Read Upon the Threshold for Free Online Page B

that the crew and members of their landing party didn’t realize anything was wrong. Which was good. No need to have them all questioning the one leading them.
    But Lukkis was Kraven’s friend, and as his friend, Lukkis would get to the bottom of it all. One way or another.
    With that in mind, he moved closer to where Kraven was standing, staring out of the view screens to the multitude of colors they revealed through various levels of scanning. “A moment,” Lukkis said, keeping his voice low.
    Kraven shot him a look and nodded.
    Tipping his head in a bow, Lukkis led him away from the others and into the private room the commander of the vessel could use for meetings or just to have a bit of privacy. Inside he made sure the door lock was engaged before turning to look at his friend.
    “What’s wrong?” Lukkis asked. Blunt, to the point, and yet it left a lot to be interpreted. He wouldn’t get overly direct unless Kraven avoided telling him the truth.
    “It’s her,” he said quietly.
    Well, all right. Not exactly the answer Lukkis had expected, and yet it made perfect sense. “How so?” he asked.
    Kraven jerked his head in a shake. “Unclear. There is just something about her that…” He trailed off and huffed out a breath. By the expression on his face, one he’d never let the others see, Lukkis knew Kraven was frustrated, annoyed, and baffled.
    “What about her?” Lukkis prodded. He needed to know what was going on, and quickly by the sounds of things. Lukkis knew what his Beast was telling him; he just wasn’t certain if Kraven’s Beast was thinking along the same lines as his.
    His friend began to pace, sharp, measured strides from one end of the room to the other. Something he did when he was trying to work out a problem internally, to better see the issue at hand, and hopefully, to decipher a solution.
    Lukkis waited. He could prod more but knew it wouldn’t work. Kraven was in a mood where additional questions would either have him closing down or coming at Lukkis with fists and claws flying.
    Changing position slowly, the better not to bring his agitated friend’s attention to him, Lukkis leaned a shoulder to the wall next to Kraven. Letting out a breath, Lukkis crossed his arms over his chest and settled in to wait.
    It took a while longer than he would have thought for Kraven to finally stop pacing and face him.
    “She rouses the Beast,” Kraven said.
    Shock had Lukkis’s mouth dropping open. That had been the last thing he’d ever expected to hear, especially from Kraven. Pushing from the wall, Lukkis strode right up to his friend and stared into his pale blue eyes, the same color as a lake near Lukkis’s home.
    “What exactly do you mean by that, Kraven?” Best to know the extent of damage this woman might be causing. Best to know just how bad it could be. For then Lukkis would know best how to eliminate the problem. Permanently.

Chapter Five
    Eli looked down at her pack and nodded. It had been a very long four months. The investigation into who had trashed her apartment had proved fruitless, but so far she had been able to keep herself in check, meaning she hadn’t gone back to the Droushanian camp to see Kraven and Lukkis again. Sadly, Parker, the man she had seen breaking into her quarters, was able to slide by without any repercussions in the least. He became very handsy with her, wanting to touch her at the oddest times, and that only served to fuel her temper. In the meantime she had snuck out a few times to see Lukkis and Kraven, but when no one met her along the way, she got the hint.
    It only took ten times.
    Now she was going on a scouting mission. She was going alone because so far there had been nothing that had caused their camp or their people trouble. As far as their people could tell, there were no animals on the world, other than the ones that they had been creating and putting out into the wild.
    Today she was going to go check on the wild horses, beautiful