“Well… aren’t you going to… I don’t know…dosomething about it?” I asked, giving her a wide eyed ‘what the fuck’ look.
The Queen cocked her head at me, smiling. “Why would I do that? Do you doubt Rema’s ability to defend you? Do you think he can’t dispatch ten measly males from existence?”
My head jerked, taken aback. “What? No. I think he’s going to be just fine. But isn’t it, like your job, to make sure this kind of shit doesn’t happen? I mean, it's the principle of the matter! And some of them have guns!” I wasn’t sure if I was more irritated that there were challengers when I’d told them no, or that someone was cheating. Or if I was just mad that I wasn’t down there to help. Either way, I glared at the Queen.
“A challenge is to the death, Patty. These idiot males are choosing to die for some worthless female who convinced them they could win and would be rewarded for it. Let them learn the hard way that actions have consequences. It will be a lesson to the rest of would be saboteurs that you and Rema are not to be taken lightly.”
What?
“This is a sabotage attempt? Seems pretty stupid if you ask me. I mean, one, isn’t consent like a big deal to you Neldre? And two, if the prize is me, and the prize doesn't want you, what the hell could any of these males hope to gain if they did manage to kill Rema?”
The Queen’s laugh had that ‘oh you poor sweet summer child’ edge to it that I had never liked. “Patty, this isn’t even their first attempt. However, even if one of them actually decided they would like to put forth their bid to be courted by you, most of those males down there are probably being promised a match with some highborn daughter if they kill Rema or you, preferably both no doubt. Or perhaps they are being promised riches, or a place in a harem. Who knows. Either way, it does not matter. They will die, and then I will find and punish the one who orchestrated the event that killed so many of our sons.”
Her voice dropped several octaves, causing the dual toned echo to pitch in a way that it sounded like a demon was mimicking her from just behind her wings. Chills spread, and I gave a little shake to rid myself of the sensation her voice caused.
“And you said you didn’t think you were scary. Wait, what was the first attempt?”
She smiled wide, her sharp teeth catching the light. “The bugs in the maze. There were only supposed to be two. But someone released the swarm… and you two killed them all with a flourish. You laugh while you kill, did you know that? Maniacal laughter. Rema looks at you with lust in his eyes when your insanity makes an appearance. I approve.”
I liked this scary alien lady. “Aw, thanks. Now get out of my way so I can watch Rema work.”
The Queen laughed, her dual toned voice carrying over the cheers of the crowd as she took off with a rush of wind and feathers.
I was grinning when my gaze found Rema, who had already killed two males. Another male was missing an arm, his face twisted in a horrified silent howl as he clutched at the stub just above where his elbow should be before Rema decapitated him with a single swing.
Rema moved with no wasted motions, each swing of his sword or dancing footwork calculated to make a cut, or block an incoming sword swing. It wasn’t graceful, wasn't elf-like at all. This was raw power, brute strength, and a driving desire to end the fight quickly. This was pure pissed off orc, all blunt, powerful swings and grunting kills. When he killed his forth male with an arcing blow that cut through the male's shoulder and down across his chest, nearly severing him in two, Rema placed a bare foot on the dead male's torso and jerked his sword out of the body with a stone face.
He turned in a blink, his face clear of all emotion, to block a sword coming down towards his head with one of his swords, while the other stabbed clear through the attackers stomach. Rema’s sword jerked out of the body, letting the gasping male fall to the floor with a hard thud, and started a heavy footed advance on the remaining males.
My heart beat like a runaway horse, my pulse heavy in my throat, while butterflies fluttered in my belly in a hurricane of giddy feelings as I watched my male kill for me.
I gasped, my legs clenching together when he surged forward to shoulder tackle one of the males with a gun. The cheating motherfucker had reached for his pistol, but Rema was on him before it had even cleared the holster. They grappled for a few moments, until Rema took the male's head in his primary hands and viciously snapped his neck, and then took his pistol and shot the last five in quick succession.
He looked up at me when I gasped again, somehow hearing me over the feral screaming of the crowds in the stands, his silver eyes taking me in, zeroing in on all the flowers that were blooming on my body, and smiled a slow cocky smile, his pupils dilating. The spice of his arousal racketed up a notch until I was sure there would be blisters where my taste buds should be.
He stood up from his kill slowly, his big body covered in sweat, blood, and dirt. His hair was disheveled, and wild around him, with his bloody swords held out at his sides. He started walking towards me with slow, deliberate steps.
I licked my lips as his wings spread, beating twice to bring him up the pillar to land in front of me with a wave of spiced air. He stepped in close while I stared up at him, his naked chest not six inches from the tip of my nose. He was covered in filth from his bare feet to his black haired head, and I had never been more turned on in my life. Not even the smell of the fell beastsfoul blood could take away from the drool-inducing taste of his desire.
Reaching above my head with marked slowness, his wholly dark eyes never leaving mine, he broke the cuffs around my wrists with a hard twist of his hand. I sucked in a breath as my arms lowered to my sides, my body a quivering hot mess under his gaze. His secondary hands circled my hips, gliding up my sides to stop with his thumbs just under my breasts— I’d never hated wearing a shirt more— and one of his primary hands circled around my throat, tilting my head back against the pillar I’d been chained too, before he ran it up to grip my jaw firmly, his fingers pressing into my cheeks. He leaned his body over mine, his arm braced against the pillar above my head by his forearm, while his wings came around us, until all my senses were filled with him.
“Do you accept my protection?” he demanded in a low, rough voice, the timber of it vibrating from his chest into mine.
Chapter 12
Patty
I’d accept him asmy Lord and Savior if he kept looking at me like that.
Liquid heat flared low in my body as I stared up into his eyes. “Yes.”
Rema’s smile was savage as he lifted me, pining me with his body against the pillar. “Good girl.”
My eyes rolled, closing as his lips crushed into mine, his tongue invading my mouth in the most brutal kiss I’d everexperienced in my life. It took a full minute for my body to respond to thought, my arms coming up to wrap around his neck, pressing my breasts hard against his chest. My legs locked around his waist, and I clung to him, anchoring myself to withstand the storm of aching, wild desire he stirred inside me with his mouth. Flowers exploded across my skin, until I bloomed like a tree in spring.
My breasts felt heavy and aching where they flattened against him, my pussy a soaking wet chasm of throbbing desperation as I ground myself against his abs. These goddamned clothes had togo. I wanted to claw them off me like a beast, my skin felt hypersensitive wherever the clothes touched me.
Rema chuckled into my mouth as if he could read my mind, his secondary hands sliding down from my rib cage to jerk my shirt from my pants so they could shove under it, until they closed around my breasts. His palms felt hot and sticky, but I didn’t care as they squeezed and kneaded, his fingers pinching my nipples, rolling them between them.
