Wulf and the Bounty Hunter

by Gail Koger

  His eyes narrowed. “Any other secrets I should know about?”

  “Define secrets.”

  “May I?” The medic held up an injector.

  I nodded. “Please.”

  The medic pressed the injector against my chest. Zap. The pain eased into a dull ache. “Thank you.”

  He gave a brief bow. “It was an honor to serve you.”

  Zarek teleported in. He looked at the medic. “Leave us.”

  With another bow, the medic left.

  “Pokham has a legal death warrant for you, and he is demanding we turn you over to him.” A killing rage simmered in the Overlord’s eyes.

  Pokham’s nasty nature usually made people want to kill him.

  “Yakira understands and speaks High Coletti,” Wulf, the snitch, blabbed.

  A half smile briefly touched Zarek’s mouth. “Your mate has many talents.”

  And language was one of them. I quickly interjected, “I was eleven when Pokham had the death warrant issued for me.”

  “Askole law prohibits death warrants on children.” The Overlord’s anger grew.

  “He not only lied about my age, but he accused me of murdering his brother, Elof, in cold blood.”

  “What had Elof done to earn a death sentence?” Wulf gently massaged the back of my stiff neck.

  “He tried to stop Pokham from gutting his own daughter.”

  The Overlord’s fangs seemed to grow. “How did Elof die?”

  “Pokham beheaded him.”

  “A task a child would be incapable of doing.”

  “Why all the lies?” Wulf demanded in a harsh voice.

  “A matter of pride. Pokham didn’t want anyone to know that Tanic, his eldest daughter, had been raped by the Rodan and impregnated. Lucky me, I witnessed Tanic’s execution, and he had to silence me.”

  “Pokham is old-school. If a female is raped, it’s her duty to kill herself,” Zarek snapped in disgust. “If the council was aware the Rodan had raped Tanic, they would have expected Pokham to assemble a battle fleet and hunt them down.”

  I shook my head. “Never happened. The coward’s war chest was empty. Besides, she was worthless to him. He couldn’t marry her off after that. She was tainted. Pokham simply told everyone she had died in a hunting accident. Not once did he make an effort to find the Rodan responsible.”

  Wulf grimaced. “He was honor bound to act.”

  “It gets better. During my investigation, I discovered Tanic was traveling on the Alliance star cruiser Ayel when the Rodans attacked. Pokham paid the captain to remove Tanic’s name from the passengers’ list even though he knew she had been taken.”

  Outrage filled Wulf’s voice. “He had to know what was going to happen to her.”

  “Pokham didn’t care, but he hadn’t counted on Tanic being a survivor. She fought to stay alive and was able to escape before the Rodan could eat her and her unborn child. She knew what Pokham would do if he found out she was still alive. For fifteen years, Tanic successfully ran a trading post on Omin. She thought she was safe, but she wasn’t. One of Pokham’s flunkies learned of a half-breed Askole at the trading post and notified her father.”

  “The bastard came with a few of his most trusted warriors. He killed Tanic, burned the trading post to the ground, and put Ziyad, the abomination, in a cage. I saw what happened and freed her.”

  “I’ll make sure the council learns of Pokham’s treachery. He’ll lose his seat on the council and his warrior status,” Zarek said grimly.

  “Killing him would be better.” Sue me, I had a bloodthirsty streak.

  “It might come to that.” Zarek transferred his gaze to Wulf. “Take Yakira back to her ship and return to the war room.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Wulf picked me up and teleported.

  Chapter Ten

  Presto. We were back on my stealth ship. Wulf pressed a fierce, hungry kiss on my mouth and dropped me on my feet. “Stay out of trouble.” Poof, he was gone.

  I’d try, but trouble always found me. I touched my lips and smiled. Wulf could rock my world anytime.

  Bui skittered across the deck, crying, “Yakeee! Yakeee!”

  I knelt down. “What’s wrong, honey?”

  “You left. You left.” She scurried up my arm and wrapped her legs around my neck.

  “Ssssh.” I petted her trembling body. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I would never leave you or let anything happen to you.”

  “Where you go?”

  “The Overlord needed me to find a very bad male.”

  “Kill him?”

  “Not yet, but soon.” I ruffled her fur and noticed Bedan and Kalja staring up at me. “Hello there.”

  “Deet worms?” Kalja asked hopefully.

  “Let me ask Ziyad if she has some left.” My BFF had returned to the ship earlier because the kids were getting really cranky and needed a nap. I linked with her. “We need to talk, and are there any deet worms left?”

  Ziyad zipped up. In one hand she held a container of worms. She placed it on the floor, laughing as Kalja and Bedan dived in headfirst.

  Bui scrambled down and joined in the food fest.

  With a tight, sick feeling in my gut, I said, “Sit down. I’ve got some bad news.”

  “The Overlord is still angry with you puking on his boots?” She settled in the pilot’s chair and began checking the readouts.

  My jaw dropped. “I puked on him?”

  Colburn walked onto the bridge. “You did. Twice.”

  “And I’m still breathing?”

  “We were all a bit surprised.” Colburn chuckled.

  “Why didn’t Wulf tell me?”

  My brother shrugged. “Who knows? He won the keg-drinking contest by chugging down two barrels of ale. Maybe he doesn’t remember.”

  I didn’t believe that for a moment. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that Wulf would use the puking incident against me later. Zarek also had the perfect opportunity to get rid of me, and he hadn’t. I guess he wanted Malik found more than he wanted me dead. As long as I was useful and kept Wulf happy, I was safe.

  Ziyad waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you still drunk?”

  “Nope, Wulf’s blood took care of that.”

  “What? You drank his blood? No wonder you’re acting twitchy.”

  “It’s part of the mating thing. It’s also good for curing what ails you and makes you stronger and harder to kill. At least that’s what Wulf said.”

  My best friend cocked her head to one side and tapped a finger against her lower lip. “Lothel’s blood was quite tasty, and I did heal faster afterward.”

  Great. It sounded like she had marked Lothel, but I’d worry about it later. “We need to talk.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  So many things. How did I tell Ziyad without freaking her out?

  “Just spit it out,” Colburn advised.

  “Your grandfather is on Zarek’s warbird.”

  Ziyad’s skin turned a pasty gray. “He found me.”

  “No. He found me and he shot me.”

  She touched the charred mark on my battle suit. “At close range too.”

  “Pokham showed Zarek the death warrant and is demanding he turns me over to him.”

  “We need to leave. Now!”

  “I have more bad news,” Colburn inserted. “An Askole battle fleet is headed our way, and Sariel’s on board his flagship.”

  “Zarek said he would expose Pokham’s treachery,” I said, trying to quell the apprehension flooding me.

  “If Sariel honors the warrant, Zarek will have no choice but to turn you over to Pokham, or he risks breaking their treaty,” Colburn said tersely.

  “Then we run.” My voice was tight with resentment. The warrant gave Pokham authority to immediately behead us once we were in his custody. There would be no trial. No justice.

  Leaving Wulf behind would be one of the hardest things I had ever done. I knew without a doubt my warlord would follow. Along with Zarek, Voss, and
the entire Askole battle fleet, but I had a plan.

  I jumped a good foot when Ziyad let out her ear-shattering version of a battle cry. “We die as warriors!”

  “No! No one is dying. We’re outgunned and outmanned. The only smart thing to do is evade and hide.”

  “They will pursue us,” Ziyad pointed out.

  I shook my head. “No, they won’t. I downloaded that nasty little worm you created. All you need to do is unleash it, and poof. They can’t trace our cloaking device energy signature, and we are invisible to all the bugs those sneaky warlords planted on our ship.”

  Ziyad grinned. “My pleasure.” She typed a command into her communications bracelet. “It’s activated.”

  “What have you done?” Colburn was pretty freaked out. “Zarek will kill you and us without hesitation. Your worm screws up their scanners and leaves them vulnerable to an attack.”

  I whacked my brother in the chest. “Like I would ever put Wulf in danger? Our ship is the only one the Coletti can’t track. Tai-Kok or Rodan or a pirate vessel will show up.”

  “And what about your link with Wulf? We won’t make it out of this solar system,” Colburn argued.

  “Have some faith in me, Brother.” I opened a compartment on the command console and pulled out two small brown bottles. “This is Drakash. It’ll shut down my psychic abilities long enough for us to escape. Both of you will have to drink some too, or Zarek will try to control you.”

  My brother reached out and took a bottle. “You’re taking a huge risk.”

  “The alternative is death.”

  “If you had killed Pokham at the Romie market, we would be safe now.” Ziyad’s tentacles squirmed with agitation.

  A long sigh broke from me. “I missed him by an inch. It’s been three years. How many times do I have to apologize?”

  “You tried to assassinate Pokham?” The expression on Colburn’s face was priceless.

  I decided it was in my best interest to ignore my brother’s question. “Get us out of here, Ziyad, before the Askoles throw us in chains.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.” Ziyad engaged the engines.

  Wulf immediately inquired on our private link. “Going somewhere?”

  “I love you. Never doubt that.” I opened the bottle and drank the vile Drakash.

  “No!” Wulf roared. “Don’t do it.”

  “It’s done.” Pain exploded in my head, and the room spun dizzily around me. Colburn caught me before I fell. “Hurts.”

  He eased me into the copilot’s chair. “This is never going to work.”

  Tears poured down my face at the loss of Wulf’s mental touch. Empty. I was so very empty. The cold void in my head grew until I wanted to scream from the sheer agony of it. I kicked Colburn, the skeptic, in the shins and used what little psychic ability I had left to yell mentally, “I’m dying here. Shut up and drink the stuff.”

  My brother swallowed half the bottle and handed it to Ziyad. “Happy?”

  “No, it feels like I’ve had an ice-pick lobotomy.”

  “We are being hailed,” Ziyad announced.

  Gee, I wonder who it is? “Open the channel.”

  Voss appeared on our ship’s view screen. Something dark and terrifying flickered in his eyes. “You tampered with our equipment. This could be considered an act of war.”

  I answered him back in High Coletti, “The worm only effects your ability to locate our ship, not your battle readiness.”

  A rapid-fire mixture of guttural grunts, groans, and chittering clucks sounded offscreen. Pokham was insisting the battle commander blow our ship into itty-bitty pieces.

  Voss ignored him, which enraged Pokham even further.

  Ziyad hit a button on her control panel, cutting off Pokham’s mad rant. The view screen went black. “He has lost all reason.”

  “He’s crazier than an upsilion beetle,” I agreed, relieved I could still mind talk.

  The ship’s computer announced: “Warning. Warning. Photon torpedo two kilometers off the port bow. No need for tactical evasion at this time.”

  My attention fixed on the tracking scanner. No, there wasn’t. We weren’t the target. The torpedo whizzed by us and headed directly for Askole’s battle fleet.

  Colburn quickly checked his readouts. “It’s locked in on Sariel’s ship.”

  Fury rose up in me. “I don’t know how he did it, but Pokham launched that torpedo.”

  My brother groused. “You know who they will blame. Us.”

  “If Sariel is harmed, the Askole council will declare a blood feud and hunt us down,” Ziyad cried in outrage.

  The torpedo unexpectedly blew up. Brilliant billows of orange flames filled the view screen.

  Colburn stepped back from weapons control with a smug smile on his face. “Problem solved.”

  Bui bounced up and down on the command console. “Pretty. Do again.”

  I drew in a quick, angry breath. “You idiot! Voss will use our missile’s trajectory to trace it back to us.”

  “Taking evasive maneuvers,” Ziyad advised. She rolled our ship sharply and went into a nauseating series of twists, banks, and dives. “Increasing speed to warp six.” G-forces slammed me back against the seat as the ship accelerated rapidly.

  Bui shrieked happily. “Wee. Fun.”

  “No feel good,” Bedan whined and hurled. Bits of semidigested deet worm decorated my boot.

  Oh yay.

  Kalja greedily sucked them up.

  The computer’s alert sounded: “Warning. Warning. Enemy fighters deployed.”

  One look at the tracking scanner, and I smacked my brother in the shoulder. “Oh lookie. Voss sent three Talon fighters to find us.”

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Colburn responded, rubbing his shoulder.

  “Do you really think Voss would have allowed that torpedo to hit Sariel’s battle cruiser? Or the Askoles are so inept they would allow it blow them to smithereens?”

  My brother winced. “Uh. Probably not.”

  “Bingo, smart guy.”

  Ziyad tensed. “We’re being hailed again.”

  “Ignore it,” I snapped.

  “We should listen to what Voss has to say,” Colburn argued.

  I made a sound of disgust. “The Coletti aren’t pacifists or known for their compassionate natures. You know, and I know, what he’s going to say. Surrender or die.”

  Red beams lanced out from the fighters in a dazzling search pattern. A direct hit would disrupt our cloaking device, and we would be sitting ducks.

  The Coletti weren’t the only ones with the newest weapons systems. Ziyad was a genius when it came to making useful gadgets. Like itty-bitty sensors called chad, which had a nasty effect on power sources. “I think it’s time we tested the chad you created.”

  “I agree.” Ziyad tapped a button. “Pods deployed.”

  My curious brother asked, “What does this chad do?”

  “Watch and learn,” I said.

  A Coletti Talon fighter unleashed another energy beam. It hit one of the pods. Kaboom! A ball of crackling blue light engulfed the fighter.

  Colburn stared in awe at his screens. “The energy flux disrupted all their systems.”

  “Everything is offline, except for life support,” I added.

  My brother whistled. “They either back off or run the risk of losing more ships.”

  “Exactly. Game. Set. Match.”

  “Don’t get too cocky. The Coletti don’t take defeat well, and the Drakash will wear off,” Colburn said nervously.

  My hands shaking badly, I rechecked the readouts. No pursuit. Yet. Everything Colburn said was true. Sooner or later there would be hell to pay.

  With most of my psychic abilities gone, I had the weirdest sensation of being cut off from the real world. I was trapped in a vacuum that threw my senses off kilter and left me utterly blind and unable to defend myself.

  I needed Wulf in my mind, to hear him, to touch him, to taste him. But after what we ha
d just done, would he still want me?

  The baby Gorum climbed into Ziyad’s lap. A look of horror suddenly registered on her face. “The babies.”

  My thoughts still a bit muddled, I glanced over at her. “What about the babies?”

  “The Coletti can use them to find us.”

  Fear ballooned through my mind, and it took every shred of my willpower to control it. Oh Goddess, she was right. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Was my grand plan about to blow up in my face? “The question we need to ask is: will the Overlord request Bebo’s help? I mean, really, how important are we to them?”

  “You’re a powerful Siren, you have telekinetic abilities, you’re a locator who can track Malik across the galaxy, and the most important reason of all—you’re Wulf’s mate,” Colburn said drily.

  Ziyad patted the command console. “Our ship is the latest in stealth technology. The Coletti engineers were going gaga over it. Do you really think the Overlord will let it slip through his fingers?”

  “Okay, fine. All good points, but is the Overlord willing to risk a galactic war for us? I don’t think so. We need to find physical proof of Pokham’s treachery, or we’re dead. I don’t think the Askole will believe anything an abomination or murderer has to say.”

  My brother put his version of a positive spin on the situation. “The good news is you saved Bedan and Kalja. The Gorum won’t turn you into a snack, just us.”

  I doubted the Gorum would eat us. “I’m sure Bebo and Raj will understand why we took their children without permission.”

  My brother snorted. “I can hear it now. Gee, guys, we kinda panicked and forgot they were on board.”

  Yeah, that would go over really well. I rubbed my throbbing head. Could this day get any worse?

  Ziyad tapped her console. “Getting energy fluctuations.”

  A brilliant golden light popped into existence.

  “They’re here.” Colburn stroked the butt of his laser pistol.

  I warned him. “Don’t even think about it.”

  The light spun faster and faster until a vortex formed. Bebo sprang out of the twister with Wulf and Quinn on his back. Raj followed with Lothel hanging on for dear life. With a loud pop, the vortex vanished.