by Gail Koger
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 Asko
les.
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.
