No Mercy - Book 2: Trek Mi Q'an Series Read online

  Rem’s breathing was extremely labored, sweat pouring off of him as he continued to fight within himself. His fingers dug into the flesh of her hips, not quite able to let her go.

  “I’m never going to leave you,” she murmured again. “Not ever.”

  He snapped back into his true self fully, forcefully relegating the predator within back from whence it had come. Breathing raggedly, he released Giselle’s hips and came down on top of her softly. Burying his face in her bosom, he took a calming breath. “What is happening to me, nee’ka?” he said hoarsely. “It grows worse and worse.”

  Giselle sighed deeply as she ran her fingers through her Sacred Mate’s long golden hair. “You’ll be fine,” she promised. “We’ll get through this.”

  We. She’d just made another commitment to him, she realized.

  “Nay,” he said in a tone so defeated it broke her heart. “I will die the soonest.” He took another ragged breath and expelled it. “Mayhap when you have been released from my dominion you will try to think back upon me kindly.”

  She felt tears forming in her eyes. The thought of his death should have been welcomed, the realization of impending freedom should have delighted any woman in her position, a woman who’d been forced to the Trystonni altar as it was. But both ideas were nothing short of heartbreaking. Her arms tightened around him. “No!” she bit out determinedly. “You will not die!”

  “Nee’ka...”

  “No!” Her lips pinched together in resolve. “I know in my heart that there is a way to stop this. We just have to figure out how.”

  Her words had a calming effect on him. She could feel the rate of his hearts slowing down to a normal beat.

  “Now stop all of this ridiculous talk and get some sleep,” she said in a matronly manner that would have scared off a lesser man. She pursed her lips as she continued to stroke his mane of silky hair. “I won’t even give you a hassle about dining with your best friend when you wake up if you go to sleep just now.”

  Rem grunted, realizing he was being manipulated but too elated by her concession to argue with her.

  “Now,” Giselle said grandly, “here’s my nipple.” She sighed with a dramatic sense of martyrdom. “You best suck on it to keep us from any further episodes.” Really, she thought, the lengths she must go to keep him calm! “That’s it,” she coaxed him as a mother would a child, “pop it into your...” Her breathing hitched as he drew the elongated bud into the warmth of his mouth and latched onto it. He closed his eyes contentedly as he commenced his suckling. “...mouth,” she finished breathlessly.

  Rem fell asleep within moments, his entire body exhausted from its earlier fight. Giselle ran her fingers through his hair and sighed, thinking to herself that, ironically enough, the only course of action able to soothe him into a lulling sleep was the very one that guaranteed she’d remain alert and wanting him throughout his entire nap.

  Bloody hell! What a damned day!

  Chapter 7

  The good humor Giselle had been entertaining toward her husband all throughout his nap was quickly put to the test that moon-rising at the evening repast. Rem dismissed her shrewish facial expressions from his mind, his humor too well-restored to worry over it.

  Giselle’s lips pinched together and her eyes narrowed as her infuriating Sacred Mate pointed out each and every freckle on her shamelessly ill-clad bosom to his best friend, a handsome but frightening looking eight-foot giant with a skull tattooed across his forehead.

  Apparently, she thought grimly, this freckle fetish of her husband’s was not exclusive to him. The giant named Lord Death gazed at them with lust in his eyes, his jaw slightly lax while ogling Rem’s “good fortune”.

  Bloody hell! How embarrassing!

  “This pattern of spots is my favorite,” Rem arrogantly announced as he ran a large finger over an array of freckles Giselle had always likened to the Little Dipper. “’Tis enough to cause a warrior to spurt his life-force at the mere looking.”

  She sucked in her breath, affronted at his nerve.

  “Aye,” Death rasped out, apparently close to doing a little spurting of his own, “’tis a wondrous pair of migi-candy breasts you have claimed.” He licked his lips. “Her nipples are fair long as well. Mayhap you would do me the honor of showing off those spoils as well...”

  “Absolutely not!” Giselle sputtered, at last finding her voice. “My breasts are not spoils,” she gritted out, her arms crossing indignantly over her breasts. “They are—eek!”

  Giselle’s eyes widened in dismay as Rem’s low growling commenced. He was so agitated at her instinctive shielding of her breasts that he thoughtlessly knocked over a crystal goblet of matpow as he bared his teeth, the glowing turquoise liquid spilling onto the white crystal tabletop. Death appeared alarmed, as though he was worried for his best friend but had no idea what to do.

  Giselle frowned at Rem severely, underscoring the fact that she’d had about enough of his insane moments. Really, she thought in exasperation, how much could a woman endure? Picking up her goblet of matpow, she hurled the turquoise stuff in her husband’s face with a huff. “Stop it!” she screeched. “Bloody hell but I’ve had enough!”

  Rem was so startled that his growling immediately ceased. His breathing was labored and his teeth slightly bared, but he’d regained his sanity enough to regard her.

  Giselle surged to her feet. “I will no longer tolerate the baring of fangs in my presence,” she sniffed. “Death,” she barked, “close your eyes.”

  “Why?” the giant grumbled out, the skull on his forehead scrunching up.

  “Because,” she said grandly, her patience wearing thin, “I have to take care of my husband.”

  Death thought that over for a moment. “I still do not see why ‘tis necessary to—”

  “Oh bloody hell just forget it!” she fumed. With a strength she didn’t even know she possessed, Giselle ripped the qi’ka top off of her breasts and popped a nipple into Rem’s awaiting mouth. He calmed immediately, his eyes closing in bliss. She rolled her eyes, her face coloring in embarrassment to be doing this in front of someone else.

  Bloody hell! Here we go again!

  “The migi-candy calms him”, Death grumbled out in an awe-struck tone of voice. “’Tis a passing fair elixir,” he murmured.

  Giselle’s teeth ground together. She refused to be embarrassed by what could not be helped. “Death!” she snapped.

  “Aye?”

  “Pass me the matpow.”

  He regarded her solemnly. “I would not be throwing more warrior’s brew into his face just now were I you. He appears to be calmed.”

  Calmed indeed, Giselle thought as her nostrils flared wickedly. He was toying with her nipple like a cat with a delicious new mouse. Flicking it with his tongue, rolling it around between his teeth, sucking on it lustily. “It’s not for him,” she said, the oddness of the situation at last crumbling her resolve to remain unembarrassed. “It’s for me.”

  “Ah.” Death grinned knowingly, the first smile she’d witnessed the giant entertain threatening to erupt into a full-blown chuckle. He stifled it and nodded. “I’ve just the thing for you, my Queen. ‘Tis moonshine from my sector. Sweet as the tit of a heeka-beast it is.”

  Giselle considered the golden-haired giant lapping at her breast and relented with a sigh. “Give me the whole bloody bottle,” she muttered.

  * * * * *

  Twenty minutes later Rem had calmed enough to continue the evening meal, though he had bade Giselle to sit upon his lap that he might fondle her breasts and nipples with ease. She had merely sighed, relenting with slouched shoulders, taking a seat on his lap with the good humor of a woman being led to her own execution.

  Eventually, however, after Rem had finger-fed her to the point of satiation, she found her eyelids drifting closed and her body slumping back against her Sacred Mate’s in exhaustion. It had been an incredibly long day with so many emotional ups and downs and she was just plain worn out. Downing
a bottle of moonshine matpow had only further exacerbated her condition.

  Rem cradled her against him, his body so large that it was easy for him to cuddle her like an infant. The fingers of his right hand parted her qi’ka skirt and he proceeded to gently knead her buttocks as he continued to converse with Lord Death. Giselle purred, not even aware she had done so.

  “’Tis Kil’s obsession,” he said with a sigh. “So long as insurrectionists remain my brother will feel compelled to take them out.”

  “Aye,” Death grumbled. “’Tis the way of it for a certainty.” He shook his head. “Though I do not think ‘tis healthy to make warring a way of life.”

  Rem snorted his agreement. “’Tis natural to war when the situation warrants as much, but I sometimes wonder if my brother goes looking for it.” He sighed, the feeling of Giselle’s buttocks in his palm as soothing as a tranquil balm. Holding her gave his raging emotions more surcease than even the Chief Priestess’ tempting channel had been able to grant him. “I have asked the priestesses to pray to the goddess on his behalf. I—oomph.”

  Giselle abruptly awoke to the unnerving feel of her and her husband being thrown to the floor of the gastrolight cruiser. She held on tightly to his neck, her heart rate picking up when it dawned on her that they were experiencing some manner of mechanical difficulty. “Oh my god,” she stammered out, yelping when the cruiser lurched down another few thousand feet.

  Rem held her tightly, his inhuman strength comforting. “Can you make it to the control chamber?” he shouted to Death over the shrill blazing of horns that had begun to sound the moment the gastrolight cruiser had been struck by...something.

  “Aye,” Death shouted back, his formidable form coming up from the floor. “Give me your hand that I might help you up without your needing to let go of your nee’ka. ‘Tis safest for all of us in the control room,” he bellowed.

  Rem held out his hand to Death, the air in the chamber compressing a bit, making it difficult for him to get to his feet. Giselle wrapped her legs around her husband’s hips as they slowly ascended, more frightened than she could ever remember being. “What’s happening?” she cried out.

  “We must make an emergency landing,” Rem answered her calmly.

  “To where?!” she said semi-hysterically, realizing as she did that they were in the middle of outer space.

  “We will know the answer to that when we lock ourselves into the control room, my hearts. Be calm. I will allow no lesser creatures anywhere near you whilst I draw breath.”

  Giselle gulped, not finding his statement comforting in the slightest. What sort of creatures was he speaking of? she wondered with a sudden light-headedness.

  She was given no time to further ponder that horrific thought for Rem was determinedly using his strength to walk against the air currents and make his way from the dining chamber. And he was doing it without even contemplating releasing her. Somewhere in the back of her semi-aware consciousness that action endeared him to her all the more.

  They would live through this, she knew. Because of him. And if nothing else she would repay him by helping him to find a way to remedy his...problem. Once and for all.

  The air began to grow denser and denser as the trio made their way at a snail’s pace from the dining hall toward the control chamber. Giselle could hear the heart-wrenching screams of bound servants as they attempted to make their way to the control chamber but, having no warriors to hold onto, were sucked off of their feet by the ungodly pressure and were vacuumed out through holes in the cruiser.

  Giselle could only cover her ears and stare in horror, wishing there was something she could do but knowing realistically that she was powerless. Blood and mangled body parts were scattered everywhere, every droplet and each horrific piece being suctioned into outer space one by one through tiny gapes in the cruiser’s infrastructure.

  And then she saw Yoli, the servant she knew to be Rem’s favored from talk amongst his soon-to-be-former harem. Giselle supposed she should have hated the large breasted woman but it was the remembrance of the kindness the beautiful blonde had continually showed to her that made her reach out a hand and shout out a warning to Death as the bound servant was lifted from her feet and began catapulting toward a small gaping hole in the gastrolight cruiser.

  Death proved to have lightening-fast reflexes as he whipped a heavily muscled arm out and snatched Yoli in mid-air as though she weighed no more than a trite leaf. The bound servant whimpered and clung to him, the crazed look of a woman who had barely survived death casting her features in horrified relief. Her breasts smashed into Death’s chest as she held onto him tightly.

  And then somehow, amidst the death and carnage, Giselle soon found herself in the manned control room, the air-tight locks clasping shut with a solid thud behind them. The air in the cabin immediately pressurized, letting everyone know that they were safe, or at least safe for the time being.

  Giselle could only close her eyes in relief as Rem set her on her feet and kissed her sweetly atop the head. She hugged him tightly, more grateful than she’d ever thought she’d be toward this man.

  “’Tis alright, my hearts,” he murmured. “You are safe.”

  Giselle nodded as she sucked in a steadying breath. That had been too close. What if they hadn’t made it to the control chamber before—

  She let out a cry of surprised pleasure when the very familiar sound of two poodles yipping reached her ears. “Bryony,” she breathed out, “and Tess.”

  The poodles bounded over to the Queen of Sypar, their tails wagging delightedly as she scooped them both up. “Oh how I’ve missed you!” She buried her face in their fur and inhaled the freshly bathed scent of it, much as she’d done all those lonely nights in Shoreham when her beloved father had lain dying in the room next door.

  Giselle planted kisses atop both their fluffy heads, then shot her gaze up to Rem who was watching her every action. She searched his eyes, not quite believing what he’d done. “You brought them,” she whispered. “Why?”

  “Because I love you,” he said simply, softly. “And because my hearts told me you loved them.”

  Giselle took a deep breath as she continued to search her husband’s glowing blue gaze.

  It was much worse than she’d originally thought, she conceded. She wasn’t just softening towards the big ogre—she was falling in love with him.

  Chapter 8

  Meanwhile, in Sand City...

  Cam jogged towards the battle-planning chamber, slowing down only after he reached it. Walking in long strides he made his way past the warrior-guardsmen and entered the lair of the Emperor. Nodding respectfully, he came to a halt before him.

  “I’ve assembled a troop of my finest hunters to scour the fifth dimension for thy brother, Excellent One.”

  “Good.” Zor inclined his head, then motioned for Cam to have a seat at the raised stratagem table. “I’m certain Rem and his nee’ka are fine, but I want them found the soonest nevertheless.”

  “I shall see to it myself, Your Majesty.”

  “Nay, ‘tis not necessary.” He waved a dismissive hand. “Leastways my brother Kil is en route to the fifth dimension as we speak to head up the hunt. ‘Tis good for him to take his mind from the insurrectionists for a spell.”

  Cam nodded as he took his seat but said nothing.

  The Emperor sighed, running a beleaguered hand through his dark hair. “Kil assured me that he will call upon us should the need warrant, so Kara’s come-out will remain on schedule for the present.”

  Cam stirred in his chair, thinking himself a lecher for getting an erection at his future Sacred Mate’s mere name. Especially considering the news report they’d recently received from Rem’s cruiser pilot, proclaiming the death toll as a grim one.

  Zor raised a knowing brow and chuckled slightly despite the seriousness of the situation. “Do not forget to have your pleasures seen to before joining the celebratory dinner party.”

  Cam’s face colored a bit,
but he didn’t break the Emperor’s gaze. “For a certainty.” His thoughts then turned to Kara, the brewing restlessness he was experiencing from knowing he would once again be permitted to clap eyes on her growing in its intensity. By the sands, but how he wished she had already reached a claimable age.

  The Emperor flicked his gaze toward Cam as he watched the range of emotions play about his future son-within-the-law’s face. “Send out your hunting party anon,” he said softly, clapping him on the back. He then stood up to make his exit, leaving Cam to stare after him.

  Chapter 9

  “Where are we?” Giselle’s eyes widened in a curious mix of fright and awe as she firmly clutched Rem’s large hand and gawked at the surroundings they were walking into from aboard the soon-to-be-abandoned gastrolight cruiser. “I’ve never seen anything like this place,” she breathed out.

  Neither had Rem, but he declined to mention that fact out of worry for her. His poor wee Sacred Mate had been handed an awful lot of new changes as it was without making her fret needlessly. Rem’s glowing blue gaze flicked over to Death where his friend was currently bartering with a transparent life-form for directions to the nearest holo-port.

  These silicone-based, see-through life-forms were predators, Rem realized. One look at their hideous fangs seen easily through their transparent white-like jaws told him as much. But they were also intelligent creatures with the capacity for higher language and because of that fact they would not wish to make war with an entire galaxy of warriors, which they had to realize would be precisely what would transpire if they attempted to make a meal of a High Lord, a King, and his Queen. The three of Rem’s warrior entourage who had accompanied him on his quest drew protectively around the Queen, zykifs in hand.

  Rem glanced about, his instincts telling him without confirmation that the planet they had landed on was protected from telekinetic activity by a natural discharge of some type of black smoke that billowed downwards from the planet’s triple suns. None of them would be able to engage in telekinetic warfare. ‘Twould come down to weaponry and brute strength did the situation warrant such.