by Gail Koger
Cokie grabbed Rio’s mandibles and dragged him closer. “Where sperm?”
“You’re both too young to breed, honey. When you grow up, you’ll find a nice mate to make babies with,” I explained, ignoring Jaylan’s snort of amusement.
“Does the kid know the female will eat him after the sex act?” Rami demanded.
“Eat me?” With a squeak of fear, Rio burrowed under my hair. “Me never mate.”
My, the birds and the bees spiel was an absolute disaster. “Was that necessary?”
“He needed to know the truth,” Rami retorted haughtily.
“Your Queen Mother is misinformed about the Barat’s mating rituals,” Jaylan advised coldly.
“That’s not possible. The Queen Mother is all-knowing.” Rami’s body convulsed, and she hawked up the rest of the assassin’s nose on Jaylan’s boots.
One look at Jaylan’s bared fangs, and I added quickly, “No, she’s not. The male Barat hypnotizes the female with a pattern of touches, which allows him to mate without being eaten.”
“But I saw the vid of their mating rituals.”
Jaylan scowled at Rami. “What you saw was the Ovas’ of Joroco mating habits, not the Barats’.”
I could feel Rami’s confusion. That bitch, the Queen Mother, had probably brainwashed the entire planet. “Your loyalty is admirable, but her royal highness sent you here to die.”
“She had no choice.”
“What a load of crap. You scared the hell out of her with your little stunt.”
Rami exclaimed, “She’s frightened of me? Why?”
A dangerous smile formed on Jaylan’s mouth. “You did something none of your kind has ever accomplished when you opened the mini wormhole. The Queen Mother knows your power will soon outstrip hers. She can’t allow you to live.”
“I would never dishonor my nest by challenging the Queen Mother.”
Jaylan cleaned the mess off his boots. “As long as you live, you’re a threat to her. Swear your allegiance to the Overlord, and he will protect you.”
My temper flared. Oh hell no. “I will not allow Rami to become a pawn in one of the Overlord’s games.”
Power roiled through the cavern. “You continue to surprise me, granddaughter. Your knack for finding undiscovered psychic species is amazing.”
Speak of the devil. “Just call me Doctor Doolittle.”
“Introduce me to your new family,” Zarek commanded.
“Kids, this is Zarek, Overlord of the Coletti clans. You can call him Gramps.”
Jaylan groaned.
My kids responded politely, “Hello, Gramps.”
“Sir, this is Rio, Cokie, and Rami.”
“Welcome to our clan, children. Tae and Datlow eagerly await your arrival.”
I smacked Jaylan in the chest and mouthed snitch.
“He already knew,” Jaylan shot back.
Cokie clutched my neck. “Who Tae?”
Gramps projected the image of large golden tarantulas into our minds. “Tae and Datlow are Tabors. They believe you are descendants of warriors the trappers took from your home world of Jabal.”
“Isn’t that wonderful, kids? You have family waiting for you.”
Rio clung to me and asked in bewilderment, “Me thought Momma Bree and Daddy Jaylan our family.”
I hugged him gently. “We are, but now you have lots of cousins who can teach you about your culture.”
Cokie jiggled in excitement. “When they come?”
“Soon, little one.” Zarek switched his attention to Rami. “I’m very impressed with your abilities.”
Rami curled into a little ball and shook. “It was an accident. I don’t know how it happened.”
“It’s okay.” I picked her up and stroked her armored head. “Gramps won’t hurt you.” I hoped.
“But…he…he…attacked Bada and…and ate the hatchlings.”
I switched to my private link with Zarek. “What the heck is she talking about?”
His mental voice was low and lethal. “I have no idea.”
A frisson of fear raced down my spine. “Who said the Overlord ate babies?”
“The Queen Mother,” Rami answered.
Jaylan placed his hand under Rami’s chin and raised her head. “Zarek never ever hurts children.”
“Why would the Queen Mother lie?”
“There are rumors the mistress of the Bada nest challenged the Queen Mother and was defeated,” Gramps responded.
“Sounds like the bitch slaughtered the entire nest out of spite,” I added.
Rami’s little body stiffened in outrage. “If what you say is true, I will help you defeat the Queen Mother.”
The Overlord growled. “I never lie, Rami.”
“She meant no offense, Gramps. The only information she gets is from the Queen Mother’s propaganda machine.”
The Overlord abruptly switched topics. “Karoo was tracked to the Gansu solar system. You have less than two hours to prepare for him.”
Jaylan spat. “Our enemies are finding us a little too easily.”
I nodded in agreement. “And way too quickly. You’ve got a rat.”
“We do, and he will be punished accordingly,” Zarek snapped.
The sound of swords clashing suddenly rang in my head, and I caught a fleeting glimpse of Voss burying his sword in a warrior’s stomach.
A killing rage simmered in Jaylan’s eyes. “Who betrayed us?”
“Curran.”
“Why?” There was a wealth of pain in Jaylan’s question.
“Willa told Curran you had dishonored her.”
Who the heck was Willa? An old girlfriend?
For a brief moment, disbelief registered on Jaylan’ s face. “How could he believe her? We’ve been friends for over ten years. I’ve never shown any interest in Willa.”
“Curran is her brother, and she was very convincing,” Zarek answered.
“Who did the investigation?”
“Voss. When Willa concocted her story, she was unaware you were on Earth and tracking your mate.”
Say what?
A muscle in Jaylan’s jaw twitched. “Now I know why Curran sent me a mating contract. He didn’t take my refusal well.”
Zarek shrugged. “Willa’s pregnancy forced Curran to act.”
Oh my God. The Colettis endorsed honor killings? I cleared my throat nervously. “Murdering the baby’s daddy seems a bit extreme.”
“Honor demands Curran kill the male who dishonored his sister,” Zarek responded.
Jaylan demanded, “Do we know who’s the father?”
A savage edge to his voice, the Overlord replied, “Dak.”
Before I could ask, Jaylan said, “Dak is Radan’s son.”
“The same Radan who challenged our mating?”
“Yes,” Gramps growled.
“The guy got a death wish?”
“Which I will gladly grant,” Jaylan snarled.
“We’re tracking Radan’s ship and will intercept it shortly,” Zarek said.
“He is mine to kill,” Jaylan declared.
“As is your right.” Zarek broke the link.
I punched Jaylan in the arm. “Did you sign a mating contract for me?”
“Once I knew who your father was.” Jaylan ravished my mouth in a wild, demanding kiss. “I wanted you bound to me in every way.”
“You’re such a romantic.”
“I’m a warlord, not a poet.”
“Holy guacamole, Batman, I’d never figured that one out.”
His lips tilted in a rueful, lopsided smile. “That mouth never stops.”
“Yeah, but you still love me. So, how do we fight an Askole assassin?”
“I fight. You and the children will hide.”
I raised an eyebrow incredulously and stated firmly, “I’m not letting you face him alone.”
Jaylan assumed his scary face. “A female has no chance of defeating an Askole warrior.”
Here we go again. I crossed my ar
ms and gave him my scary face. “Wanna bet?”
He leaned down until we were nose to nose. “You and the children will hide.”
Rami asked anxiously, “What’s wrong?”
“Hush,” I told Rami and turned my attention back to Jaylan. “Not happening. We’re partners, and we face the threat together.”
Jaylan’s eyes flashed with exasperation. “You will do as I say.”
I planted my hands on my hips and said with vinegary sweetness, “Not a chance in hell. Now stop bellowing. We need to figure out a way to stop the bastard.”
“Askoles are very difficult to defeat.”
“So we do the unexpected and throw him off his game.”
A reluctant laugh broke from Jaylan. “What’s your plan?”
“We let the planet kill him.”
A feral grin touched Jaylan’s mouth. “I like the way you think.”
Chapter Eleven
We teleported into hell. A shimmering haze of heat hung over the glittering yellow sand. The blue thorn trees drooped wearily under the unforgiving sun.
I wrinkled my nose at the stench emanating from the quicksand bog. Ugh. It beat skunk hands down.
“Hungry,” Cokie whined.
“You just ate.”
“Want to hunt.”
“Later. Right now we’ve got a monster to kill.” I scanned the area again.
Cokie perked up. “Me eat monster.”
“Askole’s tentacles taste awful,” Rami said with a shudder. Her grip on my neck tightened painfully.
“Easy there. I kinda need to breathe.”
“My apologies.” Rami loosened her hold. “The memories of the renegade Askole’s attack on our outpost are unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant? I imagine it was pretty damned horrific. What were they after?”
“The hatchlings.”
“What?” I gave myself a head smack. “Of course. Grab the babies and train them to serve their Askole masters.”
A shiver rocked Rami. “One of them caught Tam. She was so scared, and he was hurting her. I ’ported onto the warrior’s head and bit his tentacles.”
I stroked her shaking body. “Betcha that got his attention.”
“It did. He yanked me off his head and threw me across the room.” Rami puffed up proudly. “He was missing half his tentacles when he fled.”
“You go, girl. I’m proud of you.”
Jaylan appeared in front of us. “Everything’s in place.”
Rio hopped up and down on Jaylan’s head. “Do again, Daddy Jaylan.”
“Remember? I told you Daddy Jaylan has to act as bait, and we have to hide?” I held my hand out to Rio.
“‘Member.” Rio crawled onto my hand. “We protect Momma Bree from bad man.”
“That’s right.” Unease prickled my spine. “Something nasty is heading our way.”
In the distance, a black blur zipped toward us.
A growl rumbled in Jaylan’s throat. “Karoo.”
“He does a really nice imitation of the Flash.”
“Get behind the rocks.”
“Yes, sir.” I took up my position.
Jaylan asked in my head, “Ready?”
“Yes.” I used my telekinesis to levitate all three hundred pounds of my warlord over the handy-dandy deathtrap.
Jaylan raised his laser rifle and shot the Askole assassin.
Karoo dropped out of warp speed and tumbled across the sand in a tangle of arms and legs.
Whoa! The Askole’s armor bore a startling resemblance to a medieval knight’s from old England. Complete with a horned helmet and black plated armor. “Interesting-looking battle suit.”
“It’s designed to strike fear into their opponents.”
Roaring a frightening battle cry, the Askole jumped to his feet and pulled his sword.
My warlord laughed, and shouted the Askole version of “Your mother is a whore.”
That seemed to piss off Karoo. Sunlight glittered off his sword, and then he was moving too fast for the eye to follow.
Jaylan kept yelling increasingly nasty insults.
Karoo hit the quicksand doing Mach 1 and was instantly sucked under.
Grinning, Jaylan teleported to solid ground.
I walked over to him and studied the heaving quicksand. “Will it hold him?”
“Not for long.”
“He’s going to really love the next trap.” I stepped into Jaylan’s arms.
Poof. We were standing at the mouth of a narrow canyon.
Cokie tightened her grip on my hair. “Askole bad, like zip-zips.”
“Don’t worry, Daddy Jaylan won’t let him hurt us.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” Jaylan said, tapping an icon on his bracelet.
A furious howl reverberated down the canyon.
“Wow! That was fast.”
“The new Askole armor has many added defense features.” Jaylan studied the readouts projected by his bracelet.
“We need to acquire some.”
“Zarek’s negotiating with Sariel, the Askole’s High Commander.”
“Who said anything about buying them?”
Jaylan leveled a warning look at me. “Stealing from an Askole is never a good idea.”
My psychic senses shrieked a warning. “Here he comes.”
Karoo whizzed down the canyon.
Jaylan touched the command screen on his bracelet.
Boom! The canyon walls erupted, raining tons of rocky debris down on Karoo.
To my utter disbelief, he zigzagged around and over the falling rocks. Color me impressed.
Jaylan touched the screen again, and a thunderous explosion dislodged a huge boulder. Smack. It landed on top of the Askole.
“Wile E. Coyote’s got nothin’ on you.”
“Karoo is not a cartoon character. His armor can take up to five thousand pounds of pressure before it ruptures.”
“Yeah, but can he lift that much weight?”
A frown furrowed Jaylan’s forehead as he studied the readouts on his screen. “His suit sustained only minor damage.”
The boulder shifted and rolled to one side. Karoo crawled out from under it, threw his head back, and roared his battle cry.
“Mess with the best, die like the rest!” I shouted back.
My warlord rolled his eyes upward.
“What?”
“That’s pitiful.”
“Is not.”
“Most warriors would find it amusing.” Jaylan locked his arms around me and teleported. A fleeting second of inky blackness, and we were standing by the boiling pools of mud.
“Wheee! Do again, Daddy Jaylan,” Rio crowed.
“Hush. We have to help Daddy Jaylan kill the monster. Remember?”
“Me ’member.”
Karoo zoomed out of the canyon and ran smack-dab into the thorn trees. The branches lashed out, impaling him.
Doing a happy dance, I yelled, “Gotcha.”
Jaylan watched me with a wry little half smile. “Do we?”
The Askole went nuts, tearing the trees apart.
“Well, shit. The thorns can’t penetrate his armor.”
Jaylan casually fired his laser rifle.
The energy bolt struck Karoo in the chest, knocking him backward into the boiling mud.
“Burn, baby, burn.” My glee turned to alarm when my Siren senses sounded an alarm.
At the same time Jaylan’s communications bracelet chimed a warning.
The next instant, I was clobbered with enough force to send me sprawling facedown on the sand. “Hey!”
“Stay down,” Jaylan ordered, shifting off me.
“’Kay.” I sucked in a lungful of air and groaned. Now I knew how a quarterback felt when he got sacked. It hurt like hell.
Rami coughed. “I think he broke something.”
Energy bolts sizzled wildly overhead.
Jaylan returned fire.
I did a quick scan of the area. Crap. The Radan
’s assassins had found us. One of them was on top of a pinnacle of rock and had us effectively pinned down. “Can’t we teleport out of here?”
“They have an energy barrier in place.”
A black-armored glove popped out of the bubbling goo and clamped on to a rocky outcrop protruding over the pool.
“Fuck. The Terminator’s back.”
Throwing a glance over his shoulder, Jaylan settled his gaze on Rami. “Can you create a wormhole big enough to transport all of us back to the cavern?”
“I’m not sure.”
Karoo pulled himself out of the pool. Steaming mud rolled down his suit.
“If we stay here, we die,” Jaylan growled.
I looked Rami in the eye. “If you can send the Queen Mother halfway across the galaxy, you can do this.”
“Me no want to die,” Cokie wailed.
A strange, burring hum escaped from Rami. The air around us began to swirl faster and faster. A gray void opened beneath us.
I clutched Jaylan’s leg as we fell through a spinning vortex. My insides tangled into twitching knots. I tightened my grip. Don’t let go. Don’t let go.
With a thunderous clap, the vortex spit us out.
The ground rose up and smacked me in the face. “Ooof.” I spat out a mouthful of dirt and took a cautious look around. Whew! We were back in the cavern. “You did it, Rami!”
She wiggled happily. “I did.”
Rio dropped off my head. “Monster still lives?”
“Yes,” Jaylan snapped and rose to his feet. “Stay here.”
Oh hell no. I tackled him, knocking him down. “We don’t separate for any reason. Remember?”
“Bree.” Menace laced Jaylan’s voice.
“Jaylan.” He looked so adorably savage. I slid sinuously up his body and pressed a gentle kiss on his mouth. “You can’t wrap me in Bubble Wrap. I’m a warrior just like you. You need me.”
“I do.” He took my lips in an intoxicating blend of hunger and tenderness.
Rami made a hacking sound. “Are you going to poke her?”
Jaylan sighed. “No, but I should spank her.”
“I’m starting to like the kinky stuff, big guy.”
He grinned at me.
Cokie queried, “What kinky?”
“We’ll discuss it when you’re a lot older.” Fireflies zipped around my head. My Siren senses were picking up some kind of danger.
A glittering blue light sprang into existence. When it faded, Karoo stood there with a huge sword in one hand.
