by Gail Koger
God, what a maroon. “I guess daddy dearest didn’t tell them that.”
Like a cranky two-year-old, Lilkee collapsed to the sand and drummed her heels. “Malik’s not my father. He can’t be.”
“He is, and throwing a temper tantrum isn’t going to change that sad fact,” I retorted.
“All of you are lying.”
“We are not,” Zarek spat, pulling entrails off his shoulders.
“That means…I had sex with my father,” Lilkee cried, her expression one of total revulsion.
I watched in disgust as a chunk of her nose fell off. “You didn’t seem to mind so much when you thought he was your brother.”
“Half brother,” Lilkee cried.
“Like that makes a different? It’s still incest.”
Voss shot the Overlord a startled look. “She slept with Malik?”
“It seems there is no end to his depravities,” Zarek growled.
“He actually makes my dad seem like an upright fellow,” I commented.
The Overlord snorted incredulously.
“Or not. I bet Malik didn’t get enough hugs as a child.”
In unison both men growled, “Hugs?”
“Oh. Right. My bad. Warlords don’t do hugs.”
Lilkee’s ear rolled off her shoulder and hit the sand.
That can’t be good. I pointed to her ear. “Is that supposed to happen?”
“My ear!” Lilkee’s eyes rolled back in head, and she slumped over in a dead faint.
Zarek surveyed the pampered princess and sighed. “We need to neutralize the digestive acids.”
Voss squatted down next to her and tapped a button on his bracelet. “Her battle suit isn’t functional.”
A startled yip broke from me as something fell on my shoulder. Scorm! I swatted frantically at it.
Little tentacles wrapped tightly around my hand, and Bedan cried, “It’s me. It’s me. They need help.”
Frowning, I stroked his head. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you. Who needs help, honey?”
“Desh has them trapped.”
“Raj and Kunwar?”
“My father too.”
“Bebo’s here? Where are they?”
“I take you.” The air around me began to glow a brilliant yellow.
“No! Wait!”
A swirling vortex formed abruptly and sucked us inside.
Chapter Twenty
The vortex from hell spat us out, and suddenly I was falling. “Oh shittttt!”
Plummeting toward the unforgiving sand, the wind whistling in my ears and Voss’s roar of fury echoing in my head, I screamed at Bedan, “Do something.”
“Me try.” A starburst of incandescent yellow flared around us. His second attempt to teleport us failed as badly as the first. The tornado of death spun us around and threw us out.
“Oh my God!” Down I went, arms and legs flailing wildly and screaming blue bloody murder.
Yipping in fear, Bedan clung to my hair.
The ground rose up and smacked me. “Ooof.”
Bedan scrambled away from me. “Me sorry. Me sorry. Me missed.”
Missed what? Spitting out a mouthful of sand, I raised my head and froze. Oh dear God. He had missed all right. I was surrounded by a bunch of strange Gorum. Fear clenched my stomach. Bet I was on the dinner menu. “Help!”
Voss snapped, “You allowed a child to teleport you?”
“Allowed? I was hijacked, and get me out of here!”
“Me try again,” Bedan cried, and burrowed under my braid.
“No!” Voss and I yelled in unison.
“Me go for help.” A burning sensation flared on my neck, and an instant later Bedan was gone.
I grabbed for my pistol. Fuck. The holster was empty.
A gaudily tattooed Gorum slithered over to me. “Remove your clothing.”
“Never on a first date.” I shot to my feet, flinching as a tentacle wrapped around my waist and dragged me forward.
“Desh,” Voss growled on our private link.
I eyed the slimy green tattoos that crawled across his hide with a creepy life of their own. “Are those things alive?”
“Do not touch them,” Voss warned.
“Not gonna be a problem, boss.”
“He says you carry the king’s mark,” Desh commented as tentacles plucked the knives from my boots. Another one tugged at the neck of my battle suit.
Yanking wildly at the goopy tentacle wrapped around me, I struggled to get free. “Who says?”
“Raj.” The tentacle oozed under the neck of my battle suit.
“Really?” I looked around, trying not to freak out as Desh’s slimy tentacle caressed the tattoo. “Where is he?” I wanted a word with the blabbermouth.
“He fled like the coward he is.”
Relief flowed through me. Raj and the guys were safe. “If you’re smart, you’ll let me go before the Battle Commander arrives. He’s got a really nasty temper.”
“The Battle Commander and the Overlord have been neutralized.”
“Who told you that? Malik?”
“Yes. He now rules the Coletti clans,” Desh stated smugly.
“Like hell he does.” I gestured at the smoke billowing high into the sky. “That was Malik’s base, and he’s the only one that has been neutralized. Betcha he didn’t tell you that your pal Balram was killed either.”
“You lie.”
I winced as the tentacle tightened painfully around my ribs. “Try to contact him.”
There was a long silence, and Desh’s bellow of pain and fury echoed across the desert.
Not good. “Honey bunny, I’m still waiting to be rescued here.”
“There have been some developments,” Voss growled.
“What kind of developments?”
Malik snarled behind me. “She is mine to kill.”
The breath froze in my lungs. Oh hell. That kind of development.
His anger rolling across my mind, Voss commanded, “Do not provoke him.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
A low rumble of warning sounded in my head. “Zoey.”
“Yes’um, boss man. No playing with the nasty warlord.”
“Disobey me, and no chocolate for a month.”
“That’s just mean.”
“Two months.”
“My lips are zipped.”
“Give me the female,” Malik demanded.
Desh’s wormy tentacles waved madly. “She is my captive to do with as I wish.”
“I am the Supreme Commander, and you will obey me,” Malik bellowed.
“You do not rule us,” Desh snapped.
I looked over my shoulder. Whoa! The Supreme Commander was a bloody mess. I wiggled my fingers at him and smiled brightly. In perfect High Coletti, I chirped, “Hi there. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Zoey, your worst nightmare.”
A vein popped in Malik’s forehead. “You dare mock me?”
“Moi? Heavens no, but I am gonna kill you.”
“Shut up, Zoey,” Voss snarled.
“You? Kill me?” Maniacal laughter burst from Malik.
I edged a little closer to Desh as Malik kept on laughing and laughing and laughing. The dude was seriously losing it.
His laughter stopped abruptly, and madness burned in his eyes. “The only one dying is you. Slowly. Painfully. Your screams will fill the night, and I will bathe in your blood.”
“Okeydokey, then.” I turned to Desh. “Are you sure you want to ally yourself with this guy? I mean, this is the third base he’s lost in a week. Not to mention three battle cruisers and a shitload of fighters. Plus, if you haven’t noticed, the Supreme Commander is fucking nuts.”
Desh’s eyestalks surveyed Malik carefully. “The female has a valid point. You have suffered many defeats.”
“They are merely setbacks.”
I snorted. “Says the guy who just had his ass handed to him.”
Pulling his sword
, Malik spat, “I will cut out your lying tongue.”
“Aw c’mon. All they have to do is scan the planet. Your bases have been blown to smithereens, and there are Coletti, Askole, and Alliance battle cruisers parked overhead. Oh, and if you think Lilkee is gonna save your ass, think again.”
“She speaks the truth. It is time we reassessed our alliance.”
“It is my destiny to rule this galaxy. Any who stand in my way will be destroyed,” Malik howled in fury.
“Dude, you’re kinda outnumbered.”
Another maniacal laugh broke from Malik. “The Gorum cannot defeat me. I am indestructible.”
“Yet you bleed,” Desh stated as dozens of tentacles crawled toward the raving lunatic.
A shitload of heavily armed Coletti warriors appeared around us.
“Do you think me a fool? I’ve planned for every contingency. Nothing escapes my notice, and you no longer serve my purpose.”
My radar went to Defcon 1, and I quickly scanned the area. Holy smoke. We were smack-dab in the middle of a sand shark breeding ground. “I hate to rain on your parade, but you made a teensy little mistake in your contingency plan.”
A spine sliced through the sand behind Malik. “What are you babbling about?”
“You forgot about them.” I pointed.
Malik turned just as horrific jaws erupted from the sand. Chomp! The sand shark swallowed him whole.
That was one way to escape the Kalafat. I yanked at the tentacle wrapped around my waist. If I didn’t get him to let go, I was a goner.
Desh squalled in agony as another shark ripped into him.
“Being eaten alive hurts like a mother, doesn’t it? Did you think of that when you were feeding Bebo’s children to the Tai-Kok?”
“They had to die.”
“So do you.”
His tentacle jerked me around and thrust me forward like some sacrificial offering. “You first.”
The hungry shark opened its gaping maw, giving me an up-close-and-personal view of its awesome fangs. Ewww. Rotting skulls were jammed on its back teeth.
“Destroy its mind,” Voss roared in my head.
“Yes, sir,” I cried, yanking my legs back as yet another shark burst from the sand. Holy Mary, mother of God, they were everywhere.
More sand sharks erupted around us in a feeding frenzy. The Gorum’s and Coletti warriors’ horrific screams seemed to echo in my head. Their cries stopped as they were dragged under the sand.
Voss bellowed, “Now!”
Drawing on every ounce of power I had, I blasted the sharks surrounding us, and to my utter relief, they crashed to the ground deader than doornails.
“Impressive for a human female,” Desh wheezed painfully. His tentacle slipped off me.
“Gosh, you’re gonna make me blush.” I hastily moved away from him, noticing that his body was a mutilated mess. He wasn’t long for this world. What a shame.
A dead shark began to shimmy and shake.
“What the heck?”
A knife protruded from the belly, slicing through the skin. An instant later, out poured bloody intestines and a goop-covered Malik.
I was kind of surprised he hadn’t just teleported to safety. Were his powers on the fritz?
Malik climbed to his feet, wiped the crap out of his eyes, and shouted, “I cannot die!”
The dude was seriously hard to kill, but I’d sure give it a go. I quickly surveyed the area, looking for anything I could use as a weapon.
Metal glittered in the sunlight.
Hot dang. A sword. I crept away from the madman.
His fangs bared in a feral snarl, Malik spun around and asked pleasantly, “Leaving so soon?”
“Yep, places to go, things to do.” Keeping a wary eye on him, I picked up my pace.
Malik caressed the blade of his wickedly sharp knife. “My friend wants a taste of your flesh.” He crooned to his knife. “Soon, my friend. Soon.” He cocked his head and smiled. “Such impatience to kill.”
Oh dear God. “You know when you consider your knife your best buddy and you talk to it like it’s a real person, you’re a few bricks short of a full load?”
He cocked a puzzled brow. “You think I’m insane?”
“Is the pope Catholic?”
“I do not know this pope,” Malik stated dismissively.
“What a surprise. You really need to confess your sins. Of course that would probably take the next hundred years, and what’s up with fucking your own daughter? I mean, that is truly sick and twisted.”
A nasty little smile pulled at Malik’s mouth. “I am sick and twisted.”
“And evidently proud of it.”
“Anything to annoy my father.” He stalked toward me, stroking the friggin’ knife like it was his lover.
I sent out a mental distress call. “Get this freak away from me!” The blade flashed in the sun. “Like now!” I jumped back as he slashed at my throat with a lightning-fast cut.
Malik chortled insanely. “Voss cannot save you.”
“Then I guess I just have to save myself.” I threw a handful of sand in his face and bolted. I ran for what seemed an eternity. The sizzling sun beat down on me, and my fear-fueled sprint became a stumbling jog.
Malik teleported in front of me, and wham! His fist connected with my face.
I flew backward and slammed into the mangled corpse of a Coletti warrior. I rubbed my aching jaw. Nope, Malik’s powers definitely weren’t on the fritz.
Dozens of Scorm wiggled out of the dead guy. Shit! I scrambled away and frantically brushed the nasty critters off my battle suit.
Picking up my sword, Malik swung it around his head.
God, another show-off, and where in the hell was Voss?
“I’m here,” Voss growled behind me.
“Snookums!” I spun around and hugged him in relief.
He gently wiped the blood off my busted lip. “You are my life.”
“And you’re mine,” I answered, eyeing his bloody battle suit. He had been a busy boy.
“How very touching,” Malik sneered.
Voss pushed me behind him and drew his sword. “This ends now.”
“Prepare to die.” Malik charged Voss.
Their blades met in a clamor of steel. The two men circled each other, exchanging blows, popping in and out in what seemed to be a choreographed ballet of death.
My heart in my throat, I watched them duel. Malik was very, very good, but my Battle Commander easily parried his cunning cuts and slashes.
I eyed the bloody cuts covering Malik’s body. Damn, what a shame the nasty warlord’s battle suit was damaged.
The sword dancing in Voss’s hand, he mercilessly took Malik apart piece by piece.
Without warning, there was a loud, cracking pop, and thick yellow smoke engulfed the combatants.
“Oh God! Voss!”
Voss staggered out of the gaseous cloud, struggling to breathe. “Stay…back. Poisonous…gas.”
Malik strolled out of the rapidly dissipating cloud, swinging his sword idly.
“What did you do?”
“Killed him,” Malik answered with a laugh.
Horror rocked me when Voss collapsed to his knees and the sword fell from his hand. Think. Think. Malik must have taken the antidote, and it should still be in his blood. Right? How did I get him to share it with Voss? Slit his throat? Beg? Kick his sorry ass? Yeah, that would work. “Are you such a fucking coward that the only way you can defeat an opponent is by cheating?”
“Cheating is more fun,” Malik answered, kicking Voss viciously in the face and knocking him to the ground. He took Voss’s laser pistol. “The great Battle Commander dying, unable to fight, and forced to watch as I take what was his.”
“I am not helpless, and I am not yet dead,” Voss rasped, struggling to his feet. A fierce rage blazing in his eyes, he picked up his sword. “Your actions have dishonored our clan.”
Malik sneered. “Honor is highly overrated.” He shot Voss
in the chest with a stun beam.
Voss’s body jerked spasmodically, and he crashed to the sand, the breath rattling in his chest.
“Now lie there like a good little warlord while I show your mate what she has been missing.”
Raw fear twisted my stomach. “You fucking bastard.”
“Sticks and stones.” Grinning like a hyena, Malik sauntered toward me. “To honor your great romance, I’ll grant you a boon. When Voss is gasping his last breath, I’ll slit your throat, and you can watch each other die. Who said romance was dead?”
An image of my mother’s mangled body formed in my mind, and I fought down my fear. It ended now. He would never again kill someone I loved. “I’ll do anything you want, just give him the antidote.”
Malik parroted me. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Yeah, I didn’t think that would work. I linked with Zarek. “We need help now! Malik poisoned Voss.”
“Tattletales die a slow, painful death,” Malik growled and tapped an icon on his warrior’s bracelet. An energy field erupted around us. “There will be no rescue, no escaping your fate. Today I take both your body and your life.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“Never?” Malik walked back over to Voss and pressed the tip of his sword against my honey bunny’s throat. “Not even to save his life? You did say you’d do anything.”
“I lied. You have no honor. Your word is worthless. Just as worthless as you are. You are nothing but a pathetic little man with an itty-bitty dick.”
His eyes cold with menace, Malik snarled, “You’ll soon know the size of my dick.”
That’s right, asshole. Focus on me. Move away from Voss. “Nah, you probably can’t get it out.”
With a roar of fury, he fumbled with what was left of his battle suit, and out came his wormy little snake. “Most females tremble at the size of my member.”
“They’re trembling with laughter, not awe,” I corrected.
A fierce savagery filled Malik’s eyes as he raised his sword and stalked toward me.
“Zoey speaks the truth. You are a pathetic coward with a very small dick,” Zarek said.
Malik spun around.
Battered and bloody, Zarek, Wulf, Lothel, Hothar, and the Gorum formed a circle around the barrier.
