Fuck. I should have zapped him sooner. “The thing is, I’m wearing armor and you’re not.” I let lightning crackle around me. “Drop the weapon and I’ll let you live.”
“Me bite. He die,” Oola said.
Cantor’s eyes widened in alarm, he grabbed his throat, made a gurgling noise and did a face plant.
I tapped my bracelet and checked the scanner. Dang. Cantor had no life signs.
Oola crawled across Cantor’s head. “Me warrior. Protect.”
I accessed Jake’s memories. Baby Tabor’s venom was lethal. One bite and their prey were dead before they hit the floor. “You’re a mighty warrior and one special baby girl! I’m going to get you the biggest bowl of mealie bugs I can find.”
Oola’s fur puffed up. “Me like.”
The sheer joy of ending Cantor’s murderous rampage had me moon dancing around a sagebrush and singing, “Ding-dong. Ding. Ding-dong. Ding. A wickeder villain there never was. He filled the Navajo folk with dread. Til one fine day Oola offed him. Ding-dong. Ding. The wicked villain is dead.” I threw in a little hip-hop. Smack. Clap. Stomp. Stomp. Clap.
Giggling madly, Oola boogied on Cantor’s corpse.
I came to an abrupt stop when I noticed Zarek, General Jones, Bey and Jake watching me in amusement. “Cantor’s dead and all it took was a little girl power.”
Zarek examined Cantor. “Tabor venom.”
“Delivered by a girl.”
Jake wrapped me in a bear hug and gave me a smacking kiss. “You’re one of a kind, buttercup.”
“Why thank you.”
“I wanted to interrogate Cantor,” Zarek, the buzzkill, said.
“Oola stopped a cold-blooded murderer and deserves your praise, not your censure.”
A faint smile on his mouth, Zarek nodded. “And she has it. You on the other hand, have created an incident.”
“By using my powers in the line of duty. I don’t think so. Let’s not forget an Askole warrior kidnapped us off your ship. He broke our laws and yours. I suggest you seek reparations from him. We did nothing wrong.”
“The Askole find you so intriguing, they uncovered an obscure clause in our treaty that gives them the right to hunt females of breeding age anywhere they may be,” Zarek replied.
Fuck. Askole warriors could change a girl’s DNA too. This could be a big problem. What girl wanted tentacles for hair? “I’m a police officer, not a politician. My only duty is to protect my people and bring criminals to justice. Which I did. The political stuff is your bailiwick.”
Jake groaned.
“True, but they insist on using you to find these females,” Zarek countered.
Sonovabitch. Someone had told them about my tracking abilities. “A waste of their time and mine. The only psychic females on our lands are over sixty.”
“They want you to track down all Dragos females on Earth.”
Seriously? I crossed my arms and glared at Zarek. “And you’re good with that?”
“Yes. The Askole will be allowed to keep ten percent of the females found.”
My temper flared to life. “I’m a shaman and a police officer. I’m not a slave trader and I won’t hunt down innocent women whose only crime is being psychic. The Askole warriors want them so badly, they can use Central Command hunters.”
“You and Jake serve as my investigators and hunters. You will go and do what I tell you,” Zarek responded testily.
“I work for the Navajo people.”
“You and your father work for me now.”
Oh crap.
Jake interjected, “I haven’t had time to inform CeeCee of her new duties, my lord.”
“See that you do.”
“Yes, my lord.” Jake did the fist-to-chest salute.
Zarek teleported away.
“A word of advice. If you want to keep the Navajo people safe, you’ll do as the Overlord asks,” General Jones said and snagged Oola from my head.
The baby Tabor wailed, “Me stay with CeeCee.”
“No. Your mother and father want you returned,” General Jones said and held out his arm for Bey. Gramps hopped on. Poof. They were gone.
I gave Jake the stink eye. “I don’t like being threatened.”
“When the Tai-Kok found our world, everything changed. To keep our people from being slaughtered, I gave up my humanity. Sometimes I regret that decision, but I would do it all over again. We’re still here and the Tai-Kok aren’t.’
“Good point. The Tai-Kok raids wouldn’t have stopped until they had eaten every one of us.” A humorless laugh broke from me. “To keep humanity safe, we have to sacrifice our future.”
“Being my mate is not a sacrifice. You get hot sex. A partner that will always have your back. We’ll travel the galaxy, meet new lifeforms, solve mysteries and kick some ass. You’re gonna love teleporting, the increase in strength, the ability to heal quickly and don’t forget you get to live for a very long time,” Jake said.
I shook my head. “I won’t hunt down psychic women. I just can’t. It’s wrong on so many levels.”
“The majority of the Dragos clan are thieves, murderers and conmen. Think of it as making them pay for the crimes they’ve committed. A sort of community service.”
“Huh? You know, I can live with that.”
“Good. They want us to start tomorrow,” Jake said.
I glanced down at my bracelet. “Tomorrow is in six hours.”
“Yep.”
“I need some sleep.”
“Me too.” Poof. We were in our quarters.
I retracted my armor and climbed into bed.
Jake crawled in behind me and his hands closed over my breasts.
I smacked at them. “No funny stuff. Sleep now. Play later.”
“You’re a hard woman, buttercup,” Jake griped as he pulled me on his chest.
I snuggled into him. “You have no idea.” It seemed like I had barely closed my eyes when someone started banging on our door. One look at my bracelet and I groaned. “We still have thirty minutes. Make them go away or I will incinerate them.”
“Yes, buttercup.” Jake slid me off his chest and answered the door buck naked.
I admired his fine ass and yanked the blanket over my girlie parts when Trayon rushed in.
“It is time to begin the search.”
“Not before I’ve had my coffee and a shower.” I hurled a
