Stealing Jia (Coletti Warlords #12) - Gail Koger Page 0,38
to kill. Now, can I introduce you to my family?”
“Please.”
Pepe sniffed Dad’s armored legs.
“This is my son Cason,” I held him up. “Isn’t he a cutie?”
Dad’s eyebrows crawled up his forehead when notice Cason was a Rodan. “Yeah, he’s real cuddly.”
“Trayon has formally adopted Cason and is converting him,”
“Is that so?” Dad shot Trayon a disbelieving look.
My big, bad bared his fangs in a ghastly smile. “It was Jia’s greatest wish.”
“They do say love is blind,” Dad said diplomatically.
“This is my adopted daughter Chiara. She’s a Shani from the planet Derak. She just achieved warrior status.”
Doing a good imitation of a deadly cobra, Chiara spread her hood and rose up. “It is an honor to meet you.”
“The honor is mine. Destroying seven Rodan ships is a great feat,” Dad said.
Chiara responded modestly, “I only ported us to the ships. Mother Jia did the rest.”
“It was a team effort. All I did was leave a few thermite grenades in the engine room, but I do have to give credit to the idiot Rodan for blowing up his own ship,” I chuckled.
Trayon declared, “Together our enemies cannot defeat us. It matters not what size, shape or species we are. Love unites us all.”
.
Aw. He was such a romantic. I raised my glass of Merlot. “To love.”
“Love.” Dad tapped my glass with his. “And family.”
“Family.” Pepe peed on Dad’s leg.
“Pepe! What are you doing?”
“He no smell like you.” Pepe wagged his tail. “Now does.”
Dad laughed. “A unique family christening.”
“Sorry Dad.”
“I have summoned the cleaning bots,” Amusement danced in Trayon’s eyes.
His head and armor covered in blood worms, Zarek stalked in. His narrowed-eyed gaze fell on the evil twins.
LeeLee and LooLoo shot up my body and hid in my hair.
Merda! I gave Zarek a weak smile. “Remember, they’re just children.”
“Children that were held captive by the Rodan. I will see that they are properly disciplined,” Bey added.
Totally ignoring us and the mess on the floor, Zarek advised, “Sariel has arrived. He has called a war council.” He teleported away.
I drained my glass of Merlot. “What exactly did the twins do?”
“Chiara can give you all the details,” Trayon said.
Dad stood. “Can I offer you a ride to your father’s ship?”
Trayon nodded and gave me a toe-curling kiss. “Try to keep the damage to a minimum.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Dad winked at me. “What he said.” He touched Trayon. Poof! They vanished.
Chapter Twelve
I burst out laughing. “I wished I could have seen Zarek’s face when he realized he was trapped in the twins’ webbing and four bowls of blood worms were suddenly raining down on his head.”
“He was not amused,” Chiara said.
I chortled. “I can imagine. He got his butt kicked by children.”
“The Overlord knows you are laughing at him,” Bey stated.
“No way. He’s not omniscient.”
Bey’s eight eyes regarded me as if I were too stupid to live. “Yes, he is.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I am not.”
“Him knows,” LooLoo said.
LeeLee added, “Big scary.”
“Help. Me,” A male voice whispered in my head.
My amusement died a sudden death. “Did you guys hear that?”
Adoz chirped in alarm and took flight.
“Me did.” The hair on Pepe’s neck stood up.
Bey’s fangs sprang out of his fur. “The mental signature does not belong to a human.”
“It sounds a lot like Adam,” I countered. God, please let it be him.
“Help. Me,” the voice said again.
“Adam? Is that you? I was having a hard time getting a fix on him. “Where are you?”
“Don’t. Know.”
“Look around. What do you see?”
The blurry image of a lab formed in my mind. “Hurt. You. Must. Free me.”
“I will, but first, I need to know where you are.” A twinge of alarm shot through me. Bey was right. The entity talking to me wasn’t human. Had Giovanni already experimented on Adam? Was he now a monster?
“Port. To me.”
Port? Adam didn’t know about Chiara. I winced as my head was suddenly full of angry males. “Ouch!”
“It’s a trap,” Dad bellowed.
Trayon commanded, “Break the link. Now.”
“It is not Adam,” Zarek snapped and struck the mind trying to ensnare me.
I heard a shriek of utter agony before the link broke. A knot formed in my stomach as it hit me. “The mental signature doesn’t match Adam, but it’s a dead ringer for that Rodan scientist who’s working with Giovanni.”
“The scientist’s name is Mallox.” Trayon flashed me an image of a space station littered with headless corpses. “He was responsible for the massacre at Pictoris 335. Three hundred Coletti citizens died.”
A cold chill skittered up my back. Mallox and Giovanni were both trying to create super