Wulf and the Bounty Hunter

by Gail Koger

  “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 ce
ll 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.”