by Gail Koger
“Ya think?” Quinn wrapped an arm around my waist. There was a fleeting second of blackness, and we were standing on the bridge of his ship. I could grow to like teleporting, a lot. He released me and studied the tracking scanners. “Strap in. It’s gonna be a wild ride.”
I hurriedly took the copilot’s chair and fastened the harness around Clio and me. If we were going to survive, Quinn would need my help to fight our way out of Jandjviles’s airspace. “My father trained me on numerous weapons systems, including Coletti armaments.”
“Do you cook?”
Had he been hit on the head recently? “Cook?”
“If you can cook, you would make the perfect mate.” A smile pulled at Quinn’s mouth as he tapped an icon. It was as if was enjoying an immensely private joke.
Was he messing with me? “No. We had a food processer.”
“Too bad. Weapons systems for your console are coming online.”
Chapter Six
I took one look at the tracking scanner and groaned. Escaping from Jandjviles’s airspace would be difficult if not impossible. We were outnumbered two to one, and I had just blown the hell out of the slaver’s base. The Tai-Kok and their allies would do everything in their power to destroy us. I studied the command console. “This is the long-range Talon fighter?”
“The best combat vessel in the Coletti fleet,” Quinn responded proudly.
“And it has a cloaking device, right?”
“It does, and it’s activated.”
“Goddess, I love pouncing on unsuspecting enemy ships. It’s such fun,” I said, gleefully rubbing my hands together. We might survive after all.
A smile fit for a bloodthirsty fiend formed on Quinn’s mouth. “Something else we have in common.”
Papa would like him. A lot. But I doubted a Coletti warlord would agree to become a relic hunter. I was my mother’s daughter, and looking for lost civilizations was in my blood. Quinn was probably one of those males who thought females belonged in the home. Which would also explain the cooking comment. Time to set him straight. “I like blowing stuff up.”
“I noticed,” Quinn said dryly and banked the Talon sharply. “Time to play a little dodge ball.”
Dodge ball?
The Talon skimmed under the belly of a Tai-Kok destroyer, darted around a slave ship, and barely missed a pirate vessel that popped out of warp drive.
Oh. The Earth game, and somehow very appropriate. We dodged this way and that.
“Me no like,” Clio cried; her tentacles clutched my neck.
“Ease off, Clio. Auntie Xenia needs to breathe.”
She loosened her grip. “Feel funny.” Wavelike contractions contorted Clio’s body.
“No. No. No. Don’t you dare puke up the nasty Tai-Kok.”
Quinn’s eyes widened in alarm. “Puke?”
Clio made a bubbly, wet burp and spewed bloody chunks of Tai-Kok all over Quinn. Other than a tiny piece of brain matter on my knee, she had missed me completely.
His expression of absolute and total horror was priceless. “Is she done?”
Wrinkling my nose at the rancid smell, I rubbed Clio’s slightly rubbery skin. “Feeling better, sweet girl?”
“Better.” A tentacle stretched out and plucked an eyeball off Quinn’s head.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing.
Quinn wiped the gore off his face and avoided another ship. “How is your mother with kids?”
“Good. Why?”
“I’m designating her as ship’s babysitter.”
“Not a bad idea.”
Clio’s tentacles continue to pick pieces of Tai-Kok off Quinn.
I noticed his right eye twitched every time Clio snatched a slimy chunk. “If she barfs it up again, I’m locking her in the cargo bay.”
Had he forgotten Katanic shapeshifters had their own form of teleporting? To distract Quinn, I blurted out, “I’m utterly amazed at the amount of ships in Jandjviles’s air space. Is it market day?”
Popping a Tai-Kok finger in her mouth, Clio crunched loudly.
Quinn’s face paled. “It was market day, and I imagine they’re all a bit pissed off you destroyed the base.” The Talon accelerated rapidly and went into a nauseating series of twists, banks, and dives.
I cast a wary eye at Clio, who grabbed a partially digested hand off the floor and stuffed in her maw.
In a bright voice, I asked, “How did you become such an excellent pilot?”
“Mind meld with Zarek. Something you want to avoid at all costs.” Quinn’s hands flew over the command console. “Lucky for us, all those ships aren’t carrying human cargo. As soon as we’re a thousand kilometers from the planet, blow those bastards to hell.”
“My pleasure.” I switched the targeting scanner to manual and waited. Five hundred. Eight hundred. One thousand. I opened fire.
A barrage of missiles shot from the Talon.
A short time later, the blackness of space was filled with brilliant billows of orange and yellow flames from the disintegrating spacecrafts. “Color me surprised. Their shields were down.”
The warlord flicked a piece of Tai-Kok off his console. “I fed them a computer virus Detja cooked up. It back-doors through their communication systems. Once it works its way into their command controls, it disables their shields, and every ship they communicated with gets infected too.”
“Detja is awesome. Most males don’t realize how clever or powerful she really is.”
Quinn’s lips twisted in self-mockery. “I learned that little fact the hard way.”
A warning beep caught my attention. Eight Tai-Kok Marauders had launched from the surface. “Where were those buggers hiding?”
“They probably have an underground hanger.”
I focused my psychic powers on the ships, lined up the crosshairs, and started shooting. The laser cannon spat crackling beams of death. I watched as ship after ship ignited into a cascade of flames and shattered metal.
“Lysis taught you well.”
Quinn’s compliment pleased me way too much. “He had little choice. We travel through uncharted space and have been attacked by pirates a couple of times. We never know who or what we’re going to run into.”
A lone Marauder shot out of the debris field, its lasers blazing.
The energy bolts peppered the Talon’s shields, rocking the ship.
“If he wants to play, I’m game.” I aimed and fired. The Marauder disintegrated in a blinding flash of orange. Chunks of flaming metal slammed into a badly damaged Tai-Kok destroyer, setting off more explosions.
A familiar shriek ricocheted around the hull. Mami was awake and not happy. “I need to see my mother before she works herself into a panic.”
Quinn vanished.
Please don’t let him stun her. I released the harness, but before I could stand up, the warlord popped in behind me and snagged my laser pistol.
“Give it back.” I held out my hand.
Quinn snorted. “Do I look like a dumbass?”
I eyed the slimy digestive juices dripping off his battle suit. “No, but you are in serious need of a shower.”
Mami’s screams grew louder and louder.
I exhaled a long breath. “I will calm her down while you shower and change.”
Quinn nodded and tapped the command console. “The console is locked. Touch it, and I will paddle your behind.”
I burst out laughing. “You are too funny. Touch me, and the only ass getting paddled is yours.”
Quinn’s eyes narrowed. “You really think you can take down a highly trained Coletti warrior?”
“I do. My father was in the emperor’s elite guard, and he taught me all his moves.” I put Clio on my shoulder. “Let’s go say hello to your grandmother.”
“Me no have Geema.”
“You do now.”
Another eyeball rolled off Quinn’s head.
Clio snagged it midair and stuffed it in her mouth.
A muscle in Quinn’s jaw twitched,
and he muttered something under his breath.
I paused at the door. “Coming?”
Mami’s shrieks were becoming ear-piercing.
Quinn stomped over and swiped his palm over the sensor pad. “You like chocolate?”
“Yes, very much. You have some?” Please say yes. We had run out about two months ago, and I was having serious withdrawals from the sugary goodness.
“You get your mother to shut up, and I’ll give you a bag of the finest chocolate in Arizona.”
I asked hopefully, “Cerreta’s French Mint?”
“Cerreta’s French Mint.”
“Lead the way, your sliminess.”
“You’re a riot.” Quinn made a sweeping gesture. “Ladies first.”
“Afraid I’m going to jump you?”
“I’m a cautious man.”
“What made you decide to become a Coletti? I mean your silver eyes are a dead giveaway you’re a hybrid.”
“A story for another time.” Quinn stopped in front of a holding cell.
Mami was pacing back and forth, yelling hysterically, “I want to talk to my daughter. I want to talk to my daughter. I want to talk to my daughter.”
The energy barrier vanished, and I stepped inside. “I’m here, Mami.”
My mother rushed toward me, then stopped abruptly. “What’s that?”
“This is Clio. She is a Katanic shapeshifter.”
“She Geema?”
“Yes, but Geema is unable to mind speak,” I said.
“She damaged?”
“In a way.”
“Why she cry?”
“She misses my father.
Mami inched forward. “I’ve never seen a Katanic before. Where is her mother?”
“The Tai-Kok ate her.”
“Oh, the poor little thing.” Mami held out her arms. “I’ll take care of you.”
Clio jumped into my mother’s arms and transformed into a carbon copy of me when I was a toddler.
“Aren’t you a clever baby,” Mami crooned, stroking her silver tresses.
A loud crackling sizzle sounded as the energy barrier reformed, trapping me in the cell. I spun around and gave Quinn the one-finger salute.
“Tsk-tsk. Naughty girls don’t get chocolate.”
I pulled out my last thermite grenade. “Think you can take it from me in hand-to-hand combat?”
Quinn crossed his arms and grinned. “Without breaking a sweat.”
“If I can keep you from taking it from me, we go back to Qeeturah and look for my father.”
“Deal.”
Sucker. “You have a place where we can settle who’s the baddest of the bad?”
“The cargo bay is empty.”
A chunk of brain matter slid down the front of his battle suit. “Please shower and change first.”
“As my lady commands.” Quinn strolled off chuckling. “Baddest of the bad.”
“You won’t be laughing for long,” I mumbled.
Her eyes wide with fear, my mother asked, “Has something happened to Lysis?”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t know.”
“But you’re psychically linked.” A single tear rolled down her cheek.
“Dolon stunned and then gassed me. My abilities aren’t at full strength.”
“Please, find him. I can’t live without him.”
Clio linked her chubby arms around Mami. “No cry, Geema.”
My mother kissed her cheek. “You are such a good baby.”
“Me is.”
Mami focused her watery gaze on me. “Are you going to look for your father or not?”
Sometimes keeping my mother safe and happy was a thankless job. Summoning every ounce of power I had, I reached out with my mind. “Papa? Papa?” I sensed a presence just out of range, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite touch it.
“Need some help?” The brush of Quinn’s mind against mine sent shivers coursing through my body. I could feel the hot water pounding his naked flesh.
“I don’t want to interfere with your much-needed shower.”
“I’m good at multitasking.” Quinn’s big hands slowly stroked his body.
It was almost like he was caressing me. I heard my shallow, ragged breaths. His touch was making me burn, want, need. I shook my head to clear it. The bastard was using his psychic abilities to beguile me. “Stop it!”
“Stop what?” There was a sensual note in Quinn’s voice. “This?” He psychically used his teeth and tongue to nip and lave my neck, sending little darts of fire cascading through me.
“You’re trying to seduce me.” My voice was a hoarse whisper.
“Am I?” Quinn’s ghostly hands slid over my body, enflaming every nerve ending.
An insane pressure began to build between my legs until I ached for his possession.
“Like that, don’t ya, darlin’?”
Way too much. “No. Not a bit.”
“I guess I’ll have to try harder.” Quinn’s lips settled over mine, coaxing a response. I opened to him, and his tongue stroked mine in a warm, slick slide. The taste of him was addicting.
Wait! What the drekk was I doing? None of this was real. It was some sort of mind game. My father was out there somewhere, injured and alone. I grabbed Quinn’s left nipple with my mind and twisted it. “Knock it off.”
Quinn grunted. “Yeow! You’ve got a mean streak, woman.”
“You won’t feel so lovey-dovey after I kick your ass.”
“Determined little thing, aren’t you?”
“I’m my father’s daughter.”
Quinn asked curtly, “Do you want my help or not?”
If I accepted his offer, I’d have to link with him. Which could lead to serious complications. My psychic shields were nearly as strong as Papa’s, but Coletti warlords were a sneaky bunch. Once Quinn was in my mind, all bets were off.
My mother began to weep loudly.
My left eye twitched. “What’s it going to cost me?”
“If you can stop her blubbering, nothing. Drop your shields,” Quinn commanded.
I was going to regret this. I lowered my shields. He slid into my mind and made himself at home. Wow! Quinn’s psychic powers were off the charts. “What are you looking for?”
“I’m trying to connect with my father.” I projected Papa’s brainwave patterns to Quinn.
“Got ‘em.” I felt him scanning for any sign of Papa. “Was your father injured?”
“It’s possible when Nilus blew up our ship.”
“Zarek said your father had unbreakable shields. If he’s injured, he might have locked them down to keep from being tracked.”
“True.”
“Once I’ve dropped you and your mother off on Tanith, I’ll come back and search for him,” Quinn promised.
“That might be too late.”
“Best deal you’re gonna get, darlin’.”
I made a sound of disgust. “I still have that thermite grenade.”
“Which I will take from you.”
“Which you will try to take from me.”
Quinn planted a hard, mental kiss on my mouth. “Let the games begin.”
I broke the link. Goddess, I liked the touch of his lips on mine way too much. Wait a minute. He thought this was a game?
Mami grabbed my hand. “Did you find your father?”
“I think so.”
“The Coletti will take us back to Qeeturah?”
“I challenged him to combat. If I win, he’ll return us to Qeeturah.”
“If you lose?”
“Quinn takes us to Tanith.”
A cunning gleam lit my mother’s eyes. “Does he know about your other power?”
“Let’s just say Quinn’s in for a bit of a surprise.”
Chapter Seven
Armed to the teeth and wearing a spiffy new battle suit, Quinn escorted us to the cargo bay. “Once I win, I expect obedience. No arguments. No whining. You will do as I say. Immediat
ely. Got it?”
I shot Mami a disbelieving look.
She shrugged and sat on a metal bench.
Clio climbed on my mother’s lap. “No like him.”
“Me either.” Why had I thought kissing him was a good idea?
A touch of impatience in his voice, Quinn growled, “Do we have an agreement?”
“Does that macho crap work on your sister?”
Quinn blew out an aggravated breath. “Leave my family out of it.”
“I didn’t think so.” I pointed to his weapons. “I thought this was hand-to-hand combat?”
“It is.” He walked over to locker, placed his awesome trove of weapons inside, and locked it. “You don’t have to do this. You have my word I will search for Lysis.”
Gnawing on her lower lip, Mami stroked her communications bracelet. Quinn hadn’t taken it from her. Nor had he searched her. Big mistake. Her necklace was a blowgun. The long, black metal tubes held tranquilizer darts guaranteed to knock out a rampaging warlord. Papa had it made for Mami and taught her how to use it. If nothing frightened my mother, she was quite good at hitting her target.
I shook my head. “The journey to Tanith will take two weeks. We need to look for my father now.”
His voice a purr of menace, Quinn asked, “Are you ready to get your ass handed to you?”
I grinned at him. His scare tactics wouldn’t work on me. “Are you?” I released my berserker power and took a combat stance.
Quinn frowned at the sudden surge of psychic energy, and a second later he vanished.
In my mind’s eye, I could see where Quinn was going to reappear, and the instant he popped back in, I unleashed a series of snap-kicks into his gut.
He staggered.
I leaped into the air and planted my boot in Quinn’s face.
Quinn’s head snapped back, and he crashed to the floor.
“How does it feel to get your ass handed to you by a female?”
“You haven’t won yet.” Wiping the blood off his mouth, Quinn got to his feet. “You inherited your father’s berserker genes.”
“I did.” I bounced on the balls of my feet.
Quinn circled me. “How much stronger does it make you?”
“Strong enough to take down a Coletti warlord.”
“Does Zarek know?”
“He never asked.”
“And Lysis never told him.” Quinn rubbed a hand over his face and studied me for a long moment. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
