It didn’t matter. I’d made a promise I couldn’t revoke. Now I had to convince my most trusted officers that I’d done an about face and decided to claim the female instead of depositing her on Ludvok.
I despised the thought of lying to my own raiders, but I also knew that the truth would mean pain and possibly death for Alana. Despite the fact that she’d been sent to kill me, I couldn’t stomach the idea of her being hurt.
Gritting my teeth, I entered the command deck and swept my gaze across the bare-chested raiders standing at their consoles. Svar pivoted toward me, his back straightening when he saw who it was.
He tapped his heels sharply. “Raas. Was your interrogation successful?”
“Do you require my assistance?” Corvak asked, stepping away from his own console.
“It was,” I hesitated as I searched for the right word, “productive.”
Svar angled his head at me, but before he could ask another question, I fixed my eyes on the view screen.
“Our destination is no longer Ludvok,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back.
Svar and Corvak were silent as they stared at me.
“We are changing course, Raas?” Svar finally asked. “We will not be dropping off the female on the planet?”
I gave a curt shake of my head. “We will not be dropping the female off anywhere.” I rocked back on my heels. “I have decided to claim her as one of the spoils of our raiding mission.”
Several heads swiveled toward me. These raiders had been on board when Raas Kratos had taken a female as his war prize. There had been murmurs about his intentions then, although it was acknowledged that a Raas could take any female—especially one in league with the empire—as his captive. The only difference with Alana was that my crew believed her to be running from the empire, not in league with them.
“You are keeping the female?” Corvak asked, his scowl dark and fierce.
I attempted to shrug lightly. “She pleases me. Why should I give her up? Is it not the prerogative of a Raas to claim any female he wants? Are we not raiders?”
A rumble of agreement passed through the command deck with some raiders stomping their feet.
Corvak bowed his head slightly. “Of course, Raas. You may claim any female you wish, but I thought you had suspicions about this one and about her actions.”
I waved a hand. “I was wrong. She was merely curious.”
“But she fought you in the battle ring,” he said, lowering his voice.
I grinned at Corvak. “I prefer a female who fights back. Are you not the same, battle chief?”
His lip curled, no doubt thinking of the pleasurers he selected when we visited the pleasure planets—athletic alien females whom he chased through the houses before they allowed themselves to be caught. “I did not know you enjoyed that, Raas.”
“Is there a Vandar who does not enjoy a challenge? Especially since we have not tasted battle in many rotations?”
Svar cleared his throat. “If we are no longer taking the human to Ludvok, to where should we set a course, Raas?”
I had not thought that far. If our mission was no longer to rid ourselves of the female on the alien planet, where should we go?
Corvak’s head dropped as his console beeped. “We might not need to set a new course, Raas.”
I exhaled even as the back of my neck tingled at the barely controlled excitement in my battle chief’s voice. “What is it?”
“An imperial cruiser, Raas.” Corvak looked up and grinned. “Flying alone.”
“That was a tactical error,” Svar said.
“It’s not uncommon for imperial cruisers to fly alone in this part of the sector,” Corvak reminded us. “Our horde is rarely here.”
“Then bad luck for them.” I squared my stance as I face the view screen. “Show me.”
A few taps of Corvak’s console made the image of the Zagrath ship appear on the massive glass extending across the widest part of the command deck. All the officers snapped their heads up and stared, letting out low rumbles and shifting their feet in eager anticipation.
The dull gray hull of the chunky vessel looked intact, and the ship appeared to be cruising at a steady speed. This was no injured freighter.
I curled my fingers around the hilt of my battle axe. “What do your sensors tell you?”
“Imperial cruiser with a small crew. Standard weapon capability and fully operational shields.” Corvak’s gaze was fixed on the screen, and his dark eyes flashed. “There is no reason we should not be able to overtake them easily, Raas.”
“Good.” The possibility of battle fired my blood and stoked my need for victory, even if the ship was modest. “Assemble a raiding party and alert the other horde ships. I will meet you on the hangar bay.”
Corvak clicked his heels, tapping quickly on his screen then walking briskly from the command deck.
I shifted my gaze to my majak. “Ready to spill some Zagrath blood?”
He clutched the top of his own axe. “I am always ready to bring glory to Vandar.”
As we walked astride off the command deck, my lips curled into a snarl. Now more than ever, I needed a raiding mission to remind me of my duties as Raas and my oath to crush the empire. Especially since I harbored one of their spies in my quarters.
Chapter Twenty
Alana
I waited until he’d left to retrieve the sheet from the floor, wrapping it around myself as I searched for my clothes. My memory was hazy, but hadn’t I taken them off in the main room? Since they were clearly not here, maybe I’d dropped them near the pools.
I poked my head through the arched doorway but didn’t spot my discarded clothing anywhere on the shiny, obsidian floors or counter. Glancing at the
