Captive By Night: A Dardanos, Co. Taken Collection

by Calle J. Brookes

  The lights of the hotel beckoned him, and he knew that was where his mate waited. Nothing would keep him from her. Not Dardaptoan people. Not brick walls. Nothing. He burst through the glass windows of the front lobby, sending glass shards flying.

  He paused only long enough to shake the glass from his fur. He growled at the Dardaptoans who surrounded him. Guards. Only that they sought to protect her kept him from slaughtering them for expediency.

  He reformed as a man. The Dardaptoan guards moved closer. Eiophon growled at them then made the full force of his deity power visible. Lothonos stepped up to his side.

  “Cousin, bursting into her people’s home might not be the easiest way to get to your female.” Lothonos’ tone remained mild though he waved a hand and had the guards stilled in a manner similar to the little trick Kennera had used on Eiophon just an hour before.

  Eiophon knew the other god was always right in logic. It was Lothonos' gift and curse. Eiophon forced himself to calm. He turned to the lone female Dardaptoan in the lobby.

  She was beautiful, chestnut-haired and strong and looked much like the Witch goddess Nelciana. He pointed at her. “You! Take me to the goddess of your people. I know she is here!”

  “What do you plan to do to the Dahnna?”

  “Just do as you are told.” He stared at her with the full power of his deity behind his gaze. “Take me to my mate.”

  “Aureliana,” a voice said from behind the woman. A large chestnut-haired male stepped up behind her. “I will take the god Eiophon where he needs to go. Who knows? Maybe another god can help her. Goddess pray someone can.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Kennera

  Kennera was aware of the healer working near her bed, but only vaguely. All she felt was the desire to sleep. Forever, if she could. She knew what she had been doing to help her people had taken a toll on her, and now that she was where she needed to be, she finally felt free to give into the darkness.

  Still, she could hear the discussion raging above her. The healer Kindara dominated, steady and strong in her gifts. She was one of Kennera’s prize creations, gifted with a part of Kennera that the goddess had gladly given.

  Was that gift why Kindara had been cursed to suffer so?

  There was a foreign voice on the edge of Kennera’s conscience, as well. The demon, perhaps?

  Demons were just deities from the realm Relaklonos. Only slight differences existed between that realm and the one Kennera and Nelciana had left more than four thousand years ago. Before they had entered this Gaian realm and made the decision to stay and live out their lives in Gaia.

  She and Nelci should have stayed in their home realm, despite the political unrest that plagued Evelanedea.

  A tear leaked down her chin, and someone was there to wipe it from her cheek. Kennera silently blessed the Dardaptoan with all the peace and power contained in that single goddess tear. May it bring the Dardaptoan female all the safety and love the power possessed.

  “Mama, I think she’s waking.” The female spoke next to Kennera’s head, and Kennera turned toward her slightly.

  “Praise the deities.”

  “Do you not mean praise my demon blood, pet?” The male voice spoke again. Kennera estimated he was standing at the foot of her bed. Close. Powerful. She could sense his power.

  It was easily as strong as the Wolf God’s. Perhaps she would be safe from the crazy beast chasing her, after all.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Eiophon

  He burned to be at her side, and it took all of his god strength to keep from running through the hotel toward the room he knew housed her. Only Lothonos’ chiding presence kept him from acting on his impulse.

  The Dardaptoan spoke not a word though his manner told of calm strength and a warrior history. He feared no one, not even the two deities in his presence. Had Eiophon had the time, he would have poked at the Dardaptoan. Experimented to see what could push the other male’s temper to rise. But now his only thoughts could be for his mate.

  The room the Dardaptoan warrior led him to was opulent and fitting to a goddess. The candles burned low, instead of the artificial sun today’s times favored. He never had adjusted to the halogen lights.

  Half a dozen Dardaptoans filled the room. A demon stood in their midst. Eiophon felt his hackles start to rise.

  The demon stood too damned close to the bed.

  The bed where the girl goddess lay so still.

  “What is wrong with her?” He demanded the question of the woman he easily sensed was in charge. “Tell me!”

  The blonde woman dressed in the blue pardus and vestis of Dardaptoan healers merely looked at him. Her expression changed little. “Who are you that we share that?”

  “The Lupoiux god seeks answers,” Lothonos spoke for him, and Eiophon glared at his cousin for a moment. The other male deity shrugged. “The girl goddess you revere is his mate. And he worries for her health.”

  The room’s occupants paused at Lothonos’ words. It was the Dhar who spoke. “Since when is the Lupoiux god mated to the goddess he so despises? How are we to know this is not some strange trick used by he who would harm her?”

  “It is no trick. We left Levia yestereve. And we are to be mated by tonight.” Eiophon towered over the bed, his gaze locked on the sight of the foolish girl goddess lying so peacefully beneath the blankets. Pale. Golden.

  His.

  “Once again, what bedevils her? And what can be done and how quickly?”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Kennera

  She felt him, knew his presence as intimately as she had for three thousand years. The Wolf god had found her yet again. Kennera opened her eyes and stared into his. He frowned down at her from where he stood. “You have found me.”

  “Always.” He sank down to the mattress beside her, and Kennera’s heart stuttered. What would he do in front of these people? “What is wrong with her?”

  The question was answered by the Chief Healer. “My Dahnna, do you wish me to tell him?”

  Kennera thought for a long moment before closing her eyes. “It does not matter. If it works as I believe, he will find out anyway.”

  The wolf brushed the hair off of her forehead, the gesture more caring than she ever could have expected. “Tell me.”

  The healer spoke directly to the Wolf God this time. Kennera listened to the other woman’s words while the Wolf God continued to stroke her hair. “She has apparently been giving of her… essence… to keep our women and children alive during childbirth and shortly after. It’s been working, modestly. But now, it has become too much for her.”

  “Well, reverse it!”

  “We cannot do that. If we do — every female she’s saved, and all their children, will die. Immediately.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Eiophon

  Eiophon reared back, looking at the creatures surrounding him and his female. He almost wanted to tell them to do it, to utter the words that would condemn her people’s women to instant death. Only the soft begging from the girl goddess prevented the curse from slipping passed his lips. She loved her people, he’d long known that.

  He could no longer harm them without thought. Not with it hurting her so. “Find another way!”

  The demon male stepped forward, and though Eiophon sensed the male was younger than his own ten thousand years, the demon had a strong, assured presence. “We have given her demon blood. It is staving off her deterioration, but for how long we do not know. I have sent back to Relaklonos for mine own healers to assist my mate in healing.”

  Eiophon nodded, tightening his hand on his mate’s. She lay watching him, fear in her citrine eyes. Where once he had rejoiced in that fear, in the control he held over the Dardaptoan goddess, now it made him ill.

  His mate would not die.

  “Get the family goddess here. She will know more about what the girl has been doing. They do nothing without the other knowing about it. They are close.” Eiophon waved a
t Lothonos, and the other male instantly disappeared.

  Eiophon knew his cousin would not return without Nelciana.

  Hopefully, the other girl goddess could offer answers.

  “Do not hurt her.” Eiophon leaned down when the girl goddess spoke, when a small hand wrapped around his. “She did not know until three days ago. It was my secret, my right. My duty to my people. I cannot watch them all die. I cannot do it. I am not an animal like you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Kennera

  She was conscious of him beside her, of his warm hand brushing the hair off her forehead. Why was he being so solicitous of her welfare? Was it possible he actually did believe she was his mate?

  He leaned close to her ear and whispered. “Do not fret, girl. I have no quarrel with your friend. Not now. And… I didst not know… didst not ever imagine how much suffering and pain I hath caused. But this? You foolish girl. There had to be other ways to protect your people.”

  Kennera shook her head minutely. “No. None as effective as this. Had I not, so many would have already been gone — including the healer Kindara. And she has found hope for our people. That is something that cannot be measured. If my death gives them the protection they need until she completes her research, then so be it.”

  “No! You will not be dying! I will not allow it!” His hands were hot on her skin when he wrapped his fingers around her arms. “Say it! Say it now!”

  Kennera shook her head, hoping the fog covering her mind would clear. His black wolven eyes were all she could see. “Saying it would be a lie.”

  “No! If we as deities say it, then it will be true! You know that.”

  Kennera smiled at the wolf. Were that only true… “If you have enough deific power, yes. But I do not have that, not anymore.”

  “Then take some of mine. Take all, if that’s what it takes! Just live, woman!”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Eiophon

  He meant every word. He would not lose his mate now. He looked at the demon and the healer who resembled the girl goddess. “Take what you need from me. When Lothonos and the family goddess arrive, take from them as well. Mix our bloods. Together we should be strong enough to reverse whatever she’s done to herself without erasing what she has done for her people.”

  The demon hesitated a moment then nodded. The look in his black eyes told Eiophon the demon had an inkling of what he was planning to do. It was a bold move, and risky. If it worked, she would be tied to him in a way she could never escape. In a way other than a Lupoiux mate was joined to her male. But a bond just as strong.

  It no longer mattered that he mate with her by the end of the hours he had left, just that he had his mate healthy again. They did not need children, they needed each other.

  Lothonos returned, popping in as quickly and quietly as he had left. This time he had the family goddess encircled in his arms. Her hair was dark where his mate’s was fair, and her eyes amethyst where Kennera’s citrine, but it was obvious these two women came from the same realm. They were beautiful.

  Why had it taken him so long to see it?

  The family goddess cried out when she saw Kennera, and she pulled against Lothonos’ hold. He let her free and she ran to Kennera’s bedside. “Nera!”

  “Nel.”

  “Cannot your healers do something?” The family goddess’s grief was clear for all to hear.

  “We can do something that the healers cannot. The demon will ensure it.” Eiophon pulled the family goddess away from his female’s side. She fought and spit and cursed at him.

  “This is all your fault to begin with! You and your arrogance! It should be you in that bed!”

  Eiophon looked at her then back at the female on the bed. The family goddess was right. This was his fault. Through his actions and arrogance, he had condemned his own female to near death. What kind of deity was he that he had not foreseen the consequences of his words and actions?

  Was the girl goddess to pay his price?

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Kennera

  She only half heard what was happening around her, just knew that Nelciana had joined them. Dear Nel, always so protective of her. Had been since they were girls growing up in an entirely different realm. How she missed those days when the two of them would run through their papas’ fields, chasing their pets and their brothers.

  That world was nothing like Gaia, and oh, how she missed it. “Nel?”

  Her friend was there. “Yes?”

  “Send my body back to Evelanedea, somehow. Please?”

  The Wolf god crowded her, and Kennera opened her eyes to glare at him. His was not the last face she wanted to see. “She will not be making such a promise. You will not be put anywhere because you will not be dying!”

  Damned wolf, always thought he would get whatever he wanted from her. “Leave me be, you damned wolf. I have to do this. My people need me to!”

  “There are other ways.” The wolf’s hands were on her shoulders, and he shook her ever so slightly. “Look at me, female.”

  Kennera looked into his black eyes. “What? Why should I ever trust you? You have done nothing to earn it.”

  “If you cannot trust me, trust Lothonos. Trust the demon here found within your own people. He knows what I am about to do, knows what will come of it.”

  The demon shifted so Kennera could see him. He nodded, his own eyes just as black as the Wolf God’s. “My mate and I believe it will work. It will be difficult and painful, but you will live at the end of it.”

  Kennera felt a small bit of hope at the end of his words. “What do you intend to do?”

  It was the Wolf God who answered, and Kennera had the feeling he did not like her attention so focused on the demon. “A piece of Lothonos, one of Nelciana, and one of me will be combined with the blood of your people. Our powers as deities, as well as the life’s blood of your Kind, will fuse together to renew your strength. It will fuse to your spirit and make you whole again. So that you may live, as will your people.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Eiophon

  He did not tell her that by fusing a piece of himself to her soul she would be forever bound to him. The other deities’ pieces would not matter. She was already bound to the family goddess through their friendship, and the portion she would gain from Lothonos was only half the size of the bond that existed between Eiophon and his cousin. The only tie between Kennera and Lothonos would be familial. No, it was Eiophon that her soul would cry out for.

  The way it should. As his mate.

  But it would hurt her, this fusing of their souls. It would be like a parasite attaching itself to its host, pincers sinking into the host’s flesh. Then the heat would sear her as the pieces melded together.

  But every deity knew that for true gain there must be untold sacrifice.

  Were it possible, he would make that sacrifice for her.

  He looked at the demon. “Do it. Now, before she grows any weaker. I fear she may not be strong enough to last through the process as it is.”

  The healer handed the demon a small vial. “I have mixed the goddess of Witches’ and the god of Druids’ blood, along with some of mine, the Dhar’s and Dahn’s, my brother’s, and Aodhan’s. They are the heads of their Houses, and particularly strong. And I have added the herbs you suggested.”

  “I will add a small bit of demonic blood, as well. Just as a boost, for the healing powers and painkillers alone.” The demon quickly did as he said. “Here, Wolf. We have found that demon blood is particularly good at healing Dardaptoan females. Even a bit can help.”

  Eiophon took the vial and drank the contents quickly. He shuddered when the combined powers flooded his system.

  His mate was staring at him, a mix of hope and fear in her eyes. He dropped to his knees beside the bed. The time was now, or it would never come again.

  He slipped his hands beneath her and pulled her body close to him. He tilted his head back, exposing his neck. Once
she bit him, began feeding, he would lock their spirits together and keep as much of the pain away from her as he could. Her strength would be vital for her survival.

  He shifted his female into position, nestled her head on his shoulder. “Drink. Drink until you cannot drink anymore.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Kennera

  His blood burned her. The liquid seared into every cell of her being, and she felt those cells start to thirst for him. Was it some type of trick?

  Kennera told herself it was not — Kindara would not let it be so. And neither would Nelciana. But she would never have expected this to hurt so. His blood had not burned her the last time she had drank of him. When had that been? How many short hours ago? Kennera could not remember.

  She choked on the blood, certain it would kill her to take even one more swallow. His hands were hot on her back as he did his best to soothe. Kennara fisted her hands in the material of his vestis. “I cannot... not anymore... please, wolf... I cannot.”

  “You must... take just a little more, girl.” His voice was steady in her ear. Comforting for the first time in centuries. He no longer taunted her, no longer disdained. She could feel and hear the worry in his words in his heart.

  For her.

  Kennera took another swallow. Followed by another.

  Light surrounded her, burning her eyes, her skin. Yellow, pink, all colors of the spectrum flashed around her, around the wolf, and everyone else in the room. But Kennera was the only one who screamed. Needles, ice, and flame all vied for access to her skin, her body... her very soul. She was not aware she was pleading for it to stop until the Wolf god’s voice filled her ears.