A Seacat's Love (Oceanan Trilogy Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

of his shirt. He reached behind him with his right arm to reposition the sheet upon the mutilated body. He took a moment to brace himself on his forearms with his head hung low in between. The coolness of the metal wall helped settle his stomach, along with several deep gulps of air.
    A slight, sudden movement to the right caught his attention. Rick carefully made his way to that side of the room, while pushing to the back of his mind what was left of the alien. This covered body was situated in the center of the room. Rick mentally braced himself before he lifted the material enough to expose only the face. The sight was enough to force the air out of his lungs in a single gush.
    Scattered images of clinging to his dead mother and lifting his wife’s limp body, popped in and out of his head. A picture of Mary in her coffin remained frozen in his mind. She laid motionless with her eyes closed, embracing their tiny baby.
    The ache in Rick’s chest intensified. His gloved fingertips roved across her right temple.
I’m so sorry, Mary
. The tears fell.
I never should’ve left you. I should’ve taken you with me
. Time stood still as his wife’s pasty image faded away.
    In her place appeared a pale lioness. Without warning, her eyelids snapped open. Rick yanked his hand away as if he had been burnt. Startled and confused, his mind slowly returned to the present.
    Rick noticed the woman’s swollen, cracked lips; puffy, red-rimmed eyes; and the tearstains down her dirty cheeks. His innards coiled tight. Her haggard appearance pulled at his heartstrings. Rick had thought that part of him was dead—the part he did not want reborn.
    Still, the need to verify she was indeed alive was intense. Rick traced the side of her drawn face before resting his fingers on an artery. He held his breath and concentrated. At the confirmation of a pulse, his tensed muscles relaxed, and his covered head lowered onto her bony chest. The echoing pulsations of her heart flowed through her into him, aiding to calm him further. His lipscurved in a smile, while he absorbed the unusual moment with no desire to move.
    {Who are you?}
    Rick had not forgotten her telepathic ability. Hearing her words in his head did not startle him as much this time as it did initially. He raised his head and peered into eyes that had stayed with him since viewing them the night before. “It’s me.”
    She gasped. {Predator!}
    “I’m going to get you out of here.”
    {How?}
    Rick could not answer. Her eyes robbed him of speech. Like a magnet, they pulled him in.
So pale. So beautiful
.
    {Predator?}
    Rick blinked several times to break their magical spell. “Uh… trust me.”
    “Who in the blazes are you?” someone said.
    Rick’s right hand shot for his gun. This time it was his semiautomatic. The gun was aimed and readied before he realized the voice had come from a man with the markings of a tiger.
    Since when have I been so careless?
Rick’s sights fixed on the ragged looking cat locked behind steel bars. “A friend of yours?” he asked the lioness, while he placed his gun away.
    “Yes,” she answered with a shiver.
    Rick glanced at her and noted how flushed her features were becoming. The fact that she was pale a moment before and he was in the center of a research lab, prompted Rick to remove a black glove and touch her forehead.
    “My God, you’re burning up,” Rick said. Replacing his glove, he immediately untied her limbs from the thick leather restraints.
    “What are you doing? Who are you?”
    Rick spared the male alien another look. The cat flashed his teeth menacingly at him. He ignored it.
    “I demand to know who you are!” the tiger hollered.
    Rick’s fingers skirted over the woman’s jaw. “Stay here,” he whispered.
    He went to free the tiger from his captivity but spotted the computer monitor and decided to take a quick peek first. He quickly located the medical logs kept on the aliens. Rick rummaged the desk and found what he needed