Broken Protocols Read Free Page A

has reasons for what happened in her life. Sure, she might be up for a move a couple centuries into the future. She might consider it an adventure. She might consider it an improvement on her old world. But you didn’t ask her. You didn’t give her a choice, and that makes all the difference. You just yanked her out of her old life. For all you know, she might have a major plan about to come to fruition and you stole that from her.”
    “I did not,” Milo protested. “I did my research, Levi. I’m not an idiot. She had nothing. She was nothing. She would have become nothing. Now she is something – special.”
    Her heart squeezing tight, she listened to Levi and Milo discuss her life. As if they knew her. As if they knew everything about her. And she meant everything.
    “And where in her psych profile, Milo, did it say she’d be up for a complete shock like this?”
    “Ahh…” Milo stuttered.
    Levi’s voice dropped to an ominous level. “You didn’t get a psych profile, did you?”
    “Well, it’s not so easy. They didn’t do them regularly back then. They were quite primitive, remember?”
    Levi snorted.
    Dani’s chest locked tight. A couple centuries into the future? They were kidding – right? But from what she’d seen outside before instinct had her spinning around and returning to the one space she knew – this room – it was not Vancouver. At least not Vancouver as she’d known it. And she’d lived there all her life. Her city was gone. Her apartment building was gone. Her living room was gone.
    She squeezed Charmin tighter against her chest and buried her face against his thick orange fur. Thank heavens he was safe with her. The two of them could have gotten blown up in the blast. “You’re all I have left,” she whispered. And got the next biggest shock of her life.
    “Hey. What do you mean all?” Charmin said, twisting in her arms, his paw reaching out to bat her chest. “You make it sound like I’m nothing. And I’m a whole lot more than nothing.”
    Dani reared back and stared into her beloved cat’s glowering eyes. She shuddered and closed her eyes briefly. “Charmin?” she asked cautiously. “Is that you?”
    No, it can’t be. She felt stupid for even asking the question. There was no way her cat could talk. Then again, there was no way she’d been yanked two centuries into the future either. She dropped her head back. She was losing it. Tears gathered in her eyes. Why her? All she’d ever wanted was to be happy.
    Questions rippled through her mind. Terrifying her. Making her heart stall then race like she was being chased. She squeezed her eyes shut again. One tear rolled down her cheek. She turned her head to wipe her face on her sleeve. She needed some normality here. Something real she could grab and hang on to. She took a deep breath and whispered, “Please, Charmin, don’t tell me you can talk.”
    And oh God…he actually answered her.
    In a deep voice unlike anything she’d ever heard before, Charmin said, “I could always talk. Since when did you learn?”
    She swallowed, opened her eyes, and stared down at her best friend. And found find him staring at her, his face only inches from hers, with a puzzled look in his eyes. Such a human look in that gaze. Such a human-sounding voice.
    Except the claws in her flesh were all feline.
    Her mouth dropped open, and she shook her head in denial. “Not possible. It’s not possible.”
    “Well, it’s not probable. I figured you were too primitive, too underdeveloped to learn such a skill.” He brightened, that wide mouth twisting up into a grin. “But you surprised me. You actually learned to talk.”
    At last she understood.
    She was crazy.
    She’d finally turned some invisible corner into a complete fantasy world in her mind. She’d always wanted to be able to talk to animals. It had been a secret dream ever since she was a little girl. Obviously, reality had become too much and she’d retreated to her