I must have dozed off for a moment because the next thing I knew, I was completely covered in little fluff balls, each one as cute as the last.
They were all a varying shade of black. Some seemed to be almost a dark purple, while others had the barest hint of white on their chests. But one thing was absolutely clear: wherever I was, there were at least 15 kittens, and I was keeping all of them.
Truthfully, I assumed that the General had soured any type of love I had for cats, but this was like comparing a hairless cat with a Maine coon. They might have similar characteristics, but they were not the same.
"I don't suppose you know someplace I could eat?" I asked, my voice soft. One of the darker purple fluff balls darted off before coming back with something that looked like a spider.
I mean, it was a lot cuter than any spider I had ever seen before; its six big eyes blinked widely at me as its tiny legs dangled between the kitten's fangs.
"Sorry," I grunted with a shake of my head. "That's not part of my diet." The kitten shrugged slightly before tossing the spider up in the air and letting it drop into its open mouth.
A black fluff ball, the first one I had encountered, clambered out of my arms and started to bounce down the corridor. The rest of the balls bounced behind it, sometimes looking over their shoulders in order to see if I was following them or not.
At first, when I didn't move, they all stopped, cocked their heads to the side, and let out a chirping sound. Their little paws waved at me, and once I started crawling in the direction they were going, they chirped happily before taking off.
I eventually found myself looking down into a room as the kittens fell out of the hole in the ceiling, bouncing down on the bed beneath me before disappearing from sight.
The original fluff ball remained at my side, chirping at me curiously as if it was wondering what I was still doing up in the ceiling. But as much as the room smelled like heaven and looked comfortable… I still held back.
I didn't know anything about the owner; they might be like the three demons that I was… attracted to… but they might be like the other two.
The purple ball bounced out of one of the connecting rooms with a silver-wrapped bar in its mouth. Hearing my stomach growl, everyone froze and turned to look at me.
"What?" I hissed, my face turning red in embarrassment. "I told you I was hungry."
Fluffy ball number two… I would have to think of a name for him later… dropped the bar onto the bed right underneath me before disappearing again. He was clearly telling me that I had a choice. I could stay where I was and starve, or I could come down and eat with the rest of them.
Narrowing my eyes, I looked around the room. While it didn't look abandoned, it was clear that no one was really living in there either. The furnishings were minimal. The bed was only made with a single flat sheet, and there were no personal items anywhere.
Feeling confident in the fact that the room was empty, I lowered myself out of the ceiling and dropped about five feet to the bed, bouncing once.
With my stomach growling again, I quickly downed the energy bar.
-----
Four catawr it had been four catawr since Ba'dqeel had watched his mate disappear into the ceiling of his ship, and not a single member of his crew had managed to find her.
Stressed and not in the mood to deal with the spoiled princeling, the male stormed into his room, his comms' going off to let him know that he was getting a call.
"What?!" he growled low, pressing a button on his ear to have the audio transmission play directly to him.
"Any luck finding her?" asked Da'kea and Ba'dqeel's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know I even lost her?" sneered the Nycteromys as males plastered themselves to the corridor walls in an attempt to get out of his way.
"Because," replied Da'kea slowly. "I have one of my own. You lost her, probably as soon as she woke up and saw your faces. You look like creatures from their planet's mythology. Scary ones whose sole purpose was to drag the dead down to the pits of fire."
"You are not helping," snarled Ba'dqeel as he slapped his hand onto the scanner beside the door to his room. The hatched opened almost silently, and Ba'dqeel stalked forward, closing it behind him and once again locking it.
Without looking over at his bed, he went into his office and closed the door, effectively cutting himself off from the outside world.
"I'm not trying to help you find her," smirked Da'kea. With a press of a button, the male's image was on the screen in front of him. "Mind you, if you promise to bring her to me, I'll tell you what you need to do to make her happy."
"There is no way in the Dark Lord's realm that I am bringing her to you. She is mine, and she will remain at my side for the rest of her very long, very happy life. Have I made myself clear?" hissed Ba'dqeel. His teeth were becoming so long that even speaking was proving to be a challenge. Maybe his mate was right to fear them.
Given her delicate nature, it only made sense that she feared them.
"Furs," sighed Da'kea at last when the silence continued to stretch on. "If and when you find her, give her furs. Lots and lots of furs."
Ba'dqeel blinked, unsure as to how to respond to that statement. "Furs?" he repeated. Their kind wasn't like the hunters who went from planet to planet, looking for prey to kill.
His kind didn't have fur lying around.
"If you don't have any, go to the nearest trading station. I am sure that there will be a Saalistaja or two there that you can purchase from. And buy all of them. Trust me on this; they cannot go without their furs."
"Furs," repeated Ba'dqeel for the third time, still not understanding.
Da'kea cut the communication before the other male could ask anything.
Sitting back in his chair, Ba'dqeel stared into the space in front of him. "Furs," he grunted before pressing another button. "Mau'stuih, take us to the nearest trading station."