Sugar sipped and shook her head. “No, not all of them. We keep discovering more and more ancient records all the time. What do you think are in the pyramids sprinkled around the world? The information is not all in written form either. It’s stored in objects. Sometimes they’re holographic. Others are markings in a forgotten language. What little I remember of the blade before it attacked me is all the strange marks on it. It also had like a billion tiny lights that I could see through its nearly transparent gold housing. When it spoke to me in English, I think it was trying to warn me about what was coming. It told me to prepare myself. I thought I was having hallucinations from the bad air inside the cave.”
“I know what’s in the pyramids, Dr. Jennings, but I’m surprised you do. Most are in denial or work to hide the truth.”
Sugar raised her eyebrows. It was hard to take offense with a well-spoken, sexy-as-hell man who could turn into a giant cat. “Have you actually been in a pyramid?”
“No, but my mother excavated the contents of all the ones on Earth long before I was born. She has many artifacts stored away now for proper preservation and study. In time, they will be returned to Earthlings who will be able to accept the information they contain.”
“Your mother raided the pyramids?” Sugar asked in shock.
“We’ll talk of her another time. I want my original question answered.”
Sugar felt her brow wrinkling. “Why are you so fascinated with Athena’s sex life?”
Axel shrugged. “I’m a feline. I’m curious about many things.”
“Okay. Since you do make damn good coffee, I’ll tell you,” Sugar said, grinning at his set jaw.
Axel was so intense. She took a few sips of coffee and let herself drift into lecturer mode.
“There are legends in nearly every culture that center around a time before the timeline we’re living and before humans started recording what we call history. I’ve read all I’ve been able to find and gone to see the various tomes and tablets of those who tried their best to restore that knowledge. For example, everything we have says Athena’s sentient blades were meant for use by warriors. Granted, most fighting in Earth’s recorded history was allegedly done by male warriors. However, in Athena’s time warriors were also female. Fighting back then involved resolving conflict with compassionate intentions rather than being focused on the destruction of lives.”
“Your artifact materialized a weapon from nothing and turned six enormous hybrid shifters into piles of dust. What is compassionate about that? I would call that ruthless.”
Sugar grunted over the reminder and then laughed. “Okay. Guess you have a point there.”
Axel softly glared at her. “But the debate about warriors and fighting has nothing to do with how you know about Athena’s sex life. Claims of such intimate knowledge are what makes me curious about the integrity of your research.”
Sugar gave him a look she reserved for the worst of skeptics.
“It was explicitly stated, and even if it wasn’t, that’s a simple deduction. While a metal-smith, Athena the Ancient was also a priestess in a matriarchal society. The origin of that society is a mystery, but the ancient Greek societies descended from it were primarily matriarchal. It is more than likely that Athena was raised not to be a one-man woman. Like some of the temple priestesses of ancient Greece, she would have been encouraged to share herself with a much larger community. Her society probably encouraged her to have children with as many men as she could so her incredible intelligence could be passed down through the generations that followed.”
Axel thought the society Dr. Jennings described sounded like Lyran society concerning matriarchal tendencies. His mother had borne children with several men in her long life, but according to her proclamations, love had visited her only once.
“Couldn’t Athena have just had a bunch of children with one intelligent man? Humans do that routinely. That diversifies progeny as well.”
Sugar smiled. That was a surprising view given what she heard about how Axel took payment for services. She was enjoying their conversation greatly though.
“DNA specialists have made the same argument, but what you’re describing is a different kind of diversification.” Sugar spread her hands. “For the sake of debate, let’s say a shifter child you and I have is born with twenty-seven incredible traits—more than any other child. That child would be phenomenal. But a shifter child I might have with someone like Max might have only ten incredible traits and one recessive one that outsmarts nature and keeps him alive when a devastating population plague comes. In Earth’s history, recessive genes have carried forward ingenuity and fortitude. They have allowed humanity to prevail as a species on this planet. Let’s be honest here, Axel, I may not be the educated geek you are, but I know even the most intelligent geeks on this planet are nowhere near creating the kind of technology currently making its home in my chest.”
Generally bored with any woman after a few minutes, Axel found himself hanging on every word the very talkative Dr. Jennings said. They’d been talking now for over two hours. He’d even made her a second pot of coffee to keep her at his kitchen table. He was supposed to be training her to fight like he’d promised his mother.
Also, he was still dealing with the fact that her sleeping for three days had made him restless and concerned for her well-being. Something had relaxed in him the moment she’d awakened. She was having an extremely odd effect on him.
“You sound envious of Athena’s life.”
“Perhaps I am,” Sugar answered, but shrugged and smiled as she thought about it. “I got divorced a few years ago. Those first years I was married were wonderful. We were both teachers at the college where I work. The woman my ex-husband left me for became pregnant, so my ex got a new and younger wife as well as a baby from the deal. He was quite happy to trade up partners.”
“That’s very cliché.”
Sugar snorted. “He was cliché, but I’ve never been. I certainly didn’t give up sex after my divorce, but I never had the urge to commit to a male again. Casual relationships have met my sexual needs just fine without affecting the rest of my life. In a way, I’ve become Athena and found it satisfying. I can see why she would feel the same. All I miss from my marriage is cuddling with someone. Hugging my pillow is not the same as wrapping myself around a lover.”
Axel frowned. So that explained the pillow hugging. He’d watched her do it the whole three days she’d been sleeping. He’d never checked on her that the pillow wasn’t clutched tightly in her arms. Now, why should he be thinking of that?
He cleared his throat. “When you’re ready, I’d like to show you some basic self-defense moves. If one of those ape-men had grabbed you the other day, he might have gotten away with kidnapping you.”
“Only for a little while. Eventually, the artifact would have turned him into a pool of goo with floating eyeballs in it,” Sugar said with conviction. “That’s what happened to some of my previous captors.”
“Good to know, but even the most powerful person can be outnumbered. The particle beam weapon the ape-men used on me is a great leveler. You repelled one blast, but what if there had been a bunch of them? Could you have repelled five or twenty? Basic self-defense will give you other options.”
Sugar nodded and picked up her coffee again as she looked around Axel’s kitchen. “I haven’t had a peaceful moment since I entered the cave where I found the artifact. Thank you for this morning, Axel. It’s nice to feel normal again even if it won’t last.”
“It will last. You are safe here,” Axel said firmly. “But the goal is for you to be safe everywhere. You have the power to be. You just need training.”
“No,” Sugar said, laughing. “The artifact has the power. I’m merely the conduit. The artifact does whatever the hell it wants with me, and I have no power to prevent any of it from happening. It’s hard for me to believe this is going to be my life for the next hundred years.”
“A hundred and five years,
it said—which is just the amount of time it’s going to take to complete the symbiosis. It is possible you will live a very long life beyond that span because of the power inside you. Since it heals you repeatedly, the symbiosis obviously fosters regeneration. My people have had that for years. It is used carefully though. There are ethical considerations.”
“Of course, there are. If no one ever died, the world would crumble under the demand to support all that life,” Sugar said.
“I must say I have greatly enjoyed our discussion,” Axel said. He’d read several articles on the Internet that said compliments fed a growing friendship.
“Thanks. It was fun talking to you as well. Most men tend to think my ideas are crazy. Who knew that a cat shifter would be the one who thought differently?”
“You keep bringing that up, but I’m not a normal shifter. I’m the son of a feline alien from the planet Lyran. My mother is an ascended feline matriarch. We call her Queen Nyomi here on Earth because she likes that term better than Feline Magna Mater.”
“Right. You did tell me you were an… alien,” Sugar said the word carefully, sipping her coffee while trying not laugh. He was a damn cat shifter. She could see the cat side of Axel being restrained. It was as clear as the human side being restrained inside Max. Seeing Axel’s animal side was like seeing the Gargoyles hidden within Eva’s men. Sugar doubted anyone could conceal their true molecular makeup from her now.
How strange though that her panther guardian’s advanced intelligence came with such strange delusions. He obviously enjoyed sharing them since he did so with such great conviction that they were the truth.
She wondered what science fiction character Axel dressed up as when he attended Sci-Fi conventions. Did he go as a character from his favorite movie? She wondered if she’d be staying with Axel long enough to find out for herself if he looked as hot dressed up as a Vulcan as she imagined he would. Or maybe even a Klingon. Did he speak Klingon? It wouldn’t surprise her.
“Rest this morning,” Axel ordered. “We’ll start training this afternoon.”
“Lovely,” Sugar said, dreading his good intentions.
She saved her eye roll until Axel left the room.
9
The answer to where Axel was sleeping got answered pretty quickly. When she went outside to meet him for their training, he came out of a little nearby cabin with Max on his heels.
She found it odd that he’d bothered to put her in his bed instead of out there. Maybe it had been to keep a closer eye on her. That thought was as disappointing as the reality of him not sleeping in the bed with her for three days had been.
He still showed zero interest in her sexually. She got no hotness vibes from him nor caught him sneaking glances at her. There was nothing. Nada.
Sighing about the only conclusion she could draw about his lack of interest, Sugar set her mind to accept that the sexy panther shifter wasn't going to collect payment from her in his typical way.
“Ready for this?” Axel asked.
Sugar shrugged. “I guess.” She might as well learn what he could teach her. The zing of his company though had gotten entirely swallowed up by her depressing thought of no sex being on the horizon.
“Have you noticed any new physical abilities developing that you’re cognizant of while you’re in control of your body?”
Sugar snorted and crossed her arms. “Do you realize how much you sound like a scientist asking me that?”
“Just answer my damn question,” Axel ordered.
Sugar shrugged again. “Well… I can run pretty fast now.”
“Good. Let’s see what you can do. Race Max down that path. There’s a stick on the bench about eight hundred feet down there. Bring the stick back to me.”
“Bring the stick back? I’m a person, Mr. Rodu, not your damn dog,” Sugar said sharply. She heard Max yip in support. Laughing, she smiled and looked at the wolf. “I know. You’re not one either. Does Axel make you do this shit too?”
Another yip. Sugar looked at Axel who crossed his arms to mirror her. He looked super, super sexy when he was trying to be firm. Refusing to do what he asked wasn’t going to earn her any points though, no matter how stupid his request was.
She didn’t want to make him mad at her, especially not on their first fully conscious day spent together, so she dropped her arms and sighed.
Sugar pointed to the path. “Go, Max. I’m going to give you a head start.”
Max whined and gave her a disbelieving look. “Not joking, Max. Go,” she ordered more firmly.
When Max finally took off, Sugar looked at Axel. “I hope you have a good reason for torturing that poor man.”
“He’s not a man. He’s a wolf,” Axel said.
“He’s as much a man as you are,” Sugar said firmly and then took off. She heard Axel swear loudly just before she was out of hearing range.
Thirty seconds later, she slowed before she stopped in front of him. “Bad Panther,” she said sternly and smacked him on his well-muscled arm with the stick he’d made her fetch.
Max soon skidded to a stop near them, looked at the two of them for a moment, and then bolted off in another direction.
“See?” Sugar said. “You scare the bejeezus out of him.”
“If I do, it’s none of your business,” Axel said, rubbing his arm. “If it weren’t for the artifact, I’d turn you over my knee.”
“Promises. Promises.” Sugar taunted.
Their glaring contest got old fast. Axel looked determined to win and didn’t seem the least entertained by her company. Sugar huffed out a breath of defeat. “Fine. Okay. You know what? You’re right. What kind of test do you want to do next? Let’s keep to the training program no matter how stupid it is.”
Axel released a breath, unsure now of how to proceed. She was turning out to be feistier than she looked. He really didn’t need the headache of arguing with her. “How high can you jump?”
Sugar rolled her eyes and didn’t hide it. “How high can I jump? You’re so typically male that I almost hate myself for going along. I would have thought an alien prince might be a little bit more enlightened about how to talk to women.”
“I merely asked you a simple question. How damn high can you jump?” Axel all but yelled.
“I can jump as high as I need to when it means saving my ass,” Sugar practically yelled as she turned and looked at his one-story house. Two steps and she vaulted on top of it.
The metal roof caused her a handhold problem she hadn’t prepared for though. Down the tin slope she rolled unable to grab anything on the smooth surface. Squealing for the whole fall, Sugar landed in Axel’s outstretched arms. Her heart was rapidly beating from such a close call.
“Wow. Thanks for the catch. Landing on the hard ground is a bitch. Been there and done that,” she exclaimed, her heartbeat finally slowing when Axel swung her to her feet.
“You have a lot to learn,” Axel said.
Sugar chuckled. “Or I need to get some shoes and gloves that grip all kinds of surfaces. Slipping off something is how the last group caught me. I landed on a marble statue when I jumped off a building. I lost my grip and my breath when I hit the ground. They knocked me out with something in a rag shoved over my nose. I swear it was like that thing kidnappers always do to their victims in the movies.”
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t watch movies or TV. I find them mind-numbing,” Axel said as he ordered his arms to turn loose of her. They didn’t want to obey. He had to force himself to let go. “Are you harmed?”
Sliding from his tight grip, Sugar looked down and patted her body. She ended her check by cupping her breasts.
“Right as rain,” she reported and caught him staring at her hands. Grinning, she removed them from her breasts. “Good thing the artifact didn’t show up this time.”
The reminder of the real source of her abilities cooled his arousal more than standing under the icy waterfall of his lake would have. Part of why he loved it here was that falling
water. He shook his head to clear his lusty thoughts. Friendship, he reminded himself. He’d promised his mother to become her friend.
She wasn’t his type anyway. He didn’t like verbally combative women.
“Why do you think the artifact didn’t activate when you fell just now?” Axel asked so he could stop dwelling on how right it had felt to hold her.
Sugar took a couple of steps away. Axel smelled terrific to her. What would he do if she threw herself into his arms and started ripping at his clothes? The urge was powerful. Too bad he wasn’t reacting like that to her.
She looked at him and sighed a bit at how sexy he looked. Better step back a little farther, she decided, and did just that.
The smell of him was fainter now. Of course, she was nearly ten feet away. The distance was a ridiculous amount for two people having a normal conversation.
Seduction protocol engaged. Pheromones activated. Prepare for merging.
“What? Are you talking to me? Are you reading my mind now?” Sugar demanded as she paced in a circle.
“I didn’t say anything,” Axel said, coming closer.
“No. Not you,” Sugar said fiercely, glaring at Axel while running to a safe distance. She would keep the same ten feet between them just in case.
What was the geek opposite of ‘activate’? “Turn them off. Turn them off right now.”
“Turn what off? Dr. Jennings, you’re making no sense. Did the fall from the roof harm you internally?” Axel asked, walking toward her.
The woman was acting more strangely than ever and Axel was determined to discover what was wrong. He might have to ask his medically trained sister, Marta, to test her for brain damage.
His feet skidded to a stop a couple of feet away from her. A low growl began in his gut and worked its way up and out his throat. A feral reaction from his inner cat hardened every muscle. His panther was close to the surface, but where was the danger?
Bad Panther (Alien Guardians of Earth Book 1) Page 6
