"It is time, my Lord." The infantry soldier whispered into the ear of his
supreme commander then stepped back to stand at attention.
Tyr lifted his head to gaze about the room. His eyes stopped to scrutinize the faces of the seated men. All but one returned his stare confidently. Hodur shifted his gaze to an invisible point to the left of the head of his overlord.
As Tyr rose from his chair, his attending officers rose to stand at attention. "Relax, gentlemen. Renard will provide refreshment during my absence. Use this opportunity to discuss the plan. I expect to be presented with the pros and cons when I return."
The attending officers nodded in homage as he left the room, one or two calling to Renard to bring them their beverage of choice. Tyr listened as the sound of comrades in arms discussing strategy faded. He refused to look back, trusting that his enemy would not make a move while he was near enough to call for help.
Two guards standing either side of a wooden double door came to attention at his approach.
"What are your orders?" He addressed his question to the guard standing to the left side of the hall.
"Once you have set the lock on the inside of the chamber, no one is to be permitted access until you open the door of your own volition. On pain of death." The guard on the right nodded in agreement.
"What if someone requests entry claiming he is here at the request of my wife?"
The guards grinned. The one on the right replied, "My Lord, your wife is human. She is unfamiliar with our customs. We would not embarrass you or she by granting the ignorant petitioner admission."
Satisfied by their responses, Tyr nodded. The guard on the right pushed open the door to the sleeping chamber and Tyr stepped through. Once inside, he turned and bolted the doors loudly to ensure that the guard detail heard the sound.
In the voice of a field sergeant he shouted, "The Kodiak Pride rejoices that we are to make a child this night, my Beloved."
"Jeez, Tyr, cut the crap!" A tousled head of blonde hair emerged from between the drapes that surrounded the oversized bed. "I already feel stupid enough as it is."
The exasperated women clutched the drapery under her chin, making a frame of material for her face. When Tyr reached up to draw back the curtains, she spit and snarled.
"Don't you dare. I know you've been waiting a lifetime to see me naked, but it isn't going to be tonight. Go sit over there." She pointed to a large chair beside a hearth that was glowing with embers. "And put another log on the fire while you're at it. I'm cold."
He grinned at her discomfort, which exasperated her even further. "Wrap the bedding around you. My lap is big enough for you and the comforter. Beka, you can warm in front of the fire, while I entertain you with erotic tales of mating rituals and reproduction."
Tyr watched her face closely for signs of interest. For a brief moment he caught a flash of something other than aggravation. His groin twitched in response. Put thoughts of consummation out of your mind tonight, Anasazi, he chided himself. We have a traitor to capture.
Beka disappeared behind the curtain. Tyr heard muffled curses and much rustling of sheets. His next glimpse of her was a tightly wrapped butt jutting out from between the curtains. Tyr watched as she struggled to detach herself from the excess bedding. Her effort entangled her in the curtains. Limbs were everywhere, up, down, out and then hidden from view. It was as if he were watching her tossed about in a blending machine. He was greatly amused, until she shrieked, "Tyr."
He jumped from the chair, drew back the curtains with great force, to fall on top of her. "Beka, stop struggling and keep your voice down. The palace is supposed to be hearing sounds of pleasure not torture. You are putting our plan in jeopardy."
The weight of his 300 kilo, perfectly muscled, male body was too much for Beka, confined as she was by linen. "Get off me, you big lug." She tried to push him away, but could find no leverage.
Tyr guessed that the lump pointing toward the head of the bed was her head. Gently, he pulled the sheeting down to uncover her face. Her cheeks were pink with anger. Her eyes sparkled with determination. Her hair was tousled as if they had been making love all day. He could not resist the temptation to unveil even more. Another tug exposed her shoulders. He repositioned himself so that the bundle of flesh and sheeting was snuggled up against him. He tasted the skin stretched tight across her collarbone. She froze. He pulled the sheet again. He was careful to keep her legs and arms bound. Now he had exposed the top half of the round mounds of her gender. Tyr drew a finger over the hills and valleys, following the line of the sheeting. She shivered in response. He retraced the red-hot trail left by his finger with the cooling tip of his tongue. He froze. She whimpered.
After a lifetime of silence, Beka whispered "You were going to tell me an erotic tale."
"But first you must dress. When he attacks, you must be clothed."
"And armed." She frowned.
"Beka, naked you are more lethal than a Gauss rifle, but yes, armed." He fell back on the bed releasing her from his embrace.
"Where did you stash the gear? And why didn't you tell me that you were going to make sure that I had some? Tyr, did you just take advantage of the situation?" She had searched the room before he entered, but found nothing.
"I saw an opportunity, I took it. Was it not pleasurable?" He pointed to a gift wrapped box that sat on the seat of the chair drawn up before the vanity. "I used the disguise of an impregnation gift."
"Impregnation gift?" Beka unwound the sheeting that ensnared her.
"A Nietzschean male might forget a birthday or an anniversary, but the male who forgets to bring a present to an impregnation, he, well he, will never father children ever again!"
He sighed. Freya had never received such a gift from him. One more regret to shoulder stoically. He raised his head, just as Beka removed the last bit of cloth from her body. She was breathtaking. Her pale skin glowed against the backdrop of rose pink linen. Her hair even more tousled feathered about her face. She appeared to be unaware of his hungry scrutiny, easy in her nakedness; she rolled out of the bed to land gracefully on her feet. Tyr watched her progress across the room, his manhood twitching with each sway of her hips.
"Disappointed, Kodiak?"
He raised his head at her question. She had struck a pose, one hand on the back of the chair where the package lay, the other on her hip. Her breasts were puckered tightly. Her weight was split between the chair and one leg. She crossed her other leg over the weight bearing one. She was audacious and bold and he could no longer keep the depth of his desire from his eyes.
"Tyr, we agreed." She was exacting punishment for his earlier deception.
He nodded. Yes, they had agreed, but that was in the planning stages, when all was merely theory and she was taking inhibitors. Tonight, she was naked and aroused and ovulating. She was vulnerable and he was tempted.
As she unwrapped the parcel and removed the clothing, he spoke the words that he had been mentally rehearsing for days.
"Beka, I can never adequately thank you for agreeing to play the part of my wife." He paused to watch as she tugged her trousers over her hips. "To take yourself off the inhibitor and permit the matriarch to test your DNA and fertility, to subject yourself to ritual bathing. There is no woman in the world who would have done as much for me." His speech ended as the last piece of clothing fell into place.
"And don't forget the sharing of your quarters for the past month, so that your Pride would believe you had taken a wife at last."
She had given him a month of her life willingly, considering it a small payment toward the debt she owed him. She had lost count of the number of times he had saved her life and sanity when they crewed together on the Andromeda Ascendant. She had been wrong about the size of the payment. This month was going to cost much more than she had anticipated. Had she known then what she knew now, Beka would have made the same choice of that she was certain.
"I will never forget the past month, Beka," was his cryptic reply.
He rose from the bed to return to the chair by the fire. He removed his jacket and withdrew one of his guns from its holster, then settled himself in the chair. Beka arrived at his side at that moment.
"Is your offer of a lap still open?" She dazzled him with her smile.
His response was to make a bow from the waist, followed by opening his arms wide. She backed onto his lap, throwing her legs over one arm of the chair, leaning her spine against the other. Tyr stretched his arm across her back to give her greater support.
"Let's go over this plan one more time."
She kept her voice low. She knew that he could have heard her from across the room, but her hearing was limited. The proximity meant that they could communicate without the guards or others loitering outside the room overhearing.
"Kodiak men passed down a tale from father to son about the conception of the first Kodiak child. There was a time, when the tale was used to prepare young males for their first attempt at impregnation. The ritual fell out of fashion, but the story continued to be passed down."
He shifted a little in the chair. The heat she was radiating was causing him discomfort.
"So as the first Alpha of the newly restored Kodiak pride, you have chosen to re-enact the ritual. Or so your people think. But really what you are doing is using the ritual to identify and trap the traitor." Beka wriggled, adding to the pressure he was feeling.
"Confirm the identity of the traitor, because I believe the traitor is Hodur." Tyr rested his head on Beka's shoulder.
"Exactly how would the re-enactment do that, since no one but you and the female with the womb you plan to invade are supposed to be in this room?"
Beka stroked his cheek. Freely touching Tyr, without fear of censure, was a bonus of the masquerade.
"Nietzschean males are most vulnerable during the act of impregnation. We become so focused on our duty that we might as well be blind, deaf and mute." He grinned, but she did not see it as his face was turned from her.
"So you are counting on the traitor to take advantage of your distraction." She needed specifics. "How does this ritual unfold exactly?"
Before answering, Tyr lowered the lights, started the music player - Tchaikovsky suited the mood better than Wagner. His enemy, he anticipated, would be watching for signs of activity from within the room. He had swept the room for listening devices earlier. Any reconnaissance by the enemy would have to be done without high tech equipment.
Beka's mood changed with the lighting. She snuggled against his chest, resting her cheek on some exposed skin. The soft dusting of curls that covered his chest provided comfort as did the rhythmic thud of his heart. He rested his chin on top of her head and wrapped his arms about her.
The first female ancestor chose her first mate when they were both very young, barely mature enough to conceive. They were nervous as all first lovers are. Would I please her, he wondered. Would I arouse him, she worried. They first ancestors understood the process of conception but had little experience, beyond a stolen kiss or two.
Beka revelled in the rumbled story, delivered in her ear by a moist, warm zephyr. Wherever their bodies touched a comforting heat began to build. She raised her head, causing him to move his mouth away from her ear. Their gazes locked.
"We know each other more intimately than that."
"Yes, Beka, we do. And we are nervous when we contemplate total intimacy. Imagine then, how afraid the first ancestors felt when, at last, they were permitted to mate?"
"That kind of innocence usually ends in a disastrous first encounter."
She and Tyr had lost their innocence decades before they met. Should they act on their latent desires, she did not anticipate disaster.
The female, so say the fathers, began to cry with apprehension. The male, so say the mothers, strutted and growled in frustration. The couple was at an impasse. She red eyed and weepy. He restless and wanting. "Wife," he said, "You need not fear me. Come let me show you that I am but flesh and blood." Slowly he removed his clothing, one piece at a time. First he revealed his chest, which she had seen many times in the sparring matches. Then he removed his boots. She had seen his feet unshod in the foot races. He unbuckled his holster and laid aside his knives. He had been unarmed the night she had chosen him. As he undressed, he became less threatening to the female. Soon she joined the game, until there was nothing left to remove but his trousers.
"You might say that she was unwrapping the first impregnation gift." Beka interjected.
Tyr smiled and continued.
The fathers say that the male invited her to finish the disrobing. The mothers say that she stayed his hand, as he was about to undo the buttons, replacing his hands with her own. No matter, eventually all was revealed. He stood with the confirmation of his arousal displayed. She drank in the sight. When her blush of embarrassment turned to the heat of desire, he reached for the ribbon that held her robe in place. With one tug, the bow parted and the silk fell from her shoulders. Her robe puddled at her feet.
"Could he be as sure of her desire as she was of his?"
The fathers say that she quivered with want. The mothers say that she shivered with cold. The new husband, uncertain, reached for his wife. He drew her into his arms. The heat of his body replaced the warmth of cloth.
'Shush, mother of my immortality.' The husband comforted the wife with respect and tenderness. She, taking pleasure in the contact of skin to skin, began to explore. First she trailed her hands along his spine. Then she traced the contours of his chest. When she lifted her leg to wrap her calf around his thigh, he lifted her. She clung to him fearlessly as he carried her to their bed.
The young husband knelt, lowering his wife so that she sat upon the edge of the bed. His body resting between her thighs, his knees on the floor. His hands were on her hips. The fathers say that he tasted of her breasts and mouth. The mothers say that he used his hands to start a fire deep within her.
"Halt, what business have you here tonight?"
Tyr and Beka sprang to attention, force lances at the ready, when they heard the guard's challenge. The response was muffled, by the sounds of a scuffle. Something heavy thudded against the door. Then they heard a ripping sound. When all was silent, Beka took a position that made her invisible when Tyr opened the door.
Tyr tore his shirt out of the waistband of his trousers. He slipped off his boots. He undid the buttons of his shirt. When all was ready, he unlocked the door.
"Who would be so bold as to interrupt the Alpha when he is creating children?" He bellowed the question through the closed door, drawing it open immediately afterward.
The two guards stood over the body of Hodur weapons at the ready. "We did not mean to disturb you my Lord. He would not heed our warning." The one who responded came to attention, while the other kept his weapon trained on the prisoner.
"Well done. Did he claim that he came on the invitation of my wife?" Tyr looked from guard to guard.
"Yes, my Lord. He showed us a note." The guard that answered thrust a piece of paper into Tyr's hand.
"Keep an eye on the interloper. I will call for a clean up crew. When will you be relieved?" Tyr waited for an answer.
"Our watch is over in two hours, my Lord." The guard looked worried.
"When I call for clean up, I'll ask for a detail to relieve you. Your diligence will be rewarded."
Before Tyr closed the door, he saw a smile appear on the face of the guards. Attention to small things bred loyalty was a lesson he had learned from Beka.
Tyr lifted his head to gaze about the room. His eyes stopped to scrutinize the faces of the seated men. All but one returned his stare confidently. Hodur shifted his gaze to an invisible point to the left of the head of his overlord.
As Tyr rose from his chair, his attending officers rose to stand at attention. "Relax, gentlemen. Renard will provide refreshment during my absence. Use this opportunity to discuss the plan. I expect to be presented with the pros and cons when I return."
The attending officers nodded in homage as he left the room, one or two calling to Renard to bring them their beverage of choice. Tyr listened as the sound of comrades in arms discussing strategy faded. He refused to look back, trusting that his enemy would not make a move while he was near enough to call for help.
Two guards standing either side of a wooden double door came to attention at his approach.
"What are your orders?" He addressed his question to the guard standing to the left side of the hall.
"Once you have set the lock on the inside of the chamber, no one is to be permitted access until you open the door of your own volition. On pain of death." The guard on the right nodded in agreement.
"What if someone requests entry claiming he is here at the request of my wife?"
The guards grinned. The one on the right replied, "My Lord, your wife is human. She is unfamiliar with our customs. We would not embarrass you or she by granting the ignorant petitioner admission."
Satisfied by their responses, Tyr nodded. The guard on the right pushed open the door to the sleeping chamber and Tyr stepped through. Once inside, he turned and bolted the doors loudly to ensure that the guard detail heard the sound.
In the voice of a field sergeant he shouted, "The Kodiak Pride rejoices that we are to make a child this night, my Beloved."
"Jeez, Tyr, cut the crap!" A tousled head of blonde hair emerged from between the drapes that surrounded the oversized bed. "I already feel stupid enough as it is."
The exasperated women clutched the drapery under her chin, making a frame of material for her face. When Tyr reached up to draw back the curtains, she spit and snarled.
"Don't you dare. I know you've been waiting a lifetime to see me naked, but it isn't going to be tonight. Go sit over there." She pointed to a large chair beside a hearth that was glowing with embers. "And put another log on the fire while you're at it. I'm cold."
He grinned at her discomfort, which exasperated her even further. "Wrap the bedding around you. My lap is big enough for you and the comforter. Beka, you can warm in front of the fire, while I entertain you with erotic tales of mating rituals and reproduction."
Tyr watched her face closely for signs of interest. For a brief moment he caught a flash of something other than aggravation. His groin twitched in response. Put thoughts of consummation out of your mind tonight, Anasazi, he chided himself. We have a traitor to capture.
Beka disappeared behind the curtain. Tyr heard muffled curses and much rustling of sheets. His next glimpse of her was a tightly wrapped butt jutting out from between the curtains. Tyr watched as she struggled to detach herself from the excess bedding. Her effort entangled her in the curtains. Limbs were everywhere, up, down, out and then hidden from view. It was as if he were watching her tossed about in a blending machine. He was greatly amused, until she shrieked, "Tyr."
He jumped from the chair, drew back the curtains with great force, to fall on top of her. "Beka, stop struggling and keep your voice down. The palace is supposed to be hearing sounds of pleasure not torture. You are putting our plan in jeopardy."
The weight of his 300 kilo, perfectly muscled, male body was too much for Beka, confined as she was by linen. "Get off me, you big lug." She tried to push him away, but could find no leverage.
Tyr guessed that the lump pointing toward the head of the bed was her head. Gently, he pulled the sheeting down to uncover her face. Her cheeks were pink with anger. Her eyes sparkled with determination. Her hair was tousled as if they had been making love all day. He could not resist the temptation to unveil even more. Another tug exposed her shoulders. He repositioned himself so that the bundle of flesh and sheeting was snuggled up against him. He tasted the skin stretched tight across her collarbone. She froze. He pulled the sheet again. He was careful to keep her legs and arms bound. Now he had exposed the top half of the round mounds of her gender. Tyr drew a finger over the hills and valleys, following the line of the sheeting. She shivered in response. He retraced the red-hot trail left by his finger with the cooling tip of his tongue. He froze. She whimpered.
After a lifetime of silence, Beka whispered "You were going to tell me an erotic tale."
"But first you must dress. When he attacks, you must be clothed."
"And armed." She frowned.
"Beka, naked you are more lethal than a Gauss rifle, but yes, armed." He fell back on the bed releasing her from his embrace.
"Where did you stash the gear? And why didn't you tell me that you were going to make sure that I had some? Tyr, did you just take advantage of the situation?" She had searched the room before he entered, but found nothing.
"I saw an opportunity, I took it. Was it not pleasurable?" He pointed to a gift wrapped box that sat on the seat of the chair drawn up before the vanity. "I used the disguise of an impregnation gift."
"Impregnation gift?" Beka unwound the sheeting that ensnared her.
"A Nietzschean male might forget a birthday or an anniversary, but the male who forgets to bring a present to an impregnation, he, well he, will never father children ever again!"
He sighed. Freya had never received such a gift from him. One more regret to shoulder stoically. He raised his head, just as Beka removed the last bit of cloth from her body. She was breathtaking. Her pale skin glowed against the backdrop of rose pink linen. Her hair even more tousled feathered about her face. She appeared to be unaware of his hungry scrutiny, easy in her nakedness; she rolled out of the bed to land gracefully on her feet. Tyr watched her progress across the room, his manhood twitching with each sway of her hips.
"Disappointed, Kodiak?"
He raised his head at her question. She had struck a pose, one hand on the back of the chair where the package lay, the other on her hip. Her breasts were puckered tightly. Her weight was split between the chair and one leg. She crossed her other leg over the weight bearing one. She was audacious and bold and he could no longer keep the depth of his desire from his eyes.
"Tyr, we agreed." She was exacting punishment for his earlier deception.
He nodded. Yes, they had agreed, but that was in the planning stages, when all was merely theory and she was taking inhibitors. Tonight, she was naked and aroused and ovulating. She was vulnerable and he was tempted.
As she unwrapped the parcel and removed the clothing, he spoke the words that he had been mentally rehearsing for days.
"Beka, I can never adequately thank you for agreeing to play the part of my wife." He paused to watch as she tugged her trousers over her hips. "To take yourself off the inhibitor and permit the matriarch to test your DNA and fertility, to subject yourself to ritual bathing. There is no woman in the world who would have done as much for me." His speech ended as the last piece of clothing fell into place.
"And don't forget the sharing of your quarters for the past month, so that your Pride would believe you had taken a wife at last."
She had given him a month of her life willingly, considering it a small payment toward the debt she owed him. She had lost count of the number of times he had saved her life and sanity when they crewed together on the Andromeda Ascendant. She had been wrong about the size of the payment. This month was going to cost much more than she had anticipated. Had she known then what she knew now, Beka would have made the same choice of that she was certain.
"I will never forget the past month, Beka," was his cryptic reply.
He rose from the bed to return to the chair by the fire. He removed his jacket and withdrew one of his guns from its holster, then settled himself in the chair. Beka arrived at his side at that moment.
"Is your offer of a lap still open?" She dazzled him with her smile.
His response was to make a bow from the waist, followed by opening his arms wide. She backed onto his lap, throwing her legs over one arm of the chair, leaning her spine against the other. Tyr stretched his arm across her back to give her greater support.
"Let's go over this plan one more time."
She kept her voice low. She knew that he could have heard her from across the room, but her hearing was limited. The proximity meant that they could communicate without the guards or others loitering outside the room overhearing.
"Kodiak men passed down a tale from father to son about the conception of the first Kodiak child. There was a time, when the tale was used to prepare young males for their first attempt at impregnation. The ritual fell out of fashion, but the story continued to be passed down."
He shifted a little in the chair. The heat she was radiating was causing him discomfort.
"So as the first Alpha of the newly restored Kodiak pride, you have chosen to re-enact the ritual. Or so your people think. But really what you are doing is using the ritual to identify and trap the traitor." Beka wriggled, adding to the pressure he was feeling.
"Confirm the identity of the traitor, because I believe the traitor is Hodur." Tyr rested his head on Beka's shoulder.
"Exactly how would the re-enactment do that, since no one but you and the female with the womb you plan to invade are supposed to be in this room?"
Beka stroked his cheek. Freely touching Tyr, without fear of censure, was a bonus of the masquerade.
"Nietzschean males are most vulnerable during the act of impregnation. We become so focused on our duty that we might as well be blind, deaf and mute." He grinned, but she did not see it as his face was turned from her.
"So you are counting on the traitor to take advantage of your distraction." She needed specifics. "How does this ritual unfold exactly?"
Before answering, Tyr lowered the lights, started the music player - Tchaikovsky suited the mood better than Wagner. His enemy, he anticipated, would be watching for signs of activity from within the room. He had swept the room for listening devices earlier. Any reconnaissance by the enemy would have to be done without high tech equipment.
Beka's mood changed with the lighting. She snuggled against his chest, resting her cheek on some exposed skin. The soft dusting of curls that covered his chest provided comfort as did the rhythmic thud of his heart. He rested his chin on top of her head and wrapped his arms about her.
The first female ancestor chose her first mate when they were both very young, barely mature enough to conceive. They were nervous as all first lovers are. Would I please her, he wondered. Would I arouse him, she worried. They first ancestors understood the process of conception but had little experience, beyond a stolen kiss or two.
Beka revelled in the rumbled story, delivered in her ear by a moist, warm zephyr. Wherever their bodies touched a comforting heat began to build. She raised her head, causing him to move his mouth away from her ear. Their gazes locked.
"We know each other more intimately than that."
"Yes, Beka, we do. And we are nervous when we contemplate total intimacy. Imagine then, how afraid the first ancestors felt when, at last, they were permitted to mate?"
"That kind of innocence usually ends in a disastrous first encounter."
She and Tyr had lost their innocence decades before they met. Should they act on their latent desires, she did not anticipate disaster.
The female, so say the fathers, began to cry with apprehension. The male, so say the mothers, strutted and growled in frustration. The couple was at an impasse. She red eyed and weepy. He restless and wanting. "Wife," he said, "You need not fear me. Come let me show you that I am but flesh and blood." Slowly he removed his clothing, one piece at a time. First he revealed his chest, which she had seen many times in the sparring matches. Then he removed his boots. She had seen his feet unshod in the foot races. He unbuckled his holster and laid aside his knives. He had been unarmed the night she had chosen him. As he undressed, he became less threatening to the female. Soon she joined the game, until there was nothing left to remove but his trousers.
"You might say that she was unwrapping the first impregnation gift." Beka interjected.
Tyr smiled and continued.
The fathers say that the male invited her to finish the disrobing. The mothers say that she stayed his hand, as he was about to undo the buttons, replacing his hands with her own. No matter, eventually all was revealed. He stood with the confirmation of his arousal displayed. She drank in the sight. When her blush of embarrassment turned to the heat of desire, he reached for the ribbon that held her robe in place. With one tug, the bow parted and the silk fell from her shoulders. Her robe puddled at her feet.
"Could he be as sure of her desire as she was of his?"
The fathers say that she quivered with want. The mothers say that she shivered with cold. The new husband, uncertain, reached for his wife. He drew her into his arms. The heat of his body replaced the warmth of cloth.
'Shush, mother of my immortality.' The husband comforted the wife with respect and tenderness. She, taking pleasure in the contact of skin to skin, began to explore. First she trailed her hands along his spine. Then she traced the contours of his chest. When she lifted her leg to wrap her calf around his thigh, he lifted her. She clung to him fearlessly as he carried her to their bed.
The young husband knelt, lowering his wife so that she sat upon the edge of the bed. His body resting between her thighs, his knees on the floor. His hands were on her hips. The fathers say that he tasted of her breasts and mouth. The mothers say that he used his hands to start a fire deep within her.
"Halt, what business have you here tonight?"
Tyr and Beka sprang to attention, force lances at the ready, when they heard the guard's challenge. The response was muffled, by the sounds of a scuffle. Something heavy thudded against the door. Then they heard a ripping sound. When all was silent, Beka took a position that made her invisible when Tyr opened the door.
Tyr tore his shirt out of the waistband of his trousers. He slipped off his boots. He undid the buttons of his shirt. When all was ready, he unlocked the door.
"Who would be so bold as to interrupt the Alpha when he is creating children?" He bellowed the question through the closed door, drawing it open immediately afterward.
The two guards stood over the body of Hodur weapons at the ready. "We did not mean to disturb you my Lord. He would not heed our warning." The one who responded came to attention, while the other kept his weapon trained on the prisoner.
"Well done. Did he claim that he came on the invitation of my wife?" Tyr looked from guard to guard.
"Yes, my Lord. He showed us a note." The guard that answered thrust a piece of paper into Tyr's hand.
"Keep an eye on the interloper. I will call for a clean up crew. When will you be relieved?" Tyr waited for an answer.
"Our watch is over in two hours, my Lord." The guard looked worried.
"When I call for clean up, I'll ask for a detail to relieve you. Your diligence will be rewarded."
Before Tyr closed the door, he saw a smile appear on the face of the guards. Attention to small things bred loyalty was a lesson he had learned from Beka.