Authors: Amber Kell
The other three Thresls hid behind their humans.
“I guess we’ve discovered who’s alpha in this pack,” the commander said with satisfaction.
“What do you mean?” one of the other men asked.
“Kres, these are your training partners Davis, Zander and Brice. Together you will learn how to work with and fight alongside your Thresls. Eventually, they will transform into the perfect partner for you.” He motioned to his own Thresl. “Muir is a specialist in diplomacy and small weapons, both things that have gotten me out of more than one tight spot. The shape your Thresl takes will determine where you go next in your training. When Thresls are first trained, they need an alpha—a pack leader if you will. Since Kres’ Thresl is the biggest and most aggressive of the four, he will become the alpha of this group.” He turned to examine Kres closely. “Has he grown since he was freed from his cage?”
Kres looked his Thresl over. “Not really. He was pretty damn big to begin with.”
“Hmm. Interesting. His aggression is surprising in a Thresl not yet fully bonded.”
Muir stepped forward.
“Yes, Muir?”
“I think we should start them out with the loyalty test.” Her voice was silky smooth, the voice of someone who used charm to get her way. Next to the rough commander, Kres could see how they meshed together. They were a good fit. Kres didn’t want to be a perfect partner with a Thresl. He wanted to be a spaceship captain, and he didn’t see that happening while he had a Thresl to watch over.
“Good thinking,” Commander Tiller said. “Davis, come forward.”
Davis walked to the front of the room until he stood before the commander. He wore his dark hair cropped short, and the Thresl beside him had light brown fur. Davis looked quite a bit older than Kres and had an air of command.
Without warning, the Commander picked up a firearm and shot at Davis’ feet. The Thresl took the back of Davis’ shirt in his teeth and tugged him away from the danger.
“Good instincts,” Commander Tiller said. “You may step back.”
The pair went back into line.
“Brice, your turn.”
Brice was a blond with long hair and an earring in one ear. Kres bet his parents had purchased his Thresl, a shiny black-furred creature more pretty than powerful.
“You’re not gonna shoot me, are you, Commander?” he asked in a slow drawl.
“I might if you don’t stop sleeping with my staff,” the commander growled.
The commander pointed his gun at Brice, and the Thresl hid behind the human.
“Failed,” Commander Tiller said.
“What do you mean failed?” Brice demanded, stomping his foot.
“I mean your parents can buy you a Thresl, but they can’t make it bond with you. You’ve had yours for three months, and it won’t lift a paw to save you when someone is holding a gun on you. No devotion. Your Thresl will be collected and given to another owner.”
“No!” Brice screamed.
“This is a military base. I don’t care who your father is. I’m not going to force a Thresl who isn’t interested in bonding. You can try to get another or head back home.”
“But I don’t want it for military use!” Brice glared at the commander.
The commander didn’t look impressed and Kres watched as the commander subtly pushed a button on the communicator strapped to his wrist. “A Thresl’s first instinct is to protect its bonded. Your father acquired yours to be a personal bodyguard. If it doesn’t want to guard you then it isn’t going to be what you need. If it wanted to be your pet, it would still want to protect you. Basically, by hiding behind you, the Thresl said it would rather you were killed than it. So you failed.” The commander spoke slowly as if talking to a child.
Brice glared at the Commander. “This isn’t over.” He turned to go. He stopped when his Thresl didn’t follow. “Come!”
The cat flattened its ears and ignored the command.
Brice flushed red. He opened his mouth but before he could argue further, two soldiers in medic uniforms rushed in and herded the Thresl out of the room.
“You know the law,” Commander Tiller said. “No Thresl can be kept if it refuses to bond with you.”
Kres’ heart slammed against his chest.
“You can still get out of this.”
He hoped his telepathic message would get across.
The Thresl purred.
Brice left in a stomping fury. If there had been a door, he would’ve slammed it.
“Zander, you’re next.”
A slim man with cropped black hair and intense blue eyes stepped forward. Commander Tiller raised his gun to fire. Zander’s Thresl knocked him to the ground, covering him with his own body.
“Excellent,” the commander praised. “Kres, you’re next.”
“I don’t think that is such a good idea, Commander. My Thresl doesn’t like it when people aim weapons at me.”
“That’s the idea. Don’t be a wimp. I thought you were a soldier.” Commander Tiller’s eyes were hard with anger.
“You were warned,” Kres said. He stepped forward.
As soon as the commander pointed the gun at Kres, his Thresl leapt forward and slammed into the commander, taking him to the floor. The Thresl latched his sharp teeth onto the man’s wrist. Screaming, Tiller dropped his weapon.
Satisfied the man was unarmed, Kres’ Thresl released the commander’s wrist but remained over him, staring with teeth bared, growling low.
“I am so fucked,” Kres muttered. Muir stepped forward, but the Thresl snapped his teeth at her. She turned her head so they were no longer making eye contact.
“Thresl, come here!” Kres shouted.
With a last growl, the Thresl left his prey and walked over to Kres. He circled Kres, rubbing his body all over him, evidently making sure he was marked with his scent, before sitting on his haunches with a rumbly purr. Kres scowled at the smug expression on the beast’s face.
Muir pressed the emergency button, and the two medical personnel came back into the room.
The commander was quickly bandaged and given a shot to prevent infection. Muir then helped the white-faced commander to his feet. The look he gave Kres was filled with an admiration he hadn’t expected.
“That was truly impressive, and I can’t say you didn’t warn me.” The older soldier gave a rusty chuckle. “I’ve had Thresls growl, cower, knock down their owners, but I’ve never seen one so determined to totally take out the threat and protect what was his. That is not only the biggest damn Thresl I’ve ever seen, he’s the most devoted.”
“Y-you don’t think he can be re-bonded with someone else, do you?” Kres tried not to convey how much he really wanted that to be the case. He didn’t want to hurt the cat’s feelings, but damn, he didn’t want to be here. His plans didn’t include becoming a beast’s pet.
The commander gave him a pitying look. “Sorry, kid, you were meant to be the bonded match of a Thresl.”
Kres’ Thresl gave a snarl.
“I meant a match for
that
Thresl,” the commander corrected himself.
A low purr filled the air.
“I hope you didn’t have plans for a wife, because most Thresls won’t share.” He gave a fond look at Muir. “Even the most mild-mannered Thresl.”
Muir smiled, showing off a set of sharp teeth.
“No, I didn’t have any plans for a wife, but I was kind of hoping for a husband.” Kres gave the Thresl a sad look. The creature stood on his back legs and licked his cheek.
“Sorry, soldier, but if you’re lucky, your Thresl will take that into consideration when he chooses a form.
“The first lesson for the day is over.” The Commander looked at his wrist communicator. “Get some rest and we’ll start something less violent tomorrow.”
* * * *
The room assigned to them was the usual military barrack room with sterile white walls, a bed with a thin mattress, and minimal comforts. The only difference was the large pillow splayed out on the floor.
The Thresl walked over to the pillow, gave it a sniff then jumped onto the bed.
“No, bad cat, that’s my bed.”
The Thresl flattened his ears as he stared at Kres.
“No.” He crossed his arms. “I am not sleeping on the floor.”
Purring, the animal scooted over, leaving a Kres-sized space beside him. A satisfied expression filled the beast’s gold eyes.
Sighing, Kres stripped down to his underwear and climbed between the sheets. “I might as well get used to you. It doesn’t look like you’re going anywhere.” The purring at his back was loud, but the constant vibration and warmth soothed him. Tension from the day eased from his body. Before he had time to worry about the future, he was sound asleep.
The Thresl curled next to his human, sniffing at the young man he’d chosen as his. He smelt sweet. The Thresl wanted to roll around in the man’s essence until he stank of the soldier’s scent. He had to stay close. He didn’t trust the other soldiers. They looked at his man like they wanted to do him harm.
No one was allowed to hurt his man.
His.
Growling gently, the creature slid closer, curling his body around the human. A crackling sound filled the air as his bones adjusted to their new larger form. He needed to be bigger and stronger than the others. None of them could threaten what was his.
Pain ripped through his frame as his body elongated and his muscles expanded to realign to a new body shape. He could feel his heartbeat thrum as his blood increased its flow through his veins to feed his growth.
Fully focused on the sleeping man beside him, the Thresl concentrated. It was his nature to become the perfect counterpart to his bondmate. Kres was a handsome, intelligent man with a good heart and strong ethics, a man who needed someone to watch his back. To let others know he wasn’t prey.
The Thresl bit his lips to keep back a shout. He didn’t want to wake Kres and disturb him with his transformation. His entire body burned as hair sank into smooth tanned skin, his claws retracted, and his spine snapped into its final formation. Once the change was complete, he would abandon his cat form forever.
He would miss his tail.
A whimper escaped the Thresl, making Kres stir uneasily in the bunk beside him.
“Shh. Shh,” he whispered through the pain. His sweet man didn’t need to see this. To outsiders, the transformation was a horror to observe. Unfortunately, the change came when it willed, and he hadn’t had a chance to get away before the transformation hit. He desperately sent out a sleeping scent to keep his human unconscious.
After what felt like hours, the Thresl gave in to the pain and fell asleep.
Chapter Three
Kres stirred in his sleep. Something was off, disturbing his rest. Shifting his position didn’t work because he was held too tightly.
Held?
Blinking awake, he cautiously turned to look over his shoulder. Letting out a shout, he startled his bedmate into letting him go and tumbled out of bed.
Kres didn’t even feel his ass hit the floor. His eyes were too focused on the person in his bed. The man was well over six feet tall, edging closer to seven since his feet hung off the bed. Despite feeling like a voyeur, he crawled towards the bed to examine the man more closely. Light brown skin covered a body formed with hard muscle and long limbs.
Dark brown hair grew in a short mass on the top of his head. Kres longed to plunge his fingers into the man’s locks and sample the flavour of the stranger’s lush lips. Glancing up, he felt a shock as familiar gold eyes looked back at him.
Thresl
.
“Morning, Kres.” The low gravelly voice sent shivers up Kres’ spine and caused goosebumps to spread across his skin.
“Morning, Thresl.”
The Thresl’s lush mouth quirked up on one side. The sight sent heated images into Kres’ mind about nibbling on those full lips.
“You must assign me a name,” the Thresl said with an inviting smile. “As I have shifted, now we are bound.”
Shit.
Kres felt guilty about lusting after the gorgeous shifter when it was his fault the creature had changed at all. There had to be a specialist who could help get the Thresl back to his original form. Despite his attraction to the gorgeous creature, he knew if he touched the Thresl, there was no hope for escape. He’d be bound to another being for the rest of his life. When the commander had said the Thresl would become his perfect partner, Kres had thought he meant fighting partner, but the shifter’s appearance put that assumption into question. No one could’ve looked more like the type of man whom Kres was attracted to than the male on the bed.
Gold eyes watched him carefully as if searching his expression for something. Kres averted his gaze. He hoped the man-cat couldn’t sense his lust. He didn’t know how deep their connection went at this point, but he wouldn’t force himself on the sexy creature.
“What name do you want?”
Kres struggled to carry on the conversation, focusing on the floor instead of the tempting naked man splayed out on his bed.
“
You
have to pick it.”
Reluctantly, Kres looked into the Thresl’s eyes. The understanding there almost broke him.
“I-I can’t,” Kres forced out through his quickly closing throat as panic sped up his heart.
“We can’t go back to before. I can’t unpick you,” the Thresl said in a gentle tone as if afraid of further freaking Kres out.
“Why did you pick me to start with?” It was a question he’d obsessed over since the cat had first chosen him.
The Thresl tilted his head, the gesture a shadow of the feline he had once been. “I chose you because I could choose no other. You were the one.”
He sounded so definite that Kres didn’t know what to say. How could he explain he didn’t feel the same way? It was like giving the speech to a guy—
it’s not you, it’s me
—except in this case there was no way to break up. He was stuck with this gorgeous man-cat forever. His nebulous plans of finding a good man to settle down with while he rose in the military ranks vanished. He’d left his home to carve his own path in life, only to have it chosen for him. He remembered his grandfather’s favourite saying—‘
You don’t choose your fate, your fate chooses you
.’ As usual, his grandfather was right.