“Yes. I’m going. I belong with him now.” And though she held great resolve and belief in what she was about to do, she did not want to leave her daughter without the girl understanding that she would be just a simple portal away.
“Do you think you’ll be happy with him? Even though it’s different than anything from before?”
Was it about Rathan Jierra was asking, or about the damned wolf that still prowled the halls of the resort? “Ji...Have you talked to him?”
Jierra’s shoulders tightened and she wrapped her arms around her stomach. “No. And I’m not going to. He’s arrogant and rude and I hate him.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t know how the goddess could do that to you. You deserve a mate who loves you for the special person that you are. Maybe...maybe someday he’ll see that.”
Jierra lowered her eyes. “I doubt it. I just want him to go away.”
“He’s not. Not with two of his sisters right here. Not with them—goddess help us—bringing a branch of Taniss Industries here to Dardanos. You will have to see him. And what of the babes? Has he mentioned anything about them?”
Fear flashed into Ji’s eyes. A panic that Kindara had seen there before. Kindara barely heard Ji’s whispered reply. “Yes.”
“What did he say?” When her daughter refused to look up at her, Kindara tilted Ji’s chin up until their eyes met. “Ji?”
“That...that if I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d take the babes and raise them himself.” Jierra’s hands still covered the spot where those babes rested. “At his house. I’d never get to see them. He’s not taking my babes!”
Kindara closed her eyes as the fury filled her. Her grandbabes would not be raised among a herd of Tanisses. Or Lupoiux, for that matter. “He’s a fool if he thinks any of our people will allow him to do that. What did he want you to do?”
“Go with him back there. To live in a house on his grandfather’s property. Not even his house. He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t really want the babes. He just thinks we belong to him.”
Kindara hesitated. “You know your uncle will never allow him to hurt you, baby. And the demon and I are only going to be a portkey away. I will be coming back here nearly every day. I can just do my research best from Relaklonos.”
“And you’ll be with him.” Ji bit her bottom lip, a habit she’d had as a small child. “Do you think you love him, then?”
“Do I love him? I never thought I’d ever be able to say I loved another man beside Iavius, but I do love the demon. It’s different, though. With Iavius, there was the understanding that the goddess put us together, that we were meant to be together. We both had that reassurance that we were put together for a reason. Our love started as that connection and grew. With the damned demon, it was a way to forget at first. Then he...blindsided me with how important he became so completely. I do love him, Ji. And not just because of the babe.” She touched her own abdomen lightly. Her son was in there, hers and Rathan’s. “Though there is a strong connection because of the babe. I love him because he can make me laugh again, even when I want to hit him for being so...male.”
“I want you to be happy, mother.”
“I know you do. And I think I can be. But not at the expense of you.” Kindara sank to the bed beside her daughter. “I love you so much.”
“I know you do. But I’m a grown woman. Your happiness shouldn’t be at the expense of mine. I’ve got other things to think about—like what I am going to name these babes and which suite we are going to live in. Mine is too small for two babes.” Jierra’s words were lighter, but the confusion was still clear behind them.
“Go to him, mother. I’ll be ok. And I have Uncle Cormac to scare the big bad wolf away.” “Yes, you do. I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too.”
****
She had spoken with the two people that mattered the most and they supported her. She had the bag she was taking with her back to Relaklonos slung over one shoulder. She was ready. Now she just had to get the big Warrior demon to take her to his brother.
She found in the gardens, watching Dhar Rydere and Aodhan engage in a battle of mock swordplay. Aureliana sat on a bench padded with extra pillows a few yards away. Auri seemed to be ignoring the big demon though his daughter sat at her feet coloring a picture. Kindara stopped by her friend.
“Auri.”
“Kinney. Going somewhere?” Aureliana smirked. She’d always been able to read Kindara.
“You know I am. How are you feeling?”
“Like someone stabbed me with a six-foot sword. Other than that, pretty good. Planning on making a drastic change?”
“Of location. It doesn’t seem so drastic to me now. I need the warrior demon.”
“Good luck. He seems to be remarkably unavailable for everything except blood and bludgeoning.” Auri ruffled the dark curls on the demon child’s head. “Occasional playtime, now and then. Not much else.”
“You volunteering to change that?” Kindara knew Auri’s soft spot. She had raised a few foundlings over the years—humans, mostly. It did not surprise Kindara that Auri had taken the girl under her wing while Cerridwen and Renakletos were in Gaia.
“While I can. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“Yes. I just need someone to open the gates.”
“And that’s where big bubba comes in. Good luck with that.” Auri smiled a somewhat sad smile. “And with your second chance.”
Kindara hurt for her friend. She knew Auri wanted nothing more than to find her own Rajni. “You’ll find him, Auri. When you’re supposed to.”
“Hmmm. Will I? I’m beginning to doubt that, Kin. But anyway...what’s the next step?” She was still in pain; Kindara could see it in her eyes. But there was something else in her friend’s eyes she couldn’t identify. “You going demon hunting?”
“Yes.” Kindara nodded, attention turning toward the Warrior demon. “It’s been long enough.”
“I’ll say,” Auri adjusted her shoulder when the little girl climbed carefully into her lap. Kindara started across the garden. “Hey, Kinney!”
Kindara turned back toward her. “Yes?”
“I love you, kid! See he treats you just right!”
Renakletos was studying the movements of the two sparring men. He looked up and stood when Kindara approached. He half bowed. “My lady.”
“Take me to him.”
Renakletos’s face went blank, calculating. “I cannot do that. My king and brother forbade it.”
“Don’t tell me you always do everything he orders. I know that’s a lie.” Kindara pulled in a deep breath and tightened her hand on the pack over her shoulder. This was the last hurdle to her plan. “I’m going back to him. And you’re going to take me.”
“No, I am not. I cannot.”
“Don’t tell me you won’t. I know you can.” Kindara stared up at the giant man, shifted to block the path he stood on. “Take me to him.”
He started to speak. “I cannot.”
“Yes, you can. You will.”
“No, pet. He said he cannot. Not that he will not.” A voice came from behind Kindara and she stiffened. This had not been a part of her plan. For all her bravado, turning to face him felt like one of the hardest things she had ever done.
Rathan stood between her brother and his, dressed in his customary black. His horns were proudly displayed, his stance arrogant. But he was unsure. She could see it in his eyes. She stepped toward him.
“Demon.”
“Pet. Is that all you have to say to me after these long weeks?”
“What do you want me to say?” Kindara kept walking until she stood less than a yard from him. She was so focused on him it barely registered when Cormac and Renakletos slipped away.
“That you have missed me some? That you dreamed of me every night? That you need my touch and so much more?” He lifted his arms to her, but still Kindara hesitated. “Kindara?”
“All of those things.” She l
ifted her right hand, wrapped it around his left wrist. Her fingers twisted in the black silk. She just touched him. “I have missed you.”
“Not nearly as much as I missed you.” He jerked her off her feet, lifting her until her mouth was level with his. “It was pure hell to be in another realm without you.”
Kindara wove her fingers through the dark hair wild around his head. “You shouldn’t have sent me away, then. You should have trusted me by your side. That’s what’s going to have to happen, demon. If we are to make a go of this. None of this over-protective ridiculousness. Not anymore. I’m an equal partner in this, got me?”
“I have got you, pet. And I will not be letting you go.” His lips met hers.
Kindara wrapped her legs around his waist and held on as he carried her into the resort. He carried her past her brother and his where they waited inside the lobby; past Dhar Rydere and his Emily. Passed Jierra and Mickey. Theo and Bronwen. Face buried in his shoulder, against his racing pulse, Kindara barely saw those watching them.
They did not matter all that mattered was that the damned demon had returned for her.
Together they could begin living again.
Plus Bonus Book, Dardanos #9!
THE WOLF GOD
& HIS MATE
A DARDANOS, CO. NOVELLA
Chapter One
Kennera
Levia Palace, West Tower
The sound of her people’s prayers, prayers that she could not answer, twisted her heart every moment of every day. She could not help them, could not guide them as a goddess was supposed to. She had failed them for almost three thousand years, and that was unforgivable.
She no longer blamed the Wolf god. Eiophon had not controlled her actions, she had. She was the one responsible for her people; she did not deserve their continued honor and reverence.
All she could do was watch them through the sieve that bubbled within the center of her rooms at Levia. It was by the grace of the goddess Nelciana that her people had yet to become extinct. Her beloved Dardaptoans numbered less than two hundred thousand — the Wolf god’s numbered four to five times that.
She had mere months before she and Eiophon would be freed from their imprisonment. He had already vowed through the stone and magic barrier that separated his half of the palace from hers that when they were set free, he would raise his army against hers and erase her and hers from Gaia completely.
All because she had dared to think she loved him.
For three thousand years, she’d questioned her stupidity.
A prayer rose from the sieve, louder than the others, and she turned to it… It was Kindara Jareth, a healer Kennera felt particularly guilty about. Kindara had suffered so greatly in the last thirty years, and Kennera had been unable to help her much at all.
Kennera bowed her head and sent the patient beneath Kindara’s hands a bit of her own strength. It was Aureliana, a woman with a warrior’s spirit, wounded protecting Kindara a few days earlier while in another realm. Relaklonos was even older than Gaia — Kennera had always been frightened of the demon inhabitants there and had discouraged her people from venturing into those strange lands. Kindara had defied that order in search of medicinal help for their people. And she had found it.
Perhaps she should have encouraged her people to explore other realms rather than avoid them. Kindara had found actual medicines that worked for their people amongst the demons.
Kennera could not help but fear the discovery came too late.
Even with Kindara’s medical discoveries, the Lupoiux could so easily wipe the Dardaptoans from Gaia.
And Eiophon had vowed to do just that.
Chapter Two
Eiophon
Levia Palace, East Tower
“You cannot wage war against her people,” Erasomophus warned him. “Have you learned nothing in three thousand years? You cannot upset the balance so greatly.”
“She must pay for what she has done,” Eiophon stated, but his words lacked heat. Did he still believe as he had? He had mere months until he could put his plans into action. Yet the desire to do so was strangely missing.
“What has she done that is greater than that which you have done?” Lothonos asked. “Did she curse your people? Yes. Did you curse hers? Horribly so. And why? Because she dared to have a crush on you when she was young and innocent. Were it me, I would not have treated her thusly.”
No, the intellectual god would not have. He would have adored the girl goddess who was more silly than practical. Eiophon would be caught in no such idiocy. “You would have put her upon a pedestal more than those Dardaptoans of hers have. They give her wreaths of flowers and citrine twice a year!”
“They love their goddess and have faith in her. Can you say the same for your beasts?” Lothonos’ words were more potent for the lack of passion behind them. The god of logic remained collected in most situations. It was only with the girl goddess that he appeared warm. “Much could be said about that kind of loyalty.”
“Foolish creatures, just like their goddess.”
“Foolish no more.” Erasomophus shook his head, a strange sadness in his silver eyes. A grief almost that of a father. “They struggle for their very survival.”
“How do you mean?”
“Your curses were strong and long reaching. As so much time has passed, more and more of their females are dying. What happens when there are no more? Their Kind will not be able to continue. Not much longer. And neither will she…” Lothonos’ normally stoic countenance showed strong grief of his own. “Her time nears, I am afraid…”
Eiophon cared not for the other gods’ dramatics. “How so? Is her heart so broken, then?”
“Do not be flippant. Death of a deity is always terrifying. It can cause a rupture we will never recover from.” Erasomophus was the oldest of the men, at four times Eiophon’s considerable years. “Her death will unbalance us all… unless she shifts her power to someone first.”
Chapter Three
Kennera
“This melancholy bodes ill for your people, Nera.” The goddess closest in years to Kennera sat upon the lavish cushions of Kennera’s favorite settee. Nelciana was dark in ways that Kennera was fair, but the goddess of family held a loving and loyal nature. “Your days here are waning. You must have your strength if you are to grow your people in strength again.”
“That is impossible. I have little strength left.” Should she tell her? Nelciana was her best friend, the one to whom she’d poured out her sorrows almost daily for three thousand years. “I give it all to them.”
Nelciana’s face paled. “You are transferring? From this distance? Nera… it is little wonder you look so… frail.”
“What choice do I have? I have so few of my people left and they have such need of me. What else can I give them behind these stone walls?”
“Yet you have not fed in three millennia! You will die if you continue.”
“Better I die providing something to my people, than slaughtered at Eiophon’s hands.” Kennera was prepared for what she must do. How could she not be? She had had thousands of years to reconcile herself with what must be done. “When I do go… I chose you. I will give you what I have left, but I have one request…”
Horror was in the amethyst eyes of her friend. Nelciana knew what she was asking, Kennera recognized her friend’s grief in the way her shoulders had stiffened, her hands had tightened on the satin pillow she held.
“You are not going to die. We will not let you.”
“Even if you try, I do not think you can stop it. I would rather be prepared, Nel. He has vowed it so many times over the last three millennia. If I go, I wish you to take the rest of my peoples. Provide for them as if they were your own. I know you can do it. My people and yours have lived together peacefully for all these years. I ask you…”
“Consider it done. But you must know the rest of us will not allow him to harm you.”
“The rest of you are not as powerful, even comb
ined, as Eiophon. He is the strongest of us all. And the most beastly. He cares not for my people, only his and his vengeance.” Kennera walked to the sieve and looked down at her favorite tribe of Dardaptoans. The Dardanos tribe was her largest at fifteen thousand, but that was not why she loved them so. Rydere was so fierce, so determined to rule his tribe and protect them with all he had.
Were it someone like he she had fallen in love with so long ago, the fate of all Dardaptoans would not be so grim.
Rydere held his Rajni, the once human Emily, against him as she slept. He had much on his mind, as he usually did.
Tonight it was the fact that his tribal home was overrun with Lupoiux wolves who claimed a relationship with his woman.
What would happen to those Dardaptoans who had mated with Lupoiux? There were not many, but some of her matches had gone awry.
She had fated all of her people on the day they were born. Their names were listed on a scroll, magically put there at the moment of birth. She would close her eyes and whisper the name that came to her. Sometimes those names were witch, most were Dardaptoan. Some were Lupoiux. Lupoiux — who, despite their allegiance to Eiophon — deserved love.
She did not control the pairing, she just channeled the ties to bind them together.
But what would happen to the half-Dardaptoan/half Lupoiux children when Eiophon came for her? What would happen to those lovers who were of different Kinds? Would Eiophon kill them, too?
Chapter Four
Eiophon
It was early in the morning, and the girl goddess would be sleeping still. Eiophon knew her routine as well as his own though an impenetrable barrier separated his part of the palace from hers.
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