Prologue

PROLOGUE

P reviously on the Lady's Dream…

"So, let me get this right," Covak rumbled, his arms corded with muscle folded over his chest. "We're heading into the middle of human territory to track down a human because another human asked us to?"

Ryke, the leader of the Reaper mercenary unit, shook his head. "No. We're heading into human territory to track down an alien because the Warborne asked us to."

Covak's eyebrow winged up, and he rumbled in disapproval in the back of his throat. Since Ryke and the other crew in the Dream's lounge weren't Vorrtan, they couldn't hear all of the sound, which would have clued them in to just how much he disliked this idea.

"Since when do we do what the Warborne tell us to?"

"Since the alien we're tracking down is a female."

Covak blinked. "Female?" he asked, trying to conceal his interest.

Even though his species still had women, unlike most with any links to Latharian DNA, they were rare and highly aggressive. Off planet he was feared and respected. Back home… he'd have ended up in some warlady's harem.

"Yup. Tell… put it on screen," Ryke ordered.

The lone human on the crew moved, tapping the ever-present access console pad in his hand, and the holo-screen in the middle of the lounge flicked on.

"This is our target…" Tell said, his speech clipped and professional. Covak still couldn't believe he was one of these humans. He definitely smelled more Latharian.

His attention flicked to the screen, and he stopped breathing. A woman lay on a bed, her hair spread over the pillow. She was asleep, or looked to be, her chest rising and falling with each breath.

She was stunningly beautiful, and he growled, his teeth aching as they dropped lower into his mouth.

"We're going," he announced, turning to find Ryke watching him with a smirk. "What? Like you said, she's female. And the Warborne asked us to. Don't want to piss off our new friends, now do we?"

Ryke chuckled. "Indeed, we do not. Okay, let's lock and load. We're going on a road trip."

Covak didn't move as the rest of the crew filed out, his gaze riveted to the woman on the screen. When he was alone, he took a step forward, lifting a hand to stroke a clawed finger over the air where her cheek was. The pixels of the image distorted for a moment but then resettled into place.

"Hey, beautiful," he murmured. "Don't worry. I'm coming for you."