Goddess in the Middle

by Stephanie Julian

  One hand slid from her hip and across her stomach until his fingers brushed her clit again. She moaned, the sound low and deep and so fucking hot, his cock pulsed inside her.

  Shit. Too late.

  He tweaked her clit and she froze for a millisecond before she tightened on him, her internal muscles squeezing him, massaging him, taking him.

  His release punched out of him with the force of a bomb blast. His shouted triumph split the air and drowned out Amity’s muted cry. He pulsed inside her for what seemed like forever. Her sheath quivered around him and didn’t slow until he had nothing left to give.

  As sanity slowly returned, he took several deep breaths before he eased away. When she didn’t move, her body draped over the desk, fear made him icy cold.

  His too-tight throat barely allowed him to speak. “Amity. Are you okay?”

  The lazy smile spreading across her lips made his relief an almost painful emotion.

  “Yes, I’m okay. Actually, I’m more than okay.”

  Relief wanted to steal his breath, but he couldn’t let it sidetrack him.

  Quickly tucking himself back in his pants, he zipped up before she could move and gathered her into his arms, holding her against his chest. She sighed as she settled her cheek against his chest, her hair so dark against his white shirt.

  “I didn’t mean for that to get so out of hand.”

  Uni’s ass, he really could’ve hurt her. He wanted to check for marks from the desk or his hands even more than he wanted to leave.

  Because this had been a mistake. A huge fucking mistake.

  Her soft exhalation sounded amused. “Sweetheart, we really need to get you to loosen up a bit. Remy’s right.” Her hand curved around his nape, her fingers starting a gentle massage. “Your ass is tighter than Joan Rivers’s face after a visit to the Botox bar.”

  His lips parted but nothing came out. How the hell was he supposed to respond to that? What finally emerged was laughter. He couldn’t help himself or contain it. Finally, he just let go and laughed until his stomach hurt.

  When he stopped, he saw Amity staring up at him with a bemused but happy smile.

  “I don’t think I’ve heard you laugh until just now.”

  No, she probably hadn’t.

  With a heartfelt sigh, he set her on the desktop then bent to pick up the scrap of silk that would never again be worn on her body. He had the brief thought that maybe he’d just stuff them in his pocket.

  Instead, he used them to clean her gently between her legs.

  As he did, she sank her fingers into his hair again, her nails scraping against his skull a drugging pleasure. He wanted to rub against her like a frigging cat.

  When he was done, she held out her hand for the panties. He gave them to her reluctantly, and she held them cupped between her palms for several seconds. When she opened them, they looked freshly laundered. And whole.

  Damn, he would’ve liked to think about her naked under that skirt for the rest of the day. Which would’ve made him even crazier.

  Crossing his arms over his chest, he let himself really look at her. “How are you feeling?”

  Her brows curved in a graceful but so-expressive arch. “I told you. I’m fine.”

  He’d started to shake his head before she was finished. “Sorry. Sorry, that’s not what I meant. I’m asking if you were having any lingering effects from the healing. You scared me. I don’t—” He took a deep breath and tried to get his thoughts in order, knowing it might be a lost cause. “For so long now, it’s just been me and Remy. We’ve got each other’s backs. I’m not used to having to worry about anyone else.” Shit, that sounded like he didn’t want to look after her. “But you don’t have to worry. We’ll be here. However long you need us.”

  Amity had to bite her bottom lip to keep from breaking out in a triumphant smile.

  This was the first time Rom had actually indicated he might be willing to stay longer than just a few days. And if she had her way, he and Remy would be staying much longer.

  She hadn’t even admitted to herself how much she’d wanted to hear him say he was staying. It didn’t make a damn bit of sense how badly she wanted these two men.

  They were lucani, yes, but they were still mortal, and she, especially, knew how fragile mortal lives were. How they could be broken and destroyed. How they could be taken away in an instant.

  If Remy and Rom left, she’d be devastated. Which meant she was getting way too attached to these cousins.

  As she wrestled with her unruly emotions, she nodded at Rom, avoiding his gaze.

  He sighed. “Okay, let’s try this again. Are you done for the day so we can get home and find out what Remy learned?”

  Home. It had a nice ring when he said it. Not that it meant anything. Not really. Still, a shiver of longing went through her. “Sure. I’ll check on the boy tomorrow.” She forced some enthusiasm into her tone. “I’m ready to go. I can do my paperwork there.”

  He watched with a narrowed gaze as she collected what she needed. She loved her job but absolutely hated the mounds and mounds of paperwork modern hospitals required. She understood the need for most of it and, with computerization, it’d gotten easier but still…

  She missed the good old days when she could heal someone and voila! It was proclaimed a miracle. These days, people were entirely too suspicious. And she had so much more to hide.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Rom’s softly spoken question startled her, she’d been so deep in thought, and her gaze flew to his. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  It was his turn to raise his eyebrows at her and she sighed as she shouldered her work bag and moved toward him.

  “I was just thinking,” she said, “about how much things have changed.”

  Motioning for her to stay behind him, he opened the door then stuck his head out to check the hallway. After a quick nod, he stepped out and motioned for her to follow.

  If anyone would see him, they’d know Rom wasn’t merely a product rep peddling his wares. How anyone could miss the leashed danger in his walk, in his gaze, she’d never understand. The man was a predator, beautifully lethal.

  And for that moment, he was hers.

  They made it back to the parking garage without running into anyone she absolutely had to speak to. Most of the female staff they passed gave her a wide smile or a thumbs-up behind Rom’s back, but she didn’t stop to talk to anyone. She wanted to get home. Actually ached with the need to see Remy, to know he was okay.

  They didn’t speak much on the drive but it wasn’t an uncomfortable quiet, more an expectant silence. And her expectations were running high.

  Her success with Perrin today had given her hope that the woman might one day be free of her scars. Not that she’d ever be over the emotional scars, but they’d take it one day at a time. Amity would see Perrin through to the end of this.

  With Rom at her back, Amity opened the door to her home. Her lips parted to call out for Kari…

  And gasped at the chaos spread out before her.

  Chapter 11

  Remy had managed to get his blood pressure out of heart attack range only a few minutes ago.

  The rocker dude, who Remy had since learned was none other than Tivr, God of the Moon and Lusna’s son, had scooped up Catene and swept her out of the room, all the while shooting daggers at Remy.

  Not wanting to get himself impaled by a lightning bolt, Remy lowered his head, though the submissive gesture grated against his already on-edge nerves. He caught the gaze of the girl-goddess Catene just before she left the room though and apology shone so clear in those bright blue eyes, he couldn’t help but offer her a smile just before the door closed.

  When it did, silence descended around the table. For about two seconds.

  “So who wants cake?”

  Remy turned to the surfer dude, who looked like he belonged on a SoCal beach, partying and picking up beach bunnies.

  “For fuck’s sake, X, nobody wants your godda
mn cake.”

  Lady Tessa’s male reached out and smacked the surfer dude on the back of the head as Tessa allowed a bright grin to surface. “Don’t hit your brother, Cal. And I’d love some cake, X.” She turned that bright smile on Remy once again and he swore he felt the warmth of the sun in it.

  Even though, according to Amity, Tessa had given up her powers. As had Lusna, who watched him with her steady gray gaze.

  “X’s cake really is to die for,” Lusna said, completely throwing Remy out of his thoughts. “You should try it.”

  Seriously. They wanted him to try the cake. He was beginning to think someone had spiked the Kool-Aid but he hadn’t seen anyone drinking anything.

  “Hell, if X brought cake, count me in.” Lusna’s male leaned over to fist bump the surfer dude. “That lemon tart thing made my eyes cross, it was so damn good. The team wants you to make more of those dark chocolate raspberry cupcakes you brought to the last game. If you’re not careful, you’re gonna find yourself the love slave of some horny hockey player.”

  Remy had the surreal feeling that he’d stepped onto the set of a TV sitcom in an alternate dimension. And when the guy everybody was calling X turned to him and grinned, Remy decided he wanted a little of whatever they were drinking.

  “You look kinda like you just fell down the rabbit hole. Welcome to Wonderland. I’m Extasis, by the way.” He held his hand out over the table, and Remy leaned forward to shake it. “Just call me X. Wasn’t sure if you’d remember my name after all the drama.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Remy looked at Cole then at Lusna and Tessa. “Maybe someone wants to tell me what’s going on now.”

  X got up and walked toward the other end of the table, where a gorgeous white-frosted cake waited. “Everything goes down better with cake, I’ve found.”

  Cal sighed, but Remy swore he saw pride in the guy’s eyes as he looked at his brother. “Unless that cake is laced with alcohol, you know my response to that.”

  X started slicing. He made it look easy, and soon enough, Remy had a thick piece of white chocolate cake with raspberry filling and vanilla icing with coconut shavings sitting in front of him.

  The first bite practically melted on his tongue. The next made him groan in pleasure. By the fifth, he’d settled to letting his eyes roll back in his head in ecstasy.

  “See?” X looked at him with a grin. “I told you.”

  He finished the cake and realized, yeah, he did feel a little better. But he hadn’t come for a sugar rush. “If you all don’t mind, I’d really like to get some answers now.”

  Lusna set aside her fork, her cake only half finished. Pushing it toward her male, she caught his gaze and held it before turning back to Remy. “The short version… Tessa and I gave up our goddess powers to live as mortals with our mates after Charun sent demons after us. Tessa nearly died. I transferred my powers to Catene.

  “We know Charun seeks to be released from Aitás and we know he’s found a way to consume goddesses’ powers so he can do so. We’ve lost one goddess that we know of. Obviously Amity has been targeted next. We don’t know what Charun’s end game is. We only know that he cannot be allowed to leave Aitás. Without him, chaos would reign and the gates would open.”

  And the souls of the dead would be able to leave Aitás.

  Holy shit. No wonder no one had mentioned that. It was too scary to think about.

  “We also know,” Tessa continued, “that you and your cousin Romulus—Great names, by the way.” Tessa beamed at him. “Romulus and Remus. Your parents certainly had a sense of history, didn’t they?”

  “Tessa”—Lucy looked toward the ceiling for a brief second as if trying to hold onto her patience—“don’t get sidetracked.”

  Tessa actually stuck her tongue out at Lucy before she continued. “Okay, okay. Anyway, you and your cousin are actually the heralds of the new order, though we didn’t realize that until Amity told us about you.”

  Remy’s brain got stuck on the word heralds. “Wait. What new order? I’ve heard of the band but—”

  “Hey, they had some good music,” Lucy’s mate, Brandon, broke in.

  Lucy smiled at Brandon. “Yes, they did, and you and Remy can discuss that later. But first,” she turned back to Remy, “you and Rom were born to be the guardians of the new Goddess of the Moon. That’s what the prophecy has led us to believe. And it actually makes sense.”

  Of course Lucy would know about the prophecy. That shouldn’t be a shock. And they’d get back to that in a minute. First things first. “How can we do that if we’re protecting Amity?”

  Lucy’s brows quirked. “Well, that’s the dilemma, isn’t it?”

  “Not to mention,” Cole injected, “there’s no way in hell Ty’ll let anyone close to Cat, least of all two lucani who’ve been AWOL from the den for years.” Cole raised his hand before Remy could defend his parents, which he would until the day he died. “That’s not a criticism. I completely understand why your parents took the measures they did. I’m just explaining why, for now, we would appreciate if you and Rom would stick as close as you can to Amity.”

  His expression must have shown his surprise because Tessa started to laugh. “Not what you expected to hear, is it?”

  “Actually, no, it wasn’t.”

  Tessa turned to give the hard ass standing behind her a sweet smile that the guy actually returned. Remy hadn’t thought Cal had it in him. Except Remy totally understood how no one could refuse Tessa anything.

  The goddess exuded warmth like she was a heat lamp. The same couldn’t be said for Lucy. Her cool, gray gaze watched him with an intensity that should’ve burned his skin.

  Until she smiled, and Remy realized why she didn’t do it all the time. If she did, there’d be riots on the street. And the man sitting by her side, watching her every move, would have more than a black eye.

  “Which brings us to why X is here,” Sal finally spoke up. “X thinks he has a way to talk to Charun that doesn’t include taking Amity to the gate to Aitás.”

  “And that is…?”

  X and Cal exchanged a glance before Cal nodded.

  X’s expression had turned intense and Remy saw much more of a resemblance between the brothers. “Have you ever heard of Cimmeria?”

  Something tickled at the back of Remy’s brain, but he couldn’t quite pull out the reference so he shook his head.

  “No problem,” X said. “Cimmeria is the world between the planes. It’s where Cal and I grew up. And it’s the only access point to the other planes.”

  Remy recalled a snippet of the story his mother had once told him about the land of mist and shadows where you could access the world of the gods. He remembered being fascinated by the thought. He never actually believed the damn place existed.

  “Seriously?”

  X gave a wry grin. “Yeah. Seriously. Look, we know Charun’s been contacting the goddesses through their dreams. I propose to take Amity into the dream plane and let her talk to him there. I think it’s safer than actually taking her to the gate.”

  “No way does she go without us. And do you really think it’s safe to take her anywhere near Charun?”

  Cal and Brandon nodded, as if he’d finally done something they approved of, even as Tessa and Lucy shook their heads.

  “Amity is not without her strengths,” Lucy said. “To imply that she’s too weak to merely speak to Charun is an insult. And one I hope you won’t repeat to her.”

  He knew he’d just been dressed down by the Goddess of the lucani and he bent his head once more in submission. “Forgive me, ladies. I meant no disrespect. I just don’t want anything to happen to her. She saved our lives. Rom and I will do everything in our power to make sure she’s safe.”

  “Glad to hear it.” Cole’s quiet tone held a note of approval that inexplicably made Remy swell with pride. “Because you may not only be fighting off demons to keep Amity safe. We may be going to war against the Mal as well.”

  ***

 
; “Kari! Kari, where are you?”

  Rom took one look at the mess of Amity’s living room and had his gun in his hand a split second later.

  With his free hand, he reached for Amity before she could run farther into the room and shoved her behind him.

  “Close the door and put your back against it and don’t move.”

  To his complete relief, she did exactly as he said. Then he stood in the middle of the room and took a deep breath, trying to scent anyone else in the house.

  Damn it. Two men and one woman.

  Kari. He knew her scent because it was so like Amity’s.

  The men were Malandante.

  Shit.

  “Rom.” Amity’s voice trembled and that pissed him off. “What’s—”

  He cut her off with a sharp hand gesture, trying to use his senses to pinpoint the men’s location.

  Turned out he didn’t need to. They walked out of the kitchen, marching Kari between them like a prisoner. Kari’s expression promised furious retribution, but her mouth remained closed.

  “Huh. I’ll be damned. There are two of them.”

  The shorter of the two men looked through Rom as if he were no danger at all. Instead his gaze settled on Amity.

  Which pissed Rom off.

  “Who are you and what do you want?”

  With his thinning brown hair, brown eyes, and nondescript looks, the guy could have walked down a city street and gone unnoticed. But Rom felt the force of his arus like a physical presence. The guy held powerful dark magic in that spare body.

  “I think you already know the answer to that,” the guy said. “Where’s your cousin, Romulus?”

  When he remained silent, the Mal merely shrugged. “Fine. I can sense he’s not here. Pity. I would have left the Ladies alone if you’d been prepared to come quietly. Now I guess we do this the hard way. Den, take Lady Kari. I’ll follow you in a few minutes.”