Chapter Twelve
Becoming Coletti…
I slipped out of the ranch’s small office while Uncle Saul, Kaelen and Zarek discussed our star charts. They still didn’t have a clue where Earth was located. Which was good for the Tai-Kok but not so good for us.
I used the opportunity to quietly explore my mental link with Kaelen and discovered that six hundred years ago the Coletti race was almost wiped out in the Great Galactic War.
Unfortunately for the females of the universe, chemicals used to bomb Tanith, the Coletti Empire’s home world, created a genetic anomaly, and only one female baby was born for every one thousand males.
Facing extinction, the Coletti Warlords started raiding other planets and species for their prized psychic females.
Quinn was right. There would be a price for the Coletti Empire helping us. Anyone with psychic abilities would be converted, whether they agreed or not. I wasn’t quite sure what that entailed, but I knew the Jones boys would fight it tooth and nail.
Grabbing a shotgun out of the armory in the garage, I climbed into Uncle Saul’s old jeep and drove down the dry creek bed looking for the wild turkeys Greta, the housekeeper, had spotted.
“Are these turkeys you hunt dangerous?” Kaelen inquired.
Bringing the jeep to a stop, I scanned the area for any kind of wildlife. “No.” I flashed him an image of a turkey. “I’m sick to death of MREs and I want a turkey dinner with all the trimmings.”
“And you need time to think about our relationship. I am no longer just a voice in your head.”
He was right. I did need time to think. I had forgotten how pretty he was and all I wanted to do was lick every inch of him. Which would create all sorts of problems and Dad would probably ship me off to Alaska. “Are you really three hundred years old?”
Kaelen’s voice lowered melodramatically, “I am three hundred and twenty-five years old.”
“You look really good for an old guy.” I added a dramatic sigh. “And boy, are you a babe magnet.”
Ghostly lips brushed over my mouth. “You are my soulmate, Lexi. For three hundred years I have waited for you, and I will love you to the end of time.”
“To the end of time?” Tears welled in my eyes. How utterly romantic or was it just drivel?
Kaelen kissed me hungrily. “Search your heart. You know it is true.”
Something clicked in my mind. Fate had brought us together and I couldn’t deny the bond between us. I pressed my lips against his, and Kaelen slowly, thoroughly ravaged my mouth.
“Enough Battle Commander,” Zarek snapped.
Bristling, I blurted out, “We’re not done yet.”
“Yes, you are. You are not yet twenty-one,” Zarek replied.
I threw my hands up in the air. “Fine. Whatever. So, explain to me why I must be converted.”
“Tell her, Battle Commander,” Zarek ordered.
A phantom hand cupped my chin. “To keep you safe.”
“Safe? Are you kidding me? I’m a cop and our world is under attack by murderous aliens. Safe is a fairy tale.”
His hand massaged the back of my neck. “As a full-blooded Coletti you can live to be one thousand years old. Human diseases will no longer affect you; you will heal faster and be harder to kill. The ability to teleport is a great asset in combat.”
“No mangy half-breeds allowed in the Empire, huh? I yelped when a hand smacked my bottom.
“Enough!” Zarek snarled. “You are blood of my blood. Most of my family was killed in the Great War. To have found you is a blessing. But know this; my enemies will try to kill you. To survive what is to come, you need to be a full-blooded Coletti.”
“Gotcha. It’s like being inducted into the Mafia and you’re the Godfather.”
Kaelen groaned.
There was a long silence and then Zarek said, “The Coletti Empire is not a criminal organization.”
“You take people and things that don’t belong to you. That’s considered to be a criminal act,” I shot back.
“You and Detja are much alike.”
“Detja?”
“My mate.”
“I look forward to meeting her.”
On our private link, Kaelen scolded, “You cannot talk to the Overlord in such a manner.”
“Sure, I can. He’s family.”
“I think porting all over the known universe has addled your brain.”
“Major Zan is demanding a meeting. Keep searching the star charts,” Zarek commanded.
Kaelen mentally bowed. “Yes, my lord.”
“Major Zan?” Call me curious.
“An adversary.”
My psychic senses went on red alert, and I racked a round into the shotgun. “Shit! Got a hostile nearby.”
“Not the Tai-Kok,” Kaelen stated. Poof! He was standing next to the jeep and armed to the teeth with human weapons.
Squawking loudly, two chickens and three wild turkeys burst out of the bushes and fled down the creek bed.
Long black tentacles shot out of the undergrowth, snagged the turkeys and yanked them into the bushes.
“Oh, hell, that bastard ate my turkey dinner. Why would Gael return to Earth?”
Kaelen’s face hardened. “He has not. Stop General Jones! The Overlord would be angry if I allowed you to be eaten. Return to the ranch house. You cannot help us.”
“I never run from a fight,” Uncle Saul spat.
“Please, Uncle Saul, bullets won’t kill a Katanic shapeshifter and even Zarek won’t take them on.”
“I’ll be in the sniper’s nest.”
My shoulders sagged in relief. Testosterone should be outlawed. “Yes, sir.”
An aged, pale-faced male with glowing yellow eyes stepped into the creek bed. Three snakelike tentacles hovered above his wispy black, hooded cloak. The effect was nightmarish.
The power radiating off him was terrifying. I laid my shotgun on the passenger seat and tried to look harmless. “Qa’a?”
“Yes. Do not annoy him.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Qa’a had turkey feathers stuck to his mouth. “Yes, sir.”
“You find me amusing?” Qa’a asked, his voice was pleasant and menacing at the same time.
“No, sir. Not at all. It’s just…” I wiped my mouth hoping he would get the hint.
Kaelen interjected, “Gael is no longer on this world.”
“I wanted to meet the female who freed my son from the Tai-Kok.”
My stomach knotted. “All I did was remove the control collar and he ate all the Tai-Kok soldiers guarding him.”
“What form had Gael taken?” Qa’a’s slimy tongue swiped at the feathers.
I flashed Qa’a the image of the skinny Vaziri.
“My son made no attempt to eat you?”
Kaelen snatched me out of the jeep and held me tightly.
“If you make any attempt to teleport Battle Commander, I will stop you. Your mate needs to answer my questions.”
A cold chill skittered up my back. I had a horrible feeling that things were about to go south.
“Gael made no attempt to eat me, but I could feel his hunger, so we fed him some sheep. Unfortunately, the monsters had been starving him for far too long and he needed more to eat. Since I didn’t want him chowing down on my people, I told him about the Tai-Kok battle cruiser hiding behind our moon and he left. ”
“When did Gael return?”
I glanced up at Kaelen.
“Gael took me from my warbird twelve hours ago and brought me here.”
More tentacles sprouted from Qa’a. “Did he say anything to you?”
“No.”
Qa’a glided toward us. “He drained your powers, did he not, Battle Commander.”
“But he didn’t drain mine. Now back off, old man, or I will hurt you.” I growled.
“Enough, Lexi,” Kaelen snapped on our private link.
Eeyore. Eeyore. Eeyore.
What in the hell was that? It almost sounded like a donkey braying. I scanned the area for the source and stiffened in alarm. It was Qa’a and I think he was laughing at me.
“You do not fear me.” One of his tentacles touched my face gently.
I grimaced. His tentacle felt all rubbery and icky. “After porting blindly onto fourteen Tai-Kok ships, it takes a lot to scare me.”
“My mate is utterly fearless,” Kaelen confirmed as Qa’a’s wormy eyebrows rose in surprise.
Qa’a’s face distorted. “Gael brought you to her. Why? My son is not known for his good deeds.”
“To thank me for rescuing him and I think he didn’t want you to know that Ziyn had sold him to the Tai-Kok,” I blurted out.
Qa’a’s tentacles stood straight up, and his power flared, churning the air around us. “She will face the rite, and you will be my witnesses.”
“But we don’t have any actual proof that happened,” I said hurriedly.
Kaelen’s fingers drummed on the hood of the jeep. “If the Tai-Kok battle cruiser is still orbiting the moon, there will be proof in their computer systems.”
“And if Gael ate them all, we could examine the entire ship without a firefight. Plus, Uncle Saul has been wanting to examine their warp engines,” I added.
More tentacles sprouted from Qa’a as he transformed into a squirming black mass with lots of sharklike teeth. “You will be my investigators.”
Yuck. He was seriously freaking me out, but I needed to keep him happy and well fed.
I gave Qa’a my Debbie Sunshine smile. “Sure, not a problem. I’m a trained police officer and my father was a detective for over eight years, before he joined the military.
He closed all his cases, and he taught me investigative procedures.
It’ll take a couple of hours to get to Uncle Ben’s bunker, and we’ll use the portal to get to the ship. ”
A brilliant orange glow popped into existence. “My way is faster.”
“Oh, hell. He isn’t…?”
A muscle twitched in Kaelen’s jaw. “He is.”
“Wait! I don’t have a spacesuit!”
“You do not need one,” Qa’a replied.
Kaelen locked his arms around me as we were pulled against Qa’a’s slimy hide. It kinda reminded me of being hugged by an overly friendly squid.
“Teleporting with a Katanic is a unique experience,” Kaelen said dryly.
The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex. Slurppp! We were sucked inside. It was like going from zero to sixty in five seconds. The horrific, twisting funnel of energy rocketed us across a weird black void.
“Shit!!!” The wind tore at my hair and burned my eyes. My official baseball cap went flying. The smooshing sensation on my face felt like I was pulling G’s. Dad would love this, but to me this was the worst rollercoaster ride ever.
“Prepare to fight,” Kaelen warned.