Chapter Twenty-One
With the Ditrim crystals masking our psychic signatures, Kaylee teleported me inside the tavern’s storeroom. Detja, Zoey, and Bree followed.
Kaylee checked the scanner on her bracelet. “We have forty hostiles.”
I mentally surveyed the area. “Tihar’s here. Let’s go say hello.” I opened the storeroom door and peeked out.
The room was a dimly lit shithole. Filthy tables were packed with intoxicated Askole and Bjarke warriors. The furry Hus Ping bartender was enclosed in a huge iron cage filled with bottles of booze. To get a drink, a customer slipped a credit chip through the grill.
A tipsy Bjarke female wearing only a smile did a weird hippity-hop table dance that made her breasts bounce wildly. The warriors hooted and pounded the table.
“Oh, hell no. I’m not stripping,” Bree stated firmly.
Zoey made a gagging noise. “Me either, and God, do they stink.”
My gaze locked on Tihar. He’d altered his appearance. His nose was bigger, his cheeks puffier, and an ugly scar bisected his face. My temper ignited when I noticed the nude Askole female sprawled on his lap. “Found the bastard.”
The door was yanked open, and a grimy Bjarke in serious need of dental work grabbed Kaylee. “Pretty.”
“Release her,” Detja commanded.
Blinking owlishly, the Bjarke obeyed.
I put the image of Tihar’s female companion in the grubby warrior’s head. “Why is that warrior touching your female? Go get her.”
Fury filled the Bjarke’s eyes. He bellowed a war cry and charged Tihar.
A bored expression on his face, Tihar watched the Bjarke’s approach.
“Mine!” the grubby warrior yelled as he jerked the floozy off Tihar’s lap and swung at him.
Tihar ducked the blow, pulled his pistol, and stunned the Bjarke. All without standing up. Had to say I was impressed.
The floozy climbed back in his lap.
Bree fingered her cattle prod. “Want me to light her up?”
“Very much.”
The man-stealing floozy’s tentacles tangled with Tihar’s, and she kissed him. On the mouth. With tongue.
“I’m going to kill her.”
Zoey grabbed my arm. “Take a deep breath. I don’t think Tihar’s kissing her back.”
“Really?” My temper was at the boiling point.
Kaylee cocked her head to one side. “Is she groping him?”
A murderous fury swept over me, and I stormed through the crowded bar, shoving drunken fools out of my way.
“Oh shit! It’s gonna get ugly,” Bree cried mentally.
Detja warned, “Sarah, think about what you are doing.”
“I am.”
A soused Bjarke lunged for me. “I need to fuck.”
I seized his balls and gave them a vicious twist. “Not in this lifetime.”
Moaning pitifully, the Bjarke dropped to his knees and cupped himself.
I turned my attention back to Tihar. Our eyes met. Mine were filled with rage, his with astonished horror. “You are so busted.”
The cheating jerk leaped to his feet, dumping the female on the floor.
The floozy screeched something, and out came her talons.
Tihar blocked her attempt to disembowel him and threw her across the room. Smack! She landed on a rebel warrior.
The warrior thought he had just won the lottery until the floozy slashed her claws across his face. He tossed her at another male, who flung her at a Bjarke warrior.
A door opened, and a wannabe stepped out. He stopped and stared at me with a puzzled expression. Behind him was a roomful of Legionnaires.
Great, the dancing fools were here too. I pulled out the training grenade and tossed it to the wannabe. “Catch!”
The idiot caught it. His eyes bugged out when he realized what he was holding.
Quickly shoving him back into the room, I slammed the door shut. A loud boom was followed by shrieks.
Tihar’s eyes narrowed as smoke billowed out from under the door.
I stomped up to the former love of my life. “Miss me?” I threw up my hands. “Oh wait, you probably forgot who I am.”
Tihar’s tentacles squirmed angrily. “Why are you here, Sarah?” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “Leave. Now.”
“Leave?” The word came out as a shriek. “Not until I get what I came for.”
Whoosh! The floozy was back. She grabbed Tihar’s arm possessively. “Eskil is mine.”
“Aw, how sweet. You found a worthy mate.”
“What are you babbling about?” Tihar was beyond pissed.
The floozy bared her fangs. “Leave or die.”
“Relax, my lack of tentacles turns Eskil off. He’s all yours, after he fixes my DNA. I’ve decided a Coletti warrior suits me just fine.”
“Over my dead body,” Tihar snarled.
I pulled my laser pistol. “Works for me.”
“Mine.” The floozy swung at me.
Her fist whizzed harmlessly over my head. I fired my pistol. The stun beam hit her dead center in the chest. Violent muscle spasms shook her body, and down she went.
I smiled up at Tihar. “Where were we? Oh yeah, we need to talk about you leaving me, your floozy, and my screwed-up DNA. So, are you going to come quietly, or do we do this the hard way?”
Tihar stared at me for a long moment, then growled, “Are you deliberately trying to get yourself killed?”
“Gee, now you’re worried about me?” The next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. I turned my forward momentum into a fast tuck and roll and landed on my feet. “Who did that?”
“An Askole warrior just picked you up and lobbed you across the tavern,” Zoey answered.
Detja’s tone was one of extreme exasperation. “What happened to quick and quiet? Now our only option is to retreat.”
“But Tihar hasn’t agreed to come with us.”
“I have no wish to become Snoor’s captive. Do you?”
“No.”
With a loud roar, the Hus Ping bartender charged out of his cage, swinging a metal bar at my head. “Die. Spy.”
It missed me by a good foot and cracked a drunken Askole warrior right in the kisser.
I jumped out of the way as he came crashing down. The idiot bartender was used to dealing with tall folk, not pipsqueaks like me.
The bartender tried again and bam! He hit a Bjarke warrior in the head, knocking him on his ass.
The Bjarke’s buddy rattled off something in a language I didn’t know.
The bartender yelled a bunch of gobbledygook and boom! The fight was on. Other warriors joined in, and the brawl kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
Tihar’s anger rolled across my mind. “What you have done?”
“Me? The bartender started it, and you’re the one letting the floozy feel you up.” Dodging flying chairs, liquor bottles, and fists, I scurried into the cage and quickly shut the door. I watched the carnage. Most of the warriors were moving faster than the eye could follow, and bodies flew every which way.
Detja, Kaylee, Bree, and Zoey joined me.
“Great distraction, huh?”
They all glared at me.
The bartender did a Wile E. Coyote face-plant against the cage and slowly slid down the metal.
“That’s gotta hurt,” Kaylee murmured.
Zoey surveyed the fighting warriors. “I could swear Voss is nearby.”
“I can sense Jaylan too,” Bree said.
Kaylee frowned. “It’d be just my luck they tracked Diar here.”
Fuck. I turned to Detja. “Getting any psychic vibes?”
“The Overlord is in the building.”
“So basically, we’re in a shitload of trouble?”
Detja nodded. “Our mates are very angry.”
Yay, not only did the Ditrim crystals screw up other people’s psychic abilities, they screwed with ours too.
God, I needed a drink. I grabbed a bottle of green liquid and took a cautious taste. I immediately spat it back out. “This shit tastes like turpentine.”
“It is called Akpeteshi or the ‘kill me quick’ drink. After you imbibe it, you want to die. Only the Askole can tolerate it. They consume it to prove their strength and virility,” Detja replied.
The tavern suddenly got way too quiet. I peered over the counter. Unconscious combatants littered the floor. Only six warriors remained standing. One was Tihar, and I’d bet the others were Zarek and his crew. Wonder if they used the same nifty illusion device as the Legionnaires?
Taking a deep breath, I opened the cage door and walked up to the warriors. “This is all my fault. I wanted my life back. If you’re going to punish someone, punish me.”
The air shimmered, and one by one, the warlords and Sariel appeared. The expressions on their faces were terrifying.
Detja popped in next to me. “No, the responsibility is mine. Tihar’s actions dishonored Sarah, and I agreed to help her.”
Tihar loomed over me. “How did I dishonor you?”
“You left me, you jackass.” I punched him in the stomach. Damn, that hurt. Rubbing my throbbing knuckles, I met Tihar’s furious gaze and said, “I thought we had something special until you dumped me on Detja’s doorstep and cut our mental bond. God, did you realize how badly you hurt me?”
“I did it to keep you safe.”
I snorted. “Kissing that floozy kept me safe?”
“My mission was to stop Snoor.” Annoyance filled Tihar’s voice.
“Oh, I got it, you’re a male Mata Hari.”
“Who is this Mata Hari?”
“She was a promiscuous spy who got her information by seducing the enemy.”
Tihar’s tentacles knotted. “I did not have sex with Krila the floozy or anyone else.”
“Uh-huh. Just admit it. You realized you had made a mistake in claiming me. So you ditched me.”
“I did not abandon you,” Tihar bellowed.
“Really? It sure feels like you did. You couldn’t have taken a few minutes out of your busy schedule to let me know you were okay? Or tell me you still loved me?”
“In war, many things are not possible, but I did help you defeat the naugers.”
“That’s true. You saved my life and the lives of my family. For that I’m eternally grateful. Then you vanished again. Your father, the High Commander, didn’t have a problem contacting me. Do you know what he said?”
“I am sure you are going to tell me.”
“Damn right. Your father said I was inferior, child-size, and weak. I lacked tentacles. I didn’t have the skills to survive in your culture. He happily informed me that you had found an appropriate, full-blooded Askole female to bear your children. And he saved the best for last. Our bridal contract had been nullified.”
“That is not true. There was no communication between us, nor did I nullify the bridal contract,” Sariel interjected.
My internal radar went on red alert an instant before a hoarse male voice said, “But, I did.”
I spun around. In the doorway stood a huge Askole warrior. The flesh on half of his face and scalp appeared to have been melted off. The other side of his face was untouched. Behind him, a Coletti warrior smirked at Zarek. Man, were those crystals messin’ with my psychic abilities. “Who’s the freak?”
“Snoor,” Detja whispered.
I whispered back, “His face fits his aura. Who’s the other guy?”
“Diar.”
“Ah, the soon-to-be-dead Coletti traitor.” I caught fleeting glimpses of Adan snagging Snoor’s warriors. “Do you think the evil mastermind knows Adan is eating his troops?”
“Be silent, females,” Snoor barked.
I glanced down at the timer on my bracelet. Rats. We still had two minutes until our big, noisy diversion started. I needed to stall a little longer. Doing my best Debbie Sunshine impression, I gushed, “But, my lord, I’m still waiting for you to tell me how you fooled the Overlord and his pathetic minions.”
The Overlord and his pathetic minions eyed me with a distinct lack of favor.
Snoor, the vain fool, bought it, hook, line, and sinker. The few tentacles he had left perked up. “It was simple. I used a holograph of Sariel to trick you. I wanted to take everything Tihar loved from him. His planet, his people, and his female. He destroyed my family, and now I destroy his.”
I put a hand to my forehead and gasped like a drama queen. “He killed your entire family?”
Kaylee sniggered.
Snoor bared his fangs menacingly. “He murdered my brother, Shandev.”
“You mean Shandev the assassin?” I dropped my act.
“Yes.”
“I was there. It was a fair fight. Your brother lost his head. Literally,” I replied sweetly.
Snoor’s furious roar reverberated off the metal walls. “You, I will kill slowly, painfully.”
I shook my head. “Nah, don’t see that happening, but you, on the other hand, will die painfully. I absolutely guarantee it. Tick-tock.”
“Tick-tock,” Bree echoed.
Zoey repeated, “Tick-tock.”
The warlords suddenly had an oh crap look in their eyes.
Kaylee clapped her hands. “Boom!”
A thunderous explosion rocked the building.
I grinned. “That was the armory.”
Kaboom! The lights flickered and died. “That was the power generator,” Bree said gleefully.
Kablooey! Thwap! Bap-bap! Thop! Pieces of metal hit the roof.
Detja put in blithely, “Your planetary defense systems have been eradicated.”
The building shuddered as a series of explosions rocked the earth.
A jubilant Zoey added, “Bummer. No more spaceships.”
I clucked my tongue. “Seriously, dude, never mess with our family. It doesn’t end well. Oh, and if you are expecting your warriors to rescue you? It ain’t happening. Our Katanic shape-shifter ate them all.”
Rage etched into the right side of his face, Snoor fired his laser pistol at me.
A brilliant blue shield automatically formed around me. Crack! The laser beam rebounded. Zap! Snoor was reduced to a big pile of ash. The shield ring was awesome.
A tentacle grabbed Diar’s leg and yanked him off his feet.
“Do not eat him, Adan. I need to interrogate him,” Zarek commanded, kicking the laser pistol out of Diar’s hand.
“I will die first.” Diar yanked out his knife and tried to slit his own throat.
Jaylan stunned him and was suddenly engaged in a vicious tug-of-war with Adan. “Release him.”
“I caught him first,” Adan retorted, pulling Diar and Jaylan out the door.
I snickered as Jaylan tried to wrestle Diar from Adan.
Adan put Jaylan in a headlock and spun him in circles and followed up with a piledriver.
“I think Adan has been watching old WrestleMania vids,” Kaylee whooped.
Zoey burst into laughter when Adan tossed Jaylan in a snowdrift. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Man, is he gonna be pissed,” Bree moaned.
Talree gave us the evil eye. “Return to your ship.”
Kaylee saluted. “Sir, yes, sir.”
“Now,” Voss ordered.
Zoey glared at him. “We took out the rebel stronghold with only one shot being fired, and this is the thanks we get?”
A muscle twitched in Voss’s cheek. “You put yourself in a war zone without knowing all the facts. What did you do with Rho?”
“The big guy? Haven’t seen him. Let’s blow this joint,” I said hastily.
Detja nodded. “We should allow the males to do their job.”
“You betcha,” Zoey agreed.
Tihar grabbed me and kissed the ever-loving sense out of me. “My heart is forever yours.”
“Not buying it. Convince me.”
“As my lady commands.” Whoosh! Tihar zoomed out the door, barely avoiding Adan and Jaylan, who were still tussling over Diar, and zipped into a storage room.
“Alone at last,” I quipped as Tihar sat me on a crate.
“Leaving you was the hardest thing I have ever done.” Tihar’s big hands moved over my body as if he couldn’t believe I was real.
I cupped his cheek. “I’m a warrior. I would have fought at your side.”
“Snoor is a berserker. If he knew you were my mate, he would have done everything in his power to kill you, no matter how many people he had to slaughter to get to you. I could not allow that to happen.” His hard, muscled frame trembled with hunger.
“The bastard is dead now, but never, ever leave me again. Deal?”
“Deal.”
“Now shut up and give me some lovin’.”
“A thousand nights will never be enough. I want you for all eternity.” Tihar crushed my lips with urgent, greedy kisses. His tentacles roamed over my breasts, delivering nipping stings that made my internal muscles quiver in sheer ecstasy.
I hastily unfastened his leather pants and wrapped my fingers around his long, thick penis. “I need you inside me now.”
“Anything my lady wants.” Tihar pulled my leggings off and spread my thighs apart. I guided him into my channel. His hips flexed, and he was suddenly buried balls-deep inside me.
“God, you feel so good.” The exquisite feel of his shaft pulling out and pushing back into me in an almost frantic rhythm drove me wild. “Don’t stop.”
“Never.” Pure carnal need was etched into his features, Tihar thrust again and again and again. “You were made for me.”
“Fuck me harder,” I moaned as pleasure cascaded over me.
Tihar pounded into me at a relentless pace. He reached between us and flicked my nub. My back arched as multiple orgasms tore through me.
Suddenly, a red energy beam punched through the metal wall, barely missing Tihar.
The next thing I knew, I was on the floor with the big guy on top of me. “Can’t breathe.”
A volley of laser beam vaporized the far wall.
“Stay down,” Tihar ordered, easing off me. He checked the tracking scanner on his bracelet. “Adan missed ten of Snoor’s warriors.”
My temper flared. The bastards had just spoiled our makeup sex. I pulled my laser pistol, mentally located the shooters, and started firing. “Die, suckers!”
“Die, suckers?” Tihar shot two bad guys on the roof across from us.
“It’s an Earth term.”
Crap. I could sense Zarek and Sariel heading our way. “I think we got them all.” I pulled my pants up and pointed at Tihar’s big-ass boner.
“You might to tuck your dangly bits back in. The Overlord and your father are coming, and they aren’t happy.”