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  She put two fingers to each temple and massaged, squeezing her eyes tightly. “Thank you.”

  Her sarcasm sliced deep. He didn’t deserve it merely because he’d pointed a finger at her fiancé. She was much more complex, had many more facets than most women of his acquaintance. He decided to accept her gratitude at face value. “You’re very welcome, princess.”

  She scowled at him when he called her princess, but he didn’t care. That’s precisely what she was. The weblinthium princess as well as a Confederation princess. “So where is Dennis?”

  “My sources say Bletzoid, a planet in the Kaloba System, in the Gamma Quadrant.” He stood stoically, watching the shifting expressions on her face, wondering how much her Violetian mask cloaked her true emotions.

  “And has my double surfaced? Or has she laid low since I was arrested?”

  “She’s laid low, but my sources tell me she’s also on Bletzoid—in the company of your fiancé.”

  Siobhan swore under her breath and rammed a fist into her palm. “Whoever she is, she’s obviously doing an excellent job pretending to be me.”

  Caid swallowed his sigh. Why was he bothering to help her when it was like banging his head against a weblinthium force field? Because despite the wench’s opinion of him, he was a decent man who couldn’t turn away from a beautiful damsel in distress. And, a little devilish voice whispered in the back of his mind, because the princess’s family might bestow a splendid reward on him for restoring their little darling’s honor.

  Angry at himself, he scowled. His motivation was altruistic. To save the universe and this wench. If he was to turn his back and the evil destroyed his home, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself, even if he hadn’t been home to Earth in well over a decade, it being clear across the galaxy in the Alpha Quadrant.

  When he held his counsel, Siobhan darted a piteous look his way. “Until I have hard evidence that my fiancé has betrayed me, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.” Then she muttered under her breath, shaking her head. “Don’t you think I’ve considered that possibility? Why do you think it’s been torturing me?”

  Feeling like a counselor, more than a bit troubled by the rumble in his chest every time the fiancé was brought up, he rubbed the back of his tense neck, trying to work the knots out of the sinews. “Look into your own soul. Explore your conscience.” He imparted a piece of sage advice under his breath, “Who delivered you from death’s corridor? Don’t let misplaced loyalty blind you. Those closest to you have the best opportunity to stick a knife in your back.”

  The ship’s alarms went crazy, blaring in his ears. He raced to the defense panel and opened the view screen. Caid’s blood chilled at the terrifying, if expected sight, icing over his veins. “We’ve got company.”

  “The Confederation.” Siobhan froze to her spot. “They’re hailing us, demanding to board our vessel.”

  “Open communications! Don’t hesitate as if we have something to hide.” Choking on his hatred for the Confederation, Caid forced an inviting smile on his face. “Remember, you must act subservient to me. Don’t speak unless addressed directly. Hang your head low at all times. Do not look any of the men directly in the eye.”

  The arctic blast directed at him was the least of his concerns at the moment. He could handle the wench. He wasn’t so sure about a Confederation constellation starship. He positioned himself in front of the view screen, standing tall, and nodded to her to press the on switch.

  A Confederation Admiral filled the screen, her countenance grayer than her drab, highly starched uniform. “Identify yourself,” the Admiral demanded, her whiskers twitching, her pink nose moist in her kitlup-like face.

  Caid smiled and bowed low, his arm holding his midsection. “We are but a couple of humble Violetian pilgrims, traveling to our consecrated terrain to have our union sanctified. I travel with my mate and one servant.”

  Beside him, he could feel the wench bristling, and had to suppress a smile at her awkwardness. Of course the institutions of matrimony and piracy didn’t go hand in hand, which must be the cause of her ire. To remind her of her place more than for show, he squeezed her hand. For show, he told himself, he rubbed her knuckles with the pad of his thumb.

  “We would like permission to board your vessel and verify the truth of your assertions. We have tracked a most heinous criminal to this section of the quadrant.”

  Chapter Four

  Siobhan’s internal alarms blared, almost deafening her. Using her peripheral vision as all Confederation cadets were trained to do, she scanned the attaché that beamed onto the bridge. When she recognized a long-time adversary from her early days in the fleet, now a commander like herself, Eldon Paquette, she had grave difficulty exhaling. Ever since she had shunned his advances he’d been out to destroy her career. She suffered no doubt he would prefer to end her life. He was a much better suspect for trying to destroy her than Dennis.

  Caid squeezed her hand, giving her a shot of courage. She dared not send a grateful smile his way so she squeezed his hand back. For once she was thankful for the disarray of hair cloaking her body, falling over her eyes. It tickled her wrists and chafed her neck, but it also disguised her face. Although the alterations and flesh enhancements had gone a long way to hide her identity, someone who knew her as well as Paquette could still conceivably recognize her. She was counting on the fact that Dennis would, discounting the pirate’s troubling theories.

  Cloning. There had been no known occurrences of this since the twenty-first century. Siobhan held her breath while Eldon circled her. “You seem most familiar. Have we met?” he asked, stopping in front of her, standing at parade rest.

  Caid dug his fingers into her palm and cut off any response she may have inadvertently made. “My mate has never been off-world prior to this, and has been cloistered before our union. Even if you have visited Violetia, it is doubtful you have crossed paths.”

  “I’ve never had the pleasure.” Eldon’s falsely suave tones irritated her as always, but this time, there was the added element of fear.

  She dare not even watch the commander using her peripheral vision so her only view of him was his highly polished regulation Confederation boots. Her heart raced and it took extreme effort to breathe normally.

  A finger tugged her chin up, and Eldon gazed searchingly down into her eyes. Turning her head back and forth, he examined her closely.

  It took all her thespian genes to keep the spark of recognition from her eyes and to stay relaxed as if his very touch didn’t send creepy shivers through her.

  “I suppose we’ve not met before. My apologies.” He released her abruptly and stepped back.

  Siobhan’s knees went weak so she leaned against Caid, grateful for his support.

  A Confederation ensign escorted the struggling and mewling Shellik onto the bridge at taser-point. “This looks like the Shellik we’ve been looking for.”

  Caid snorted. If these Confederation officers shared a brain between them, he’d be amazed. “All Shelliks look alike. They don’t have decipherable eye or thumbprints so you can’t identify one from another.”

  “State your name for the record, Shellik.” Eldon asked, his nose held haughtily high.

  Vizzy lifted his head, pounded his chest and roared, shaking the tiny ship.

  The ensign and another security officer pulled their weapons on him, the safety controls off.

  Siobhan sucked in her breath, strangling herself to keep from blurting out an explanation. What was the idiot doing making threatening moves against armed and jumpy Confederation officers? He was liable to get them all killed.

  Caid cleared his throat, bristling at her side. “If I may explain. Shelliks are easily startled. If you put your weapons away, he will calm down. His name is Druzeel by the way. Unless you converse in Shellik, you wouldn’t be able to understand him anyway.”

  Eldon looked doubtful, but finally nodded to his men. “Put your weapons down,” Eldon ordered, his forehead pinched.
“But keep your hands in the air where I can see them.”

  Caid tossed a glance at Vizzy clearly signaling him to acquiesce.

  Vizzy nodded and mewled, extending his arms so that his fingertips swept the ceiling. He writhed around, a tight expression on his face.

  “What’s he doing?” Eldon said sharply to Caid, his finger twitching on his taser, his expression graying.

  “He’s itchy. I wouldn’t stand too close.” In an aside he whispered, “He has karalipes.”

  “What is that?” Disdain warred with suspicion in Eldon’s voice.

  “I believe your kind call them ‘fleas’.” Caid’s voice held a twinge of wickedness that made Siobhan want to kick his shin. She settled for digging her fingernails into his palm.

  Looking uncomfortable, the officers increased their distance from the hairy Shellik.

  Vizzy sent up a cry of outrage, but stopped convulsing. His bottom lip hung out in a quivering pout.

  “What do you hope to find by searching our vessel and interrogating us?” Caid asked glibly. “Our travel credentials are in order, as you can manifestly distinguish.”

  “There has been dissension in the area, and one of our chips was tracked here for a most desperate and dangerous criminal, so all unknown vessels are suspect. It appears you are who you say you are. Our lifesource detectors only read three lifeforms on board your vessel, so you are free to go.” Eldon folded the counterfeit travel documents and handed them back to Caid who pocketed them nonchalantly.

  “Is it safe for us to continue our journey?” Caid feigned concern. “I do not wish to put my mate in harm’s way.”

  Flickering emotions shadowed Eldon’s pewter eyes. “It’s a very dangerous time. Return to your planet and do not attempt to leave for the next ten moseps.”

  Caid’s eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly and his fingers stiffened around hers. “Is that an order? Ten moseps is a long time.”

  “It is a suggestion. We can provide escort to your home world.”

  “That is not necessary. It is unlikely anyone would bother a small transport vessel like ours. We have nothing of any value. We are but humble pilgrims.”

  Eldon clicked his heels and bowed stiffly. “As you wish. Beware if you are hailed by a Captain Siobhan Mallory. Do not attempt to return her hail. Reverse your course immediately and contact the Confederation. It is most imperative we apprehend her.”

  Worms crawled up Siobhan’s spine, hearing her own name, and she did her best to suppress her trepidation. If she was one to believe in fate or signs, she would take Eldon’s untimely appearance as a nasty portent.

  “I’m not familiar with that name,” Caid lied so slickly she would have believed him if she hadn’t known the truth.

  “You best commit it to memory. Your very lives may depend upon it.” Eldon saluted smartly and beckoned his crew to stand by his side. Touching his fingers to the communicator pinned to his lapel, he said, “Retrieve us.”

  Caid saluted smartly as the Confederation officers shimmered away. When the last trace of their atoms had disappeared off the ship, he exhaled loudly.

  Finally! She expelled a long pent-up breath, and wrenched away from his grip. She elbowed the pirate in his ribs. “You want to wind up back on death’s corridor? Smarting off to Eldon that way is an excellent way to do so!”

  Caid scowled at her darkly and massaged his ribs. His brows knitted together. “Eldon? You’re acquainted?”

  She nodded, bile rising in her throat that she hadn’t been able to afford in the commander’s presence. “We attended academy together.”

  The pirate circled her, his hands linked loosely behind his back, his jade eyes inscrutable. “Did I detect a romantic liaison? An old flame perhaps?”

  It was her turn to scowl. “Hardly. An old nemesis,” she said on a snarl, her skin still crawling. “He views himself quite the ladies’ man and let’s just say he was irked when I didn’t share his view.”

  “And he didn’t recognize you?” It was said in the tone of a rhetorical question.

  He would have taken them into custody—or incinerated them on the spot—if he had. “Obviously not,” she said with great restraint, careful not to let the derision shade her voice.

  “You don’t think he’s playing cat and mouse with us?” Caid stared raptly at the view screen.

  “Not because he recognized me. But he will probably watch to make sure we retrace our path. Any good Confederation officer would.” And Eldon played things by the book. Unimaginative, he rarely thought outside the box. He would most likely monitor them for a few parsecs, become bored with their compliance, and be called away to a more important mission. “Pretend to acquiesce. Turn around and set course to Violetia.”

  Caid paced the bridge, tossing his hair behind his shoulders, darting dark looks her way. “Not good.”

  So say something she didn’t already know. “Do the star charts show any wormholes to the Gamma Quadrant?” She wasn’t one to let little things, especially Eldon, stand in her way. “Pull it up on screen.”

  “I’m the captain, comprendez?” Caid’s scowl was in danger of becoming perpetual. He flounced across the bridge like a peacock, his chin held high, his eyes glittering intensely.

  It took everything in her not to roll her eyes at his display of superiority. It was time to put on her diplomatic hat and flatter his ego. “What would you suggest, captain?”

  Caid puffed out his chest and nodded to Vizzy. “Put the star charts on screen. Let’s peruse them.”

  “Exceptional idea, captain.” She couldn’t resist the sarcastic dig, which earned her a grimace.

  The pirate turned his back on her, freezing her out. “Vizzy, what do you think of this anomaly. Could it be a wormhole?”

  Vizzy meandered to Caid’s side and responded in his unintelligible gibberish.

  Siobhan peered at the irregularity closely. “It could be. What is the density reading?”

  Caid gave her a disdainful glance over his shoulder. “Did I ask you, princess?” To Vizzy he commanded, “Give me a density reading.”

  How long was he going to ignore her? She joined Vizzy and deciphered the data. “It matches the readings on other wormholes I’ve run across.”

  Vizzy looked to Caid for agreement, his giant paw hovering over the panel. He spoke loudly, gesticulating with his paws.

  “Fine. Set course for Violetia. Then we’ll veer off for the anomaly soon as we lose the Confederation.” Defeat and weariness rang in his voice as he marched off the bridge, his boot heels echoing loudly.

  “I’m sure you don’t have fleas.” Siobhan scratched behind Vizzy’s ears commiseratively.

  Understanding in his eyes, Vizzy jiggled his head. He shrugged his shaggy shoulders and pointed at the egress Caid had exited a few moments before.

  “He’s a crafty one.” Slippery, too. Mainly, he was a mystery. A very intriguing, compelling mystery.

  Pride glowed in Vizzy’s eyes. Crafty must be a compliment in the pirating world.

  Caid’s voice boomed over the com. “Princess, I would like the pleasure of your company in my quarters. Vizzy, you’re in charge of the ship.”

  Vizzy muttered his consent and averted his eyes chastely, busying himself with his assigned task.

  Since the pirate had made it clear that he couldn’t stand the sight of her only moments before, he could only want one thing. Men only dropped such raw grudges long enough to quench their thirst. Her pussy quivered much to her chagrin. Simultaneously thrilled and annoyed, she bit back a sigh and tried to contain her excitement about being alone with Caid.

  She thought of refusing, to see how he would react, but then thought better of it. She didn’t wish to remain lavender for the rest of her life and she wasn’t convinced that anyone other than Doctor Vignolo could reverse his process. If she fell into disfavor with the pirate, she might also alienate the physician. If she refused, ultimately, she would thwart her own hungry desires.

  “Princess.” Comm
and rang in Caid’s voice. He wasn’t asking permission and she secretly thrilled to his command.

  “Aye, captain. On my way.” Under her breath she muttered, “I’m coming. I’m coming.” Poor pirate had survived a twensep without sex. He must be on death’s corridor. But the twensep had felt like a mosep to her as well and her pace quickened.

  When she arrived at his chambers, she batted her long lashes at him coquettishly as a concubine would do. “You rang?” she asked as sweetly as she could without choking, a jumble of warring emotions. Simultaneously, she wanted to strangle him and devour him with kisses.

  Caid lay naked, gloriously stretched out on the bed, his cock engorged and standing straight up. It flexed when he regarded her with smoky, lusty eyes. “Who are you and where did you hide the princess?”

  She quivered with shameless lust, angry at herself for reacting to the pirate so wantonly. What was so magical about his cock that she went all aquiver whenever she saw it?

  He crooked a finger at her, drawing her inexorably to him. When she stopped at the side of the bed, he hooked a finger in the vee of her robe and drew her down so that their gazes locked. “Perhaps she’s hiding under these gowns.”

  “Perhaps,” Siobhan agreed, mesmerized against her will by his hypnotic gaze and husky voice. It was all she could do to keep her gaze from consuming his fascinating cock. Licking her lips, she stuttered, “You’re so-so-so…”

  “Huge? Awe-inspiring?” Caid couldn’t pat himself on the back any better. No man, even Paquette, had a superior ego.

  “Purple.” Chortles rose in her throat, bubbling out. She couldn’t help herself and doubled over laughing.

  Caid tore her clothes off with one long rip, revealing her lavender curves. His laughter rumbled over hers as he tackled her onto the bed and they rolled around in mock battle, their hair tangling helplessly, imprisoning her against him. Breathlessly, he said, “You’re very…”