Free Fugitive by Cheryl Brooks Page A

animals and who also possessed the power to set things on fire with a glance. These were both useful skills when it came to defending her own husband and children, and though Tisana was a peaceful sort of witch, she didn't hesitate to use those powers when she deemed it necessary.
       The men had all been taken prisoner at the end of the war on Zetith and had been sold as slaves by an enter prising soul who had seen no point in executing these last few soldiers when he could make a tidy little profit on them. In addition to Cat and Leo, Jack had found Trag, Tychar, and Lynx on her trading runs, and all but Trag had found Terran mates. Trag, who was now a pilot for an arms merchant, was holding out for a Zetithian female, and despite Jack's efforts, thus far she had come up empty-handed. Trag's brother, Tychar, was a galaxy class rock star—and had women on a host of planets drooling over him, including his wife, Kyra—but he hadn't run across any either. If there were any Zetithian females left, they were keeping their heads down.
       Manx had been the only one of them to escape from slavery, but the rest were, as yet, ignorant of his where abouts, as well as his continued existence. Until now.
       When Jack had discovered that a band of Nedwuts were on the trail of another Zetithian, she became determined to get to him first. Jack had once tracked her sister's trail across the galaxy and had managed to find her, and though this trail wasn't as easy to follow, expe rience had taught her the best methods. The Nedwuts in question had been blabbing about their next kill in some seedy little bar, and the proprietor had been more than willing to share this information with Jack—for a price, of course.
       The Nedwuts had reportedly been grumbling about how many planets they'd been searching since they'd lost their quarry on Serillia and how difficult it was to gain information, but Jack had an advantage: People didn't mind talking to her, but they hated dealing with Nedwuts or helping them out in any way. So, Jack was able to avoid searching all of the possible planets that the man could have gone to after eluding capture and instead focus on the one that he had landed on.
       On Serillia, instead of looking for the Zetithian, Jack had posted a picture of her husband along with the infor mation that he was searching for his lost brother. Jack had no idea if the man they were looking for was Cat's brother or not but decided it was worth a shot, and it paid off.
       A woman named Larita had come forward and said that though Cat had black eyes rather than green, he had the same long, curly black hair, pointed ears, and feline eyes as a man she had known who had suddenly disappeared without a trace. In addition to his physical description, she was also able to report that he had an amazingly good sense of smell. The trail was cold— he'd been gone for more than a year—but with this new information, though Jack suspected that Larita could have added a few more sensuous details which would have clinched it for her, Cat was able to identify him.
       "It is Manxarkodrath," Cat told Jack after hearing Larita's description.
       "Who?" Jack said.
       "Manxarkodrath Panteris," he repeated.
       "That's his name? You've got to be kidding!" she began, but added, "No, you're not, are you?"
       Cat shook his head. "He had green eyes and black hair and only had to be downwind of a receptive female to—"
       "Get it up?"
       Cat grinned devilishly and nodded. "He had the best nose of any of us. We called him Manx."
       "Manx, huh? Probably should have called him Snuffles," Jack said with a chuckle. "But at least we know who we're looking for now—and have a pretty good idea of when he left. Hope the guys at the spaceport are feeling talkative. Probably have to trade them something for that info," she muttered, mentally reviewing the contents of her ship's cargo bay. "By the way, what did Larita want