Kiss of the Goddess (Grecian Goddess Trilogy Book 1)

by Tessa Cole

  Because it had remained consistent. That was it. My dreams were never this linear, the characters and places and times shifted and jumped around — as they’d been doing just a moment before, while I’d slept.

  And now I was back, awake, finding that things hadn’t really changed — other than my location — and was suddenly sure this wasn’t a dream any more.

  “Who are you?” I asked, squishing myself into the corner, trying to make myself smaller, which was kind of stupid. If I needed to run, I shouldn’t be hugging myself in a ball. But then there was no way I could escape with the four men in the small room and Keph leaning against the door.

  They were the same men — or sort-of-men — I’d been with before. I knew their names, but suddenly that wasn’t enough. The fact that they were all naked — or close to it — in this way-too-small room, making them all too close to me and still essentially strangers, was just too much in this moment.

  “Goddess?” Rion asked slowly.

  He looked rough, his eyes squinting in the sunlight. In fact, as they slowly woke, they all looked rough.

  It was then I noticed the jugs and pitchers and cups strewn all over the floor. A lot of jugs and cups. These guys had gone on one hell of a bender.

  And for some reason that was what solidified my certainty that this wasn’t a dream.

  Dream men didn’t get hangovers, and they didn’t cram themselves into a small room while you slept and have a drinking party.

  “It’s us,” Rion said. “Did the healing yesterday affect your memory?”

  “No, I remember you all, but why are you real?” I realized as soon as I said it that it was a silly question. Except I desperately needed to know the answer.

  How could men with wings or fish tails or the legs of horses be real?

  Perhaps if I reworded it a little. “How are you real?”

  Rion frowned at me.

  Nope that still sounded insane.

  “What are you?” Now I was just digging myself a hole. I stopped while I was still — hopefully — ahead.

  “Real?” Keph asked, in that slow bass rumble. Even in my shock and despite my fear it still sent a thrill through me — somehow both soothing and arousing at the same time.

  “Goddess, you seem confused and afraid. Fear not. We won’t harm you. We’ve stayed here to protect you,” Rion said. All of that sounded very nice and gentlemanly and logical, but it didn’t explain why he’d had wings for a while yesterday…

  Had wings.

  My thoughts lurched. “Where are your wings?”

  Rion’s eyes widened just a little. “I’ve shed them.”

  “Shed? Like a cat sheds fur?”

  “What’s a cat?” Aethan asked. “Is that a being of the heavens?”

  Most cats would probably think so, yes. But the more important thing was, how could they not know what a cat was?

  I turned to Del. “Where’s your fish tail?” Then to Aethan. “Can you change your legs to people legs?” Then to Keph. “And… you seem normal, if huge, so I guess… why are you huge?”

  “Goddess,” Del began slowly. “Are you not aware of the types of peoples of the Okanid Islands?”

  “Let’s assume for the moment that I’m not,” I said, my gaze still darting from man to man, my mind whirling.

  “Oh.” Rion blinked. Then he sat up a little straighter. There was an odd look in his eyes as he gazed at me. It was an assessment, that much I knew. Men had a certain look when they were assessing a woman. Except this wasn’t the usual kind of assessment. There wasn’t lust or desire behind it. No, it was as if he were somehow comparing me to some image in his mind, and after a moment he nodded.

  “I’m an erinai,” he said.

  Eh-rin-eye? I sounded it out in my head.

  “The erinai are peoples of the air and kin to the great hawks and eagles. We can take the form of men, as you see me now, or possess wings, for our natural domain is the air above. We can also take the shape of birds of prey, hawks and eagles mostly.”

  Ah, okay. Bird-men.

  Yep, that made no sense at all.

  “Next.” I turned to Del.

  “I’m a triton,” he said. He’d said that before. That was a word I recognized — vaguely. Greek, perhaps? “I can be a man, or a merfolk, as you originally saw me, or a large fish. Some of my people have an alternate merfolk shape in which they possess the head of a fish with the remainder of the body as a man.”

  Fish-face? I couldn’t imagine that, at least not on Del — gorgeous as he was. Still, he was half-fish, and that was impossible.

  Swell. I had two impossibilities so far, so, I turned my attention to Aethan. Might as well just get all the impossibilities out of the way, then try some rational thought with Keph.

  “I’m a satyr.”

  Say-ter? “You mean satire?”

  “No, that’s a type of play. My people are satyrs.”

  I nodded, not really understanding.

  Rising, Aethan’s legs shimmered and became those of a man.

  I blinked. His legs had shimmered. It had really happened.

  Logic said this had to be a dream, but it wasn’t, and I was growing more and more certain of that despite all the impossibilities around me.

  As much as it was strange, it was still far too real and normal where it really counted. Even this conversation didn’t fit the idea that this was a dream. People didn’t explain what they were in dreams, they just were.

  “I can take the form of a man, but usually don’t.” His legs shimmered again and returned to being the horse-like legs… with a tail. A tail! “I like my legs. Human feet are too small and the knees are too low, it always confuses me. I can also take the shape of a horse.”

  “Like a centaur?”

  Aethan’s eyebrows shot up. “A centaur? No! Zeus’s balls! They can’t change their shape. They’re stuck as they are, half horse, half man. I can’t imagine what that would be like.”

  Said the half-horse half-man.

  Blinking, I turned to Keph. He was still huge and striking with great lumps of muscle for shoulders and heaving slabs for a chest. His arms were thicker than my not-skinny thighs and then there was that… impossibility… between his legs. I got wet — and a little sore — just looking at it.

  “I’m a stone titan,” he rumbled.

  Sure. “And what do you turn into?”

  “Stone.”

  “Not an animal?”

  He shook his head.

  “So, a stone man?”

  “Like a statue,” Rion said. “When he’s fully stone, he can’t move.”

  I nodded, my head bobbing up and down, and I couldn’t seem to stop it. I had hoped that some explanations would clear things up. I’d been so terribly wrong.

  “I, ah… I need to go,” I said, starting to inch off the bed. But I stopped when I’d gotten as far as throwing my legs over the side. “That is… if any of you know how I got here?”

  Chapter 7

  Annie

  I didn’t think I was showing it, but I was in full panic mode. These guys seemed nice, strange as they were, and had the bodies of Greek gods, but still—

  I didn’t belong here. Wherever here was.

  I needed to get back to a place where my life made sense. It may not have been perfect, but it at least made sense.

  Also… I was mostly naked.

  “Where are…?” My clothes were scattered all over a beach somewhere. Oddly, I wasn’t uncomfortable in what I was wearing. I certainly wasn’t too hot, and my underwear covered me as well as any bikini would. “Screw it. Sorry guys. I gotta go. I, ah…” Oh wait! Crap! “How long was I asleep?” Had I missed my brother’s wedding? I felt pretty sure I’d missed a day of work— Except I had no idea how time worked wherever I was. Fuck!

  “It’s been a day,” Del said.

  “My day or your day?” I asked, making them frown.

  God. I just had to hope their day was like my day and I hadn’t been gone too long
.

  “I really have to go.” If time worked the same wherever I was, then my brother’s wedding was tomorrow.

  “Goddess, please. Stay with us,” Aethan said. “We need to protect you from the darkness.”

  But it wasn’t dark out, so that had to be some kind of ploy to keep me there.

  And everything within me was screaming with panic, begging me to get out of there — now now now — get home.

  I jumped from the bed and rushed across the small room to the door.

  Keph hurried to stand, but in his rush, misjudged how low the ceiling was and put his head through it. Someone yelled at him from the room above us, making him jerked back and crash through the door behind him and out into the hall.

  And now I had an opening.

  I rushed out into the hall, jerked right — even though I had no idea if that would get me out of there or not — found a set of stairs and rushed down them.

  At the bottom was a large room filled with tables and chairs and a bunch of people who stopped eating and talking to stare at me. They were all strange and naked and—

  And I wasn’t going to think about it.

  I dashed out the door into brilliant midday sun, picked a direction at random, and started running, ignoring the sting of the hard, stony ground on my bare feet.

  I had to get out of there, had to get home, had to—

  I raced across the high dunes and down onto the beach. Far off in the distance, I could see the odd tall rock formation where everything had started and where my clothes would be — hopefully.

  I wasn’t much of a runner. I mostly walked on the treadmill at the gym, maybe an awkward jog now and then, but I put on the jets now. Oddly I wasn’t even that winded when I got to the pile of stones and — luckily — all my discarded clothes.

  This is where I’d arrived, this had to be the way back.

  Except there wasn’t a doorway or big sign or anything indicating how I’d arrived in this strange place.

  I gathered up my things and put them in a pile. It was far too hot to put any of them back on again. It was then that I realized I was missing my leggings. I’d taken them off farther down the beach.

  I turned back to get them even though they weren’t really important, getting home was, but the guys were running over the sand toward me — well three of them. Rion, who was way ahead of the others was flying because, of course! He had wings!

  He reached me as I found my leggings and landed lightly in the sand beside me.

  “Goddess—”

  “Can’t talk, gotta go.” Got to get the hell out of here before I lose my mind. And I sure as hell couldn’t look at the gorgeous man with his chiseled muscles, because I couldn’t get distracted and he might convince me to stay.

  Except a part of me kept asking why not? Why couldn’t I stay?

  Sure, my life made sense… because it was normal. But I wasn’t anyone special there. Here, these men thought I was a goddess and that was more alluring than anything I’d felt in a long, long time.

  Goddess. Every time one of these hot guys said that word in reference to me my heart skipped a beat. Hunks didn’t say that to girls like me.

  I was so wound up and confused that I began to put on my leggings, despite the heat. I got them half way on, then realized what I was doing and decided, fuck it, and kept going. Hopefully I’d be back in a Chicago winter soon enough, where I’d need them.

  Except there was sand in the leggings and with their tight fit, they chaffed almost instantly. Just great.

  “Goddess, please!” Rion said as I forced myself away from him and marched back to the rocks and the rest of my clothes. “You can’t leave. We need to protect you.”

  “From the darkness, yeah. I don’t think that will be a problem for a while. It’s quite bright at the moment. If you want to help, find me a way home,” I said my voice still sharp with a panic I didn’t want to completely acknowledge, because if I did I was sure I was going to have a mental breakdown. “I’m sure the darkness won’t find me at home.”

  “In the heavens?”

  “In Chicago.”

  Rion frowned. “She-ka-go?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you not know how you came here?” Rion asked.

  “No.”

  “Oh.” His frown deepened. “Very intriguing.”

  “Very intriguing?” I spun on him, my panic turning into sharp frustration. “Very intriguing? I’m not intriguing. I’m just Annie Chambers from Chicago. I’m not a goddess, I’m a normal person. Only here, wherever here is, you don’t seem to have normal people. You have fish-people and horse-people and bright, multi-colored people. Haven’t you noticed that I’m different?”

  His lips quirked with a hint of a smile. “I have, yes.”

  Aethan and Del had almost caught up to us, while Keph, who was a little slower, was still fast-trudging across the beach.

  “Don’t leave us, goddess,” Aethan called out. “We haven’t pleasured you yet.” He reached me, huffing just a little. “I was really looking forward to satisfying a goddess.” After a scathing look from Rion he added, “Oh, yeah, and we need to protect you from the darkness, but don’t you worry about that. We’ll keep you nice and close, and there’s nowhere closer than on my—” Rion punched his shoulder making him yelp in pain and shutting him up.

  And yet I was still stuck on, I was really looking forward to satisfying a goddess.

  And I was really looking forward to being satisfied by you, is something I didn’t say.

  I don’t know why I was so attracted to a man with horse-legs. Perhaps it was the other horse parts down there and wondering just how satisfied I’d be with it inside me.

  Was it getting hot out here? Like hotter than hot?

  I really needed to shake off those sorts of thoughts and concentrate on getting home. “I’ve gotta go. Gotta get home.” The words helped focus me.

  “Home?” Aethan asked.

  “She-ka-go,” Rion said.

  “Yep, there.” I moved over to the rocks. Hadn’t Del said something about me coming from the rocks? That didn’t seem likely, but then nothing here did.

  I put my hands on the large flat surface of the tallest rock. It was the one I’d tried to jump off. Something about it, the way the side was so… flat and smooth… made me wonder.

  One of my hands landed solidly on its surface. The other passed right into it.

  “Holy-what-the-fuck?” I pulled my hand out. It had felt cold in the rock… on the other side? “No fucking way,” I breathed.

  “What is it, Annie Chambers?” Rion asked, drawing closer.

  “Put your hand there.” I grabbed his wrist and guided his hand to the rock that wasn’t a rock, making him lean into me.

  He did, except I think he expected the rock to be solid, because he lost his balance when his hand didn’t hit the rock’s surface and with a yelp, he stumbled forward and kept going, vanishing through the rock.

  My heart pounded.

  This was it.

  This was my way home.

  And I’d just dumped a nearly-naked angel into some dark alley in Chicago.

  Chapter 8

  Delphon

  I watched Rion vanish through the face of the stone and stopped dead, gaping. As much as I knew — somewhere in my mind — that this had to be some sort of portal, I couldn’t make sense of it. Added to this was the runaway goddess now gathering up her many clothes so she could leave through that same portal.

  “Annie Chambers,” I called out. I needed to stop her. From her reaction to everything since she’d awoken, it was clear something wasn’t right. Yesterday, she’d been fearless and adventurous. Today she seemed terrified. I didn’t know what had changed, but I wanted to help. Somewhere, deep down, I felt like this was my fault.

  Had I somehow messed up this chance meeting? I felt responsible for the divine woman. I’d been the one to whom she’d come to initially, whether on purpose or not. And through my interactions with he
r, she’d ended up in that sick camp, and now had some darkness out to get her.

  “You can’t leave,” I gasped, nearly out of breath from sprinting across the beach. I probably could have crossed the distance in the nearby water in half the time, but hadn’t thought to change back to my triton form. “Please.”

  I grabbed one of her arms, stopped her, but she flinched, trying to jerk away.

  Gods, she seemed so afraid of us.

  I released her, but I moved to stand between her and the portal. “Tell us what’s wrong. We only want to help you. We need to protect you.” And you are the most fascinating and wonderous woman — goddess, whatever — I’ve ever met.

  She stared at me, barely able to see over the pile of heavy clothes in her arms.

  “I…” Confusion filled her eyes. “I don’t know what’s happening. I… I thought this was a dream, but now I know it’s not and that’s just… I have to go home.”

  “Then we’ll go with you.” I didn’t know where she was going, but I was willing to go anywhere with this woman. Rion had already gone through.

  Annie Chambers nearly choked then had a coughing fit. “No… you can’t,” she managed to sputter out between gasps. “Look at you! All of you!”

  I glanced at myself then Aethan who stood beside me. I couldn’t see anything wrong with any of us.

  She shoved past me, heading toward the invisible portal where Rion had disappeared. “You’re naked.”

  Naked? What was wrong with that? Though I did recall something about the gods being on a high mountain. And mountains were cold.

  I nodded, understanding. That would explain why Annie Chambers had been so overdressed when she’d arrived.

  “And it’s cold where you are from?”

  Annie hefted her pile of clothes and gave me a dry look. “Clearly.”

  Well, that wouldn’t be too much of a problem for me. As a triton, I was resistant to the effects of temperature. The depths were cold, but that didn’t affect me too much. I was fairly certain Keph would be fine. Stone titans did not mind such things. Erinai were also somewhat protected against the elements, as the high skies could be cold. It was Aethan who’d be most affected.