“For her to take my marks, I must claim her,” I said.
“But that is not enough. How many females have we both fucked who have never taken our marks?”
“Maybe we didn’t fuck them enough times,” I suggested.
“It is not about frequency, Raas.” The corners of his mouth quirked up. “Trust me on this one. Besides, you cannot just pounce on this female. She might faint at the sight of your cock.”
I took the ale the warrior behind the bar slid to me, shaking my head. “This is impossible. I might be able to deal with a human female, but not one who is also so innocent. She comes from a peaceful planet, and has never held a weapon or seen a body fall in battle. She thinks I am a brute.”
My majak considered my words for a moment. “Show her you are not.”
“You wish me to prove I am not a bloodthirsty warlord of the Vandar who fucks as hard as he fights, even as we return to engage the Zagrath in battle?”
Once we’d left Qualynn’s orbit, we’d set a course to return to the sector that contained Juliette’s planet. The empire’s defeat at Kimithion III was only one of many recently—all at the hands of the Vandar and our allies, so now was the time to strike hard and fast. It would be a challenge to convince the human I was not a violent warlord as we stalked and raided imperial ships, my body and my axe dripping with enemy blood.
“We could delay our mission,” my majak said. “It might be more important for you to focus your energy on one thing.”
I bristled as the thought of calling off a military mission for my own personal quest, especially one that consisted of me trying to lure a female into my bed. “What kind of Raas would do that?”
“One who needs to be rid of his torment,” Taan said, his eyes holding mine. “You are not yet lunori, but you will be, if you cannot break the curse.”
I growled, hating the truth of his words. “I will not call off the mission. We are still raider warriors of the Vandar, and I am still a warlord who is pledged to destroy the Zagrath empire.”
My majak sighed, but nodded his understanding.
I clamped a hand on his shoulder. “But I will take any expert advice you might have for seducing females.”
Taan grinned and arched an eyebrow at me, but his instruction was preempted by a warrior pushing his way through the crowd.
The young, bare-chested raider snapped his ankles sharply. “Raas, you are being urgently hailed on the command deck.”
My stomach clenched. Who could be hailing me here?
Chapter Twelve
Vassim
“Are you in need of assistance?” I asked the gold-skinned Dothvek on the view screen. My chest still heaved from the run from the warrior’s canteen to the bridge, and my majak stood next to me, breathing just as heavily.
“We actually wished to offer you assistance,” the alien called K’alvek said. On screen he looked even broader than he had in person, with dark slash marks emblazoned across both sides of his bare chest.
I tried to mask my annoyance because this warrior was an ally. And it hadn’t been his fault that my warrior had been so startled by the transmission that he’d rushed to get me, causing me and my majak to tear out of the canteen and thunder through the warbird, leaping across suspended walkways and taking iron stairs three at a time.
It wasn’t customary for Vandar to work with other warriors, but after battling the empire together on Kimithion III, I had a respect for the bounty hunter crew. They were a fierce group of fighters made up of various alien species, all with a healthy hatred of the empire. And now, their crew even contained a Vandar raider, as well as Juliette’s sister, Corvak’s mate. I tried not to think about Juliette, and her connection to the bounty hunters, as I listened to the Dothvek.
“We have been tracking imperial transport runs. Raiding ships isn’t what we do best, but we know it’s your specialty. Corvak suggested we give you the coordinates, while we track down a couple of imperial leaders who need to disappear.”
A rumble of approval passed through the command deck warriors, their attention also locked onto the image of the Dothvek standing on his ship, his unusually diverse crew at their stations behind him. His human pilot stared back at us, her dark hair pulled up high, and she appeared just as fascinated by our crew as mine was of the alien and human females who served with K’alvek.
“Send them over. We’ll take care of it.” The Vandar were always eager for imperial ships to raid. Even as I steadied my breath, my heart beat faster at the thought of boarding an enemy ship and swarming through its corridors with our axes high.
K’alvek nodded. “We’ve also intercepted transmissions from the empire. Losing the fleet at the battle for Kimithion III was another blow. After the losses at Carlogia Prime and another fleet being destroyed by the three brothers’ hordes, we have them on the defensive. The supply runs have increased because we suspect they’re attempting to rebuild. It’s crucial we don’t let that happen.”
My heartbeat quickened at the news. “Be assured, we won’t let it.”
“Corvak assured me that you wouldn’t.”
I considered asking to speak to the Vandar on their ship but dismissed the idea. If I didn’t speak to him, I would not be intentionally hiding the fact that I had his mate’s sister on board my warbird. At least, that’s what I told myself.
“We will be going dark after this transmission,” K’alvek said.
