Free strongholdrising by Lisanne Norman Page A

vanished instantly and he turned his head to glance uncertainly at Carrie.

Stooping, she pushed aside the hem of Kusac's robe. "They're here," she confirmed, reaching behind him.

As she stood up, he got a momentary glimpse of white fur, a pair of tiny, shining black eyes and a pink, whiskered nose. The creature began struggling, and as it leaped free, Carrie let out an exclamation of surprise.

Instinctively, he grabbed for it, finding himself eye to eye with the jegget. A twist, and it escaped his grasp to scramble up onto his shoulder, dive under his hair and wind itself round the back of his neck, chittering gently.

"Sorry, Kusac," said Brynne, reaching out for her. "She's quite tame."

The creature's long tail began to snake round his neck and tighten. Putting his hand up to stop her, he was surprised by the softness of her pelt.

"Belle, don't do that," said Brynne. "Come on, girl. Time to come back."

"I don't think she wants to," he said, finding his voice as the small, pointed head pushed insistently against his hand, nosing it away from her tail.

"I see you've found one of them at least."

The unfamiliar voice drew his attention away from the jegget.

A pair of gray eyes, set in a round face framed by a mane of multicolored tabby hair regarded him steadily. "You must be Kusac. I'm Keeza," she said, leaning against Brynne.

He watched the way Brynne's arm went round her waist and how the Human's body automatically moved to accommodate hers. Then he noticed the broad silver bracelets they both wore on their wrists. Life-bonded? Brynne had life-bonded with a Sholan female?

"Kusac, could I get Scamp?" asked Kris from where he still crouched on the floor.

Holding onto Belle with one hand, Kusac bent down and searched beneath his robe for the other jegget. Grasping him by the scruff, he pulled him out and passed him over to Kris. As he stood up, he tried to unwind Belle's tail from his throat. She'd have none of it and snaked round to the back of his neck, tail well out of reach, chittering even more loudly.

"She seems to want to stay with you. Perhaps you should keep her for a little while," Brynne said. "She's rather special: a gift from Vartra."

Vartra? What had the God to do with jeggets? He gave up trying to remove her and glanced back at Brynne.

"Carrie can— call me— on her comm when you've had enough of her," he heard Brynne say.

He gave the barest of nods, more aware of the feel of tiny paws on his neck and shoulders than of what the Human was saying.

As the two Humans and Keeza began to move away, Carrie took hold of his arm.

"Let's get you settled in our room," she said, gently tugging him on again.

     
    * * *
     
    Later that afternoon, when T'Chebbi came to relieve him from guarding Kusac, Rezac made his way to the rec room where he knew Kaid was waiting for him. During Kusac's debriefing, he'd been able to piece together a timetable of events. Now Kaid wanted to be updated. Though the rec was busy, somehow Kaid had managed to ensure they had a table to themselves.

Kaid sat silently, listening while Rezac told him the details.

"So Carrie was moved from cryo to one of their stasis units as early as four days after the Primes took us," he said, keeping his voice low so as not to be overheard. "And Kusac? When did you say he was awakened?"

"Fourteen days later, when they implanted him— four days before you and Carrie were reunited," Rezac said quietly. "When Vriuzu finished the debriefing, while Kusac was recovering, I took the opportunity to speak privately to Doctor Zayshul. She said given what they knew about Leska links, she was sure the timing was significant, that your bond to Carrie had been growing since they'd taken her out of cryo. When she began to weaken after they operated on her, they had to put her in a reduced stasis field. It's looking more and more like the implant wasn't needed at all and that Chy'qui's story of Kusac's seizures was a lie so he could experiment on the two of