by Lisa Kessler
“With children. Family.” He lifted her chin, regret in his eyes. “You deserve that, Muriah.”
Bitterness swelled inside him. Why would the universe bring her to him, allow her to show him how much richer his existence could be, and then deny him the joy of her love in return? Was the god of sacrifice to be punished for all eternity?
He never should have left the jungle.
Her warm hand caressed his cheek, but he withdrew from her touch. “This is a dangerous game.”
“No game.” She caught his chin, pulling his gaze back to her face.
His eyes burned, no doubt glowing crimson as his resistance crumbled. “You do not understand how close I have come to losing my sanity.” He made no move to touch her. “Lukas and the government agent, they were right to warn you about me. I already care more than I should, and want more than I deserve.”
“Do something for me,” she whispered as she moved her hair to one side, exposing her neck. “I want you to know how I feel.”
The jaguar inside of him roared, his thirst and desire clawing to the surface. He didn’t hesitate. He pulled her close and sank his fangs into her tender flesh. She gasped, her nails digging into his shoulders. He closed his eyes, forcing the animal back. He held her tight, drinking her in. Her mind opened, and her emotions poured into him. Her affection, her desire, lay bare before him.
He groaned against her skin, hungry to deepen the connection. He saw her store, her mother, and he had no idea how he might fit into that world, but he wanted the chance to try. Gradually, he sensed her inside his mind. He resisted the urge to break the connection. Sharing parts of himself he’d never allowed anyone to see.
He took one more slow drink from her veins before pulling back. He slid his tongue across his fang, allowing his healing blood to repair the punctures in her throat. Trailing kisses up her neck, he claimed her lips, their tongues swirling together in a slow, seductive dance as her warm hands moved up his body. She unbuttoned his shirt, her fingers exploring his bare chest, eliciting a growl deep in his throat.
The last of his resistance fell. Issa lifted her off his lap and lay her down on the sofa. He pulled her shirt off, anxious to feel her skin against his. He kissed her again and reached behind to free her bra. She moaned into the kiss as he dropped the bra on the floor, her breasts pressed tightly to his chest.
An inner battle raged. He’d never experienced the hunger, the desire she stoked within him. He wanted to savor the moment, enjoy her body for hours, and at the same time, he wanted to rip off their clothes and claim her in the most primal sense.
A delicious torture.
Muriah was lost. She’d always been an adventurous lover, but nothing prepared her for this level of passion. She was wound so tight, he could probably send her over the edge right through her jeans.
Issa broke the kiss and rocked back onto his knees. His gaze remained locked on hers while he unfastened her pants and pulled them free. “You are so beautiful…”
She glanced at the pronounced bulge in his pants, then back to meet his eyes. “And you’re overdressed.”
His lips curved into a devilish smile she’d never seen before. It suited him. Her body flushed with heat. Yeah, he should never find out the power he wielded with that sexy grin. Issa got to his feet and freed himself from his pants and underwear. He was tan all over. Tan, muscled, a god.
He sank to his knees, and electricity wound inside of her as he kissed his way up her body starting at her knees. He trailed his lips along her inner thigh until she writhed with desire. He turned to kiss her other leg, and she tangled her fingers in his hair, watching him. His eyes met hers, and his crooked smile stole her breath away.
“In yaah,” he growled.
She opened her mouth to ask what the words meant, but her voice became a moan as his tongue slid between her folds. She pulled at his hair, her hips rocking toward him. Her orgasm rocketed through her before she barely got started.
He kissed each thigh while she struggled to catch her breath.
“That was…”
“Not over yet.” He gripped her hips, feeding on her again.
She trembled, every muscle tensing with the pleasure he kindled within her. He teased her higher with his tongue and slowly sank two fingers into her, thrusting slowly. Her fists tightened in his hair.
As she reached the edge of oblivion, he ceased his pleasuring, kissing his way up her body. Her nipples were erect, tight, and he ran his fingers over them, teasing. She moaned his name, and finally, he claimed her, his hips pressing forward until he sank deep inside her.
Her nails scratched down his back as her body welcomed his. He fit her perfectly, and his slow, strong thrusts made her hungry for more. He held her tight and stood up.
She moaned into the kiss, weightless in his immortal arms. He worked his hips into her, deeper. She let her head fall back, gasping his name. When she righted herself again, his eyes burned crimson, and through his parted lips, she saw the tips of his fangs. Her body throbbed around him.
She kissed his neck, allowing her teeth to scrape his skin until she reached his earlobe. “Take what you want.”
He rested her back against the wall and nuzzled into her hair. “Give yourself to me.”
His fangs plunged into her shoulder just as his hips thrust up into her. Her head dizzied, and she dove over the peak, her body bursting into a million pieces of pure pleasure. Issa growled against her skin and erupted deep inside of her. She clung to him, closing her eyes.
Through the blood connection, she heard him whisper into her mind. I am yours.
She lost herself in the moment. And for once, she didn’t feel alone.
Issa healed her wound and rested his forehead to hers. “Are you all right?”
Her full lips curled into a sexy, sated smile. “Oh…way past all right. Miles past.”
He grinned, kissing her once more before carrying her back to the sofa. He finally pulled back, separating their bodies, and sat down, bringing her to settle on his lap. “Why did I resist so long?”
She laughed, the sound buoying his wounded spirit. Her eyes sparkled. “I thought you’d never come around…”
He rolled his eyes and glanced at the door to the cockpit. “We should probably get dressed.”
Muriah nodded and got up to retrieve her clothes. “I guess we’re members of the mile high club now.”
He pulled on his pants and reached for his shirt, frowning. “What is the mile high club?”
Her head popped through the top of her shirt. “When you have sex in an airplane, you’re a mile high… Get it?”
“I see.” He sat down on the couch and watched her finish dressing, a faint smile on his lips. “Only you could make me forget I am in an airplane.”
She plopped down beside him, her leg tucked up underneath her. “I bet you don’t hate flying as much now.”
“You have given me a much better memory to cling to.” He bent to capture her lips in a slow kiss.
Muriah hummed into the kiss and rested her forehead against his. Issa stared into her eyes, bringing his hand up to caress her cheek. “I wish I could stop time and keep you out of danger.”
She turned and placed a kiss to the palm of his hand. “Without the danger, we never would have met.”
“Perhaps.”
She got up to retrieve her laptop. “We’ve got a couple more hours left. How about another movie before you start worrying about things that are out of our control?”
Issa laughed as she settled back onto his chest. “As if a film on your computer could stop that.”
Chapter Seventeen
Sunrise threatened as they settled into their hotel room in Cairo, pulling the strength from Issa’s body, but he fought for more time. He dreaded leaving Muriah unprotected while he slept.
He’d been careful, shielding his heart from rejection that could jeopardize his sanity, or so he thought. Now that he’d experienced her affection, her body, her blood, his fea
r of failing her overwhelmed him. Fear was a foreign emotion. Never in his long existence had he known this sensation. He protected the world around him, but the stakes had never been personal.
She yawned and glanced over at him. “I’ve been keeping Night Walker hours. I’m going to end up sleeping the day away with you.”
The sound of her voice soothed him. He did his best to drown the foreboding that festered inside him. “Should I feel guilty?”
She chuckled, stuffing a pillow and blanket into his arms. “I wasn’t really complaining.”
“Good.” He bent, capturing her soft lips in a slow, lingering kiss. He opened his eyes, holding her gaze. “No exploring the city without me today.” He waited and finally added, “Please.”
“I set our meetings with my contacts for after dark.”
He smiled, stealing one more kiss. “I will see you at sunset.”
Inside the bathroom, he settled into the tub, waiting for the sun to steal the life from his body. He closed his eyes, reliving the evening in his mind. He’d been with countless women throughout the past millennium, but in spite of all the experience, nothing prepared him for the connection with Muriah.
He’d wanted to please her, to hear her lips gasp his name.
Everything about her called to him. The curves of her body, the sound of her voice, the spicy taste of her skin, the richness of her blood. And her strong mind, unbendable to his will. He hoped that when he attended the meetings with her contacts, she would trust him to be with her while she touched the items. He had no intention of leaving her alone, especially when using her gift caused her pain.
The fact that her psychic gift wounded her worried him. Everything worried him. Now that he’d held her in his arms, he would never be able to return to his solitary existence in dark caverns beneath the sands of this lonesome desert.
If she had any idea of the depths he would go to ensure her safety, she might be frightened.
He sighed out his final breath… Maybe she should be.
She watched Issa disappear into the bathroom. The door clicked shut, and she went to the window. The sky lightened, the sun threatening to peer over the horizon. The Nile sparkled below her suite. She’d come to Egypt three times before this, but she’d never had a wealthy philanthropist making her travel arrangements. She usually stayed on the couch of one of her contacts, and, until now, private jets were just something from the movies.
Resting her forehead against the window, she welcomed the memories of the flight into her head. Issa was an amazing lover. Not that she’d expected less, being a god and all. But there was more. Unlike most of the men she’d been with, last night hadn’t been a conquest for pleasure. He’d treasured her. Not in a chaste way, but somehow, he made her usual desire for an exit plan fade away, as if being in his arms was the place she’d always been destined for.
He also made that awkward silence that usually followed sex, that moment when she asked herself again what she’d been thinking, cease to exist. Sex with him hadn’t been a mistake.
Except for the whole growing up and having a family part.
She sighed. None of that would matter if she didn’t live through the next few days and find a way to stop Apep. If he caught her before they could trap him, the future of her family legacy would be the least of her worries.
Pulling the drapes closed, she sighed and went to the bed. She poked through her bag and dug out her cell phone. Her time zone math was rusty, but it might be dark in San Diego. She hit Lukas’s number and waited. Voicemail. An expensive voicemail.
She had to keep reminding herself that this trip wasn’t on her tab.
“Hey Lukas. We made it to Cairo. Apep caught up with us at LaGuardia, but Issa slowed him down, and we’re hoping we’ll have a day’s head start on him tonight. We’ll see.” She paused. “I’m fine, and I’m planning on being home in time for that wedding and the baby. Try not to worry. I’ll call back when I can.”
She ended the call and started to plug in the charger when she noticed the voicemail notification. Unknown caller. She frowned and hit the button.
“I will find you, bitch. The God of the West will grovel at my feet. Maybe I’ll make him kill you while I watch.” Apep let out a twisted moan. “He seemed protective of you at the airport. I think I’ll force him to kill you slowly. You’ll squeal and beg for your life, and he’ll be haunted by the memory for eternity. Soon, Muriah. Very soon.”
The message ended abruptly, and she dropped her phone on the nightstand, overwhelmed by the sudden urge to wash her hands. A hundred times. Even that might not be enough.
Chaos himself had her phone number, her name. Shit. Cold terror laced her bloodstream, cramping her muscles. Fear was what that bastard wanted. He fed off of panic and worry.
She rubbed the goose bumps on her arms, doing her best to quiet the fear. If she gave in to the anxiety, he would win. No freaking way.
Muriah pulled out her laptop. She had some research to do before they met with her contacts anyway.
Suddenly, she wasn’t the least bit tired.
Muriah La Deaux. He may not have stopped their plane out of LaGuardia, but the evening wasn’t a total loss. Once he healed his fucking leg. Never again would he underestimate the God of the West. Never.
His human body was a constant handicap. The gods had planned it that way when they imprisoned him. If he’d been free of the confines of this disgusting prison, he could have simply thought about Cairo, and he’d be in the damned desert.
Instead, the jaguar severed his limb, and he’d had to focus his energies on healing his wounds, unable to pursue his prey. But he made the best of the setback. After his leg stopped bleeding and his nerves wove back together, he’d charmed one of the staff from the jet company and had them print a copy of the manifest.
They were in Cairo, and he had her name now. Muriah La Deaux. He would find them. Soon. Foundation Arts paid for the flight, probably the hotel in Egypt as well. Egypt. Acid burned the back of his throat.
Why were they luring him back to the desert?
A muscle in his cheek clenched. The woman found artifacts. Perhaps she discovered…impossible. He destroyed the ancient Egyptian tablet documenting how the priests had separated him from the flesh, and the moment he finally broke free, he shattered the ancient pottery vase where his spirit had languished.
A human body was heaven compared to the darkness and starvation of a sealed vessel.
But the Egyptians loved to tell stories. They built pyramids and carved more tales into them as well. Praises to Imhotep, the fabled architect of the great pyramids. Thousands of years had passed. Explorers found similar grand structures across the ocean, but no evidence of contact between the civilizations. For a century, humans murmured about creatures from space giving both races the technology.
He ground his teeth. Stories. Fiction. He’d been around the world, planting seeds to watch them grow. Even the Native American tribes built his angular structures out of mud, pointing at the heavens, toward his home. None of them ever high enough. He remained trapped here.
Apep, Loki, Whiro, Tiamat, Hundun, and many more. Since the dawn of man, human tribes who came in contact with him had given him more names than he could recall. But none of them believed in him anymore. Chaos was expected in this new world. Fear was everywhere.
And they credited the pyramid architecture, his steps to the heavens that he’d bestowed on the human race…to aliens.
But soon the world would remember his true name. Apep would be worshipped and the gods would take notice. They would open the doors to the heavens and welcome the prodigal son back to his rightful home.
Or he would blow the fucking doors off.
But first, he had to get the codex and hopefully kill Muriah La Deaux in the process. He licked his lips in anticipation. The announcer interrupted his thoughts.
His plane was delayed for another hour. Fuck.
Muriah’s eyes snapped open at the sound of her cell pho
ne ringing. She must’ve fallen asleep at some point. She glanced at the caller ID before answering and breathed a sigh of relief seeing a number she recognized. It was one of her contacts in Cairo. She took the call and jotted some notes on the hotel notepad. They had a meeting at eight p.m. He had three pieces for her to inspect.
That was a start.
She went to the window and pulled open the blackout drapes. Stunning shades of red and orange painted the canvas of the sky as the golden orb sank lower, closer to the Great Pyramids in the distance. Cairo was one of the largest cities in the world, with architecture that spanned from modern to the last of the Seven Wonders of the World.
There was no other city like it.
The vibrant sunset reflected on the water of the Nile, a living watercolor masterpiece. Taking a picture wouldn’t do it justice. She watched, memorizing the beauty, until the sun finally touched the top of the pyramid in the distance. Sometimes the smog from the city blocked the view of the ancient structures, but the dry wind had taken the haze away, offering her a magical tapestry of color.
She wished Issa could witness it with her. Since he’d never been human, he’d probably never seen a sunset. Maybe it was better that way. Lukas still missed the sun, ached to feel the warmth on his skin.
Issa had no idea what he was missing.
The shadows lengthened as the sun made the slow descent into the horizon. She went to her bag and grabbed some clean clothes and her toothbrush and toothpaste. Now she just needed the shower.
Almost on cue, the bathroom door opened. Issa stood in the doorway, his dark eyes on her. “Good. You are here.”
Her body temperature rose just hearing his voice. “And you are, too.” She raised her clothes and toothbrush. “Can I get cleaned up? Our first appointment is at eight o’clock in the Khan el-Khalili.”
“I know of it.”
“I forgot you lived here. For a long time…” She walked past him into the bathroom, but when she reached for the door, he came inside with her. “Um… Could I have a little privacy?”
