Page 58 of Crossing Quinn

“You know I’m hard to kill, Eleni.” Papa kissed her gently.

An incandescent orange light formed in midair.

“He’s back,” I quipped.

The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex. Slashes of lightning danced and pulsed over the walls.

Papa pushed Mami behind him. “Does the vortex always do that?”

“Yes,” I replied.

Adan rolled out of the maelstrom. With a loud pop, it vanished.

“The second ship got away,” I groused.

Adan changed back into his favorite wizard form. “Not entirely. I gave them a gift.”

“Gift?”

“Of var bugs.” Adan waggled his eyebrows.

I gaped at him. “How did you manage that?”

“Ate them. Those nasty creatures are quite hardy. When I spit them out, they immediately attacked the Tai-Kok warriors in the engine room.”

Papa stared at him in utter disbelief. “How many did you gift them with?”

“More than a thousand,” Adan replied.

The thought of the Tai-Kok warriors doing Dolon’s funny wiggling jig as the bugs attacked had me giggling. “You’re an alien anteater.”

“This is the var bugs’ hatching season. Most of them are carrying up to a hundred eggs,” Mami added with an evil smile.

A murderous delight flashed across Quinn’s face. “Hell, Qeeturah style.”

At Wulf’s confused expression, I sent him mental images of the bugs and Dolon’s sore-covered body. “Now the Tai-Kok get to discover what it feels like to be munched on.”

Wulf threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Your mate will fit in perfectly with the other Jones family females, Quinn.”

“Xenia does have the chaos gene,” Quinn agreed.

Papa nodded. “That she does. Xenia inherited it from her mother.”

“From me?” Mami snorted. “The chaos gene comes from your side of the family.”

The communications link blinked. Wonder who was hailing us?

Quinn tapped an icon, and Zarek appeared on the view screen. “Have you located the Nabateans’ new world?”

“Earth,” Wulf answered.

A sardonic smile curved Zarek’s mouth. “Why am I not surprised?”

A holographic map appeared with the Middle East highlighted.

“Eleni believes the Nabatean people took refuge in southern Jordan,” Papa said.

“I will notify Earth’s Central Command. They can get the military to search the area,” Zarek stated. “Any further updates?”

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