“Goooddd,” I growled, and then I slowly let go of the Jotnar woman’s neck. I still kept my revolver on her forehead though, and she gulped in lungfuls of air with grateful sighs.
Riecka really was strikingly beautiful. Her hair was a chocolate brown that was a few shades darker than Madalena’s. It fell straight behind her head like a calm waterfall, and her bangs helped shape her heart-shaped face. Her red-cyborg eyes glowed with a light that was similar to Eve’s, but I could see the metal iris around the pupil. She wore a black strapless dress, and while her left arm was cybernetic, her right arm was flesh, and her skin there was covered with black wolf tattoos that ran from her fingers up to her shoulder, neck, and cleavage.
“What do you wannnttt?” I growled as I pushed the tip of my revolver into her forehead a bit.
“Is he dead?” Riecka coughed. “That was all I wanted.”
“He is,” Layaline said as she nodded to the terminal where I had set Uffe’s head.
“By Odin,” Riecka sighed as she pointed over to Layaline. “May I see his head?”
“Yeah,” I said, and then I pulled my revolver away from her skull so that she could walk over to Layaline.
Riecka moved to the terminal, picked up Uffe’s skull by his long hair, and then stared at his dead face for a few moments. Then her full lips spread upward into a wicked smile.
“Fuck you, brother,” she hissed and then she turned her red cyborg eyes to me. “I am forever in your debt, Adam, or should I say King of the Nordar?”
“That’s fine,” I said. I still had my revolver aimed at her, but she didn’t look at the weapon.
“As soon as you untie me, I’ll submit to you,” Layalina said. “Then we can celebrate the unification of--”
“No,” Riecka interrupted the other woman, and Layalina tilted her head with confusion.
“No? What do you--”
“You will not be the queen, Layalina. I have betrayed you.”
“What?” the tied up woman gasped, and I pulled the hammer back on my revolver and stepped forward so that I had absolutely zero chance of missing Riecka, my wives and Juliette all readied their weapons just as I did, and Riecka was suddenly staring at four guns pointing at her face.
But none of us were paying attention to Layalina’s two drone-wolves.
Paula had indicated that she re-programmed them, but something must have happened in their systems, because they jumped from their position guarding the door and both sank their teeth into Layalina’s throat. The woman let out a scream, but it only lasted a fraction of a second before the robots tore her head from her shoulders.
Blood sprayed over Eve, Paula, Kasta, and me, and we twisted our weapons away from Riecka so that we could shoot the fuck out of the drones. My bullet destroyed the one on the left instantly, and then the other women’s shots melted the second metal wolf. There were two more drone-wolves in the room, but they haven’t moved from the post. It didn’t matter since Aasne swung her axe and cut the head off one while Elana shot the other.
Then we all turned back to Riecka and shoved our guns in her face.
“Ahh, ahh, ahh,” she tisked as a wicked smile came to her lips. “If you kill me, you’ll never make it out of here alive, my king.”
“What the fuck did you do?” I growled as I struggled to fight against the beast trying to take control of my trigger finger.
“I did what was necessary,” Riecka said as she shrugged her bare shoulders. “The drones were always my minions, and they were built for the task you just witnessed. Layalina would not have been a good queen for you. She was weak and inexperienced.”
“I don’t know that,” I said, “and now I never will.”
“I made the decision for you, my king. If you want to punish me, we can do that after our wedding dinner. I crave being disciplined.”
“You think I’ll marry you now?” I hissed.
“You do not have a choice, my king,” she said with a pouty voice. “You just killed Uffe, and it seems that all of his children have somehow died under mysterious circumstances in the last ten minutes or so. I am the queen of the Jotnar Blood Overlord Clan now. You have two choices: you can kill me, and then try to piece together the pieces of the clan as a hundred different war leaders try to take over as king, or you can let me submit to you, and then unite the Nordar as you planned.”
“Fuck,” Zea hissed. “Was this your plan all along?”
“Of course,” Riecka said with a gentle shake of her hair. “Well, I had planned on Layalina going down into the throne room with you and possibly dying a clean death in battle there. I am a bit sad she will not go to Valhalla, but I’ve played second fiddle my whole life, and now it is time to become the ruler I deserve to be.”
“I doubt you deserve to be any sort of ruler, Jotnar scum,” Elana hissed.
“You bitches can hate me all you want,” Riecka said. “I care not if my king’s other wives despise me. I only care that I am of use to him and he beds me regularly. Think about my earlier words, my king, you will need someone to manage this side of your empire. I cannot betray you because of the submission. I will be loyal to you, and what is better than having a cunning wolf as an ally and wife? Nothing.”
“I cannot read her thoughts,” Eve whispered, “but her logic is compelling.”
“Of course my logic is compelling,” Riecka said as she stared into my eyes. “This is a simple decision my king. You have your doubts now, but you know there is not another way to get what you want.”
“Hmmm,” I growled deep in my throat as I turned back to Eve. My vampire wife nodded, and I turned to look at Zea.
“You said that all the warleaders are going to try to fight to be king if we kill you?” the blonde hacker asked.
“Yes,” Riecka confirmed, and then Zea turned to Aasne and Elana.
“She is correct,” Aasne sighed as she let her axe drop on the ground. “Our husband only has one choice.”
“Yes,” Elana answered. “She must submit to him.”
“Your wives agree with me,” Riecka said as she smiled widely. “Perhaps we will get along better than I had hoped. Who will witness?”
“I will witness,” my six wives said in unison, but none of them lowered their weapons from where they pointed at Riecka.
“I am Riecka Feea Jotnar. Second born offspring of King Akar Uffe Jotnar. Eldest offspring of King Uffe Farca Jotnar. Eldest offspring of King Asha Uffe Jotnar.” The chocolate-haired woman kneeled before me as she spoke the words, and her red eyes looked up to mine as the strange power began to fill the security room.
“She is Riecka Feea Jotnar. Second born offspring of King Akar Uffe Jotnar. Eldest offspring of King Uffe Farca Jotnar. Eldest offspring of King Asha Uffe Jotnar,” my wives repeated, and I noticed Juliette give everyone a confused look.
“I am Riecka Feea Jotnar. Queen of the Jotnar Blood Overlord Clan and victor of eight death duels.” Riecka held my knife with her metal hand and then passed the blade over the palm of her flesh of her other hand.
“She is Riecka Feea Jotnar. Queen of the Jotnar Blood Overlord Clan and victor of eight death duels.” Blood began to pour out onto the floor at my feet, but Riecka waited until it covered most of my knife blade and handle before she passed it to me.
The air felt as if it was filled with electricity, and I could see Riecka’s breasts heave as she forced herself to breath against the pressure on her shoulders.
“I am Riecka Feea Jotnar. I submit my body, mind, and soul to Adam Vaish. I will serve him as consort, advisor, eyes, arms, legs, and heart. We will be bonded both in life, and when we arrive in Valhalla. Our people will be united in one clan under him.”
I let the aegis fall away from my massive tiger-hands, cut both of my palms with a quick movement, and then let the knife fall to the floor. Both of my hands reached down to wrap around Riecka’s, and she let out a gasp of surprise when our blood burned like fire.
“I accept your submission, Riecka Feea Jotnar,” I whispered, and then the weight was lifted off both of our shoulders. We sighed, and the woman’s lips curved up into a wide smile.