Free Wind Demon Triology: Book II: Evil Wind by Charlotte Boyett-Compo Page A

you would have your gunners stand down,” Cree said. “I've got enough of a headache already without having the top of my cranium blown off in the bargain."
    Raphaella nodded and looked off to one side, apparently giving the order to her crew.
    "How is it you are in command of a Serenian vessel, Raphie?” Kahmal asked.
    "You are going to Rysalia Prime?” Raphaella countered, ignoring the question.
    "To rescue my bloodkin,” Cree admitted.
    "Like father, like son,” Raphaella said.
    Cree stiffened. “Son? Of whom do you speak?"
    "If you are caught there, you will be hanged,” Kahmal said, knowing full well the identity of the son to whom Raphaella referred. “You know that, Raphaella."
    Raphaella cocked a shoulder. “We all have to die sometime,” she said. “Unless you're a Reaper."
    "Even Reaper's die, young one,” Cree told her. He did not miss Kahmal trying to forestall the identity of the Reaper to whom Raphaella alluded.
    "Not on my watch they won't,” Raphaella said. “Your bloodkin will not meet the fate set aside for them. I am here to make sure of that. We will run interference for those snatching the cadets from harm's way. There isn't a ship in the Rysalian fleet that can hold a candle to mine and we are loaded with more firepower than you can imagine."
    "You have a McGregor woman on board?” Dorrie asked, coming to stand beside Cree.
    Raphaella nodded. “Maeve Lynne McGregor? Who are you and why do you ask?"
    "She's the leader,” Dorrie whispered to Cree. “Not this one."
    "I wouldn't be so sure,” Kahmal disagreed.
    "I am Dorrie Burkhart, a Terran once hostage of the Rysalians."
    "Why do you ask about McGregor?” Raphaella persisted.
    "I was the mate of Prince Raine McGregor,” Dorrie said. “On Terra."
    "He is my cousin!” a young blonde woman said as she rushed to Raphaella's side. “He is alive? He is well?"
    "When we were taken from Terra he was,” Dorrie replied. She looked at the woman and had to admit she certainly didn't look like a war leader. She was petite and rather fragile-looking.
    "Why are you being hunted, young one?” Cree asked Raphaella, deciding she was the one in charge. “What crime did you commit against your race?"
    Raphaella lifted her chin, her eyes flashing with pride. “Nothing of consequence, milord Prime Reaper. I am merely the mate of Khiershon Cree and it was I who set him free!"

Chapter Five
    Khiershon Cree, eldest son of Kamerone, rolled over in the over-sized bunk and gathered his wife to him. He nuzzled her neck to wake her. “You are becoming lazy in your advancing years, Cait,” he murmured, his tongue swirling over her flesh.
    "You wore me out last night, Reaper,” Caitlin said with a grunt. “You are insatiable."
    "Only where you are concerned,” he stated.
    A chime sounded and the vid-com came on. “'And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting',” Khiershon's cybot answered the incoming call.
    "Knock it off, Raven,” Iyan McGregor snapped in an annoyed voice. “Khier, you're needed on the bridge."
    "'Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning',” the ‘bot said and trundled away.
    "Was he in here again last night?” Caitlin demanded of her husband.
    Khiershon sighed. “I believe he was."
    "Voyeur!” Caitlin shouted after the ‘bot. “Peeping Tom!"
    "'By you—by yours, the evil eye,—by yours, the slanderous tongue',” Raven snipped.
    "I'll pull your plug, Raven!” Caitlin vowed.
    "'No more—no more upon thy verdant slopes!'” the ‘bot rattled off, shaking its cumbersome head.
    "You'd best believe not, Raven!” Caitlin flung at the retreating A.I.U.
    "'Nevermore.’”
    Khiershon laughed. He'd programmed the ‘bot with the words of a famous Terran poet and it seemed to irritate Caitlin no end.
    "Khier?” McGregor demanded. “Did you hear what I said?"
    "Aye, Iyan, I heard you. I'm on my way."
    Caitlin watched her husband fling aside the covers and walk naked to the closet to