Wulf and the Bounty Hunter
Author: Gail Koger
Date: 2016-10-18 07:00:00+03:00
Description: Wulf knows Yakira is his soulmate. Now he just needs to convince her. But with intergalactic terrorists on Yakira’s trail, there’s little time for romance. What’s a hot-blooded Coletti warlord to do? Yakira feels safe and cherished with Wulf, but he is a Coletti--the ultimate predator with a taste for blood, a passion for battle, and the need to control everything in his life. The big question is: how does she make Wulf understand she’s a powerful psychic with kick-ass bionic limbs and quite capable of taking care of herself?
Publisher: Loose Id LLC

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Loose Id Titles by Gail Koger

Gail Koger

Coletti Warlords 6:

WULF AND THE BOUNTY HUNTER

Gail Koger

www.loose-id.com

Coletti Warlords 6: Wulf and the Bounty Hunter

Copyright © October 2016 by Gail Koger

All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

Image/art disclaimer: Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only. Any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.

eISBN 9781682522271

Editor: Kierstin Cherry

Cover Artist: Mina Carter

Published in the United States of America

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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Warning

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to my parents.

Acknowledgment

I want to express my appreciation to my awesome readers.

Prologue

I was ten years old, alone on an alien planet, and desperate. I hadn’t eaten in two days, and I was so hungry I could eat a deet worm. I knew sneaking into a spaceport tavern was a bad idea, but if something went wrong, I could outrun a drunk male easily. I gathered my courage and slipped inside.

A gasp escaped me. The bar was full of Coletti and Askole warriors. Stealing from one of them was beyond stupid, but I didn’t know what else to do. Father was locked up for assaulting an enforcer, and my brothers were on the outer rim fighting in the latest war. The port authorities had impounded our ship, locking me out. All I wanted was a hot meal and my own bed.

The interior of the crowded tavern was dimly lit, making it easy for me to blend into the shadows. A tremor of alarm shook me. The warriors carried more weapons than my father, but I was a ten-year-old kid, and they wouldn’t shoot me. Would they? I froze in horror when one warrior eyed me curiously. His face and battle suit were splattered with blood. Had they just come from a war?

Leaving suddenly seemed like a good idea. My gaze fixed on the grimy counter. Oh, thank the Goddess! Some fool had left his credit chip lying out. Edging closer, I mentally scanned the huge Coletti warrior sitting on the bar stool. The chip was probably his. One of the dancers was rubbing her breasts all over his face. The warrior really liked it. I frowned. Huh? He wanted his snake thingy inside the dancer’s tunnel? He had a snake? And why would he want to put it in her tunnel?

I eased out of his mind and with a practiced move swiped his credit chip.

A big hand clamped around my wrist. He growled in Galactic Basic, “Put it back.”

“No.” I bit his hand and kicked him in the shin with my bionic foot.

The Coletti warrior roared in fury, dumped the dancer on the floor, and grabbed me.

The indignant dancer jumped up and threw the warrior’s drink in his face. “Bastard.” She flounced off.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I punched him in the belly with my bionic right arm and tried to break free.

The warrior hooted. “You think you can beat Wulf the Mighty, small one?”

Balock’s balls! I turned on the tears and wailed loud enough that everyone stopped drinking to stare at us.

“Tears won’t work on me,” Wulf sneered.

My temper flared to life. The big bully was about to get the surprise of his life. Bracing myself against the bar, I reared back and kicked Wulf in the chest. He flew backward and slammed into a table full of Askole.

The enormous Askole warriors jumped to their feet, and the fight was on. Chairs, tables, and bodies flew in every direction.

I grinned in delight. My bionic legs had gotten me out of more scrapes than I could count.

The Askole were moving so fast all I could see were black blurs as their terrifying claws flashed in a dizzying display of death. Those who didn’t get out of the way fast enough got cut up.

Wulf simply teleported in and out, avoiding the Askole warriors’ deadly claws and fangs. Teleporting looked like so much fun. I wanted to do it too. I bet my father could find someone to teach me. I mean, I was psychic, and so was Wulf. How difficult could it be?

Ducking a warrior’s flying foot, I slipped out the back door. My psychic senses flared to life. I rubbed my head. It felt like hundreds of fire ants tromping across my mind. It was great having an early warning system, but did it have to hurt so much? Plus, all I knew was something bad was coming my way. I hid behind a large metal trash bin.

The sky was suddenly full of armored shuttles. A glittery blue light engulfed the street. When it faded, a dozen enforcers stood there. They rushed into the bar.

Ha! Wulf the Mighty would get his butt tossed in jail.

Weapons fire and shouts sounded from inside the bar. A minute later, battered and bleeding enforcers were tossed headfirst into the street.

My relief was replaced by shock. I psychically scanned the bar. Holy Goddess, the enforcers were definitely losing the fight. Father had said the Coletti and Askole warriors were almost impossible to defeat. I hurried down the walkway.

Wulf teleported outside the bar and pointed at me. “You! Stop!”

One look at his bared fangs, and I fled into the busy marketplace. Weaving around the vendors’ carts, I scooted under a peddler’s table.

The Coletti hurled the heavily loaded table across the courtyard.

Screams, shrieks, and curses rang out as everyone ran for their lives. I couldn’t really blame them; Wulf had big, scary fangs.

Whoa! I scrabbled backward as Wulf lunged for me. His hand missed me by inches. I rolled under a vendor’s cart.

“You cannot escape.” The vendor’s cart was abruptly heaved upward and launched at a squad of enforcers. Smack! Down they went with their arms and legs wriggling frantically under the heavy weight.

Goddess save me. I quickly crawled under another table, flinching as it also went flying.

Wulf seized the back of my jacket and yanked me to my feet. “You kick or bite me again, and I will put you over my knee.” He shook me like a rag doll. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Give me the chip.”

With a submissive nod, I held it out. When the dumbass reached for it, I grabbed his outstretched hand and tossed him over my shoulder.

Splash! The Coletti landed in the wishing pool. He shot to his feet covered in long red weeds.

It was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Giggling hysterically, I ran down a narrow alley and slammed into a very wet Wulf.

He laughed as I fought to break free. “You cannot outrun a Coletti, small one.”

I made a rude noise.

Wulf pulled a device off his weapons belt and scanned my body. “How did you lose your limbs?”

“Tai-Kok,” I spat.

His fierce scowl melted away. “How old are you?”

“Ten.”

“What’s your name?”

“Yakira.” I wiggled, testing his grip. Father had decreased the power in my bionics because I kept getting into fights. If I was at full strength, the Coletti would have never caught me.

Wulf patted me down and took the chip back. “Why did you take my chip?”

My stomach growled. “I’m hungry.”

“Where’s your father?”

I glared at him.

Wulf thrust into my mind. I threw up my shields, stunned at how easily he breached them. “You are strong for one so young.”

“Get out of my head.”

“No.”

A shudder shook me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop him from sifting through my memories.

Wulf vanished from my head. “The male you call your father is not taking proper care of you.”

I drew an angry breath and snarled, “I’m a warrior. I don’t need anyone to take care of me.”

Amusement lit Wulf’s eyes. “My pardon. You are a truly ferocious warrior.” Taking a firm grip on my hand, he led me over to an outdoor café. “What do you want to eat?”

He was going to feed me? Why? I had stolen from him. I eyed him suspiciously. “You aren’t going to kill me?”

“No. I do not harm children.” He plopped me on a chair.

Huh? Who knew?

A Hus Ping waitress, who I thought resembled a five-hundred-pound Earth teddy bear, rushed up. “Ready to order?”

“Skil cakes with Ru sausage,” I said quickly before Wulf could change his mind.

She cast a jittery look at Wulf. “And you, my lord?”

“I’ll take an Ome steak and your best ale.”

“Yes, my lord.” She scurried off.

Wulf’s amber gaze studied me. “Your father is Bjarke, a Norse clan warrior, but you appear to be human.”

I shrugged. “Never heard of humans.” A memory skittered across my mind. Screaming. Awful cries that seemed to go on forever. Blood. I shivered. There had been so much blood. Gutted bodies scattered over the ground like broken dolls. A red-haired woman desperately fought her way through the Tai-Kok. Her green eyes were focused on me.

Wulf was suddenly there, examining the images. “Is that your mother?”

The memory vanished abruptly. “My mother is dead.”

“Who told you that?”

“My father.”

“He’s not your blood kin,” Wulf stated.

“Father rescued me from the Tai-Kok ship and raised me as his own. I owe him my life.”

The waitress placed our food on the table. I stuffed an entire skil cake in my mouth and chewed frantically.

“Easy, young one, you can eat as much as you want.”

I kept on munching. He wanted something from me, but what? I swallowed and reached for a sausage. “Really?”

He nodded. “A Coletti never lies.”

“Can I see your snake?”

Wulf choked on his drink. “My what?”

“Snake. The one you wanted to put in the dancer’s tunnel. Is it in your pocket?”

He stared at me for a long moment in utter disbelief. “Impossible. Totally impossible.”

“It’s not in your pocket?”

“No.”

“Where is it?”

“On my warbird,” Wulf said curtly and began mucking about in my head.

“Stop! That tickles.”

He halted abruptly, a baffled expression on his face.

I looked at him hopefully. “I’ve never seen a snake before. What color is it?”

“This can’t be happening.” Wulf drained his drink and motioned to the waitress for another. “You’re too young.”

A crackling red energy beam struck Wulf in the back. He fell to the floor as violent muscle spasms shook his body.

My brothers Colburn, Ivar, and Loki strode toward me, wearing body armor. Their long purple hair was braided for war.

My message must have finally reached them at the battlefront. “How did you find me?”

“We followed the trail of destruction,” Loki answered.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

Colburn scooped me up. “Time to leave. You have attracted the Overlord’s attention.”

“Me? Why?” I grabbed the last skil cake.

Loki ran a gentle hand over my hair. “Because you are one of a kind.”

Wulf struggled to rise. “She belongs to me. I can protect her.”

“No. You can’t.” Ivar kicked him in the face, slamming Wulf’s head back against the pavement.

I winced. “Why does he think I belong to him?”

“Coletti warriors are insane. You see one. You run.” Colburn raised my chin and looked me dead in the eye. “Do you understand?”

“Yes.” I glared at him when he took a bite of my skil cake.

I didn’t see Wulf again for ten years. Not that he and the Coletti didn’t try to find me, but my family was very, very good at hiding me.

Chapter One

I became a bounty hunter at the age of twenty. It wasn’t like I had a choice. My father and brothers had been arrested again. This time for smuggling. To my utter disgust the enforcers impounded our ship again. I tried to explain the ship was in dry dock for repairs and hadn’t been used to smuggle Avici, a banned ale, but they didn’t care. They simply arrested me too.

Big mistake. I kicked my way out of their transport vehicle and led the enforcers on a merry chase. When their stun nets failed to trap me, the rat bastards started shooting. Like I was some kind of big-time criminal? My family smuggled ale for Goddess’s sake, not Shivet warheads. Tired of being shot at, I gave the enforcers a bigger prey to deal with. A very dangerous weapons dealer-slash-terrorist. The rather spectacular shootout was featured on the news vids for days.

I needed a quick way to raise a million credits for my family’s bail, and bounty hunting was the logical choice. I had helped Loki on several of his hunts, and it didn’t look all that hard. I sneaked back into our ship and logged into the hunters’ database. Twenty minutes later, I found the perfect target. Gulog the Mad, and oh, Goddess, his bounty was three million credits. I’d even have enough left over to get my bionics upgraded.

My eyes widened in horror. “Balock’s balls.” He was wanted for twelve counts of murder. No wonder most hunters avoided him. Only the truly insane or desperate went after someone that lethal.

I let out a long sigh. Just call me desperate. Hmmm. According to the report, the enforcers had been summoned to the Sagas Inn for a fight. They’d found Gulog the Mad kicking the crap out of several patrons. When the enforcers tried to arrest him, they quickly found out Gulog was truly mad. He killed twelve enforcers before fleeing. The enforcers’ error was in using force.

Me? I wouldn’t make the same mistake. I had a nifty blowgun disguised as a necklace. The long black metal tubes held darts guaranteed to knock out a rampaging Gourman, a nasty wolflike creature. With my very best friend Ziyad’s help, Gulog the Mad’s bounty would soon be mine.

Finding Gulog the Mad shouldn’t be hard. I thought about where my brothers would go if they were horny and thirsty. The Sharqi Pleasure Palace, of course. It was a male’s wet dream. Species from every corner of the galaxy swarmed the dimly lit, disgustingly gaudy interior. All with two thoughts on their feeble minds. Sex and booze. Not a problem since the joint had plenty of willing females and a fully stocked bar. All I had to do was wait for Gulog to show.

I approached the bartender and asked for a job. His lecherous gaze crawled over my long purple hair with its red roots, my petite frame and full breasts. He spit a stream of brown liquid on the floor. “Pay’s fifty credits a day.”

What a cheap bastard. “We keep our tips?”

The bartender nodded. “You can change in the back.” He tossed me a costume and a link to input drink orders.

I hurried into the back room. After a quick look around to make sure I was alone, I stripped off my tunic and loose trousers and squeezed into the costume. The scarlet corset pushed my breasts up until they threatened to spill out of the low-cut blouse. The itty-bitty skirt barely covered my ass. None of the shoes fit, so I left my boots on. One look in the mirror, and I grimaced. All I needed was a sword, and I’d look like that slutty warrior princess on the vids.

After five long hours of dodging grabby paws, claws, and slimy tentacles, Gulog the Mad finally showed. About friggin’ time.

Gulog the Mad reminded me of an ogre from the book of Earth fairy tales Father had given me. He had a lumpy scalp, burning red eyes, sharp pointy teeth, and was the size of a small mountain.

I summoned up a seductive smile and sauntered over to Gulog with a tankard of ale. My psychic senses suddenly went on red alert. Holy Goddess! Wulf was nearby. How in the nine hells had he found me?

It had been ten years since our little battle. Would he look the same? Would he remember me? I placed the tankard of ale next to Gulog the Mad and eased into the shadows.

Wulf stalked into the room, every inch a warlord and literally bristling with weapons. My gaze roamed over him. He seemed bigger. His battle suit displayed his heavily muscled form to perfection. He wore a bronze communications bracelet on his left wrist, and a bronze chain was woven into his ebony warrior braids. Wulf’s goatee emphasized his high cheekbones.

Man, was he hot! For an old guy. I wanted to run my hands over that awesome chest. I shook myself. What was I thinking? He was the crazy Coletti who thought I belonged to him. Like that would ever happen.

Wulf’s gaze fixed on Gulog the Mad, and fangs filled his predatory smile. “I have come for you, Gulog. Surrender or die.”

I gasped. He was after my bounty! Do I stay or do I run? If I ran, my family would be locked up for the next hundred years. This was their sixtieth arrest for smuggling, and the judge had warned them if they got caught again, he’d sentence them to life. I couldn’t allow that to happen, and besides, Wulf hadn’t captured Gulog yet.

“I have killed many of your kind,” Gulog the Mad bellowed. He picked up his table and hurled it at Wulf.

At the last moment, Wulf teleported out of the way. The table crashed into the wall, shattering into a million pieces.

The room exploded into pandemonium as everyone ran for the exits.

With an ear-shattering roar, Gulog the Mad grabbed several fleeing patrons and tossed them at Wulf.

Wulf dodged the flying bodies and threw four tables at Gulog the Mad in quick succession.

Smack! Gulog’s head jerked back.

Smack! Right in the kisser. He staggered and almost fell.

Smack! Several of Gulog’s teeth went flying.

Smack! Gulog crashed to the floor. The entire building shuddered.

I had to admit I was impressed.

Wulf pulled thick metal cuffs off his weapons belt.

Out of sheer desperation, I burst from the shadows and yelled, “No! He’s my bounty.”

Wulf’s stunned gaze surveyed me from head to toe. “Yakira. I’ve searched the galaxy for you.” A sudden frown creased his forehead. “Your bounty?”

“I found him first.”

Wulf snorted. “You think you can capture Gulog the Mad?”

“I know I can,” I stated confidently, trying hard to ignore the fear knotting my stomach.

He cocked one dark brow. “Your males let you hunt?”

“They’re in jail, so they don’t get a say in the—”

Gulog the Mad erupted to his feet and tackled Wulf. They rolled around on the floor, exchanging blows.

If Wulf got hurt, it would be my fault for distracting him. A cry of alarm broke from me when Gulog managed to pin my warlord to the floor. My warlord? Where had that come from?

Gulog wrapped his massive hands around Wulf’s neck and began choking him.

Poor Wulf tried unsuccessfully to buck him off. My warlord’s face turned an ominous purple color.

Oh Goddess, I couldn’t let Gulog the Mad kill Wulf. I lifted one of the blowgun’s tubes and blew.

At the same instant, Wulf rolled Gulog beneath him. The dart hit my warlord in the back of the neck. He turned his head and looked at me in disbelief.

“Sorry, I was aiming for Gulog,” I said with an apologetic shrug.

Wulf fell facedown on the dirty marble tiles.

Gulog the Mad laughed triumphantly and grabbed Wulf’s laser pistol. “Now you die.”

“I don’t think so.” I put another tube to my mouth and exhaled.

The dart hit Gulog the Mad in the throat. He jerked it out. “Stupid female, I’m going to rip your legs off and beat you to death with them.”

“I bet you say that to all the girls.”

His face twisted with fury, Gulog threw the laser pistol at me when it wouldn’t fire. It was safety coded for Wulf’s use only.

Ducking it, I scooted around a table. “Not real bright, are you?”

“Kill you.” Gulog the Mad stumbled over a broken chair.

I looked around frantically for another weapon. I could easily outrun Gulog, but if I did that, Wulf was a dead man.

Gulog the Mad lunged for me.

My heart pounding rapidly, I evaded his outstretched arms and blew again.

The dart struck Gulog the Mad between the eyes. He howled angrily and hurled a chair at me.

I dodged it and peppered him with darts, but the monster just kept on coming.

Why wasn’t he unconscious? My back hit the wall. I sucked in a horrified breath. He had me trapped.

As Gulog the Mad reached for me, his eyes rolled back in his head, and down he went. Boom! The building shook.

A hysterical laugh escaped me. I was alive. How awesome was that? Bounty hunting wasn’t as easy as I’d thought, but if my family didn’t stop breaking the law, I’d be doing it full-time. Ugh.

Wulf moaned. I hurried over to him and checked his pulse. Whew. It was strong and steady.

A harsh voice demanded, “Is Wulf injured?”

I looked down at Wulf‘s communications bracelet. From the viewscreen, a pair of disturbingly hostile amber eyes examined me. One look at the burn scar on the warlord’s right cheek, and I smothered a groan. It was Voss, the Coletti battle commander.

“Not exactly.” I patted Wulf’s face. “The old guy’s just taking a nap.”

“Old guy?”

I shrugged. “He’s way older than me.”

Voss asked grimly, “What did you do to the old guy?”

“Me? Nothing?”

A brief dangerous smile crossed Voss’s mouth. “Do not lie to me, child.”

“Child? I’m twenty, you jerk.”

“A very great age.”

I glared at him. “I’m old enough to be a hunter, and it wasn’t my fault Wulf jumped in front of my tranquillizer dart.”

“Wasn’t it?”

Voss was starting to get on my last nerve. “Wulf was losing the fight with Gulog the Mad. I was simply trying to help him.”

Alarm flared in Voss’s eyes. “Gulog the Mad is there?”

“He is.” I tilted Wulf’s arm so Voss could see the ogre. “See? I have it all under control. Gulog the Mad never had a chance.”

Voss sighed. “You are a Jones.”

“Jones? Never heard of them. Oh, by the way, I’m claiming the bounty on Gulog.”

The battle commander tapped his control console. “How do you propose to get him out of the tavern?”

I smirked. “That’s the easy part.” Little fire ants danced across my mind. Hmmm. Since my internal radar never failed me, that meant Voss was up to no good. “Whatever you’re planning, it won’t work.”

Voss grinned. “I think it will.”

“Think again.” I punched a key on my communications bracelet. A glittering blue light blossomed around Gulog the Mad and me.

“Even using the Visio crystal, you can’t hide from us forever, Yakira.” The relentless purpose in the battle commander’s voice sent a chill down my spine. He knew how my family had been hiding me. My Visio crystal blocked all of the Coletti telepathic abilities.

Ten seconds later I was standing on an icy-cold transporter platform. My best friend, Ziyad, stood at the controls. She looked like a creature some mad scientist had dreamed up. She was half Askole and half Rodan. She had a face like the Earth dinosaur called the T-Rex, tentacles, and the black armor-plated skin of an Askole.

Ziyad grinned, exposing a mouthful of serrated teeth, and spoke to me telepathically. “Our plan worked perfectly.”

“Sorta. The Coletti sent a hunter after Gulog the Mad too.”

“Oh Goddess. Not what’s his name? Buff?”

“Wulf,” I corrected. “He is one of their top hunters.” I knew because my family kept track of him. I was never quite sure why they were afraid of him.

Ziyad’s hands flew over the transporter console. “They must have a warbird close by.”

“If they do, it’s cloaked. We need to get Gulog the Mad to the magistrate before the Coletti take him from us.”

Gulog’s legs twitched.

I jumped about a foot. “He’s waking up.”

“I’ll move the ship and contact the prison.” Ziyad zoomed off.

Ziyad had also inherited the Askole’s speed and the Rodan’s ferocious hunger. If she went too long without food, it wasn’t pretty. Due to her heritage, Ziyad’s ability to communicate was limited to telepathy. Few species could actually speak the Askole’s complicated language. I could understand bits and pieces of it, but then I lived with her. I took her spot at the transporter controls.

“I have contacted the prison. We have permission to transport Gulog into a holding cell. I’m sending you the coordinates,” Ziyad advised.

“Got them.” I entered the data. The transporter whined to life, and a few seconds later Gulog the Mad was gone. I fidgeted as I waited for confirmation from the prison. If this didn’t work, I’d never see my family again. After twenty minutes had passed, I checked my communications bracelet again. What was the holdup?

There was a flash of black, and Ziyad stood next to me. “The magistrate has confirmed Gulog the Mad’s identity and transferred the funds into our account.”

Utter relief flooded me. “Thank the Goddess.”

Ziyad cocked her head to one side. “You ready to visit the most dangerous prison in the galaxy?”

I grimaced. “No, but I don’t really have a choice.” I pulled off my Visio crystal bracelet and placed it on the console. I hated leaving it behind, but the prison officials would confiscate it. “How long do you think it will take the Coletti to pounce?”

“Not long,” Ziyad stated. “Their pride has been damaged. You have eluded them for over ten years. That has never happened before.”

“Like I care. Let’s go kick some ass.”

Ziyad’s roar reverberated around the room. “Death to the infidels.”

“You really need to stop reading those Earth books.”

Chapter Two

The glittering blue transporter light faded, and we stood on the Igator prison’s visitors’ platform. Or as I liked to call it, the kill zone. We were surrounded by dozens of automated laser canons. If we failed the prison’s body scan, we would be incinerated.

A mechanical voice commanded, “Do not move until the scan is complete.”

Ziyad and I exchanged worried glances as a yellow beam rolled over us. Igator prison was carved out of a mountain of pure Rhyolite obsidian. One of the toughest rocks in the galaxy. Add in a grade ten force field, and it became an impenetrable fortress.

Even if we made a run for it, we wouldn’t last ten minutes in the hellish wasteland that encircled the prison. The warden had left the remains of escaped prisoners rotting on the black sand. The message was clear. The only way out was in a body bag.

“You are cleared to proceed to the visitors’ booth,” the mechanical voice announced.

“I told you my disguise would pass muster.” Ziyad chortled. The holographic image she projected was of an elderly Bjarke female, complete with purple hair and long black tunic.

“Yee-haw! I get to live another day.” I eyed the laser canons warily as we walked over to the plastisteel cubicle.

“Yee-haw?”

“It’s an Earth term of exhilaration.”

“I like it.”

“Why am I not surprised?” As soon as we stepped inside, a computer console appeared.

The mechanical voice said, “State the nature of your visit.”

“I’m here to bail out prisoners 888888965, 888888966, 8888888967, and 8888888968.”

“Their bail is one million credits. Insert your chip into the second slot.”

I did as it instructed. The computer clicked loudly and spit out my credit chip.

The voice warned, “The prisoners will be released into your custody. Failure to appear at the district court at the appointed time will result in credit forfeiture.”

“We wouldn’t dream of missing our appointed time,” I assured the voice solemnly.

A door appeared out of thin air.

“Proceed to the waiting room,” the voice commanded.

Ziyad and I walked through, and the door vanished. “If something goes wrong, getting out of here is going to be a bitch,” I groused.

“Not a problem. I haven’t eaten today,” Ziyad informed me gleefully.

Oh Goddess. With Ziyad, mayhem and carnage was always a possibility. “What made you think that was a good idea?”

“I fight better when I’m hungry, and I’ve always wanted to taste an enforcer.”

I rubbed my suddenly aching head. Ziyad was ten years older than me, but it always felt like I was the adult and she was the kid. “You eat or even taste an enforcer, and they will hunt you forever.” I patted her shoulder. “But look on the bright side—you can eat all the Tai-Kok you want.”

“They give me indigestion.”

“Spit out the metal parts, and it won’t be a problem.”

Ziyad came to an abrupt halt.

Bam! I crashed into her armored-plated back. “Ouch!” I massaged my nose. “Why did you stop?”

“Isn’t that Pindick, the galactic terrorist?”

I peered around her and examined the wizened male standing in the middle of the room, tufts of orange hair protruding from his wrinkled yellow skull. His frail body was draped in a loose white tunic. “Hmmm. Kinda looks like him, but I thought he was younger, bigger, and meaner-looking.”

Ziyad sniffed. “He smells like Pindick.”

His mental shields sucked. There were all sorts of interesting information floating about in his sick, twisted mind. “It’s Pindick, all right, and he’s got a holographic device in his pocket.”

“It isn’t as good as mine. See?” Ziyad pointed as Pindick’s clothes changed from the white tunic to battle armor and back. “The image is fluctuating.”

“Big-time. What I want to know is why he’s here.”

“To break his brother out.”

“He’s here? In this prison?”

Ziyad rolled her eyes. “Where else would they put a dangerous terrorist?”

I tried to calm my jumpy nerves. She had a point. Since I was the one who sicced the enforcers on Pindick’s brother, the nasty gunrunner, this could get ugly real fast. “But…no one has ever escaped from this place.”

An explosion rocked the prison. Pieces of the ceiling rained down on us.

“I think that’s about to change,” Ziyad said as we backed slowly away from Pindick.

The wizened guy was suddenly replaced by a tall, brawny yellowed-skin male.

“He’s got a thermal grenade!” Ziyad shoved me to the floor and jumped on top of me.

Boom! The left wall blew outward. Smoke filled the room.

I kneaded my ringing ears. I could barely hear the prison’s wailing alarms. Ziyad’s heavy weight made it difficult to breathe. “Get off.”

Ziyad moaned and rolled off me. “Did he blow himself up?”

“We can only hope.” I crawled over to the shattered wall and looked out. Pindick popped up from behind a pile of rubble and fired at several of the prison’s enforcers, forcing them to take cover. “We aren’t that lucky, and he has a laser pistol too.”

“Pindick had to bribe a lot of high-ranking officials to get weapons into this prison,” Ziyad growled, picking a piece of shrapnel out of her leg.

“You hurt?”

“It’s just a scratch.”

Across the debris-filled courtyard a door opened, and three turncoat prison guards ran out and blasted away at the enforcers.

“Look, your brothers,” Ziyad exclaimed, pointing at the doorway.

I caught a glimpse of Loki inside a holding cell. My entire body shook with fury. Pindick was going to get my family killed. “We’ve got to get them out of there.”

Glittery blue lights abruptly engulfed the courtyard. When they faded, a dozen armored planetary enforcers stood there. They unleashed a deadly volley of laser beams.

The traitorous prison guards’ bodies disintegrated into a million fireflies when the laser beams struck them.

Pindick made a mad dash through the open doorway. Thirty seconds later, the corrupt prison guards turned on the laser cannons. Red energy beams flashed wildly. The courtyard became a kill zone, the cannons incinerating anything that moved.

Ziyad surveyed the debris-laden courtyard. “I’m not fast enough to beat the cannons.”

“There has to be a way to save them.”

“There is,” Wulf announced in my head.

I glanced over my shoulder and groaned. Wulf, Voss, and about twenty Coletti warriors filled the room.

Ziyad licked her lips. “Yum. Fresh meat.”

Voss laughed. “Who is this delightful creature?”

Delightful? Ziyad usually scared the crap out of people. Maybe the big, bad battle commander thought he could handle her. I grinned. This should be fun. “Ziyad, this is Voss, the Coletti battle commander. Battle Commander, may I introduce you to my best friend, Ziyad.”

“It is a pleasure to meet Yakira’s partner in crime,” Voss replied politely.

He had no idea. I looked Wulf dead in the eye. “Let me guess. Out of the goodness of your heart, you’ll teleport my family to safety?” I threw up a hand. “Oh wait! Coletti warlords aren’t benevolent do-gooders. There is always a price for your help. So, what do you want?”

Wulf’s mouth tightened into a hard line. “My mate.”

Mate? Was he talking about me? One look at the burning need in his eyes, and I knew he would do whatever it took to possess me. No wonder he had my family in such a dither. Coletti never, ever stopped hunting their prey. But I wasn’t prey. I was as much of a predator as he was. I let my gaze roam over the room. “Gee, I don’t see another female here. Oh Goddess, you don’t mean Ziyad, do you? You might want to rethink that decision.” I leaned in closer to Wulf and whispered, “She bites.”

Ziyad snapped her jaws at Wulf.

“Surrender is your only option.” Wulf’s menacing tone made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Talk about cranky. Maybe he had what my brothers called blue balls.

“Surrender now,” Grumpy repeated.

“Not a chance. I can take you,” Ziyad said. She turned and gave the other warriors a toothy grin. “And them.”

Every warrior’s right hand immediately dropped to the hilt of his sword.

I suppressed a smile. Ziyad was such a tease.

An immense power rippled the air. A second later, the biggest, meanest-looking warlord stood there. His black battle suit emphasized his huge frame. He wore large gold warrior’s bracelets with an elaborate design. An etched gold headband held back his gray warrior’s braids.

Holy Goddess! Zarek! The vids didn’t do him justice. He was definitely scarier in person.

Zarek’s ruthless amber eyes surveyed Ziyad and then me. “You will come with us willingly. If Ziyad makes one aggressive move, we kill her, take you, and leave your family here to die.”

Horror rocked me. He meant it.

My crazy best friend jumped in front of me. “I won’t let you hurt her.”

“If I truly wanted to harm Yakira, there is nothing you could do to stop me,” Zarek answered coldly.

Multiple explosions shook the building. The roof buckled, and pieces of obsidian crashed down.

Wulf pushed Ziyad and me to safety. A large chunk of obsidian missed us by inches.

Ziyad’s tentacles danced madly around her head. “Pindick isn’t going to stop until he levels the prison. We surrender now and live to fight another day.”

Now she had common sense?

A growl issued from Voss. “Pindick?”

Kaboom! A fireball rose high into the sky.

I flinched as a laser beam sizzled past my face. “Yes, Pindick. And if he realizes I’m the one who got his brother arrested, it won’t be good. Can we go? Now. Please?”

“Yes.” Wulf grabbed Ziyad and me in a bone-crushing grip. There was a fleeting instant of blackness. The next thing I knew, Wulf had shoved both of us into a holding cell and engaged the energy barrier. Awesome! Now we were trapped on a Coletti warbird.

“Don’t go anywhere.” Wulf smirked and vanished.

“Now that’s just rude.”

Ziyad grinned evilly. “The idiot forgot to search us.”

I grinned back. “Or take our communications devices.”

“If you make any attempt to escape, your family pays the price,” Zarek warned in my head.

“Yes, my lord.” I sagged down on the narrow bed. “They have us right where they want us.”

“For now,” Ziyad said complacently. “We do have a very large ace up our shirt.”

“Sleeve, and is it still tracking us?”

“It is.”

Chapter Three

Wulf teleported in with my brother Colburn slung over one shoulder. Wulf tossed my brother in a cell and vanished.

“Huh? He didn’t even engage the energy barrier.” I ran my gaze over Colburn’s bloody form. Of course, my brother wasn’t in any shape to make a run for it. “Pindick better be responsible for his condition.”

Ziyad sniffed the air. “Pindick’s blood is on Colburn.”

“Good. I hope my brother killed him.”

With a groan, Colburn pushed himself into a sitting position. “The Coletti grabbed Pindick before I could do any serious damage.”

Wulf popped back in again with a loudly cursing Ivar. My brother swung at the warlord. Wulf dodged the blow, banged my brother’s head against the wall, and shoved Ivar in the cell with Colburn.

“Hey! You hurt my brothers, and I’ll let Ziyad eat you.”

Wulf’s left brow rose in disbelief. “You dare to threaten me? I am your mate.” The deranged warlord ran his hand over the control panel. The energy field flared to life.

“No. You’re a complete stranger who I met once when I was ten.”

“I fed you.”

“Whoop de do. You had to. I was a kid,” I retorted, flinching when I felt Wulf slide into my head.

“Once I touched your mind, I knew you were mine.” Mental fingers gently stroked my cheek. “Even then you were a warrior. This pleased me.”

“I remember otherwise. I seriously freaked you out. All because I wanted to see your snake.”

“I’ll be happy to show it to you now.” Wulf’s voice was a low rumble.

“Pass. I’m not into tentacles.”

Ziyad’s yellow eyes flashed with hurt. “What?”

Great. I had offended her. “Not yours. His.” I shoved at Wulf’s presence. “Get out of my head.”

“Our minds are linked. A link that can never be broken.”

“What? Never?”

“Never,” Wulf declared, laughter dancing in his eyes.

He thought this was funny? Out of sheer desperation, I spat, “Wasn’t I a little young for you?”

“You were worth the wait.”

Part of me was flattered. Part of me thought Wulf was a creepy old pervert.

Another massive Coletti warrior appeared, holding my brother Loki by the throat. “Where do you want him?”

One look at Loki’s purple face, and I commanded, “Put him with us.”

“Bossy little female,” the warrior commented.

Wulf pointed to an empty cell. “She’s a Jones.”

“They are a handful.” The warrior dragged Loki to the cell and pushed him inside. With a flick of his hand, he engaged the energy barrier.

Ziyad eyed the warrior longingly. “Can I eat him?”

“No! You cannot eat Lothel,” Wulf snapped.

“If you don’t want it getting very bloody in here, you’ll bring Ziyad some food and fast,” I said urgently.

A look of complete horror on his face, Loki rasped, “How long has it been since she ate?”

“Too long,” I answered.

Colburn and Ivar exchanged worried looks.

Lothel examined Ziyad from head to toe. “She’s half Rodan?”

“She is,” I confirmed.

“I’ll get the food.” Poof! Lothel vanished.

Wulf rubbed his jaw. “Does Sariel, the Askole high commander, know about her?”

“Ziyad is considered an abomination by the Askole. Her own grandfather tried to kill her. I put a stop to that nonsense.” I wrapped an arm around Ziyad. “She is the sister of my heart.”

Ziyad raised her chin defiantly. “We are family.”

Lothel reappeared with a haunch of meat.

“That won’t be enough,” I stated.

Lothel disengaged the energy barrier and carefully handed the haunch to Ziyad.

My best friend tore into the meat like she hadn’t eaten in the past century.

Wulf watched in fascination. “How often does she have to eat?”

“Every four hours, or it gets bloody.”

“Good to know. I’ll get more.” Lothel teleported away.

Voss was suddenly standing next to Wulf. “And how do the Rodans feel about Ziyad?”

“They think she’s food,” I replied. A shudder shook me as I remembered how close we’d come to being the main course at a feast a Rodan commander was throwing.

A low growl escaped Wulf. “You approached the Rodan alone?”

“It wasn’t one of our better plans.”

“But we blew up their battle cruiser,” Ziyad added proudly between bites.

Ivar snorted. “By accident.”

“Whatever. It went boom. No more nasty Rodan,” I retorted.

Wulf stared at me for a long moment. “When did this happen?”

I didn’t like the look in his eyes. “Does it matter?”

“It does,” Voss interjected. “We had been tracking the Rodan’s battle cruiser Lakshmi when it detonated unexpectedly.”

The Coletti had been hunting someone very important. “The only life forms on the Lakshmi were Rodan.”

“The Overlord has agreed to grant Ziyad sanctuary,” Voss announced out of the blue.

I shot him a suspicious look. “Why?”

“With the proper training, she will be a valuable asset.”

Ziyad didn’t need their training. She already was one hell of a warrior, but we would have to play along for now.

Lothel popped in with more meat.

There was a flash of black, and the food vanished from Lothel’s hands. Ziyad moaned in pleasure. “Bendeer. My favorite.”

A horrific scream echoed down the corridor.

A jolt of raw fear shook me, and I looked at Wulf. “Who?”

“Pindick.”

Voss tilted his head as if he was listening to someone. “Lothel, the Overlord needs the bartock beetles.”

Lothel disappeared.

Voss followed a second later.

The terrorist deserved everything they did to him. He was responsible for the destruction of an entire planet. I sucked in a horrified breath as I suddenly realized we were missing an important member of our family. “Where’s my father?”

“Your father is getting needed medical care,” Wulf replied.

“What? How badly is he hurt?”

“He will live,” Wulf answered.

“Wow. That’s it? Does he have a broken leg? A head wound?”

“Both.”

I scowled. “Gee, a chatty Coletti. How did I get so fortunate?”

Wulf parried with a grin. “Do your brothers know you hunted Gulog the Mad by yourself?

“Blabbermouth.”

“You went after Gulog the Mad!” my brothers yelled in unison.

“Yeah, what did you expect me to do? He was the only one with a three-million-credit bounty on his head.”

Loki eyed my itty-bitty barmaid outfit. “Wearing that?”

“It is what the barmaids wear.”

“Gulog could have killed you,” Ivar snarled.

I countered. “But he didn’t.”

“Our plan worked perfectly,” Ziyad added, giving them a big toothy smile.

Wulf eyed my skimpy outfit. “You spent one million credits bailing your family out. Where is the rest of the bounty?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I crossed my arms and tried to look intimidating.

Wulf chortled. “You look like a small, fluffy petka trying to imitate a Gourman.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“You will tell me. One way or another. The credits belong to me,” Wulf said with the unwavering stare of a predator.

I matched his stare with one I hoped was equally menacing. “You didn’t capture and deliver Gulog the Mad to the magistrate. We did.”

“You are juveniles in my custody. Therefore, the credits are mine,” Wulf replied smugly.

I gave Wulf the stink eye. I wasn’t considered an adult until I hit twenty-one. “Ziyad isn’t a juvenile.”

“By Askole standards she is.”

“Fine!” I threw up my hands in disgust. “Steal from kids. It’s what you Coletti do best.”

Wulf actually laughed. “Life with you will never be boring.”

“You better learn to sleep with one eye open.”

“You can’t hurt me.”

“Wanna bet?”

Wulf pulled his laser pistol out, disarmed the safety feature, and handed it to me. “Go ahead. Shoot me.”

I gaped at him in disbelief. Had he lost his mind? “I can’t kill you in cold blood.”

“But I can.” Ziyad charged him.

Wulf teleported out of the way, and Ziyad slammed face-first into the wall.

Ouch. That had to hurt. I quickly wrapped my arms around her. “Please. Think of what Zarek will do if you harm Wulf. I can’t lose you.”

Ziyad exhaled a long breath. “You’re right.” She calmly walked back into our cell and sat on the bunk.

Giving me a weapon wasn’t a smart move. It was the perfect opportunity to start our escape plan. All I had to do was take down the containment field surrounding the cells. I raised the laser pistol and shot out the control panel for our cell. Bright yellow sparks spewed in every direction. Before I could destroy the other panels, Wulf took the pistol away from me. “You are dangerous.”

“You have no idea,” Ivar said drily.

Colburn put in blithely, “She looked so small and helpless the Chi-Rho pirates ignored her when they attacked our ship. Big mistake.”

“Hey, they wanted our cargo, and I gave it to them,” I said modestly.

Wulf let out a low whistle. “You’re the one who released the bot bugs.”

“It was the least I could do. Who knew they were allergic to the bugs?” I gave Wulf my best innocent look.

He pointed to an empty cell. “In. Now.”

“You’re afraid of little ol’ me?”

“Only a fool would allow you to roam freely.”

I obediently walked into the cell. Stage one complete.

“Behave yourself. You do not want to anger the Overlord.”

“Really? He’s seems like such a nice man,” I said a tad bit sarcastically. A sharp pain zapped me in the butt. “Ouch!”

Wulf shook his head. “I did warn you. The Overlord hears everything.”

“Good to know.” I took a hasty step back as the energy barrier crackled to life.

Wulf teleported away.

I sighed. “If Pindick hadn’t shown up when he did, we would all be free now.”

“The Coletti wanted Gulog the Mad because he knows where Pindick’s hideout is,” Loki advised hoarsely.

“What did Pindick do to anger the Coletti?”

Colburn laughed. “He attacked the base where Malik was imprisoned and freed him.”

The breath left my lungs in an involuntary gasp of surprise. “Malik, the Overlord’s murderous, back-stabbing son? The same son who teamed up with the Tai-Kok and has tried to kill Talree, his brother, several times?”

“The one and the same. Malik is also the most dangerous terrorist in the galaxy,” Colburn confirmed.

“That would definitely get Zarek’s attention. Wait a minute. Wasn’t Malik comatose?”

“He woke up,” Ivar answered.

“And before Malik could face Talree in a highly awaited death match, he escaped,” Loki finished.

“But it gets better,” Colburn declared with a greedy smile. “There’s a ten-million-credit bounty on Malik’s head.”

Loki whooped. “Wine and women. Wine and women.”

“We can get a suite at the Sharqi Pleasure Palace and throw the party of the century.” Ivar hooted.

Ziyad and I exchanged disgusted looks. Males. Only one thought on their tiny little minds. “I hate to rain on your joy, but does anyone have a plan on how to ditch the Coletti?”

“We’ll think of something,” Loki replied.

Ivar nodded. “We always do.”

I wanted to throttle them. They thought they were the masters of the universe. Their grand plans usually ended up with them behind bars. Good thing Ziyad and I were on top of it. I yawned. Goddess, was I tired. I needed a nap. My eyes drifted shut.

Chapter Four

My internal radar screamed a sudden warning. Someone had murder on their mind. I bolted upright on the bunk and looked around in alarm. Where was I?

“We’re prisoners on the Coletti ship,” Ziyad reminded me.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “Right. How could I forget?”

A worried frown creasing Ivar’s forehead, he asked the obvious, “What’s wrong?”

“Gee, let me think. We’re trapped on a Coletti warbird, Wulf thinks I’m his mate, and I’m sensing a psychotic male who is determined to take out Zarek and his command staff with a bomb.”

Loki’s eyes narrowed into a harsh frown. “Zarek has a traitor on board?”

“That would be a yes.”

“Stop him,” Colburn ordered.

“Gee, why didn’t I think of that?” I reached out mentally, searching for the murderous ass. There. Ugh. What a sick, twisted mind. The male had only one purpose. To destroy Zarek and the ship. I linked with Wulf and showed him the male’s ugly thoughts. “You’ve got a saboteur on your warbird.”

“Kar, our head engineer. It seems Malik bought his loyalty,” Wulf growled. “Where is he?”

“Heading for weapons control.”

I felt Wulf teleport and take Kar down with one punch. “Got him.”

The itchy sensation in my mind wouldn’t go away. We weren’t out of danger yet. “Something bad is heading our way, Wulf.”

“I’ll inform the Overlord. Find out what it is.”

“Yes, my lord, right away,” I said sarcastically. Like I could ignore the sensation of imminent death.

The warbird’s alarm began to wail, and a harsh voice called, “Battle stations. All warriors to battle stations.”

Drawing on my psychic abilities, I scanned the area around the warbird. Well, what do you know? There was a cloaked battle cruiser three thousand kilometers off our port side. I passed the information to Wulf.

The warbird’s laser cannons fired. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

At the same time, the enemy ship unleashed a barrage of missiles.

The warbird pitched radically as the torpedoes struck. Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!

It was like being on a wild carnival ride. I hung on for dear life. “Who in their right mind would attack a ship with the Overlord in it?”

“My guess would be Jarl Amarok, Pindick’s older brother and the head of their terrorist organization. He knows Zarek will rip his brothers’ minds to shreds and find out all their nasty little secrets. Jarl can’t let that happen,” Ivar remarked.

“How long can the shields hold?” Ziyad paced nervously.

The knot in my stomach got bigger. “A really good question.”

Another salvo shook the warbird.

Ivar was thrown into the wall. He shook his head to clear it. “Let’s hope Jarl doesn’t use the Shivet warhead he stole.”

Oh Goddess. I had forgotten about the theft. My father, desperate for money to pay off his gambling debts, had stolen the security codes from a drunken Alliance captain and sold them to Jarl Amarok. Shivet warheads were the worst. If you knocked out your opponent’s shields, all it took was a direct hit, and the ship was space dust.

I had wanted to keep my telekinetic powers a secret, but if I didn’t step up and do the right thing, we would all be very dead. “How do you think the Coletti will react when I reveal my little secret?”

“Maybe they won’t notice,” Ziyad whispered.

“Oh, they’ll notice.” I took a deep breath and summoned every bit of power I had. Thank the Goddess, the energy signature of a Shivet warhead was unique.

A cold thread of fear snaked up my spine as I mentally surveyed the enemy battle cruiser. In a missile tube sat death. What made the warhead so deadly was the incendiary chemical called Najea. Once exposed to the air inside the ship, it caused a massive explosion. I linked with Wulf. “Jarl is preparing to launch a Shivet rocket.”

His rage was a living thing. “We know.”

“Have any defense against it?”

“No.”

“Can you outrun the battle cruiser?”

“Coletti never run,” Wulf snarled.

Testosterone was the bane of the universe.

Fire ants stormed through my head. Jarl had launched the warhead. I dropped my shields and searched for the missile. A pulse of energy caught my attention. There! I threw all my telekinetic power at the warhead. Wham! It crashed into the missile. I kept hitting the warhead over and over again until it finally slowed.

Wulf appeared in front of our cell and turned off the barrier. “I’m taking you to the life pods.”

I ignored him and pushed at the warhead with everything I had. Turn. Come on. Turn.

He shook me. “Did you hear me?”

“If you don’t want to die, leave her alone.” Ziyad hissed angrily and punched him in the chest.

Wulf staggered back a step. “You stay, you die.” His eyes widened when he sensed what I was doing. “You can stop it?”

“If I get more power,” I gritted out, and just like that Wulf, Voss, and Zarek gave me all the juice I needed. I threw our combined psychic superpower at the warhead. The missile trajectory altered until it was heading right back at Jarl’s ship.

“I really hope Jarl’s shields are down.”

“They are,” Wulf gloated, holding out his communication bracelet.

On the vid screen I watched as the battle cruiser vanished in a nimbus of white-hot gases and debris.

Utter relief rolled over me. At long last the Amarok brothers’ reign of terror was over.

My brothers’ cheers were deafening.

Ziyad spun me in a dizzy circle. “You did it. You did it!”

“You doubted me?”

Wulf grabbed me away from Ziyad and planted a joyous kiss on my mouth. “The Overlord is very pleased.”

“Yay?”

“You’re a Siren.” Wulf hugged me tightly. “A very strong one.”

That was a good thing? “What’s a Siren?”

“A Siren is a powerful psychic with multiple talents. Like you. You can sense danger from a great distance. You are telekinetic, you have healing powers, and I am sure you have other gifts you haven’t shared with us yet,” Wulf answered with a pointed look.

If he thought I was going to divulge all my secrets, he was nuts. “All psychics on Earth are like me?”

“No. Some only have one ability. There are critter wranglers. They have power over insects, snakes, birds, and animals. Some are trackers who can locate their prey anywhere in the galaxy. Some are healers, and there are a few who can control minds.”

“Which makes me special?”

“Very much so.” He kissed me again. His lips were firm, warm, and talented. I could get used to them.

“No!” Ziyad howled. “You have no right to touch my friend.”

“She’s my mate,” Wulf snapped.

She gave him a saw-toothed smile. “Not yet.”

Not ever, I added silently. I was tired of males screwing up my life. With our stealth fighter and the two million credits, we could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.

“The Overlord will grant you a boon for saving the warbird,” Wulf pronounced magnanimously.

He acted like I had just been given the greatest gift of all time. Maybe I had underestimated Zarek. “Our freedom?”

“No. Sirens are highly prized.” Wulf‘s thumb caressed my neck. “Don’t worry. I will keep you safe.”

Had it slipped his tiny little mind that I had just saved his ass? I knocked his hand away. “I can take of myself.”

“Not against a seasoned warrior.”

Projecting an aura of confidence, I replied, “With my bionics and rather awesome psychic abilities, I can defeat any warrior.”

Every single one of my ungrateful brothers broke into laughter.

Okay, I was exaggerating a bit.

Wulf thought it was pretty funny too. “I’m a hunter. You could never defeat me, Yakira.”

“Wanna bet?” I pulled back my bionic right arm and let him have it right in the kisser. His head snapped back, and he hit the floor hard.

Ziyad stared down at his unmoving form. “Did you kill him?”

“No.”

“Can I eat him?”

“No!”

“Get his laser pistol,” Colburn yelled.

Wulf erupted to his feet. “You haven’t defeated me.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “If I was the enemy, you would be dead.”

“Then I could eat you,” Ziyad crowed.

Wulf fingered the butt of his laser pistol.

“Don’t even think it. She’s family.”

“Regrettably.” Wulf touched his mouth gingerly. “Nice punch.”

“Thank you.”

“But a punch won’t save you, and you don’t have a killer’s instinct. A warrior would have you in chains in a very short time.”

“I don’t have a killer’s instinct? Tell that to the Tai-Kok,” I retorted.

Loki nodded. “The Tai-Kok fear her. They call her the Reaper.”

“With good reason. Anytime Yakira sees a Tai-Kok, she goes nuts.” There was a humorous edge to Ivar’s voice.

Colburn shuddered dramatically. “It gets really messy.”

“They are monsters. I’ll kill as many as I can.” Try having one of them munch on you and see how forgiving you are, and I wasn’t about to bring up how many Rodan we had exterminated.

A muscle in Wulf’s jaw jerked. “You’ve killed, what? One or two?”

“We’ve destroyed over three thousand of the vermin.” Ziyad’s tentacles wiggled happily.

I choked back a laugh. She was such a good liar.

Wulf’s eyebrows shot up. “You two have killed three thousand Tai-Kok?”

“Give or take. It’s hard to keep track,” was my blunt reply.

“They’re not very tasty,” Ziyad confided.

“So you see, I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“No, you need a keeper.” Wulf whirled on my brothers. “Why didn’t you stop her?”

“We have tried, but when Yakira decides to do something, it’s hard to stop her.” Colburn huffed.

The ships alarm began to wail, and a mechanical voice announced, “Hull breach on deck three. Hull breach on deck three.”

“I’ll be back.” Wulf engaged the energy barrier and teleported away.

Chapter Five

A satisfied smile curved my mouth. Once I had shot out the control panel for our cell, the containment field for the entire detention area went down. Now I watched Ziyad do her magic and summon our cloaked ship. The Coletti had underestimated us. “They’re going to regret not taking our communications bracelets.”

“Big-time. Without them, the ship wouldn’t have been able to track us.”

“High five,” Ziyad called, holding up her hand.

She had picked this one up from old Earth vids. I smacked my right hand against hers. “We rule.”

Loki asked querulously, “Gonna let us in on the plan?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

Ziyad tapped her communications bracelet. A glittering blue transport beam engulfed us. We appeared on our transporter platform. I raced over to the console, started the timer, and put my Visio crystal bracelet back on. “Sixty seconds before the Coletti realize we’re missing.”

“Piece of pie.” Ziyad zoomed off to the bridge.

I quickly transported my family aboard our ship and mentally linked with Ziyad. “I’ve got them. Get us out of here.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“What are you wearing?” My father’s bellow echoed around the chamber.

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve been in enough bars. Figure it out.”

“Are you sassing me?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m sick to death of bailing the lot of you out of jail.”

Ivar butted in. “Whose ship is this?”

“Ziyad’s and mine.”

“Yours?” My father looked around the transporter room with avarice in his eyes.

Colburn wanted to know. “Did you buy it with the bounty credits?”

“No, and before you ask, none of you are getting one single credit.”

“What?” My father advanced on me furiously. “I kept you from being eaten by the Tai-Kok. You owe me.”

Pain wrapped around my heart. “I love you too, Father.”

His face flushed and he shifted nervously.

When had Father turned into this awful stranger?

Colburn stepped in front of him. “How many times has Yakira rescued you from the loan sharks?”

Father hunched his shoulders. “A few times.”

A few? Boy, was he in denial.

Loki looked around in shock. “Holy Goddess, Yakira. This is the experimental stealth fighter that Adal the master thief took from the Tai-Kok a year ago! You pulled off the theft of the millennium by hijacking the ship.” Loki hooted, doing the Bjarke warrior’s victory dance.

I laughed. The moves were similar to karate kicks and punches with a little Earth hip-hop thrown in. “We retrieved it during a Tai-Kok attack. Adal was fatally wounded and didn’t need it anymore.”

Ivar walked up and gave me a gentle hug. “Spreading your wings?”

“We are. Uncle Babba got your ship out of impound and will meet you at the Sipin spaceport.”

“No,” my father blustered. “If we leave, the Coletti will take the fighter from you. Let me contact Dingle.”

A weary sigh escaped me. “You aren’t using our ship to settle your gambling debts.”

“You’re an ungrateful whore.” Father’s fist shot out.

I blocked the blow and shoved him back. “How many times did you hire out your own sons as mercenaries to pay off your gambling debts?”

A flicker of remorse flashed in Father’s eyes. “They are dutiful sons.”

I smacked him on the chest. “How many times?”

Father shrugged dismissively. “What does it matter?”

“Twenty-five!” I shouted. “Twenty-five times they could have died on some remote battlefield. Would you have mourned their loss or just kept on gambling? When everything is gone, what then?”

“You. I will sell you to Dingle and live as I was meant to live,” Father raged.

Horror, revulsion, and betrayal hit me like a war hammer. Dingle was a Yagga. A fat, hairy humanoid with horns and three penises. Sex with him was a death sentence. He secreted a substance that caused fatal convulsions in human females. I felt tears running down my cheeks. Had the darkness inside my father finally won? “Does my life mean nothing to you?”

“If I don’t pay the credits back, I die,” Father snarled defiantly.

“Yet it’s okay if I die in your place? Isn’t that a little cowardly?”

“I am not a coward. I’m the one who boarded that Tai-Kok ship and freed you. I gave you back your life, and now, as is my right, I take it.”

Stunned and sickened, I stared at him. “Your right?”

Colburn suddenly spit in Father’s face. “Quod mox ut nondum gradatim. I renounce you.”

“Quod mox ut nondum gradatim. I renounce you.” Loki’s voice was low and lethal.

Father paled. “You cannot!”

Disgust and fury burning in his eyes, Ivar spit in Father’s face. “Quod mox ut nondum gradatim. I renounce you.”

“Filthy betrayers. I spit on you.” Father hawked a wad at his sons. The slimy mess splattered the floor. “She’s not even blood kin.” Father grabbed a laser pistol off the armory on the wall and pointed it at us. “I’m taking the ship.”

“Never!” I unleashed my telekinetic abilities and knocked the pistol out of his hand. Another blow, and he was out cold.

Ivar picked him up and put him on the transporter platform. “We’ll dump him on Threll. He’ll fit right in.”

Threll was the armpit of the galaxy. I put the coordinates in the transporter console. The sense of loss and guilt was overwhelming. I should have done more to stop Father’s gambling.

“None of this is your fault.” Ivar wiped the tears off my cheeks. “We were supposed to take care of you, not the other way around.”

“He’s never been the same since Mother died,” Loki said, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“Ziyad, we need to make a quick stop at Threll,” I told her mentally.

“Why?”

“It’s Father’s new home.”

“We’re leaving Father behind?”

I could feel Ziyad’s confusion. “We are. The evil inside him won. He was going to sell me to Dingle, and Goddess knows what he had planned for you.”

There was a flash of black, and Ziyad stood over Halvor the Betrayer, the man who had once been my father. A single tear rolled down her left cheek. “I cannot forgive you. Quod mox ut nondum gradatim. You are dead to me.”

Halvor jackknifed into a sitting position, and a strange little smile appeared on his face. “Vengeance will be mine. You will all die horribly.”

Ziyad’s claws sprang out. “I can end you now.”

“Get away from me. Get away from me, you pathetic half-breed.” Halvor’s hatred was unmistakable.

Enough was enough. I kicked out with my bionic right leg and caught Halvor the Betrayer on the chin. He fell over with a moan. “You just threw away your family, and for what?”

“I grieve with you, my sister.” Ziyad enveloped me in a bone-crushing hug.

“Can’t breathe.”

She released me and embraced each brother, repeating. “I grieve with you, my brother.”

“The five of us are a family, and one sick male cannot change that.” Colburn’s expression was tight with strain.

“Family. Now and forever.” Ziyad turned and slowly walked back to the bridge. I followed her and sank into the copilot’s seat.

I closed my eyes as a spasm of nausea gripped me. How could he?

The brush of Wulf’s mind was like fingertips stroking my skin. “Ssssh. It’s okay. Your father is a dead man walking.”

What? My eyes popped open. I quickly looked around the bridge and groaned. Yep, Wulf was definitely in my head. “How? I’m wearing the Visio bracelet.”

“Hour by hour, our mental bond grows stronger.”

“Oh yay.” Could this day get any worse?

“Know this. I will never betray, abandon, or sell you. Your family is my family. I’m driven to protect you from any who mean you harm. You were meant to be mine. My heart is forever yours.” Wulf’s voice was low, husky, and seductive.

My jaw dropped. “Wow. That’s so hot and so not you. Did you get hit on the head?”

Wulf’s irritation rolled over me. “Coletti never lie. I cannot live without you. I will never hurt you. You are my mate.”

“I can’t do this now. I can’t. I’m still trying to understand how the male I called Father turned into a raging psychopath.”

“His loss of honor does not reflect on you,” Wulf responded.

“Doesn’t it?” All my buried fury and hurt boiled over. I opened my mouth and screamed blue bloody murder.

Ziyad shot to her feet and stared at me in alarm. “Are you being attacked?”

My equally alarmed brothers ran onto the bridge. They lowered their weapons when they realized the only problem was me and my emotional meltdown. Colburn squatted down in front of me. “What’s going on?”

“Other than the fact our father could give lessons to the Tai-Kok?” I pointed to my head. “Wulf.”

“Oh. Told you he was your mate, did he?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t he?” Colburn said all calm like.

I sputtered, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Wulf has hunted for you for ten long years. Why do you think he did that?”

I gaped at Colburn. “You’re taking his side?”

“Wulf can keep you safe.”

“This is a private conversation between me and the warlord. So, butt out,” I hollered at my brothers.

“Dingle will never touch you,” Wulf promised; his mental voice was soothing.

“Please. Give me a moment. I need to think.” Was Wulf truly my mate, or did he only want me for my psychic abilities? More importantly, could I trust him? I suddenly felt his solid muscles, his heat, his strength wrapped around me; and for the first time in my life I felt safe.

“I never stopped looking for you, worrying about you. Were you getting enough to eat? Were you safe? When I finally found you, I could breathe again. Colors became brighter. My life had meaning. I need you and only you.” With slow, exquisite care Wulf mentally kissed me.

The emptiness inside me vanished, and just like that I knew Wulf was the other half of my soul. Weird.

“Not weird. Fate,” Wulf corrected. His mouth danced over mine. Once, twice.

Goddess, that felt good. “I love the way you kiss.”

“I’ve waited so long to touch you.”

I could feel the intensity of his hunger, the driving need to possess me.

“What’s stopping you?” A strangled gasp tore from me when dozens of psychic hands roamed over my body, igniting my blood. “More.”

Wulf’s phantom mouths closed over each of my nipples, and he sucked them until I thought my senses would implode.

Ziyad whispered in my head. “Did you know you’re broadcasting you’re having sex?”

“What?”

“Stop!” Loki growled. “She’s not of age yet.”

What a mood killer. “I will be in two months.”

“And you’ll wait until then,” Colburn gritted out.

My internal radar shrieked a warning. Something deadly was heading our way. I bolted from the chair and mentally scanned the area around the ship. The danger wasn’t outside the ship. It came from inside. But where? Had Halvor the Betrayer gotten ahold of another weapon? No. This was something different. I froze for a second, and fear curled into me like a living thing. Death was coming to visit.

Wulf advised grimly, “Not death. The Gorum.”

Sure. Why not? It was that kind of day. “The Gorum are coming for dinner,” I warned everyone.

My brothers pulled their laser pistols.

“Put your weapons away. Lasers won’t penetrate a Gorum’s hide, and you will only anger them,” Wulf ordered, then added, “Ziyad, they find your kind tasty. Do not provoke them. Do not talk. Do not move.”

Ziyad nodded.

I drew a deep, calming breath. “What’s your plan?”

“We have a treaty with them. I’ve informed the Overlord.”

The Coletti had a treaty with the boogeymen of the universe? “That keeps them from eating us?”

“No, but it should buy us some time.”

“Oh yay.”

Chapter Six

A brilliant golden light popped into existence. We all took two steps back and shielded our eyes.

Out of a spinning vortex slithered two living nightmares also known as the Gorum. They had long white tubular bodies and two eyestalks with bright yellow orbs. Around their heads were wormy growths that never ceased twisting with a peculiar life of their own.

Oh ick. The way their orbs rolled about was downright creepy.

Menace suddenly hung in the air, heavy and oppressive.

I had to say, they did intimidation really well.

“The Gorum are powerful psychics. They can read your mind,” Wulf warned.

Of course they could. I directed my thoughts at the bigger Gorum. I was pretty sure he was the boss. “Sorry, no disrespect meant. If you’re done trying to scare the hell out of us, maybe—”

A mind blast of rage knocked me on my butt, and the Gorum demanded, “Are you prepared to die?”

I thought I just wet myself. “Uh…not really. Have you dropped by for a quick snack, or is there a purpose for your visit?”

My brothers groaned.

Wulf shouted in my head, “Have you lost your mind?”

“Probably. It’s been a tough day, and as they say on Earth, my give-a-damn button is busted.”

The larger Gorum glided across the bridge, its eyestalks focused on me. A wormy growth lengthened into a tentacle and reached for me.

I retreated. “Now would be a good time to remind them about that treaty. They are not familiar with my brainwaves.”

“Oh goodie.” The slimy tentacle wrapped around my waist and lifted me until we were eyeball to eyeball.

“Do I have your attention?”

“You are kinda hard to ignore.”

“Listen well.” The Gorum thrust the images of two baby Gorum into my mind. “Where are our sons?”

Like I knew? Out of sheer desperation, I said, “I was three years old when the Tai-Kok took me from my family. I’ve never forgotten the fear and pain. I will do everything in my power to bring your children home safely.” And I meant every word.

The tentacle tightened. “If they die, you die.”

That totally sucked. “How about you kill the people responsible? Not us. Do you have any clues?”

“Yes. One of the people responsible is on this ship.”

Which explained their visit. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Halvor the Betrayer was curled into a fetal ball and shaking violently. A murderous fury rose up in me. It was him. I pointed at Halvor. “Talk with him.”

The smaller Gorum crawled over to Halvor, opened his gaping maw, and puked up a half-digested Bjarke. Melted flesh oozed from his skull.

A shudder shook me. That was way beyond gross. Wait a minute. I had seen that laughing skull earring before. Brynjar? He was my father’s only friend and stupid enough to pull a stunt like stealing baby Gorum. I took another quick look. It sure looked like him, but it was kind of hard to tell with most of his face missing.

Ivar gagged. “How is he still alive?”

“Good question.” Loki gulped.

Brynjar’s limbs twitched uncontrollably.

“The Gorum interrogation techniques are unique. By slowing down their digestive juices, they can keep a prisoner alive for hours,” Wulf explained.

Brynjar moaned pitifully. “Help. Me.”

“You heard him, Halvor. Your friend needs help.” Colburn’s tone was one of utter contempt.

Halvor scrabbled backward away from Brynjar. “No! He’s not my friend. I’ve never seen him before.”

Ziyad whispered in my head, “A warbird has dropped out of warp speed.”

“Lower the shields,” I whispered back.

“We can still hear you,” the larger Gorum added in a loud whisper.

“Fine. Then hear this. Leave. My. Ship. Now.”

“Or?”

“Or the Coletti will make you.”

“Indeed?” There was there a touch of humor in the big Gorum’s voice.

I heaved a sigh of relief when Wulf, Voss, Lothel, and Zarek teleported onto the bridge.

The Gorum brayed. “I should have known she belonged to you. She’s a Jones?” The tentacle patted me.

A grim smile touched Zarek’s mouth. “She is.”

The tentacle dropped away.

Very slowly, I crept toward Wulf. “I didn’t know it mattered.”

“Zarek would be unhappy if I ate a Jones female,” the Gorum said.

Wulf opened his arms, and I ran into them. “Took you long enough.”

He hugged me tightly. “We had a little skirmish with pirates.”

“Blow them to bits?”

“We did.”

“A Jones who runs to, not from, a warlord,” Voss observed sardonically.

Wulf said proudly, “My mate is one of a kind.”

“That she is.” The Overlord’s merciless gaze examined Brynjar, then settled on Halvor for a moment, before he turned to the Gorum, “How long have your children been missing, Bebo?”

“A day.”

“I offer our help.”

Bebo reluctantly gave the correct political response. “We accept your offer of help.”

Halvor the Betrayer jumped to his feet and yanked Loki’s pistol out of the holster. “I’m taking this ship.” He waved the gun around. “Try to stop me, and I’ll kill all of you.”

Talk about having a death wish. I waited to see who would take him down first. Zarek or Bebo.

A shrill scream tore from Halvor the Betrayer as both struck at the same time. His eyes rolled wildly in his head, and his limbs jerked spasmodically. “No! No! He said I was shielded. You…you couldn’t…touch…me.”

I snorted. “Evidently, he lied.”

Something truly horrifying filled Zarek’s features. “Who told you that? Malik?”

Halvor’s eyes bulged, and his mouth opened in a silent cry.

I buried my face in Wulf’s chest and tried to block out Father’s agony.

Wulf threw a mental shield around my mind.

I sagged in his arms. “Can’t be here.”

My warlord scooped me up and carried me to the cabin I shared with Ziyad. “He has information we need.”

“I know it has to be done, but…I can’t watch.”

“Then you won’t.” Wulf’s lips brushed over mine. “Your well-being comes first.”

No one had ever been this intent on caring for me. It was a heady experience. The aching hole in my heart eased. Wulf completed my family.

Her tentacles waving crazily, Ziyad zipped into the room. “My breeding cycle has started. You must lock me away before I eat someone.”

“Whoa! What?”

Wulf’s eyebrows climbed in disbelief. “You’re too young to breed.”

“I’m not. Look.” Ziyad held out a tentacle. It had turned an odd red color.

“Blood, violence, and hunger can affect her Rodan half. Or maybe our love connection triggered Ziyad’s mating cycle. Did you know the females eat their mates?”

“Yes.” Wulf set me on my feet. “How are you feeling, Ziyad?”

“I need. I hunger. I want—”

Lothel walked in. “What’s going on?”

Ziyad pounced. “You!”

“No!” I grabbed her waist and pulled and pulled and pulled. Goddess, she was latched on good and tight. “Let Lothel go.”

“I burn for him. For his blood. For his flesh. Must have.” Her serrated teeth clamped down on Lothel’s throat.

Lothel punched her repeatedly in the face, but I doubted she felt it.

Seizing a handful of tentacles, Wulf managed to break Ziyad’s grip on Lothel’s neck. He threw her across the room. Smack! She hit the wall hard.

“Watch it! She does break,” I yelled angrily.

My warlord shot back, “Not easily.”

Blood gushing from the wound on his neck, Lothel struggled to rise.

“Easy, my friend.” Wulf grabbed a discarded towel off the bed and pressed it to Lothel’s neck.

A pretty scary roar issued from Ziyad. “Mine. Mine. Mine.”

I jumped in front of her. “No! Stop!”

A torrent of energy hit Ziyad, and she fell to the floor.

Oh Goddess! Had Zarek killed her? I dropped down next to her. “Please, please don’t be dead.”

Ziyad’s chest rose, and her eyelids fluttered. I expelled a long breath. I couldn’t lose her. I couldn’t.

Poof. The Overlord was kneeling beside her. He placed a hand on her head. “She won’t attack Lothel or any other male again in a mating frenzy.”

“Thank you for not killing her.”

“She’s family.” Zarek surveyed Lothel’s injuries. “Get him to sick bay, Wulf.”

Wulf and Lothel vanished, leaving me alone with the Overlord. He radiated so much power the little voices in my head started screaming, Run. Run. Run. But there was no place to run.

Zarek watched me with interest.

I pasted a pleasant smile on my face and tried not to hyperventilate. How hard could it be to make nice with the Overlord? Damn hard. What did you say to the most powerful male in the universe? How’s your mate? Nice battle suit? Do you know you have a spot of blood on your chin? I went with, “How long have you been friends with the Gorum?”

“A year.” I could swear he was laughing at me.

“Oh. That’s nice.” Someone kill me now.

Ziyad jerked upright and looked around frantically. “Lothel?”

Oh, thank Goddess. I was saved. “He’s alive.”

Her gaze froze on Zarek. “Pretty.”

Or not. A slightly hysterical laugh broke from me. “I think her brains are still a bit scrambled, my lord. You know, crashing into the wall and all.”

“You don’t think I’m pretty?”

I gaped at Zarek. Was he playing with me? “I believe the correct word would be handsome, my lord.”

“Good answer.” He gestured at my barmaid outfit. “Change into something more battle appropriate and come to the war room.”

“And Ziyad?”

“Bring her.” He teleported away.

Ziyad frowned. “Where did Pretty go?”

“We need to get you something to eat.”

Chapter Seven

I walked into the war room and stopped dead. How in the nine hells had the Gorum managed to squeeze in? Oh. Wait. Half the conference table was gone. The corners had been melted away. I gave Bebo the stink eye. He was buying me a new table.

Ziyad suddenly slammed into me. I went airborne for a few seconds, slid across the table, and fell headfirst into Voss’s lap. “Oomph. Sorry.” My legs waved wildly. “I seem to be stuck.” I planted my hands on his crotch, trying to push myself upright. Huh? The Coletti didn’t have balls?

“Sometimes Ziyad’s speed gets the better of her,” Colburn quickly inserted, making a grab for my legs.

“No kidding.” I wiggled some more, trying to leverage myself back on the table. Yep, definitely no balls.

“How you have survived this long is a mystery,” Voss gritted out, tossing me onto the chair next to him.

Her tentacles still a pretty red color, Ziyad quivered in hormonal fury. “Do not touch my friend. You are not her mate.”

“No, I have my own Calamity Jones,” Voss responded.

Loki and Ivar were trying hard not to laugh, and Wulf fought a grin.

“Sit down, Ziyad,” Zarek commanded, pointing to a chair next to Loki. “We have a rescue mission to plan.”

“Yes, my lord.” She sat.

I linked privately with Wulf. “Sorry about that. Voss won’t put you on latrine duty or demote you, will he?”

“No. He understands how difficult it is to control a Jones female.” His eyes twinkled with humor.

“Oh.” I frowned. Was that a dig? “Is… Is my father—”

“Halvor’s alive and locked in a holding cell.”

The Overlord broke in and asked bluntly, “Did you want to visit him?”

“No, my lord.”

“Then pay attention. The Gorum want you to honor your pledge to save their children.”

“Say what?”

“You said, and I quote you, ‘I will do everything in my power to bring your children home safely.’”

Did I have a big mouth or what?

“Yakira has a talent for finding missing items. It’s possible it could be used to locate the children,” Ziyad volunteered.

“Bet that’s how she found this ship,” Ivar crowed.

It was, but my gift wasn’t always reliable. “I’ll need a picture of them to work with.”

Bebo slithered around the table. With your permission, Overlord?”

Zarek nodded, shooting a warning look at a suddenly agitated Wulf.

What had him so upset?

Tentacles shot out and dug into my shoulders. Yeow! It felt like I was being stung by a zillion insects. The pain got worse and worse until a kaleidoscope of images burst through my head, and just like that, I knew everything about Bebo and Raj, the smaller Gorum, and their children. I could feel their deep love for the babies. How their wiggly little bodies felt in Bebo’s and Raj’s tentacles. The little guys’ love of deet worms. An indescribable sense of loss slammed into me. I was getting our kids back.

With their brainwave patterns locked in my mind, I psychically scanned the closest solar system for them. There. They were being held at the Eeriffi spaceport on Threll. “Found them.”

Bebo’s tentacles tightened, and the next thing I knew I was deposited on his back. “Do not fall off.”

“What?”

Wulf bellowed. “No!”

A blinding golden light formed around us. The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex. A terrified scream tore from me. Teleporting with a Gorum was like falling down the eye of a tornado at warp speed. Sixty heart-stopping moments later, we appeared at the main lounge of the Eeriffi spaceport. Another twister spit Raj out beside us.

The first thing I noticed was the unceasing rumble of arriving and departing ships.

The next was the hodgepodge of buildings sagging under an unforgiving sun. Everything seemed black, bleak, bent, or broken. The people scurried about like frightened animals, but none of them paid any attention to the Gorum. Weird.

“The Gorum have the ability to cloak their presence,” Wulf explained.

“Oh.” Not how did you like your first ride on a Gorum? Or do all your parts still work?

There was a touch of anger in Wulf’s voice. “Are you okay?”

“I can’t feel my face, my hair is literally standing on end, and I’m covered in slime, but other than that, I’m good. Thanks for asking.”

“I didn’t know—”

“Neither of us were given a choice.” I pressed a mental kiss on his cheek. “It’s okay.”

Bebo demanded, “Where are Bedan and Kalja?”

I opened my psychic senses. Kalja’s frightened mind immediately latched on to mine. “Want my poppa.”

I zoomed in on his brainwaves. He was only twenty feet away. A portly Yagga was carrying the little guy in an animal crate. Dingle was definitely involved in the kidnapping, and he had his brother Pok doing his dirty work. “The Yagga has Kalja in the crate.”

Roaring their fury, Raj and Bebo dropped their invisibility cloak and charged the Yagga. Total chaos broke out as people panicked and stampeded for the exits.

I hung on for dear life.

Pok spun around, took one look at the Gorum rushing toward him, and took off running.

The crowded lounge made it difficult for the Gorum to catch up with him.

If Pok thought he was getting away with our kid, he was nuts. I drew on my telekinesis and started knocking bodies into Pok’s path.

The Yagga simply jumped over them.

“Arrgh!” I lashed out with my mind, and the crate flew out of Pok’s hand.

A tentacle caught it.

“Way to go, Raj.”

A vortex formed around Raj and the crate within seconds. Pop. They were gone.

Bebo leaped on Pok, pinning him to the floor. “Where is my son?”

“Better tell him before he eats you,” I advised.

Pok laughed. “Yaggas are poisonous to Gorum.”

“True.” Bebo spit a stream of digestive juices on him.

Pok’s skin began to melt. He shrieked and thrashed about.

“But I have other ways to get the truth.”

I flinched as Bebo ripped into Pok’s mind.

“Our ETA is thirty minutes,” Wulf said. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Who? Me?”

“I get to care for Raj’s child,” Ziyad squealed in delight.

“Whose idea was that?”

“Raj’s and the Overlord’s. They said a baby would calm my mating urges.”

Well, if the Overlord gave his approval, who was I to object? “Kalja likes deet worms.”

Fire ants tromped through my head. Danger, but where? I quickly scanned the area. Hmmm. I was picking up some nasty vibes from a cluster of plastisteel bunkers. Intensifying my probe, I located Bedan’s brainwaves. “I found him.”

Intent on discovering Pok’s secrets, Bebo ignored me. I poked his neck. “Hello? Can you hear me? I found Bedan.”

Not a blink. Not a twitch. Not even a gesture from one of his tentacles. Absolutely nothing to let me know he had understood or even heard me.

The sensation of danger grew stronger. Bedan was definitely in trouble. I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Bedan needs your help. Now!”

Bebo shuddered violently, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Something was seriously wrong with the Gorum. I gingerly touched his mind. Holy Goddess! Someone had booby-trapped Pok’s brain, and Bebo was locked in mental combat.

He needed help and now. Me? Not a good idea. I wasn’t trained in psychic combat, but the Coletti were. Wulf? Nah, I couldn’t risk him getting hurt, but Zarek was fair game. I banged on his mind. “Open up. We’ve got a big problem.”

The Overlord’s intimidating power wrapped around me. “What kind of problem?”

“Bebo was hit with a mental booby trap and is barely holding on.”

“Malik,” Zarek growled and severed our link.

“Wait! I know where Bedan is…” I was talking to dead air. Guess I was on my own.

“You are not alone,” Wulf said, gently stroking my back.

I could get used to this whole mate thing.

There was a bit of a snap in Wulf’s voice as he added, “And I don’t need protecting.”

“I’m hardwired to protect my family. So, deal with it,” I snapped back.

Brilliant golden light flooded the area, and a vortex formed. Twenty seconds later, Raj, with Wulf riding him cowboy style, leaped out. Yee-haw!

Wulf’s warrior braids stuck out from his head like Medusa’s snakes. Slime dripped off his nose and ran down his spiffy battle suit.

Did I look that bad? Who knew? I’d worry about it later. I slid off Bebo and hurried toward them. “Thank the Goddess you’re here. Bedan needs rescuing, and Bebo is fighting off a mental attack.”

Raj tossed me onto his back. “Zarek and my king have the situation under control. Where is Bedan?”

I pointed to the bunkers. “He’s inside the second one.”

Zoom. Off we went. The reinforced metal bunker door? Not a problem. Snap! Crack! Raj ripped it off its hinges and hurled it at the heavily armed mercenaries racing toward us. Whack! Bodies flew in every direction.

My radar screamed a warning. “More bad guys coming from the south.”

The Gorum dumped us on the ground, turned, and sheltered us from the incoming laser fire. His hide absorbed the energy like a sponge.

Wulf shoved a laser pistol in my hand. “Stay here.” He vanished and reappeared behind the mercenaries shooting at us.

“Want some help? You’re kinda outnumbered.”

“I’m a warlord,” Wulf huffed indignantly. He drew his sword and in a deadly dance, sliced and diced anyone too stupid to run.

Gotta say. Testosterone did have its uses. More fire ants tromped into my head. Now what?

A badly scarred mercenary limped out of a repair hangar filled with all sorts of expensive electronic goodies. He raised a Lucifer rocket launcher to his shoulder and aimed it at Bebo.

My heart knocked against my chest. Bebo was a sitting duck. If he died, he might take Zarek with him.

The mercenary’s finger reached for the firing control.

I threw a bolt of telekinetic energy at the self-destruct button. It hit with two seconds to spare.

Boom! The raging blast vaporized the mercenary.

Pieces of flaming debris crashed into the hangar. Fire quickly spread across the greasy floor.

Kablooey! A titanic explosion erupted, sending shards of metal whooshing over my head. A thick column of black smoke belched high into the sky.

Whoa! The mercenaries had more than electronics inside.

Laser beams zinged past me.

Yikes! I hit the deck. I guess they weren’t too happy with me blowing up all those stolen goodies. Where was my warlord when I needed him?

“Here. I said not to do anything stupid,” Wulf growled, returning fire. The air was suddenly ablaze with a crisscross of laser bolts.

“Hey, I was saving Bebo and Zarek from being blown to smithereens. A little gratitude would be nice.”

“I’m sure Zarek will grant you another boon.” Wulf hurled a stun grenade at the mercenaries.

An ear-shattering boom was followed by a blinding flash of light. The mercenaries toppled over.

“Ha! Take that.” I rubbed my ringing ears and blinked rapidly to clear my vision. My eyes widened in horror when more mercenaries took their place. “Where in the nine hells are they coming from?”

“Sushila,” Wulf answered.

“Who the heck is Sushila?”

“Sushila is a mercenary base about a click that way.” Wulf pointed to the south.

My stomach dropped. Could this day get any worse? Wait! I didn’t want to know. I took a deep breath and asked, “How many combatants are housed there?”

“Around five thousand.”

Was that all? “Up to the challenge?”

Wulf bared his teeth in a predatory grin. “I am Coletti.”

I cringed as red crackling death sizzled past me. Another inch, and I would have been headless. This was not fun. Wulf’s battle suit deflected the bolts striking him. Me? No armor. No battle suit. I was going to get fried any second now.

Raj slithered in front of us. “Get Bedan. I’ll handle the soldiers.”

“Help us!” Bedan’s frightened cry echoed in my head.

“Coming.” I smacked Wulf in the chest. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

“As you command, my lady.” Wulf wrapped a muscular arm around me, and poof. There was a fleeting second of blackness, and we were inside the bunker.

A Tai-Kok charged out of the darkness.

Wulf’s sword slashed out.

The Tai-Kok’s head thudded to the floor and rolled by me, an astonished expression forever frozen on its face.

“You’ve gotta teach me that.”

“Your brothers said not to give you anything sharp.” Wulf shoved me behind him as three more Tai-Kok charged down the hallway. He quickly decapitated them too.

“My brothers need to keep their mouths shut.” I focused on Bedan and followed the tingling sensation in my head. The closer I got, the stronger it became.

At the back of the bunker was a glass enclosure full of cages. A runt of a Tai-Kok plucked Bedan from a small crate and held him up. “Surrender, or I eat him.”

Yeah, like that was going to happen. I turned to Wulf. “Ready?”

“I’m always ready.”

Shaking my head in disbelief, I grabbed a cage with my mind and whacked the runt upside the head.

As the runt was falling, Wulf teleported in and snagged Bedan.

I sauntered into the enclosure. “We make a good team.”

Wulf took my mouth in a hot openmouthed kiss. “We do.”

The runt climbed to his feet.

I walloped him again.

His eyes rolled back in his head, and down he went.

Bedan cried, “Help Bui. She hurt.”

“Bui?” I examined the cages. All of them were empty, except the last one. It held a small Tabor. She reminded me of a spider on Earth called a tarantula. Her golden fur was matted with blood. An icy rage vibrated through every cell in my body when I realized the bastard had eaten one of her legs.

“Give me your sword.” I held out my hand.

Wulf eyed me warily. “Why?”

“He took her leg. I’m taking his.”

“Let me deal with the Tai-Kok. Bui needs you.” Wulf caressed the back of my neck like I was some kind of wild animal that needed soothing. “Deal?”

I met his gaze. Wulf was truly concerned about me. My rage drained away. He was a keeper. I really wanted to kill the Tai-Kok, but I’d let Wulf handle it. This time. “Deal.”

“Me hungry,” Bedan whined; his tentacles tugged on Wulf’s hair.

“I think we can take care of that. You feel like a little Tai-Kok?” Wulf picked up the runt and walked out of the enclosure.

I opened the cage door. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. My name is Yakira, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. Ever. Again.”

Tremors shaking her body, Bui huddled at the back of the cage. “Scared.”

“I know, sweetie. When I was your age, the Tai-Kok ate my right arm and both legs. I was fitted with bionics, and now I’m stronger and faster. See? It looks and feels like real skin.” I poked a finger in the crate.

She crept closer until the fur on her legs tickled my skin. “Work on Tabors?”

Hmmm. Good question. I had read an article where they replaced an Askole’s man parts, so I didn’t see why not. “Sure.”

“Hurts. Bad.” Bui’s agony skittered along my nerve endings.

I stroked her head. “I’m so sorry. No child should ever have to fear the Tai-Kok or watch their family and friends being eaten. I promise you, Wulf and I are going to kill every last one of them. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” She crawled onto my palm.

“You’re such a brave girl. I’m going to make your boo-boo better. Okay?”

“You can do that?” Hope filled Bui’s mental voice.

“Yes, I can.” The Goddess had blessed me with some healing abilities. Pain management was my specialty. My brothers were always breaking something or getting stabbed in bar fights. A simple broken leg or a minor cut I could repair without a problem. Something more serious, and I could stabilize the injury until medical help arrived.

“You’re going to feel a tickling sensation in your body. Not to worry. It’s just me.”

“‘Kay.”

I focused on Bui’s wound, sending healing energy into the shredded flesh. The bleeding stopped immediately; with a little extra power, the skin sealed. “Better?”

Bui snuggled under my chin. “No hurt.”

My radar went on red alert.

Out of the shadows stepped the biggest Tai-Kok I had ever seen. He opened the door and smiled, exposing his sharp metal teeth. He spat a bunch of weird, honking quacks, which translated into, “Dinner.”

Not a chance in the nine hells.

A shrill cry broke from Bui, and she shot to my head. “No eat me. No eat me.”

“Easy. The only one getting eaten is him. I’m going to feed him to the Gorum.”

Bui bounced on my head. “Me like. Me like.”

“Me like too.” I motioned at the Tai-Kok and quacked, “Come and get me.”

With a menacing honk, the Tai-Kok attacked. I reared back against the counter and kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could. Whoosh! He flew backward, crashed through the bunker wall, and rolled out onto the tarmac.

Boy, did that feel good. I linked with Raj. “Can you eat that Tai-Kok for me, please?”

“A pleasure.” Raj slithered up and stuffed the Tai-Kok down his maw.

Wulf appeared with Bedan playing peek-a-boo through his warrior braids. The little guy held a severed finger in one tentacle. My warlord stared at the gaping hole in the plasticrete with openmouthed astonishment. “If I had not seen you do it, I wouldn’t have believed it. You actually kicked the Tai-Kok through the wall.”

Like it was some kind of big deal? My bionics were at full strength. “I did.”

An explosion shook the building.

“Why didn’t you shoot him?”

“Too easy. Now he knows what it feels like to be eaten alive.” Through the hole in the wall, I saw Raj get hit with a volley of laser beams. He instantaneously absorbed the energy and charged the mercenaries.

“You are a Coletti at heart,” Wulf said with a proud smile.

“That’s so sweet.” Most males bolted when they discovered my dark side. I boosted myself up on the counter. “How about a kiss?”

My warlord walked over to me, his gaze blatantly possessive. “My precious warrior.” Wulf’s strong arms closed around me.

Home. He felt like home. I ran my tongue over his sinful mouth and nibbled at his lower lip. “I like the way you feel. The way you taste.”

Wulf made a low, guttural sound and focused his attention on the sensitive spot behind my right ear.

Wowzers! That felt so good. I arched my neck to give him better access. My hands skimmed over the powerful muscles in his back. Mine. All mine.

The pad of his thumb brushed my nipples, sending a tsunami of sensation straight to my core. My toes curled. “We need to get naked. Now!”

“Yes.” He pulled up my tunic.

“Whatcha doing?” Bui and Bedan asked in unison.

My cheeks flamed. How could I have forgotten about the kids? “We’re…ah…we’re…”

“Checking each other for bugs,” Wulf supplied.

Bugs? That was the best he could come up with?

“Bugs!” The babies exclaimed and wiggled under my tunic, searching for them.

I let out a startled yelp and twitched madly as they scampered about. A giggle escaped me when they explored my underarms. “Help me.”

Wulf stuck his hands under my tunic and made a grab for them.

“That’s my right breast.”

“A very nice breast too,” Wulf commented.

“Eeeep!” I jumped as the kids crawled around in my pants. “Get ’em out! Get ’em out!”

“Look! There are bugs in that cage over there.” Wulf chuckled as they zoomed off.

“That wasn’t nice,” I scolded him.

“I never said I was nice.” Long fingers slid down my belly, lower and lower until they reached my pussy. “But I am very good at pleasuring females.”

“Say what? Just how many females have you been with?”

“The numbers are not important.”

My temper flared to life. “Oh yes, they are.”

“You are the key to my happiness.” Wulf deftly tormented my clit.

“You better not… Oh my…be sticking…um…your snake… Oh. Oh. Oh, Goddess.”

“More?” His voice was a husky whisper in my mind.

My nerves were singing with too much pleasure for me to think or even protest. In the back of my mind, I knew we needed to talk about the other females in his life. Plus, this was a warzone, and what we were doing was so wrong. The Overlord definitely wouldn’t be happy with us having sex before I reached my twenty-first birthday, and we were still under attack, but I didn’t really care. I wanted Wulf. Now. “Please. Don’t. Stop.”

Wulf leaned over me and kissed me.

It was the best kiss ever, sensual and full of promise. It was a kiss straight out of one of those lurid romance novels Ziyad read to me. Pure heaven.

“I am going to touch your body with my mind. It is going to feel very, very real. I am going to explore your secret desires and fulfill them. I am going to make you come over and over again, until you scream my name and beg me to stop.”

I jolted as Wulf’s sharp fangs bit into my nipples. The bolts of pain mixed with an erotic delight that had my clit throbbing and moisture trickling down my thighs.

“You are so responsive,” Wulf rumbled. His hot mouth closed over my pussy. He licked, sucked, and nipped my swollen bud of flesh until I squirmed like a wanton pleasure worker.

I knew warlords were experts at mental sex, but holy Goddess, this was true bliss. Wulf replaced his merciless tongue with two long fingers. He pumped into me hard and deep.

My inner muscles clamped around his marauding fingers, and a firestorm of sheer ecstasy flooded me. I could hear my shallow, ragged pants. “Too much. It’s too much.”

“I have not even started.”

My breath hitched as Wulf’s penis teased my clitoris, rubbing back and forth. “It feels so real.”

“In your mind it is real.” With one hard thrust he pushed inside me, stretching me, filling me.

I inhaled sharply. I could feel his thick length inside me. I wiggled my hips experimentally and gasped as the delicious slide of his flesh created an exquisite torment.

Wulf’s incredibly long dick seesawed against my clit as he pulled out then pushed back in.

The titillating friction was almost too much to bear. Out. In. “Oooooh Goddess.”

“It gets better.”

“Any better and it’ll kill me.” My nails dug into his taut ass as he caressed my channel with firm, expert strokes. Wulf was a fever in my blood. I burned for him. He was everywhere, touching my mind, my body.

Wulf pumped his hips harder and faster. “You are mine. Say it.”

“I’m yours.” I writhed, needing more, and just like that, tentacles flexed in my core, electrifying every nerve ending. They vibrated faster and faster until I came apart. I screamed.

Bedan and Bui skittered up my body and asked at the same time, “Where you hurt?”

“That’s Momma Yakira’s battle cry,” Wulf replied smugly.

“Where bad?” Bedan’s eyestalks examined the room anxiously.

“It was a psychic battle, sweeties.” My body stilled hummed, and I wanted more, more, more. Psychic sex was addictive.

Bedan wanted to know. “Who won?”

“I did,” Wulf answered.

I whacked his chest. “You pervert. The kids could have been traumatized for life.”

“I doubt it,” Wulf said with a dismissive shrug. “Same thing happened to Bree and Jaylan, and their kids are fine.”

Bui climbed on my nose. “Want bugs. Me hungry.”

Wulf cocked an arrogant brow. “Told you they would be fine.”

“Daddy Wulf will find you some nice juicy bugs,” I said, giving Wulf the stink eye.

Poof. Wulf disappeared. A minute later, he reappeared with a container of insects.

I stared at the bugs. Oh, ick. They were a cross between a roach and a multilegged slug. “What are those?”

“Karakors.”

Bui bounced in excitement. “Me like karakors.”

“And they look so yummy.”

“Open. Open,” Bui chanted, her legs drumming on the glass. “Me share.”

My stomach roiled. “No. That’s okay. We’re not hungry. You kids eat them.” I cautiously popped off the lid, waving my hand to keep the nasty little things from escaping. Whish! Bui and Bedan shot inside and started chowing down.

A sharp, cracking boom rent the air, and the ground shook beneath our feet.

I grabbed Wulf. “Earthquake?”

“No. Voss took out Sushila.”

“Yay! No more murderous mercenaries.” I broke into a happy dance. Step. Step. Kick. Wiggle my butt. Step. Step. Kick. Wiggle my butt.

Grinning like a fool, Wulf joined in. Step. Step. Kick. Wiggle his butt. Step. Step. Kick.

A delighted smile curved my mouth. I loved this side of Wulf. I added a fast twirl, pivoted my hips, and shimmied my body, laughing as Wulf followed suit.

The kids watched for a moment, then joined in. Slide. Twirl. Slide. Twirl. Wiggle. Wiggle.

“What are you doing?” Bebo demanded.

Bedan scampered over to his father. “Dancing. Enemy go boom!”

In a lightning-fast movement, a tentacle whipped out from Bebo’s neck, snagging a mercenary hiding behind a barrel. He crammed the flailing warrior down his maw. “A ritual to celebrate the return of our children?”

“Sure. Slick move with the tentacle.” I never even saw or sensed the guy. Had sex fried my synapses? “A celebration is a great idea, but back on the ship, okay?”

To my utter surprise, Bebo began to dance. His tentacles flipped from side to side as he slid to the right, then to the left. Twirl. Slide. Twirl. Slide. His butt gyrated wildly.

My eyes bugged out when Bebo caught another mercenary and tossed him our way. They had to be survivors from Sushila military base. Guess we had riled them up a bit.

Without missing a beat, Wulf pulled his sword and lopped off the warrior’s head, then dipped me.

Had Wulf and the Gorum lost their minds? Dancing in the middle of a battle zone? It was nuts. Or truly brilliant. It was a sure-fire way to lure the enemy in.

My psychic senses screamed a warning. The image of a mercenary with a rocket launcher formed in my head. Where? I scanned the area. There he was, sneaking across a roof to the east of us. I immediately hurled the image into Wulf’s mind.

My warlord vanished.

The mercenary went flying off the roof to land with a splat on the concrete.

“Miss me?” Suddenly back at my side, Wulf twirled me around him.

“Maybe we should delay our dance until all the enemy combatants have been eliminated.”

Wulf laughed. “Where’s the fun in that?”

“We get to live another day?”

Raj glided up and imitated Bebo’s funky rhumba. Slide. Slide. Twirl. Wave his tentacles. Slide. Slide. Twirl.

“Relax. The Gorum wouldn’t put their children in jeopardy. Raj ate the last mercenary two minutes ago.”

“Thank the Goddess.”

Wulf grabbed my hand, spun me around him, and pulled me into a tight embrace. “You are my life.” He planted a long, voracious kiss on my mouth.

“And you are mine.” I shimmied against his body. Step. Step. Twirl.

Wulf promenaded me across the tarmac, spinning me this way and that.

Voss and Zarek teleported in and watched the dancing with stunned expressions on their faces.

“Gotta say this is the first time I’ve seen them speechless.” I snickered. Step. Step. Kick. Step. Step. Twirl. “Believe me. It won’t last,” Wulf groused.

The Overlord’s ruthless gaze settled on us, and he inquired, “Has everyone lost their minds?”

I wanted to say, they most certainly have, but I went with, “It’s an impromptu celebration ritual. Or simply put, a we-kicked-their-asses party.”

Voss’s white teeth flashed in an amused smile. “What’s a party without liquor?”

“Or food?” Zarek added, actually grinning.

Several laser beams sizzled by my head. “Or body armor?”

A mercenary’s bushy head peeked over the top of a big crate. He aimed his rifle at us, ready to take another potshot.

“No ruin party.” Bui spit balls of webbing at a mercenary.

One ball glued the rifle to the crate. The second caught the mercenary in the face. He fell backward, tearing frantically at the silky strands covering his mouth and nose.

I pointed out grumpily, “The enemy has been eliminated, huh?”

“They brought in reinforcements. I’ll take you back to the ship,” Wulf growled, scanning the area for more combatants.

A sharp, crackling hiss sounded as someone took potshots at us with a laser rifle. I zeroed in on two mercenaries hunkered down by a shuttle.

Before I could warn Wulf, I felt Zarek reach out with his mind and turn the mercenaries’ brains to mush. Note to self: never make him mad.

I held out my hand to Bui. “We’re leaving this dump.”

She dashed up my arm and settled on my head. “Me ready.”

Wulf pulled me to him. “Hang on, Bui.” We teleported.

Chapter Eight

Ugh. My mouth tasted like rotted fruit, and I had the headache from hell. The Coletti really knew how to throw a party, and boy, had I drunk too much. I pried open one eyelid. The wall was covered with an assortment of weapons. Definitely not my room. Where the heck was I?

A heavy body curved protectively around me. Wulf’s breath stirred my hair. “You’re in my quarters.”

“Nice arsenal.”

“A warlord is always prepared.” He kissed my shoulder.

That was when it hit me. I was naked. I turned and eyed Wulf’s yummy body. He was naked too. All those luscious muscles were mine to explore. To taste. To lick. I stated the obvious. “You took off my clothes.”

“I did. It makes it easier to have sex.”

A frown creased my forehead. “Why don’t I remember having sex?”

“Because we didn’t. You passed out. I want you awake and eager when we make love,” Wulf stated.

“Aw, I’m sorry. Too much wine.” My gaze fell on his crotch. “Where’s your snake?”

A slit opened in his abdomen, and out it slid. His penis had a copper-colored frill of tentacles around the top.

Whoa! Wulf’s penis was a lot different from my brothers’. No funky-looking mushroom cap or protruding blue veins or poufy pubic hair. How did I know? My brothers didn’t have a modest bone in their bodies. It’s a cultural thing. “Can I touch it?”

“Yes.”

I reached out with my bionic hand.

“But carefully.” Wulf’s breathing was suddenly ragged.

“Wuss.” I wrapped my left hand around his penis. It was velvety to touch, but I could feel a steellike hardness beneath the skin. The tentacles slid sinuously against my hand. Up. Down. Up. Down. Heat coiled in my belly. “These little guys are better than my sex toys.”

Wulf bellowed, “You have sex toys?”

“Yeah. Doesn’t every girl?” I mean, c’mon, we have needs too.

“It took me too long to find you.”

I noticed the tic in Wulf’s jaw. “Relax. I’m still a virgin.”

“Good. I would have killed any male who touched you.”

Another fine example of testosterone poisoning. I knew for a fact Wulf wasn’t a virgin. Did that mean I could kill all his lovers? Probably not. Hmmm. “Where did you hide your balls?”

Wulf snapped, “Coletti do not have balls.”

The Overlord’s terrifying voice reverberated around my head. “What are you doing?”

“Uh. I’m getting an anatomy lesson.”

Wulf gave me an I can’t believe you just said that look.

I shrugged. It was the truth.

There was an odd note of exasperation in the Overlord’s voice. “The lesson ceases now. Do you understand me, Wulf?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Zarek mucked about in my brain. “Start giving her your blood.”

“Yes, my lord,” Wulf replied dutifully.

“I want both of you in my war room in twenty minutes.”

In unison, we responded, “Yes, my lord.”

“And Wulf. Shower separately.” Zarek withdrew from my poor battered head.

And I thought I’d had a headache before. “Someone is being a tad cranky.”

“Malik was behind the attack on the Gorum.”

“What a surprise.” I rubbed my throbbing forehead. “Got anything for a headache?”

Wulf bit into his wrist and held it out. “Drink.”

Blood ran down his hand and dripped on my belly. Oh ick. “That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? A pill or medical scanner will do.”

“Drink. Now.”

The Overlord had turned my fun mate into a predatory ass. “Do you always do what Zarek tells you?”

“Yes, and if you know what’s good for you, you will too.”

“Think again.” I glared at him. “I’m not his puppet.”

“Drink.” There was a definite growl in Wulf’s voice.

“And if I don’t?”

Wulf’s scary index shot off the charts. “I’ll make you.”

He did not just say that. Something was rotten in Orion. “Why is drinking your blood so important to the Overlord?”

“My blood makes you stronger and harder to kill.”

“So do my bionics.”

“Drink, or I will force it down you.”

One look at his implacable face, and I believed him. My heart broke. Had he been lying to me all along? “The truth comes out. I’m nothing more to you than a valuable resource.”

“I will do whatever is necessary to protect you.”

“Including forcing me to become something I’m not?”

“Drink, Yakira.” Was there a note of pleading in Wulf’s voice?

Maybe, but the honeymoon was definitely over. Very reluctantly, I took my jerk of a mate’s hand and sucked down some of his warm, coppery blood. It tasted gross.

“More.”

I gagged. “I’ll puke it back up.”

“No. You won’t.” Wulf slid into my mind. The urge to hurl melted away, and I was suddenly thirsty. Very thirsty. For his blood! To my utter horror, I latched on to his wrist and lapped it down like it was my favorite wine.

Wulf finally pulled his wrist away and licked the wound. “Blood exchanges are a necessary part of our mating.”

“Well, guess what? The mating is off. I won’t have a liar for a partner.”

“I have not lied to you.” Wulf’s mouth tightened with frustrated anger.

“Oh yeah? Didn’t you say you would never betray me?”

“I haven’t.”

I jumped out of bed. “Coercing me into doing something against my will is an act of betrayal.”

“You are a powerful Siren. Malik will do everything in his power to capture you. You have to be strong enough to deflect his mental attacks,” Wulf shot back, rolling to his feet.

“And your blood is the answer?”

“Yes.”

Warmth seeped into my stomach and spread through my body. My headache vanished along with all my other minor aches and pains. His blood did have healing qualities. I let out a long breath. Maybe Wulf was right. His lifeblood would make me stronger, harder to kill. In my heart, I knew Wulf was only trying to keep me safe. But I didn’t like it. I needed to make him understand that I was a warrior too. “I don’t want to fight with you, but if you force yourself on me again, I will cut off all your tentacles and feed them to Ziyad.”

Wulf’s voice was a purr of menace. “You’re threatening me again?”

“You betcha I am.” What was that Earth saying? Oh yeah. “I am woman. Hear me roar. I am strong. I am invincible. I will kick your ass.”

“I’ve never been defeated in battle,” was his cocky response.

“Who said anything about a battle? I’m a sneaky bitch. I’ll attack when you least expect it.”

Wulf laughed. “I do enjoy a challenge.”

“Consider yourself challenged.” I looked around the room. “Where’s the shower?”

He pointed to a door. “You have ten minutes.”

If we didn’t show up at the war room on time, Zarek might do something I would regret. Like taking all our credits away. Ugh. I opened the door.

“Wait.” Wulf held out a battle suit. “You’ll need this.”

My jaw dropped as I took it from him. “You had this made for me?”

“I did.”

“Why?” I stroked the fabric, pleased beyond all reason. My very own battle suit.

“Because you’re a trouble magnet.”

“It’s not my fault people keep shooting at me.”

“Perhaps not, but it’s my duty to protect you.”

And here I thought I was the love of his life. Instead I was a duty. “Right. Can’t have a valuable asset getting shot all to hell.”

In a put-upon voice, Wulf gritted, “You are my mate, not an asset I guard.”

“Could have fooled me.” I shut the bathroom door in his face.

Wulf forced open the door, grabbed me, and kissed the ever-loving sense out of me. “My heart is forever yours.” He shut the door.

I sagged against the wall. Whoa! With one amazing kiss, I realized he wasn’t lying about loving me, but he was also a Coletti, the ultimate predator with a taste for blood, a passion for battle, and the need to control everything in his life. The big question was: How did I make him understand I was a warrior too?

Fate, the evil bitch, had to be laughing her ass off. Get a Coletti to listen? To change? Fat chance.

Ziyad was going to be so disappointed. All our plans to go wherever we wanted and do whatever we wanted had gone up in smoke. Males were the bane of the universe.

Where was my best friend? Not on this ship. I had vague memories of Ziyad dancing with the Gorum and feeding Kalja deet worms. Voss had assigned Lothel to keep an eye on her. I had to admit, he was very attentive. Too attentive. What if she accidently marked him in her mating frenzy? Could Zarek reverse it? Or were Ziyad’s genetics dooming her to kill and eat Lothel?

“Eight minutes left,” Wulf warned.

My thoughts spun back to Wulf. Did I owe him an apology? Yeah, I did. Even if his protective instincts were a bit smothering, he was my mate. “I’m sorry. I never should have doubted you.”

“All I want to do is keep you from harm. If I have to force your obedience to achieve that, so be it,” Wulf replied bluntly.

My temper spiked. Here I was, trying to make nice, and he was going to be a jerk about it? “You need to realize being forced to do something against my will is abhorrent to me.”

“Obey me, and it won’t be a problem.”

Obey? Arrgh! I fought back the urge to whack Wulf upside the head with the battle-ax hanging on his wall. “Gee, thanks for making it so simple that even a mere female can understand.” I stepped into the shower and started scrubbing.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“What would make you think that?” Once the blood and Gorum slime was off me, I braided my wet hair into warrior braids. After all, I was going to war.

“You are being sarcastic.”

“Who said males were dumb as a rock?”

His tone one of resignation, Wulf asked, “Can we drop the subject for now?”

“Sure, honeybun, anything for you. Smooches.”

“Those are Earth terms.”

“Bingo, smart guy! From something called a romance novel. Ziyad likes to read them to me.” I pulled on the battle suit. It fit like a glove. I looked down at my bare toes. “Do you happen to have any boots in my size?”

“I do.”

From his growly tone, I had a feeling he was still in his predator mode. I hit the door release button. Whoosh! A very naked warlord with a pair of boots in his left hand stood there. “While I enjoy the view, Zarek won’t.”

“Very funny.” He handed me the boots and stomped into the bathroom.

I sighed dramatically and clutched my chest. “Who said I couldn’t have my very own Prince Charming?”

Wulf bared his fangs at me. “No more romance novels.”

“Prince Charming is from a fairy tale, not a romance novel, but not to worry. Charming you’re not.” I quickly shut the door. From the look on Wulf’s face, he was about ten seconds away from throttling me. “I love you. Smooches.”

“I’m going to put you over my knee,” Wulf yelled from the shower.

Someone definitely needed some alone time. I hurriedly put on my spiffy new boots and stepped out into the corridor. Which way was the war room? I focused on the Overlord’s off-the-charts energy levels and headed toward it.

The sensation of imminent danger slammed into my mind two seconds before muscular arms grabbed me from behind. I didn’t recognize the aura or brainwaves. Holy Goddess! Malik? I reacted instinctively and rammed my bionic elbow into his stomach. He grunted, and his grip loosened. I tossed him over my shoulder.

The stranger hit the deck and rolled gracefully to his feet.

I backed away and studied his big, battle-honed body. He was dressed like a Coletti, but his eyes were silver. A half-breed maybe? “Who are you and what do you want?”

“You. Surrender, and you won’t be harmed.” Coiled power emanated from the stranger.

I rolled my eyes. “You do realize the Overlord is on this ship?”

A slight smile on his mouth, the stranger teleported.

Maybe he did know and liked to live dangerously. I placed my back against the wall and waited for him to reappear. I couldn’t afford to let him get his hands on me again. If he managed to put me in a choke hold, game over.

The silver-eyed stranger materialized in front of me.

Bad move. I punched him right in the kisser.

His head snapped back.

I hit him again, and blood gushed from his nose.

Off balance, he staggered backward.

I followed up with a solid side kick to his chest. The stranger flew across the corridor and hit the wall.

Bam! Pain exploded in my skull. Everything went dark for a moment. My knees buckled, and down I went. I fought to hang on to consciousness. Had I been struck by lightning? It sure felt like it. Wulf. I had to warn him. I linked with my mate. “We have…an…intruder. Not… Not sure…if it’s Malik.”

The stranger reached for me.

The last thing I heard was Wulf’s frightening battle cry echoing down the corridor.

My internal radar kept screaming. Danger! Danger! Danger! Danger! I frowned. Why was I on the floor? And Goddess, did my head hurt. The sounds of a fight had my eyes flying open. Funny little black dots danced in my vision. I shook my head to clear it.

Everything came rushing back. Oh Goddess! The stranger.

His big body went flying by, and he landed with a graceless splat on the cold metal deck.

A very wet and naked Wulf grabbed the stranger by the throat and lifted him. “No one harms my mate.”

The stranger kneed Wulf in the gut and followed up with a palm strike to the chin, breaking my warlord’s grip.

The stranger hit the floor and kicked out, knocking Wulf off his feet.

Wulf teleported.

The stranger teleported.

Without warning, they were back, pounding the hell out of each other.

Poof. They were gone again.

Poof. They reappeared. The stranger rapidly swung his right arm. Jab. Jab.

Wulf blocked, feinted, and unleashed a dozen rapid-fire punches.

The stranger reeled back, wiped the blood off his face, and launched himself at Wulf.

Voss popped in and watched for a moment. “Want to tell me why they’re fighting?”

The battle commander was way too calm for the stranger to be Malik. I scrambled to my feet. “Sure. I was walking down the hallway, minding my own business, and that jerk attacked me for no reason.”

“I see. Did he identify himself?”

“Nope, just grabbed me. I thought he was Malik, and I was doing my level best to kill him when the creep zapped me with some kind of mental lightning bolt. Wham. The next thing I know, I’m on floor trying not to pass out.”

“And Wulf found you that way?”

“He did. You’re not going to break it up?”

“No, Zarek wants the pleasure.”

The second Voss said that, the Overlord teleported in, and the two combatants jumped back from each other like scalded cats. “Explain.”

Wulf snarled. “He attacked my mate.”

“You brought me here to train her. I wanted to see what the female was capable of in a crisis, but I was never told she had bionics,” the stranger retorted.

“Surprise,” I muttered under my breath.

“The female never once used her mental abilities to defend herself,” the stranger finished in disgust.

What an ass. “The female has a name. It’s Yakira, or you can call me my lady. Either one will do. How do I put this so your simple male brain can understand? I wanted you dead. I’m not strong enough to kill you with my mind, but I am with my bionics.”

“You’re not strong enough period,” the stranger interjected.

I gave him the one-finger salute. If he didn’t know what it meant, too bad. “Want to go another round?”

Wulf choked back a laugh.

Zarek’s menacing gaze fell on me. “Quinn is the head of Earth’s Siren program. I summoned him here to train you in the proper use of your talents.”

Oh joy.

“He’s also your blood kin.”

I dug in my ear. Surely, I had misunderstood him. “Come again?”

Voss rubbed a hand over his mouth as if to keep from laughing. “Quinn is your second cousin, and I know he wishes to apologize for his actions today.”

I waited expectantly.

His teeth clenched together, Quinn mumbled, “I’m sorry I frightened you.”

No, he wasn’t. “And I’m sorry I broke your nose and gave you two black eyes.”

Quinn’s body stiffened in anger. “I received those injuries from my battle with Wulf, not from your feeble blows.”

Feeble? I seriously considered unleashing a telekinetic blow to his groin. Bet he still had his balls.

“No, Yakira,” Wulf rumbled on our private link. “You can kick him in the balls after he trains you.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Isn’t there someone else who could teach me?”

“Quinn’s the best.”

“If you say so, but he needs an attitude adjustment.”

“He does, and the Overlord will see to it.”

I gave Zarek a big smile. “Have I told you how much I like you?”

“Yes, at the party last night, when we were dancing the tango,” Zarek responded with a toothy smile of his own.

“Oh.” We danced? What the heck was the tango? And why couldn’t I remember?

The Overlord leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Too much wine.”

“Oh.” I was never drinking again, and why was he speaking to me in High Coletti? Did he know I understood it?

“Wulf, you have two minutes to dress and get to the war room.”

Being a good little warlord, Wulf vanished.

Zarek turned his attention to Quinn. “Have the medic tend to the injuries Yakira inflicted on you.”

Poof. Quinn was gone.

The Overlord held out his hand. “Come.”

I looked at it in horror. He wanted me to touch him? A brief memory of Zarek twirling me around his shoulders flashed through my mind. Oh Goddess! I had danced with him. This was bad on so many levels.

Voss chortled. “The females used to flock to you, eager for your touch.”

“Detja frowns on that kind of behavior now.” Zarek inspected me, like a scientist studying an interesting but odd specimen. “Have you lost your ability to obey?”

“No, my lord.” I quickly placed my hand in his.

Zarek clamped me to his rock-hard chest and teleported.

Chapter Nine

We appeared in the Overlord’s war room. The walls were covered with instruments of death. Swords, knives, laser pistols, rifles, war hammers, and what looked like a variety of thermite grenades.

My brother Colburn and several high-ranking Coletti warriors were sitting at the long platinum conference table. Built into the right arm of each chair was a high-tech control panel.

I wiggled against Zarek’s hold. He was freaking me out. I could literally feel the power thrumming within him.

He released me and pulled out a chair. “Sit.”

I sat.

Voss chose a chair beside the Overlord.

Wulf popped in and took the seat next to me.

I linked with him. “What exactly did I do last night?”

“You had a good time,” my mate responded diplomatically.

“Define a good time.”

An image formed in my frazzled brain. His tentacles bobbing along with the music, Bebo spun me around the room. Two minutes of the stomach-heaving death twirl, and I puked all over him. “Oh. Anything else?

With startling graphic clarity, pictures formed in my mind. Ziyad and I were on top of a table, doing a swell imitation of the erotic bump-bump dance the pleasure houses were famous for.

Utterly appalled at my actions, I dropped my head on the table and groaned, “Just kill me now.”

Wulf squeezed my knee. “Your bump-bump dance was quite good. The warriors enjoyed it immensely.”

I would never be able to look any of them in the face again.

Quinn sauntered into the room and dropped into the chair across from me. “They say you are a locator.”

Just what I needed to make my day complete. I gave Quinn the stink eye. “I did find Bedan and Kalja.”

“But can you locate Malik?”

“He’ll be harder to track. I need something he’s worn.”

Voss gave Quinn the Coletti version of the evil eye. “We have the matter in hand.”

Quinn’s mouth twitched in annoyance.

On a private link with Wulf, I asked, “How is this guy still breathing?”

“His sister is mated to my son,” Zarek answered for him.

“Oh. Gotcha. Family.” Yikes. I turned to Wulf. “Why didn’t you tell me he was listening in?”

He shrugged. “You never asked.”

Incensed, I shot back, “Like I’ve never asked how many females you’ve boinked?”

Wulf regarded me warily. “Why are you bringing that up now?”

“Children, we have more important matters to deal with.” There was a note of warning in Zarek’s voice.

Some days my mouth engaged before my brain. This was one of those days. I owed Wulf another apology. “It won’t happen again, my lord.”

“Good.”

The Gorum squished through the door and slithered into the room.

I flashed Bebo an apologetic look. “Sorry I puked on you.”

“Kall wine does not agree with you.” A tentacle patted my head gently. “And I should have realized humans can’t handle my rather energetic dance moves.”

The Overlord’s fingers drummed an impatient tattoo on the table. “Are we done socializing?”

“Yes, she is,” Wulf answered, squeezing my knee painfully.

Ouch! I was only trying to be polite, and I was still a bit hungover.

Zarek’s gaze settled on Bebo. “You were able to retrieve them?”

“Yes.” Bebo hacked up a clear bag filled with bloody clothing onto the table.

His digestive juices flowed across the table and dripped on the floor. Ewww. Was that a finger?

A head suddenly bulged out from Bebo’s side, its mouth opened in an endless scream. A foot kicked frantically. The Gorum stuffed a tentacle down his maw, pulled out some metal teeth, and dropped them on the table.

Guess he stopped for some Tai-Kok takeout.

Voss opened the bag, took out a filthy battle suit, and held it out to me. “Can you locate Malik with this.”

Very gingerly, I took the clothing from him and placed it on the table. The battle suit reeked of sweat and death. “I’ll need a star chart.”

Zarek pushed a button on his control panel, and a holographic star chart appeared over the table.

Closing my eyes, I held a hand over Malik’s clothing and focused every ounce of power I had on finding him. A vision of an Askole donut-shaped space station formed in my mind. It was a poorly armed and used mainly by traders to sell their goods. I touched the star map. “Here. He’s here.”

“I’ll have the pilot set a course to the Najea space station,” Voss said.

Visions of fire erupted in my head. Agony. Terrible agony tore through my brain. “Malik is attacking the station.”

Wulf linked with me as more images tumbled into my mind. Chaos. Death. A mechanical voice warned, “Hull breach level four. Loss of life support imminent.”

There was a sick, hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach. Malik’s ship was leaving. “Too late. We’re too late.”

“Search for survivors,” Zarek commanded.

I sensed the brainwaves of two Askole warriors. “Two still live.”

Voss asked, “Where?”

“The control room.”

“I will retrieve them,” Raj offered. A brilliant golden light popped into existence. The light spun faster and faster until a vortex formed. Hurricane-force winds blew through the room.

For a brief second I went airborne.

Wulf grabbed the back of my battle suit and pulled me down.

Raj was sucked into the vortex. With a loud pop, the tornado vanished.

The Overlord’s fangs were bared in an angry snarl. “What were the last coordinates you sensed Malik at, Yakira?”

Alarmed at Zarek’s full, undivided attention, I babbled, “The Mirador system. I think he was heading toward the planet Manang.”

“Malik still has allies among the Rodan and Tai-Kok. The Rodan established a small base on Manang two months ago,” Voss inserted.

My hands curled into fists. After they ate every living thing first. A few vids of the massacre had made it off planet. The images still haunted me.

Colburn interjected, “According to our ship’s log, Halvor the Betrayer and Brynjar made two trips to Manang recently.”

That caught the Overlord’s interest. “What was their cargo?”

“Avici ale.”

I snorted. Not likely. “Anybody else find it suspicious they visited Manang right after Pindick and his brothers hit that weapons depot?”

“An excellent point,” Voss agreed.

Wulf added, “The Alliance recovered all but two crates of the thermite grenades. One of the missing crates was full of garrison killers.”

“Molotov nerve gas or the more virulent Gryffon?” The Overlord actually looked worried.

“Gryffon,” Wulf answered.

Why hadn’t the Rodan eaten Halvor the Betrayer and Brynjar? They would have done the galaxy a favor. A wave of weariness rolled over me. Tracking Malik had wiped me out.

Wulf scooped me up. “With your permission, my lord, I need to attend to my mate.”

“Go.”

There was a fleeting second of black, and we were back in Wulf’s quarters.

“What’s up?”

He bit into his arm and held it out to me. “Drink.”

“But—”

“You’re exhausted. My blood will give you the strength you need to track and find Malik. We do not want to disappoint the Overlord. Do we?”

“No. That would be bad. Very bad.” I had pushed Zarek’s patience to the limit.

“And as an added bonus, you’ll soon be strong enough to defeat Quinn.”

That perked me up. I really, really wanted to kick Quinn’s ass, and if it took drinking gallons of Wulf’s blood to accomplish that goal, so be it. I latched on to his arm and started sucking. Strange. His blood was starting to taste pretty good. Energy flowed into me. My headache vanished, and I felt like I could conquer the universe.

“You have conquered my heart,” Wulf said. He settled his lips over mine in a wild, demanding kiss.

I sighed at the feel of his mouth on mine. It was heaven. Pure heaven. An aching need blossomed inside me.

Zarek inquired cynically, “Another anatomy lesson?”

We jumped apart.

“No, my lord, it’s a kissing lesson,” I replied.

Wulf raised his eyes heavenward as if imploring the Goddess for help.

“All lessons will cease until you are twenty-one and Malik has been captured.”

“What? But that could take months,” I protested.

Not budging an inch, Zarek responded, “It gives you the proper motivation to find Malik, and make no mistake, I want him found soon.”

“Consider me motivated.”

“Good. Return to the war room.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“The Overlord likes you,” Wulf said out of the blue.

“What makes you say that?”

“He hasn’t killed you yet.”

I smacked him in the arm. “Not funny.”

“He did dance with you. That’s another sign he favors you.”

“It wasn’t like he had a big choice. There were only two females at the party. Ziyad and me.”

“The Overlord didn’t dance with Ziyad,” Wulf pointed out.

“True. Maybe he wanted to keep his best hunter happy. I know I do.”

Wulf’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You’re going to obey me without question?”

“In combat situations, yes.”

“I can live with that.” Wulf drew me to him and teleported.

We appeared in the war room. An elderly Askole warrior was furiously banging on the table and demanding something in the Askole’s native tongue. It sounded like a bunch of guttural grunts and groans and some clucking.

“Stay put,” Wulf ordered and walked over to the Overlord.

I concentrated on what the Askole was saying. He wanted reparations for the loss of the space station. Like it was Zarek’s fault? The Askole wanted Malik’s head on a platter. He’d have to stand in line for that one. And the old coot wanted an apology from the Gorum for sliming him during the rescue. Talk about ungrateful.

My stomach clenched in sudden horror as I recognized the rasping voice. It couldn’t be him. It couldn’t. He wasn’t missing an eye, was he? The Askole turned, exposing a gaping hole in his face. Oh Goddess. It was Ziyad’s grandfather, Pokham.

He spotted me at the same time, and his good eye filled with a rage so intense, so inhuman that it sent a chill up my spine. “You!” He pulled his pistol and fired.

As if in slow motion, I watched the laser beam zing toward me. It slammed into my chest. Intense pain rocketed through my body, and the blow sent me pinwheeling backward into the wall. Everything faded away.

“Yakira!” Wulf shouted in my head over and over again.

Why was Wulf so freaked out? Oh yeah, that evil old bastard had shot me. “Stop. Yelling. You’re giving me a headache.” I suddenly realized he had me cradled in his arms like I was the most precious thing in the universe. I patted his cheek. “Your wonderful battle armor saved my life.”

“Thank the Goddess.”

“No, thank you.” I reached up to kiss him and gasped. Yeow! Did my chest hurt.

“She’s mine to kill. I have a death warrant. She’s mine to kill. I have a death warrant!” Pokham kept shouting from under a pile of Coletti warriors.

“Get me back to my ship before he tries to kill me again,” I gasped.

“After the medic checks you out.” Wulf stood up like I weighed nothing. Poof. We appeared in sick bay.

The medic, an elderly Coletti, stood at attention. “How may I serve you, my lord?”

“My mate was hit by a laser beam at close range.” Wulf set me down on the examining table.

Grabbing a medical scanner, the medic ran it over me. “Her sternum is badly bruised. With your permission, I will treat her.”

“You have my permission,” Wulf replied formally.

In perfect High Coletti, I blurted out, “You’re not making me drink more of your blood?” I closed my eyes in horror and gave myself a mental head thump. Dumb. Dumb mistake.

In the same Coletti language, Wulf asked with a gentleness that made me squirm nervously, “You understand High Coletti?”

There was no sense in lying now. “Yes, I do.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You never asked. Besides, it gives me an advantage. You never know when you might hear something useful.”

His eyes narrowed. “Any other secrets I should know about?”

“Define secrets.”

“May I?” The medic held up an injector.

I nodded. “Please.”

The medic pressed the injector against my chest. Zap. The pain eased into a dull ache. “Thank you.”

He gave a brief bow. “It was an honor to serve you.”

Zarek teleported in. He looked at the medic. “Leave us.”

With another bow, the medic left.

“Pokham has a legal death warrant for you, and he is demanding we turn you over to him.” A killing rage simmered in the Overlord’s eyes.

Pokham’s nasty nature usually made people want to kill him.

“Yakira understands and speaks High Coletti,” Wulf, the snitch, blabbed.

A half smile briefly touched Zarek’s mouth. “Your mate has many talents.”

And language was one of them. I quickly interjected, “I was eleven when Pokham had the death warrant issued for me.”

“Askole law prohibits death warrants on children.” The Overlord’s anger grew.

“He not only lied about my age, but he accused me of murdering his brother, Elof, in cold blood.”

“What had Elof done to earn a death sentence?” Wulf gently massaged the back of my stiff neck.

“He tried to stop Pokham from gutting his own daughter.”

The Overlord’s fangs seemed to grow. “How did Elof die?”

“Pokham beheaded him.”

“A task a child would be incapable of doing.”

“Why all the lies?” Wulf demanded in a harsh voice.

“A matter of pride. Pokham didn’t want anyone to know that Tanic, his eldest daughter, had been raped by the Rodan and impregnated. Lucky me, I witnessed Tanic’s execution, and he had to silence me.”

“Pokham is old-school. If a female is raped, it’s her duty to kill herself,” Zarek snapped in disgust. “If the council was aware the Rodan had raped Tanic, they would have expected Pokham to assemble a battle fleet and hunt them down.”

I shook my head. “Never happened. The coward’s war chest was empty. Besides, she was worthless to him. He couldn’t marry her off after that. She was tainted. Pokham simply told everyone she had died in a hunting accident. Not once did he make an effort to find the Rodan responsible.”

Wulf grimaced. “He was honor bound to act.”

“It gets better. During my investigation, I discovered Tanic was traveling on the Alliance star cruiser Ayel when the Rodans attacked. Pokham paid the captain to remove Tanic’s name from the passengers’ list even though he knew she had been taken.”

Outrage filled Wulf’s voice. “He had to know what was going to happen to her.”

“Pokham didn’t care, but he hadn’t counted on Tanic being a survivor. She fought to stay alive and was able to escape before the Rodan could eat her and her unborn child. She knew what Pokham would do if he found out she was still alive. For fifteen years, Tanic successfully ran a trading post on Omin. She thought she was safe, but she wasn’t. One of Pokham’s flunkies learned of a half-breed Askole at the trading post and notified her father.”

“The bastard came with a few of his most trusted warriors. He killed Tanic, burned the trading post to the ground, and put Ziyad, the abomination, in a cage. I saw what happened and freed her.”

“I’ll make sure the council learns of Pokham’s treachery. He’ll lose his seat on the council and his warrior status,” Zarek said grimly.

“Killing him would be better.” Sue me, I had a bloodthirsty streak.

“It might come to that.” Zarek transferred his gaze to Wulf. “Take Yakira back to her ship and return to the war room.”

“Yes, my lord.” Wulf picked me up and teleported.

Chapter Ten

Presto. We were back on my stealth ship. Wulf pressed a fierce, hungry kiss on my mouth and dropped me on my feet. “Stay out of trouble.” Poof, he was gone.

I’d try, but trouble always found me. I touched my lips and smiled. Wulf could rock my world anytime.

Bui skittered across the deck, crying, “Yakeee! Yakeee!”

I knelt down. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“You left. You left.” She scurried up my arm and wrapped her legs around my neck.

“Ssssh.” I petted her trembling body. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I would never leave you or let anything happen to you.”

“Where you go?”

“The Overlord needed me to find a very bad male.”

“Kill him?”

“Not yet, but soon.” I ruffled her fur and noticed Bedan and Kalja staring up at me. “Hello there.”

“Deet worms?” Kalja asked hopefully.

“Let me ask Ziyad if she has some left.” My BFF had returned to the ship earlier because the kids were getting really cranky and needed a nap. I linked with her. “We need to talk, and are there any deet worms left?”

Ziyad zipped up. In one hand she held a container of worms. She placed it on the floor, laughing as Kalja and Bedan dived in headfirst.

Bui scrambled down and joined in the food fest.

With a tight, sick feeling in my gut, I said, “Sit down. I’ve got some bad news.”

“The Overlord is still angry with you puking on his boots?” She settled in the pilot’s chair and began checking the readouts.

My jaw dropped. “I puked on him?”

Colburn walked onto the bridge. “You did. Twice.”

“And I’m still breathing?”

“We were all a bit surprised.” Colburn chuckled.

“Why didn’t Wulf tell me?”

My brother shrugged. “Who knows? He won the keg-drinking contest by chugging down two barrels of ale. Maybe he doesn’t remember.”

I didn’t believe that for a moment. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Wulf would use the puking incident against me later. Zarek also had the perfect opportunity to get rid of me, and he hadn’t. I guess he wanted Malik found more than he wanted me dead. As long as I was useful and kept Wulf happy, I was safe.

Ziyad waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you still drunk?”

“Nope, Wulf’s blood took care of that.”

“What? You drank his blood? No wonder you’re acting twitchy.”

“It’s part of the mating thing. It’s also good for curing what ails you and makes you stronger and harder to kill. At least that’s what Wulf said.”

My best friend cocked her head to one side and tapped a finger against her lower lip. “Lothel’s blood was quite tasty, and I did heal faster afterward.”

Great. It sounded like she had marked Lothel, but I’d worry about it later. “We need to talk.”

“What’s wrong?”

So many things. How did I tell Ziyad without freaking her out?

“Just spit it out,” Colburn advised.

“Your grandfather is on Zarek’s warbird.”

Ziyad’s skin turned a pasty gray. “He found me.”

“No. He found me and he shot me.”

She touched the charred mark on my battle suit. “At close range too.”

“Pokham showed Zarek the death warrant and is demanding he turns me over to him.”

“We need to leave. Now!”

“I have more bad news,” Colburn inserted. “An Askole battle fleet is headed our way, and Sariel’s on board his flagship.”

“Zarek said he would expose Pokham’s treachery,” I said, trying to quell the apprehension flooding me.

“If Sariel honors the warrant, Zarek will have no choice but to turn you over to Pokham, or he risks breaking their treaty,” Colburn said tersely.

“Then we run.” My voice was tight with resentment. The warrant gave Pokham authority to immediately behead us once we were in his custody. There would be no trial. No justice.

Leaving Wulf behind would be one of the hardest things I had ever done. I knew without a doubt my warlord would follow. Along with Zarek, Voss, and the entire Askole battle fleet, but I had a plan.

I jumped a good foot when Ziyad let out her ear-shattering version of a battle cry. “We die as warriors!”

“No! No one is dying. We’re outgunned and outmanned. The only smart thing to do is evade and hide.”

“They will pursue us,” Ziyad pointed out.

I shook my head. “No, they won’t. I downloaded that nasty little worm you created. All you need to do is unleash it, and poof. They can’t trace our cloaking device energy signature, and we are invisible to all the bugs those sneaky warlords planted on our ship.”

Ziyad grinned. “My pleasure.” She typed a command into her communications bracelet. “It’s activated.”

“What have you done?” Colburn was pretty freaked out. “Zarek will kill you and us without hesitation. Your worm screws up their scanners and leaves them vulnerable to an attack.”

I whacked my brother in the chest. “Like I would ever put Wulf in danger? Our ship is the only one the Coletti can’t track. Tai-Kok or Rodan or a pirate vessel will show up.”

“And what about your link with Wulf? We won’t make it out of this solar system,” Colburn argued.

“Have some faith in me, Brother.” I opened a compartment on the command console and pulled out two small brown bottles. “This is Drakash. It’ll shut down my psychic abilities long enough for us to escape. Both of you will have to drink some too, or Zarek will try to control you.”

My brother reached out and took a bottle. “You’re taking a huge risk.”

“The alternative is death.”

“If you had killed Pokham at the Romie market, we would be safe now.” Ziyad’s tentacles squirmed with agitation.

A long sigh broke from me. “I missed him by an inch. It’s been three years. How many times do I have to apologize?”

“You tried to assassinate Pokham?” The expression on Colburn’s face was priceless.

I decided it was in my best interest to ignore my brother’s question. “Get us out of here, Ziyad, before the Askoles throw us in chains.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.” Ziyad engaged the engines.

Wulf immediately inquired on our private link. “Going somewhere?”

“I love you. Never doubt that.” I opened the bottle and drank the vile Drakash.

“No!” Wulf roared. “Don’t do it.”

“It’s done.” Pain exploded in my head, and the room spun dizzily around me. Colburn caught me before I fell. “Hurts.”

He eased me into the copilot’s chair. “This is never going to work.”

Tears poured down my face at the loss of Wulf’s mental touch. Empty. I was so very empty. The cold void in my head grew until I wanted to scream from the sheer agony of it. I kicked Colburn, the skeptic, in the shins and used what little psychic ability I had left to yell mentally, “I’m dying here. Shut up and drink the stuff.”

My brother swallowed half the bottle and handed it to Ziyad. “Happy?”

“No, it feels like I’ve had an ice-pick lobotomy.”

“We are being hailed,” Ziyad announced.

Gee, I wonder who it is? “Open the channel.”

Voss appeared on our ship’s view screen. Something dark and terrifying flickered in his eyes. “You tampered with our equipment. This could be considered an act of war.”

I answered him back in High Coletti, “The worm only effects your ability to locate our ship, not your battle readiness.”

A rapid-fire mixture of guttural grunts, groans, and chittering clucks sounded offscreen. Pokham was insisting the battle commander blow our ship into itty-bitty pieces.

Voss ignored him, which enraged Pokham even further.

Ziyad hit a button on her control panel, cutting off Pokham’s mad rant. The view screen went black. “He has lost all reason.”

“He’s crazier than an upsilion beetle,” I agreed, relieved I could still mind talk.

The ship’s computer announced: “Warning. Warning. Photon torpedo two kilometers off the port bow. No need for tactical evasion at this time.”

My attention fixed on the tracking scanner. No, there wasn’t. We weren’t the target. The torpedo whizzed by us and headed directly for Askole’s battle fleet.

Colburn quickly checked his readouts. “It’s locked in on Sariel’s ship.”

Fury rose up in me. “I don’t know how he did it, but Pokham launched that torpedo.”

My brother groused. “You know who they will blame. Us.”

“If Sariel is harmed, the Askole council will declare a blood feud and hunt us down,” Ziyad cried in outrage.

The torpedo unexpectedly blew up. Brilliant billows of orange flames filled the view screen.

Colburn stepped back from weapons control with a smug smile on his face. “Problem solved.”

Bui bounced up and down on the command console. “Pretty. Do again.”

I drew in a quick, angry breath. “You idiot! Voss will use our missile’s trajectory to trace it back to us.”

“Taking evasive maneuvers,” Ziyad advised. She rolled our ship sharply and went into a nauseating series of twists, banks, and dives. “Increasing speed to warp six.” G-forces slammed me back against the seat as the ship accelerated rapidly.

Bui shrieked happily. “Wee. Fun.”

“No feel good,” Bedan whined and hurled. Bits of semidigested deet worm decorated my boot.

Oh yay.

Kalja greedily sucked them up.

The computer’s alert sounded: “Warning. Warning. Enemy fighters deployed.”

One look at the tracking scanner, and I smacked my brother in the shoulder. “Oh lookie. Voss sent three Talon fighters to find us.”

“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Colburn responded, rubbing his shoulder.

“Do you really think Voss would have allowed that torpedo to hit Sariel’s battle cruiser? Or the Askoles are so inept they would allow it blow them to smithereens?”

My brother winced. “Uh. Probably not.”

“Bingo, smart guy.”

Ziyad tensed. “We’re being hailed again.”

“Ignore it,” I snapped.

“We should listen to what Voss has to say,” Colburn argued.

I made a sound of disgust. “The Coletti aren’t pacifists or known for their compassionate natures. You know, and I know, what he’s going to say. Surrender or die.”

Red beams lanced out from the fighters in a dazzling search pattern. A direct hit would disrupt our cloaking device, and we would be sitting ducks.

The Coletti weren’t the only ones with the newest weapons systems. Ziyad was a genius when it came to making useful gadgets. Like itty-bitty sensors called chad, which had a nasty effect on power sources. “I think it’s time we tested the chad you created.”

“I agree.” Ziyad tapped a button. “Pods deployed.”

My curious brother asked, “What does this chad do?”

“Watch and learn,” I said.

A Coletti Talon fighter unleashed another energy beam. It hit one of the pods. Kaboom! A ball of crackling blue light engulfed the fighter.

Colburn stared in awe at his screens. “The energy flux disrupted all their systems.”

“Everything is offline, except for life support,” I added.

My brother whistled. “They either back off or run the risk of losing more ships.”

“Exactly. Game. Set. Match.”

“Don’t get too cocky. The Coletti don’t take defeat well, and the Drakash will wear off,” Colburn said nervously.

My hands shaking badly, I rechecked the readouts. No pursuit. Yet. Everything Colburn said was true. Sooner or later there would be hell to pay.

With most of my psychic abilities gone, I had the weirdest sensation of being cut off from the real world. I was trapped in a vacuum that threw my senses off kilter and left me utterly blind and unable to defend myself.

I needed Wulf in my mind, to hear him, to touch him, to taste him. But after what we had just done, would he still want me?

The baby Gorum climbed into Ziyad’s lap. A look of horror suddenly registered on her face. “The babies.”

My thoughts still a bit muddled, I glanced over at her. “What about the babies?”

“The Coletti can use them to find us.”

Fear ballooned through my mind, and it took every shred of my willpower to control it. Oh Goddess, she was right. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Was my grand plan about to blow up in my face? “The question we need to ask is: will the Overlord request Bebo’s help? I mean, really, how important are we to them?”

“You’re a powerful Siren, you have telekinetic abilities, you’re a locator who can track Malik across the galaxy, and the most important reason of all—you’re Wulf’s mate,” Colburn said drily.

Ziyad patted the command console. “Our ship is the latest in stealth technology. The Coletti engineers were going gaga over it. Do you really think the Overlord will let it slip through his fingers?”

“Okay, fine. All good points, but is the Overlord willing to risk a galactic war for us? I don’t think so. We need to find physical proof of Pokham’s treachery, or we’re dead. I don’t think the Askole will believe anything an abomination or murderer has to say.”

My brother put his version of a positive spin on the situation. “The good news is you saved Bedan and Kalja. The Gorum won’t turn you into a snack, just us.”

I doubted the Gorum would eat us. “I’m sure Bebo and Raj will understand why we took their children without permission.”

My brother snorted. “I can hear it now. Gee, guys, we kinda panicked and forgot they were on board.”

Yeah, that would go over really well. I rubbed my throbbing head. Could this day get any worse?

Ziyad tapped her console. “Getting energy fluctuations.”

A brilliant golden light popped into existence.

“They’re here.” Colburn stroked the butt of his laser pistol.

I warned him. “Don’t even think about it.”

The light spun faster and faster until a vortex formed. Bebo sprang out of the twister with Wulf and Quinn on his back. Raj followed with Lothel hanging on for dear life. With a loud pop, the vortex vanished.

Bedan and Kalja scampered over to their fathers.

Kalja bounced up and down, chattering a mile a minute. “We go fast. Wee! Fast. Fast.”

“Eat deet worms,” Bedan exclaimed. “Big boom. Pretty.”

“Have fun. Do again,” Kalja babbled happily.

Bedan’s tentacles drooped. “Me puke on Yakee’s boots.”

While the Gorum carefully checked their children, their dazed and rather slimy riders slid off.

One of Bebo’s tentacles shot out and wrapped around my throat. “Do not take our children again.”

“I humbly beg your forgiveness. I would never harm them.”

“Which is why you still live,” Bebo declared.

Without warning, the brilliant golden light burst back into existence. A massive whirlwind roared to life. Hurricane-force winds blew through the room.

I hung on to the chair as my body went airborne.

The tornado engulfed the Gorum, and boom! They were gone.

My feet hit the floor. Yay! The Gorum had left without killing us, but I had a feeling we hadn’t seen the last of them.

Grim purpose stamped on his face, Wulf stalked toward me.

Yikes! He was beyond livid. I held my ground and smothered a laugh. His warrior braids resembled a tangled nest of snakes. Time to go on the defense. “We won’t go back without a fight. I don’t care if it mucks up your precious treaty with the Askole.”

“Shut up,” Wulf all but thundered. He pulled an injector from a hip pocket and slammed it into my neck.

“Ouch! That hurts.”

“Good.” There wasn’t a speck of sympathy in Wulf’s gaze.

“What did you give me?”

“The antidote.” Wulf moved Ziyad out of the pilot’s chair and plugged a thumb drive into the console.

My killer headache abruptly vanished, and the terrible emptiness was gone. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t pull this stunt again.”

“Hey! It was a well-thought-out plan,” I protested.

Wulf shot back, “Obviously. We captured you within an hour.”

I winced. It had only been an hour? It sure seemed longer.

My eyes widened in alarm. Where the heck was Colburn? I glanced at the command screens. The shuttle bay doors were opening. The fool was taking our shuttle and making a run for it. I wondered how long it would take Wulf to notice.

Mr. Crabby spotted the blinking red light that signaled the launch of a shuttle and opened a communications channel. “Return to the ship, Colburn, or when I catch you, and I will catch you, I will dump you in a Danute labor camp for the next six years.”

“Isn’t that a little harsh?”

Wulf eyed me with a distinct lack of favor. “Would you prefer I blow the shuttle into a million pieces?” His finger settled on the torpedo launch button.

“No! That won’t be necessary. Don’t be stupid, Colburn,” I pleaded, then added angrily, “You know you can’t outrun this ship, and your shields won’t withstand a direct torpedo hit.”

“Returning to the shuttle bay,” Colburn declared snottily.

He was the one who abandoned me, not the other way around. Sometimes my brothers didn’t have the sense the Goddess gave a petka.

“Once you’ve docked, I want you to give the shuttle a routine systems check,” my warlord commanded.

Colburn sputtered in outrage, “But…that’ll take hours.”

“Yes, it will.” Wulf turned his attention to Ziyad. “How did you create the energy flux?”

Ziyad’s tentacles stood straight up, and she played the dumb half-breed. “Hungry.”

“Cut the act.”

Someone was being a cranky butt. I would claim responsibility, but Wulf had been in my head. He knew I hadn’t created it or any other kind of weapon. “We bought the device off the black market.”

Menace crept into Wulf’s gaze. “You’re lying. I want the schematics. Now!”

“The plans are in my head,” Ziyad interjected quickly.

“Don’t lie to me. You won’t like the consequences.”

Where was a battle-ax when you needed one? “Back off! She’s telling the truth. Halvor the Betrayer had a bad habit of stealing her designs and selling them.”

Wulf stroked his goatee. “I believe you. Lothel, give her the antidote.”

Uh-oh. That wasn’t good.

Slime dripping off his battle suit, Lothel stepped up to inject Ziyad. She zoomed off.

Lothel teleported after her.

Ziyad stopped.

Lothel appeared.

Ziyad sped off.

Lothel vanished.

Around and around and around the bridge they went. I was getting dizzy watching them.

Quinn threw back his head and roared with laughter.

Glad someone was having a good time.

Ziyad slipped in some slime and hit the wall.

Poof. Lothel popped in and grabbed her.

My very best friend spun wildly, doing a great imitation of the Gorum’s vortex. Gobs of slime flew in every direction.

I jumped behind Wulf.

The slime pelted him. A low growl rumbled in his chest.

“Easy, big guy. You didn’t expect her to go down without a fight, did you?” I peered around his back and caught brief glimpses of Ziyad doing her level best to break Lothel’s grip. To my surprise, Lothel hung on and hurriedly injected her.

Ziyad stopped spinning and punched him in the face. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.”

I felt Wulf link with the Overlord. Not even thirty seconds later, enormous power flooded the room. Oh Goddess, we were so dead.

“Your battle tactics continue to surprise me, Yakira,” Zarek said with a grudging note of respect.

In a good way? “Uh. Thank you? Sorry about the treaty with the Askole.”

“The treaty was never in danger of being broken.”

“Oh.” My stomach plummeted. “So, the warrant is being honored?” Please say no. Please say no.

“It is not.”

“Pokham’s good with that?”

A hint of satisfaction eased its way into Zarek voice. “Pokham has joined his ancestors.”

“Gotta admit, launching that torpedo wasn’t a smart move,” I commented, doing a little happy dance.

Wulf raised his eyes as if silently praying to the Goddess for help.

“Downloading the worm wasn’t either.” Zarek’s voice was heavy with sarcasm.

He was going to kill me. I took a deep breath and went into my spiel. “I won’t apologize for trying to save Ziyad’s life, and at no time did I endanger your ship or crew.”

“You destroyed three Talon fighters,” Zarek countered.

Trying desperately to salvage the situation, I pointed out, “But the pilots weren’t harmed.”

“Do you know how much a Talon fighter costs?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“One million credits apiece.”

I sighed. There went our long-awaited vacation. “You want the bounty we collected on Gulog the Mad?”

“I do. Give Wulf access to your accounts.”

“But I promised Bui I’d get her a new leg.”

Zarek retorted, “You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”

“Yes, my lord.” Bui was going to be so disappointed.

“You’ll be assigned tasks to work off the other million and the cost of Bui’s leg.” And with that zinger, Zarek left my mind.

Relief swept through me. She’d get her leg!

Ziyad yelped in fear.

Yep. Zarek was mucking around in her head.

Wulf held out his arm. “The access codes to your accounts.”

He was still in a snit.

I reluctantly typed the code for the account into his communications bracelet and watched while he verified it. “I did what was necessary to save our lives.”

“I am your mate. It is my duty to protect you.”

“And if you had defied the Overlord’s order to turn us over to Pokham, he would have killed you. I won’t be responsible for your death.”

“Think of the Overlord as our father. A father who would have defended you with his life. As I would have.” Wulf stomped over to the warp drive control rack and typed a code into the input device.

Huh? A father figure? Was he kidding? The Overlord wasn’t exactly the loving daddy type, and if he was, he hid it really well.

Bui jumped from the console to my shoulder. “They scary.”

“They can be.” I stroked her silky fur.

“No worry. Me bite. They die.”

I blinked in astonishment. Her bite was poisonous? Why hadn’t someone warned me? “No biting Daddy Wulf or Uncle Zarek. Okay?”

“‘Kay. Why Daddy Wulf mad?”

“Because I didn’t trust him to protect me.”

“Why no trust?”

“The males in my life never keep their promises.”

My mate’s gruff voice sounded in my head. “I do.”

I met Wulf’s determined gaze and knew he meant it.

“I will always be there for you. Never doubt that.”

“You don’t understand. Pokham was the boogeyman in our lives. We tried to stay as far away from him as we could. When he showed up on Zarek’s ship, we panicked and ran.”

“Let me handle the boogeymen in your life.” Wulf walked over to me.

Goddess, that was so sweet. “I can live with that.” I reached up to seal the deal with a kiss.

The Overlord’s cold voice stopped me dead. “Malik has not been captured yet.”

Blast it. He was still hanging around. “It won’t happen again, my lord.”

“A word, Wulf.”

My link with Zarek and Wulf broke.

Wulf moved to the weapons control console and started entering information into the database.

Once he was done, I was sure they would be able to override the ship’s controls from anywhere in the universe. Can’t have frightened females running around the galaxy blowing stuff up. Can we?

“I need to eat,” Ziyad said and sped off.

Bui scampered after her. “More deet worms?”

Lothel followed with a determined expression on his face.

Hmmm. Did we have a budding romance?

Quinn strolled over. “Gotta say, you are one sneaky bitch. The worm and energy flux were excellent tactical moves.”

“Thanks. You didn’t come to gloat?”

“No. I rather enjoyed watching Voss’s reactions to your unique strategy.”

“Caught him off guard, did I?”

“You did. Not much surprises Voss or the Overlord.”

Time to change the topic. There was so much I wanted to know about my cousin and my Earth family. Like, what made him treat me so badly? “Why don’t you like me?”

“I don’t know you well enough to like or dislike you,” my cousin responded.

Nice sidestep. On to the next question. “Why did you allow the Coletti to convert you? You seem to hate them.”

Quinn remarked with dry understatement, “Who said I was given a choice?”

“They forced you?” I was totally horrified at the thought. Was I next?

“Not exactly. Let’s just say the Overlord made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“I think there is a little more to the story.”

“I wanted fangs, teleporting is pretty amazing, and I have a great boss,” Quinn said with a mocking smile.

Arrgh. Why was he being so evasive? Maybe a little sarcasm would help loosen Quinn’s tongue? “So, this great boss says fetch, and you dutifully jump on a Gorum. Even if it means a blood relative gets screwed?”

“You don’t say no to the Overlord.”

“Oh, that’s right. You lost your balls. Are you dickless too?”

Quinn eyes glittered dangerously. “That mouth is going to get you killed.”

“I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

“You’re not as strong as you think.”

I rolled my eyes. “Look. You’re a member of my family. I simply wanted to learn more about you. Is that so hard to understand?”

He ran a hand over his face and sighed. “I converted to keep my planet safe from the Tai-Kok and Rodan. Satisfied?”

“See? We have something in common. I kill the monsters whenever I get the chance.” To keep him off balance and talking, I asked, “Your sister is mated to Zarek’s son, Talree?”

Quinn scowled. “Biggest mistake she ever made was linking with that alien. Once he was in her head, she was his. You remind me a lot of Kaylee.”

Was that a compliment or insult? “How?”

“You’re smart like her. You’re loyal to a fault. You have Kaylee’s knack for finding trouble. You make friends wherever you go, and you always seem to land on your feet.”

“You still think I need training?”

My cousin rubbed at a spot of goo on his cheek. “I do. You’re wasting your talents. Malik could easily take you and turn you into a breeder.”

“I’d rather die than submit to him.”

“If Malik controls your mind, he controls you.” Quinn was chillingly matter-of-fact. “He’s broken some of our strongest warriors. Has Wulf explained what a feral is?”

“No, he hasn’t.”

Quinn continued his lecture. “If you shut down a Coletti warrior’s psychic abilities, keep him isolated, beaten, and starved, the warrior becomes feral and reverts to his primitive self.”

“I take it a primitive Coletti is even more dangerous than the Overlord?”

“Very. Once a warrior turns feral, his mind changes and becomes animalistic. The need for blood is overwhelming, and he converts into an almost unstoppable killing machine.”

My cousin pushed the image of a monstrous beast with tusklike fangs into my mind. “That is what a feral looks like. If you see one, run.”

You betcha I would. “Can they still teleport?”

“No. They lose that ability.”

Thank the Goddess for small favors. “What’s Malik’s purpose for all this?”

A muscle jerked in Quinn’s cheek. “He wants to punish Zarek by building an army of ferals and turning them loose on the civilian populations. Earth is his primary target.”

“We won’t let that happen,” I promised.

My cousin’s eyes grew bleak. “Malik tried before to destroy Earth. Thousands died.”

“But he failed,” was my blunt reply. Even I knew that.

A satisfied smile curved Quinn’s mouth. “He did, and the Jones clan was directly responsible for that failure. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch all the traitors.”

“You’ve got me on your team now. We’ll catch them, and there’s not a chance in the nine hells Malik will be successful this time either. I mean, really. The bastard has daddy issues and is a coward to boot. How many times has he dodged that fight to the death with Talree?”

“Several times.”

“I’ll do everything I can to track the fiend down and put him in the ground.”

My cousin shook his head. “Such confidence. Your bionics won’t save you this time. Malik knows everything about you. He will come for you, and when he does, you won’t know what hit you.”

“Gosh. Your faith in me is underwhelming. I eagerly await our training session, but first, tell me about the Jones clan.”

Quinn grinned. “We’re a family of warriors.”

“Just what the Coletti like. They must have done a happy dance when they found Earth.”

“The warlords were more interested in our psychic females than conquering another planet.”

Hmmm. Something was rotten in Orion. “Why the interest? Was there something wrong with their females?”

“I’m so glad you asked,” Quinn quipped. “A long time ago, in a land far, far, away there was a war.”

“Are you making this up?”

“No. I’m giving you a history lesson.” Quinn pushed me into the copilot’s chair. “Listen and learn.”

“Ok, you’ve got my attention.”

My cousin cast a quick look at Wulf. “I did a bit of snooping in Zarek’s archives and discovered that six hundred years ago, the Coletti race was almost wiped out in what they call the Great War.”

“I guess people got tired of sticky-fingered warlords running around the galaxy, taking things that didn’t belong to them.”

“According to rumors, the war broke out over a female.” Quinn waggled his eyebrows.

He was starting to grow on me. “Why am I not surprised?”

“The spurned husband, an Alliance general named Samor Tigres, was determined to eradicate the entire Coletti race for the actions of one horny warlord. General Tigres dropped several dozen Gall bombs on Tanith, the Coletti’s home world. The lethal radiation poisoned the surface and vaporized the seas.”

“Wait a minute. Isn’t the Alliance a Coletti ally?”

“Six centuries ago they were deadly enemies. Can I continue?”

“Sure.” I waved him on. Who knew history could be this entertaining?

“The planet dying and their cities in ruin, Zarek, a young warlord, gathered the survivors and moved them into a system of underground caverns. Almost singlehandedly, he rebuilt the Coletti Empire into what it is today,” Quinn ended with a flourish.

Gotta say, the Overlord had overcome some nasty odds to save his people. His accomplishments were impressive, and it did explain his hard-ass demeanor. “Is there more to the story?”

“I thought you’d never ask. The chemicals used in the war created a genetic anomaly, and only one female baby was born for every one thousand Coletti males.”

“In other words, they were facing extinction?”

“Exactly. To fix the problem, Zarek did what any good warlord would do. He started raiding other planets and species for their prized psychic females. Once the Overlord discovered the Jones family’s unique psychic powers and our blood’s ability to heal cellular damage, he promptly seized control of Earth. Any female who displayed psychic capability was immediately taken to the Colettis’ home world of Tanis to be converted.”

“Central Command did nothing to stop them?”

“Once the Overlord promised to protect Earth from Tai-Kok and Rodan raids, they turned us over without hesitation.”

“Let me guess. The greater good?”

Quinn scowled. “Billions of lives in exchange for a few psychics? It was a win-win situation for Central Command. Besides, with the Coletti warbirds circling overhead, they didn’t need us Sirens anymore. Or so they thought.”

I smacked myself in the forehead. Goddess, was I gullible and naive. “Wulf is going to convert me, isn’t he?”

My cousin watched Wulf for a moment with a feral gleam in his eyes. My warlord was still entering information into the computer. “It’s part of the process of you becoming his mate.”

“Drinking his blood is also a part of the conversion?”

“It is, but there is an upside to becoming Coletti,” Quinn added reluctantly.

“Like?”

“You’ll live a very long time, heal quickly, and have the ability to teleport.”

I bared my teeth. “Do I get a swell pair of fangs too?”

“Probably.”

“You like sucking blood?”

Quinn unexpectedly announced, “Your mother never stopped looking for you.”

“What?” My heart began to pound.

“She wants to meet you.”

I had a mother? I have a mother.

“Why are you upsetting Yakira?” Wulf shoved Quinn away from me.

I grabbed Wulf’s arm. “Quinn said… He said…I have a mother. She’s alive. She wants…to…to…meet…me.” I was having trouble breathing. “Did you know?”

Wulf wearily rubbed his forehead and nodded. “I tracked her down five years ago.”

“What’s her name? Where is she?” My temper flared as I suddenly realized what he had just said. I punched him in the stomach. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Wulf took a firm hold on my shoulders. “Because I know you. As soon as you discovered your mother was alive, you would have done everything in your power to find her. Malik still has human allies in Earth’s Central Command. The minute you flew into their orbit, they would have taken you.”

“Humans are helping Malik and the Tai-Kok?” Outrage and horror rolled through me. How could these traitors betray their own people to those monsters?

“The traitors were giving the Tai-Kok the codes to shut down our planetary defense systems, allowing them to swoop in and slaughter thousands of people. The sick bastards consider human flesh a delicacy, and it sells for a fortune on their black market,” my cousin said with an expression of barely contained fury.

A shudder shook me as screams echoed through my mind. I quickly pushed the memories away. “They did this for credits?”

“They did.” Quinn’s voice was full of revulsion.

“Did you kill them?”

An unholy smile curved Wulf’s mouth. “After they attacked and tried to kill Voss’s mate, he had us leave the military traitors in an unarmed shuttle in Tai-Kok territory. We still search for their cohorts.”

“I like the way he thinks.” I stared up at Wulf’s solemn amber eyes. “Tell me what you know about my mother.”

“Her name is Eve. She’s lives on Earth in a place called Arizona. Once Malik is captured and we have exposed the remaining collaborators, I’ll take you to meet her.”

“Promise?”

Wulf stroked my cheek. “I give you my word.”

“What about my real father?”

“He died in battle a year after you were taken,” Wulf answered.

“Oh.” Sorrow twisted my heart. I had no memory of him.

“Your father’s name was Tom. He was a fighter pilot.” Quinn paused and pointed to his communications bracelet. “Would you like to see pictures of them?”

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Excitement raced through me, and I broke into the dance. Step. Step. Kick. Wiggle my butt. Step. Step. Kick. Wiggle my butt.

Quinn stared at me in disbelief. “What is she doing?”

“It’s her happy dance,” Wulf answered.

“That’s a new one.” Quinn snagged my arm. “Hold on there. You don’t get to see the pictures until after our training session.”

“What? That’s just mean.” I stamped my foot. “I want to see one now!”

“Nope. Training first.” There was no compromise in Quinn’s voice.

“Are you going to let him get away with that, Wulf?”

“Yes. Think of it as an incentive.”

“You’ve got a mean streak.”

Wulf shrugged. “I’m Coletti. Go. Train.”

I followed after Quinn. “I want copies.”

“Depends on how well you do.” And without a lick of warning, Quinn attacked.

Bam! A mental punch landed in my head. I staggered backward.

Jab. Jab. Jab. Quinn kept raining blows on my mind.

Pinpoints of light danced before my eyes. This wasn’t a training exercise. It was an all-out assault. Didn’t he realize I had no experience in psychic warfare?

“Wulf can’t help you now. No one can. Get down on your knees and beg,” my cousin mocked, hurling a mental lightning bolt at me.

I managed to get my shields up and block it. Beg? The word made my blood boil. The only one begging would be him. I fired off a mind blast.

Quinn had the nerve to laugh. “That’s the best you’ve got?” He hammered at my shields. “Get on your knees and I’ll stop.”

Out of sheer desperation, I copied Quinn’s lightning bolt and launched it at him. It bounced off his mental shields.

“Malik’s going to mind-fuck you first and when you think it can’t get any worse, he’ll jam his snake so far up your ass, you’ll feel it in your throat,” my cousin taunted.

My heart was pounding. My muscles trembled so badly I could barely stand, and it felt like my brain was on fire. A familiar female voice whispered in my head, “Never give up. Never accept defeat.” Images rushed through my dazed mind, and I suddenly knew what I had to do to win this fight.

Buried deep inside me was a raw, untapped power. I touched it reverently. It had been there all this time, and I hadn’t noticed. How messed up was that? But, she knew it was there, and even better, she showed me how to use it. She was totally awesome.

Quinn landed another blow. “On your knees.”

Never. My cousin was going to get a lesson in humility. A torrent of power exploded from me and slammed into Quinn.

His face a bleached-out mask of surprised agony, my cousin fell to his knees. “Not. Possible.”

“You’ll find with me, anything is possible.” I pulled the communications bracelet off his wrist and linked with my mother. “Thank you.”

Her love flooded my mind. “My precious daughter, I love you so very much. I count the days until we can be together again.” Ghostly lips pressed against my cheek. The link broke.

“I love you too.” A blurry picture of a woman with red hair and green eyes suddenly materialized in my head. Along with the scent of roses.

Chapter Eleven

I wobbled onto the bridge. Every muscle, every bone in my body was screaming in protest. My poor brain throbbed, and those funny black dots were back. Psychic combat was incredibly hard. If my mother hadn’t helped, I would be the one on my knees, not Quinn. I guess technically it was cheating, but hey, the point was staying alive. Right?

A concerned frown on his face, Wulf watched me totter toward him. He sat in the captain’s chair with an inborn air of authority. “No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t interfere, but no one said your mother couldn’t.”

“You sneaky, wonderful male.” Goddess, I loved him.

Wulf grinned, and I thought I caught a brief flash of relief in his eyes. “The Overlord left strict instructions. You have to learn to defend yourself mentally. He never said your mother was excluded from your training.”

“I don’t think Quinn is going to appreciate the distinction.”

“I promised you a chance to kick him in the balls.”

“You did, and I did. Sort of. But now, I need your blood. A lot of it.”

Wulf pulled me onto his lap and bit his wrist.

I sucked the blood down like a starving man. A sigh of relief broke from me as the pain faded away. “Quinn is a tyrant. I wanted to use my bionics to knock his sorry ass through the bulkhead, but then, there’s the whole space and airless vacuum thing.”

“Wise decision.” Wulf wrapped his arms around me.

I leaned against his chest and allowed the comforting warmth of his body to sink into my very soul. I was home.

Wulf plucked Quinn’s communication bracelet from my hand. “I’ll download his pictures into your device.”

“Thanks. You’re really handy to have around.”

“I’m even better at smiting boogeymen.”

Ugh. My trust issues were still bothering him. “No, you’re the best at kissing.” I wiggled in anticipation when my communications bracelet gave a ding. The pictures had transferred. Did I look like my mother? Would my two families get along? Would my bionics freak them out?

“You worry too much. Your Earth family is eager to meet you.” Wulf quickly scrolled through a dozen pictures of my cousin in bed with several scantily clad females. He paused at photo that showed a well-endowed pleasure worker with a lizardlike tongue giving Quinn a blowjob.

Oh, ick! That image was forever burned into my mind. I smacked Wulf’s hand when he continued to stare at the picture. “Quit drooling and move on.”

“Yes, my lady.” He slid past a bevy of nude females cuddling Quinn.

“Quinn has way too much free time.”

“The Overlord gave your cousin ample opportunity to become accustomed to the changes in his body.”

“And adjusting to his new male parts takes that much practice?”

My warlord snorted in amusement. “Control can be an issue.”

“I’ll bet.” The image of the red-haired woman in my dreams appeared. “That’s her! That’s her! She’s my mother, isn’t she?”

“Yes.” Wulf slid his finger across the screen and enlarged the picture. “This is your mother.”

I studied her. While my hair was copper colored and straight as a board, my mother’s was a curly auburn. Mom’s emerald-green eyes were a shade lighter than mine, and she had a smattering of freckles across her cheeks. Me? No freckles, but I did have her snub nose and pointy chin. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

The pad of Wulf’s thumb brushed over my throat in a gentle caress. “Very. Her beauty rivals Detja’s.”

“Aww. That’s so sweet. I’d kiss you if I could.”

Wulf’s eyes widened in exaggerated horror. “Sweet? Warlords are never sweet.”

“Oh. Right. It goes against the warlord’s code.”

“Exactly.”

I linked with Ziyad. “I found my mother, and I’ve got pictures of her too.”

“I’ll be right there.” She zoomed up.

“Me want see,” Bui cried, scrambling up my leg.

Quinn rudely knocked Lothel aside as he stormed onto the bridge. “Wulf, you goddamned alien, do you think I’m a fucking moron? You had no right to interfere with my training session.”

Ziyad licked her lips. “Please let me eat him.”

Lothel’s hand dropped to his sword.

“It’s a real shame Quinn wasn’t stillborn,” Colburn added, stepping off our small elevator.

Resting his chin on my head, Wulf exhaled a long breath. “Doesn’t he realize he’s one of us goddamned aliens now?”

“Apparently not.”

“You cheated,” Quinn snarled.

I snarled back. “Prove it.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think your mother had something to do with it.” My cousin shot Wulf a suspicious look.

“Are you accusing Yakira of contacting Eve?” Wulf challenged. “She doesn’t have her mother’s brainwave pattern or her communication codes.”

My cousin’s brows came together in a fierce line. “You do.”

Yikes. I’d better put a stop to this, before they came to blows. I jumped in. “You call what happened a training session? It wasn’t, and you damn well know it. You hate me for some unknown reason, and this gave you the perfect opportunity to do a little ass kicking. Was it payback for me breaking your nose?”

“My nose wasn’t broken.” Quinn scowled.

“Then it was the two black eyes?”

“I’m following the Overlord’s instructions.”

“I find that hard to believe. Zarek knows I don’t have any psychic combat experience. You’re supposed to teach me how to fight. But that wasn’t your plan, was it? You treated me like I was one of Malik’s thugs. A thug you were determined to kill.”

“What? Are you crazy? I wasn’t trying to kill you. You’re my cousin,” Quinn protested.

“If that was your idea of cousinly love, I’ll give it a pass.”

Out of the blue, Wolf declared, “You think Yakira should have found her way home.”

“Her name is Kira. Not Yakira. For God’s sake, she had almost twenty years to figure out who she was and where she came from. Do you know how hard it was watching Eve grieve year after year?” Quinn punched the console. “It tore my heart out, but you never once contacted her.”

“Are you kidding me? I was a traumatized three-year-old who came very close to dying. Halvor had the memories of my abduction blocked. Would you want a child to remember what it felt like to be eaten alive?”

The color drained from Quinn’s face. “God, no.”

“I think my mother forgives me not contacting her sooner,” I said harshly, my body trembling with rage.

All the fight seemed to drain out of Quinn. “You’re right, and I’m sorry. I was out of line.” My cousin’s gaze darted from Lothel to Ziyad to Wulf to Bui and then settled on me. “Do you accept my apology?”

“Sure.” I slid off Wulf’s lap and punched Quinn right in the kisser.

His head snapped back. “I said I was sorry.” He wiped the blood off his split lip. “You’ve got a nasty right hook.”

“Bar fights are a great place to learn the art of fist fighting, and believe me, I’ve had a lot of practice.” I got in Quinn’s face. “The next time you attack me, I’ll do everything in my power to kill you.”

He took a step back. “But we’re family.”

“Then act like family.”

Wulf stood up and stretched. “I need a good sparring session. How about you, Lothel?”

“It has been a while,” Lothel said with an evil grin.

Wariness flared in Quinn’s eyes. “Now?”

“Now.” Lothel grabbed his left arm.

“Your battle skills need some fine tuning,” Wulf added, grabbing Quinn’s right arm and hustling him off the bridge.

Chapter Twelve

God, I loved Wulf. I put the picture of my mother up on the big screen. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“Very,” Ziyad concurred. “You’re a mirror image of her.”

“You think so?”

“I do.”

I hugged Colburn. “Our family is growing.”

“It is,” he agreed, visibly relaxing. “Let’s hope not all of our cousins are like Quinn.”

Bui asked, “Why she have spots?”

“Those are called freckles.”

The command screen beeped, announcing my search was completed. I opened the bounty hunter’s database. What fugitive are we going after? “Well. Well. Well. What do we have here?”

Everyone gathered around the computer and stared at the image of a fat, hairy male with horns, pointy ears, and scraggly silver hair.

“He funny-looking,” Bui said.

Hideous was a better word. I read the suspect’s description. He was five feet tall and weighed three hundred pounds. Under species, it listed his father as Farin, and his mother was a friggin’ Yagga. How had that happened?

“I bet his mother drugged the father. There’s no other way a snooty Farin gets in bed with a Yagga,” Ziyad commented.

I nodded. “The Farins are fanatical about keeping their bloodline pure.”

“Whoa! Look at that! There’s a five-million-credit bounty on his head,” Colburn exclaimed, rubbing his hands together.

Ziyad smiled happily. “We can pay off the Overlord.”

“Me get new leg.” Bui bounced up and down on my head. “New leg. New leg.”

I laughed. “Yes, sweetie. You get a new leg. Let’s hope our fugitive isn’t a mass murderer like Gulog the Mad, or Wulf will freak out.”

“He’s not.” Ziyad pointed to the screen. “The Alliance wants him for wrecking one of their battle cruisers, damaging three other ships and the dry dock facility.”

Colburn chortled. “The idiot stole the cruiser out of dry dock before the repairs had been completed on the warp drive.”

“To no one’s surprise, except maybe the suspect’s, the warp coil blew, turning the warship into a floating pile of scrap metal.” I hooted. Could anyone be this stupid?

Bui danced on my head. “More. More. Tell more.”

I picked up from where I had left off. “In a vain attempt to control the battle cruiser’s erratic flight path, the suspect sent it careening into the mooring structure, destroying it and knocking several cranes loose.” I was laughing so hard I had to stop reading again.

“This is like something out of an action vid.” Colburn sniggered.

I took a breath and continued, “The cranes smashed into three more Alliance ships before floating out into space. Oh Goddess, this is too weird to be true. The suspect then activated their fleet of service bots, hoping they would fix the wrecked ships before anyone discovered what had actually happened. The suspect’s programing skills were sadly lacking, and the bots made the damage much, much worse.”

My brother asked, “What’s this genius’s name?”

“Tol,” I supplied.

Ziyad’s tentacles stood up in astonishment. “Tol is Dingle’s half brother.”

Small universe. I studied the comment field and groaned. “Capturing him is going to be a little tougher than I thought.”

“Why? We can take that twerp easily.” My brother the optimist.

“Tol has taken refuge on the Haikan space station.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Colburn ran an aggravated hand over his battle braids. “Let’s find another bounty to hunt.”

“Think of it as a challenge. Haikan might be a sanctuary for thieves, murderers, mercenaries, and slavers, but what’s life without a little risk?” Ziyad proclaimed gleefully.

My best friend liked to live dangerously. Me? Not so much. “Getting on the space station is doable. Getting off is another matter entirely.”

For a moment I thought my brother was going to have a stroke. “Doable? That place is so dangerous even the enforcers give it a wide berth. You do know we need the proper docking code? Without it, they’ll blow us into itty-bitty pieces.”

“I have the code.”

“What? How? There’s no way,” Colburn sputtered. “Father tried for years to get it.”

“Halvor the Betrayer doesn’t have my skill set.” What could I say? I’d seen an opportunity and taken it. Just plucked the code right out of Pindick’s mind while he was busy breaking his brother out of Igator prison. His mental shields sucked.

My brother took a deep breath. “Explain how you expect to walk in, snag Tol, and leave without attracting any attention.”

“I know. I know.” Ziyad broke into the bump-bump dance. “We’ll go in as pleasure workers.”

Colburn threw her a horrified look. “No! Absolutely not. Do you want to be gang raped?”

“Anyone touches me without my permission, and they will lose a hand, or an arm, or maybe a head,” Ziyad interjected, her teeth bared in a menacing snarl.

I pointed to my chest. “Ditto.”

“You’re both crazy, and your dancing isn’t that good.”

“Aw, you just hurt Ziyad’s feeling.”

She rubbed her eyes dramatically and tried to look pitiful. Which was kind of hard for an Askole-Rodan hybrid.

“Tough. After the stunt you just pulled, Wulf will never agree to this bonehead plan. And have you forgotten that Zarek wants you to find Malik? Like now?”

“Capturing Tol will help us find Malik,” I responded.

My brother wasn’t convinced. “Would you tell Tol, the moron, any of your deepest, darkest secrets?”

“Uh. No.” He had me there.

“Neither would Dingle. Tol’s a bit of a blabbermouth.”

“Which is why we go after him. He knows something. Something big. What’s the one reason Tol would hide out on Haikan? Because it’s the one place in the galaxy Dingle can’t get to him. Fritjof, the master assassin and owner of the station, is Dingle’s sworn enemy.”

Colburn growled. “Tol, the mastermind, went to the space station to keep from getting arrested. End of story.”

“There are plenty of planets outside the Alliance jurisdiction Tol could have hidden on. Threll for one.”

“She has a valid point, and you know it,” Ziyad added.

I threw in, “Is there any doubt in your mind that Dingle is in cahoots with Malik?”

“No.” Colburn spit on the floor. “None.”

“You are going to clean that up.” I watched in disgust as my brother just dragged his boot over the mess, smearing it around.

“There. All clean.”

His unrepentant grin made me want to throttle him. I’d beat him to a bloody pulp later. We had a hunt to plan. “Now all we have to do is convince Wulf that Tol’s brain is a treasure trove of information the Overlord needs. We capture him, and the bounty is ours. Simple and easy.”

“Easy?” My brother threw up his hands in disgust. “We’ll be dead within the first ten minutes. Come up with a better plan, or we don’t go in.”

“Okay, how’s this? We use Ziyad’s holographic technology to produce disguises. Let’s say we go in as the Kidd brothers, the black-hearted and not too bright pirates. They bunk down at the space station, and no one messes with them.” The neatness of the plan brought a smile to my lips.

“I like it. Don’t forget if Wulf and Lothel capture Tol first, they get the bounty. Not us.”

“We create a little diversion, and while they’re dealing with it, we snag Tol.” I winced, thinking about Wulf’s reaction to our scheme. Would he be angry or hurt? It was a bit underhanded, but he had taken a big chunk of our savings. We were just getting back what was owed to us. Besides, it put us closer to finding Malik.

“Can your program camouflage the ship?” My brother’s nerves were getting the better of him.

Ziyad gave Colburn a toothy smile. “It can. Which brother do you want to be? Amos, Micah, or Geir?”

“Amos. He’s deadly with a sword.”

“Wulf is deadly with a sword. Loki is deadly with a sword. Ivar is deadly with a sword. You? You’re merely okay with a sword,” I reminded Colburn.

My brother glared at me. “Fine. I’ll be Geir, the master pilot.”

“I’ll be Micah, the scarily powerful psychic.” I gave a proper military bow. It was hard to believe the Kidds had once been Alliance officers. Rumor had it, they were all exposed to Gryffon gas, and it cooked their brains.

Bui crawled down and perched on my nose. “Who me be?”

“You get to be the sidekick,” I answered, moving her to my shoulder.

“This gives me the perfect opportunity to test out my body shield rings,” Ziyad said, extending her hand to show off a thick gold ring.

Wulf popped in and gave us all the I’m the big, bad warlord, so don’t mess with me look. “None of you are going anywhere near the Haikan space station.”

Arrgh. Someone had been eavesdropping.

“He scary.” Bui scurried up to my head and burrowed into my hair.

I twitched at the sensation and focused my attention on Wulf. “But it’s a great plan.”

“It is, but Lothel, Quinn, and I will go in as the Kidd brothers.”

Colburn groused, “And you’ll claim the five-million bounty.”

“I’ll make sure all of you get a finder’s fee,” Wulf said with a smirk.

“Isn’t my honeybun generous? I mean. Wow. A finder’s fee? How awesome is that?”

Wulf narrowed his eyes in warning. “Enough, Yakira.”

“Have I told you how much I love you, honeybun?”

“Yakira.” Had he literally growled my name?

“Aggravating him isn’t a good idea,” Ziyad said, taking a step back.

I ignored her. Wulf was stealing my plan, our bounty, and making me feel pretty darn unappreciated. I had proven myself in battle, time and time again, but he still saw me as a helpless female. So, I’d be one. I fluttered my eyelashes and gave him my best dumb-as-a-rock expression. “I want to rain smooches all over your face.” I went up on my tiptoes. “Oh, wait. No smooches until I’m twenty-one.” I let out a gusty sigh and pouted. “Or anatomy lessons.” I fluttered my eyelashes madly. “And I so wanted to play with your snake again.”

Colburn bellowed, “Snake? When were you playing with his penis?”

Wulf snatched me up, and poof. We were in my sleep quarters. Wulf dropped down on the bed and put me across his knee. “I warned you.” He gave my butt a good whack. “In front of my warriors, you will treat me with the proper respect.”

“What warriors? Lothel and Quinn weren’t there, and you want to talk about respect? That’s rich coming from a sneaky, conniving warlord. You’ve disrespected me over and over again.” I struggled to break his grip.

“How?”

“First, there was the mind control. Then you hijacked my ship, stole our hard-earned credits, and commandeered my plan, honeybun.”

He smacked me again. “You will not address me as—”

Bui spit a ball of webbing in his face. “No hurt Yakeee.”

My warlord let go of me to tug at the sticky strands covering his mouth and half of his face.

I scrambled off Wulf’s lap. Whew! Lucky for me and Bui, his nose was free, so breathing wasn’t a problem.

“Get this off me now.” Wulf had automatically switched to telepathy.

“You’re a mighty warlord, experienced in all things, and you don’t know how to get it off?” Snark was my middle name.

Every cell in my body went on red alert when I noticed the one eye not covered by webbing glittered with a murderous light. I had pushed him a little too far. I quickly grabbed Bui off my head. “Uh, sweetie, is there a way to get your webbing off of Daddy Wulf’s face?”

“I eat.”

Keeping a safe distance, I asked, “You okay with that?”

“No. I am not.” Wulf linked with Lothel. “Do you have any of Shrek’s Tabor spray left?”

“Yes.” Lothel appeared, took one look at Wulf, and chuckled. “Got you right in the face, did she?”

Bui’s fur puffed up in pride. “Me protect Yakeee.”

“Yes, you did, small one.” Lothel agreed, holding out a silver container. “Do you want me to do the honors?”

“No. It’s Yakira’s duty to attend to her mate.”

Was it? I took the container from Lothel and asked Wulf, “What the heck does this stuff do, and who in the nine hells is Shrek?

“Shrek is a medic on board Talree’s ship. He created the spray after the baby Tabors kept gluing him to the walls and floors. It also came in handy when the babies got loose and covered the bridge and the command crew with gooey webs,” Wulf informed me.

I’d have loved to see that. “Talree didn’t hurt the little guys, did he?”

“Coletti do not harm children,” Lothel huffed.

A menacing growl rumbled in Wulf’s chest.

Someone was getting impatient. “How does this stuff work?”

“Just point and spray. The chemicals dissolve the adhesiveness, allowing you to easily remove the webbing,” Lothel answered.

I sprayed the hell out of Wulf’s face. The stuff dripped messily down his neck. “There is no reason Ziyad and I can’t help you capture Tol. We’ve assisted Loki in tracking and capturing bounties for years. And if you say, it’s my duty to protect you, I’ll scream.”

Wulf pulled the webbing off his face. “It is my duty to keep you safe.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.”

Wulf pounced, knocking me to the floor. “Prove it.”

Lothel picked up Bui. “We’ll leave you two to work things out.” He vanished.

I heaved, pushed, shoved, wiggled, and squirmed, but I couldn’t get three hundred pounds of warlord off me. “Let me up. I don’t want to hurt you.”

He threw back his head and roared with laughter.

That did it. Drawing on my telekinetic powers, I lifted Wulf off of me and threw him against the wall.

He rolled to his feet. “Well done.” He disappeared.

Game on. I sensed Wulf a second before he popped back in. I somersaulted out of range, levitated the mattress off my bed, and dropped it on his head. Thud!

Wulf grabbed it and tossed it right back at me.

I caught the mattress with my mind and hurled it Frisbee style. A second before it could smash into Wulf’s face, he teleported again.

A grin tugged at my mouth. This mock battle was kind of fun. Wulf thought he was teaching me a lesson. No, not a lesson; it was more of a gentle warning. Even the smacks on the butt hadn’t hurt.

Wulf caught me from behind, pinning my arms to my sides. “Ready to surrender?”

I could feel his amusement. He was having fun too. “Nope.” I countered his hold by hooking my right foot behind his heel in a fast sweep, knocking him off his feet.

He hit the floor and vanished.

Since our minds were linked, it was easy to track him. He was going to reappear two feet to my left.

He did, and I tackled him. Surprised by the move, Wulf fell backward. Before he could move, I climbed on top of him. “Can we please stop? I apologize for calling you honeybun.”

Wulf pulled me closer. “Until you’re converted, you’re too easy to kill. I can’t, won’t survive without you.”

I pressed a kiss to his chin. “Convert me.”

“Coletti law prevents us from converting anyone under twenty-one.”

“It’s a stupid rule.” I circled his ear with my tongue.

His hands cupped my ass and squeezed. “I agree.”

I yelped as a sharp pain zinged through my body.

Wulf grunted and jumped to his feet, pulling me up with him. “It won’t happen again, my lord.”

“You keep saying that, and yet, here you are again, groping each other.”

“We’ve got a plan,” I hurriedly inserted.

Zarek responded with a grim touch of sardonic humor. “Your tactical abilities and scheming mind are truly amazing even for a Jones female.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“It wasn’t a compliment. It was a statement of fact.”

Okay. How did I respond to that?

“By shutting up,” Wulf whispered on our private link.

“Zipping it.”

The Overlord stated, “Yakira’s plan to infiltrate the space station is an excellent one. The Kidd brothers attacked the Alliance outpost on Gangetic six hours ago. That gives you less than three hours to get in, capture Tol, and get out. I also want the schematics on Ziyad’s holographic program by tomorrow at zero eight hundred.”

“As you command, my lord,” Wulf responded.

Color me surprised. Ziyad had some amazingly strong shields, but how she managed to keep Zarek from discovering all her secrets was a mystery.

“Is Ziyad working on any other weapon systems I should know about, Yakira?”

“Weapons?” Zarek wanted me to rat out Ziyad? I swallowed hard and thought about it for a moment, then smiled. “No, my lord. No weapons systems.” Which was one hundred percent correct. Shields weren’t a weapon.

Zarek’s voice took on a menacing edge. “What is her current project?”

“Hydroponics,” I answered honestly. “Ziyad wants to create a garden of Earth flowers.”

“Flowers?” The Overlord’s tone was skeptical.

I didn’t blame him. Who knew an Askole-Rodan hybrid would be interested in growing flowers? “She wants a little piece of Earth on our ship. Something she can touch and smell and enjoy.”

“Ziyad is fascinated by all things involving the humans’ world,” Wulf informed Zarek.

The Overlord offered deviously, “She can accompany you when you take Yakira to meet her mother, but only if Ziyad shares her ideas with our scientists and engineers.”

That totally sucked. “So they can claim her designs as their own?” I winced when Wulf pinched me and mouthed, Enough.

“I would never allow that to happen,” Zarek reassured me. “Believe it or not, I want Ziyad and you to be happy.”

“You do?” To say I was shocked would be an understatement.

“Once mated, you and Wulf will make an unbeatable team. Ziyad’s talent at weapon designs is unrivaled. I need females like you to keep our clan safe. Six hundred years ago, our race was almost exterminated.”

“I know.”

There was a touch of irritation in his voice. “Quinn?”

Him I didn’t mind ratting out. “Yes. He told me about the Great War.”

“We came so close to dying out as a race.”

“Is it true the war started over a female?” Hey, I was curious.

Wulf rubbed his temples as if he suddenly had a headache.

“Her name was Elsebe. As Zoey would say, she wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack. Overlord Jarl took General Tigres’s mate in a raid. Elsebe feared she was about to be raped and killed herself.”

“Whoa! Bet that made general what’s-his-name angry.”

Zarek’s rage flooded my mind. I clutched Wulf and fought to keep from screaming.

My wonderful warlord blocked the worse of Zarek’s rage. “Curiosity can get you killed.”

“My bad.”

“The loss of his mate drove General Samor Tigres insane. He systematically destroyed every colony, every garrison, and every Coletti ship fleeing the carnage. Then he turned his wrath on Tanith.”

“How long did it take you to track him down and kill him?”

“Three years. I will do whatever is necessary to ensure our survival.”

I believed him. From what Quinn had told me, Zarek had negotiated with, conquered, and assassinated his fellow warlords until the Coletti were united into one clan.

“Bring me Tol.” Zarek severed his link with us.

Chapter Thirteen

Ziyad snapped the black holographic band onto Wulf’s left arm. She tapped it, and Wulf transformed into Amos Kidd. Wild gray hair stuck out in every direction from his unusually large head. His bushy beard had some kind of wildlife crawling about in the greasy, matted mess. The bright yellow battle suit was beyond filthy and splattered with blood from several different species.

Bui made a mad dash for my head. “Where Daddy go?”

“Remember? Daddy Wulf has to look like someone else?”

“‘Member. Don’t like.”

I eyed Wulf. He looked like someone out of one of those horror vids. “I think the holograph improved your appearance, my love. I mean, wow! Aren’t you handsome?”

Amos leered at me and licked his thick lips. “I’ll soon have you in my bed, my pretty.”

“Gotta say, you’ve got his disgusting personality down pat.” I stared at the critters moving around in his hair. “I think you’ve got fleas.”

Wulf picked up a mirror and examined himself. “More likely lice.”

“Oh, ick.” A shudder shook me just thinking about the multitude of infectious critters roaming the space station. Thank the Goddess, all my shots were current, but were honeybun’s? “I know Coletti are immune to most diseases, but the space station will be a hotbed of all sorts of nasty viruses. Are your shots up to date?”

Wulf smiled.

I cringed. His teeth, or should I say Amos’s, were covered with a green slime.

“Coletti are very hard to kill.” He stroked his awful beard, clearly knowing it would freak me out.

“If you come back with fleas or lice, I’m kicking you out the airlock.”

“No welcome-home kiss?” Wulf’s voice was low and seductive.

“No. At least not until you’ve been decontaminated.”

Colburn rolled his eyes. “Can we concentrate on the mission instead of sexual foreplay?”

I saluted him. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

The area around Lothel shimmered, and presto, he became Geir, the master pilot. His cold, dead eyes stared out of a tattoo-covered face.

“They say every inch of Geir’s body is tattooed.” Ziyad’s gaze dipped to his crotch.

Geir smiled, exposing razor-sharp metal teeth. “Want me to drop my pants?”

“Goddess, no.” Another shudder shook me. “There are rumors Geir’s male parts are rotting off due to a sexually transmitted disease.”

“He has a form of Erolic syphilis,” Wulf said.

The always curious Ziyad wanted to know. “Isn’t that fatal?”

“It is.” Colburn placed a protective hand over his package. “Gangrene will eventually destroy all of his organs.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer male.” I glanced at my communications bracelet. “You now have two hours to get in and get out.”

I did a double take as the badly disfigured Micah Kidd suddenly stood before me. Pitted, badly rusted metal covered what remained of his nose and right cheek. The metal moved, and my stomach roiled. The skin on Micah’s cheek was gone, exposing part of his jawbone and horrendously rotted teeth. I jerked my gaze up. A single piece of red hair flopped over his scarred forehead. This was the Kidd known for seducing women all over the galaxy? He had to drug them. ’Cause no one in their right mind would touch that.

The Kidd brothers made me want to vomit and run as far away from them as I could get. “You’d think with all the credits they steal they would visit a medic.”

Wulf shrugged. “They don’t believe in medics.”

“Let me guess, they see a mundunugu or a witch doctor?”

“They have visited the mundunugu on Threll,” Lothel said.

“The Kidds would have been better off seeing the witch doctor.” My communications bracelet chimed. We were approaching the space station.

Ziyad calmly stated, “The ship’s holographic image is holding with no fluctuations.” She tapped a button on the command console. “We’re being hailed.”

Wulf moved into camera range. “Open the channel.”

Fritjof, the owner of the station, appeared on the screen. His chalk-white face was peppered with open sores. “The raid on Taavetti was successful?”

“The raid was on the Alliance outpost on Gangetic,” Wulf corrected, then added with a smug smile, “We took two tons of food stuff and several crates of Sommelier wine.”

Ziyad whispered in my mind. “Their weapons systems have locked on.”

“Standby,” I whispered back.

“The wine will pay your docking fees for the month. You can use the rest to get access to the gambling tables and females.” Fritjof’s smile reminded me of a bird of prey contemplating lunch. “Transmit the code.”

“Transmitting the code.” I typed in the data.

“Permission to dock granted,” Fritjof said, and the screen went dark.

“He’s planning something,” Ziyad commented with a worried frown. “There are rumors Amos is a card cheat, and he won over a hundred thousand credits in Fritjof’s Masters Tournament.”

“The rumors are true,” Lothel said.

Quinn picked up the mirror and inspected his disguise. “Fritjof is a master assassin. He took over the space station by releasing Tarin gas into the ventilation system. Given the chance, he’d kill all of us and take the ship.”

Not if I had anything to say about it. I grabbed Wulf’s hand. “Please be careful.”

“You have my word.” I felt the brush of his mind, like fingertips caressing my skin. “I love you.”

“I can’t wait until I turn twenty-one.” I tugged on his hand. “Come on. I’ll transport you on board that dilapidated piece of space debris.” I came to an abrupt halt.

Colburn stood at the transporter controls. “About time you got here.”

“Don’t be a jerk.” I pushed him aside and checked the coordinates he had entered.

My brother gave me the stink eye. “Like I would put them inside the bulkhead.”

“That five-million-credit bounty is a great incentive to do something really stupid,” I retorted.

Anger flared in Colburn’s eyes. “I’m not like our father, and I don’t have a death wish. Zarek would turn my brains into mush.”

“True.”

Ziyad stepped in front of Lothel. “Do not die.”

He touched her face gently. “I won’t.” He stepped onto the platform.

That definitely settled it. Ziyad had marked Lothel. What would an Askole-Rodan-Coletti hybrid look like? Hmmm. It would be a deadly combination. I sure hoped Zarek had found a way around the eating-her-mate thing. He couldn’t afford to lose either of them. Creative geniuses of Ziyad’s caliber were hard to find.

“Females make warriors weak,” Quinn muttered as he brushed by me and took his place on the transporter platform.

My temper flared. What had crawled up his ass and died? His sister, Kaylee, was one hell of a fighter, and she certainly didn’t make Talree weak.

Since Wulf hadn’t kicked any sense into Quinn, I would. I punched my jerk of a cousin in the stomach with my telekinesis and watched as he doubled over in pain. “Females do not weaken their mates; they make them stronger,” I informed Quinn on a private link. “If you let anything happen to Wulf, I’ll kill you.” I hit him again. “Understand?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Good answer.”

“Quit hitting my warrior, Yakira. I need him in fighting shape,” Wulf rumbled.

“Stay safe.” I pushed the controls, and a glittering blue light blossomed around the fake Kidd brothers.

Chapter Fourteen

“That ship is coming in too fast,” Ziyad said, bringing up the main view screen. A battered shuttle scored with multiple laser hits raced toward the space station.

My internal radar screamed, Danger. Danger. Danger. “The crew is a threat to us.”

Ziyad scowled. “What I want to know is who are they running from?”

“From the scoring, I’d say some kind of military ship.” Colburn checked the tracking scanner and whistled. “An Alliance battle cruiser is entering this solar system at warp 8.”

The sensation of danger was getting stronger. I knew Zarek was monitoring us and tapped on his mind. “My lord, we have a problem.”

“Explain.”

I flinched as his power surrounded me. “An Alliance battle cruiser just entered our quadrant in pursuit of a shuttle.”

“The shuttle has transmitted the proper code and is being allowed to dock,” Ziyad advised.

“Can you call off the Alliance ship? With the space station’s reputation, the captain won’t hesitate to destroy it and the shuttle.”

“Consider it done.” Our link broke.

One problem down. “Any idea who is on the shuttle?”

“Must be one of the space station’s regulars.” My brother scanned the life forms on the shuttle. “Balock’s balls. It’s the Kidd brothers.”

“What? How is that possible?”

Ziyad’s fingers raced across the command console. “The space station has locked down our ship’s docking clamps.”

“They have us trapped!” Colburn exclaimed.

“Have some faith in Ziyad’s skills.” I shot her a worried look. “You can unlock the clamps?”

“The nasty little virus I just downloaded into their systems gives me control of all their command functions. Including Fritjof’s famous knockout gas.”

I high-fived Ziyad. “You’re the best.”

“I am.”

“You’re also my favorite sister.” Colburn hugged her.

“Suck-up.” A wave of dread washed over me. “I think our warlords are in trouble.”

Colburn nodded. “The Kidd brothers probably contacted the space station about the battle cruiser on their tail. Once alerted, Fritjof realized he has two sets of Kidd brothers. Until he can determine who is the real deal, he puts our guys on ice.”

“I’ve tapped into the space station’s surveillance system. They’re holding our warlords in the shuttle bay. I’ll bring it up on the main screen,” Ziyad said.

My blood turned to ice, and my stomach turned over. Wulf, Lothel, and Quinn were caged by a slowly shrinking ruby-red force field. A dozen heavily-armed security personnel guarded them.

My brother pointed out, “They aren’t injured, but if the force field keeps shrinking, they’ll be incinerated.”

“Gee, ya think?”

“Fritjof has locked the automated laser cannons on them too,” Ziyad remarked.

“Disable them.”

Ziyad typed in a command. “Done.”

“Can you stop the force field from shrinking?”

“I can.” Ziyad keyed in some data. “Done.” She frowned. “The sneaky bastard has booby-trapped the force field’s controls. I need to enter the proper password code to disarm it. If I don’t, it’s programed to cremate anyone within the energy field.”

“What happens if you kill the power?”

Ziyad’s tentacles drooped. “The power dies; they die.”

Sheer, blind panic swept over me at the thought of losing Wulf. I took a deep breath and fought for control. I could fall apart later. Now was the time for action. “I will get the password, even if I have to tear apart Fritjof’s mind.”

“Do it quickly.” Fear colored Ziyad’s voice.

Colburn patted her shoulder. “Has Yakira ever let you down?”

“Yes, once.”

I threw my hands up in disgust. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry?”

Ziyad raised a tentacle in a rude gesture.

My brother goggled at her. “Who taught you that?”

“Don’t ask.” I took my very best friend’s hand in mine. “I am sorry, I didn’t kill your grandfather when I had the chance, but he’s dead now. So, get over it.”

Ziyad just sniffed.

“Are you going to pout? Or are you going to help me rescue your warlord and mine?”

She handed me four gold shield rings. “You’ll need these. I did some tweaking, and if anyone shoots you, the beam bounces back at ten times the intensity. Zap! Your enemy is now a pile of ashes.”

“Can I have one of those?” Colburn grinned when Ziyad gave him a ring. “You make the best stuff.”

She usually did, but every once in a while, her creations backfired. Big-time. “The first ring you created turned the laser bolt into a bouncy ball. It zinged all over the place and almost fried me.”

“The problem is fixed,” Ziyad huffed.

I placed the rings on my fingers. “Good to know.” The metal slithered over my skin as the rings adjusted to fit me. “Nice touch.”

“They are made out of Tadamich.”

Which was a rare and very expensive metal. I didn’t even want to know where she had gotten it.

Yeow! Wulf’s anger sizzled along my nerve ending. The guards were taunting the warlords. It was definitely time to let him know what was going on before he did something stupid.

I linked with Wulf. “We’ve tapped into the space station’s surveillance cameras. Can you break free of the energy field, honeybun?” Okay, I was being bitchy, but the big, strong warlords had been taken prisoner the minute they entered the space station. If I had been with them, I would have sensed the trap.

“No.” The word was just short of a bellow.

“Have you tried teleporting out of the containment field?”

A low growl echoed in my mind. “We are not younglings.”

“Copy that. Teleporting is out. Did they nullify your weapons?”

Wulf shot back testily, “Yes.”

“Mind control isn’t working either?” Gee, was my tone a bit snarky?

“No.”

“That sucks. Any bright ideas on how to get out of your predicament?” I figured I had better ask before I brought up my master plan.

Wulf responded with a touch of sarcasm, “We wait until we have the opportunity to strike.”

“The thing is, the real Kidd brothers just docked, and I’m sure Fritjof is eager to find out who are the real pirates.”

“It seems our intelligence source in the Alliance fleet has given us flawed data,” Quinn groused.

Lothel countered, “Commander Zan has never failed us.”

“And yet we are now being held by the master assassin,” Quinn retorted.

I let out a loud whistle. “Enough. None of this has anything to do with the Alliance battle cruiser chasing the Kidd brothers.”

“A battle cruiser that won’t hesitate to destroy the space station,” Quinn snapped back.

His mother should have drowned him at birth. Taking a firm hold on my temper, I replied calmly, “Zarek is contacting the captain to keep him from blowing the space station, and you, into itty-bitty pieces. Since we’ve run out of options on your end, we’ve come up with a plan to rescue you.” I waited for Wulf to explode.

“A rescue plan?” There was a note of horror in Wulf’s voice.

Color me impressed. Wulf hadn’t blown. Yet. “We keep it simple. Once we are on board, I get the password from the master assassin and give it to Ziyad. She disarms the force field, freeing you to kill the Kidd brothers, Fritjof, and any other warrior that gets in your way. While everyone is running for their lives, Colburn grabs Tol and brings him back to the ship.”

“No! It’s too dangerous.” This time Wulf did bellow. “You will wait for the Overlord to arrive.”

“Sorry, my love, no can do. They’re three hours out, and Fritjof does like to play with his prey.”

“If he doesn’t turn you over to the Kidd brothers first,” Colburn added cheerfully.

I gave him the stink eye. “Not gonna—”

Wulf butted in, “The second you set foot on this station, Fritjof will trap you too.”

“No, he won’t. I’m going in as Zelrine. I’m sure you have heard of her. She’s the hermaphrodite madam who runs the Erotic Delight pleasure house. Did I mention it’s a pleasure house Malik used frequently?”

“He used many pleasure houses. It means nothing,” Wulf snapped.

“I disagree. Zelrine came aboard two days ago, supposedly for the gambling tournament. Her ship is registered to Manang. You know, the planet the Rodans just took over. The ones allied with Malik.”

“You don’t have any concrete evidence that Zelrine is involved.”

Arrgh! What a stubborn, pigheaded male. He wasn’t listening. Wait a minute. He knew everything I said was true. He was trying to keep me off the station. Like that would work. “Nice try, but I’m still coming to rescue you.”

Wulf let out a long breath. “I know. Once you have made up your mind, nothing will stop you. Not even certain death.”

“No one is dying. Not even Quinn.”

“Feeling the love, cousin,” Quinn said drily.

“Right back at ya. You want to hear the rest of my evidence?”

Lothel inserted quickly, “I do.”

“It’s well documented that Malik and Zelrine had a five-year affair. There is also evidence that our hermaphrodite madam is a contract killer called Curran. Is it a coincidence she shows up when we have Malik on the run? I don’t think so.”

“Definitely not a fluke. They want Tol dead before he can spill their secrets,” Wulf finally agreed.

“Ziyad did some digging and found out the Kidd brothers’ mother is none other than Zelrine. Another coincidence? I think not.”

Quinn put his two credits in. “Tol knows where Malik is hiding.”

“That’s my guess, and they’re panicking.” I did a little happy dance. The warlords were all listening to me.

“It’s possible Tol knows the identities of Malik’s allies,” Lothel said thoughtfully.

Wulf abruptly asked, “What happens if you come face-to-face with Zelrine?”

“I won’t. We plan ahead. Zelrine is locked in her quarters, and Ziyad gassed her. She’ll be unconscious for the next four hours.”

“Fritjof is an even more dangerous adversary than the Kidd brothers. It’s too big of a risk. You will stay on the ship.” Wulf used his command voice.

Good thing it didn’t work on me. “I’m coming to get you, and there isn’t a thing you can do to stop me.”

Wulf’s roar reverberated around my skull. “You will obey me.”

I shot back, “If you die, I will not survive.”

That shut him up. Wulf’s ghostly lips pressed against my forehead. “Please be careful. I cannot lose you now.”

“You won’t. I’m tougher than I look.” I broke our link. I didn’t need him second-guessing everything I did.

Ziyad held out a holographic band. “It’s programmed.”

I snapped it in place, and wham! I was an ugly male masquerading as an even uglier female. This was Zelrine the hermaphrodite harlot? The legendary madam who lured males and females to her bed with her famous sexual prowess? Ewww.

Zelrine looked like an Earth clown with heavy white makeup smeared across her face in what I could only assume was a desperate attempt to cover the thick five o’clock shadow. Big red spots decorated both cheeks. The three-inch-long eyelashes were bright yellow and matched her lip covering. The wig perched on top of her head was a ghastly shade of purple.

I glanced down and gasped in horror. Zelrine had four huge breasts, and her rose-hued junk dangled between her legs. I took a closer look at Zelrine’s enormous quill-covered balls. They reminded me of an Earth porcupine. How did she sit down with those things, and who in their right mind would want to fondle them?

Zelrine also didn’t believe in underwear or clothing. The only garment she wore was a purple beaded scarf tied around her hips. A gold coin necklace hung from her neck, and, oh Goddess, she had multiple nipple rings.

“Whoa!” Colburn stared at Zelrine’s image in utter fascination.

Ziyad handed my brother his holographic band, and an instant later, a huge teddy bear with three-inch fangs stood there. “Why do I have to go in as a hairy Hus Ping?”

“Because Fritjof hired them to work as wait-staff, and Tol’s a bartender on the gaming deck. You’ll blend right in.” I studied myself in the mirror. “Are you sure this is what Zelrine looks like?”

“Do you think I could make that up?” Ziyad waved a hand at me. “I don’t have that kind of imagination.”

“Does anyone?” Maybe Zelrine thought the makeup made her look like a harmless goof. Which she wasn’t. She was credited with a hundred kills.

Bui stared up at me. “What on eyes?”

“They’re false eyelashes.”

“Pretty.”

Pretty they weren’t. “You ready to be my sidekick?”

“Me ready.” Bui scampered up my arm and took her place on my head.

“Remember. You have to be very still.”

“Me ’member.”

“The Kidd brothers just entered the shuttle bay,” Ziyad warned. “I can’t believe Fritjof is letting them wander around.”

My gaze flew to the view screen. Was my wonderful plan about to go toes up?

The vile pirates stopped in front of the energy field and stared in angry disbelief. Amos demanded, “Who are you?”

Lothel bared his holographic metal teeth in a truly scary smile. “I am Geir. This here is Micah, my brother.”

Quinn gave them the one-finger salute.

“I am Amos Kidd, and you are?” Wulf deadpanned.

His entire body vibrating with rage, Amos shouted, “No! No! No! You are not me.”

“Let the mind games begin,” I said with a laugh.

Wulf raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Yes, I am me. The question is: do you know who you are?”

“Amos Kidd! I’m Amos Kidd, the deadliest pirate in this quadrant.” He was practically foaming at the mouth.

Wulf scoffed, “A pirate? I think not.” He eyed them skeptically. “Perhaps you are enforcers pretending to be us.”

“We are not enforcers.” Amos thumped his chest. “We are the Kidds.”

“Impossible, for we are them. Where you cloned by the Alliance?”

“Cloned? No! We’re us. The most feared—”

“Pirates in the galaxy.” Wulf finished for him.

Ziyad snorted. “Not too bright, are they?”

“They make up for it with pure viciousness,” Colburn said.

Geir stepped in front of his flummoxed brother. “How did you find and fix our Marauder Foxfire so quickly?

“You are as delusional as your friend there.” Wulf jerked his thumb at the Kidd brothers’ battered shuttle. “We both know you arrived in that.”

“Enough,” Micah shouted. “Tell us the truth, or I’ll rip out your intestines and feed them to the rats.”

“The only ones feeding the rats today is you and those phony brothers of yours,” Wulf answered. “But first, tell me this. Why the masquerade? Is it for the bounty on our heads?”

In unison, the brothers shrieked, “We are the Kidds.”

Fritjof burst into the shuttle bay, carrying a body scanner. “Now we find out who the imposters are.”

“Can you mess with his scanner?”

“I can,” Ziyad replied, keying in a series of numbers into the command console.

Fritjof pointed the scanner at my warlords and frowned. “The readings are all over the place. It says they are Hus Ping or Gorum.”

“Try it again,” Amos growled.

The master assassin gave the device a good thump. “Now it shows they are Farin.” He turned the scanner off, then back on, and rechecked the readout. “It seems to be working now.” He ran the device over Amos and his brothers.

“Do something. Quick,” I urged.

“Trying.” Ziyad hurriedly inputted more numbers. “A radiation leak from the Kidds’ shuttle is creating interference. It’s blocking me from shutting down the scanner.”

“You, my disgusting friends, are the genuine Kidd brothers,” Fritjof announced.

Amos questioned, “What are they?”

“Coletti,” Fritjof answered.

Micah Kidd pulled an enormous knife. “Drop the energy field. When I’m done with them, their own females won’t recognize them.”

“We’re out of time.” I bolted for the transporter room, inputted the coordinates for the shuttle bay, and jumped on the platform. “Get Tol, Colburn.”

“I’m coming with you. You need backup,” Colburn protested.

“No. Go after Tol. My disguise should protect me long enough to get the password from Fritjof’s mind. Once I pass it on to Ziyad, she can free our warlords. Besides, the Kidd brothers won’t automatically shoot their own mother.” I hoped.

Ziyad alerted me. “They’re now arguing over who gets to kill our warlords.”

Colburn pushed the transporter controls, and a glittering blue light blossomed around me.

Chapter Fifteen

Twenty seconds later, I was standing behind the Kidd brothers and Fritjof in the shuttle bay.

No one but my warlords noticed my sudden appearance.

Whoa! Wulf was putting out some seriously angry vibes. I gave him a friendly wave.

He bared his green teeth. “Leave.”

“Not without you.” I put a finger to my mouth. “Ssssh. It’s about to get interesting.”

There was a dangerous edge to Fritjof’s voice as he poked Amos in the chest. “They are my prisoners. Not yours. So, back off.” With a flick of his hand, the security detail turned their weapons on the Kidd brothers. “You can have what’s left of them, after I’ve finished my interrogation.”

“We can help,” Amos protested. “We want to know why they’re here and who sent them as much as you do.”

Geir added, “I think Fritjof is more interested in what kind of holographic device they’re using. The technology is quite amazing. We could make some good credits off of it on the black market.”

“We?” The master assassin had a nasty look on his face. “There is no we.”

“You need our black market contacts,” Amos said; his fingers stroked the butt of his laser pistol.

“Do I?”

“Gylla, the master hacker, won’t deal with you. Not after you killed his lover,” Amos replied smugly. “Without his help, you’ll never figure out how the holographic program works.”

Fritjof pointed at my warlords. “They will gladly tell me what I want to know.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But negotiations are over.” Geir held up a small controller. “I’ve got a laser cannon pointed at your head. I push the button, and you and your warriors are dead.”

A laugh broke from Fritjof. “The blast will kill you too. Even if you somehow managed to survive, your shuttle is badly damaged, and there is an Alliance battle cruiser hiding behind Skardu just waiting for you to make a run for it.”

Micah shrugged. “We take the imposters’ ship.”

“I won’t allow that to happen,” Fritjof drawled ominously.

I had to stop them before they killed Fritjof. If I didn’t get that password, I would lose the love of my life. “My beautiful babies!” I cried and rushed forward.

The Kidd brothers exclaimed in unison. “Mother?”

Fritjof glanced down at his scanner. “No. Another imposter, but human this time and with some added hardware.”

Amos seemed confused. “She looks exactly like our mother and sounds like her too. Are you sure the scanner isn’t malfunctioning again?”

“Very.” Fritjof aimed his laser pistol at me. “How did you get on my space station, female?”

Wulf threatened, “You had better be wearing your battle suit, or I am putting you over my knee.”

“Ooh, kinky.”

“Yakira.” Wulf used his scary sociopath’s voice.

“I am, and let’s just say, I’m my own fortress,” I replied a bit nervously.

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“It’s a little something Ziyad has been working on.”

“Answer me!” Fritjof shouted. “Are you deaf or just stupid, female?”

“Sorry, I was listening to the little voice in my head.”

“Get your hands up and answer my question.”

“Don’t yell at our mother,” Micah warned.

“She’s not your mother!” Fritjof bawled. “Put your hands up and answer my question.”

The Kidd brothers raised their hands.

I bit back a giggle. They were the scourge of the galaxy?

“Not you.” Fritjof was practically foaming at the mouth as he pointed at me. “Her.”

I obediently raised my hands. “What was the question again?”

Fritjof hollered, “How did you get here?”

“No need to yell. I’m here for the card tournament. I play a mean game of Go Fish.” I did my best to get a peek inside his mind, but his mental pathways were screwy.

“Go Fish? There’s no such game.”

I blustered, “Are you calling me a fibber? ’Cause Go Fish is played on Earth.”

Fritjof pulled at his hair. “In my tournament only Tarocchi is played. For the last time, how did you get on my station?”

“I came with your invited guests, the Scarlets.”

“Lie to me again, and you die.” The master assassin’s rage made the weeping sores on his face even more gruesome.

“Would you believe me if I said I am Zelrine?”

“No!” Fritjof’s trigger finger twitched.

Yikes! He was getting ready to kill me.

“Don’t shoot our mother,” Amos howled and waved his laser pistol at Fritjof.

“She. Is. Not. Your. Mother,” Fritjof enunciated heatedly.

Micah declared, “Is too.”

“Look at the scanner,” Fritjof screeched and held it out.

Geir surveyed the screen. “He’s right. Mother doesn’t have bionic limbs.” He bared his razor-sharp metal teeth in a snarl. “Who are you? What did you do with our Mother?”

I dropped my act. “Zelrine is taking a nap. If you’re smart guys, you’ll lower your weapons.” I looked Fritjof dead in the eye. “Because if you shoot me, today will be the last day of your life. Do you want to live?” C’mon. C’mon. Don’t be stupid. I needed more time to get inside his head.

“You’re bluffing.”

“No. I’m not.” Dread knotted my stomach as I probed his mind again. Weird. His shields were crumpling. Some kind of disease had seriously messed up the master assassin’s brain. His thoughts were all over the place. Even worse, his impulse control was gone.

“Liar. Liar. Liar.” Fritjof fired.

A brilliant blue shield automatically formed around me. Crack! The laser beam rebounded. Zap! The master assassin was reduced to a big pile of ash.

Amos scratched his buggy beard with his laser pistol. “If we shoot the bitch, do we end up like that?”

“Dunno.” Geir shrugged and stared at the ash.

Brain-dead didn’t even begin to describe them. “Goddess, why don’t males ever listen?”

“It’s a genetic defect,” Ziyad replied. “How in the nine hells do we free our warlords now?”

“Good question.” I took a step back, then another and another. None of the males even noticed. Nope. Their attention was firmly focused on the smoldering ashes. Like if they watched them long enough, somehow Fritjof would magically reappear.

“That is the little something Ziyad’s been working on?” Wulf’s voice was a low, menacing rumble.

“Yep. Pretty nifty, isn’t it?” I kept backing away from the Kidd brothers.

“You lied to the Overlord.”

“Who? Me? He asked if she was working on any new weapons, and she isn’t.”

“That’s not a weapon?”

“Nope. It’s strictly defensive. They have to shoot first.”

“Anything that vaporizes your opponent is a weapon,” Wulf retorted.

Okay, he had a point, but to me it was a new form of armor. Only a warlord would consider it a type of armament.

Geir finally kicked at the ashes. “I’ve never seen a weapon do that.”

“Zap! He’s gone,” Micah added.

Fritjof’s warriors all nodded in agreement and started stuffing handfuls of ash in their pockets.

They were taking souvenirs?

Amos turned and eyed me thoughtfully. “You’re wearing some kind of newfangled body shield. Show it to me.”

I countered with, “You want to buy it? I’ll give you a good price. Say, ten million credits.”

“Buy?” Amos slapped his thighs and guffawed loudly. “Why buy when we can just take it?”

It was time to let out my inner pirate. “Touch me, and you’ll die a very horrible death.” I linked with Bui. “You ready?”

“Me ready.”

Amos laughed so hard tears ran down his cheeks. “You? Kill us?”

“Right in the kisser, Bui.”

Bui spit a web ball. It struck Amos’s lower face, covering his mouth and nose.

Muttering furiously, Amos clutched the sticky webbing and yanked frantically.

A giggle escaped me. Amos’s hands were now bonded to his face. His head bobbed wildly with every tug.

“Don’t touch it!” Geir cried about sixty seconds too late. He grabbed his brother’s arms and pulled and pulled and pulled.

The entire time Amos made squawking noises that reminded me of a feral parrot.

I think the bearded pirate was telling his brother to stop, but I could be wrong.

Wulf uttered an epithet that was anatomically impossible. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I need them to shoot me.”

“Oh, they will shoot you, all right,” Wulf all but thundered. “Are there any guarantees your shield will continue to hold? One tiny glitch, and you will perish.”

“Have a little faith. I know what I’m doing.”

“The battlefield can change in an instant. You must be able to adapt.”

“Can we discuss this after I’ve taken care of the Kidd brothers?”

Wulf snapped, “Defeating them will not be an easy task.”

“I know you have been in hundreds of thousands of battles, but you’re kinda tied up right now, and I’m the one that has to free you. So shut the hell up and let me do my job!”

“Did you just tell me to shut up?” Wulf was definitely in a snit.

“I did. You’re messing with my concentration.” My patience was kaput. Here I was trying to save their ungrateful butts, and it was bitch, bitch, bitch. “Now shush.”

“Shush?”

“Ssssh.”

The webbing still covering his face, Amos broke away from his brother and stumbled toward me, grunting what sounded like, “I’m going to kill you.”

I backed away from him. Goddess, were all the males in the galaxy suffering from testosterone poisoning? If they weren’t trying to subjugate me or use me, they wanted to end me. Was it because I stood up to them? Maybe. Or was it my bubbly personality? Or could it be my ability to aggravate the heck out of them? Probably the latter.

“Hold on, Amos. I’ll cut you lose.” Micah drew a razor-sharp dagger and sawed at the webbing.

Imagine my surprise when Micah managed to free his brother’s left hand before the blade got entangled in the gummy strands.

Amos made a grotesque choking sound and toppled over.

Gee, what a shame. The right side of his face was now glued to the floor. The big, bad pirate wasn’t going anywhere.

Micah bellowed, “You did this! You did this!”

“Me? I didn’t do anything.” Guess they had never heard of a Tabor.

Geir backhanded me, knocking me to the floor. “Don’t lie to us. Help him or die.”

Wulf’s furious roar echoed around the shuttle bay.

I tasted blood in my mouth and spit it out. “Hitting me wasn’t a smart move.” I rubbed my sore jaw. The bastard had loosened a few teeth.

Bui bounced on my head. “Me bite? Me bite?”

Geir reached for me.

“You bite.” I drove my bionic foot into Geir’s knee, snapping it.

With a cry of agony, the pirate collapsed and held his rapidly ballooning knee. “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to kill you.”

“Doubtful. Since you have about thirty seconds to live.”

Fury burning in his eyes, Geir pulled a small sword and dragged himself forward.

My little Tabor jumped on his sword hand and bit him.

The blade fell from Geir’s grip as his muscles began to jerk uncontrollably. A white foam oozed from his mouth, and his movements stilled abruptly.

“Tabor venom is the deadliest in the galaxy, but you already know that.” I got to my feet. “Quick. Quick. Quick. Back to me, Bui.”

Bui scampered up my body and took her place on my head. “Me did good. Me protect Yakeee.”

“You certainly did. I’m very proud of you.”

“No!” Micah shouted as he dropped down beside Geir and shook him violently. “You can’t be dead. You can’t be. The mundunugu said as long as we wore the medallions, we were indestructible.”

“I’d ask for my money back.”

His face a yucky shade of blue, Amos drew his weapon and started shooting.

Lack of oxygen and being stuck to the metal floor did nothing for his aim. Laser bolts zinged this way and that, forcing Micah and Fritjof’s warriors to hit the deck.

Me? I just waited. Sure enough. Crack! An energy bolt hit the sparkling blue shield that instantaneously appeared. Snap! The laser beam rebounded.

Zap! Amos’s molecules vaporized, leaving behind a stinky pile of ash.

Micah shot me a murderous glare. “You killed them.”

“I defended myself against bloodthirsty pirates. Did I use lethal force? You bet I did. Plus, I’m going to get rich collecting the bounties the enforcers have posted on all you Kidd brothers.”

Micah scrambled to his feet and holstered his laser pistol. “The only thing you’re collecting is a one-way trip to the nine hells.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’m going to tear your mind apart.”

I cocked a disbelieving brow. “You can try.” I hit Micah with a mental lightning bolt.

A look of shock crossed the pirate’s face before he hit back.

I blocked the blow and hammered Micah with telekinetic punches.

He retaliated by slugging me in the face with his fist.

I staggered backward and fought to stay on my feet. Goddess, that hurt. The room spun around me, and those funny black spots were messing with my vision again. The bastard couldn’t take me down psychically, so he resorted to a physical attack?

Power suddenly flowed through my link with Wulf. “Do as I say.”

Micah swung at me again.

“Pivot to the right,” Wulf instructed.

I did, and Micah’s fist whizzed by my jaw, missing me by a scant inch.

He came at me again.

My warlord warned, “You are too close. Move back.”

I didn’t react fast enough, and pain lanced through me as Micah smashed his massive hand into my side.

Lothel yelled, “You going to let that pirate beat you to death?”

“No.” My temper flared to life. That stinking pirate was going to be sorry he ever met me. I drew heavily on Wulf’s strength. My dizziness faded away. My vision cleared, and I was ready to kick Micah’s ass.

“Keep your hands up!” Quinn yelled.

I delivered a solid right hook to Micah’s chin. His head snapped back, and he hit the deck hard.

The pirate rolled, kicked out sharply, knocking me off my feet and slamming his size-fifteen boot into my nose. I heard the crunch and felt the blood spurt. “Balock’s balls!”

Wulf ordered, “Use your bionics. Quit holding back. This is not a sparring session. The purpose of the fight is to take out your opponent.”

“Take him out? I want to end him.”

“Heads up. Zelrine broke out of her room, and she’s heading your way,” Ziyad alerted me.

Just what I needed. More Kidds.

Micah launched himself at me. I brought up my knees and feet, and with a hard thrust, sent him flying over my head. He hit the wall with a loud thud.

Using my bionic legs, I catapulted myself straight up as he came at me again.

Micah lashed out viciously with his fists.

I ducked and adroitly dodged alternating cuts and jabs.

With a snarl, Micah rushed me. “Die!”

I evaded his outstretched arms, spun, and rammed a foot into his back. Knocked off-balance, Micah smacked face-first into the floor. “You first.”

In a startling quick movement, he leaped up, grabbed my arm, and pulled me into a bear hug. “I’m going to break every bone in your body.”

I twisted and jabbed my elbow repeatedly into his ribs. I’ll admit it; I enjoyed the sounds of his ribs cracking and his grunts of pain. I tossed Micah over my shoulder and watched as he collided with the energy field surrounding my warlords. Zap! Pop! Crack! His body disintegrated in a brilliant flash of light.

“Nooo!” Zelrine’s scream of denial reverberated around the shuttle bay. “You killed my son. My precious son.”

Goddess. She was even uglier in person. I eyed the pistol in her hand. “Put your weapon down, and you get to live.”

“Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!” She opened fire.

My shield flared brightly as it malfunctioned. The air was suddenly ablaze with a crisscross of laser bouncy balls.

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! They all hit Zelrine at the same time. Zap! Her body was annihilated.

A single bouncy energy ball rolled across the floor.

One of the security idiots bawled, “Shoot it,” and without thinking it through, they all fired. Proving once again, males are total boneheads.

I winced as multiple laser beams struck the ball.

Pop! A dozen bouncy balls formed and ricocheted right back on the shooters. Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

The sudden silence was eerie. The floor was now covered in a thick layer of gray ash.

I quickly surveyed the area. Whoa! No one had survived. “The shield still has a few kinks, Ziyad.”

“Look at it this way—you took out over a dozen heavily armed warriors in less than a minute,” Ziyad responded without an ounce of remorse.

Wulf disengaged his hologram. “The shield is a weapon.”

I sighed in relief. He was safe. The knot of fear in my stomach eased. Wait a minute. Weapon? “Technically, it’s armor.”

“Technically, it is weaponized armor,” Wulf contradicted.

Time to change the subject. “Any ideas on how to take down that energy field?”

“Fritjof’s password is Mamluk twelve, two, five,” Wulf answered.

Ziyad repeated, “Mamluk twelve, two, five. Got it.”

“Took the code from his mind, did you?”

The energy field vanished. “I did. Drop your holograph. I want to see how badly you are injured, and not all males are boneheads.”

I just smiled brightly. The bonehead was using his command voice again. I tapped the control band, and presto. I was me once more.

Quinn surveyed my battered face and grinned. “Your nose is broken, and you’ve got two black eyes.”

I swiped at the blood running down my chin. “But my injuries were received in legitimate combat, unlike yours. And you got beat by a girl.”

My cousin gave me the one-finger salute.

I saluted him back.

“Enough, children. This is still a battle zone.” Wulf gave us a cold-eyed glare.

A muscle in Quinn’s jaw twitched. “Yes, my lord.”

“Sorry.” I pasted a contrite look on my face.

Wulf narrowed his gaze. He wasn’t buying my act. “As soon as you have healed, Yakira, we are working on your battle skills.”

“What? Bui and I kicked those pirates’ asses. Not to mention, we took down Zelrine, Fritjof, and a dozen of his thugs.”

“Me bite. Me bite.” Bui danced on my head.

“The body shield is the only reason you’re still breathing,” Quinn taunted.

“Wrong. It was the combination of Bui, my bionics, and my rather awesome psychic abilities that kept us alive.”

The warlords all stared at me with varying degrees of disbelief.

“My boxing skills?”

They started laughing.

“Okay, fine, the shield was a big help. Happy?”

Quinn groused. “I would be happier with a shield of my own.”

“That’s an easy fix.” I pulled the rings off my fingers. “Ziyad made each of you a body shield.”

Wulf examined his carefully before sliding it on.

“This tiny piece of metal is the shield?” Quinn’s skepticism rubbed me the wrong way.

“Give it back, you ungrateful bastard.” I made a grab for the ring.

Quinn quickly shoved it on his finger. “Not a chance.”

“I will always treasure my ring,” Lothel said graciously.

Wulf tilted my chin up. “Let’s get you to sick bay.”

I met his amber eyes. “I was afraid I’d lose you.”

He hugged me tightly. “And I you.”

“I suggest you evacuate the space station now. There is a mob of angry thugs chasing Colburn,” Ziyad advised.

Colburn burst into the shuttle bay with an unconscious Tol slung over his left shoulder. “Got him. Teleport us out of here, Ziyad.”

A glittering blue light engulfed Colburn and Tol.

Wulf teleported us to safety as the ruffians burst into the shuttle bay.

Chapter Sixteen

There was a fleeting moment of blackness, and lickety-split! We were in my ship’s sick bay.

Wulf leaned down and licked the blood off my face.

“Hey! Knock it off. I’m not a lollipop.”

“Your blood is a gift from the Goddess,” Wulf replied, taking another lick.

“How come you’ve never drank my blood before?”

“I cannot take blood from your vein until we are mated.”

“That hardly seems fair.” I nipped at Wulf’s tongue as he stroked it over my lips.

“I do not make the rules.” Wulf placed me on the examination table. “I only follow them.” He picked up a healing wand and ran it over my nose.

Goddess, that felt good.

“Voss’s warbird, the Alliance battle cruiser, and Sariel’s flagship are approaching the space station.” There was a touch of unease in Ziyad’s voice. She still didn’t trust the Askoles.

Wulf lowered the healing wand. “Relax, Ziyad, the Overlord will not allow any harm to come to you. Has the sleeping gas been released on all decks of the space station?”

“It has, and the docking clamps on the remaining ships have been locked down.”

“Good work.”

“Thank you, my lord.” Ziyad broke the link.

“You think Sariel will try to take Ziyad?” I wiggled my nose and sighed. The pain was gone.

“No. He values our treaty too much.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Good as new.”

“Have I ever told you how much I like goatees?” I stroked it. “Silky but kinda bristly at the same time. Just like you.” I leaned in and devoured Wulf’s mouth. Our tongues tangled in a heated duel, and the searing sensation of his touch drove me wild.

Wulf’s large hands molded my breasts; his thumbs teased my nipples until they hardened to tiny nubs. My back arched as his fingers pinched my sensitive areolae.

“Like that?”

“Yes,” I moaned.

“How about this?” Wulf ran feathered caresses down my belly, and my pussy clenched with need.

“That’s really, really good. More please.”

Invisible tentacles circled my clit. Around and around those little suckers went until raw want flooded my veins. My hips and legs moved restlessly at Wulf’s mental invasion. “Naughty. Naughty. Naughty warlord.”

“I. Am. Very. Naughty.” Each word was followed by a flick of his tentacles.

My eyes rolled back in my head. “Don’t. Stop. Ever.”

Ziyad broke into our make-out session with an ecstatic squeal. “I’ve decoded Tol’s needle drive, and we’ve hit the mother lode. I’ve got the names of his allies, and you’ll never believe who they are.”

That got my attention. My body screamed for release, but I fought down my hunger. This was more important. “What are the names of the human traitors?”

“General Georgina Tasker and Brigadier General Lucius Lawton. Both are on the council for planetary defense.”

Wulf inquired, “Was Quinn notified?”

“Yes. He immediately contacted his uncle, Saul Jones.”

“What can his uncle do?”

“Quinn’s uncle is a five-star general in charge of the western United States,” Wulf responded.

Wow! Color me impressed. A freakin’ general. I couldn’t wait to meet him. “I hope he feeds the traitors to the Tai-Kok.”

“Don’t worry, they will be severely punished. Once the general learned the traitors were directly responsible for your capture by the Tai-Kok, he had them arrested,” Wulf said.

Ziyad babbled on excitedly, “And Commander Pelot Tecumseh and Commander Brehon Spaatz of the Alliance joint command are feeding information to Malik in exchange for the piddling amount of two million credits a year.”

“Commander Zan, the head of the Alliance war council, will see to their immediate and painful termination,” Wulf rumbled.

“It gets better. I know where Malik’s main bases are.” Ziyad was giddy with joy. “One is located on Viktor asteroid in the Durung asteroid belt, and the other is on the planet of Centaurus. The home of the Tai-Kok flesh markets.”

A bitter cold seeped into my bones. A place where people were butchered like livestock. A place identical to the slaughter decks on the Tai-Kok ships. I shivered as nightmarish images abruptly crashed through my head. The coppery stench from pools of blood. A Tai-Kok taking a big bite out of a gutted corpse hanging from the ceiling. Voices. So many voices crying out, screaming and begging not to die. The din was deafening.

“Enough, Yakira!” I felt Wulf mucking about in my brain, and the memories simply vanished. He stroked my mind gently. “I cannot allow you to remember that time. You are safe now. I will never allow them to hurt you again.”

It was a promise I hoped Wulf could keep.

“Goddess, is she having another flashback?”

Ziyad’s concern had me protesting, “I’m fine. It was just a little flash. Nothing serious.” I gave her a mental hug. “I love you too.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

“Yes. We have more important matters to worry about.” Loki always said if you wanted to find someone, you followed the credits. “How is Malik funding his operations?”

“The records show he traffics in weapons, slavery, piracy, and the creep raids planets for citizens to slaughter and sell on the black market. It seems to be highly profitable,” Ziyad answered in disgust.

“There are rumors Malik has begun to eat human flesh,” Wulf remarked. “He thinks it makes him stronger and harder to kill.”

My stomach roiled. “He’s a monster who needs to be put down.”

“He will be.” Wulf pressed a kiss to my palm. “You have my word.”

Ziyad popped in with, “Guess which bank Malik uses.”

I replied, “Haefth Bank. Commander Tecumseh’s father owns it.”

“Smarty pants,” Ziyad retorted.

“Please tell me you relocated Malik’s credits.” The hard muscles on Wulf’s torso flexed as I ran my hands down his body. I was addicted to him.

“I did. Wulf is now a very wealthy male.”

A gleeful smile curved my mouth. “Poor Malik without a credit to his name. Whatever will he do?”

“Throw a hissy fit?” Ziyad’s laughter was contagious.

It felt wonderful to laugh and know we had struck a major blow to Malik’s plan to conquer the galaxy. “Oh yeah, he’ll throw one gigantic hissy fit. I wonder how long it will take him to discover who cleaned him out.”

“I’m very, very good at hacking. Malik will probably blame it on the Overlord, but he’ll never trace it back to me.”

“Goddess, I’d love to see his expression when he checks his account balance.”

Wulf nuzzled my neck. “How wealthy am I?”

“Two hundred million credits,” Ziyad answered.

Zarek broke in, “Well done, Ziyad. You are truly talented.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

I exchanged a worried look with Wulf and mouthed, Do you think he knows we were doing it?

My warlord winced and nodded.

“Your injuries have been healed, Yakira?” There was a thread of amusement in the Overlord’s voice.

“I’m good as new, my lord.”

“We need to discuss your definition of a weapon,” Zarek stated.

I smothered a groan. Busted. The best defense was a good apology. “My bad. To me the shield is a type of armor with an unexpected offensive benefit.”

“Unexpected?”

“The bouncy ball effect wasn’t exactly planned, my lord,” Ziyad inserted.

“Indeed. I look forward to a demonstration.”

“I know the perfect way to test Ziyad’s shield. We put Quinn on the space station and follow him on the surveillance cameras. I’m sure the thugs will be happy to shoot at him a couple of dozen times.”

“I will take your suggestion under advisement,” the Overlord said wryly.

Rats. That was a no. “Or you could send me in.”

Wulf shot me a withering glare. “No.”

“Report to my war room, Wulf. We have much to discuss with our allies.” The Overlord severed his link with us.

I looked down at my blood-splattered battle suit. “Do you think I have time to change?”

“Females are not included in war council business.”

“What? Not even Detja?” My snark was back.

“Detja is an exception to the rule.”

“After all Ziyad and I have done, this is the thanks we get?”

“No. This is.” Wulf leaned down and claimed my mouth with a kiss so carnal it shook me. “Behave.” He teleported away.

Behave? Behave! Goddess, I wanted to thump him upside the head. Why was it so hard for him to admit we females had once again saved the day? Without our help, the Coletti would still be hunting for Malik’s bases. The warlords needed our expertise.

A wave of uneasiness rolled over me. Something was wrong. “I’m getting some bad vibes, Ziyad. Who’s on board our ship?”

“Just Colburn, Bui, and us.”

I linked with my brother. “Colburn, I need you on the bridge.”

“What? Why? Can’t it wait?” was my brother’s groggy reply.

“No. It can’t wait.”

“Wanna sleep. Go away.”

“Do you remember our little run-in with Omar the bounty hunter?”

“Yeah. So?” Colburn mumbled.

“And I told you something was wrong?”

“Yeah.”

“You didn’t listen to me then, and we almost died?”

Colburn snorted. “No, we didn’t.”

“Do you remember Loki being in the sick bay for a week?”

“Kinda.”

“My internal radar is never wrong. Something is wrong.”

“Let your warlord deal with it,” he barked and broke our link.

The ungrateful brat. I hurried onto the bridge. “The sensors picking up anything?”

Ziyad’s fingers flew across the keyboard. “No. Nothing.” Her tentacles squirmed wildly. “Who would be stupid enough to attack with two battle cruisers and a warbird hovering nearby?”

“One of Pokham’s relatives? None of them are particularly bright.”

“A good possibility. Because of us, his family has lost everything.”

“Should I interrupt the war council with my gut feeling?” I rubbed at the throbbing ache in my temples. Goddess, my head hurt.

“I feel funny,” Ziyad cried and slumped to the floor.

I tried to link with Wulf, but my brain wouldn’t cooperate. The room tilted. My knees buckled, and I fell. Everything spun around me in a nauseating blur. “Ziyad? Ziyad?”

“Yakeee.” Bui crawled toward me.

I reached for her. Blackness crashed over me in claustrophobic waves. I was dimly aware of someone picking me up.

“You will pay for your treachery,” a male voice whispered.

Chapter Seventeen

Bui’s legs patted my face. “Yakeee. Yakeee. Wake up. Me scared.”

“What?” My brain refused to focus.

“Wake up.” Bui bounced up and down on my chin. “Wake up! Now! Bad males took us.”

“Took? Where?” I pried my eyes open.

Bui stared back. “Don’t know. No like.”

“Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”

What the heck was that? It sounded like a wild animal in distress. I turned my head. Nope. Ziyad was sprawled next to me, snoring. Loudly. “Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”

“You sleep long time. Get. Up.”

“Okay. Okay.” Bossy little thing. The second I sat up, the room spun dizzily, and I slumped back against the floor.

“Up. Yakeee.”

“I’m trying.”

“Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”

“Ziyad! Wake up.” I kicked her foot.

She rolled over and kept on snoring. “Zzzz. Kho. Kho. Zzzz.”

I pushed myself upright and waited until the room stopped spinning. Huh? We were locked in an empty armory. I linked with Wulf. “I hate to bother you, but I think we’ve been kidnapped.”

Wulf’s mind embraced me like I was the most precious thing in the galaxy. “Are you hurt?”

I took inventory. All my parts seemed to be working, and I still had my boot knives. “Other than a killer headache, I’m fine.”

“Is Ziyad or Bui hurt?”

“Ziyad’s still unconscious, but Bui is okay.”

“Do you know where you are?”

Wulf’s concern and impotent fury set off my alarm bells. “No. Don’t you?”

“There is some kind of energy field blocking us from tracking you. Are you wearing a Visio crystal?”

I looked down. A string of Visio crystals was wound around my right wrist. “I am. It doesn’t seem to be affecting our mate bond.”

“Not any longer, thank the Goddess.”

I wanted so badly to kiss, cuddle, and soothe Wulf. I had scared him badly. For a brief time, the chemicals they had gassed us with had blocked our mental bond, and he had thought I was dead. I removed the crystals and threw them in the corner of the room. “Any better?”

“Yes.” Through our link, I watched Wulf check his tracking scanner. “You are on an Askole shuttle, which is docking with a Tai-Kok Class Five destroyer, a small but heavily armed ship. My calculations show its probable course is the Durung asteroid belt.”

A jolt of raw panic twisted my stomach. “Oh Goddess! I’m a prisoner on a Tai-Kok ship!”

Wulf brushed a calming hand over my mind. “They will not eat you.”

“You sure about that?” My worst fear had come true.

“We intercepted a coded message. They are taking you to Malik. You will reach his base on Viktor before we can intercept the ship. Being the clever females you are, I know you will find a way to free yourselves.”

Now he had faith in us?

Ziyad suddenly shot to her feet. “What happened? Where are we?”

“We were kidnapped, and we are on a Tai-Kok destroyer.”

“What?” Her tentacles shot straight up in horror. “How did that happen?”

“Good question. You have an answer, honeybun?” Okay, I was being a bitch, but I had one hell of a good reason.

An annoyed growl rumbled in my head. “There was a security breach. Your kidnappers killed the Askole sentries guarding Sariel’s shuttle and stole it.”

“Sneaking us out right under everyone’s noses.”

“Yes.”

“If we hadn’t been excluded from the war council, we wouldn’t be prisoners on a Tai-Kok ship now, would we?”

“No. I should have listened to you. I failed to protect you from our enemies.”

Whoa! Was that an apology? Things must have gotten really hairy for him to be this antsy. “Shit happens, my love.”

My honeybun sighed. “Shit happens quite often around the two of you.”

What could I say? He was right.

“Those bastards!” Ziyad clamped a hand over her left arm and yelled, “They took my communication bracelet.”

“Yeah, but we still have the holographic armbands, our shield rings, and my boot knives.”

I could feel Wulf’s smug satisfaction. “You are not unarmed or helpless.”

“Us? Helpless? The Tai-Kok are going to be in for one hell of a surprise.”

“With your mouth, you shouldn’t have any problem getting them to shoot you,” Quinn quipped.

“I’m feeling the love, cousin.”

Quinn gave me a mental hug. “You’re growing on me, peewee. Don’t get dead.”

“That is the idea.” Peewee? I might be a little on the short side, but I wasn’t a runt.

Ziyad started tapping frantically on her holographic control panel. “I can make it appear as if the room is empty.”

“Great idea.” I looked for a surveillance camera and spotted one over the doorway. “Bui, I need you to web up that camera.”

Splat! Splat! Bui’s web balls completely covered the lens.

“That should get their attention.”

“Give me your right arm,” Ziyad ordered.

I held it out to her, watching as she inputted data into my band.

“We are now one with the wall.”

“Woo hoo. I’ve always wanted to be a wall.” I did a little two-step.

Bui giggled. “You silly.”

“More like suicidal,” Wulf said bad-temperedly.

“Fuck! The gas is still affecting you.” Ziyad’s tone was one of dismay.

Fuck? “Just a teensy bit.”

The door suddenly slid open. Ziyad grabbed my hand and squeezed as two Tai-Kok with multiple head spikes entered our temporary jail.

Every nerve in my body tensed as the Tai-Kok with jagged metal spines sticking out at odd angles around his skull started sniffing like a bloodhound.

Wulf snarled. “He smells the blood on your battle suit.”

“Just our luck; we get a monster with a sensitive nose.” Ziyad and I backed away.

The other Tai-Kok made a snuffling noise and honked.

Spike quacked something. Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.

I was drawing him like a magnet. My back hit the wall.

“Get him to shoot you,” Wulf instructed.

“That, I can do.” I drew my boot knives, dropped my holographic wall image, and screaming like a crazed banshee, charged him.

The Tai-Kok jumped back at my sudden appearance, drew his weapon, and fired.

Crack! My shield flared brightly as a stun beam struck it.

Snap! Pop! Pop! Pop! A crackling red energy storm ricocheted off my shield and engulfed the Tai-Kok. He hit the floor as violent muscle spasms shook his thick body.

The second Tai-Kok stared in stunned disbelief at his writhing friend.

Quinn remarked, “His buddy just got zapped, and all the moron can do is stand there with his finger up his nose?”

“And why did he shoot me with a friggin’ stun beam?”

“Because they want us alive,” Ziyad cried gleefully. “Their mistake.”

“A very big mistake. ’Cause now I get to kill them.” I waved my knives at the remaining Tai-Kok. “Hello? Remember me? The chew toy?”

Vicious quacking noises spewing from his mouth, the Tai-Kok’s pissed-off buddy lunged for me.

I twisted like a cat, avoiding his metal-tipped talons, and hurled a knife. “I’m not three anymore or a helpless chew toy.”

An ear-shattering screech echoed around the room as the Tai-Kok yanked the knife out of his hand. He raised my bloodstained blade.

The wall behind him moved.

Thwack! The knife suddenly flew out of his hand.

“Thanks, Ziyad.”

“My pleasure. Finish him.”

The freaked-out Tai-Kok spun around, looking for his phantom attacker.

“Hey! I’m right here.”

He came at me again.

I ducked under a punch, blocked a second with my bionic arm, pivoted on the balls of my feet, and drove my left foot into his groin.

The Tai-Kok doubled over with a keening wail.

“Stop playing with the monster.” Ziyad materialized, grabbed the convulsing Tai-Kok’s laser pistol, and shot both Tai-Kok. Their bodies disintegrated into a million fireflies when the laser beam struck. No stun setting for her.

I high-fived her. “We rock.”

“Don’t get cocky. You are not out of danger yet,” Wulf grumbled.

“You’re right. Let’s get out of here, Ziyad.”

“Freeze! Don’t move. Stay where you are.” A younger version of Pokham stepped into the room.

Well, that answered the question of who took us.

His hand shaking badly, Junior leveled a laser pistol at us. “Drop your weapons.”

“Gee, Ziyad, do we look that stupid?”

“Nope.”

“Drop your weapons!” Junior’s voice rose to a high-pitched shriek.

I shook my head. “Not until you tell us why you kidnapped us.”

“You murdered my Uncle Elof.” Junior spat, the trembling in his hand increased.

“Me?” I pointed to my chest and gave him my best harmless petka impression. “Kill an Askole warrior? How did I pull off that amazing feat?”

Junior looked a bit puzzled himself. “You beheaded him.”

“Yakira isn’t strong enough or big enough to lop off anyone’s head,” Ziyad pointed out.

“My grandfather said she murdered Elof to save you, the abomination!” Junior’s wormy little tentacles wiggled madly.

“The only abomination I see is you.” His tentacles were freaky weird. The result of inbreeding, or maybe it was some kind of medical condition?

He cast a wild-eyed glance around the room. “Where are my Tai-Kok guards?”

“Dead,” Ziyad answered him cheerfully.

“What? How?”

Ziyad picked at her teeth. “I ate them.”

“You…you…you…”

“Ate them,” I finished for him. “Ziyad was really hungry, and she even devoured the bones.”

“That’s not possible. Askoles don’t eat people,” Junior squeaked.

“She’s half Rodan, and you know how those abominations are, right? They’re always munching on someone.”

Ziyad grinned, exposing a mouth full of serrated teeth.

“Drop your weapons!” The stench of urine filled the room.

I stared at the growing puddle on the floor. Goddess, he had peed his pants. “Not a chance. You drop yours.”

“Boo!” Ziyad cried, waving her arms around.

“Eeeep!” Pokham Junior leaped backward, slipped in his urine, and almost fell. “You have to do what I say. I am a male. You are females. You have to obey me. You have to.”

“True. We are females, but obey you?” Ziyad laughed like he had just told a wonderful joke. “Is he for real?”

“If you don’t, I will…I will kill you,” Pokham Junior sputtered.

What a doofus. “Go ahead and try.”

A confused expression on his face, Junior shifted from foot to foot. “You want me to shoot you?”

“Yes, we do,” I said as if talking to a not too bright toddler. On my private link with Wulf and Ziyad, I chortled. “He’s definitely not the mastermind.”

“Find out who is,” Wulf ordered.

Ziyad scratched the side of her face with the laser pistol. “Would it help if I shot at you first? You could always claim self-defense.”

“Self-defense?” Junior wagged his pistol. “Are you mad?”

“We kinda are.” I gave him my version of Wulf’s frightening sociopath’s face.

“Please. Please, drop your weapons.”

I raised my eyes heavenward. “No. No and no. We want you to shoot us. Remember?”

“Can’t. He would get mad. We need you alive. I’m supposed to take you to Malik’s base on Viktor.”

The always persistent Ziyad prodded, “Who would get mad?”

“My cousin, Koram.”

Wulf’s rage exploded through my consciousness, and I felt him linking with Zarek. “It’s Koram, Sariel’s head of security.”

The second Zarek unleashed his terrible power on Koram’s mind, I broke the link with a shudder of horror. Goddess, that was the stuff of nightmares. I hoped Sariel didn’t get too upset about his security chief’s brains being turned to mush.

“Please tell me we’re done playing with this fool?” The look in Ziyad’s eyes was downright scary.

“We are. Blind him, Bui.”

Splat! Junior shrieked and started shooting.

Crack! Crack! Our shields flared brightly as the laser beams struck.

Snap! Zap! Junior’s ashes drifted across the floor.

I stuffed my knives back in my boots and grabbed Junior’s pistol. “Malik needs to hire better henchmen.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen now. Him being broke and all.” The air around Ziyad wavered, and the spiny head Tai-Kok stood there. “Let’s go kill some monsters.”

“Where’s my disguise?”

She tapped on my bracelet’s controls, and Zelrine reappeared. I groaned. “Why her?”

“She’s one of Malik’s minions and quite eye catching.”

True, while the Tai-Kok were busy gawking at Zelrine’s gargantuan boobs and hanging junk, we could kill them. How many Tai-Koks do we have to kill?”

I mentally scanned the area. “About sixty.”

“Is that all? Not much of a challenge.”

“When is the last time you ate, Ziyad?” Lothel asked abruptly.

“Ah. He does love you.”

Ziyad gave me the one-finger salute. “I’m fine,” she assured Lothel. Her declaration was spoiled when her stomach growled loudly.

“No, Lothel’s right; you do need food. Like now.”

“I’m not eating Tai-Kok.” Her Spike disguise vanished. “It’s bad enough I have to wear their image.”

“You are on Sariel’s private shuttle,” Wulf said. “I know for a fact he keeps it stocked with dried Bovidae.”

“Let’s check the cockpit.”

“I like Bovidae.” Ziyad was practically drooling as she sprinted down the corridor.

Bovidae was an antelope-type critter bred for their succulent meat. Their steaks were to die for.

“Me hungry,” Bui whined.

“Do you see any bugs, sweetie?”

“Me. Look.” She scampered off.

“Don’t go too far.”

“‘Kay.”

By the time I arrived in the cockpit, Ziyad had eaten her way through three packages of the dried meat. “Did you save me any?”

She handed me a piece. “Thanks.” I took a bite and promptly spit it out. Yuck! It tasted like dried poop.

Bui dragged over two blue critters with antennas. She held up one. “Me share.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’ve lost my appetite.”

“Sure?” Bui made a slurping sound. “Good.”

“Positive.” I searched the storage unit for something to drink. I needed to get the awful taste out of my mouth. I found a bottle of Askole ale and took a swig. My eyes crossed, and I struggled to breathe. It felt like I had drunk liquid fire. “Goddess.” I coughed up a lung. “Oh…Goddess. That’s… That’s…”

“The good stuff.” Ziyad took the bottle away from me and consumed it.

“Only if you like the taste of drain cleaner.” My voice was a hoarse croak.

Chapter Eighteen

Beep. Bap. Thop. The ship’s warning alarm blared loudly. A mixture of guttural grunts, groans, and chittering clucks then sounded from the Sariel’s shuttle command console.

I hit the Askole’s detection module and whistled. “We’ve got a Marauder doing warp 7 on a collision course with this destroyer.”

Ziyad checked the long-range scanner. “It’s being pursued by a Chi-Rho pirate vessel.”

“You copy, Wulf?”

“Yes. Get me the life readings on the Marauder’s pilot.”

I quickly did a sensor scan of the ship. “He’s injured but alive. Goddess! The pilot is Coletti. You don’t think it’s him, do you?”

“It is Malik,” Wulf said grimly.

A raspy laugh escaped me. “I bet he tried to pay the Chi-Rho for their services and found out he was dead broke. Whoops!”

“That would seriously piss off the Chi-Rho,” Quinn added.

Lothel responded happily, “We are getting reports that Malik’s base on Viktor was destroyed.”

The ship’s warning system spit out a cackling err noise.

“The Chi-Rho have launched a torpedo,” Ziyad warned.

“You think the Tai-Kok ship’s shields can take a direct hit?”

“I sure hope so, or we’re gonna die with them.” Ziyad’s fingers flew over the command console. “Malik’s Marauder has severe damage to the left wing, and that engine is losing power.”

“My question is: does he have the strength to teleport aboard the Tai-Kok ship?”

“He does,” Wulf answered.

“Oh, goodie.”

Ziyad let out a huff of relief. “The Tai-Kok captain is finally taking evasive maneuvers and has fired off two Aphid missiles.”

The torpedo hit Malik’s Marauder. It vanished in a nimbus of white-hot gases and debris.

“The pirates have launched another torpedo,” Ziyad advised. “And the Tai-Kok have returned the favor.”

Quinn intoned sarcastically, “They really want Malik dead. Wonder why?”

“He probably raped the pirate captain’s sister or wife,” I retorted.

The Aphid missiles locked on the Chi-Rho vessel. The pirates’ attempts to outrun the rockets failed spectacularly. Billows of yellow and orange flames erupted from the disintegrating spacecraft.

The last missile struck the Chi-Rho’s torpedo five hundred yards from the Tai-Kok destroyer. The ship pitched radically.

“That was a little too close,” Ziyad complained.

Wulf mocked, “The Tai-Kok captain does not have the skills of a Coletti youngling.”

“The moron probably got a battlefield promotion and hasn’t a friggin’ clue what to do.” I checked the sensors. “Malik teleported safely to the bridge of this ship. Where he will now get the good news we are his prisoners.”

“If I can disguise our life signs, they will have to hunt for us.” Ziyad started taking the control console apart. “Buy me some time. I need to scavenge some parts to build a bio-jammer.”

“Okay. I can run around in my Zelrine disguise and see how many Tai-Kok I can get to shoot me. That should keep them busy for a bit.”

“Over my dead body,” Wulf bellowed.

I patted Wulf’s mind affectionately. “You got another idea, my love?”

“The Overlord’s has a plan.”

“I kinda hoped he might.”

“The Overlord is always prepared,” Wulf stated arrogantly.

“I know the Overlord is all knowing and all seeing, but how are you getting us out of here?”

“While Zarek keeps Malik’s attention on him, Bebo pops in and frees you.”

“I like it. A lot. When can we expect Bebo?”

“Twenty minutes, if we are lucky.”

Lucky? When were we ever lucky? I turned to Ziyad. “Keep working on your backup plan. Bebo is coming for us, but it might be a bit.”

“Roger that.”

I asked Wulf, “Do I get to watch Zarek annoy Malik?”

“Yes, but do not leave the shuttle.”

“Deal.” Wulf projected the image of a view screen into my mind. A Coletti warrior who had been cursed by the Butt Ugly fairy glared at Zarek. “Is that Malik?”

“It is.”

Creepy didn’t even begin to describe Malik. His flat, dead eyes and blunt features had a brutal quality to them. The aura of ruthlessness was enhanced by a knife scar across his right cheek. Someone had also beaten the crap out of him, and he was covered in a thick black slime.

The Tai-Kok honked in disgust and kept their distance.

“If you have any honor left, you will face Talree in the death match.” Zarek’s voice was harsh and simmered with a barely controlled wrath.

Malik laughed, and madness burned in his eyes. “The only ones dying are you and your precious Talree. Your screams will fill the night, and I will bathe in your blood.”

“Your pathetic empire is crumbling around you. You are broke, your bases are being destroyed, and your allies are fleeing,” Zarek taunted.

“These are merely setbacks.”

“Says the guy who just had his ass handed to him by the pirates,” I muttered to Wulf.

“According to intercepted Chi-Rho transmissions, Malik escaped them by crawling through the sewers.” There was a note of glee in Wulf’s voice.

The Tai-Kok captain abruptly spat a bunch of angry, quacking gibberish. A mechanical voice sounded from Malik’s translator, “Zarek speaks the truth. It is time we reassessed our alliance.”

Whoa! It was pretty bad when even the Tai-Kok kicked you to the curb.

“It is my destiny to rule the galaxy. Any who stand in my way will be destroyed,” Malik howled.

The Tai-Kok pulled their weapons.

A maniacal laugh broke from Malik. “Do you think me a fool? I’ve planned for every possibility. You no longer serve my purpose.” He tossed a gas grenade.

Boom! Boiling purple fumes rapidly filled the room. Laser beams flashed wildly, and a din of distressed quacks, whistles, and honks erupted.

When the vapor dissipated, the floor was covered with dead Tai-Kok.

Malik had vanished.

Fear skittered down my spine. “What’s Bebo’s ETA?”

“He’s ten minutes out. Scan the ship for Malik,” Wulf instructed.

I hurriedly did a sensor scan. Oh Goddess, he was in the port shuttle bay, hunting for us. I firmly squashed the wave of panic that threatened to overwhelm me. If I lost it now, he would win.

Wulf’s mental fingers caressed the back of my neck. “Ziyad and you are cunning warriors. Believe me, Malik will underestimate you. Use that to your advantage. You can do this.”

“You are definitely a keeper, my love,” I said, mentally patting his fine butt.

Zarek barked, “Concentrate on the mission, not your mate’s ass.”

“Yes, my lord. Sorry, my lord.”

Ziyad snickered. “You’re only sorry you got caught.”

“Do you have a plan to escape from the Tai-Kok ship or defeat Malik, Ziyad?” Zarek’s tone was definitely snarky.

My big-mouthed friend responded, “Yes, my lord. I need the Tai-Kok words for drop your weapon or I’ll eat her.”

A cacophony of quacks and honks filled our heads. “As you requested.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“Don’t disappoint me.” Zarek broke the link.

I took one look at the aggravated expression on Ziyad’s face and grinned. “What’s your plan?”

Ziyad bared her teeth in a rather horrifying smile. “I’ll be the big, bad wolf, and you can be Little Red Riding Hood.”

“Who?”

“A little female I’m about to eat for dinner.” The area around her shimmered as she transformed back into Spike, the Tai-Kok.

“Gotcha! Great plan. Malik’s gonna freak.” With one tap on my holographic band, Zelrine disappeared, and I assumed an appropriately petrified demeanor.

“I am surprised the two of you haven’t taken over the universe by now,” Wulf observed.

“It’s only a matter of time, my love.”

“Come out. Come out, little female. I won’t hurt you,” a harsh voice called in my head.

“Don’t let it eat me. Please, don’t let it eat me. Please, I don’t want to die,” I sobbed on cue.

Malik’s rage slammed into my brain. “Who is trying to eat you?”

I rolled my eyes. Duh. Who did he think? “The…the…Tai-Kok.”

“Get ready.” Ziyad wrapped an arm around my neck and stuck her laser pistol in my ear.

Poof! Malik teleported in.

A cacophony of quacks and honks spewed from Ziyad’s mouth.

Laughing like a demented hyena, Malik fired his laser pistol twice. Crack! Crack! Our shields flared brightly as the stun beams struck them.

Snap! Snap! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Twin crackling red energy storms ricocheted off our shields and slammed into Malik. He fell to the floor as violent muscle spasms shook his burly frame.

“I want him alive,” the Overlord commanded.

Say what? Surely I had misunderstood him. “Excuse me, but did you say alive?”

“I did.”

“Yes, my lord,” Ziyad and I replied in unison.

All too soon the muscle seizures stopped. Malik struggled to raise his weapon.

Ziyad and I immediately stunned him again and again and again. I kind of enjoyed watching his arms, legs, and head bang painfully against the deck.

Wulf sighed. “Zarek wants him alive.”

“He keeps trying to use his weapon, and neither of us are getting close enough to disarm him,” Ziyad replied.

“Point made.”

“How long before we can expect reinforcements, my love?”

“Have Bui web him to the floor and go. Bebo is waiting for you.”

“Thank the Goddess. Bui, glue the creep down good and tight.”

“‘Kay.” Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Webbing soon covered every inch of Malik’s body, except his nose and eyes.

“Good job, sweetie.”

Bui quivered on my shoulder. “He mad.”

“He truly is.” I nodded.

“Free me, and I will not harm you,” Malik promised, but his eyes glittered with ferocity.

“Goddess, you’re such a liar. You plan on breaking my mind and body.”

“True. Pain is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Listening to a female scream and plead for mercy gives fucking that little extra zing.”

“Go. He is trying to delay you,” Wulf ordered.

We fled down the corridor.

“Just thinking about your pale flesh bleeding from my whips gives me one hell of a hard-on,” Malik advised.

Oh, ick. “Everyone knows the only way you can get your itty-bitty dick up is with drugs.”

“Liar! I don’t need drugs. My penis is long, thick, and imposing. Females fight over the chance to bed me.” Malik obviously suffered from little-dick syndrome.

“What you mean is they fight to get away from your ugly face, your limp dick, and that bloody whip.”

“I’ve also heard you shoot blanks,” Ziyad threw in.

Malik roared, “I have sired many children.”

“A lie,” Wulf contradicted. “You even slept with your half sister, Lilkee, in a desperate attempt to breed a child on her. That was when Zarek discovered you are sterile.”

“My father knows nothing! Nothing!” Malik’s strident voice was full of venom.

The pervert was having a psychotic meltdown.

As soon as we exited the Askole’s shuttle, Bebo’s tentacles wrapped around us and tossed us on his back. “Hold on.”

A blinding golden light formed around us. The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex.

Webbing dangling off his body, Malik ran down the landing ramp. “You cannot escape me.”

“How did he get free?”

Ziyad replied, “Is that a bottle of Shrek’s Tabor spray in his left hand?”

It was! “I want to know who gave it to him.”

“As do I,” Wulf snapped.

“Bebo, King of the Gorum, today is the day you die.” His face a mask of rage, Malik teleported, and a fleeting second later, he was grabbing for me and trying to shoot Bebo in the eyestalk.

“Noooo!” I kicked the pistol out of Malik’s hand and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could with my bionic right hand.

Malik flew backward and was sucked into the maelstrom created by Bebo’s teleportation.

Terrified screams ripped from Ziyad and me as we suddenly fell down the eye of a tornado at warp speed.

A hissing noise grew louder and louder, and zigzags of lightning danced around us. Something was wrong.

“Malik’s weight is disrupting the vortex. We must exit it,” Bebo warned.

“Okay. Everyone hang on.”

“Scared,” Bui cried.

Ziyad whooped, “What a rush!”

The violent rotating walls began to collapse. Ninety heart-stopping moments later, we fell out of a lemon-yellow sky.

Chapter Nineteen

Dangling from Bebo’s tentacles, I watched the world tumble about us. The yellow sky with grayish-green clouds flashed by, followed by glimpses of a forest of big white stones. I never thought I would die by being splattered over the countryside. The way I annoyed people, I figured I’d get knifed or shot or strangled. But splat? Nah.

Bui shrieked, “No like. No like. No like.”

“Me no like either.” My stomach roiled sickeningly.

My very best friend yelled, “Mesocyclone, Bebo. Create an energy mesocyclone.”

His tentacles tightened painfully. “Mesocyclone? It might work.”

“It will work. Do it now!” Ziyad shouted.

Ziyad was incredible. That mind of hers never, ever stopped. If there was a way out, she would find it.

“If we don’t make it, honeybun, I want you to know I love you,” I called.

Wulf countered, “You are not dead yet. Ziyad is correct, Bebo. The mesocyclone will work.”

A black whirlwind sprang to life, cushioning us with pure energy and slowing our descent. The incredibly strong winds formed a funky funnel cloud, and Ziyad, Bebo, and I simply slid down the center. It was better than one of those wild carnival rides. “Yee-haw!”

When we were about ten feet above the earth, it disappeared.

“Hang on. We are going to hit.” Bebo wrapped himself around us. Bam! Bam! We bounced twice and rolled down a hill.

“Oh Goddess! Oh Goddess! Oh Goddess!” I screeched as we picked up speed. It was like being inside a big hollow ball with tentacles.

Wulf demanded, “Are you hurt?”

“I’ll let you know once we stop.”

“Stop what?”

I gasped as we bounded a good foot off the ground. “Rolling.”

“Wheee!” Ziyad hooted.

Bui clung to my hair. “Stop! No like.”

Tumbling head over heels, Malik sailed by us and plunged over a cliff.

I shrieked, “Cliff! Cliff! Cliff!”

Three tentacles whipped out and looped around a boulder. We slid to a stop a scant foot from the edge.

“Goddess, that was fun.” Ziyad laughed.

“Fun?” I peered over the edge. “It’s a thousand-foot drop.”

“Let’s have a look-see.” Ziyad hung her head over the edge. “Nah, it’s only about eight hundred feet, and is that a body stuck on a tree?”

I took another quick peek. “Yep, that’s gotta be Malik.”

Wulf grumbled, “I’m afraid to ask. Is he alive or dead?”

“Don’t know. He’s got branches sticking out of him.”

Bui volunteered, “Want me check?”

“Yes, but do not get too close to him,” Wulf instructed.

“‘Kay.” Bui crawled down the cliff.

“Be careful. He’s sneaky,” I called after her.

“Could you please get your size fifteen boots out of my stomach?” Bebo groused.

“Sorry.” Ziyad crawled off the Gorum and pulled me up with her.

My stunned gaze examined a graveyard of giant bleached bones that were scattered about the labyrinthine rock. “Where are we?”

Bebo used his tentacles to roll himself upright. “I’m not sure. Either Gansu or its moon Hikou.”

“My tracking scanner shows you are on Gansu,” Wulf replied. “Do not worry. We should arrive before sunset.”

I looked around warily. “What happens when the sun goes down?”

“Things will try to eat you,” Quinn supplied.

Eat me! I quickly checked the charge on my laser pistol. It was in the three-quarters range. “What kind of things?”

“Snakes, man-eating trees, and saber-toothed tigers. Oh yeah, and we can’t forget the quicksand.” Humor laced Quinn’s voice.

Blue thorn trees with rootlike branches hung over a pool of thick black goo. It had to be the man-eating trees and quicksand.

Ziyad picked up a huge mandible. “What kind of creature is capable of eating something this big?”

“An Uishna,” Wulf said, showing us the image of a large mutant crocodile. “They are extinct.”

“Balock’s balls, hunting one of those would be—”

I cut her off. “Stupid. Incredibly stupid.”

“You have no sense of adventure.” Ziyad tossed the relic at the trees.

A branch lashed out, catching the bone.

“Whoa!” That was when I noticed the withered husks of long-dead creatures littering the ground. “We need a flamethrower.”

“Or a couple of incendiary grenades,” Ziyad said, eyeing the thorny branches warily.

“The carnivorous trees are incredibly fast. If a barb penetrates your flesh, it will drain you dry in a matter of minutes. Stay away from them,” Wulf advised sternly.

“Not a problem, my love. When does the sun set?”

“Three hours.”

“And how far out are you?”

“Two hours.”

“That’s pushing it.”

Wulf gently stroked my mind. “Build a fire if necessary.” He broke the link.

Build a fire with what? Outside of the man-eating trees, there was nothing but bones, rocks, and sand. “Do you have any idea on how to set the thorn trees on fire, Ziyad?”

“The layer of sludge on top of the quicksand will burn,” Bebo said.

“Huh? Now all we have to do is grab a bunch of those dead carcasses, roll them in the sludge, and keep from getting eaten by the trees at the same time. Easy.”

Whoosh! Moving too fast for the eye to follow, Ziyad zipped over to the quicksand and zoomed back. She dumped a bunch of goop-covered remains at my feet. “Nothing to it.”

The tree branches shook violently and lashed out, searching for a prey that was no longer there.

“Show-off.” I did a double-take when I noticed the Gorum’s torn hide. “Goddess, Bebo, why didn’t you tell us you were hurt?”

“I’ve had worse.”

“Now you sound like my brothers. If you want, I can heal those for you.”

A tentacle petted my cheek. “I would like that very much.”

“Yakira is a talented healer,” Ziyad said proudly.

I took a bow. “Thank you, thank you so much.” I patted Bebo’s slimy skin. “Once I get to work, you’re going to feel a sensation of heat and some tingling. You ready?”

“I am.”

I channeled healing energy into his body. The torn flesh regenerated until only long red scabs remained. “All done. The scabs will slough off tomorrow.”

A loud rumbling sounded from Bebo’s stomach. “I’ve expended too much power. I need to eat.”

Ziyad hurriedly held out a bag of dried Bovidae. “Here.”

“I need living flesh.”

“Oh.” We both took a step back. “Well, there is Malik…or…” My eyes bugged out as a spiny yellow dragon-snake slithered over a boulder. “Or would a snake the size of a small pony work?” I pointed.

Bebo’s eyestalks swiveled around. “That will do nicely.”

The snake let out a chuffing noise. It almost sounded like a train.

The Gorum roared in response. His tentacles shot out, grabbing the snake and stuffing it down his maw. All forty feet of it.

Another dragon-snake dropped off a boulder and landed on top of Bebo. Its teeth latched on to the tail of the other snake in an attempt to save it. The Gorum ate it too.

“Think he’s full yet?”

“A single Gorum once ate the entire crew of a Tai-Kok ship,” Ziyad said.

“Oh.” I spotted a third dragon. “Bebo, behind you.”

He spun around.

The dragon-snake took off, chuffing, chuffing, chuffing.

Bebo gave chase.

I blew out a relieved breath. “For a minute there, I thought he was going to eat us.”

“Me too.”

“Yakeee. Bad man off tree.”

Ziyad and I ran to the precipice and looked down. Malik had freed himself. To my utter horror, he pulled his pistol and aimed it at Bui. “Run!” I screamed.

Bui skittered up the rock wall.

Malik fired several shots at her. The laser beams missed Bui by a good foot.

What a shame. The fall off the cliff had affected his aim.

My BFF picked up boulders and started hurling them at him.

“Zarek wants him alive.”

“Malik can teleport, can’t he?”

One of the stones hit Malik’s shoulder, knocking him off the tree. We watched him plummet toward the ground.

Ziyad shrugged guilelessly. “Whoops. Guess he can’t.”

He teleported about ten seconds before his brains would have been splattered over the sand.

My psychic senses screamed a warning. I whipped out my laser pistol. “He’s coming.”

Ziyad pulled her pistol. “He’s like one of those villains in an Earth slasher movie. The ones who won’t stay dead no matter how many times you kill them.”

A badly bleeding Malik appeared in front of us. He swayed back and forth as if it took everything he had to stand.

“I will inform the Overlord.” Wulf’s tone was one of barely contained fury. He wanted Malik dead as much as we did.

“I think he used up all ten of his lives,” Ziyad commented.

“It’s nine lives, and he’s not a cat.” I smiled at Malik. “What’s up with all the holes in your battle suit? Did you buy a cheap knockoff? Oh, wait! I know. You thought eating human flesh would make you stronger. How’s that working out for you?”

Malik muttered, “Gop yup pen.”

“What?”

“Gop yup pen.” Malik’s severely broken jaw hung at an odd angle.

“We can’t understand you.”

He switched to mind talk. “Drop your weapons.”

Ziyad laughed. “No. You drop yours.”

“I. Will. Kill. You.” Malik’s snarl looked very painful.

“No, you won’t.” I examined the rotted tree limb protruding through his left shoulder and the way his left arm hung limply. “Not only is your jaw busted, but so is your left shoulder and arm. You’re losing way too much blood from some serious internal injuries, and you’ll probably pass out in the next thirty seconds. My prognosis? Without immediate medical intervention, you will be dead within an hour.”

“I will not…die today or tomorrow…or the day after that. I will live forever.” Malik’s right hand shook badly as he raised his pistol. “My allies have arrived.”

A glittering blue transporter light blossomed on the sand. When it faded a fat, hairy humanoid with horns stood there.

“Dingle.” I gasped. “You see him, Wulf?”

“I do.”

The Yagga’s white horizontal pupils roved over me hungrily. “We meet at last.”

“The female is yours as promised,” Malik gritted out. “Now get me…to your sick bay.”

Fat chance. There was no way I would let Malik or Dingle leave this planet alive. “Bebo, the Yagga who took your kids is here. Wanna say hello?”

Something yowled in the distance.

“I think that was a yes.” Ziyad chortled.

To my surprise, Dingle made no move to transport us off the planet. Instead, he scowled at Malik. “What happened to our three hundred million credits?”

“Three hundred million? Someone had his fingers in the till,” Ziyad exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah.” I hid a relieved smile when Bui scrambled up my back. She was safe.

Malik suddenly seemed to have a hard time concentrating. “My father… emptied…the accounts.”

Ziyad snorted. “No, he didn’t. Before you accidently fell off the cliff, you were bragging about how clever you were and how the fools would never find the credits you had hidden on Viktor.”

“And the good news is, the Chi-Rho pirates just blew up that asteroid.” I laughed at the horrified expression on Dingle’s furry face.

“They are…lying.” Malik coughed violently, and blood dribbled down his chin.

A female voice speaking Galactic Basic suddenly said, “I have proof you have been siphoning credits from our accounts for some time, Malik.”

A holographic image finally formed next to Dingle. A homely human female with her black hair scraped into a bun and wearing a blue military uniform loaded with medals and ribbons stood there. Her gaze fastened on Malik. “Commander Neral and I want our money back.”

“May I introduce General Georgina Tasker,” Wulf declared.

“Who the heck is Commander Neral?”

Wulf answered, “She’s the Rodan commander who killed every living soul on Manang two months ago. The Alliance calls her the Butcher of Manang.”

Malik knees buckled. “I… I…need…sick bay.”

“You are a thief, a liar, and no longer any use to us. Kill him,” General Tasker commanded the Yagga.

Dingle protested, “What about the credits?”

“The females know where the money is.”

“What a stone-cold bitch,” Ziyad said.

I held up my hand. “Ah, no, we don’t.”

The General practically hissed. “Do you take me for a fool?”

“Georgina. May I call you Georgina?”

“No. You will address me as General Tasker.”

“See, here’s the thing, Georgina. You’ve been demoted, and you haven’t got long to live.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I’m a Jones and a Siren and good friends with the Overlord. You are so busted.”

“Kill them all,” Georgina screeched.

I could feel Malik trying to summon enough power to teleport, but he was too far gone.

Dingle obediently shot him.

Malik’s body disintegrated into a million fireflies when the laser beam struck him.

Before Dingle could shoot us, Bebo charged around a boulder and grabbed him. “Now you die.”

Dingle’s eyes bulged as the Gorum hurled him at the trees.

Dozens of the branches struck, turning him into a pincushion. Dingle made a funny gurgling noise as the trees drained him dry.

Hadn’t seen that one coming. I gave the general my scary smile. “You can run, but Bebo can find you anywhere. Taking his son was a really big mistake.”

Bebo made an obscene gesture with a tentacle and opened his gaping maw, exposing the still-digesting snakes.

“Oh yeah, he plans on having you over for dinner.”

A shadow of alarm crossed the general’s face. The holograph vanished.

Ziyad threw a worried glance at the sky. “What’s to keep Dingle’s warriors from transporting us on board his ship?”

“Me. Get behind a boulder,” Bebo ordered.

We quickly took refuge in a hollow between two enormous rocks. A blinding golden light burst into existence. We hung on for dear life when hurricane-force winds blew over us.

Pop! The light vanished, and Bebo with it.

I took one look at Ziyad and giggled. “You’re encrusted with sand.”

“And you look like you’ve been rolled in yellow sugar. Like one of those cookies.”

I linked with Wulf. “Please tell me the Earth’s enforcers have the general’s location?”

“They do,” Wulf responded. “She will be arrested shortly.”

“The Overlord knows Malik is dead?”

“I have shared that information with him,” Wulf said.

“We’re good then?”

“The Overlord is pleased you are safe and disappointed he was unable to deal with Malik himself.”

I just bet he was.

Ziyad held out her hand for a high-five. “Dingle is dead, and soon his crew will be digesting with the snakes.”

“And we survived.” I smacked her hand and broke into a victory dance.

“The Overlord wanted you to know Detja is planning the bonding ceremonies,” Wulf advised smugly. “It is a great honor.”

“Does that include Lothel’s and mine?”

“It does, and Yakira, your mother will be there.”

I let out a squeal of excitement. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

Wulf hugged me mentally. “Your Earth family is waiting for you on Tanith, and they informed me you turned twenty-one three months ago.”

“What? Are you kidding me? We could have been having sex all along?”

“A fact that can now be remedied.” Wulf’s mouth covered mine.

I trembled at the sweet tenderness of his kiss. “You are my heart, my anchor.”

“Home is where you are.”

“Great line.”

“It is the truth,” Wulf responded.

“I’m never, ever letting you go.” My lips took his with a hunger akin to starvation. Wulf tasted so good I never wanted to come up for air.

“Snakes!” Ziyad smacked me upside the head. “Pay attention.”

“Okay. Okay. No need to get violent.”

“Isn’t there?” Ziyad point at the dozen or so snakes slithering our way.

“Bebo! You still hungry?”

“I am always hungry.” A dazzling golden light leaped into existence.

Chapter Twenty

The first thing I noticed when we entered Tanith’s solar system were the death satellites. Any unauthorized ship would be blown to smithereens. I guess after the Great War, Zarek wasn’t taking any chances.

I watched Tanith grow larger and larger in the view screen. It glowed a bright orange. The skeletal remains of long-dead cities were scattered across the seemingly endless ocean of persimmon-colored sand. They were a ghastly testament to the devastation done by the Gall bomb’s lethal radiation.

Gaunt wind-tortured peaks of black stone surrounded the empty seas. No animals. No birds. Not a single tree or bush or even a weed had survived the utter devastation.

The vids of the Coletti’s subterranean cities were impressive. A Roman-like Eden buried deep with the earth, complete with blast doors. Each city had its own artificial sun, parks, waterfalls, lakes, and critters of every type.

The Overlord’s palace was like something out of an Earth fairy tale. The intricately carved black stone rose gracefully from a turquoise lake. The structure came complete with arched gateways, flower-covered terraces, and colonnaded streets. I was pretty sure Detja, Zarek’s mate, had a lot to do with the design.

Bui jumped up and down on my braided hair. “My family there?”

“Kaylee’s Tabors are in the palace. We think you belong to one of them.”

“Go.” Bounce. “Now.” Bounce.

I grabbed her off my head and petted her wiggly body. “We have to wait for Daddy Wulf.”

“Why?”

“Because he is going to teleport us to the palace.”

“What take so long?”

“I wish I knew.” I was dying to meet Mom and my Earth family.

Ziyad typed data into the command console. “We are now in our assigned orbit.”

“I’m starting to get worried. Do you think Zarek is angry we didn’t save Malik? Angry enough to call off the ceremonies?”

“Goddess, I hope not. I’m not giving up my Lothel. We could always elope.

“Elope!” Colburn threw up his hands. “Have you lost your minds? You don’t want to anger Detja. She has gone to a lot of trouble for the two of you. Your warlords are busy taking down Dingle’s operations and arresting the traitors.”

“True, they are.” I grimaced. “We could have helped.”

“After the fiasco on the space station and then allowing yourselves to be kidnapped? Not a chance.”

“Allowing? Are you serious?” I glared at my brother. “They got by everyone’s security.”

“You’re a Siren. You should have sensed them.”

“Those ships were full of warlords, Askole, and Alliance warriors who have psychic abilities. Not one of them detected the intruders.”

My brother gave me a sheepish grin. “Good point.”

“Yakira received the three million bounty on the Kidd Brothers,” Ziyad said.

Colburn countered, “Which went to pay off the Talon fighters you destroyed.”

“We destroyed,” I corrected.

“What if your family doesn’t like me?” Ziyad’s tentacles squirmed unhappily.

I shrugged. “Then you can eat them.”

Colburn looked at me like I had lost my mind. “Don’t tell her that.”

“It was a joke, you idiot, and I’m still mad at you.”

“I was drugged, just like you. Get over it,” Colburn sniped.

Wulf and Lothel teleported onto the bridge. They projected an aura of sheer menace.

Ziyad and I exchanged concerned looks. “What happened?”

“General Tasker escaped.” There was a dangerous edge to Wulf’s voice.

“How did that happen?”

Lothel scowled. “She shut down the defense grid during a Rodan attack and ran on board one of the ships that was harvesting humans.”

My jaw dropped. The general couldn’t be that big of an idiot, could she? “I take it it wasn’t Commander Neral’s battle cruiser she boarded?”

Wulf grinned. “No. It wasn’t.”

“The Rodan will eat her,” Ziyad said gleefully.

Oh, boy, would they.

“What is the phrase humans use?” Lothel’s expression brightened. “Karma is a bitch.”

We all laughed.

Wulf opened his arms. “Ready to meet your family?”

“I am.”

Chapter Twenty-One

We appeared on a sunny terrace draped with a bright riot of flowers. In the distance, a silvery waterfall cascaded down the cavern wall. I looked around in awe. The vids didn’t do Tanith’s subterranean cities justice. Below us, a flock of pink ducklike birds floated peacefully on the turquoise water. It was truly an underground paradise.

Detja wasn’t what I’d expected. She could pass for someone in her thirties; her skin was flawless, and her long silver hair emphasized her high, exotic cheekbones and delicate features. The velvety material of her teal-green tunic accentuated her great figure. No wonder the Overlord had chased her all over the galaxy. She was truly beautiful, a powerful psychic, and an extraordinary thief. What Zarek couldn’t take by force, she could steal.

Wulf gave a slight bow. “My lady, may I present my mate, Yakira.”

Her bright amber gaze surveyed me from head to toe. “In all ways, you are truly a Jones.”

“Goddess, I hope not. The only Jones I have met so far is my cousin Quinn, and he’s a rude, bad-tempered jerk in serious need of an attitude adjustment.”

“Enough, Yakira,” Wulf scolded.

Detja laughed and embraced me. “I like you. You speak your mind. We are much alike.”

“Thank you,” I whispered in her ear. “What’s your secret for handling bossy warlords?”

“Sex. Lots of sex,” she whispered back.

I grinned. “I think we will be friends.”

“I agree.” Her smile vanished. “You were there when Malik died? Are you sure he is dead?”

I had to say I was a bit surprised by Detja’s questions. “Dingle killed him with a single laser blast to the chest.”

“He made no attempt to teleport away or defend himself?”

“No, he was dying from severe internal injuries.”

“Did he suffer?” A predator looked out of Detja’s eyes. I bet she picked that up from Zarek.

“He did.”

“Good. He inflicted great pain on my family.” She eyed my battle suit. “Are you expecting another attack?”

Wulf grimaced. “With Yakira, my lady, it is better to be prepared.”

“As with all Jones females.”

Lothel and Ziyad teleported in. He bowed. “My lady, may I present my mate, Ziyad.”

My very best friend smiled, exposing her sharp, serrated teeth. It was a truly terrifying sight. “It is a pleasure to meet the Overlord’s mate.”

Oh Goddess. She was deliberately trying to scare Detja.

Not a bit frightened, Detja walked over and hugged her. “Welcome to our clan, Ziyad. You will never be shunned or abandoned again. You are a valued member of our family.”

“Family is very important. Without it, we have nothing.” Moisture glistened in Ziyad’s eyes.

Bui dropped down to my shoulder. “Where me family?”

As if on cue, hundreds of enormous golden tarantula-like spiders scurried toward us. A Tabor the size of dinner platter stopped in front of me. “Bui.” It was a cry of joy.

“Grandma!” Bui dropped down on top of her. “Bad man took me. Yakeee saved me.”

The silky-furred Tabor looked up at me. “I am called Tae. Thank you for rescuing Boo’s baby and making sure her leg will be replaced.”

“It was my pleasure, and the Overlord made all the arrangements for the surgery.”

Bui skittered up the wall. “Where your mom?”

“Kira,” a familiar melodic voice cried.

I spun around. A petite curly-haired female ran out of an open terrace doorway.

“Mom!” I caught her in my arms and held on tightly. Roses. I remembered she always smelled like roses. I remembered her voice, her touch. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I knew you weren’t dead. In my soul, I knew you still lived. I never doubted it for a moment, and I never stopped looking for you.” My mother sobbed into my neck.

“Now you’ve found me, and we’ll never be parted again.” I kissed her cheek and noticed Ziyad watching me anxiously. I automatically switched to mind talk. “Mom, this is Ziyad, sister of my heart.”

My mother grabbed Ziyad’s hand. “You are now the daughter of my heart. Welcome to our family. Please call me Mom.”

Happy tears ran down Ziyad’s cheeks. “Mom, you reside in my soul.”

Bui jumped on Mom’s right shoulder. “Me Bui. Me family.”

“Yes, you are.” Mom patted her gingerly.

I linked with Wulf. “I think Mom is afraid of spiders.”

“Her heart rate is elevated.” He scooped up Bui and set her down by her grandmother. “There are Karakors bugs inside and some mealy bugs infused with ale for the adults.”

The Tabors eagerly scampered through the doorway.

“Thank you.” Mom went up on her tiptoes and kissed Wulf’s chin. “Spiders scare the crap out of me.” She turned to Lothel. “Who is this handsome warrior?”

Ziyad’s smile was giddy with joy. “Mom, this is my mate, Lothel.”

My mother gave Lothel a narrow-eyed glare. “You take good care of her, or you will answer to me. Understand?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Goddess, I had neglected to introduce Mom to Wulf, but then, she knew who he was, didn’t she? “You’ve met my mother, right?”

“I have.” He brushed a mental caress over my mind. “Your reunion is long overdue.”

Mom’s gaze settled on Wulf. “It took you long enough to find my daughter.”

“Hey, I found him first.”

“Truth?” Mom’s expression was one of surprised fascination.

Wulf nodded. “Truth. I was hunting Gulog the Mad, and to my horror, so was Yakira.”

“And Ziyad and I snatched the bounty away from you.”

“Because you shot me with a tranquilizer dart,” Wulf stated.

“It was an accident. I was aiming for Gulog, and you jumped in the way,” I retorted.

“You left me unconscious on the floor.”

“Voss knew where you were and was sending backup.”

Mom giggled. “You two are perfect for each other.”

“He loves me. A lot, and when I discovered Wulf liked to dance, I decided to keep him. Plus, he’s a great kisser,” I quipped.

“Wait until he tastes the edible underwear.”

Wulf perked up. “What flavor?”

“Chocolate, of course,” Mom replied.

“What’s chocolate?”

Detja smacked Wulf on the arm. “You haven’t been taking proper care of your mate.”

“We were in battlefield conditions.”

“No excuse.”

My mother pointed at the doorway. “Now, in an old Earth tradition, we’re throwing you both a bachelorette party, and chocolate is involved.”

Detja shooed Wulf and Lothel away. “Go. This is for females only.”

They teleported out.

Mom ushered us into a wildly decorated room. A pin-the-hose-on-the-fireman poster hung on one wall. I blinked in disbelief. On each table was a long rubber snake with glued-on tentacles. Huh?

“We have your childhood favorites too. Chips, salsa, and root beer.” Mom picked up an angular chunk of brown and handed it to me. “Chocolate.”

I popped it in my mouth. A rich, creamy sweetness hit my taste buds. “Oh Goddess! This stuff is awesome.”

“Let me try some.” Ziyad took a bite and promptly spit it out. “Ugh. It tastes like poop.”

Laughter rang out around the room.

“No, dried Bovidae tastes like poop.”

My gaze scanned the grinning redheaded females inside the room. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. We were family.

I awkwardly cleared my throat. “I’ve waited so long to meet you all. I was… I was worried my bionics might freak you out.” I suddenly found myself in the middle of a group hug and a chorus of, “We love you.”

An older female said, “You survived. That’s all that matters.”

Mother put an arm on her shoulder. “This is your aunt Tess. Except for the red hair, she’s a dead ringer for Lauren Bacall.”

“Who?”

“She was a famous Earth actress, and I don’t look anything like her.” Tess hugged me. “Welcome home.”

“You would make an excellent vid star,” Ziyad commented.

Tess kissed her cheek. “You are too kind. I’m just a critter wrangler.”

“What exactly does a critter wrangler do?” I grabbed a bottle of Datol off a table and took a swig.

“I can control birds, insects, and animals of all types. Kaylee also has the ability.”

Ziyad was super impressed. “Even bot worms?”

“Haven’t run across those yet. If I can handle swarms of Kotsors, I think I can get bot worms to obey me.”

Mom tugged on my hand. “This is your cousin Sarah.”

Cousin? I eyed Sarah’s black armored-plated skin. She looked like a small Askole, except she had red hair instead of tentacles. Bright pink boas were draped around her body.

Ziyad’s tentacles shot straight up. “You are Askole, yet not.”

“Coletti aren’t the only ones who can change a girl’s DNA.” Sarah raised a champagne glass. “My human genes are being overridden as we speak. Once upon a time I was a kick-ass marine lieutenant who made the mistake of having a one-night stand with an Askole. Now, my career is in the crapper, and I’m under house arrest. Oorah!”

“Your one-night stand was with Tihar, Sariel’s son.” Tess snorted in disgust.

Ziyad goggled at Sarah. “Sariel, the Askole high commander?”

“That’s the one.” Sarah downed her drink and grabbed another.

“Is Tihar a good mate?” The perpetually curious Ziyad wanted to know.

“Don’t know. The day after we had sex, he took off. Tihar said something about being needed on the western front. I haven’t seen him since.”

“That sucks.” The western battlefront was a dangerous place.

“Nah, it’s okay. It’s given me time to do some research. I’ve discovered Tihar can reverse the changes.”

“But will he?” an attractive six-foot-tall female with copper-colored skin asked.

I gaped up at her. She was a Jones?

She laughed at my expression. “I’m Bree. My father, Thor, was a Coletti who crashed landed on Earth and hooked up with my mother, a Jones. Detja and Zarek are my grandparents.”

“Oh wow, that’s… Ah… Just wow.”

“Tell me about it.” Bree handed me a boa. “Did you really shoot Wulf with a tranquilizer dart?”

“I did.”

“I’ve got that beat. Not only did I use a cattle prod on Jaylan, I dumped a ton of manure on his head.” Bree sighed. “He thought it was foreplay.”

A petite female with long black hair and silver eyes snorted. “That’s nothing. I used skunk perfume, a Taser, ugly makeup, and a Hunchback of Notre Dame disguise to drive off Voss.”

Bree chortled. “None of which worked.”

“No, he’s a persistent bastard.” My cousin held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Zoey, your second cousin.”

I shook it. “Voss, huh? Being mated to him would be… ah…challenging.”

“Very.”

“Try being mated to Talree. He puts the A in alpha male,” a tiny female said.

I smiled at her. “You’ve got to be Kaylee.”

“I am. I hear you’ve been butting heads with Quinn.”

“The prick didn’t know about my bionics and attacked me. Big mistake. I gave him two black eyes and a busted nose.”

Kaylee laughed so hard tears streamed down her cheeks. “God, I wish I could have been there.”

Detja held up a giant red pecker. “Anyone up for pin the hose on the fireman?”

Ziyad raised her hand. “I am.”

Three hours later, I was wearing a sexy black negligée, the edible chocolate underwear, and a bunch of pink boas. Ziyad and I were sloshed and doing a wacky version of a tabletop bump-bump dance.

Webbing full of drunken Tabors hung from the ceiling. Tae was belly-up on the floor.

Wulf and Lothel appeared and seemed a bit taken aback by all the inebriated females in various stages of undress. The room was suddenly full of irritated warlords.

“Hiya, honeybun. You’re so pretty.”

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Hmmm. Let me think. A whole lot. So very pretty. Can I keep ya?”

“Yes. You get to keep me.” Wulf picked me up and teleported.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Detja was a tyrant. She burst into our bedchamber, pulled me off Wulf’s warm, masculine chest, and shoved me into an icy shower. All before I could kiss him or touch his naughty bits. It wasn’t fair. I was going to die a virgin.

Did Wulf protest her treatment of me? Hell no. The big coward simply jumped out of bed and fled. And without giving me any blood. I had a killer headache, and I was sure I was going to hurl. Goddess. It had to be the margaritas. They were so tasty, and I had overindulged just a bit. Most of the night was a blur. I remember Wulf tucking me into bed, then nothing.

A cup was thrust into my hand. “Drink.”

I took one look at Detja’s steely gaze and drained it. She could give intimidation lessons to the Overlord.

“Feeling better?”

Well, color me surprised. I was. My headache was a dim memory, and my stomach had settled nicely. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“You drank all of us under the table last night, yet here you are. No signs of a hangover.” I gestured at her silver tunic and leggings. “And looking as regal as a queen.”

“Practice.”

“Huh? How many bonding ceremonies have you attended?”

“Five thousand.”

“You ever get tired of arranging them?”

“No. Each ceremony makes our clan stronger.” Detja pointed to a chair. “Sit.”

I sat.

Mom hurried into the room, wearing a dark blue tunic and leggings. “Sorry, I overslept.” She pulled a bunch of makeup out of a bag. “When I’m done with you, you’re going to look like a vid star.”

An hour later, I stared at myself in a full-length mirror. Mom had kept her word. I was actually beautiful. Detja had woven bronze chains into three braids on the left side of my head in celebration of my warrior status. Ziyad and I had been granted that privilege for taking out Pash Amarok’s ship, finding the Gorum’s children, exposing Malik’s fellow traitors, and finding his hidden bases. Last, but not least, draining his bank accounts.

My ceremonial tunic and leggings were an emerald green with a bronze design intertwined throughout the silky material. Finishing off my awesome outfit were knee-high boots with jeweled daggers.

“Do not pull the daggers,” Detja warned.

Colburn had a big mouth. I accidently stabbed him a couple of times, and he acted like I’m an ax murderer. I even healed the jerk. “Yes, my lady.”

Mom took my hand in hers. “You ready?”

“I am. I do love him.”

“I wish you could have known your father. Tom had a terrific sense of humor. His family was his life, and he loved you so very much. After you were taken, Tom made it his mission to kill as many Tai-Kok as he could. He would be proud of the woman you have become.”

I hugged her tightly. “I wish I could remember him. It’s like a piece of my heart is missing.”

Mom swiped at the tear streaming down her face. “I’m going to ruin my makeup. Here, before I forget.” She held up a gold wedding ring. “This was your father’s. Wulf has agreed to wear it.”

I took the ring. “He did?”

Poof! As if magically summoned, Wulf materialized and held out his hand. I slid the ring on his finger. “It’s like a part of my father will always be with us.”

“I honor your father and his love for you.” Wulf pulled me to him. “It is time.”

There was a fleeting instant of blackness, and we were standing at the back of the ceremonial chamber. It was packed with Coletti, humans, Alliance warriors, and Askoles. My brothers and Earth family, including Quinn, were seated in front. Bebo stood next to them, covered in Tabors. He didn’t seem to mind the babies playing with his tentacles.

The ceiling resembled a night sky blazing with stars. Thousands of candles dotted the walls, illuminating dozens of hanging tapestries. According to Bree, the warlords considered them romantic. To me or any sane female, the bloody battle scenes and the graphic pictures of women being fucked by warriors belonged in a brothel.

Bree had explained the Overlord thought the graphic sex scenes would show the nervous “brides” what masterful lovers the Coletti warlords were. But the captured alien women usually took one look at the tentacles on the Warlord’s enormous dicks and started screaming.

She’d laughed crazily, downed another shot of tequila, and waggled one of the rubber snakes at me. “Earth girls, not so much. We’re more likely to cut off the squiggly bits.” Bree had pulled a knife and proceeded to whack off the glued-on tentacles. Was Jaylan missing some of his man parts?

I had come to the conclusion the females in my Earth family were all nuts, but in a good way.

Wulf kissed the palm of my hand. “Today, we become as one.”

Lothel and Ziyad appeared next to us. Ziyad’s tunic and leggings were bright red. She gave me a toothy smile. “Let’s get hitched.”

“You heard my sister.”

Wulf escorted me to the platform. I admired the bloodred Tar flowers bordering the walkway.

Zarek suddenly stood on the raised dais at the front of the chamber. He wore an etched gold headband that denoted his rank of Overlord. Golden strands were woven into his gray warrior’s braids. His black dress tunic displayed the physique of a much younger male.

We stopped in front of the platform. On a small ornate table were two onyx ownership bands. Nerves knotted my stomach. Once those were placed around our necks, there was no going back.

“Females are a precious gift. They are our lifeline, our soul mates. Without them, we are nothing.” Zarek spoke with authority, his gaze focused on Detja.

She stepped up on the dais. “We share all that we are with our mates. This bond unites us for all time.”

“Today we are gathered here to join these warriors with their chosen mates.” Zarek picked up an ownership band and held it out to Wulf.

He took it and turned to me. “Your love is my anchor. Your trust my strength. You make my life complete. I will give you all my love until eternity ends.” Wulf fastened it around my neck. The warm metal band adjusted to fit my neck perfectly. “We are now one.”

“I accept this band as a symbol of our love. It has no beginning and no ending. I am yours for all eternity.”

The chamber erupted in cheers. Most warlords clamped the ownership bands on as soon as they caught their chosen mate. My wonderful mate had taken the time to court me.

Wulf scooped me up. “Now we can have sex.” He teleported.

Chapter Twenty-Three

We popped into a room that belonged in a brothel. A huge four-poster bed with red silk sheets dominated the chamber. The walls were covered by more of those naughty tapestries. I gawked at them. There was no way in the nine hells any female could be that flexible. I tilted my head. Was there? I’d be willing to give some of them a try. Pent-up sexual frustration was making me twitchy.

Wulf placed me on the bed. “I ache for you. Long for you. Need you. Every day without you in my life has been pure hell.”

“Shut up and kiss me.”

His lips met mine as we tasted and savored each other.

My teeth nipped the strong column of Wulf’s neck. “I’m wearing that edible underwear.”

He grinned, pure devilry in his eyes. “What flavor?”

“Chocolate. They say eating it off is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” I tugged at his dress tunic. “You’re wearing way too many clothes. Take them off.”

“Yes, my lady.” Wulf stripped down in record time.

I eyed his bulging muscles and flat abdomen. Mine. All mine. Where did I start? At the top of course. “Bree shared some of her favorites things to do with chocolate.” I popped a piece in my mouth. “Wanna share?”

Wulf pounced. His tongue swept into my mouth, lapping greedily at the chocolate, sending shivers of delight straight to my clit.

Along with the chocolate Bree had given me a cattle prod. She said it enhanced foreplay. Wulf didn’t need any help in that area.

Wulf gave my lips a final lick. “I can’t wait to sample your sweet pussy.” With practiced moves he stripped off my clothing.

I gave him a suspicious look. “How many females have you had sex with again?”

“There is only you. The others have been wiped from my memory.”

“Good answer.” I beckoned to him, smiling when he slid on top of me. I held him close, loving the weight of him crushing me into the mattress.

His mouth covered mine, urgent and greedy. Every nerve inside me did the tango. Goddess, could he kiss. Wulf drove every thought out of my head. There was only him. He was a fever in my blood. I burned for him.

“You smell like roses.”

“Mom sprayed me with her perfume. It’s an Earth tradition. Something old, something new, and something borrowed.”

“You want roses. I will bring you roses. Whatever you want, it is yours.”

“I want only you.”

“Sometimes I think all of this is a dream.” Wulf gently stroked my shoulder.

I bit his nipple. “Does that feel like a dream?”

“No, it does not.” He rubbed his callused thumbs over my erect nipples, and an unbearable ache built low in my belly.

“Goddess, that feels so, so good.”

“I want to learn your body. What gives you pleasure. I want to make you come over and over again until you are screaming my name and begging me for more.” He sucked my right breast. A starburst of delight shot through me.

“That’s a…really…really good start.”

The sinuous flicks of his tongue drove me wild, and a throaty mewl escaped from me.

“More?”

“Yes. Oh, yes.”

Wulf nibbled a sensuous path down to my thong-style panties. He took a bite. The expression on Wulf’s face went from turned on to appalled. “Not chocolate. Licorice! All Coletti are severely allergic to lickric.”

“What?” To my utter horror, his lips ballooned up, his eyes swelled shut, and hives covered his face and body. I quickly clamped my hands around his face and sent healing energy into him.

“Our special night was supposed to be sexy and romantic and perfect.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “And I almost kill you.”

“Oot nek feck.” Wulf switched to mind talk. “It’s not your fault. I have many enemies.”

My temper flared to life. “We are going to hunt them down and leave them on Gansu for the snakes to eat.”

Wulf hugged me to him. “Goddess, I do love you. You are perfect in every way.”

“I am?”

He wiped away my tears. “You have a warrior’s heart. I know you will stand at my side no matter what comes.”

“You bet I will. We’re a team.” A sigh of relief broke from me. His face was still a little puffy, but the hives were entirely gone. I gave him another burst of energy. “You itch anywhere?”

Wulf put a finger to his mouth. “Here.”

The puffiness had vanished, but the playful gleam in his eyes told me he was ready for some bed sport. Drawing on his vast experience, I traced the seam of his lips with my tongue, then delved into his mouth, learning its shape and texture. “Anywhere else?”

He touched his abdominal slit. “Here.”

“I’ve got just the thing for that.” I grabbed the tube of liquid chocolate off the bedside table and squirted some on his stomach.

He sucked in a deep breath. “Cold.”

“I’ll warm you up.” I slowly licked the chocolate off.

His hips bucked.

“Like that, do you?”

“Very much.” Wulf’s voice was a low, husky rasp of raw want. “Who… Who told you about this?”

“Bree, Kaylee, Zoey, and Detja.”

His eyes widened in shock. “Females share sexual techniques?”

“You betcha, and I’m going to rock your world.” I thrust my tongue into the slit and dragged it out. In and out.

The tight bud of tentacles rubbed against me. I drew it into my mouth and sucked it. They began to vibrate faster and faster. One tiny nibble, and bam! We had an orgasm.

“Goddess,” Wulf roared, his torso shaking in release.

This night wasn’t a total disaster after all.

“My turn,” Wulf announced. He grabbed the tube and squeezed, covering my chest in chocolate. He nipped, lapped, and feasted on my breasts.

The hot friction of his mouth had me vibrating with pure, undiluted need. Wulf was a fever in my blood. I burned for him. He was everywhere, touching my mind, my body. We magnified each other’s desire.

His body moved against mine, hot, aggressive, and perfect. I met Wulf kiss for kiss, touch for touch. I writhed as a firestorm of sheer ecstasy swept through me. His penis shot home. The shock of his powerful invasion made me cry out. I felt my inner walls stretching to accommodate him.

Wulf thrust into me, harder, deeper. I reveled in the sensation of his penis hammering deep inside my core. The frill of tentacles vibrated and pulsed, electrifying every nerve ending.

His fangs sank into my neck, drawing my lifeblood. Wowser! Pleasure blasted through me, and I felt the mating bond snap in as a brain-jelling climax hit.

Wulf’s triumphant roar filled the room. “Mine.” His big frame shook as he came.

I lay beneath his merciless strength and struggled to catch my breath. “Can you die from sex? I can’t feel my legs.”

Wulf rolled. “Better?”

I patted his chest and snuggled under his chin. “Much.” I floated in a sea of oh-so-good for a moment. “When will I be able to teleport? There’s this bounty I’ve been dying to go after.”

“Goddess help me. The universe isn’t ready for you.”

“But I’m ready for the universe.”

Loose Id Titles by Gail Koger

Catching Dragos

* * * *

The COLETTI WARLORDS Series

Vexing Voss

Reality Bites

Just Desserts

Wulf and the Bounty Hunter

Gail Koger

I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher for thirty-one years, and to keep insanity at bay, I took up writing. Not to worry. The insanity isn’t catching—much. Other than the addiction to chocolate and the twitch in my left eye, I’m good.

Next up in the Coletti Warlord series is Game On, Askole.

Find out more about the author:

Main Web site: http://www.gailkoger.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Colettiwarlordbooks

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1598719.Gail_Koger

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Askole