Coletti Warlords: Vexing Voss (18 page)

“Excellent idea,”
Jiao said, and they all zoomed away.

I shuddered to think what my back looked like now. Spotting a com-link, I hurried over to it and typed eagerly into the keypad. It made a rude noise. Rats, I needed a password.

Okay. How about a map of the complex? I hit the proper icon and crowed in triumph when an overview of the complex popped up. Cool. The armory was two levels down.

Panicked honking erupted down the corridor. Music to my ears. Teach you to slaughter our children.

Alarms began to bellow.

Chapter Fourteen

Row after row after row of explosives, weapons, and ammunition filled the cavernous armory. Oh my God, were those thermite grenades? I opened the crate and did a little happy dance. There were hundreds of them—flash bangs, smoke bombs, and deadly garrison killers. So many to choose from, and too little time to inspect them all. I scooped up a black grenade reverently. A couple of these puppies would blow this entire complex to smithereens. Unfortunately, once you pulled the pin, you had a whole sixty seconds to run like hell. Suicidal I wasn’t.

My gaze fell on racks of laser rifles. Whoa! They were top-of-the-line Asus. Malik must have spent at least ten million credits on them. Quickly stuffing my pockets with grenades, I dashed over to the rack.

Crap, the lock was state-of-the-art too.

Three icons appeared in my mind.

I tried them, and the lock opened.
“Thanks, honey bunny.”

Voss gave me a grumpy growl.

Someone was being a cranky butt. I pulled out a rifle and quickly checked it over. A sigh of relief escaped me. It was fully charged. I slung it over my shoulder and looked around. Now where were the bombs?

A death’s-head symbol popped into my head.
“Search for it,”
Voss commanded.

“Yes, sir. On it, sir.”
Throwing him a snappy mental salute, I stomped down the aisles looking for the symbol. Would it have hurt him to ask if I was okay?

A low rumble of warning echoed in my head.
“Do not think me uncaring. I know every scrape, bruise, or cut you have suffered at Zye’s hands, and he will be punished.”

“You’re a day late and a dollar short, bucko. Raj ate him.”

“Raj?”

“I freed more Gorum. Now I have my own little army.”

I could feel Voss’s horrified alarm and Zarek’s concerned interest as they poured more power into me.

A sigh broke from me at all that lovely energy. My psychic abilities were coming back on line.
“Relax, guys, they stung me too.”

Zarek asked,
“How many did you free?”

“Four so far. They’re chowing down on the Tai-Kok while I make the armory go boom.”

“Stay away from them. They will not be able to control their hunger yet,”
Voss ordered.

“I hear ya. For a minute there, they were eyeing me like I was Thanksgiving dinner.”

A child’s wail echoed across my mind.

“Did ya hear that?”

“Yes, one of Bebo’s children survived,”
Voss answered.

“The poor little thing is probably scared half to death.”
I reached out with my mind searching for the source. There. The little guy was hiding in a crack in the cavern wall.

“Be very careful. That poor little thing is already capable of killing.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“I have no reason to exaggerate his ability to kill,”
Voss growled in irritation.

“Don’t let him eat me,”
the little guy sobbed.

“Who wants to eat you, honey?”

The mental image of a Tai-Kok perched high up on a ledge popped into my mind. The monster’s rifle was pointed right at…me! I hit the deck.

A laser beam sizzled over my back, and a crate of ammunition glowed brightly and vanished.

Holy shit!
Keeping my head down, I scrambled madly down the aisles as the cracking red energy beam vaporized everything behind me.

The moron didn’t seem to care that he had just destroyed a good chunk of their ammunition. I took cover behind an enormous crate and scanned the area. Well, that was freaky weird.
“Why can’t I sense him?”

“It seems the rumors of a drug that temporarily creates a psychic shield are true,”
Zarek answered.

“Wonderful. Betcha it has some nasty side effects.”

“One can hope.”

A shadow moved.

Gotcha, asshole
. Raising the laser rifle, I got him in the crosshairs of my scope and shot the monster’s hand off.

Squawking wildly, the Tai-Kok fired again.

The beam missed me by a good foot.

“Kill it,”
the Battle Commander snarled.
“We do not play with our prey.”

“What do you mean ‘we,’ Kemosabe? There’s only me, and the kid needs to eat,”
I snarled back, and turned the Tai-Kok into ash.

“Let the Gorum tend to the child’s needs.”

“They’re a bit busy right now, and if you think I’m leaving a baby all alone down here, you’re nuts.”

“The child has survived this long without your help.”

“You’re gonna be a shitty dad.”
Furious, I broke the link, stalked over to the severed hand, grabbed it gingerly, and carried it over to the crack.
“My name is Zoey, and I’ll bet you’re really hungry.”

“They killed my mom,”
the infant cried.

“They killed my mom too.”
Dropping the hand, I used the toe of my boot to edge it closer to the crack.
“I won’t let them hurt you. Go ahead and eat. You’re safe now.”

His tiny head peeked out at me.
“Promise?”

God, he was so cute and no bigger than a newborn puppy.
“Promise. What’s your name?”

“Bedan. My father is king, and one day I’ll be a fierce warrior just like him.”

Color me impressed. For a newborn, Bedan was a fountain of information.
“Yes, you will. Now eat so you can grow up to be big and strong like your father.”

Wrapping his tentacles around the hand, Bedan pulled it into his rapidly expanding maw.

Voss angrily shoved information into my mind.

Oh, well, that explained it. The Gorum had genetic memories and were born with the ability to teleport. Probably what saved the little guy.
“He’s still a baby.”

“A baby who can kill you.”

“Not leaving him.”

“You are an aggravating female.”

“Right back at ya, poopsie.”
I linked with Raj.
“Bebo’s son Bedan survived, and I have him in the armory with me.”

Voss roared,
“You summoned the Gorum?”

“Well, yeah, they need to know the kid survived, and I’m pretty sure they won’t eat me.”

“Pretty sure?”

Thirty seconds later, Raj appeared in the armory. His fierce joy was contagious.
“Bedan!”

“Uncle!”
Their tentacles twined together.

Go figure. Raj was a prince.

A bunch of Gorum appeared.

Whoa! Raj had found and released three more of his people. I edged away from them. God, I hoped they wouldn’t want to sting me too.

Their tentacles stroked and caressed Bedan with joyous relief.

A tear rolled down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away. God, I loved happy endings.

“There will be no happy ending if the Tai-Kok find and eat you,”
Voss growled.

Mentally flipping him the bird, I walked over to a crate with a death’s-head on the side and opened it. Oh yeah. I had my smoke signal. The bombs inside were the Tai-Kok’s version of our Tomahawk missiles. Set this sucker off next to some thermite grenades, and
kablooey
, the base would be nothing but rubble.

I examined the Gorum. They were still pretty skinny.
“Raj, are you all strong enough to teleport out of here?”

He slithered over to me and examined the explosives. Two of his tentacles snagged the grenades from my pockets and set the timers.
“Yes.”

My eyes bugged out. Holy hell! He set it to blow in two minutes.
“You didn’t give me enough time to get to the landing bay and steal a marauder. As riled up as the Tai-Kok are, they’re not going to let me waltz in there and take one without a fight.”

“Females do not engage in battle.”

“Says who?”

“Zoey,”
Voss snapped in my head.

Raj pulled the pins on the grenades.
“We will teleport your mate to safety, Battle Commander.”

“Wait! I don’t think that’s a very good idea.”
A tentacle wrapped around my waist and deposited me on Raj’s back.

“Do not fall off,”
Raj instructed, and a golden glow engulfed us.

A scream tore from me. Teleporting with a Gorum was like falling down the eye of a tornado at Mach one. Thirty heart-stopping, chaotic seconds later, we appeared high up on a rocky ledge.

The bloodred sun glared down at us, searing my unprotected flesh. I sucked in a shuddering breath. I never, ever wanted to do that again.

Voss’s mind wrapped me in a fierce hug.
“You’re unharmed.”

“What! You thought I wouldn’t be?

“None have ever survived the experience of teleporting with a Gorum,”
Zarek stated.

Oh dear God.
“And why did you neglect to tell me this?”

“Staying at the Tai-Kok base would have resulted in your death. We felt the risk was acceptable,”
the Overlord responded.

“Acceptable, huh?”
Well, wasn’t that just absofuckinglutely wonderful. I guess that showed me exactly what they thought of me. I was easy to replace.

“You’re irreplaceable,”
Voss said. His sinful mouth closed over mine in a bone-melting kiss.

“You are definitely one of a kind,”
Zarek added drily.

Raj’s tentacle stroked my hair.
“You were never in any danger, little female. Our venom prohibits any cellular damage, and your mental shields protected your sanity.”

“Color me happy.”

“Me still hungry,”
Bedan wailed.

“Eat the Scorm off Zoey,”
Vishna said.

That was when I noticed a horde of Scorm swarming up my legs.
“Get them off. Get them off!”
I shrieked, trying to jump off Raj’s back, but he held me firmly in place.

Like a little vacuum cleaner, Bedan sucked them up.

My skin crawling, I took a quick look around for more Scorm.

A vast ocean of coral-colored sand stretched out to the horizon. In the distance, contorted rocks reared up like giant blood-encrusted monsters. Winds heated by hell sent swirling vortexes of dust dancing over the dunes.

Sweat rolled down my face, stinging my eyes. It felt like I was being baked alive. And I thought Arizona summers were bad.

The ground rumbled beneath us, and with an ear-shattering boom, the earth erupted, spewing flames and smoke thousands of feet into the scarlet sky. Holy fucking shit! We were barely ten miles away from the explosion.

I took a shaky breath and asked,
“Your scanners picking up our smoke signal?”

“Yes. As well as any other ships within this solar system,”
Voss answered. His tone was all merciless predator.

“Bad guys saw it too, huh?”

“A Tai-Kok battle cruiser is heading your way.”

“Can you destroy it?”

“They will reach Joroco before we can engage them in battle.”

The earth trembled violently, and the ledge suddenly crumbled away. Oh my God!

Raj’s tentacle tightened painfully, and we fell into a vortex of golden light.

Abruptly we were perched atop a cinnamon-colored sand dune. I clutched my stomach and fought down the urge to hurl. Jeez, and I thought those horrible amusement park rides were bad.
“Everyone okay?”

“We are free,”
a badly scarred Gorum proclaimed, his tentacle crawling up my leg.

“Wait! Shit!”
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I sucked in a long breath.
“What’s your name?”

“Kunwar. I am the king’s Battle Commander.”

“Oh, like my Voss.”

“Yes, your mate chose well.”

“Um…thanks. I take it you’ve met Voss?”

His amusement evident, Kunwar answered,
“Many times.”

“The Overlord and I would be honored to discuss battle strategies with you,”
Voss said.

“The Tai-Kok must be exterminated,”
Kunwar stated, his voice flat and cold.

“On that we agree,”
Zarek responded. His words were filled with a quiet, deadly venom.

Aw, how sweet. The boys were bonding.

Bedan crawled up on my shoulder.
“Wanna go home.”

“Me too, sweetie.”
A jangling sense of alarm knotted my stomach. I quickly surveyed the sea of crescent-shaped sand dunes. Nothing moved across the mirage-haunted surface. The only sound was the faint never-ending moan of the wind.

The sensation of danger grew. Dropping my shields, I scanned the area, aware I had everyone’s attention. An image formed in my mind’s eye. A long snakelike body with armored spines and a cobra’s head.

“
Sand sharks,”
Raj snarled.

“Their hunger equals ours,”
Kunwar growled.

A scarlet spine cut the surface of the sand, and I had this silly urge to hum the theme song to
Jaws.

Bedan wrapped his tentacles in my hair and shivered.
“Me scared.”

I stroked his rubbery little body.
“It’ll be okay.”

“Sand sharks are very difficult to kill. When they break the surface, shoot them between the eyes,”
Voss stated.

“Yes, sir.”
I pulled the laser rifle off my back and held it ready.

Horrific jaws erupted from the sand, and the creature rose up and up and up. The thing was huge with pink eyes, a broad snout, and needle-sharp teeth. Emitting a tremendous roar, it spread its hood to attack.

I shot the sand shark between the eyes. The head instantly vaporized.

The enormous body convulsed violently, whipping up a mini sandstorm before flopping limply on the hot dirt.