Alien Collective by Gini Koch Page B

easily seen by anyone inside, Mr. Helpful Servant specifically. The ten-foot block walls protected us from random lookieloos to the sides and back.
    However, if someone was up high enough, they could see us. A-Cs had improved eyesight over humans, and I’d backward-inherited some of that. Scrutinized the area. Didn’t see anyone looking out of any windows, and the only person acting suspicious I could spot was me.
    “Okay, I think we’re alone and unobserved, unless you spot something.”
    Prince wuffed that as far as he could smell, the coast was clear. Then he pointedly looked around. I knew what he was suggesting. And asking. Go me.
    “Yeah, yeah, I’m on it, I’m on it. Poofs and Peregrines, please assemble.”



CHAPTER 13
     
    T HE POOFS WERE ADORABLE BALLS of alien animal cuteness, with no visible ears, black button eyes, tiny paws, and the fluffiest fur ever. We’d gotten our Starter Set of Poofs during the fun Invasion Lite that was the pre-show entertainment for my wedding to Jeff.
    The Peregrines had come home to roost, pun totally intended, later, after Jamie was born, right before Invasion Full Flavor, or what I called Operation Destruction. They looked like peacocks and peahens on steroids, the males multi-colored, the females all white.
    The Poofs were androgynous and rumor had it that they only mated when an Alpha Four royal wedding was imminent. They were also only supposed to belong to the Alpha Four Royal Family, of which Jeff, Christopher, and Gower were all a part.
    However, by now, we’d had a Poof Explosion of such epic proportions that pretty much anyone of any significance within American Centaurion and Centaurion Division had a Poof to call their own. Heck, Oliver had his own Poof, and I was pretty sure our Middle Eastern Contingent had some, too. Olga and Adriana had gained Poofs right after Operation Infiltration.
    By contrast, while we had twelve mated pairs of Peregrines, they had yet to start their own flock. They were “assigned” to Embassy staff and those who worked closely with said Embassy.
    Operation Infiltration was the reason the Peregrines hadn’t gotten their flock expansion going. They felt they’d failed us. Because we’d lost three A-Cs and a Poof during that time. And not just any A-Cs—Gladys, Michael and Naomi had been hugely important to everyone in Centaurion Division and they’d been just as important to the Alpha Four animals. When they’d first arrived, one set of Peregrines had been assigned to Naomi and Abigail, and one set to Chuckie, too. So we had four Peregrines mourning as much as Chuckie, the remaining Gowers, and Caroline, who’d been engaged to Michael.
    I was working with them on getting over the guilt, but it was slow going. Though I was doing better with the animals than the humans, this was a classic example of damning with faint praise. When your entire species has been bred for thousands of years to protect, and you aren’t able to, you feel like a failure, whether you’re a human, alien, or avian. Especially if you loved those you were protecting.
    The Poofs had also been upset to lose the three people we did, but they’d been more upset to lose Fuzzball. Poofs weren’t used to early deaths. Because, as I’d found out, they weren’t really from Alpha Four. They were from the Black Hole Universe. And, according to the only authority on Black Hole People I could ask, even though Black Hole beings were immortal, they could be killed.
    So in addition to my parents’ cats and dogs, we had alien avians and bundles of fluffy adorableness. And I could talk to all of them. Figured it was only a matter of time until I could talk to random animals I didn’t know. Maybe that would be helpful. Maybe.
    I’d spent a lot of time practicing talking to all the animals in my mind, but it took more effort than speaking aloud and, besides, no one was around to hear me. Well, no person.
    But I’d made the call and was instantly surrounded by Poofs and