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

in one of the smaller drawers. The CD slipped into the drive, and Rick soon had his copy.
    This might come in handy
, he thought, placing the silver disk into his shirt pocket.
    On his way to the cage, Rick glanced at the reason he was there. The small lioness wobbled to one of the counters. He was extremely grateful to have reached her in time. He recalled the mutilated jaguar, and bile rose in his throat at thoughts of her meeting the same demise. It made him more determined to secure her safety.
    Positioned directly above the counter, Rick noticed a safe. He saw the woman punch in several numbers. The sealed chamber hissed opened. He wondered what was inside.
    Rick stopped in front of the cage. He did not trust the tiger behind the bars. The way those light green feline eyes regarded him made Rick nervous. Rick wondered why, since no human had the power to do so. He pulled from his shirt pocket a lock pick and knelt before the lock.
    “Who are you?” the man asked, moving away from the bars. “What are you doing?”
    “What does it look like I’m doing?” replied Rick. “I’m getting you out of this place.” The lock was a cinch to pick. Rick opened the door. “Unless, that is, you have a preference for cages and dying.”
    “No, actually, I do not,” the cat replied, but made no move to exit the cell.
    Rick’s head cocked to one side. He resisted the urge to make a sarcastic reply. “So let’s go.”
    Rick saw doubt in the man’s eyes. He did not blame him, but they had no time to waste. When the cat’s gaze stopped at a location behind Rick’s shoulder and widened, Rick whirled about, readied for an attack. He saw no one but the mysterious cat-woman with a large pouch in her hands. She swayed on her feet. BeforeRick made a move, the indecisive tiger shoved him to the side and rushed to her aid.
    “Leonora!” exclaimed the tiger.
    Rick quickly regained his balance and got to the woman a second behind the tiger. He reached for her shoulders, but was too late. The tiger had snatched her from the floor and hunched his body protectively over hers.
    “Get your hands off her, human. I will not let you hurt her.” He growled.
    “Don’t be stupid. If I wanted to hurt her, I would’ve killed her when she was on the table.”
    The possessive manner in which the man held the cat-woman caused Rick’s stomach to churn. To keep from commenting, he grinded his teeth. It was best the alien carried her, he reasoned. After all, it would be up to him to get them out of there alive. He certainly could not do it if he had to carry an unconscious woman in his arms.
    Rick glanced at his watch and his lips pulled over his teeth. “Bloody hell. It’s five thirty. We have only thirty minutes before sunlight to get out of here.”
    “Where are we going?”
    Rick’s right brow tilted, but because of the mask, no one saw it. On the other hand, the distrust behind the cat’s lowered lids was crystal clear. “Why? Is there somewhere you need to be?” he asked.
    The cat stonily returned his stare.
    Telling himself to allow this man to carry the woman was a complete different story to actually seeing him lift her into his arms. It looked too much like an intimate embrace that Rick itched to punch the man across the room and lock him up in his cage again.
    Rick suppressed the annoying need, for that part of life was forbidden to his breed—a lesson that had cost him too much to learn. “Don’t hold her so tight; you’re smothering her.” He bumped shoulders with the cat as he headed for the door.
    The feline growled at the clear challenge. “Pick up the sack. We need—”
    “Forget it!”
    “What is inside that sack is critical to our survival.” The man’s voice slowed. “If you care about this woman, then you will do as I say.”
    The sudden jolt in Rick’s midsection stopped him in his tracks. The last man who had spoken those words to him materialized before him. He had a gun pointed at Mary’s head. In