The Illegitimate Claim (41 page)

my papa won’t kill you.”

“It would help,” Meah added, aching to take her son in her arms.

“All of this would be for nothing if I did that.” Rog regained some of his confidence

and stood taller, his hand firmly wrapped around Tory’s pudgy arm. “Gothman are

violent and dominating. They don’t think about others but just take what they want.

You don’t belong here, Meah, and neither do your children.”

“You know me well, Rog. I don’t like being told what to do, but I do what Crator

says. And this is where He wants me.” Meah didn’t take her eyes off her son.

“But you could lead people.” Rog looked down at the defiant child who was staring

at his mama. “Here you will always be told what to do. It’s not in your nature…”

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“Rog, this is ridiculous. I had no control over who my mama and papa were, or the

decisions made for me after I was born. But Crator did. I have a path to follow, and

that’s what I’m going to do.” She put her hands on her hips, and made her voice stern.

“Enough of this. Let me have him, swear your loyalty, or tear down your tents and get

out of here. I can’t say what will happen next.”

She walked up without another word and took Tory from Rog. Her son leaped into

her arms and she could hardly see from the black and gold curls that covered her face.

She backed away from Rog cautiously as she blew his hair from her mouth. Tory raised

his head, and smiled at her and her heart melted. It was all she could do to put him

down next to her, but she wasn’t sure exactly what would happen next. She needed to

defend them if necessary.

“Thank you, Rog.” She smiled at him but his expression was tense.

“Andru still has Sharay.” Rog sounded defeated.

“No, I don’t.” Andru’s voice made Meah jump. She pulled Tory to her and spun to

the side. “I sent her back to her papa earlier this evening. You can approach him if you

want her.”

“Papa.” Tory was thrilled to see his papa and struggled for Meah to let go of him.

Meah was surprised at Andru’s words and the look in her eyes when she met his

showed as much. He looked at her seriously, but his expression softened when he

looked at his son.

“Take him back to the glider,” Andru said quietly.

Meah wanted to tell him to come with them, but one look at his face and she knew

now wasn’t the time to defy him. Just then a commotion started behind several tents. A

large group of Gothman warriors marched around the tents in two rows. Gilroy led the

group and when they separated around the Neurian guards, Darius walked toward her.

The blast that stung the air had such a sharp scream to it that Meah jumped out of

the way instinctively. In the same instant Darius flew backwards. She heard herself

scream, but it seemed to leave her mouth in slow motion. The Lord of Gothman had

been shot. Who had a laser? She turned around and faced Rog. He stood there with his

long black laser pointed at the lord and as he fired a scream escaped his throat.

Meah dropped to her knees, pulled her laser and sent Rog flying into the tent

behind him. At such a close range, she was able to sever him through his middle. His

body forced the tent backwards and then it collapsed, enclosing what was left of Rog’s

body.

Suddenly Gothman were everywhere. She could feel Tory’s pudgy hand in her

own, but men were guiding her somewhere. And there was blood. She saw blood on

the ground, blood on other people, blood on herself. She stopped quickly, and squatted

down next to Tory.

“Are you okay?” She looked into beautiful charcoal eyes and he smiled a crooked

smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

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“I’m okay, Mama, but Grandpapa has been shot. His face wasn’t there.” Tory was

shocked by what he saw and his expression grew haunted. “They took him away

quickly, Mama, but he must still be alive, or they wouldn’t hurry away with him. You

shot Rog. I wish I had shot him.”

“Oh, my precious child.” Meah pulled him into her arms and squeezed all the air

out of him.

“Don’t embarrass the boy, woman.”

Meah pulled away quickly and looked up. Andru stood above her, and smiled

gently down at both of them. He took Meah’s arm and helped her stand, and she

collapsed into him. His large arms wrapped around her and she barely heard him give

instructions to someone to take Tory back to the house. He lifted her into his arms and

then he was pulling her close to him on his glider. The fog lifted from her thoughts and

she saw Gilroy sitting on his glider with Tory sitting in front of him. None of them

moved as several guards carried Lord Darius past them. The large man was covered in

blood.

“Andru, is he…”

“Shh, he’s alive,” Andru whispered into her hair, and she turned to look up at him.

He didn’t look down at her, but watched them carry his papa away.

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Chapter Twenty-One

Meah sat in between the two small beds and watched the slow, peaceful breathing

of her sleeping children. Paleah stood behind her brushing Meah’s long black hair.

“I usually braid it,” Meah whispered in the dark room.

“Not tonight,” Paleah whispered back. “You should go to Andru looking

beautiful.”

Meah looked up at the dark-skinned woman. Paleah stifled a giggle. “You look like

a virgin. Don’t be nervous. Be beautiful and submit.” When Meah frowned, Paleah

brushed her tiny fingers through the silky black strands on Meah’s head. “He will come

to you tonight full of torment and grief. He can gain some relief to all the terrors going

through his head by making passionate love with you. If you resist him, he’ll take his

aggressions out on you, and I’m afraid he would be relentless.”

One look told Meah that Paleah spoke from experience.

“Maybe I could find something nicer to put on,” Meah said, after kissing each child

on the forehead for the hundredth time. “Ana might have some old Gothman dresses

around here.”

Several hours later, Meah sat cross-legged in the middle of Andru’s bed. He still

wasn’t home. His papa had gone into surgery immediately, and the entire family was

with him. Andru dropped her off at the house and hugged and kissed Tory before

saying he would be back after he checked on his papa. He didn’t ask her to go with him,

and he told her he would be back. So she waited.

Over an hour later it dawned on Meah that Darius wouldn’t be shot if she hadn’t

run away from Andru. She didn’t sleep after that. Andru found her sitting by his open

window in the dark quite some time later. She stood when he walked toward her. One

glance at the ravenous beauty in front of him, and he forgot to breathe.

The moon reflected off her silky black hair that fell loose over her breasts and past

her waist. He couldn’t help but reach out and touch it. She closed her eyes momentarily

as he wrapped some of the black silk around his fingers. She wore a revealing evening

gown that fell to the floor. He could see her tiny feet sticking out from underneath the

material and the curved outline of her thin muscular legs through the dress. It gathered

at her narrow waist and then two lengths of material crossed her large breasts and

secured behind her neck. Her shoulders and back were bare and there was a wonderful

smell of lavender about her that intoxicated him.

Meah had gone to some efforts to prepare herself for him, and he very much liked

what he saw. Andru realized at that moment that when Meah went to the trouble to

submit to him, she could be more dangerous than when she blatantly defied him. She

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could ask for anything at that moment and he would give it to her. He hoped she never

discovered this.

“How is Lord Darius?” she whispered into the darkness, and pulled him from his

thoughts.

His eyes met hers. “He’ll live, we know that much tonight. The laser nicked the side

of his eye, but we won’t know if there’s any problem with his eye, or brain, until he

regains consciousness.”

“His brain?” she whispered in terror. “Oh Andru, if I wasn’t such a bullheaded,

pain in the—”

Andru chuckled…a deep throaty sound that sounded more lustful than

compassionate. “I probably wouldn’t love you as much as I do.”

“You love me?” Her terror disappeared from her eyes, and he thought he saw hope.

“How could I not? I don’t think there is a woman as beautiful and deadly as you in

all of Nuworld.”

Meah blushed when she remembered that Andru had heard everything she said to

Rog.

“Where did you get this dress?” Andru ran fingers over the material that went over

her shoulders.

“Paleah let me wear it.” Meah looked down at her dress and then up to Andru

again.

“Do Neurian women dress like this?”

She narrowed her eyebrows at him, and a slow crooked smile appeared on his face.

“I don’t like it.”

“Why not?” She was surprised.

“It’s keeping me from you.”

She didn’t take her eyes from his as she reached up behind her neck, stretching the

material across her already eager breasts, and untied the material there. The dress slid

down her body and fell in a pile around her feet.

Andru licked his lips as he brushed her long hair behind her back. A perfect

seductress stood before him, and his heart threatened to explode as blood drained from

his head straight to his groin.

The moonlight offered the perfect amount of light to accentuate her firm large

breasts with dark brown nipples that turned hard as he stared at them. Her tummy was

flat and hard, and small hipbones revealed themselves nicely. Black kinky hair between

her legs glistened. He ached to wrap her narrow muscular legs around him. He took all

this in as his eyes traveled over what was his, and then back up to her slightly parted

lips.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered, and gently ran his fingers down the front of her

body.

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