Free Coletti Warlords: Vexing Voss by Gail Koger Page B

in your territory would be kind of embarrassing.
    Uncle Saul’s a big, distinguished-looking man with thick hair gray and the cold soulless eyes of a serial killer. He’s as deadly as any Coletti warlord and just as ruthless. Unlike my father, Uncle Saul’s fiercely protective of his family, and he never forgot my birthday or Christmas.
    My uncle surveyed the destruction, and his gaze stopped dead on me. His familiar presence filled my mind. “Another investigation, Zoey?”
    “I’m still looking for the traitors, Uncle Saul.” Because of my “unique” brain pattern, he always saw right through my disguises. Both times I had sneaked into Central Command, he had caught me. Believe me, you do not want him yelling at you.
    A smile pulled at his hard mouth when he noticed Voss watching us intently from the command center. “I see the Battle Commander finally caught you.”
    I gaped at him in stunned disbelief. “What? How did you… Wait a minute. I’m family. You knew he was hunting me and never said anything?”
    “I never told the Coletti about you either. Now come give an old man a hug.”
    With my faithful shadow dogging my heels, I walked over and hugged him. “Thanks for coming to the funeral.”
    Uncle Saul embraced me, ignoring the astonished stares of his men. “Your mother was a very special lady.” He patted my back gently. “How are you holding up?”
    “I miss her a lot. Voss mucked with my head, and I’m not having crying jags anymore.”
    His deadly gaze settled on Voss. “If the Battle Commander doesn’t treat you right, you let me know, and I will deal with him.”
    My jaw dropped. He was dead serious. Uncle Saul was a mean sonovabitch, but to take on Voss? Wowzers. That was a death sentence. “Ah… Thanks, but I think I can handle him.”
    My uncle laughed like that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “He’s definitely going to have his hands full with you.”
    I bristled. “Voss said he wanted a warrior for a mate.”
    “And he got one,” Uncle Saul answered, still chuckling. “Do you need anything?”
    “You could shoot Daddy for me.”
    All the humor fled from his face. “It might come to that.”
    Hothar sucked noisily on his soda. “Why would you want to kill your father?”
    “It’s a long story. Uncle Saul, this is Hothar, my bodyguard.”
    “The Battle Commander’s nephew.” My uncle extended his hand. “I had the pleasure of meeting your father on Tanith. He’s a true master at designing warbirds.”
    Hothar quickly wiped his hand on his battle suit before shaking my uncle’s. “Thank you, sir.”
    Voss’s impatient voice rumbled in my head. “Zoey, you have delayed the general long enough. Send him to me. Now.”
    Scowling, I shot him a quick glance, and in my best timid-mouse voice replied, “Yes, your lordship. I humbly beg your forgiveness, your lordship.”
    A phantom hand smacked my bottom. “Enough.”
    Ouch! I gave Voss the one-fingered salute and turned to my uncle. “The Battle Commander requests your immediate presence at the command center.”
    With a wry little half smile on his mouth, Uncle Saul asked, “You do realize how powerful Voss is, don’t you?”
    “Yeah, the big guy’s downright scary, but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna roll over and play dead.”
    Uncle Saul pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Sweetheart, you’re one of a kind.” His back ramrod straight, he marched over to Voss.
    A camouflage-painted armored vehicle skidded to a halt, raising a big cloud of dust. Ted bailed out and opened the back door. My father stepped out like he was royalty, wearing an immaculate, perfectly pressed dress uniform.
    In looks, he’s a pale image of my uncle. My idiot father actually thinks his battle tactics rival those of Alexander the Great’s. Talk about delusional. His poor command decisions during a Rodan raid on Spokane led to the slaughter of half his troops. He was promptly demoted to a one-star general.
    Me? I would have