by Gail Koger
Moving with a speed that was astonishing for a man his size, he yanked the bottle out of my hand. “A strategic but futile move.”
If he started spouting resistance is futile, I was going to smack the living shit out of him.
He walked over to the edge of the mat and handed Jaylan the bottle. “Find an antidote and quickly.”
“Yes, my lord.” Giving me a nasty look, Jaylan vanished.
The Battle Commander turned, and every cell in my body went on red alert. In that instant I knew he would take me, dead skunk smell or not.
Meeting his merciless gaze, I smiled and struck his mind with every ounce of power I had.
Voss’s head snapped back, and shock flared for a brief moment in his eyes. An unholy smile formed on his cruel mouth as he inclined his head in recognition. “Nicely done, little warrior. You are everything I hoped for and more.”
Oh hell. Drawing heavily on my psychic power, I punched him again and again and again.
Voss easily blocked my blows as he stalked toward me like some great hungry cat.
Shit! I was about to become lunch. Yanking my Taser out of its holster, I shot him dead center in the chest.
The Battle Commander growled and pulled the electrodes out.
Before I could retreat, he snatched the Taser away from me and crushed it into itty-bitty pieces.
Note to self: Tasers only piss warlords off. Cold fear prickling my body, I pulled my knife and hurled it at him.
Voss caught it in midair and threw it across the gym. The knife impaled the far wall and quivered violently.
“Neat trick.” Swallowing hard, I backed away from him, wondering if I could outrun him. Nah, he’d just teleport and catch me.
Voss bared his fangs in a predatory smile. “Now it’s my turn.”
I jumped a good foot when phantom hands began caressing my breasts, and a ghostly mouth trailed erotic kisses down my stomach. “Hey! Knock it off! What kind of fight is this?”
“Sensual. You have been with a man before. Draw on that experience to seduce me.”
How in the hell did he know about Paul? I smothered a groan. Alejandro. “I’m not going to seduce you. I’m gonna kick your ass.”
Voss smirked. “I think not.”
“Think again,” I snarled and smacked wildly at my chest, trying to knock those ghostly hands off my breasts.
He feathered caresses across my nipples. “Can you resist my touch, my possession?”
I shuddered at the sensation. Good question. I might have his full, undivided attention, but at least he was keeping his distance.
“You will soon beg for me to take you.”
“That will never happen.”
The Battle Commander arrogantly answered. “Are you so very sure?”
“Never gonna happen,” I stated defiantly.
Voss’s tongue stroked my clitoris, and his oh-so-amused eyes watched as my hips bucked helplessly. “Are you a screamer?”
I fought back the raw need and hissed, “Your touch disgusts me.”
“No, it does not.”
My knees buckled as his hot mouth closed over my clit. He licked, suckled, and nibbled my swollen bud of flesh, enflaming every nerve ending. I heard my shallow, ragged, desperate pants as he drove his tongue deep inside me. “Stop!”
“You are mine, little warrior.” Voss tweaked my nipples, sending an explosion of pleasure racing over me.
I knew Coletti warlords were experts at mental sex, but sweet Jesus! He made me want and need to feel a man’s touch again. Paul had been the only man in my life. How could I betray him? I focused on his handsome face and fought the Battle Commander’s seduction.
Voss replaced his merciless tongue with two long fingers. He pumped into me hard and deep.
My eyes rolled back in my head as the flames grew and blossomed, sweeping me into a maelstrom of need.
His mind pushed into mine. “You belong to me.”
I whimpered as the Battle Commander’s powerful arms lifted me. He filled my senses, stole all reason.
Voss’s lips closed over mine, and his tongue invaded, tasted, possessed. He began thrusting into my mouth, the rhythm matching the movement deep inside me.
His every touch twisted the coil of arousal tighter and tighter.
My inner muscles clamped around his marauding fingers. No! I had. To…
Oh God. Oh my God.
Stop him.
“Come for me, little one.” He wielded an expertise that had me writhing under his mental seduction.
Paul’s familiar face vanished from my memory and was replaced by Voss’s hard features.
He rolled my clit with his thumb, and wave after wave of ecstasy pulsed through me. A scream tore from me as I climaxed.
“So very responsive,” Voss purred in satisfaction.
No. No. No. He wasn’t just in my head any longer. I could feel his hands stroking my body. I had to stop him before it went any further. With what little sanity I had left, I drew my tranquilizer gun and shot him in the chest. “I win.”
“Have you?” Voss pulled the dart out and smelled it. “Diatryman root.”
“Detja used it on the Overlord, so I figured it would work on you too.”
Voss threw his head back and laughed. “A well-planned strategy, but once again a futile one.”
I squirmed against this crushing grip. That wasn’t quite the response I was expecting. Why wasn’t he falling over? He should be unconscious by now.
The Battle Commander speared one large hand into my hair, forcing my head back and exposing my neck. His tongue rasped over my pulse point.
Sheer blind panic flared to life. If he took my blood, he could find me anywhere, any time he wished. “No! Let go of me.”
“Never.” Voss buried his fangs painfully deep.
Every suck sent fire racing to my pussy. I beat frantically at his mind. “Stop! Damn you. Stop!” My willpower was fading rapidly.
His grip loosened. A second later, the Battle Commander slumped to the floor.
My breath coming in sobbing gasps, I wiggled out from under the warlord’s massive body and gave him a hard kick. “I am not nor will I ever be yours.”
A growl sounded in my head. “Mine.”
“Oh my God!” I shot to my feet and swayed unsteadily for a moment. That’s when I noticed my jeans were unbuttoned and pushed down around my knees along with my panties. Shit! I yanked them up.
My frantic gaze settled on the warlord sprawled at my feet. Oh thank God. He still had his pants on. We hadn’t done the nasty. The overpowering need to feel his touch on my skin was becoming painful. This was bad. This was really bad. I had to get far, far away from him. I bolted.
Jaylan appeared, blocking me from leaving the mat. “You cannot leave the battlefield until your opponent is either dead or has surrendered.”
I gaped at him. The Battle Commander would never surrender, and there was no way I could kill him. “I think I’ll take that sword now.”
His mouth a hard line, Jaylan reluctantly handed it over. “You know where to place the killing blow?”
“I won our bet, and I’m taking the sword, you creep, not killing Voss.”
Relief flared in Jaylan’s eyes. “Then you are surrendering?”
“No, I’m not. He’s down, I won, and I’m leaving,” I said slowly as if I were speaking to a not-too-bright child.
“It is not permitted.” Jaylan examined me thoughtfully. “You are not a weak, squeamish female. You have killed before.”
I cocked an eyebrow and remained silent. If he thought I was going to turn into Chatty Cathy, he was nuts.
“In Iraq you killed twelve men, and two years later you destroyed an entire squadron of Rodan.”
I hadn’t really. My mind control had made the terrorists think they were shooting at government troops, not each other. The Rodan I would take total credit for. “What’s your point?”
“You have proven yourself in battle.”
T
he big jerk was trying to delay me, but why?
Voss twitched and growled.
Well, that answered that question. “You know, I think I’ll go with option B.”
Jaylan frowned. “What is option B?”
I darted him. “Nighty-night.”
He yanked the dart out and lunged for me. I shot him again.
His fangs bared in a furious snarl, Jaylan fell to his knees. “If you leave the battlefield, you forfeit the match.”
“I’m not Coletti, and your fucking rules suck. I can’t afford to waste any more time on this nonsense. I’ve got a murderer to catch.” I fled.
Chapter Three
I burst out of the gym and stopped dead. My feet didn’t want to move, and I had this overwhelming urge to return to the Battle Commander. What the fuck was going on? What kind of mind games was he playing?
Two Coletti warriors appeared on the sidewalk in front of me. They took a quick step back when my perfume hit them.
One look at their formidable size and forbidding expressions, and I automatically assumed my timid mouse demeanor. Tears rolling down my cheeks, I sobbed. “Please, I don’t know what to do. Voss is ill. Can you help him?”
The younger warrior grinned. “The Commander is not ill, and we are to escort you back inside.” He politely opened the door.
Crap, this day was starting to suck big-time.
“Diatryman root disabled my body, not my mind,” the Battle Commander rumbled in my head.
Smart guy thought he had all the bases covered. I’d just show him how wrong he was. I shot both warriors with the last of my tranquilizer darts, dropped a smoke grenade, and ran like the devil himself was after me.
Growling like enraged grizzly bears, both warriors gave chase for about ten feet before doing face-plants on the asphalt.
“You do not attack my warriors!” Voss bellowed, more than a bit pissed.
“Stop sending them after me, and it won’t be problem, now will it?” I skidded to a stop in the parking lot. Dammit, my motorcycle was gone. Good thing I knew the escape tunnels like the back of my hand. I darted across the street and into the military hospital.
Now all I had to do was make it to the basement, and I was home free. I nonchalantly walked down the hallway carrying the big-ass sword and stinking like a herd of rabid skunks.
With gasping cries, nurses, doctors, visitors, and even the patients clamped hands over their noses and fled wildly in every direction.
What? Did they think I was contagious?
An old guy in a wheelchair knocked people down like tenpins in a bowling alley in his rush to get away. An IV stand trailed wildly after him.
A nurses’ aide stepped out of a room, took one look at my sword, screamed blue bloody murder, and ran.
I bet the 9-1-1 lines were lighting up like a Christmas tree.
“The base has been locked down. Return immediately, and you won’t be punished,” Voss snapped in my head.
“Gosh, that’s a really sweet offer, but I’ll have to pass.”
“You must obey me,” the Battle Commander snarled.
I retorted, “No, snookums, I don’t.”
“You refuse to obey my commands?” There was a touch of surprise in his voice.
Hadn’t we already had this conversation? “Yes, that’s right. I’m not one of your warriors, and I don’t have to obey you, ’kay?”
“The tunnel codes have been changed, and the access card you took from the general has been disabled.”
Well, that sucked. “Thanks for the heads-up, snookums.”
“Do not call me that ridiculous name again.”
“Oh, okay, I guess it’s back to asshole, then.”
“Police! Drop the sword!” a male voice shouted behind me.
“Gotta go, my ride’s here.”
“There is no place you can run that I cannot find you.”
Ignoring him, I slid into the military cop’s mind and took it over. We walked out to his patrol car, and I got into the backseat. “Take me to the Safeway over on Thomas.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and started the engine.
The Battle Commander stated implacably, “I expect my mate to be obedient.”
“Whoever that poor woman is, she has my utmost sympathy.”
“You, Zoey Jones, are my mate.”
Oh hell no. “I respectfully decline such a great honor. I’m sure there are plenty of women back on your world who would be thrilled at the prospect of mating with you.”
“Why do you fight me? You cannot win,” the Battle Commander growled, more than a little irritated.
“News flash, asshole, mind control doesn’t work on me. As much as I enjoy chatting with you, I have an appointment to keep with El Jefe, and I can’t be late.”
Mom’s laughing face flashed across my mind and was quickly replaced by the horrific memory of her lifeless body lying on a mortuary slab. Grief and anger twisted my heart. God, I missed her so much. Those traitorous bastards had no right to take her from me too.
“You hunt the men who you think killed your mother,” Voss said thoughtfully.
An icy cold seeped into my veins when I felt him moving in my mind. Sweet Jesus, when and how had he breached my shields?
The patrol car came to a stop at the back gate, and a dozen military police officers surrounded us with weapons drawn.
Good thing I liked a challenge. Drawing heavily on my power, I sent a mental command, “Put your weapons down and go to the gym.”
As one, they all dropped their weapons and walked away. My driver opened the car door and followed them, leaving me locked in the backseat.
Well, shit! I swung around and started kicking the window out. Steel-toed boots did come in handy.
“I have checked Central Command records. Your mother’s death was an accident.”
The glass crumbled. “No, it wasn’t. She got too close to unmasking the traitors, and they killed her.”
Voss’s mental voice sharpened. “Traitors?”
I definitely had his attention. “Don’t you find it a bit suspicious that our planetary weapon systems keep going down?” I climbed in the driver’s seat and hit the gas.
“We do.”
“And who do you think sabotaged the Alliance cruiser?”
“The same men,” the Battle Commander answered. His tone was that of a roused predator.
“Bingo.” I bailed out of the patrol car and ran over to my old clunker.
“Do you have any proof?”
“I will today.” I got in and started the engine.
“You have discovered who they are?”
“Hopefully, if everything goes as I planned, I’ll nab El Jefe, and he’ll lead me to them.”
“Tell me where this El Jefe is, and I will deal with him,” Voss commanded.
“That bastard is mine.”
“It is too dangerous for you to confront them alone.”
“They’ve taken everyone I’ve loved from me, and no one is stopping me from killing them. Not you or Central Command or even the Overlord.” Using every ounce of power I had, I managed to lock my shields down tightly.
I ignored Voss’s very vocal demands to return to the base. Today those bastards would pay for what they had done.
Everyone always yammered on about how warlords were utterly relentless. That they never ever stopped in their pursuit of their prey. As the Battle Commander’s fury at my refusal to answer him grew, so did the pressure on my shields. Fear knotted my stomach. It was becoming an effort to hold them.
I knew I was only delaying the inevitable, and once the drug wore off, Voss would be popping in to claim his prize.
If I was still alive.
* * * *
The image in my mirror showed a small Hispanic male with a thick mustache, goatee, and tattoo-covered arms. My ample breasts bound tightly, the baggy black T-shirt hid my weapons and body armor nicely. I stuffed my braid under the dirty blue baseball cap and nodded in approval. From a di
stance, I’d pass for Jose Chavez, a day laborer who worked for the traitors.
Picking up my bag of tricks, I stuffed my tranquilizer gun, darts, and grenades into it. Did the general even know the stuff was missing from the armory? Probably not.
I surveyed the small house my mom and I had called home. It was cozy, slightly cluttered, and filled with mementos of our travels. Tears filled my eyes. I still expected to walk in and find Mom in the office, tapping away on her laptop.
“Zoey Jones, you will answer me.” Voss’s furious voice reverberated around my skull.
Holy shit! I rubbed my aching forehead. The drug was definitely wearing off.
“I understand your need to kill those responsible for your mother’s death, but to do so alone is foolish.”
“I have a plan,” I snapped. “So get out of my head and stay out.”
“Our minds are now linked, and nothing you do can change that.”
Oh my God, that wasn’t possible. “You’re lying. My shields are impenetrable.”
“They were until I marked you as mine.”
Shock rolled over me, and I started hyperventilating. “That’s not possible. Unless you physically fuck me, the mating bond isn’t completed.”
“You are my mate, and it is my duty to protect you.”
My temper roared to life. Duty? “What’s life without a little risk?”
“You wish to die?”
“They’ve taken everyone I’ve loved from me. If dying is what it takes to stop them, so be it.”
“I forbid it.”
“Tough.” Slamming my inner shields shut, I ran out of the house, jumped into my car, and roared off. Destiny waited.
Chapter Four
Destiny was a fickle bitch. The Battle Commander ruthlessly chipped away at my shields, and I knew it was only a matter of time before he owned me mind, body, and soul.
As my desperation grew, so did my recklessness. It wasn’t rational, but fear drove me. I had stood in that ice-cold mortuary and promised Mom I would find the men responsible for killing her. I had to fulfill that promise. I couldn’t, wouldn’t let Voss stop me.
I’m a damned good investigator and an even better actress; with my psychic abilities, I could become anyone I wanted. My chameleonlike talent had gotten me some award-winning stories and made me some enemies. If I couldn’t pull off this simple masquerade, Mom’s killers would go free.