “My mate had her first litter of pups before we’d been paired for a year.”
    “I don’t want a litter.” Nell swayed against her husband. “One at a time is more than enough.”
    She laced her silver fingers through Bei’s. He squeezed her hand.
    The Amarook sneezed on Apollie’s sandals. “I think it is the poor company you keep.”
    Apollie glared at the canine. Her velociraptor claw tapped against the metal deck. “Behave feather-face, or bad things will happen to your caprinae heads.”
    An ache pulsed at Nell’s temples. “Remind me why you two are here, again?”
    “We are the representatives of our alliance.” Apollie raised her chin.
    Elvis nodded, his feathers bobbed and a lock draped over his eye. “This is a Neo-Sentient Alliance ship.”
    Nell fought back a grin. Now that they’d walked so neatly into her trap, she sprung the steel jaws. “Then please act like allies not squabbling two year olds.”
    “Two year old Amarooks have already made their first kill and mated successfully.” Elvis smoothed back a lock of hair. “Besides, allies don’t experiment on allies.”
    “We were all experimented on.” Apollie hissed back before jerking her vambraces over her forearms. The jewel embedded in the gold glowed.
    The Founders’ oval-shaped shuttle drifted up from under Bei’s starship. No portholes blemished the red craft. Unlike the dreadnaught mothership, no guns bristled from her hull. The engines emitted a whirling noise as it nudged through the energy barrier.
    “That’s not right.” Nell frowned. “Shouldn’t it have come straight for us?”
    Her husband smirked. “They detoured around us. Their scans came up empty.”
    She shook her head. “You mean they were spying on us?”
    Apollie nodded. “It is a fair tactic. Every soldier wants information about their enemy before going into battle.”
    Nell’s arms and hands flattened into swords. “Is cutting off their eyestalks and shoving them where the sun don’t shine, a fair tactic?”
    Because, if so, she’d like to test it.
    The shuttle hovered over the deck. Air currents tugged at her hair, pulling strands from her pony-tail and slapping them against her cheeks.
    Squinting, Elvis cocked his head.
    If his