Coletti Warlords: Reality Bites (16 page)

“Get away from me,”
Tiko snarled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the Askoles calmly step back. “Can’t breathe,” I wheezed.

“They are squashing me,”
Rami moaned.

Rio scrambled across my shoulder.
“Me sting them.”

“No stinging,”
Jaylan commanded, crawling off me.

Zarek lifted me to my feet. “Are you injured?”

“I’ll live.” I wiped the crap out of my eyes and realized everyone was staring at me.
“What?”

“Nice catch,”
Voss drawled.

“She has many useful talents,”
Sariel added.

Zarek nodded.
“My granddaughter is full of surprises.”

Tiko pushed against my leg.
“The attacker still lives.”

“Damn.” With my luck, the assassin had another grenade.
“Sic ’em.”

Tiko shot out of the cavern. Her ferocious roar was followed by a bloodcurdling scream that was abruptly cut off.

“I wanted to interrogate him,”
Voss said. His tone was one of extreme exasperation.

“Ooops. My bad.”

A laugh broke from Sariel.
“She must belong to the Jones clan.”

“Bree belongs to me,”
Jaylan corrected.

I rolled my eyes. Testosterone was the bane of my existence.

Tiko padded up to me and dropped the assassin’s head at my feet.

“Gosh, you really shouldn’t have.”

Talree picked up the head, and scowled. “Vonder.”

“Who?”

“Radan’s second in command,” Jaylan answered.

“Were you able to intercept Radan’s ship, Gramps?”

Grinning, Talree repeated, “Gramps?”

Madal’s sudden horrific shrieks of pain hit me like an electric shock. “Oh my God.”

Tiko bolted from the cavern.

I ran after her and skidded to a stop at the terrifying sight.

The badly scarred Pantos had tracked us and was mauling Madal.

Jaylan teleported onto the tiger’s back and drove his dagger into the base of the Pantos’s skull.

The tiger fell to the sand, twitched once, and died.

“Madal!” I ran over to the cub and watched as Jaylan gently pried the tiger’s jaws off him. A cold thread of dread snaked up my spine as I scanned his bloody body. He was dying.

Mewling her anguish, Tiko nuzzled him.

Rio and Cokie peered down at the cub.
“Can you save him, Momma Bree?”

“I don’t know.”
I knelt by Madal, placed my hands on his chest, and sent healing energy into the gaping wounds covering his body.

“I am with you,”
Jaylan said, adding his power to mine.

Rami joined with us.
“My strength is yours.”

Madal’s labored breathing steadied. The torn flesh on his neck and body regenerated.

“Dammit.” The damage to his heart was extensive, and I couldn’t get the bleeding under control.

“Don’t let him die,”
Tiko pleaded.

His heartbeat slowed.

“C’mon, little guy, stay with me.”
I worked furiously to repair dozens of puncture wounds. An eternity later, I sealed the last hole, and a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. “He’s lost too much blood. Will sick bay’s regen tubes work on Madal?”

“They will,” Zarek answered.

I sagged in relief. Thank God.
“Tiko, I need you to trust me. The only way to save Madal is to move him to the Overlord’s ship.”

Tiko licked Madal’s face.
“Do what you must, but take me with you.”

“Okay.”
I looked at Jaylan.
“Can you teleport eight hundred pounds of tiger?”

He shook his head.
“No.”

“Our transporter is at your disposal,”
Sariel said.

“Thank you.”
I touched Tiko’s mind and showed her how the transporter worked.
“It kinda tickles.”

Zarek placed his hand on her head.
“I will accompany you.”

“I promise not to eat anyone,”
Tiko grumbled.

“And I will make sure no one shoots you,”
Zarek replied.

“You have my eternal gratitude, old one,”
Tiko sniped.

I suppressed a grin. The tiger was going to fit right in.
“We’ll meet you in sick bay.”

“Do not let him die.”

“I won’t.”

Jaylan carefully picked up Madal. “Hang on.”

I wrapped my arms around his waist, and poof. We were in sickbay.

A medic hurried over and ran a scanner over Madal. “You got him to us just in time. Place him in the middle tube.”

As Jaylan complied, I studied the medic. He looked like he was twelve. In English, I asked my mate, “You sure he knows what he’s doing?”

“He wouldn’t be on the Overlord’s ship if he didn’t,” Jaylan responded.

“Good point.”

Rami dropped off my waist.
“I feel sick.”

“No puking on Jaylan’s boots, missy.”

“That’s a Shari,” the medic exclaimed in wonder.

“Yes, and she’s very attached to Madal,” Jaylan rumbled.

“My pardon, Commander.” He rapidly typed commands into the console, and thick gray gas engulfed the cub.

With his stinger in the strike position, Rio skittered onto the tube.
“Madal die. You die.”

The medic eyed the baby Barat calmly.
“What a fierce little protector.”

“Sorry.”
I held out my hand.
“Rio, come.”

“Me want to stay.”

Cokie joined him on the tube.
“We guard Madal.”

“Let the children stay. I’ll keep an eye on them,”
the medic said.

A roar sounded in the hallway.

A flicker of alarm crossed the medic’s face. “The mother?”

“Yep. Tiko. Be careful. She’s had a tough day.”

Jaylan picked me up and sat me on an examination table. “So has my mate.”

The medic pointed his scanner at me. “Yes, she has, and what is that awful smell?”

I bared my teeth in a feral snarl. “Skunk.”

Like magic, Jaylan produced a melted chocolate chip cookie. “Eat.”

I snatched it out of his hand. “You’re the best mate ever.” I swallowed the last bite and asked hopefully, “Got another one?”

There was a sharp stinging pain in my neck, and everything went dark.

Chapter Twelve

Cokie whispered,
“Momma Bree, you sleep?”

If I ignored her, maybe she would go away. I was still sulking. Jaylan had actually allowed the medic to sedate me without my permission. What a prick.

Her pincher patted my face.
“Momma Bree, you sleep?”

I opened my left eye. Cokie was perched on my pillow.
“Yes.”

Giggles erupted.

What the heck? I had been invaded. The bed was covered with small golden tarantulas. Dozens of curious emerald eyes watched me.
“Hello there.”

The babies chirped happily and bounded up the bed.

“Wait!”
A tidal wave of warm, furry bodies engulfed me. Tiny sticky tongues rained kisses over my face.
“Okay. Okay. Enough. That tickles. Cut it out! You are all too adorable, but no more kisses.”

“Me family.”
Cokie chortled.

“Yes, they are.”
I clapped my hands.
“Everybody off.”

The kids swarmed up the walls.

I linked with my jerk of a mate.
“Sweetheart, our room is full of baby Tabors.”

“They escaped from the nursery. I’ll let Kaylee and Tae know where they are.”

Doing my best imitation of a dizzy Southern belle, I gushed,
“Thank you, sugar pie. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to have a big strong man take care of me. Love you oodles.”

“I did what was necessary,”
Jaylan snapped.

“Gosh, you’re so thoughtful. My poor, fragile nerves weren’t up to dealing with all those scary warlords.”

“You were injured and needed to rest.”

“Yes, dear. A broken nose is a terrible, life-threatening injury.”
I winced. That had come out a bit sarcastically.

“We’ll discuss this later,”
Jaylan practically shouted and broke the link.

“You bet your ass we will.”
I scrambled out of Jaylan’s huge bed and hurried into the bathroom. God, did I have to pee.

The babies followed me.

“Whatcha doing, Momma Bree?”

“I’m taking a piss.”

Cokie and about a hundred Tabors climbed on my lap and tried to look in the toilet.
“What piss?”

God, I really needed some aspirin and about a pound of chocolate.

Plop!
A baby took a header in the toilet. He squeaked in alarm.

“Oh hell!” I fished the poor little guy out.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.”
I put him in the sink and washed him off. The others twittered excitedly.

Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop!
All the kids jumped into the toilet and splashed wildly.

“No! No! No! That is not a swimming pool.”
I scooped them out and quickly closed the lid. The last thing I wanted to do was explain how a bunch of baby Tabors got flushed into space. I put them on the counter.

Giggling, the babies took off, scrambling madly over the walls.

Dear God, why me?
“Get back here. Right now.”

The crazy kids spat webbing, and did a wonderful impression of Tarzan on meth.

“Bad babies. Knock it off. Now!”
I didn’t even want to think about the mischief Rio was getting into.

They totally ignored me. If anyone asked why they were wet, I was pleading the fifth.

Cokie swung by.
“Wheee.”

“Swell.” I eyed the webbing hanging from the ceiling. I wasn’t cleaning that up either.
“Okay, fine. I’m tellin’ your mom and Kaylee.”

In a flash, the Tabor babies had disappeared under the bed. Cokie chirped gleefully.

I quickly closed the bathroom door. They were up to something.

“Momma Bree, let us in,”
Cokie called sweetly.

“No.”
Did they think I was stupid?

“You no fun,”
Cokie huffed.

Yeah, I was a regular party pooper. All I wanted was for Jaylan to treat me as an equal. But, hell no. The jerk had dumped me on the bed and popped off to deal with Radan. I wanted to spend some quality time with the murderous ass too. I would have followed my loving mate, but oh no. He let that sneaky medic slip me a mickey.

One look in the mirror, and I let out a shriek. My hair was a rat’s nest of tangles. Bruises, dirt, and blood covered my face. I opened the shower door and climbed in. The control panel resembled something you’d find on the space shuttle. Dammit. Zarek hadn’t included instructions on how to use a shower in his download. It couldn’t be that hard, could it? I touched an icon.

A thick, slimy goop rained down on me. Oh yuck. It was like bathing in green gelatin. I poked another icon.
Wham!
Jets of hot water pelted me. “Shit! That hurts.” I punched frantically at the controls. There had to be an Off button. Superhot air whipped over me. Throwing open the door, I jumped out, tripped over Tiko, and hit the floor hard. Just what I needed. More bruises.

Tiko sniffed me. “
You still stink.”

“Thank you; you’re too kind.”
I sat up.
“How’d you get in here?”

“The Overlord.”

“Oh. I’m surprised you left Madal alone in sick bay.”

“Zarek said I was becoming a distraction.”
Her tail flicked angrily.

“Did you try to eat someone?”

“No, but I should have. Warriors kept coming into sick bay to look me over. They would stroke their swords and say things like what great prey I’d make or my head would look good on their trophy wall.”

“Well, that’s just rude.”

Tiko bared her teeth in a toothy grin.
“It was, and I let my displeasure be known.”

“Roared, huh?”

“And showed them my nice, sharp fangs.”

“Both guaranteed to make them piss their pants.”

“They did scatter like frightened prey.”

“I would have paid good money to have seen that.”
I opened the bathroom door and took a cautious look around.

The Tabors were clustered on the ceiling.

“Stay,”
I commanded.

They stared at me innocently.

Like I was buying that act.

A gray vortex appeared above the bed and spat out a furious Rami.
“I’m not a piece of property to be bought or sold.”

“Whoa. What happened?”

“The Askoles offered Zarek a million units of their new armor in exchange for me.”

“What assholes.”
My radar went off. A few seconds later, the door slid open to reveal a heavily armed Askole warrior.

He pointed his laser rifle at us.
“Give me the Shani.”

“Did you know your swell armor doesn’t protect you against psychic attacks?”
I mentally grabbed his balls and twisted them viciously.

The Askole bellowed in pain and dropped his rifle.

Chitters of alarm sounded from the ceiling, and web balls struck the Askole repeatedly in the face.
Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!

Damn. Don’t mess with Tabors.

The warrior clawed at the webbing covering his nose, mouth, and one eye.

“Wonder how long he can hold his breath?”

Rami cocked her head.
“Five or six minutes?”

The Askole went for his laser pistol.

Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!
The warrior’s hands were glued to his armor.

“I think the poor fella is turning purple.”

“Pity.”
With one swipe of her massive paw, Tiko knocked him back into the hallway.

“A tour of the Gansu swamp would do him a world of good, don’t ya think, girls?”

“An excellent idea,”
Tiko purred.

“I agree.”
Rami’s body vibrated with power, and a burring hum grew in volume.
Crack!
A churning vortex swallowed the Askole.

“Wow, look at you. That ’port was perfect.”

Rami puffed up proudly and let out a hissing growl.
“Fear us.”

“No it’s… We are females. Hear us roar!”
I howled.