"well, i can't give any guarantees over what the others will look like, but i'll make sure you and arvil don't match." teeg ended the call shortly after.

"ready, our reah?" farzi stuck his head inside my door.

"i'm ready," i nodded. he and nenzi crawled into my bed only a few moments later. i hugged nenzi's length against me as farzi coiled up at my back. it made me feel safer to know they were with me.

the crash woke me an hour before dawn. terrified, i reached over to turn on my bedside lamp. the image that greeted me will perhaps be burned on my brain forever. wilffin was standing in my doorway with a ranos pistol in one hand, his other arm draped around the blonde courtesan.

chapter 14

wilffin and the blonde were barely dressed; wilffin was waving the pistol and giving me a drunken leer. the woman, however, had a hand clapped over her mouth in terror. all eight lion snake shapeshifters had their heads raised high, prepared to strike if wilffin and the woman came any closer. the courtesan wasn't the only terrified person there.

how was i going to get out of this? i didn't want wilffin to shoot any of my lion snake protectors, and if farzi or his brothers bit either of my uninvited guests, then wilffox would see that they were killed if wilffin didn't get them first. if wilffin were allowed to come in as he wanted, i was terrified of what he intended to do. "farzi, please stay back," my voice shook. fear for my own safety took a back seat to my fear for the lives of the shapeshifters. at least wilffin might leave me alive afterward.

"wilffin, you will go back to your bedroom now and make love to this fine woman." teeg and astralan were there behind wilffin somehow. wilffin blinked at teeg for only a moment before nodding and pulling the woman away with him. farzi and the others relaxed visibly the moment wilffin walked out the door.

"thank the stars," i muttered, realizing only then i had a death grip on my sheet and blanket.

"farzi, i'll take things from here," teeg nodded to the proper lion snake, even. farzi and his brothers slipped out of my room. "thank you, astralan," teeg nodded toward the warlock.

"no trouble," astralan said and disappeared.

"sweetheart, that shouldn't have happened," teeg settled on the side of my bed. i realized i was trembling uncontrollably when i let go of my covers. "here, just slide over a little," teeg scooted me over in the bed. "now, just lie here with me," teeg kissed my forehead and pulled me against him. my heart was still pounding when he reached over and turned off the light.

"reah, just act like it never happened," teeg told me the following morning. he'd let me sleep late and woke me with a kiss around mid-morning. it made me wonder what the others had done for breakfast.

"they got something from the staff," teeg murmured against my throat-he was placing kisses there.

"are you going back to campiaa?" i was trying to fend him off so i could ask questions.

"reah, i have to," teeg nipped my neck. it caused my entire body to flush when he did that.

"but i'm afraid to stay here with them." i was whining, but i was terrified, too.

"reah, sweetheart, they won't bother you again-i promise." how could he say that? he wasn't the one in the bed the night before, faced with a drunken crime kingpin waving a pistol. "i know you're worried, but i've alerted astralan and his brothers. they'll watch out for you."

that was fine for him to say-i wasn't paying the warlocks, the hardlows were. i think they'd do what their employers said, rather than choosing to protect an unimportant woman.

"let farzi and his brothers do their job. they and the warlocks will take care of you, sweetheart."

"fine." teeg realized he was finally getting what he wanted-my cooperation-both in and out of bed. still, when teeg left-astralan took him back to campiaa before returning-i watched my back and made sure i was never alone near wilffin. the three women did stay several days, even after arvil came back to plan his drakus seed harvest party.

"here's the menu, pending your approval," i handed my comp-vid to arvil. he was using grish's old study, staying in close contact with teeg and his newly hired assistant. arvil had brought three new wizards back with him to zephili-he'd hired them in record time. i was wary of all of them. the bad news was he'd left ry and tory with teeg for the time being. "the wine choices are attached, but we don't have what we need here. is there any way i can get to campiaa to buy it?"

"this looks good, reah. i'll see if wilffox will lend astralan to you for a day, just so you can pick up all of this. bring a full staff of cooks and assistants back with you-as many as you need." arvil was giving me permission to do whatever i wanted with this. "will you serve the soup i like?"

"it's there, with the fish choice," i nodded toward the comp-vid.

"i see it. it'll be a good night. i just know it. we'll have a victory out of this, reah. the alliance is within our grasp and we will crush it from existence." i watched as arvil's fist closed around an imaginary enemy. i nodded and ducked my head. i felt ill when i left arvil's temporary study.

vice-director? i must have sounded shaky when i sent the mindspeech to lendill schaff.

reah, what's wrong? lendill got back with me right away.

has ry or tory told you about the big party that arvil is planning shortly after the first few fields are harvested?

i only have sketchy information. what do you know?

that arvil is inviting the biggest and the worst, i sent. this party will coincide with the first shipments going out. i'm supervising the menu and the meal preparations. arvil just admitted to me that he intends to crush the alliance.

is the party all he plans?

no, he's going to take all of them out to the seed fields and show them how extensive the crop is.

before or after?

the party is set for early afternoon, with the visit to the seed fields immediately after. they're bringing in luxury hoverbuses just for the occasion. i was kneading dough in the kitchen, pounding it harder than necessary as i held my mental conversation. i could never forget arvil's mission or how ruthless he could be in obtaining his goals.

we have your location pinpointed on the zephili map, lendill informed me. we wanted to wait until the shipping station got the first crates so we can get the shipping addresses. anyone expecting seed will get a visit from the asd instead. this is too perfect, reah. i think we can arrange for a surprise for arvil's visitors while they're looking over his fields. we need you to stay with them until we make our move, though, so they won't suspect anything. just promise that you'll skip away at the first sign of the asd attack.

i'll do it, i grumped mentally. i didn't tell him that i'd be searching for a way to get the reptanoids out of the way, too. i wasn't about to let them get killed or captured.

keep up the good work, special agent nilvas. i think i can get you a promotion and a pay increase. lendill was gloating. well, that was easy for him-he wasn't neck deep in the middle of it.

on a personal level, i merely wanted to come out of this alive and intact. i also wanted farzi, nenzi and their brothers to get out of this alive as well. i wondered if i could skip them away somewhere, just so they could be free for a change. i grabbed my comp-vid after setting the dough to rise again and started looking for likely places that would be safe for them.

"reah, you look tired." teeg held my face in his hands when astralan folded me to campiaa to pick up the wine and arrange for the kitchen staff and servers. kiasz was going to help me out with my mission. he even offered to come and help out on zephili, but i told him he was needed where he was. i didn't want any more friends' deaths on my conscience. kiasz looked disappointed, but i gave him a hug and hoped he'd get over it. he was far safer where he was, although campiaa wasn't very safe to start with.

"teeg," i bumped my head against his chest.

"what's wrong with my baby?" his fingers stroked my jaw and neck before he bent down to kiss me. tory, ry, astralan and stellan were with us in teeg's new study; he'd set it up inside arvil's palace, not far from arvil's office.

"boss, do you want us to take care of that problem over at sg-2?" stellan asked. i lifted my head-stellan had called teeg boss. apparently, there was a problem at the san gerxon ii, arvil's casino on the opposite end of the curving strip of sand that housed all of campiaa's casinos. of the thirty-eight casinos on that quiet bay, arvil owned thirty-two of them. word had it that he took payments from the other six owners for the privilege of having a casino on campiaan soil.

"i'll come. astralan, take reah back to zephili for me."

that was it? take reah back to zephili? what was going on? tory couldn't even offer me a shrug as astralan came to haul me away. i hadn't gotten any mindspeech from tory either-was he afraid to tell me something? i went cold for a moment, worried that there was indeed something more happening than i realized.

"come along, short one. you can drool on the boss later." astralan took my arm and folded me away.

"reah, will you fix lunch?" that was arvil's greeting to me the moment astralan landed us inside the main kitchen. therefore, it was justice, perhaps, that i was set to preparing lunch for arvil, the hardlows, three of the four warlocks, all three of arvil's newly hired wizards and my reptanoids. i hugged farzi, nenzi and the others who jumped in and helped with sandwiches while i put soup and a fruit dessert together. fruit and rum drinks were also served-i didn't like how grumpy the new wizards seemed to be.

"lack of female companionship," astralan jerked his head toward the three wizards when i set his plate in front of him. giving the barest of nods, i went to serve celestan and galaxsan next. arvil and the hardlows had been served already. i didn't want any of them upset over who was served first.

"don't worry," celestan whispered as i handed his plate over, "we're instructed to fry them if they lay a finger on you." he gave me a crooked grin as i lifted an eyebrow at his comment.