“We’ve located and are treating eight males we found in an underground dungeon. We’ve found some females we believe are from Earth and will be deciding what to do with them.
“Follow me,” he says as he walks through the front door and out into the courtyard where we have to step over two bodies. We continue to follow until we’re in the open area between the house and trees, about one hundred fiertos from the house.
“Khour is a rich and powerful male, and never to be underestimated. I’m certain he has surveillance cameras throughout the house, but doubt he can hear us all the way out here. I know what this male is capable of. He was my parents’ employer for a while, right before he convinced them to throw me into slavery to pay their debt to him. I hate the motherdracker with every breath I breathe.”
My belly tightens with this information, reminding me just how much I loathe the male. More than one of us in the group has reason to want to kill him.
“His panic room is most likely equipped with enough food and weapons to outwait us. We can’t stay here forever waiting for him to come out of his room.”
We include Zar and Beast via comm and discuss ways to lure him out for the better part of an hoara. I picture Khour sitting in a comfortable suite of rooms with plush seating and a refresher fit for a king. He probably has not only fine food, but a selection of his favorites spirits. He’s got vids and satellite feed, and is watching us huddle out here trying to outsmart him. He’s probably chuckling to himself believing he’s outwitted us.
We come up with nothing that will work and are trying to wrap our heads around the fact that we’ll be leaving this planet without the male we came to kill, although we put a good dent in the cartel’s ranks by dispatching over thirty of their soldiers. Only Wrage was injured in the attack, and Dr. Drayke says he’ll make a full recovery.
The conversation is winding down. We’ve thought of every eventuality and don’t know how to coax him out. We can’t wait forever. During the entire conversation I’ve known exactly what I’m going to do, I’ve just waited for the group to run out of options before I suggest it.
“I’m staying,” I announce brashly.
“What?” Dax asks, his head whipping toward me. “What would that accomplish?”
“Let’s make a show of leaving. The males from the dungeon are already on the ship. The Fool’s Errand, right? That’s where Dr. Drayke is.”
Shadow nods.
“Make sure Khour sees us parade the females through the house. We’ll land the Devil’s Playground right here in his front yard. There’s room there for all of them, right?”
Erro nods. He resides on that ship.
“He’ll watch all of you fly away after we have a loud discussion right outside his room about giving up and having other more urgent things to do. Doesn’t someone have an important gladiatorial match they must attend?
“I will have quietly wandered into the woods. Before you go, I can set up surveillance vids in what’s left of his bedroom and can sneak back when he opens his hideyhole.”
“Then what?” Stryker asks.
“I kill the motherdracker,” I seethe.
“No,” Shadow says with finality at the same moment I hear Zar and Beast say the same thing through the comm. “Suicide mission.”
“Khour’s well-armed,” Zar says.
“I’ll have a surprise.” I allow WarDog to growl for emphasis.
“I don’t condone it,” Zar’s voice is firm. Beast grunts his agreement.
“With all due respect, Zar, I’m not asking your approval.”
“What about your female?” Shadow asks. “You may be willing to put yourself at risk, but will your female be able to tolerate losing you?”
My shoulders slump as a fist squeezes my heart. As much as I want to kill Khour, I know this is a suicide mission. Can I really do this to Willa?
“She’s in the dormitory?” I ask, having heard a contingent of our females came down to help the ones we liberated.
“Yes, it’s past the well to the north,” Dax says.
“Don’t make any decisions without me. I’ll be back,” I say as I stalk off.
Just walking by the hole in the ground near the well and seeing the rough-hewn steps that led to the hellhole we discovered underground makes bile rise in the back of my throat and my nostrils flare with the remembered stench.
WarDog’s hackles rise and he growls. Find him. Kill him.
Easy boy, I want that as much as you do. We have to talk to our mate. WarDog immediately stands down and I can sense the same anticipation and trepidation I feel as I swiftly seek out Willa for the conversation that awaits us.
I hurry, and moments later I call Willa through the arched front door. I don’t want to enter, it might traumatize the females. Who knows what has been done to them in this forsaken place?
Willa runs through the doorway, across the covered porch, and into my embrace, almost tackling me. After throwing her arms around me, she peppers my face with kisses and then leans back to inspect me.
“Oh my God, where are you hurt?”
I shake my head. “Nowhere.”
“You have blood everywhere.” Her fingers gently wipe my face.
Raising my hands I look down to inspect down my body. “No injuries. That’s the blood of others.” I recall one of the Frains I killed when we first breached the front door. His arterial blood sprayed everywhere.
She sags into my arms again, her hands roaming my back as if to ensure
