Act of Mercy

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Mirek?” Bron asked in concern.

  “Riona, ah—” Mirek began.

  “He can’t handle…his wife,” Alek interrupted in merriment. “He’s walking like this.” Alek ambled around the hall like an old man with a cane, stumbling all the more in his fit of laughter.

  Bron arched a brow and nodded his head. “Nicely done. We’ll have another nephew to add to the family soon. Well done, brother.”

  “If she didn’t break him,” Alek inserted. “I always suspected you were a little soft, Ambassador. All that flying in space and drinking lady wine with the aliens.”

  Mirek shoved Alek into a wall. It didn’t stop the laughter as the man slid to the floor. “At least I don’t smell like a ceffyl herd.”

  “I deserve that,” Alek admitted, not bothering to stand as he grinned up at them. A change had come over him since his marriage. He was happier and smiled more. Whatever Kendall had done to her husband, she’d managed to tame the stubborn man.

  “You’re going to tell everyone, aren’t you?” Mirek sighed, not really worried. His wife wanted him. That was a good thing. Actually, she wanted him…and wanted him…and wanted him…and—

  “Oh, yeah,” Alek nodded. “Everyone.”

  “Alek,” Bron broke in. “Maybe we should keep this to ourselves. If my wife is any indication of how the women were raised, her sister will not like being talked about in such a way. She will consider it insulting.”

  Alek instantly agreed. “Of course, I didn’t think of it like that. I would never gossip about my sisters if it made them uncomfortable.”

  “Thank you,” Mirek mouthed. Bron nodded once.

  “Have either of you seen the updated communications plans?” Bron asked, nodding at his armload. “We’re having a hard time locating some of the buried mountain lines to see if they’re salvageable. Aeron wants to get the construction plans finished before the baby arrives and keeps asking if they’re lines or transmit boosters. I honestly have no idea how they work.”

  “Why don’t you just grab a line on one side and pull?” Alek asked, shrugging. “See where it leads. If it doesn’t lead anywhere, I’d say we have transmit boosters. I don’t know what a transmit booster looks like, but we can send the boys out to look for one in the trees or wherever.”

  “Apparently checking the line that way will take longer. Aeron ordered a ground imager but it won’t be here until after the baby comes. She is very focused on getting this done. Now.” Bron looked at them hopefully, an almost desperate plea on his face as he wanted to please his pregnant wife. “So have you seen the updated plans?”

  “Updated as in the ones from fifty years ago?” Mirek frowned. “Did we even have plans? I don’t ever remember seeing them. I seem to remember Sper just making it work. He’d go out with tools and come back later with everything working again.”

  “Alek?” Bron prompted.

  “No clue,” Alek said. “I think Sper kept all the plans in his head. When he died, he took the information with him. Though, come to think of it, after he died the network stopped breaking down so much. I wonder what that man was doing?”

  “Intergalactic transmissions,” Mirek answered. Sper never married, never even tried to marry. He was a very rare exception to the Draig culture in that way. “Something he called moving, moodies, movies?”

  “Blast!” Bron frowned. “That’s what I was afraid of. Aeron is not going to be pleased. She is a very organized woman.” To Mirek, he said, “She was always like that, but it’s getting worse. At first, she just arranged clothing in the closet according to styles and color. But then I caught her trying to alphabetize your giant trade agreement reports in my office in the middle of the night.”

  “Wait until your bride starts hiding your favorite throwing knives,” Alek said. “I wish Kendall would merely reorganize reports.”

  “I believe that is part of the joys of pregnancy,” Mirek offered. “I’m told women do that kind of thing.”

  “Kendall is doing many strange things. When I threw a couple knives in the house she scolded me for ruining the wood on the new throwing post. Then she tried to take away all the sharp objects and put them really high in the home so not even I could reach them. How’s it going to be a throwing post if I can’t put weapons in it and soften it up for my boy to learn? And how is my son going to reach the weapons if they’re glued to the ceiling? You’d almost think she didn’t want the child to have a sharp blade.” Alek took a deep breath and lowered his voice to a near whisper. “Then, as I’m rubbing her wonderful giant belly and tell her I want at least thirteen children, she tried to hit me with a plate of chocolate and an ore sample she was looking at. My Kendall is not a violent lady.”

  The fathers-to-be shook their heads, completely at a loss.

  “One visiting dignitary told me he and his wife called it nesting,” Mirek said. “Toward the end time women start doing strange things to the home. They can’t help it. You should probably help them. I don’t like the idea of my pregnant sisters climbing high and lifting heavy objects. They seem a little off balance of late when they simply walk down the hall.”

  “Like a baldric slaughtering prey to make nest bedding,” Alek concluded. “That actually makes complete sense. Perhaps that is why she is putting the knives up high. She’s building a nest.”

  “Nesting. Aeron has been taking all the covers and pillows and surrounding herself with them at night. And quite frankly, some of the strange things she’s been eating resemble food a baldric might enjoy—not in taste so much, but it looks disgusting. I think you may be right, Mirek. We should find a way to help them with this nesting process.” Bron shared a determined look with Alek.

  “At times like this I miss our mother. She would have told us what to do,” Mirek said.

  “How hard can it be to build a nest?” Bron’s bearing seemed lighter than before. “Mirek, thank you. I’m glad someone in this family understands these women things.”

  The Dead Tell by Jaycee Clark

  Book One in The Dead series.

  Some people talk with the living, some speak with the dead…

  Paige Holcomb enjoys her life in New Orleans. Friends she considers family, a man she can’t figure if he’s a friend or more, and of course the others. The others being those who aren’t breathing and who gravitate to her for help. Why she’s cursed, she’s never figured out, but help the ghostly women she will.

  Nothing much shocks homicide detective Mike Killian, but the stubborn woman he’s been after constantly manages it. Paige gives wary a whole new meaning and he’s given her space and time. But he’s done waiting. She’s his and it’s time she came to terms with that.

  When the ghosts of murdered women start visiting Paige, Mike will do whatever he must to keep her safe while she learns to use her ability to help stop a murderer before it’s too late.

  To find out more about these books or to read other books from The Raven Books visit www.TheRavenBooks.com

  Tease Me (Semper Fi Marines) by Melissa Schroeder

  You met the Johnsons in the USA Today Bestseller The Santinis, now, get to know Bran…

  A man who thinks he has what he wants.

  Bran Johnson always knew he wanted to be a Marine. What makes it even better is longtime gal pal TK is now stationed at the same base. Unfortunately, Bran is having a hard time dealing with his feelings when he realizes that TK is considered a hot commodity on base. Worse, he finds himself taking a backseat to her admirers.

  A woman who always wished for more.

  Tess Keller has loved Bran since they were in high school. The former football captain always treated her like a friend so she tried to move on. Unfortunately, he’s in her business constantly now. One passionate argument leads to more than either of them expected. Tess knows it isn’t going to last because Bran is never going to settle down. So, to save face, she suggests they stay friends, only with the side benefit of being sometime lovers.

  A Marine determined to win
at all costs.

  Bran agrees to the friends with benefits idea just to keep himself close to Tess. She might think he’s not around for the long haul, but this is one Johnson brother who knows exactly what he wants…and just how to get it. And what he wants is Tess in his bed and in his life forever. Nothing will stop him, not even Tess herself.

  Excerpt from Tease Me (Semper Fi Marines)

  “I’m not wrong, Bran. I’ve never been your kind of woman.”

  He heard the doubt in her voice and was stunned. This woman had always seemed so confident, so sure of herself. But in this, she seemed…at a loss. She apparently didn’t know how stunning her found her. That she was gorgeous inside and out.

  He guessed it was time to reveal that little secret of his.

  “Do you remember graduation?”

  “Yes, it rained, we had it inside. It was hot as hell.”

  “Not high school. Annapolis.”

  She frowned in thought, then nodded.

  “You were so excited that you came running up to me and hugged me. Do you remember that?”

  She sighed. “Of course I do. It wasn’t that long ago. I don’t know what this has to do with the fact that you’re gnawing on my fingers.”

  “Then you kissed me. On the mouth. You’d never done that before.”

  Anyone watching would have seen a calm woman, but Bran knew better. He was holding her hand and his fingers skimmed over her pulse. It sped up a beat or two. Bran was enough of a competitor to admit he enjoyed that.

  She cleared her throat apparently trying to compose herself. “And?”

  He nibbled a little longer, taking his time. He knew it was small of him, but he was enjoying her discomfort. “There’s a reason I avoided you for a few months. For a second there, I almost lost it.”

  Now she looked very wary. “Bran if you want me to believe—”

  Irritated with her, and the fact that he was dying to touch more than just her hand, he interrupted her.

  “I am not lying. You kissed me. It lasted a second and the only thing I could think was that I wanted more.”

  Her eyes widened and she shook her head.

  He nodded. “Thoughts of tearing off your clothes and kissing every inch of your body took over. Then, all the family came up and well, I felt perverted because the rest of the night I wondered what you looked like under your uniform.”

  “You ran off with Jimmy and the rest of those idiots that night.”

  “And I came back to the hotel without them. I couldn’t get you out of my mind. Then, you were gone and we were both busy. It all hit me when I saw you the other day.”

  “Bran.”

  “It’s true. I want you. And I could tell from that kiss, you want me. Why does it have to be any harder than that?”

  “Our families, our…careers.”

  “And you date other Marines. Unless there is something wrong with me.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

  The way she said it was as if she was irritated with him for it.

  “Hey, I won’t push you, but tell me…can you really say you don’t want this?”

  He pulled her closer and kissed her again, this time thrusting his tongue inside her mouth. She tasted of minty toothpaste and lust. It was an odd combination, but need poured through him. Then, slowly, she slipped her hands up his arms and behind his neck. It was Tess who pressed her body against his this time, and it was him who shook. She tilted her head to the side and slid her tongue against his.

  When he pulled back, they were both breathing heavily.

  “So, what do you say, Tess?”

  He left it up to her. He knew that for her, it was the right way to go. Tess always had to think things over and if she said she wanted to wait, he would wait. He’d have to take a cold shower for an hour, but he would do it. She lifted her fingers to her lips and touched her mouth. She looked stunned.

  Damn, she was going to say to wait. Or, worse, no. That would be ten times worse. But then, in a blink of an eye, she dropped her hand and her lips curved.

  “Tess?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded. “Have you ever known me to not say what I mean?”

  Then, he let out an oorah as he bent to pick her up. He caught her unawares and she squealed.

  “Bran, put me down,” she said wiggling against him.

  “I will, when I can put you under me.”

  Then he marched into her bedroom.

  For sale at online vendors.