Page 85 of Arresting the Warlord

“I know who he is, but he’s no friend of mine. I curse you. Xan tu e Ruv!”

I frowned.“‘The wolves shall eat you’ is a curse?”

“It’s an old Romany curse,”Jia spat.

Zarek didn’t seem too concerned.“This is the one you have chosen for Trayon?”

“She is, but I think Central Command’s records on her are incorrect,”I said.

Jia bristled.“What? Wait. You said I wouldn’t be given to a Coletti warrior.”

“And you’re not. Trayon is Askole,”Jake responded.

“Askole?”

Trying to ease my guilt, I flashed her a picture of Trayon petting a sheep.“He seems to be good with animals.”

“Dio Mio. You want me to mate with that alien freak? He has tentacles! Our parts won’t fit,”Jia protested.

Jake laughed.“Oh, they’ll fit. My cousin is mated to an Askole. According to Sarah, Tihar is hung like a bull elephant and is an excellent lover.”

“I don’t care if he’s Don Juan himself. I won’t do it,”Jia cried.

Zarek’s tone was at once menacing and amused,“Not even to save your brother’s life?”

“I don’t need your help to save Adam,”Jia said defiantly.

Jake chuckled.“Got a spaceship, do ya?”

Jia gave him the one-finger salute.

“Do you know the location of the Rodan base or have enough soldiers to successfully attack it?”I asked gently.

Jia smiled grimly.“No, but I know someone who does.”

“Who?”Call me curious.

A glittering blue light formed around Jia.“Bjarke mercenaries.”She vanished.

I had the sudden irrational urge to laugh. “Gotta say I didn’t see that one coming. Loki and Ivan did say they wanted an Earth woman as a mate, but how in the hell did they hook up with Jia?”

“They probably placed a tracker on our shuttle and followed us here. Loki and Ivan are excellent hunters, but a bit on the lazy side. The bastards let us do all the dirty work. When Giovanni escaped with his test subjects, they used telepathy to contact Jia,” Jake replied.

“And once they knew how desperate Jia was to rescue her brother, they made her an offer she wouldn’t refuse,” I added.

Uncle Jesse snorted. “The little fool walked right into their trap and which one of them is going to mate with her?”

“They’ll fight it out. The last one standing wins,” Jake advised.

“Neither of them will mate with Jia. Their old merchant ship cannot outrun my warbird.” Zarek teleported away.

Whoosh!There was a flash of black and Trayon appeared.“Where is my mate?”

I exchanged glances with Jake.“What do we tell him?”

“The truth.”

“She took off with some Bjarke mercenaries,”I said.

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