Page 64 of Courting Mayhem

My cheeks heated.“Oh.”

“Me hungry,”Kiri whined.

I closed my eyes. Just when it was getting interesting.

Defne chirped hopefully.

“You too, huh?”

“I’ll go collect some eyeballs.”Derek put Kiri on my shoulder and teleported away.

Papi Sten walked over to me. “I caught a few hump fish and put them in the shuttle for Kiri.”

Keri’s leaves rustled with excitement.“Me like. Taste good.”

“Yeah, anything gotta be better than sucking the juices out of dead folks,”I said.

Poppa Jacob ran a finger over my tattoos. “You and the War Commander are now working for the Katanic Empire?”

“Temporarily. Mallox must be stopped, and I couldn’t refuse Zosia’s pleas for help. We need to find out how many children Arya has given to that murdering bastard.”

Papi Sten scowled.“Qa’a and Zosia don’t know? How can that be?”

“A good question and one I want answered.”

“Any chance of Zosia and Qa’a marking us too? You’ll need help.”Poppa Jacob interjected.

I grimaced. “Don’t I know it.”

“Me help,”Kiri stated. “Me kill.”

Defne bared her awesome serrated teeth and chirped menacingly.

“You are both fierce warriors, but I’m not sure your momma will let you come with us,” I said, hugging them both.

Kiri’s leaves drooped.

A worried frown creased Papi Sten’s face.“Do you have a plan for capturing Arya?”

“Since we can’t outfight a Katanic, I’m hoping Zosia will give us a weapon we can use to disable Arya and her partners.”

Poof! Derek appeared next to me in full armor. His hands were full of rotting heads.

I stepped back as the stench hit me. “You couldn’t find any fresher kills?”

Derek let out an ill-tempered growl. “In this heat? The entire ship smells like a slaughterhouse.”

Defne waved her tentacles at Derek and made urgent chirping sounds.

With disgusting squishing noises, the big, bad War Commander dug out the eyeballs and fed them to Defne.

My eyes began to water. Oh Goddess, the smell was worse than a malfunctioning waste incinerator.

Papi Sten held out his arms. “Come Kiri, let me get you some fish.”

Kiri jumped on his head. “Go fast.”

My father took off at a dead run.

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