Berrr's Vow (16 page)

“She is beautiful,” Berrr said softly. “Welcome to life, little one. I am your second father and I will always protect you and watch out for you.”

Shanna cocked her head, feeling confused.

Ariel laughed. “They don’t say grandparents or grandchildren. They say second child because they are a child of their child and a second father means the father of the father.”

“Thanks.” Shanna shot a grateful look to Ariel.

Nodding, Ariel chuckled. “It sounds kind of funny, huh?”

Ral frowned at his wife. “Why does it sound funny?”

Ariel reached over and took his hand. “The closest translation to a second father on Earth would be if I left you and lived with another warrior, which would make him the second father of your child.”

Ral growled. “You would never leave me for another warrior.”

Laughing, she tugged him closer. “Damn straight.
Never.”

Shanna pulled her focus away from the tender moment as the bigger Zorn guy leaned over to plant a kiss on his wife’s lips. Shanna looked up at Berrr and caught him staring down at his granddaughter with a really sad expression. He seemed to sense her concentration on him and turned his head to meet her gaze.

“You still look way too young to be a second father, Berrr. Don’t let it depress you.”

Berrr shook his head. “I am
very
honored to be old enough to be a second father.” His sad gaze returned to the baby he held. “I am mourning that I will never know this again, to hold my own child, to feel the joy of bringing life into this world.”

Chapter Nine

Berrr wants to have more children.
Shanna eyed him across the table where they ate in a large dining room hours later, ignoring the angry stares of six other women at the round table with them. His house helpers hated her, she knew it, and she was purposely not looking at them by keeping her attention solely on Berrr.

The half human-half Zorn baby had been cute as hell and Berrr had insisted that she hold little Destiny. It had affected Shanna more than she wanted to admit as she’d held the little bundle of cuteness. She’d always wanted to have a baby but she’d never had a stable enough relationship to give it a shot. The one and only time she’d been married it had been rocky right from the start and giving it more time had just shown her how her marriage couldn’t last.

Berrr was bound, technically, so he couldn’t have more children. It was against Zorn law to have children unless the couple was bound together. The large Zorn warrior had been silent, moody and depressed since they left the medical center.

Kolo, the black-haired, dark-eyed house helper, cleared her throat. “You must be so proud to have a second child, Hyvin. Perhaps you would allow us to go visit Argis Ral and his bound to meet their offspring.”

Nodding, Berrr finished his dinner.
“Whatever you wish.
I am sure that Ral and Ariel will welcome the company. She must stay at medical for many days to heal.”

Ovoly took a deep breath. “It would be our honor, Hyvin. We will represent you proudly and take gifts fitting of your second child. We will go first thing in the morning so we are back in time to prepare for your guests.” Ovoly’s eyes flashed to Shanna, narrowing. “Of course we will take Shanna with us so she may represent you proudly as well.”

Dread hit Shanna fast and hard at the idea of going anywhere with the house helpers. They’d probably throw her from the moving vehicle. “That’s all right. I got to hold the baby today so I’ll just stay here.”

“Don’t be thoughtless,” a blonde house helper said softly, her bright green eyes glowing with malice. “We insist that you go with us. As Hyvin’s house lead you must be present to show his respect properly.”

Berrr threw down his napkin, his gaze going to Shanna as he stood. “You will go with them, Shanna. It will get you out of the house and you will enjoy shopping.” His attention turned to Ovoly. “While you are at the market I want you to help Shanna find clothing more fitting to her human tastes.” His gaze paused on Shanna. “I have to make some contacts with a few warriors regarding tomorrow so I will meet you in our room in a few hours.”

She watched him leave the room and knew she was in a world of shit. The man was clueless when it came to how his house helpers hated her. She took a deep breath, tensing as her attention turned to Ovoly, knowing the woman was the head of this vicious circle. Ovoly was glaring at her.

“You did not do as I ordered you, human. Hyvin has not invited us back to his bed. Were my orders not clear enough?”

Slowly standing, Shanna glared at the other woman. “You were perfectly clear so allow me to be just as clear. You seem to have forgotten I said this earlier in the bedroom so here it is again, it’s not happening, Ovoly. You can be as pissed off as you want to be but hell will freeze over before I tell Berrr I want him to fuck you.”

Ovoly got to her feet and so did one of the other women Shanna had no name for. Tensing, Shanna kept her attention on all of them, making sure that no one got out of her sight to get behind her.

“What are you going to do? If you touch me Berrr will have your ass and not in the sexy way you want. If you think I’m going to let you make my life a living hell without telling him what you’re doing then rethink that notion. I’m not stupid and I will tell him in a heartbeat. We both know who he is going to be pissed off at and it won’t be me.”

“I don’t understand some of what you said but know this, human,” Ovoly growled softly. “You will never rule this house. I can do anything to you and five others will swear you are not being truthful and that you are an
ovolion
.”

“A what?”
Shanna raised her hands palm up. “What the hell is that?”

“A person who tells falsehoods to cause trouble,” one of the women growled softly. “We will all swear you are one and Hyvin will not want you anymore.” The woman speaking glanced at Ovoly. “Can’t we just tell him she is a bad woman? He must believe us.”

A snarl tore from a dark-headed house helper, Aya, as the woman stood up to glare at Shanna. “You will give us back our Hyvin or you will not wake up one morning.”

“It’s a good thing that I sleep with Berrr then because I doubt you could sneak in our bedroom to get to me without him knowing about it.” Shanna was pissed and more than a little frightened. “I’m going to my room now. If you try to stop me I’ll yell for Berrr.”

The women glared at Shanna as she carefully left the dining room. She watched her back the entire way to Berrr’s bedroom so they couldn’t follow her without her knowing about it. She needed to have a talk with him or those women were going to get truly ugly and nasty.

They had her at a disadvantage and if they were left unchecked, they would just grow bolder. The lights automatically came on across the room when she entered the bedroom. Shanna closed the door firmly and searched it, immediately discovering there was no lock on it. That was another thing she’d ask Berrr about. She wanted a way to keep the women away from her when he wasn’t home to protect her.

Firewood had been placed in the fire grate. It took her a few attempts to figure out their version of a lighter but when flames sparked out of the stick-looking thing she managed to get the fire to light. Shanna set the lighter back on the mantel and turned to study the room.

Someone had picked up her discarded dress and Berrr’s clothing from the floor where they’d been tossed when they’d climbed into bed after lunch. The bed was also made. Sighing, she moved for it.
The upside to his house helpers is they cook a good meal and keep the house tidy. The bad side is they are all out to get me.
She kept her clothes on as she got on the bed, deciding it was smarter to be dressed if any of the women came after her in the bedroom.

Shanna didn’t have long to wait. The bedroom door slowly opened softly and she tensed, knowing they were trying to sneak in. Her heart pounded hard in her chest as Ovoly and Aya stepped in the bedroom. A nasty grin widened Ovoly’s face, her black eyes narrowing dangerously.

“I was ordered to come tell you that Hyvin had to go out for a few hours.” The door slammed hard behind her, closing both women in the bedroom with Shanna. “More Collis were spotted landing on Zorn so Hyvin and his men went to meet them to make sure they weren’t bringing more human slaves to our planet to try to sell them to our warriors.”

Aya cocked her head and then to Shanna’s utter shock gripped her baggy dress, tearing it over her head to toss on the floor. The naked muscled woman put her hands on her hips, glaring at Shanna.
What in the hell?
Shanna’s eyes flew to Ovoly to watch in stunned shock as the other woman stripped naked.

“Shit. I don’t go that way,” Shanna stood up on the bed and gripped one of the posts to keep her balance. “I don’t find you attractive and I’m not having sex with you.”

Both women frowned, glancing at each other, and finally it was Ovoly who looked back at Shanna with a glare. “We removed our clothing so your terror stink doesn’t cling to our clothing for Hyvin to smell on us.”

Relief hit Shanna for a split second before she realized that they had a worse motive for coming after her.
Well, maybe not,
she decided.
I’d rather get my ass kicked than have two muscular women want to play out a bad women’s prison movie scene at my expense.

“You really don’t want to do this.”

They split apart, coming at the bed. Shanna backed up, walking on the bed, and kept her attention on both of them. She wished they weren’t over six feet tall of Amazon-type women. It was going to be as though she
were
fighting two men and she knew her chances weren’t really that great.

“Don’t make her bruise,” Ovoly ordered the other one. “If you make her bleed make sure it isn’t from a place that a mark will be left.”

Aya nodded, hearing her. “Her nose and mouth are good.”

“Fuck,” Shanna cursed, deciding Ovoly was the meaner of the two by sheer size.

Taking a deep breath, Shanna knew her time was up as each woman inched along the sides of the bed at her. She threw herself at Ovoly, seeing shock hit the woman’s features a second before Shanna slammed into her, sending the woman flying backward with Shanna trying to land on top of her to soften her blow.

Even landing on the naked woman knocked the breath from Shanna as they crashed to the hard tile floor. She heard a loud crack sound though and the woman under her cried out in pain. Ovoly didn’t get up but Shanna did as she rolled away and forced herself to move even though her body ached from the hard impact. She got to her feet, glanced down at Ovoly, who looked stunned on the floor on her back. Shanna didn’t hesitate at
all,
just hauled back her bare foot and drop kicked her in the side to keep her down.

Ovoly screamed out, rolling away from the pain of Shanna nailing her ribs. A female snarl had Shanna spinning around as a flash of tan skin came at her from around the end of the bed. Aya looked super pissed as she stormed for Shanna. Without letting
herself
think, something she couldn’t afford to do, Shanna turned sideways and threw out her foot, aiming for the advancing woman. Her foot hit flesh and Aya hissed out in pain where Shanna had targeted her thigh. Aya stumbled back.

Shanna backed up and knew she didn’t want to end up in a corner. She glared at Aya and kept a side visual out of the corner of her eye on Ovoly, who was still on the floor. She waved her hands at Aya.

“You think I’m going down easily? Think again and while you’re at it, I’d rethink the entire attacking me plan.”

Aya decided not to listen, advancing on Shanna. The woman opened her arms the way a wrestler would and Shanna reacted, throwing up her hand as the other woman lunged, not even trying to avoid the arms that wrapped around her. Shanna’s palm slammed upward into the woman’s throat right under her chin with enough force to snap Aya’s head back violently. The woman released Shanna’s waist, gagging, and staggered backward. Shanna didn’t hesitate, just kicked out, hitting the stunned woman in the stomach with her foot.

Wincing just slightly, Shanna watched as the woman spun around, bent over and threw up while she gagged and choked, trying to get air while her dinner hit the floor from the blow to the stomach.
They attacked me
, Shanna reminded herself when she started to feel bad for the other woman who dropped to her hands and knees, still getting sick and struggling to breathe.

The pity Shanna felt didn’t last as two arms wrapped around her body and she discovered her arms pinned to her sides from the person holding onto her from behind. Ovoly had gotten up, crept behind Shanna and attacked. Shanna reached up with her hand to grip the other woman’s arm behind the elbow and grabbed the wrist of the hand over her stomach. Shanna gasped in air, bracing her legs, and doubled over as hard and fast as she could, jerking hard on Ovoly until her weight slid over her body.

The shocked woman screamed out as she was flipped over Shanna to slam hard into the tile floor again on her back. Shanna jumped out of the way and watched both women as adrenaline pumped through her body. Both women stayed down and Shanna started to relax until the bedroom door flew open to admit a dark-haired house helper who took in the sight of her downed friends, snarled and charged at Shanna. A second later another one came rushing through the door. Shanna knew she was in a world of shit as the last two entered the room. Six against one, even with two of them down, wasn’t odds Shanna wanted to bet on.

“Totally screwed,” she sighed and then tensed, kicking out at the woman who launched herself at Shanna first but the woman dodged her foot.

Three of them grabbed Shanna as she kicked at the fourth one coming at her front but nailed the woman in the crotch. Shanna was fighting dirty and wasn’t going to apologize for it if it helped even out the odds against her. The woman she kicked screamed out, tripped in her haste to get away and collapsed on the floor in a ball, sobbing. Two of the women grabbed Shanna’s arms while the third one grabbed a handful of Shanna’s hair and suddenly yanked on her hard. Shanna screamed out in pain as she was jerked off the floor by the taller women. Her feet kicked nothing but air.