Chapter Six

An urgent meow penetrated my hazy mind. "Tired. Go away."

Little feet patted my face.

I cracked open an eye. A white cat with green eyes stared at me. I frowned. Why did it have spider legs? Oh yeah, now I remember. " Hitch?"

Purring loudly, Hitch rubbed against my face.

"You, okay?"

Hitch meowed.

"Wake up," a harsh voice demanded.

My little hitchhiker vanished.

What the hell? I could still feel his furry body pressed against my face.

"Wake up, Casey."

I frowned. "Hothar? Is that you?"

"Yes."

"You sound funny. What happened?"

"I was stunned multiple times," Hothar rasped.

Color me confused. Wasn't he supposed to rescue me? "Where are you?"

"In the cell next to you."

My eyes snapped open. "You were captured?"

"Yes."

I bolted upright and quickly realized I was chained to the wall of a holding cell. "Wazzock's piss!"

"The warriors are returning. You need to free us."

My temper flared to life. "Who stunned you? Who?"

"It does not matter." Hothar mentally stroked my face. "You are unharmed."

"It matters to me. Who hurt you?"

"My injuries are not severe, but I am incapacitated. Can you get out of your cuffs?"

"Yes. You know I don't leave home without my get out of jail free card."

"Use it. Now."

I quickly scanned the area and grinned. Bodhi hadn't left a guard. Big mistake on his part.

"Hurry."

Pulling off my belt, I opened the buckle and took out my electronic lock pick. One tap and the shackles popped open. I scrambled to my feet and ran my lock pick over the holding cell's sensor pad. The energy shield dissipated.

Hitch jumped on my head.

"Seriously little dude, wouldn't my shoulder be better?"

He meowed.

"You can see better up there. Okay, whatever. Just don't poop in my hair."

Hitch let out an offended meow.

Hothar rasped, "Do you know where they are holding Aphrodite?"

"No, but my best guess is Bodhi's quarters." I turned off the force field on Hothar's cell and stared at him in shocked alarm. He was buck naked and nasty bruises covered his body. The jerks had taken his battle armor too. Violent spasms shook his body. Hot Lip's grunt of pain sent me scurrying over to him. "When I find who did this to you, I'm gonna kick their ass." I removed his shackles.

"Not… Not necessary."

"The hell it isn't."

A plaintive meow escaped Hitch.

"Yes, he's family."

Hothar bared his teeth in a snarl as another tremor shook him. "That is not a Tabor."

"No, I think Hitch is a combination of cat and Kotsor."

"Hitch?"

I shrugged. "Seemed appropriate. He did hitch a ride with me."

"Where did you find him?"

"On the merchant ship Vakoch. I have a question. Where the heck is your armor?"

"I am not sure. One minute I was wearing armor, the next I wasn't and then Commander Bodhi's warriors stunned me."

My gaze roved over Hothar's heavily muscled form. Mine. All mine. I wanted to lick him all over.

A groan broke from Hot Lips.

I gave myself a mental head smack. This wasn't the time to act like a horny teenager. I needed to figure out a way to get a six foot eight, three-hundred-pound warrior to safety.

"I cannot sense Hitch," Hothar grumbled.

Crap. Being stunned multiple times was mucking with his psychic powers. Then again, maybe Marion had accidentally transferred some of her magical gifts to Hitch and when he was frightened, he vanished both mentally and physically. "I think the little dude has some magical abilities."

"What type of powers?" There was a touch of alarm in Hothar's voice.

"Invisibility for one. Neither Uncle Saul nor Zarek could sense him. Plus, he can understand me, and I can understand him." My head snapped around. Several Askole warriors were heading our way. Huh? One of the warrior's auras was familiar. "Is that Tihar?"

"Yes."

"Oh goody. We don't have to fight our way out."

A rather large Askole warrior in full armor zipped in. "Are you injured?"

"I'm not, but they took Hothar's armor and stunned him multiple times. Can you help him?"

"I can." Tihar's helmet retracted.

By the way his tentacles were squirming, I knew he was angry. Very angry. "How's Sarah?"

He shot me a toothy grin. "She is carrying our first child."

"Wow. Congratulations. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A son," Tihar said proudly as he knelt beside Hothar. His tentacles stung Hot Lip's neck and chest.

Zayn appeared in the doorway. "I claim the…."

"NO!" Power crackled wildly around me as I punched him in the chest with my telekinesis.

Bam! The blow dented Zayn's armor and hurled him backward into the corridor. He hit a wall with a tremendous thud and fell to his knees. Huh? Would you look at that? He had left the perfect imprint of his body on the wall. Kinda reminded me of those old Earth cartoons with the coyote.

Zayn struggled to his feet and shook his head to clear it. "You are…"

I socked him in the face.

His head snapped back, and he toppled to the floor. His yellow gaze fixed on me, he gasped, "I will have…"

I struck him again and again. "No, no, and hell no."

Hothar wrapped his arms around me. "Stop. If he tries to touch you, I will kill him." He kissed my ear. My neck.

I turned my head, and his lips met mine in a long, voracious kiss. His tongue swept into my mouth, stroking me.

Hitch started coughing up a hairball.

Uncle Saul's exasperated sigh sounded in my head. "I said no tongue."

"Yes, sir." I broke our kiss and grinned at Hothar. "Woo-freakin'-hoo. Only fifty-five more days."

He kissed the tip of my nose. "An eternity."

I shot Tihar a sheepish look. "Sorry, I dented your wall."

"And my warrior."

"I won't apologize for that. I told Zayn not to touch me, and he didn't listen."

"You have no ownership band," Tihar pointed out.

I countered, "I'm not twenty-one yet. Any attempt to forcibly sever my bond with Hothar will result in my death."

"And the destruction of this ship," Hothar warned.

"Plus, Sarah would be seriously pissed if you let me die. We are family after all."

Tihar grimaced. "I will inform my warriors."

"Thank you, what did Bodhi do with Aphrodite?"

"He sedated her and put her in his quarters."

"Is Bodhi still breathing?" Call me curious.

"Yes." Tihar's tentacles danced wildly about his face. " We discussed his actions."

"In other words, you beat the hell out of him." I smirked.

Tihar bared his teeth in a predator's smile. "Yes."

The intruder alert sounded again, and the computer spat more gobbledygook.

Hothar tapped his warrior's bracelet. "The witch is in the transporter room."

"What?" Tihar zoomed off.

I touched the medical icon on my warrior's bracelet and scanned Hothar. "Your synapses aren't back to normal yet. Do you need some blood?"

Hothar wrapped an arm around me. "Not yet. The witch is attacking Tihar."

"Oh, hell." There was a flash of black and we appeared in the transporter room.

Her bare breasts swinging wildly, Aphrodite threw a fire ball at Tihar. "I wanna go home. Now!"

Tihar dodged the fire ball and flames erupted on the wall.

"Enough!" Hothar snapped. "Earth is fifty thousand parsecs away."

The ship's automatic fire suppression system kicked in, spraying a thick, white foam over the room.

"Yuck." I wiped the gook out of my eyes. One look at Aphrodite and I burst into laughter. She looked like she had been rolled in marshmallow cream.

"Are you laughing at me?" Aphrodite huffed.

"Yeah, I am."

The witch burst into tears. "Everyone hates me."

"If you stopped being such a bitch, you could actually make some friends," I countered.

Hitch sneezed repeatedly.

Tihar's tentacles stood out. "What is that?"

"What's what?" I snatched Hitch off my head.

"The creature you have in your hands."

"Oh, him. His name is Hitch."

Tihar's left hand dropped to his weapon. "What is it?"

"Not quite sure."

Hothar interjected, "He is one of Marion's creations."

Aphrodite took one look at Hitch, her eyes rolled back in her head and down she went."

Tihar quickly hauled her up. "Why is she unconscious?"

"Aphrodite faints in high stress situations. Bodhi stinging her must have neutralized the fludrocortisone," I answered.

"Fludrocortisone?" Tihar queried.

"It stops her from constantly fainting. Which is a real pain-in-the butt, let me tell ya." I released an exasperated sigh. "I tried to tell Bodhi that taking Aphrodite wasn't a good idea, but he wouldn't listen to me."

Hothar interjected, "She needs an injection every other day."

"Or she faints?" One of Tihar's tentacles stung Aphrodite's shoulder.

"You've got it."

"Is there another witch available?"

I shook my head. "Nope. All the witches working for Central Command are on the far side of the galaxy defusing a bunch of magical bombs. It would take them at least a week to reach Diza."

Aphrodite let out an ear shattering shriek and started smacking Tihar's armored hand. "Let go of me. Let go of me."

Tihar released her.

Aphrodite fell backward into the foam. "Help! I'm drowning. I'm drowning."

"For God's sake Aphrodite, just stand up," I snapped.

Her head popped out of the suds. "I want to go home."

"Don't we all." I gestured at the foam. "How do we get rid of this stuff?"

Tihar tapped his gauntlet. A bright blue light rolled over the room. The suds vanished.

"Oh, my God! He's naked and where is his penis!" Aphrodite exclaimed.

I rolled my eyes. "It's shy. Really shy."

"Shy? It looks like he was castrated."

Hothar gave her the stink eye.

What a doofus. "Coletti physiology is a bit different than a human male."

Bodhi suddenly appeared in the doorway. His gaze fastened on the witch.

Aphrodite broke into a weird hip-hop dance.

"What is she doing?" Hothar asked, clearly perplexed.

"Dancing and can we get the witch some clothes," I whined.

Eyeing Aphrodite's breasts, Zayn staggered into the room. " Has this female been claimed?"

"She belongs to me," Bodhi growled and dropped Zayn with one blow.

The smug smile on Aphrodite's face had me rubbing my aching forehead. "Please tell me you didn't have sex with Commander Bodhi."

Aphrodite just shrugged. "Men are more agreeable after a good fuck."

I groaned.

Tihar's tentacles stood straight up.

"Do you have any idea of what you have done?" Hothar bellowed.

"We fucked. No big deal." Touching several red marks on her neck and breasts, Aphrodite giggled, "His stings launched me into orbit, if you know what I mean."

"Explain yourself Commander," Tihar demanded.

"I need the female to rescue my son."

Aphrodite frowned. "Rescue?"

"His son was captured by Mallox. You know, the evil Rodan scientist that likes to create monsters," I replied.

"No. No. No. I didn't agree to any rescue."

My right eye started twitching. "You mated with Commander Bodhi, which means he owns you now. The mating bond cannot be broken. Ever."

"Ever?"

"Let me put it this way. You are forever linked."

"Forever! But…but we just had sex. Nothing was said about me belonging to him," Aphrodite protested.

Bodhi held out his hand. "Come female."

"Her name is Aphrodite, not female, and there are a few things you need to know about her," I interjected .

Tears rolling down her cheeks, Aphrodite pleaded. "Please don't let him take me. Please."

"You will soon become Askole," Tihar growled. "Bodhi will guide you through the changes."

"Changes!" Aphrodite shrieked. "What changes?"

"Those stings also injected you with Askole DNA and soon you will no longer be human," I answered .

Aphrodite stared at me in utter horror. "That can't be true. It's impossible."

"No, it's not. When Hothar and I complete our bond, I will become a Coletti hybrid, and I'll be able to do cool stuff like teleporting," I said. By the glazed look in her eyes, I knew Aphrodite was a bit overwhelmed. "One good thing about becoming Askole is you'll be lightning fast."

Aphrodite let out a sob. "I just want to be a dancer."

"Well, that's not going to happen now." I looked up at Hothar. "Any ideas?"

"What has been done cannot be undone. She will learn and adjust," Hothar responded.

Yeah, I didn't see that happening. "Commander Bodhi, I need to talk to you about Aphrodite's little quirks."

"Quirks?" Aphrodite squawked.

His cold yellow gaze fixed on the witch, the Commander growled, "She is my mate and will do as she is told."

Aphrodite planted her hands on her hips. "Like hell I will. You will take me back to Earth and…"

Bodhi snatched her up and kissed her hungrily. His tentacles kept stinging Aphrodite until she quit fighting him.

"We are approaching Diza," Tihar announced.

Hothar surveyed my sundress. "Do you have armor that will fit Casey?"

"I do. Teleport to the bridge. I will meet you there after I deal with the Commander and his mate," Tihar instructed.

Hothar wrapped his arms around me and teleported.

I caught a fleeting glimpse of the Commander and Aphrodite having wild monkey sex before we appeared on the bridge. Ugh. I was never going to get that image out of my head.