Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 144433 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 722(@200wpm)___ 578(@250wpm)___ 481(@300wpm)
"I was."
"This is the only trunk here," she says, pointing at the pod.
"It's not a trunk. It's a stasis pod." Truly, humans are an appallingly ignorant species. "My trunks would be larger and full of clothing."
"Huh. I didn't see anything." She glances around the empty room as if my baggage will magically appear out of thin air. "How many trunks are we looking for?"
"A small number. About thirty."
"Thirty?"
"About thirty, yes. As I said, I packed light." When she continues to stare at me with her eyes wide, I realize I'm not doing a very good job of being incognito. That's a problem. If word gets out that Heir Zhurrrvas is alive and in hiding, it won't take long before my brother sends his assassins here, and no amount of payoffs to bounty hunters will keep me safe. I decide to distract her towards safer topics. "Perhaps they are with my note."
"I guess." She blinks at me and then shakes her head again. "I hate to break it to you, but I'm not your servant, though. I'm a colonist here."
"It's fine. I'll just have to improvise. I don't need a porter for my luggage until we find my luggage, after all." I adjust one of the annoying, too-short cuffs on my plebian bodysuit and look around again. My whiskers twitch. "So this is where you live, Yaev?"
"Maeve," she says patiently again. "And heck no. I don't live here."
Well thank kef for that. This dingy hole of an apartment is what my nightmares are fueled from. "Excellent. Let us head to your home, then."
"Wait, you're coming home with me? I thought you weren't my pet."
"I'm not, but it's obvious now that our fates are intertwined."
Her brows go up again. "I don't think that's obvious, no."
Truly, she is the most stubborn. "Yes, it is. You need to assist me with acclimating to this planet."
"I don't have to do anything, buddy." She puts her hands on her slim hips. "I could turn you over to the Port custodians."
That must be the local authorities. "You could, and then I will tell them all about the contraband animal you were trying to sneak onto the planet despite laws against such things. A cat, was it?"
Her pink mouth purses. "Is this blackmail?"
"I don't know, is it?" I lean in. "It seems to me we have a vested interest in keeping each other's secrets. That being said, we should help each other out. You help me figure out who I'm supposed to meet here, and I'll ensure that you get your pet, no questions asked."
CHAPTER
SIX
MAEVE
Not only is this guy not my pet, but he's kind of a dick.
This alien, this cat-man who calls himself "Zhur" speaks down to me with every chance he gets, and now he's blackmailing me to ensure that I take him home with me? Ugh. I want to turn around and leave this room and never return. I want to forget all about my efforts to get a cat...except he's threatening to tell on me. I'm pretty sure the custodians would be really mad if they found out I was trying to bring in an animal I don't have a permit for. Didn't Australia get overrun by bunnies because they were someone's pet? I can't remember, but now I'm envisioning all the rules I've broken and how they would punish me. Sell me as another pet again? I doubt that...but they probably wouldn't have any qualms about taking my farm away. They'd probably give it to someone else and stick me in the middle of nowhere, and then I wouldn't be able to just wander into town. I'd be stuck alone with no one to talk to ever.
Fuck. I've got too much to lose. "Fine. You can come home with me, but just until we figure out who you're supposed to be meeting, all right? And then we keep each other's secrets to the grave."
"Excellent," is all he says, but he manages to say it in a sour and pissy sort of tone, like it's not excellent at all. "Lead the way out of this hovel."
Hovel, huh? Wow. I mean, I wouldn't want to live in these apartments because they're crawling with alien dudes, but overall the place seems decent. I eye him. "You're in hiding, right?"
"I didn't say that." He gives me a haughty stare.
"You're hiding out on this planet and trying to meet someone on the sly. You're in hiding." I might be chatty, but I'm not stupid. I gesture at him. "You got a disguise?"
He glances down at his clothing. "I thought I was in disguise."
"No offense, my dude, but you look like an oversized Persian cat. With all that fluffy white fur, someone's going to notice you. You need a disguise."
He growls. "I'm not YOUR dewd." Then he pauses. "What is a 'dewd' anyway?"