Vexing Voss:Coletti Warlords 03(25)

"They're turning Akeem's mind to mush as we speak."

"Battle stations," Jaylan snapped. A second later, alarms wailed.

Bloodcurdling battle cries echoed through the ship as Akeem's men teleported onboard and the fight began.

My radar screamed a warning. All the weapons decorating Voss's walls  were right handy. I grabbed a laser pistol and hid it behind my back.

A second later, an enormous warrior in a red battle suit appeared, carrying a big-ass sword in one hand.

"Looking for me?"

Baring his fangs in an evil smile, he answered, "I am to bring Akeem your head."

"Life is full of disappointments." Whipping out the pistol, I shot him.

He glowed a fiery red, and his ashes rained down on the floor.

Another warrior popped in.

I shot him too. "Shields up," I commanded the computer. Nothing  happened. Crap, Voss hadn't programmed me into his voice-recognition  software.

Yet another warrior teleported in, and I blasted him.

Unless I wanted to get sliced and diced, staying here wasn't an option. I  hit an icon, and as the door slid open, I took a quick peek.

Chaos reigned in the corridor. Wulf, Lothel, and Hothar desperately fought off a dozen red-suited warriors.

They were moving so fast it was difficult to get a clear shot. Drawing  on Voss's tremendous weapons skills, I started shooting and did a little  happy dance as I evened the odds considerably. "Ha! You ain't taking  over this ship."

"Females do not engage the enemy in battle. Go back inside and get those shields up, Zoey," Voss roared in my head.

"Already tried that, dickhead, and the stupid computer won't respond to  me," I snapped, shooting down another one of Akeem's warriors. "And your  warriors are a bit outnumbered."

"Run and hide," Voss snarled furiously.

"Like hell I will. I'm not a fucking coward," I snarled back.

"You will obey me."

"I won't leave them to die."

Bellowing his fury, a badly bleeding warrior slammed his sword into my  stomach. The force of the blow hurled me back against the wall with a  loud thud. Everything spun wildly around me. The next thing I knew, I  was facedown on the cold metal floor, struggling to breathe and trying  to find the strength to get up before I lost my head.                       
       
           



       

With an ear-shattering roar, Lothel jumped in front of me and chopped  off my attacker's head. I flinched as hot blood sprayed over me.

Voss's terrifying battle cry echoed throughout the ship.

In my mind's eye, I could see the Battle Commander hacking his way  through Akeem's warriors. He was relentless, ruthless, and utterly  without mercy.

"Zoey!" Hothar dropped down beside me, a laser pistol held ready in one hand.

"It's … 'kay. Armor," I managed to gasp.

With the eyes of death itself, Zarek appeared in the corridor, and what  was left of Akeem's warriors suddenly crumpled lifelessly to the deck.

"About time," I whispered.

The Overlord's head jerked around, and his cold, soulless gaze fell on me.

Crap! He had heard me.

Muscles rippling with power, Zarek strode over to me and bared his fangs  in a truly scary smile. "It is fitting a female brought down Akeem."

"The Battle Commander's mate is worthy of warrior status," Wulf announced.

"Without this tiny female's help, the battle would have been lost," Lothel added, wiping blood out of his eyes.

"Zoey saved our lives," Hothar included proudly.

"You have won their loyalty, little one. Not an easy feat."

"Protected … my … family," I croaked.

"As you should." A harsh laugh broke from the Overlord as he used his  sword to expose my armor. "I should have known you were the one who  ordered the Askole armor."

A slender warrior with a medic symbol on his gray battle suit appeared. "You summoned me, my lord?"

"Tend to the Battle Commander's mate, Zye."

The medic knelt beside me and ran a scanner over my body. "She has four  broken ribs, some internal bleeding, and severe bruising to the abdomen.  I need to take her to sick bay and put her in a regen tube."

Zye pressed a pressure injector against my neck, and within seconds, my breathing eased and the pain faded away.

Voss popped in, his sword dripping blood, fangs bared in a vicious  snarl, and something terrible glittering in his merciless eyes. "The  warbird is secure, and we now command Akeem's ship, my lord."

A dangerous smile pulled at Zarek's mouth. "Excellent. Now I can give Akeem my full attention." Poof. He vanished.

Part of me wanted to watch as the Overlord tore Akeem's mind apart. I  wanted Akeem to feel the helplessness and terror as he realized he was  going to die most horribly and there was nothing he could do to stop it.  Would it bring the children back? No, but their deaths would be  avenged.

The Battle Commander lifted me. "I will no longer tolerate your disobedience."

His fury seared through my head. I had scared the hell out of him, and he didn't like that feeling one little bit.

Gently stroking Voss's mind, I said, "I watched Paul die, and there was  nothing I could do to prevent it. I felt my mother dying, and I was too  far away to help her. I failed to stop the Tai-Kok from slaughtering all  those children, but your men I could save. I will not run from my  enemy."

"You could have been killed."

"It's a chance I'm willing to take."

"This foolishness ends now."

"You can wrap me in bubble wrap and lock me away at the breeder's compound, but trouble always finds me."

There was a disorienting moment of inky blackness, and we were standing  in sick bay. Voss placed me, still fully clothed, in a glass regen tube  polka-dotted with sensors. "How you have survived this long is a  mystery."

"I'm a damned good Siren."

He picked up a pressure injector and pressed it against his arm. "You have had no formal training."

A valid point. "How many times have I saved your butt, sweetness?"

Voss bared his fangs at me. "You take far too many risks."

"Those bastards have taken everything from me, and I'm not adding you and your men to that list."

"It is my duty to protect you," Voss growled in exasperation.

Testosterone was the bane of my life. "Golly gee, now I get it. You're  embarrassed at what the other warlords will think when they find out an  itty-bitty female saved your ungrateful ass."                       
       
           



       

"You go too far." He jabbed the pressure injector against my neck and triggered it.

Ouch! "The truth hurts, doesn't it?"

"Taming you is going to be more difficult than I thought."

"I'm not a critter to be tamed. I'm your partner, and forget the jewelry  and flowers. Those might work on the thousands of women you've boinked,  but I'm not that easy."

Amusement lit his eyes. "Jealous?"

"Some."

Voss leaned down into the open regen tube, and his lips caressed mine in  a gentle kiss. "You have no need. I am yours for the next thousand  years."

"Sweet talk won't change my mind."

The hard edges of his mouth softened in a smile. "It was worth a shot."

"I want to be treated as an equal."

"A tiny female equal to a Battle Commander?"

"Yep."

"When you can hold your own against me in hand-to-hand combat, then I will consider it, sugar tits."

I rolled my eyes. "That will never happen."

"Exactly."

"That's not fair. You're three times my size."

He pressed a kiss to my forehead and touched a button. The tube slid  shut. "We'll talk about your desire for equality after you've healed."

We sure as hell would. I stared owlishly at my boots. No drafty gowns in  this hospital. Sleep dragged me down into its inky depths.





Chapter Thirteen

What seemed like only a few seconds later, I was roughly yanked out of  the regen tube and tossed over a bony shoulder. Who? Hothar?

Alarm swirled through my sleep-fogged mind. Definitely not Hothar. A  homicidal fury radiated from the person carrying me. He was plotting to  murder someone. Shit! Me?

I tried to link with Voss and groaned. Fuck a duck! That terrible black  void was back. My kidnapper had doused me with Drakash. Which explained  my inability to think clearly, move, or blast the shit out of the  killer's mind.

A disorienting blackness engulfed me as my captor teleported, and the  sick bay vanished. Where was he taking me? Through my wildly tangled  hair, all I could see was a metal floor and a wall.

My captor lifted me off his shoulder and dumped me in what I recognized  as the copilot's chair in a lightning-fast Talon fighter. He roughly  strapped me in.

Panic bubbled up in me. If he managed to launch, would Jaylan blow him  and me into itty-bitty pieces? And if he did make his escape, how long  would it take Voss to realize I was gone?