Coletti Warlords: Reality Bites (11 page)

She was one big-ass kitty with foot-long fangs, and oh my God, was she licking her lips?

Zarek warned,
“If she gets any closer, I will kill her.”

Shit. He would too.
“That won’t be necessary, sir. I can handle her.”

“Then. Do. It.”
Gramps enunciated every word with the steely authority of the Overlord.

“Yes, sir.”
I focused my attention on the Pantos.
“What’s your name?”

“I am Tiko.”

“Tiko, sit.”
To my amazement, she did. Hot dang, my critter control was definitely improving.

She roared furiously.
“How are you doing this?”

“I’m a Siren, and I have many psychic abilities.”

“You do not have the right to force your will on me.”

“If I hadn’t, you’d be dead, and how long do you think Madal would survive without you?”

Tiko remained stubbornly quiet.

I watched her cub chase his tail in dizzying circles.
“Gee, let me think. Not very long. So how about a simple thank you instead?”

“Thank you.”
Tiko’s voice was deliberately insulting.

“Her cultural norms are not like yours,”
Gramps advised.

“No kidding.”

Madal suddenly pounced. Digging his claws into my pants leg, he growled ferociously.
“Let Momma go.”

My simple rescue mission was in the crapper.
“Go sit by your mom. Now.”

“’Kay.”
He obediently trotted over to Tiko and plopped his little butt on the ground.

“Release me!”
Tiko snarled.

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No, you are female.”

“See, we already have something in common. I think we’ll get along just fine.”

Tiko curled her lip in disdain.
“I have no desire to be friends with an alien killer.”

I clutched my chest dramatically.
“Now you’ve done gone and hurt my feelings.”

Gramps chuckled.

Her tail flicked angrily.
“I do not find you amusing.”

“I may be an alien, but I’m not a stone-cold killer.”

“The male who shares your mind is.”

“Damn. She can sense you,”
I whispered to Gramps on our private link.

He whispered back,
“An interesting development. Introduce us.”

“Tiko, this is Zarek, the Overlord of the Coletti clans.”

Tiko lowered her head in a gesture of respect.
“Elder.”

“Hey, you do have manners. Who would have thunk it?”

The tiger hissed at me.
“The Overlord is a pack leader. I pay homage as is proper.”

What a suck-up.

“You could learn from her,”
Zarek scolded. He turned his attention to Tiko.
“Where is your pack?”

“Dead. They were slaughtered by the alien snake.”
The image of an Askole formed in her mind.

Damn. It was Karoo. The butcher needed to be put down like the rabid animal he was.

“Your grief is mine,”
Zarek said solemnly.

“You honor me.”
Tiko’s rage was a living thing.
“I will find the monster and kill it.”

My rage equaled hers. “I’ll help you. Your monster also murdered my father.”

“Askoles are very difficult to kill,”
Gramps warned.
“Let me deal with him.”

“But—”

“Disobey me in this, and you will not like the consequences,”
Zarek growled.

“Yes, sir.”

Tiko rolled over on her back, exposing her stomach.
“As you command.”

The Overlord snapped into battle mode.
“My ship is under attack. I will send Jaylan to you.”

“Wait! That’s not necessary.”
Shit! Zarek had severed our link.

“The elder is your mate?”
Tiko sat up and casually cleaned her right paw, exposing needle-sharp claws.

I eased back a step.
“Oh God, no. He’s my grandfather.”

Jaylan appeared next to the bog. He was loaded down with enough weapons to take out an army. His furious gaze settled on me. “Bree!”

“That’s my mate.”
I waved all friendly like.

Honey bunny’s hands curled into fists, and he bared his fangs in a snarl.

Tiko cocked her head.
“He looks very angry.”

“He does, doesn’t he?”

“Perhaps you should run.”

I shook my head.
“Running from a predator is never a good idea. Always be the first to attack.”

“Sometimes running is the only option.”

“Not with warlords. They always catch you, and then there’s hell to pay.”
I stomped over to Jaylan and smacked him in the chest. “Where the hell have you been? Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

He crossed his arms and glared down at me. “Nice try.”

The menace in his voice sent a shiver down my spine. He was determined to be a snot wad. “Why are you upset? Everything’s under control.”

“You lied to me.”

I shrugged. “I might have omitted a few tiny details, but I felt there was no need to disturb your rest.”

“My rest?”

Shit! He had his scary face on. “You did all the heavy lifting yesterday. It was my turn to handle things.”

“Did your father allow you to go on missions without backup?”

God, no. I sidestepped the question. “I had Zarek.”

“Only because Voss summoned him. Now I must answer to the Overlord for
your
actions.”

“Oh. Shit. Sorry.”

“Sorry? Until you’re fully Coletti, you cannot teleport safely. Had you tried, you could have materialized in the bog. You
will
learn to obey me.”

Hanging on to my temper by a thread, I snapped, “What happened to us being partners?”

Jaylan leaned down until we were nose to nose. “We’re on a hostile planet and being hunted by assassins. We do not separate for any reason.”

Dammit, I hated when he made sense. “You have a point, but—”

Madal jumped on Jaylan’s back and gnawed fiercely on his battle suit.
“Run, Bree.”

I grabbed the cub by the scruff of his neck and pulled him off.
“Isn’t he precious?”

Jaylan hollered,
“Precious? He’s a nuisance.”

“He’s a baby.”

Tiko growled a warning.
“My baby.”

I put Madal down and pointed at my warlord.
“This is Jaylan, my mate. Jaylan, this is Tiko and her son, Madal.”

Jaylan knelt and offered Madal his hand.
“It is an honor to meet you, small one.”

Madal wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“You stink.”

I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

Jaylan smiled.
“Yes, I do.”

“Why?”

“It keeps the predators away.”
Jaylan projected the image of the armored insects into Madal’s mind.

“Zip-zips. Bad.”

A beam of dazzling red energy shot from the sky and struck Zarek’s base.

Shit. Radan’s hired assassins had found us. “Don’t you hate it when company arrives unexpectedly?”

“It does shows a certain lack of respect,” Jaylan concurred, checking the readouts on his communications bracelet.

The ground rumbled beneath us, and with an ear-shattering boom, the earth erupted, spewing flames and smoke thousands of feet into the lavender sky.

Tiko and Madal vanished into the rocks.

“Smart cats. The iridium in the boulders will shield us from the assassins’ sensors.” Jaylan rose with a lethal grace and wrapped his arms around me. There was a fleeting second of blackness, and poof. We had teleported a good twenty miles. We were standing in a forest of mustard-colored stone spires. A millennium of sandstorms had eroded the rocks into a fantasy of arches and weirdly balanced boulders.

“There’s a cavern up ahead. We’ll take shelter there until my ship arrives,” Jaylan announced and climbed up a rocky obstacle course.

I trailed after him, gawking at toadstool-shaped rocks and sculptured buttes that marched like sentries down a canyon. The sizzling caress of the sun was turning our hike into a nightmare. What little breeze there was felt like it came straight from hell.

Wiping the sweat off my face, I asked, “How long will it take them to realize we’re not dead?”

“Once they scan the ruins, they’ll know we escaped.”

The smell of rotten eggs slapped me in the face. “Ugh, what is that?”

“This is a geothermal area.” Jaylan extended his hand and helped me up a chaotic mass of tumbled stones.

I paused at the top and gasped as a geyser shot water high into the air. “Whoa! Just like Old Faithful.”

“Not quite. If you get caught in the spray, you’ll be dead before you hit the ground.”

“Gee golly, you take me to the best places.”

Jaylan gave me the evil eye. “Does that mouth ever stop?”

“Listen, you Neanderthal, you picked me. I have a tendency to become a motormouth when I’m scared shitless. Deal with it, or find another mate.”

“You? Scared?”

“Yeah. Scared. Do you think this is easy for me? It’s not. I’m struggling to cope with you, Zarek, and this whacked-out alien world.”

“I will protect you with my life.” Jaylan pulled me into his arms and kissed me gently. “Never doubt that.”

He was definitely a keeper. I framed his face with my hands and planted a hot one on his mouth. “Good. ’Cause it’s the man’s job to kill creepy-crawlies.”

A puzzled frown creased Jaylan’s brow. “Creepy-crawlies?”

“That.” I pointed at an amber-colored critter skittering across the sand. It was the size of a Saint Bernard and looked like a scorpion had mated with a spider.

“A Barat. There’s a similar species on Joroco called Ovas.” He pulled his laser pistol and incinerated it.

“What? No sword?”

“Barats are incredibly fast, and it’s too damned hot to fight.”

I grinned at him. “Wuss. It’s only a hundred and thirty in the shade.”

Jaylan nipped my nose. “And you smell like a week-old corpse.”

“God, you’re such a romantic.”

A throaty roar echoed off the rocks.

“That’s
not
a sand rat.”

“A male Pantos on the hunt.” Jaylan’s predatory gaze surveyed the rocks.

My Siren senses shrieked a warning. “Yay. We have a couple of cats sneaking up behind us. Bet they think we’re on the dinner menu.”

“Or they could be tracking Tiko and her son.”

“She said her pack had been killed.”

“Any unmated male would pursue her.”

“Would Madal be accepted into the new pack?” Please say yes.

“No. He would be eaten.”

“Damn, I was afraid of that. Ain’t gonna happen on my watch.”

“If a challenger kills the current alpha, he eats all the cubs to ensure only those with his DNA survive. It’s a common practice in the Pantos culture.”

“That’s pretty damned barbaric. Those monsters aren’t getting anywhere near the kid.”

Jaylan raised his eyes heavenward as if imploring the gods for help.

I tried another tactic. “How do you feel about cats as pets?”

Jaylan’s mouth firmed. “No.”

Ha. Like that was going to work. “Kaylee has her Tabors. Zoey has the Gorum. Why can’t I have cats?”

“Gorum aren’t pets; they’re allies,” Jaylan pointed out logically.

“Tiko and Madal could be too.”

A badly scarred Pantos crouched on a toadstool behind Jaylan.

Before he could spring, I commanded mentally,
“Sit.”

Yowling in outrage, the cat sat.

“Good kitty.”

Jaylan rubbed his face. “‘
Good kitty?’
He’s an alpha.”

Like I cared? “So? He’s not eating Madal.”

Another Pantos with only one tusk crept over the rocks.

“Stop!”

He froze and snarled in fury.

“How many can you control at one time?” Jaylan leveled his laser pistol at the cats.

I shrugged. “Don’t know. My critter control has always been a bit iffy.”

Jaylan’s left eye twitched spasmodically. “Iffy?”

“Relax. I’ve got a plan.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Do you have any pictures of the assassins Radan hired?”

One tap on his communications bracelet, and the image of eight fierce, heavily armed Coletti warriors formed in midair.

“Deadly lookin’ bunch.”

“They’re responsible for the massacre at the Tarian outpost.”

“Well, it’s about time those lowlife scum got a little justice.” Sitting on a nearby rock, I opened the heel of my boot and took out what was left of the explosive. “I love blowing stuff up, don’t you?”

Jaylan smiled evilly. “Very much.”

A mechanical whine broke the silence. A moment later, a silver, bullet-shaped shuttle zoomed by.

“Time for a little fun in the sun.” I mentally projected the pictures of the assassins into the Pantos’s minds. “Sic ’em.”

Obediently, the cats trotted off.

He shook his head in disbelief. “They’re actually obeying you.”

I was a bit surprised myself. “Where shall we plant the explosives?”

Jaylan touched his bracelet. An overview of the canyons popped into existence. He pointed at the crater surrounding the geyser. “An explosive here and here will blow the underground channels and turn the area into one massive geyser.”

“And if they manage to teleport out?”

“We bring the canyon walls down on them.”

“Good plan, but to make it work, we have to split up. I’ll take the geyser.”

A muscle in Jaylan’s jaw twitched. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m a big girl, and I can take care of myself.”

“Not on this world.”

“We’re both at risk. If there’s a problem, I’ll holler, and you can teleport to the rescue. ’Kay?”

His bracelet chimed a warning.

“Tick tock. We’re running out of time.”

Jaylan sighed heavily. “Your logic is irrefutable.”

I gave him an impish grin. “I am the Overlord’s granddaughter.”

“Very much so.” Jaylan bit into his arm and held it out. “Drink, or we don’t separate.”

I knew there would be a catch, but I was getting stronger. I took his arm and lapped at the blood. Huh? It tasted almost as good as chocolate. How weird was that?