"Hey, now I can be a warlord too."
"Tiny females are not allowed in the Warlord Guild."
"Aw, c'mon, that's a load of crap. There is no Warlord Guild. I might be small, but I'm great at blowing up shit, and I can be scary too."
The jerk actually laughed. "Scary? Not even a petka would be frightened of you."
Well that was just rude. A petka was kind of like a bunny rabbit. The image of a sultry half-naked woman suddenly flashed across my mind. "And who the heck is Tinee?"
"She works in one of the pleasure houses I frequent," Voss answered warily.
"Frequent? Oh my God! You've boinked over a thousand women!" That did explain his sexual expertise. "Where in the hell did you find the time?"
Voss let out exasperated sigh. "After a battle, a warrior has needs."
"Uh-huh. After bedding that many women, you should have captured half the universe by now."
Voss hurriedly added, "We are mated. I cannot touch another female."
That was true. To keep him off-balance, I switched tactics. "So why can't I be a stealth warlord? I mean, no one would believe an itty-bitty female could hurt them. Until it's too late."
His hot mouth closed over mine in a long, voracious psychic kiss.
Whooeee! The man could kiss, but if he thought it would shut me up, he was in for a big surprise.
Voss's wicked tongue teased my nipples. Every lick sent desire raging through me. His ghostly hands caressed my belly and slid between my legs. Wowzers! He was turning me into a nymphomaniac.
"The Overlord will be pleased to learn he has another weapon in his quest to conquer the galaxy."
Huh? Holy hell, that wasn't even funny, and Mister Sneaky had turned the tables on me. "Wow! How awesome. It's always been my dream to work for the Overlord."
"You would do well to rein in that sarcastic streak around Zarek."
A shiver shook me. "But I'll never be around him, right? I mean, he can't be interested in me. I'm just a lowly female breeder."
"You are not a lowly breeder," Voss snapped. "You are my mate."
A snort of laughter broke from Hothar.
I gave him the evil eye. The little punk better not be eavesdropping.
Grinning, Hothar turned back to the shuttle controls.
"Sorry, your lordship, but I really don't think the Overlord will be all that interested in making my acquaintance."
"Quite the opposite. He is very eager to meet you."
"He is?" Oh dear God. "Why?"
"There are many reasons."
"Name a couple."
"You caught Zarek's attention when you were able to elude me and my hunters for over four years."
"Oh, so that's like a big deal?"
"You are the only prey I didn't capture within a day."
"Are you kidding me? No one has ever evaded you for more than one day?"
"No. I'm very good at what I do."
Oh boy, was he. "That's pretty impressive, but you've never chased anyone like me."
"You were an elusive and tricky prey."
"If you hadn't drunk my blood, you'd still be chasing me."
"No. I would not. Once I locked onto your brain pattern, you were mine."
I scrolled through Voss's memories. "Damn, you had me from hello."
Hothar snorted again.
"This is a private conversation," I said in my best mean-mother voice.
"You broadcast your thoughts," Hothar countered.
"Do not."
"Yes, little one, you do."
Crap. "Was there another reason Zarek wanted to meet me?"
"You used Diatryman root to disable me."
"Well, duh, when I heard it took down the Overlord, how could I pass it up?"
"Your actions only increased Zarek's interest. He could not believe there was another female as tricky as his mate, Detja."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes, but do not provoke him."
Since I developed a bad case of motormouth whenever I was nervous, that was going to be a problem. "What if he doesn't like me?"
"Then I will be looking for a new mate."
"That's not funny."
"He will find you as fascinating as I do," Voss answered, his amusement evident.
"Fascinating? Really?" Was he pulling my leg?
"You are a truly amazing female, and you make me laugh."
Who knew Coletti warlords liked to laugh? "Aw, that's really kinda sweet."
"Sweet? Try not to blow anything up," Voss commanded and was gone.
Hothar burst out laughing. "You called the Battle Commander sweet."
"He can be."
The brat laughed harder.
"Oh shut up." Jeez, he was as bad as some of my cousins.
I stared out at the strange constellations. I was definitely a long way from home. I had never been in deep space before. The moon was as far as I had traveled. Uncle Saul insisted on all of us learning basic piloting skills in case we got captured. Once we kicked their slimy asses, we could take their ship.
The big guy had better take me back to Earth. I needed my pictures. They were all I had left of Mom and Paul.
Hothar fingered his swollen jaw. "Is Sargon dead?"
"If he isn't, he's probably wishing he was."
His gaze roamed over my bloody and battered face. "The Battle Commander's and Jaylan's interrogation techniques are very effective. They will rip Sargon's rotted mind apart to get the information they seek."
A shudder shook me. A pissed-off warlord in your head, tearing through your memories. Didn't that sound like fun? There probably wouldn't be much left of Sargon's mind once they were done with him. Or El Jefe's either.
A mechanical voice proclaimed, "Loss of life support is imminent."
My stomach clenched in horror as red lights started blinking on the command console. I exchanged a worried glance with Hothar. "Shouldn't this piece of crap have a backup system?"
Hothar quickly scanned through the ship's systems. "Holy Goddess! This is the backup system."
"What happened to the main one?"
He tapped an icon. "It was removed for repair and never replaced."
"That was a bit shortsighted. Now we know why there weren't any Scorm on this shuttle. How long before we run out of air?"
"Fifty minutes."
"This is bad."
Hothar nodded. "Very bad."
"There's got to be a tool kit on this piece of shit. Maybe we can fix it."
Hothar jumped up. "I will look for one."
Dropping to my knees, I popped the panel off the console. Snap!
Crackle.
Pop! Flames suddenly spewed from the damaged relay. "Shit! Hothar, grab the fire extinguisher."
Oily black smoke poured out as the flames grew.
He ran up and handed me a small tube.
This was a fire extinguisher? The knowledge of how to use it suddenly jumped into my head. Triggering it, I hurriedly put out the flames and started coughing up a lung. God, that was just plain nasty smelling.
"I'll do a diagnostic check," Hothar said, quickly tapping several icons. "Balock's balls, we're losing air."
"Shit!" I bolted to my feet and instinctively reached for Voss. Maybe he had an idea on how to fix the relay. A jolt of raw fear shook me. An absolutely terrifying power was wrapped around his mind.
A savagely dangerous voice asked, "You allowed Malik to escape?"
"I made the choice to save my mate first."
My spine stiffened at the pain in Voss's voice. No one hurt my guy. "Back off, asshole, no one knew Malik was on Earth, not even the high and mighty Overlord. Who, by the way, is doing a piss-poor job of protecting us from the Tai-Kok and Rodan."
"Be quiet, Zoey," Voss hissed.
My evil twin made an appearance. "Let go of him now, or I will kill you."
All that terrifying power was suddenly wrapped around me, and I knew I was an inch away from dying. "And how do you plan on doing that?"
Note to self: yanking on a T-Rex's tail is never a good idea unless you want to get eaten. "Um … Damn good question." I wiggled and squirmed frantically, trying to break free. "Wow, you're even stronger than Voss." Oh dear God! "You wouldn't happen to be the high and mighty Overlord, would you?"
"I would."
"Would an apology help? 'Cause, I'm really, really sorry I called you an asshole." I babbled on, "It's not Voss's fault. It's mine, and you don't have to kill me, because Hothar and I will soon be dead anyway. So, please don't hurt the Battle Commander. You kinda need him."
"You're right, I do need him. What's wrong with your shuttle?" Was there a note of amusement in the Overlord's voice?
"Our life support just died, and we have about … " I looked over at Hothar, who was wide-eyed with horror.