by Billi Jean
Tabithia nearly fell off her chair. Okay, that was funny. Maybe. Wait. Tabithia felt her mouth gaping open. She was serious.
What. The. Shit?
“Wait, are you…? Do you…? Oh, gods, tell me you don’t like, as in love, Ares?”
Dare’s forehead creased in a frown, but she didn’t deny it. The woman was even pretty when she frowned. She fiddled with her silver fork, moving salad greens around on her plate into little lanes of lettuce with rows of stacked lobster-looking houses.
Holy hell.
“How can you like, as in love, him? He held you prisoner!”
Okay, this sucked. Really.
Had she got blisters on her heels and sweated gallons of yuck for no reason? Had she left the first man who made her feel safe enough to want to have sex for nothing?
There, she’d thought it. Yeah, she wanted him. She wanted Aeros in a way that had her inner thighs constantly achy. She wanted to drive him on, wrap her legs around his lean hips as he powered into her. She wanted to hear the headboard hit the wall as he took her with aggressive, pounding strokes while he groaned deeply in pleasure. She wanted to feel the weight of him on top of her as he drove them closer and closer to climax. She wanted to feel the warmth of his skin gliding over hers. She wanted to press her breasts against his hot flesh and rub herself all up against the dark hair on his chest. She wanted all of it. And him.
Things she’d never imagined before, she now thought about all the time. Even to the point of being unable to sleep for fear of waking up touching herself.
Darkness tugged at her, stabbing her with doubts. What would she do with him if she did have him?
His firm sexy words had thrown her. Heck, she was still thrown. He’d sounded so determined.
Why? Because I wanted to kiss you since I first saw you. Fuck, I’ve wanted to goddamn do more than that.
And there was the shitty part of this. Tabithia didn’t think she could do more than what they’d already done. Heck, she’d held his erection in her hand. Stroked him. Come in his arms. But sex. Real, body to body sex. Oh, she wanted to, until she thought of him seeing her naked. Not in a dim cave, but in the harsh light of day? She grew sick to her stomach just thinking about it. The cave had been dim. He’d not really seen her, seen her. What if he looked at her with distaste? With revulsion?
Dare dropped her fork against the porcelain plate with a loud clatter. The sound broke Tabithia out of her miserable thoughts. Sipping her drink, she watched Dare sit back with a long sigh.
“I know, I know, and he’ll have to pay for that, and a few other things,” Dare muttered. She lifted her chin and met her gaze with a determined expression. Very, very determined. “He’s mine.”
It took Tabithia’s brain several moments to put those words together to make any kind of sense out of them. When she did, she saw Dare through a haze of red. She’d left a man buried in the jungle to save a woman from a man who she wanted?
“Excuse me?”
Dare sighed as if Tabithia was dim-witted.
Hello? She’d just brought down a cave on a man for this crazy witch.
“You heard me. He’s mine.” She moved her rows of lobster houses aside and exhaled through her little nose. “I’m going to punish him, for a very long time, but I’m not going to let him go.”
Oh, hell. Tabithia fell back on her lounger and contemplated the brilliant blue sky—cloudless, perfectly blue sky. Now this, this kind of thing just was not right. Couldn’t be right.
Her first mission and just when she thought she’d hammered out a pretty good conclusion, even come away with all her ducks in a row, the witch threw this in her face?
Trouble was going to laugh her ass off. Or never trust her again to drive the mission.
“Let me see if I have this right. You want him. He—” She broke off to scrub her hands over her face. She felt a headache coming on—a big one. Maybe she could talk some sense into Dare. “He was with other women, wasn’t he? When you were there?”
Tab heard Dare set down her silverware against the porcelain and shift in her chair before she said, “Well, yes, and no.”
Tabithia rolled her head over to the side to squint at Dare. The woman had lost her mind.
“He tried, but…couldn’t.”
Okay, that was…funny.
“Like he couldn’t get, er, well, an erection?” Tabithia asked. Was that even possible? He was a god, right?
Dare’s small face coloured, and she looked pissed off, but she finally shook her head. “No, he got hard. That’s why he’s getting punished.” Dare demolished the rows of food with one angry swipe of her fork. “Among other reasons.”
“So, he got hard and…what? Stalled out?”
Dare lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “He couldn’t follow through.”
“Because you did something?”
Dare paused so long that Tabithia was forced to fist her hands—because shaking a member of her coven was not cool.
“No, I don’t think so.”
“So, let me get this straight. He had all these women there, and he didn’t use them? Touch them? And, you know, do the dirty?”
Looking even more uncomfortable, Dare nodded. She shifted on her chair, straightened out her plate, and set her fork down. “No, he didn’t.”
“All this time?”
Dared nodded silently, but with a pissed-off if-you-ask-one-more-question-I’ll-murder-you look in her eyes.
Tabithia closed her eyes. This was too much. Too much.
“But I don’t want to go back, not yet. He needs to suffer for a while. Maybe he will trust me after he learns how much he needs me. And understand who he belongs to.”
Holy hell. Well, this is just the shit.
How would Trouble handle this? Trouble would tie Dare up and ship her off to some remote location for a long overdue reality check.
“Are you angry with me, Tabithia?”
Geesh, she didn’t want Dare to think that, but, damn, this was hard. She’d broken some big rules—the first being that once you start a job, you finish it. Get the chalice, hand it over, get paid. She’d done none of those. Not one. And, in the meantime, she’d pissed off some very badass Greeks.
“No, no, not angry. Confused, but hey, whatever. All is fair in love and war, right?” Tabithia grumbled.
“I’m sorry. I will punish him.”
Dare said that like it should make Tabithia feel better. “He’s, like, a god,” Tab said. “What on earth can you do to him?”
The other witch sat back, curled one foot under her butt, and said, “Not let him see me or know where I am.”
She sounded so smug Tabithia raised her eyebrows. “So?”
A small smile blossomed on Dare’s face, lighting her up from inside out. “So, let’s just say, he can’t live without me.”
Aeros stood in Ares’ hall, watching Ares pace angrily from one end of his glorious home to the other.
“Let me get this straight. You didn’t recover the godhead. It’s lost. Buried beneath the jungle.”
Aeros nodded. He’d already given Ares the rundown. As had all the men. Ares still stalked from one end of the room to the other before heading back to glare at him. He’d ditched his robes and his war gear, and now wore jeans and a dark T-shirt.
Aeros had stalked in, ready to lay down the way things had to be to his god, and, instead, he’d stood at the threshold to Ares’ temple, his mouth gaping. No women lounged on the lush cushions. There were no cushions. Ares stood with his back to him, dressed in jeans and a blue T-shirt. No robes. No war gear. No sword. Glancing around the amphitheatre-sized hall, Aeros frowned. There wasn’t much of anything here.
“Aeros, to say I am disappointed in you is an understatement. Instead, I will simply say, you will go back out. You will find the godhead—”
“You mean woman, don’t you?”
Ares jerked to a halt and turned slowly to face him. “What did you say?”
“I met her. I saved her from a chupacabra.
Ancient, ugly beast, big fangs, poison—”
Ares held a palm out for silence. “I know what a chupacabra is, Aeros.”
“Then you know she might have died, if not for me.”
Ares jammed his fingers through his hair and tugged on the thick strands before dropping his arms heavily to his sides.
“She might be here if not for your fuck-up, too.”
Aeros didn’t respond. What was the point? He had lost the woman. Couldn’t Ares simply get another? One look at the god and he knew the answer. No. It seemed he’d lost two women. His and his god’s.
“Aeros, you have less than two weeks to get her back—”
“How the hell am I to do that? You know as well as I do that she’s hidden now. Gone.”
Ares’ face darkened dangerously. His obsidian eyes lit up with something close to madness. “Listen to me, Aeros. Be very careful what you say.” Two deep exhales and Ares turned his back on him. “You will find her. You will bring her back and you will do it within the time allotted.”
Turning back, Ares gave him a glowering look. “Or we will both be dead.”
Dead.
Was that even possible?
Ares reached up and rubbed the centre of his chest. His hand trembled. Anger simmered under his calm surface, but underneath, Aeros could tell panic fluttered its dark wings.
Ares. Dead.
Could it be?
“I will cease to exist, Aeros.”
“Sonofabitch.” The chill settled in his bones, blocking the heat from his body.
“And every man in my command.” Eyes bright, Ares narrowed his gaze to a brilliant blast of black power. “Bring her to me, Aeros, no matter the consequences, or neither one of us will live long enough to claim our woman.”
Chapter Fourteen
The flower gardens surrounding Sorcha’s New England home filled the late evening air with a kaleidoscope of sights and scents. The buzzing in Tabithia’s brain slowed, calmed by the familiar feel of her aunt’s protection. It wasn’t the frozen tundra, but hell, it was probably best she’d not ditched Dare in the snowy southern continent. She might not have come back for her. Their coven in New England would be far safer until she could figure out her next move. She needed some time, and this place, with the power buzzing under her skin, would give them at least a small slice.
Next to her, Dare sighed, sounding dreamy.
“This place is beautiful, Tabithia. Perfect.”
Tabithia’s stomach rolled. Perfect? The beach had been perfect—even the sunshine had been soothing, like a caress against her fried nerves. Still, gazing around the gardens surrounding the main house, coming home did something to her. She blinked past a stinging in her eyes. Sadness? Yeah, sadness whooshed down on her, nearly masking the biting panic that had been nipping at her heels since she’d left the coast of South America behind.
This was it. She’d walked away from Aeros. She’d left behind any chance for them. Honour and integrity made up the warrior’s existence. She’d proven she had none.
In the jungle, she could pretend he would chase after her, find her and then…all sorts of steamy images had come to mind. But here? Where her family’s power shimmered in the air? Even Ares wouldn’t dare to step foot across the threshold without being invited.
Tabithia frowned, her headache beginning to grow. So the sadness was from what? Losing something she didn’t even have? Oh, yeah, that sucked. How could she be so stupid?
Get your act in the game, Tabbie. No guy would want you for long, and, once again, could you really, really do the dirty with Aeros?
The question messed with her, taunting her constantly in circles of insecurity. The hell if she knew. Aeros had kissed her, and every insecurity she thought so firmly instilled in her being had floated right out of her head—disappeared. But now, away from his intense eyes and warm, strong presence, the doubts filled her to overflowing again.
“Tabithia? Are you feeling well?”
Tabithia glanced around the gardens to clear her head and blink back the painful thoughts. She anchored her hands on her hips and met Dare’s concerned expression. Dare lifted a hand as if to touch her arm, but dropped it.
The ‘no touching’ rule sometimes sucked, but it was necessary. Tabithia took a step back and began pacing. Shit, she had no idea what she’d do if Dare tried to comfort her. She might just fall apart.
Better to be alone when that happened. “I’m fine. Let me see what’s up here, though, ‘kay?” Then she could leave. Deal alone with the garbage flowing through her veins.
Dare nodded, still giving her that silly, concerned look.
Tabithia took a moment to shove her emotions into a corner to deal with later, and then sent her mind out, testing the air for any sign of Sorcha, and came away with nothing. Not a blip. Frowning now, Tabithia sensed something more under the calmness surrounding the acres of land claimed by her aunt. They’d moved here centuries before. Her aunts had left their ancestral home, leaving English-occupied Scotland to start over in this new world. They’d spilled their blood on the ground here, marking this land for theirs. It was the only home Tabithia had ever known. Oh, she’d made the journey back to her Pict past, touched the blue stone, and come away feeling small and insignificant under the vast sky and mountains of the Highlands. But here, this place was home. Yet today the air felt like it waited, sucking in a breath before something happened. Something bad? Here?
“My aunt’s not home. No one is.”
“Is that bad?” Dare asked, still standing quietly on Tabithia’s left. The journey here had been taxing on them both. Tabithia hadn’t been able to get hold of Trouble. No response to her phone calls or text. No answer to her scrying attempts. Trouble had disappeared before, though—especially when she was hip deep in a job. But Sorcha?
There was only one thing to do—call. Steadying herself, Tabithia reached for the power flowing through the centre of Sorcha’s—and her own—lands. Instant fire flowed through her veins, deep, scorching, and endless. Slow and steady, she formed a line from her own aura to Sorcha’s, seeking her aunt on a plane no one but the two of them could ever discover.
Dare shifted next to her, bees droned in the air near the apple orchards, a bird called from nearer to the house, but under the sounds of life, Tabithia began to hear the music of her blood, the connection between herself and her aunt. Her coven was a blood link—from first ancestor to the youngest member. Each individual shared the link of ancestral blood.
Almost as soon as she heard the musical tone, Sorcha’s essence—so rich and pure—embraced her and thoughts became words.
Tabithia. You have come home.
For now. I’ve brought one of ours.
Without saying a word, Tabithia transferred all her knowledge of Dare, leaving the relaying to a quick, strong implode of information.
Ah, I sense her power and pain. And yet, for all her pain, she would still keep Ares. You wonder why. You will learn. For now, keep her safe. Even the Greek god cannot break past my spells. She is safe. Let her test his resolve, his love. It will do no harm.
Humour came through, bright and shiny. Tabithia rolled her eyes and sent an image of Ares, followed by her encounter with the Three. A stunned silence followed and Tab couldn’t keep the grin off her face. She sent her own bright snap of humour to her aunt like a tap on the nose.
Still think no harm will come?
Tabithia received an almost comical image of Sorcha’s mouth open, frozen in shock.
Holy Three Sisters.
Yeah, think how I felt.
How you felt? I can’t imagine what you did… Worry clouded her aunt’s thoughts, almost as if Tab might have screwed up and acted like an idiot.
Well, it’s not like I fell to the ground and kissed feet, but I showed respect. Sorta. Until Artemis arrived, but, anyway, I have to ditch Dare here, right? When do you come home? Where are you, anyway?
I’m busy, but I should return in a few days. Where is Circerran?
<
br /> Trouble? Who knows? I’ve lost her, but you know how she is.
Something close to fear transferred before Sorcha snapped it back, elusive and smoky, beyond Tabithia’s mental reach.
What? What is it?
Nothing, nothing, Tabithia. You’re right, she is away on one of her missions. Dare can stay for a few days only. You’ll need to move her soon.
What? Why?
Sorcha was silent for a long moment. Nothing came through the link they shared. Nothing except…sadness? Or was that Tabithia’s own feelings? She shoved them down tighter and waited. Sorcha was known for looking at things from all angles. Tab had done that, she thought.
I can’t come home just yet. There are events spinning too fast in our world, dearest. Take her somewhere that will protect her, and, until then, keep her hidden as best you can. She is strong in the power. I can feel her, there in our home… It’s as if she’s filling a missing lodestone.
Sorcha was silent again, then her essence seemed to diminish. Yes, she is powerful. Keep her safe until she comes to terms with her limited freedom.
Limited? What does that mean?
She is Ares’ true bond. The god is her one, her one true bond. You knew this?
Tabithia was so startled that she almost lost the link. Instead, she fisted her hands and concentrated on controlling her shock.
So if she’s his… If she’s his one, then, ah, fuck, Sorcha, where the hell does that leave us?
Sorcha laughed again, the sound soft and soothing between them.
She will give Ares a run for his money, dearest. Don’t worry so much. Perhaps it’s time for the man to learn to be a man, and not a god.
But he is a god!
Ah, but obviously he coveted something reserved only for our kind.
Our kind?
Well, perhaps not humans, but for those of us gifted with immortality, we were given bonds, our other half, to aid us through the centuries.
Ah, okay, so…
Just keep her safe, find a better place and step away before the fireworks scorch you. A true bond cannot deny the other, so it is said. Perhaps it is true for them.
The laughter this time was edged with sadness. Tabithia doubted her aunt realised how much bitterness had leached into their connection.
