Chapter Twelve

I helped my mother off the floor. Her eyes widened when she spotted Wulf standing next to the command console. “Who is that? What is he doing here? Where is Lysis?”

I quickly said, “This is Wulf. He’s here to help us stop the Tai-Kok from getting their hands on the Shebu, and Papa is cleaning up.”

My mother’s face paled dramatically. “Oh Goddess. Oh Goddess. That can’t happen. That can’t happen.”

“Focus, Mami. Do you know where the Nabateans went?”

“I think. Maybe. I’m so confused. Where’s Lysis?”

Quinn held out a French Mint. “Maybe this will help.”

“I don’t like you.” Mami snatched the candy out of his hand. “You shot me.”

“You shot her?” Wulf looked a bit annoyed.

I gave Wulf an irritated glare. “She deserved it.”

“Xenia!” Mami protested.

“Mami,” I countered.

Mami patted Quinn’s hand. “I’m sorry I shot you.”

“Twice,” I prompted.

“Twice.”

Being a smart male, Quinn gave Mami another piece of chocolate and said, “Apology accepted.”

“I need you to concentrate, Mami. Where did the Nabateans go?”

“Earth.”

Everyone exclaimed in unison, “Earth?”

“Yes.” Mami ate her chocolate. “Earth.”

Quinn demanded, “Where on Earth?”

“Somewhere in the Middle East. Possibly southern Jordan. To be sure, I need to calculate the coordinates again.”

The command computer announced, “Explosion detected.”

I turned my attention to the tracking scanner. One of the ships had been turned into space debris. “The second Tai-Kok destroyer is leaving orbit.”

“It’s engaging its warp drive,” Quinn said.

Wulf tapped a computer icon. “It has Nilus and the other captives onboard. Any chance Nilus is working with the Tai-Kok?”

“No. Only my uncle is that stupid,” I replied.

“I was able to place an acoustic tag on the engines. We should be able to track it,” Quinn stated.

Papa stepped onto the bridge.

“Lysis!” Mami jumped up and wrapped her arms around him. “You scared me to death.”

“You know I’m hard to kill, Eleni.” Papa kissed her gently.

An incandescent orange light formed in midair.

“He’s back,” I quipped.

The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex. Slashes of lightning danced and pulsed over the walls.

Papa pushed Mami behind him. “Does the vortex always do that?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Adan rolled out of the maelstrom. With a loud pop, it vanished.

“The second ship got away,” I groused.

Adan changed back into his favorite wizard form. “Not entirely. I gave them a gift.”

“Gift?”

“Of var bugs.” Adan waggled his eyebrows.

I gaped at him. “How did you manage that?”

“Ate them. Those nasty creatures are quite hardy. When I spit them out, they immediately attacked the Tai-Kok warriors in the engine room.”

Papa stared at him in utter disbelief. “How many did you gift them with?”

“More than a thousand,” Adan replied.

The thought of the Tai-Kok warriors doing Dolon’s funny wiggling jig as the bugs attacked had me giggling. “You’re an alien anteater.”

“This is the var bugs’ hatching season. Most of them are carrying up to a hundred eggs,” Mami added with an evil smile.

A murderous delight flashed across Quinn’s face. “Hell, Qeeturah style.”

At Wulf’s confused expression, I sent him mental images of the bugs and Dolon’s sore-covered body. “Now the Tai-Kok get to discover what it feels like to be munched on.”

Wulf threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Your mate will fit in perfectly with the other Jones family females, Quinn.”

“Xenia does have the chaos gene,” Quinn agreed.

Papa nodded. “That she does. Xenia inherited it from her mother.”

“From me?” Mami snorted. “The chaos gene comes from your side of the family.”

The communications link blinked. Wonder who was hailing us?

Quinn tapped an icon, and Zarek appeared on the view screen. “Have you located the Nabateans’ new world?”

“Earth,” Wulf answered.

A sardonic smile curved Zarek’s mouth. “Why am I not surprised?”

A holographic map appeared with the Middle East highlighted.

“Eleni believes the Nabatean people took refuge in southern Jordan,” Papa said.

“I will notify Earth’s Central Command. They can get the military to search the area,” Zarek stated. “Any further updates?”

“Adan gifted the Tai-Kok destroyer with a few var bugs,” I said.

Mami interjected, “Tai-Kok blood is like chocolate to the beasties.”

“How difficult are the var bugs to capture?” Zarek leaned forward in his chair.

I took one look at Zarek’s avid gaze and grinned. He reminded me of a hunter intent on finding a new way to trap his prey.

Papa replied, “If you are wearing Eleni’s bug repellant, not difficult at all. We used a suction device to obtain samples.”

“Geema!” Clio in her toddler form climbed up on Zarek’s communication console and held her arms out. “Want Geema. Want Geema.”

Zarek picked her up. “No. It’s not safe.”

“Want Geema.” Clio pouted. “Now!”

“No,” Zarek said firmly and put her on the floor.

A tiny orange light popped into existence.

My eyes widened in alarm. “That can’t be good.”

“Relax. Clio is too young to teleport,” Adan reassured me.

A small maelstrom formed.

“Really?”

Adan shouted, “No, Clio!”

“Me go to Geema.” Clio reverted to her true form and jumped into the vortex. Slurppp! She was gone.

“Oh Goddess,” Mami gasped. “My baby. My poor baby.” She smacked Adan on the chest. “Do something.”

Miniature bolts of lightning danced over the floor. A tiny orange glow formed. It flickered wildly.

“Help her, Adan,” I demanded.

He touched the light. It grew larger and larger until a vortex formed. Adan reached inside and yanked Clio out.

Her little body heaved and shook. “Monster chased me. No like.”

A monster or an Executioner? If the Executioners thought Adan wasn’t taking good care of Clio, they wouldn’t be happy. The last thing we needed was for them to pay us a visit.

“Never. Ever. Do that again,” Adan scolded.

Clio wrapped her tentacles around his neck. “Me sorry.”

“The child is uninjured?” There was genuine concern in Zarek’s voice.

“Me hungry.”

“I would say that is a yes,” I commented.

Mami plucked her from Adan’s arms. “When we get to Earth, I’m taking you to the Magic Kingdom.”

“What magic?”

Adan took Clio back and snarled at my mother, “No. You are not.”

“It’s every child’s right to experience the wonder, the fun, the excitement, the fireworks, and the mouse,” Mami countered.

Papa grabbed Mami’s chin and forced her to look at him. “You cannot and will not take Clio, a Katanic shapeshifter, to that theme park. You do remember how much trouble Xenia caused?”

I winced. My illusions of the big, bad wolf and a fire-breathing dragon had sent people screaming from the park. Papa had been furious.

“It’s a wonderful experience for children.” Mami’s lower lip quivered.

“For Earth children.”

“For all children. Xenia had so much fun there.”

“Tell that to the people who were injured in the stampede to get away from Xenia’s very real-looking illusions,” Papa said.

Quinn raised an inquiring eyebrow. “What did you create?”

“Want a demonstration?”

“I do.”

“You got it.” I concentrated, and poof! An eight-foot purple-and-black dragon appeared. It emitted an ear-shattering roar and spat flames.

Wulf stared in open-mouthed astonishment.

Clio giggled in delight.

“Very realistic,” Quinn remarked.

Zarek added, “A useful talent.”

I let the illusion vanish.

“Do again. Do again,” Clio exclaimed.

I summoned the cartoon version of the big, bad wolf. It prowled the bridge and howled.

A second later Clio morphed into a smaller version of the wolf. “More. More.”

I created a princess.

Poof! Clio became the princess. “Me sparkle.”

“Yes, you do.” Mami picked her up and danced her around the bridge, singing, “You are so pretty. Such a pretty sparkly dress. Such a pretty toothy smile. Such pretty little tentacles.”

My mother can’t sing. She sounds a bit like a screech owl with its wing stuck in a shredder.

Papa rubbed his forehead as if he had a sudden headache.

Wulf and Quinn winced.

Zarek grimaced when Mami hit a high note and broke the link.

Papa was always looking for new ways to harass the Tai-Kok. He once transmitted Mami’s warbling across all the monsters’ communication links. Within an hour, the quadrant was Tai-Kok free.

A tentacle shot from Adan, wrapped around my waist, and dragged me over to him. “I need your help.”

“What kind of help?” I didn’t trust him at all.

“I have Tai-Kok metal bits stuck in my back teeth,” Adan whispered.

I whispered back, “And?”

“If you remove the shattered dentures, I will bring you more chocolate.”

I thought about it for a moment and shook my head. “Not good enough. I want a Coletti communication bracelet.”

“Warrior category?”

“If I’m sticking my hand in your maw, it’s got to be warlord grade with all the extra scanning abilities.”

“Deal.”

“I expect delivery within three days.”

“Done.” Adan’s face altered, serrated teeth popped from his lips, and a gaping maw appeared.

Oh yuck. “Raise your head a bit.”

Adan angled his head up.

“Hold it right there and open wider. A bit wider.” He obeyed, and I peered inside Adan’s mouth. Yep. Pieces of Tai-Kok teeth were stuck in his back choppers. “I see them. Do not bite me.”

“I do not find Farin females tasty.”

“Good to know.” I stuck my hand in Adan’s slimy mouth, dislodged several metal bits, and yanked them free. Slobber splattered the floor. “I told you to spit the teeth out.”

“I was very hungry,” Adan said sheepishly. “There are more teeth jabbing my jaw.”

Yuck. The last thing I wanted to do was stick my hand back in his gooey mouth. Slobber was running down my arms as it was. “How many of the monsters did you eat?”

“I lost count after the first dozen.”

“Since you’re ridding the galaxy of Tai-Kok, I’ll take another look. Ugh. What a mess. You have a bunch of incisors sticking up all over the place.” I pried at the stubborn chunks of metal. “Move your tongue to the left.”

Adan mumbled something.

“My left. Perfect. Don’t move.” Sticking my head into his mouth, I reached down and wiggled a tooth back and forth.

“No eat. No eat,” Clio cried and threw herself at Adan.

Mami shrieked and hit the floor.

Quinn, Papa, and Wulf pulled their swords.

“Whoa! Stop. I’m helping Adan. He has Tai-Kok stuck in his teeth.”

“He’s never heard of floss?” Quinn’s tone was snarky.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m almost done.”

“You are done.” Quinn moved me over. “I’ll do it. Show me.”

“Really, I can do this,” I protested.

“If you do not finish the task, Xenia, I will not obtain a Coletti communication bracelet for you,” Adan stated.

Goddess, what a blabbermouth.

Quinn fixed me with a stern gaze. “What is he talking about?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Papa’s and Wulf’s grins. They thought it was funny? “I need a new communications bracelet.”

Quinn demanded, “Why didn’t you ask me?”

Was that a flash of hurt in Quinn’s eyes? “Ah, well, I didn’t think you would get me one.”

“It is my duty to provide for you,” Quinn stated grimly.

Duty? My temper flared to life. “I’m not a simpering female who needs to be cared for. If I want a new bracelet, I’m quite capable of getting it. Besides, you would have said no.”

“What type of communications bracelet do you want?”

“I want a duplicate of the one you are wearing.”

“Only Coletti warriors are permitted to wear them,” Quinn replied.

I threw up my hands. “I’m a warrior, and in another few weeks, a Coletti.”

Quinn studied me for a long moment. “Zarek will insist you wait until you have been converted, but if we are going to stop the Tai-Kok from taking the Shebu, you will need the proper equipment. I’ll get you a communications bracelet. Deal?”

“Deal. The Goddess in all her infinite wisdom put us together for a reason.” I went up on my tiptoes and kissed Quinn’s cheek.

He brushed his lips across mine. “She knew you are the other half of my soul.”

A poetic warlord? How did I get so lucky? What should I say back to him? The truth? “I’m falling in love with you.” I knew I was grinning like an idiot, but he made me happy.

“About time.” Quinn gently stroked the side of my face with his thumb. “I’m a forever kinda guy. Once you’re mine, I’m never letting you go.”

Every word out of Quinn’s mouth made me want him more. “Even if I want to keep on being a relic hunter?”

“My uncle was an archaeologist, and I used to spend summers on his dig sites. I knew then I wanted to search for the world’s lost cities, but my studies were interrupted by the Tai-Kok. I became a warrior instead.”

“Once we exterminate the Tai-Kok, we will search for those lost civilizations together.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Quinn nibbled on my lower lip.

My father growled, “No kissing.”

“He’s nibbling, not kissing, Papa.”

“All touching must cease until you are twenty-one,” Papa grumbled.

Wulf snorted. “Never happening. Yakira couldn’t keep her hands off me.”

Adan made a retching noise. “I do not understand you humanoids’ need to press your mouths together. It is revolting.”

“How do Katanic shapeshifters show affection?” I really wanted to know.

“With food.”

“What kind of food?”

“The still living kind.”

I eyed Adan warily. Were people the Katanic version of chocolate? “You didn’t answer my question.”

The image of thousands of slithering red snakes with crocodile heads flashed into my mind. “Avestians, but they are difficult to catch. Females also find Askole very tasty.”

“You’re joking, right?”

Papa shook his head grimly. “He is not.”

“You have eaten Askole?”

“Before my rebirth, yes,” Adan stated matter-of-factly.

He was freaking me out. “And Detja didn’t have a problem with that?”

“She did, but there was nothing she could do to stop me.”

Quinn asked, “You still want to stick your hand in his mouth?”

“Not really.”

Adan groused, “We had a deal. Are you an oath breaker?”

“No, I’m not. Open your mouth, and I’ll retrieve the rest of the metal bits,” I replied.

“Yes, my lady.” Adan’s maw grew larger and large.

I glanced up at Quinn. “Got a flashlight?”

“I do.” He pulled a small light from a hip pocket and turned it on. The beam highlighted Adan’s back teeth perfectly.

I pointed at the protruding metal fangs. “See them?”

“The Tai-Kok have piss-poor dentists. The metal shouldn’t have crumbled like that,” Quinn commented.

Clio climbed up on my shoulder. “Me get. Me get.” She extended several tentacles and quickly plucked fragments of the metal dentures from Adan’s gums.

“Good girl, Clio.” Quinn took the broken teeth from her.

I watched Adan flex his jaw. “Better?”

“Yes, the pain is gone.”

“A level ten explosion detected on the surface of Qeeturah. The stone city has been destroyed,” the ship’s computerized voice announced.

“What?” I quickly checked the scanners. It felt like I had been punched in the stomach. The greatest find of the century had been reduced to rubble. “Those bastards blew up the stone city.”

Quinn pulled into his arms. “You have my promise we will make them pay.”

I snuggled into his warmth. I couldn’t see a future without Quinn in it. He was mine for all eternity. Slime and all.

“Do not tell Eleni about the city. It will destroy her,” Papa warned.

Clio imitated my father’s voice, “Do not tell Eleni. Do not tell Eleni. Do not tell Eleni.”

I frowned. My mother would have a meltdown of epic proportions. “The joke is on the Tai-Kok. My bracelet doesn’t have Mami’s translation program. Which they will need to decipher the glyphs. Without the glyphs, they will never find the Nabatean’s new world.”

“Do not tell Eleni. Do not tell Eleni. Do not tell Eleni.”

“How skilled is Nilus with the Nabatean glyphs?” Wulf’s thoughtful gaze was on my mother.

“No tell. No tell. No tell.”

“Quiet, youngling.” Papa picked up Mami and held her against his chest. “Nilus’s skills rival Eleni’s.”

Wulf stroked his goatee. “How long would it take him to translate them?”

“About a week, if the Tai-Kok don’t eat him first,” I answered.

“From my research, prisoners don’t survived longer than a day on a Tai-Kok ship,” Quinn said.

I put in blithely, “Let’s hope they get a bad case of the munchies.”

“Or I can always gift them with more var bugs,” Adan quipped.

Papa’s features held a merciless rage. “An excellent idea. With the right tools and parts, I can fashion a suction device and an ultrasonic bug caller.”

“I have tools and a small workroom,” Quinn responded.

“Sounds like a plan.” I loved male bonding.

Papa placed Mami in the copilot’s chair. “If she starts to make a fuss, summon me.”

“Will do.”

Adan handed me Clio. “You need to care for her.”

“Wait! What if she gets hungry?”

Adan stuck a tentacle in his mouth and made a retching noise.

“Oh hell no.” Quinn backed away.

Adan’s throat bulged weirdly, and he pulled out a goopy arm.

Nausea rose in my throat. “Was that necessary?”

“The child must be fed.” Adan held the arm out to Clio.

With a happy squeak, Clip grabbed it and stuffed it in her maw.

Tai-Kok juices dripped in my lap. “Ugh.” I clapped a hand over mouth. I will not puke. I will not puke. I will not puke.

Clio held up a bloody finger. “You want? Me share.”

“No!” I shook my head violently. “I’m full of chocolate.”

“Tastes good.” Clio pressed the finger to my lips.

Papa snatched the finger. “Can I eat it? I’m very hungry.”

Clio giggled when my father used sleight of hand to make the finger disappear.

I wiped the crap off my mouth and gratefully took the piece of chocolate Quinn held out. “Love you.”

“You are my heart.”

A sigh of content slipped from me. Color me lucky.

Clio pointed at my father. “Who he?”

“He’s your grandfather.”

“Gumpa?”

Papa laughed. “My first grandchild is a Katanic shapeshifter.”

“According to my Yakira, family comes in all sizes and shapes,” Wulf remarked.

Quinn nodded. “That’s because alien life-forms are drawn to our females. Kaylee and the Tabors. Zoey and the Gorum. Bree and her horde of alien kids.”

“Yakira and Ziyad,” Wulf added.

Adan chimed in, “Farin females and Katanics.”

“Enough chatter. If we are to stop the Tai-Kok, we need to build our devices,” Papa interjected.

I put my two cents in. “You need to collect some iplo lizards too, Papa. You know how they love to chew on power cables. And it might be a good time to share Mami’s singing with them again.”

“A sound strategy,” Papa agreed.

“Me sleepy.” Clio nuzzled my neck.

I stroked her hair. “Do you think the Executioners would be interested in delivering our gifts to other Tai-Kok ships?”

“I will ask them,” Adan replied.

Quinn kissed the tip of my nose. “You have the bridge, Xenia.”

“Yes, my lord.”