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The T-Rex with all the medals glared at me, puffing up his neck thingy so that it expanded like a yellow balloon. The threat display didn’t bother me none, especially since he didn’t bother to bid again.
“Cage one sold to Duchess Prenlii. Now we start bidding for cage two.”
It went on like that, with me using the Sjisji royal’s money to buy my fellow humans. A couple of the women must have figured out what was going on. Two of them huddled, crying softly. One of them started shouting, and a Tula carrying a medical scanner stepped up to her cage. She darted away, pressing her back into the opposite set of bars, but it was only a couple of feet across, and the T-Rex reached through the bars and shot her with some kind of tranq. Her legs gave out, and she slid down to slump over in an awkward heap on the floor.
“That is Duchess Prenlii’s property you take liberties with!” Zol said, his voice cold.
“This is my club,” the mob boss growled. “I got the right to keep the peace however I see fit. It was part of the deal.” He jabbed a talon-tipped finger at the Grug.
I laid a hand on Zol’s arm, hating that we couldn’t talk for real. But I pressed my fingers into his firm muscles in the code for “okay.”
Zol gave a slow nod. It looked like a mini bow or something, but it also showed off the wicked points of his upper horns. “Duchess Prenlii is gracious enough to accept your assistance.”
Boy, my guy sure talked pretty when pretending to be doing all this royal shit! Thank god I couldn’t speak. Even if I remembered not to use Earth street slang, I’d never sound hoity toity.
Anticipation burned through me. We were so close!
I pressed my fingers into his forearm one last time before letting go, using our code to tell him to hurry up. We only had one more woman to buy, and then we could get out of here.
And get back to theDaredevil, proving to everyone I could run a job.
CHAPTER FOUR
Zol
THE BIDDING ON the last Hyoo-mon female went high—far higher than any of the previous auctions—as both the Tula mob boss and the other Zaarn put their full creds behind it.
My comp flashed a warning. We’d reached the limit of funds available in Duchess Prenlii’s account. I ground my teeth together. Frek! We couldn’t come so close only to fail on this last one!
“Thero has bid eleven thousand credits,” the Grug boomed. “Are there any other bids?”
The Zaarn muttered among themselves as the Tula mob boss preened under the attention of his minions.
“Duchess Prenlii requires a moment,” I said. Punching furiously at my comp, I checked my messages. Kirel had said he’d try to hack another of the royal’s accounts, just in case, but the computer expert hadn’t cracked it by the time we’d left theDaredevil. Maybe by now?
Yes! There it was, the log-in info for a second account. My fingers flew over my comp, setting everything up. With a flick, I sent a bunch more creds to the Grug. It was time to win this auction. I needed this over with and my mate safe.
The gray alien announced, “Duchess Prenlii has bid fifteen thousand credits.”
The mob boss darted forward, hissing, his neck pouch inflating in a threat display. His fat tail thrashed behind him as he came.
Hands raised, I stepped in front of Fran-Key. I could draw fast enough to stun the lizard with my blaster, but he’d consider that a slight to his honor. We’d have a hard time making it out of the club without hassle.
Mob rules required hand to hand, so that’s what he’d get.
Tall for a Tula at over six feet, he was still shorter than me, but he also outweighed me by half again, built of thick slabs of muscle. The lizards looked like they should be slow, but that was a lie. They had shit endurance but could put on short bursts of amazing speed.
Like now.
His hand snapped forward, claws aimed at my heart.
I twisted. My fist hammered into his side, pain radiating from my knuckles as the shock of contact vibrated up my arm. Long years of martial arts practice let me ignore it.
He grunted and spun, his heavily muscled tail swiping at my calves.
I leaped upward, my own tail darting forward to jab at his eyes.
The Tula swatted at it and backed away. He lumbered forward, his next attack less prepared, just as I’d wanted. His fist whistled past my face as I again turned out of the way.
