Chapter Nine

The vortex spat us out on the bridge of Quinn’s ship. Slashes of lightning danced and pulsed over the walls.

I shuddered and shook. Slime dripped off me. “I’m never, ever doing that again.”

Adan released me. “You are unharmed, little female, but you bruised my tentacle.”

“I’m going to do more than bruise a tentacle,” I snarled and pulled my laser pistol. It squirted out of my hand. “Drekk!”

Quinn caught it. “Open up.” He held out an unwrapped French Mint candy.

I did a good imitation of a hungry baby bird, and he popped it in my mouth. All that chocolaty goodness hit my taste buds. Goddess, I needed that. My nerves began to settle.

My warlord gave me a brain-fuzzing, sensual smile. “Better?”

“Getting there,” I gasped as a bolt of arousal hit me. I suddenly wanted to lick every inch of Quinn’s very fine body.

Adan transformed into a young teenage boy with glasses and a scar in the form of a lightning bolt on his forehead.

“The harmless wizard disguise doesn’t work on you,” I said sarcastically.

“Females find this form very attractive.”

A growl rumbled in my chest.

“Your eyes are glowing again,” Adan commented.

I tried to pull my knife, but the sucker kept slipping out of my hand.

Quinn stepped in front of me. “Go feed your kid, Adan.”

“As you command,” Adan snipped. He took one look at me and quickly left.

“I really, really want to hurt him.”

“I know, but it would upset Detja.” My wonderful warlord stuffed more chocolate in my mouth.

“Oh Goddess,” I moaned. “I think I love you.”

“Chocolate is the way to a woman’s heart.” Quinn fed me a third piece.

“Learned that from your sister, huh?”

“I did. A hot shower, some clean clothes, and you will be as good as new,” Quinn said.

I looked around the bridge of the ship. “Where is my mother?”

“She’s on a time-out,” Quinn replied without a twinge of remorse.

I parroted, “A time-out?”

“Zarek shared his real-time vid of the events on Jandjviles. Your mother couldn’t handle seeing you in the middle of all those Tai-Kok warriors, and freaked out. She would scream, faint, wake up, and start screaming again. I put her in the holding cell.”

In Quinn’s mind, it was a logical move, but my mother was never this quiet. “Did you gag her?”

“No, I shot her with her own tranquilizer dart.” There was a gleam of satisfaction in Quinn’s eyes.

“And Clio?”

“Is with her. She needed a nap too.”

“Please tell me you didn’t dart her?”

“Of course not. Clio’s a baby.” Quinn placed a candy in his mouth. He leaned over, kissed me, and at the same time slid the chocolate between my lips.

We both lapped at the melting candy until it was gone.

I sucked Quinn’s chocolaty tongue into my mouth and licked it until there was nothing left but him. I liked the way Quinn tasted, felt. I wiped slime off his chin. “How did you know I love chocolate kisses?”

“I’m psychic.”

I gasped as Quinn’s hard hands cupped my breasts. “And horny.”

“Very horny,” he agreed. His thumbs stroked my nipples into hard points. “I can’t wait to claim you.”

A shudder shook me as Quinn psychically gave my nipples a slow, firm lick. “Why wait?”

Zarek suddenly popped up on the view screen. “Did we not just have this conversation? There will be no more chocolate kisses or touching, psychic or otherwise, until Xenia turns twenty-one,” the Overlord barked. “Are you clear on that?”

Quinn snapped to attention. “Yes, my lord.”

“This is your last warning. Next time, I will discipline you.”

My temper flared to life, and I stepped in front of Quinn. “The drekk you will. No one hurts my mate, not even you. So back the hell off.”

“Back the hell off?”

The sheer menace in the Overlord’s voice was frightening, but I was too angry to care.

Quinn shoved me behind him. “Please accept my apology. Xenia is still in battle mode and did not mean to challenge you.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Challenge accepted. I will pit you against Detja.”

Reality smacked me between the eyes. I had seen Detja fight. I wouldn’t last five seconds. I peered around Quinn’s back. “Is it too late to apologize, my lord?”

“Lose the attitude and smart mouth, Xenia, or no chocolate for the next year, and don’t forget the dung duty,” Zarek replied.

I banged my head against Quinn’s back. That would teach me to mouth off to the Overlord. “It won’t happen again, my lord,” I mumbled, wiping frantically at the slime marks on the back of my warlord’s spiffy battle suit.

“Can you speak up? I didn’t quite hear you,” Zarek said in an icy tone.

“It won’t happen again.”

“Good. Go find Lysis. Let him know I filed your claim on Qeeturah with the Federation and informed them of Nilus’s actions. They issued a warrant for his arrest.”

“Thank you, my lord. My father will be pleased.”

“I protect my own.” The screen went black.

“Well, that was unexpected.”

“I have discovered that, while Zarek can be a cold bastard and a harsh taskmaster, he genuinely cares for his people.”

“Detja is the same way. Got more chocolate?”

“I do, but shower first. You’re making a mess of my floors.”

Slime was pooling around my boots. Was Quinn a clean freak?

Adan walked onto the bridge, holding Clio. “I’m taking her to a feeding ground.”

“Define feeding ground,” I shot back.

“A planet that is inhabited by furry little creatures that are easy for younglings to hunt.”

“Promise me you will take good care of Clio.”

“You have my word.” Adan morphed into a large, black silky ball with tentacles, and the orange light popped into existence.

Quinn dodged a lightning bolt as the maelstrom got bigger.

“Eleni is awake,” Adan added as he stepped into the vortex. With a loud cracking pop, the twister vanished.

I let out a long breath. Once Mami woke up, it wouldn’t take her long to work herself into a frenzy over Quinn’s treatment. Thank the Goddess I had my father’s temperament.

“Go take your shower. I’ll handle your mother,” Quinn said.

Would it reflect badly on me if I said not being responsible for my mother for a couple of hours would be a dream come true? Probably. “You would do that for me?”

I felt Quinn’s fleeting mental caress. “And more.”

He was a keeper. “You do realize what you’re getting yourself into? My family is a bit cockeyed.”

“Darlin’, I have an Askole in mine. I’m sure I can persuade Eleni to listen to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Have you met my mother? She’s highly intelligent, but doesn’t have a lick of common sense. She’s emotional, easily frightened, and she doesn’t follow orders. At all. My father and I have our hands full trying to keep her out of trouble.”

“How does she feel about chocolate?”

My warlord was a cunning male. “She loves it.” I smiled at Quinn. “You sure you want to do this? My mother is one of a kind.”

“Darlin’, so am I,” Quinn responded with a wink.

My mother’s scream echoed down the hallway.

“Last chance to make a run for it.”

“Warlords never run, and I’ll have Eleni eating out of my hand.” Quinn teleported away.

The screams stopped abruptly. Color me surprised. The chocolate had worked.

Another scream sounded and was abruptly cut off.

I hoped Quinn hadn’t used the tranquilizer dart on Mami again. Once Papa found out what Quinn had done, he wasn’t going to be pleased. And when Papa got mad, people got hurt. The last thing I wanted was for the two of them to fight.