Lyk turned to Ally, who’d been silent, watching the viewscreen as they soared like a bullet. “So what’s your plan?” he asked, wondering how she’d respond. His money was on her not actually having a plan, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Lyk didn’t mind that his female was full of bluster. In this case, she’d wanted to stick by his side instead of going down to Vartik. Since Lyk never wanted to be separated from his mate, keeping her beside him sounded right, even if the danger was greater.
He’d spend his last breath defending her. No one would dare hurt her when they risked Lyk tearing them limb from limb.
“It’s simple really,” she said with a smug smile. “Celdrake is mad at you for being some kind of mega-rich superman. So I tell them that you’re not those things. In fact, I was sent by your brothers as an undercover operative to infiltrate your operationwith the express purpose of stripping you of your title and seeing you executed for your crimes.”
Lyk frowned. “Why would we chase him down just to tell him that?”
“We didn’t. That’s just the icing on the cake. We chased him down so that Zelup could make him an offer he can’t refuse. He agrees to be a witness against you at your public trial while also flipping on his crew, and we’ll give him the ship and an honorary position on our wormhole patrol.”
Zelup laughed. “Why would I make this kind of primo deal with Celdrake?”
“It’s simple. He’s smart enough to have turned the tables on Lyk, to have gotten one over on one of your species, and you respect him for it. You like to make use of smart and capable men like him.”
“Play to his ego, and his apparent jealousy of me.” Lyk nodded. “It could work.” He didn’t add that the odds were against her plan. It was clever, especially considering their time constraints.
“If you say so.” Zelup was hiding a smile. “I’m fine playing along, as long as I don’t have to improvise. Ask my wife sometime about how we met. She’ll tell you how rubbish I am at putting together a convincing lie on the fly.”
The proximity alarm sounded, and Lyk’s heart started to pound.
“We need to bind him,” Ally called. “He still looks a bit beat up, which is good, but he needs to look like our prisoner.”
Zelup nodded, then called a crewmember to provide him with a pair of electro-cuffs. Lyk held out his hands as his brother fastened them on. He wasn’t anticipating the leg sweep that came next, knocking him to the bridge floor.
“What the—”
Ally held her fingers to her lips, then winked at him. “Stay put and act like a prisoner.”
His ship appeared on the viewscreen in the distance. “I want a communications link established immediately,” his brother barked.
A few beats later, Celdrake’s scowl appeared on the viewscreen. “How are you doing this? I jammed the comms array.”
Zelup smiled warmly. “You’re piloting one of our cruisers. It has an override that your former captain may not have informed you of.”
“What do you want?” the cyborg growled. “If you’re thinking about shooting me down, I’d be careful if I were you. Too much weapons fire, and you might collapse your precious wormhole.”
Zelup laughed. “You’ve got the wrong idea completely. If we’d come to shoot you down, you’d be facing down a fleet of Vartik battle cruisers right now. We’re coming to thank you.”
Zelup shifted, revealing Lyk and Ally to Celdrake’s gaze. “You helped us bring my brother to justice. You have our gratitude.”
Celdrake’s eyes narrowed as he took in the scene. “What’sshedoing there?”
“Sheis one our agents. We sent her undercover to infiltrate your operation. And she succeeded. Wildly. As you can see.”
The cyborg didn’t look convinced. “Why now? I’ve been with the captain for over a decade. Why send someone now?”
Zelup opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Damn, Lyk thought.He said no improvising.He’s going to blow it.
“You think this is the first time they sent someone after you?” Ally laughed. Putting a hand on her hip, her expression was mostly smirk. “They’ve sent several after you, but none managed to infiltrate your gang. Your captain was too smart.”
Lyk looked up at his female, pride filling him, but he forced himself to play his part and scowl at Ally. She shook her head, then reared back and aimed a kick at his prone form. She connected, without much force, but the image of the kick made Celdrake’s eyes widen.
“If he’s so smart, why did you succeed when so many others have failed?” His voice remained skeptical, but Lyk could tell that he was starting to thaw.
“Because I’m a female, the kind he can’t resist. His family briefed me on the type of woman that would appeal most greatly to him, which is why I was selected. I seduced him, distracted him, made him do things he normally wouldn’t, everything I could do to earn his trust so we could get him back to Vartik without suspecting anything.”
