Alien in the Family

“Because they’re going to be gu

“Why?” Tim asked.

“Because we’re the power pieces on the chessboard.” I figured Alexander had replaced Kevin because he was a legitimate threat to King Adolphus’ plan. With Reader back in action, we had two spare rooks. I hoped I wasn’t going to have to pull Tito or Kevin in, though.

“I hate being a pawn,” Tim grumbled. “Pawns get sacrificed.”

“Not my pawns.” Martini looked at the Poof. “Do me a favor and hide in my pocket.” Harlie purred at him and hid as requested. The other Poofs did the same, going into the men’s pockets. Poofikins hopped into my purse.

“Break down their side of the board,” Chuckie said to me.

“Knights are Kyrellis and Moira. Bishops are Gregory and Lenore. I know everyone thought she was clueless, but I’m betting she had some emotional overlay on her to block Jeff. After all, she said she was related to the now-deceased ruler of Alpha Five, so figure she’s in on it, too. Plus, Alexander didn’t trust her, so when in doubt, go with your gut. Their rooks will be the two imageers who infiltrated us, the guys I spotted in Vegas. I’m betting only two, by the way.”

“Why?” Christopher asked.

“There’s not enough distraction and destabilization of our side for too many more to be likely,” Chuckie answered. “It’s possible there are more of them, but I’m with Kitty, probably safe to assume just the two.”

“I practiced with Christopher and Queen Renata,” Serene said. “I can tell who’s who if I’ve ever seen them before, even if they’re shapeshifted or have an image overlaid.”

“Great work, Serene! You’re going to have a tough job, though, no matter what. I want Tim, Tito, Kevin, and Brian protecting Serene, by the way. The moment they realize she can figure out who’s who, she’ll be target number one.”

“Who’s their queen?” Chuckie asked.

“Uma.”

“You’re kidding.” Martini snorted.

“Bitch Leader is the queen. Trust me.”

Queen Renata nodded slowly. “Yes. If I understand your meaning. She was influencing Gregory. It was subtle, but now that I can see the whole web, it was she who drove more decisions, though Gregory would tell you it was him.”

Willem and Felicia nodded as well. “Renata is correct,” Felicia said. “But we are more than pawns.”

“Not in this game. Your death or survival is meaningless to Kitler. In that sense, it’s meaningless to us. The difference is, we know you, have fought with you, and so are attached to you. He knows this about us—they’ve been watching, after all. But if you look at it from the point of a game of strategy, unless you can affect the outcome of this battle, you are not involved.”

“We are good fighters,” Willem said. “Why would you think we would not be able to assist, even turn the tide?”

“Because,” Martini snapped, “I want you guarding the queen.”

“Jeff, I’m going to have to fight.”

“Not if I can help it.” He looked at all of Animal Planet. “Seriously. You want to help? Keep her safe, and keep her out of it.”

“I agree,” Chuckie said. I glared at him. “What? You think any of us want you actually fighting these people?”

“I’m not without the skills.”

“You are in comparison to what we’re up against,” Christopher snapped.

Willem and Queen Renata exchanged glances. “We will protect as you request,” Willem said. I was surrounded in moments.

“Great. Nothing’s here yet. I think I can get out of the group huddle.” They backed off but stayed nearby.

Jerry brought over some extra clips for my Glock. “Just in case,” he said with a grin.

“You guys all weaponed up?”

“Yep. The pawns have all agreed—we don’t plan on dying.”

“That’s the mind-set I want.” I was with Martini—I didn’t want to lose anyone from our side.

Chuckie and Martini were discussing strategy, and the conversation was getting animated. I went to them, Animal Planet trailing me.

“We need to stop them here,” Martini said.

“No argument. I’d like an idea of how.” Chuckie looked around. “Do we need to call in more agents, yours or mine?”

“No.” They both looked at me. “Look, they’re the white side, okay? Accept it. We have no freaking idea of what they’re going to throw at us, just that it’s going to probably hurt. So our initial strategy has to be a reactive one. I don’t like it any more than you guys do, but that’s the reality. If we need more backup, we’ll call for it.”

“If they don’t knock out telecommunications,” Chuckie said.

“Too late,” Kevin was holding his phone. “Just tried to call for backup. No signal, no co

“They’re almost here, then.” I grabbed Martini’s hand and pulled him out of the group. Animal Planet followed. “Um, guys? Appreciate your slavish devotion to your assigned positions, but a little privacy?”

“Oh,” Willem said, sounding embarrassed. “Apologies.” They backed off.

I looked around. We weren’t the only couple having that “this may be good-bye” chat. Animal Planet seemed to catch on, too, and apparently only Wrolph was mateless on this journey. “I hate these people.”

“Me too, baby.” Martini wrapped his arms around me. “Promise me you’ll stay out of it.”

“Jeff, I can’t promise that, and you know it. They’re gu

“You’ll have to get through your honor guard first, and they seem dedicated, thankfully.”

I leaned my head against his chest. “They’ll be gu

“I know. I’m used to it.”

“You know, in all the movies and TV shows, the happy couple always loses a member either right before or right after they get married.” I hated where my mind went during times of trouble.

Martini picked me up, and I wrapped myself around him. “It’ll be fine, baby. I promise. They’ve thrown worse at us, and we’ve been fine.”

I knew this was a blatant lie and that Martini knew it was a lie as well. I chose not to mention it. We held each other tightly for far too short a time. Then he kissed me deeply. Like every kiss of his, it was fabulous and arousing, and I didn’t want to stop. The fear that it could be the last kiss of his I’d ever have didn’t make it better, though—it made it bittersweet.

We probably wouldn’t have stopped, but suddenly there was wind and a roaring. We broke apart a bit and looked in the sky. A ship worthy of an Imperial Battle Cruiser from Star Wars appeared out of nowhere, hovering over us. Three shuttles disengaged from it, circled us, then flew off. I could tell they’d gone to land on the three peaks chosen for their little game of Interplanetary Risk. The battle cruiser rose up, disappearing as it did so. I assumed it was still there, merely cloaked again.

Martini set me down. “Be good, be careful, and stay in the back. Run if you have to. Get through the gate if you can. And remember that, no matter what happens, I love you, and I always will.”

He ran away from me at hyperspeed before I could say anything. But it didn’t matter—my superempath knew how much I loved him.

A whole lot of people appeared in front of us. More than we had. I spotted the power players—in the back, like a lot of ours were.

Gregory’s voice rang out. “Let the Ritual of Worth begin!”

CHAPTER 50

MOIRA JUMPED OUT IN FRONT and started for us. To my horror, and Martini and Chuckie’s obvious shock, Christopher did the same. They headed straight for each other.

A variety of people from the other side charged out as well. “They’re all Amazons,” Serene called. “They look like humans, but they’re not.”