“Speak,” he said without preamble. He listened intently as the voice on the other end of the line told him what news of Seti was to be had.
Ethan had set the detectives on Seti’s trail as soon as he’d received Perry’s phone call that Seti and Ashton had gone missing from the museum. It hadn’t taken them long at all to trace them to Ashton’s friend’s apartment.
“Are you certain of what you’ve seen?”
“Yes, sir,” Joe said. “They’re faggots, all right. There was only one man at home when Ashton and Seti arrived. They weren’t in the apartment for ten minutes before the two of them went into the bedroom, took off their clothes, and did things that would peel paint. Then, this morning Ashton’s other friends came in and they talked for a while before taking off, leaving Ashton and Seti alone, and the two of them got cozy again. Now their friends came running back into the apartment house like their asses were on fire.”
“Where are they now?”
“In the apartment—all five of them,” Joe said. “They were standing in the living room, waving their arms at each other like they were having an argument. Now Ashton and Seti are back in the bedroom.
“Oh, we got names of Ashton’s friends, by the way. Thought you’d want to know. There’s Jason Levy, whose name is on the lease of the apartment. Chris Sexton and Leo DeBarry are the other two guys. All of them are grad students. Levy has an internship at Sloan Kettering. The other two are unemployed as of the moment.”
“Good work.”
“Boss, how much longer do you want us to wait? We could move in now, take them by surprise—”
“Do nothing until you hear from me. Do you understand? Nothing. I will not risk losing Seti because you two imbeciles were impatient.”
“Yeah, sure, boss. Whatever you say.”
Ethan Wilder’s eyes narrowed as he hung up the telephone and considered his options. Perry had been taken out of the equation. The hit man Ethan had hired was notoriously efficient and expeditious in carrying out his orders—it was his reputation for being quick and deadly that had convinced Ethan to pay the price he had demanded without question. Ethan’s assassin had taken care of Perry with the same efficiency with which he’d killed the other three members of the team in Florida.
Perry’s body had not yet been discovered. There had been no word from any of the moles Ethan had planted at the museum, and there had been nothing about his murder on the news. The authorities, at any rate, hadn’t yet found the body.
But where could Ashton’s friends have gone, and what would have made them flee back to the apartment with such speed? Could it be that they had been nosing around in the dungeon on Ashton’s behalf? Trying to seek information from Perry about Seti? It was possible.
If they had, then they’d stumbled across Perry’s remains. That presented another set of problems for Wilder. Three more witnesses who would need to be erased. Three more killings, three more significantly hefty checks that Ethan would need to write. The thought made him furious—at his own frugality. He hadn’t wanted to pay the extra money his hired gun demanded to dispose of the body. He’d hoped whoever found Perry would’ve blamed it on Ashton, but Ashton’s friends would never do so. His fondness for pinching pennies might just come back to bite him in the ass.
Still, Ethan Wilder had not amassed his fortune by being a spendthrift. He’d already paid through the nose for four killings and had no intention of paying for any more. At least, not at the price he’d been charged for offing Perry and the others.
These were four lowly graduate students. Intelligent perhaps, but not smart enough or lucky enough to dodge a bullet, no matter whose gun fired it. He could easily have the detectives he’d hired to snatch Seti take care of Ashton’s friends at the same time, and it would only cost Ethan a fraction of what Perry’s killer had charged.
He smiled, nodding to himself. One problem solved.
Rising from his desk, Ethan made his way across his office to the wall-to-wall bookcase that graced one side of it. His hip throbbed as it usually did when he’d sat for too long. A hip replacement had been performed five years ago, and its legacy of aches and pains was a constant reminder to Ethan of his mortality. Each twinge reminded him that death was just around the corner and that his time was swiftly running out.
Not that he’d need to worry about death for much longer.
Reaching for his leather-bound copy of translations of The Egyptian Book of the Dead, he pulled it halfway from the shelf. There was a slight grinding noise before a large section of the bookcase swung open, revealing a hidden room.
Ethan grinned as he always did when he opened the secret panel. It had been an indulgence that had cost him plenty, but it had been worth every penny he’d paid and necessary in order to keep his plans secret. He always felt a bit like Indiana Jones when he slid behind the dark mahogany bookcase into the laboratory he’d had set up behind it. Perhaps a cross between Indiana Jones and Baron von Frankenstein was more apt, he chuckled to himself, eyeing the pristine counters and cabinets and the expensive, highly sophisticated scientific equipment that filled the room.
A centrifuge, an electron microscope, a titration calorimeter, a vortex mixer, a laminar flow cabinet, a state-of–the-art mainframe computer, and a myriad of other shiny new toys sat covered in transparent plastic sheeting, waiting for the moment that Ethan got his hands on Seti. In the exact center of the room was a hospital bed, equipped with steel handcuffs and leg manacles.
The last, most crucial piece of equipment had yet to arrive. Ethan had retained the services of one of the best in the field of DNA research, Dr. Gupta-Patel, who had once done highly specialized, groundbreaking work with the Human Genome Project.
As soon as Ethan received the call that Seti had been captured, he would book a flight to the United States for Patel. Then the tests would begin, and Ethan would finally realize his dream. His destiny.
He would become immortal.
Retreating, he slipped out of the lab. He closed the bookcase panel, and then returned to his desk. Propping his elbows up on top of the desk, he tented his fingers under his chin, staring at the screen of his laptop.
Seti.
Ethan had waited fifty years for his first glimpse of him, which had come from a grainy, unfocussed digital photo emailed to him by his investigators.
Judging by the photo, Seti looked just like any other man on the planet. One would never know simply by looking at him what miracles flowed in his blood or what knowledge was stored in his memory. But Ethan knew. And Ethan had every intention of prying Seti’s secrets loose by means of modern scientific experimentation.
In addition to the medical tests, Ethan planned on administering a battery of psychological tests to Seti as well—Rorschach, IQ, neuropsychological among them. Plus, there was a plethora of questions that Ethan was itching to ask Seti about the ancients. How many of the deductions anthropologists had made over the years from the evidence found in digs were true? How close had they come to envisioning life before the Pyramids?
In a very short while, all Ethan’s questions would be answered.
Then his thoughts drifted to the disturbing bit of information his investigators had relayed regarding Seti and Ashton. Ethan had never considered the possibility that Seti might want sex upon awakening—food and drink, yes, certainly, but sex? For Wilder, having been impotent for the last thirty years, sex was usually the furthest thing from his mind. The act was barely more than a dim memory and had not been a factor in his strategy.
Even if he had considered it, Ethan would certainly never have contemplated that Seti might not care which gender tended to his body’s needs.
A thought suddenly occurred to Ethan that would never have crossed his mind before hearing the detective’s report. Could Seti have preferred men, even before his death? It was possible, Ethan conceded. The legend had claimed that although Seti had fathered many offspring—all of which had been killed by Seti’s enemies after his death in order to de
cimate his bloodline—he had never taken a wife. Concubines, yes, slaves, most definitely. But there had never been any mention of King Seti’s queen.
With a start, Ethan realized he’d made a crucial error in his calculations. Regardless of the gender of the lover Seti most preferred in his bed, the possibility that he’d taken one at all posed a new problem for Ethan.
Ethan had never considered the prospect that Seti might not only want sex, but also companionship. Now that he thought about it, it would stand to reason that after five thousand years alone, Seti would no longer wish to be isolated.
Especially since Seti would have remembered a life where he had owned slaves. As a king, he would have had even his smallest needs tended without needing to lift a finger.
Ancient Egyptians, Ethan rationalized, believed that a man continued his customary lifestyle in the world of the dead. They were buried with their riches, with everyday utensils, sometimes with their wives and slaves so that their lives would go on uninterrupted after they’d crossed over into the Underworld. Sex would have been just another task required of Seti’s slaves in both life and after death.
Awakening to find Ashton waiting for him, it would only be natural for Seti to assume that Ashton had been provided to him as a personal slave by the gods.
After all, Seti had been a king before his death and mummification—he would fully expect to be a king in his new life as well.
Not that any of it would matter after today. Ashton would be dead along with his friends, and Seti would become a permanent guest of Ethan’s by nightfall.
What Ethan did know was that if Seti had claimed Ashton as his property, he would not easily be parted from him. Where Seti went, his slave would follow. Separating them would be next to impossible.
It would be easiest and best, Ethan decided, for the detectives to go in, kill Ashton and his friends, and remove Seti from the apartment all in one fell swoop.
Ethan picked up the phone, dialed the number, and gave his orders.
Chapter Thirteen
“PUT ME down, Seti!” Logan yelled, bucking wildly in Seti’s arms as Seti carried him into the bedroom. It was all Seti could do not to drop him on his head, and as Logan’s skull came in contact with Seti’s chin, jarring his teeth, Seti was sorely tempted to do just that.
“Be still!” Seti ordered, frowning down at Logan. “You need rest. I need rest. And I will not allow you out of my sight. I gave you my oath to protect you, and I cannot do that if you are not with me.”
“I hardly think I need protection in the middle of Jason’s apartment! Who’s going to attack me? The fucking goldfish?”
“You are angry,” Seti said. Confusion seemed to be the normal state of being for Seti since he’d awoken. Nearly everything Logan said or did muddled Seti’s brain. “Why would you be angry at me for trying to protect you?”
“Because I don’t need protection! I’m a big boy, Seti. I even eat at the grown-ups’ table now. It’s insulting for you to insinuate that I can’t take care of myself, picking me up like some errant toddler who needs a time-out and carting me off!”
“I do not understand half of what you just said,” Seti grumbled, depositing Logan on the bed. The truth was that he didn’t understand half of anything Logan had ever said. “I am weary,” he said, deciding to dismiss the entire conversation rather than continue to argue. Besides, trying to follow Logan’s convoluted logic was giving Seti a headache. Things were much more uncomplicated before. Seti commanded and everyone else followed his orders without question. Simple.
He was discovering that things were not so straightforward here, in this age. Here, everyone seemed to have an opinion and showed no qualms about sharing that opinion with all and sundry, without being asked, talking one over the other until their words fused into a cacophony of confusion. It was entirely too chaotic an atmosphere. Seti felt exhausted simply by listening to them all.
After stripping off his T-shirt, he tossed it to the floor. Seti noticed that Logan’s eyes opened a bit wider as they gazed at his bared chest, and he hid a grin as he flexed his muscles for Logan’s benefit. “Are you not tired?”
“A little. But a ‘Hey, Logan, how about a nap?’ would have sufficed. You didn’t have to turn into Conan the Barbarian and drag me off by my hair!”
“I do not know who this Conan person is, and I did not touch your hair.” Seti slowly hitched his sweatpants down over his hips and stepped out of them. His grin broke the surface, watching Logan’s cheeks pink as he sucked his lower lip between his teeth, his gaze lingering at Seti’s groin.
Logan’s tongue might be angrily wagging, but the rest of his body gave Seti every indication that his mind was not on the argument.
“Logan…,” Seti whispered with longing, leaning down over the bed. He braced himself over Logan with one arm on either side of his head. Happily, Logan didn’t twist away from him, although he planted his palms against Seti’s chest. “Logan, I want you. I need you. Do you not want me?” he breathed, barely touching his lips to Logan’s. Each word was a tiny caress against the soft flesh of Logan’s lips. “Did I not make your body writhe with ecstasy? Do you not wish to feel that way again? I will make you scream your pleasure, Logan.”
“Kind of stuck on yourself, aren’t you?” Logan asked, but his voice was very soft and husky, and he did not pull away, Seti noticed. “Arrogant. Conceited. Egotistical—”
“Enough talk,” Seti said, pressing his lips firmly against Logan’s. Petal-soft and warm, giving easily under his own, they tasted as sweet as the grains they’d eaten that morning to break their fast. Hungrily, Seti’s tongue pushed past Logan’s lips, sweeping in like a conquering army.
To his surprise—and discomfiture—Logan did not lie still, placidly accepting Seti’s attack. He refused to surrender control to Seti, his behavior more like a brave and seasoned warrior than a bedmate. Logan’s tongue met his thrust for thrust, every bit as bold and forceful as Seti’s. It was battle for dominance, and for the first time in Seti’s life, he contemplated allowing himself to be defeated.
The thought had never occurred to him before, but when it did, it was shocking, unsettling, and curiously seductive.
What would it be like, Seti wondered, to have Logan command him, to have Seti’s control wrenched away and be forced to submit to another’s will? To lie passively underneath another man while he took his pleasure in Seti’s flesh? Not to rule, but to obey?
Seti shivered as a sudden delicious thrill raised gooseflesh on his skin. He had never surrendered before. He had never trusted any lover enough to give them that gift. Not even with Ashai had he conceded his dominance. Seti was a king in life; he was no less than one in bed. Even in his most private moments, Seti had ruled his universe with an iron fist.
But now Seti found himself wondering and wavering, seriously considering the idea. The dominant within him bellowed indignantly against it, warring with the new, inquisitive Seti that struggled to surface, the part of him that ached to allow Logan intimacies Seti had never before permitted anyone. To lie still for him as he worshiped Seti’s flesh with his hands and tongue. To allow Logan to breach Seti’s body and ride him hard, until he left Seti gasping and spent.
The very idea went against his grain. Seti felt the notion abrade his ego like the rough desert sands, but the temptation to allow Logan his head grew stronger with each passionate thrust of Logan’s tongue, each nip of his teeth, and each stroke of his hands across Seti’s back.
Even as he waged his internal battle, his hands kept busy, pulling at Logan’s clothing. Seti’s need was great. Whether he would take or be taken was yet undetermined, but the desire to feel Logan’s naked skin next to his was irresistible.
Bared at last, Logan’s flesh was warm and smooth, an expanse of hard planes and sharp angles that beckoned to Seti like an oasis in the desert. His cock filled, pressing against Logan’s thigh. Seti’s mouth watered for a taste of his silken skin. Each second he denied himself the pleasure inc
reased his desire until Seti’s body trembled with want, the urge to thoroughly ravish Logan nearly overpowering him.
Yet the tantalizing temptation to roll over, bare his belly, and submit still danced within Seti’s mind, and he vacillated.
Seti’s body finally made his decision for him. Stretching out on the bed next to Logan, Seti lay flat on his back with his hands at his sides. His fingers twisted in the sheets as if to keep him bound to the bed. “Take me, Logan. Do what you will with me,” he growled through clenched teeth.
Seti’s dark eyes sparked as he fought against his nature, struggling to keep still as Logan raised himself over his body, straddling Seti’s thighs. Looking up at a man was a new perspective for Seti, one that he’d experienced only when in his youth, on the very rare occasions that an opponent had gotten the best of him during battle training.
He fully expected Logan to seize the unprecedented opportunity Seti had presented him with, lift Seti’s knees high, and take him hard and fast before Seti could change his mind.
Instead Logan leaned down and kissed him, a soft, sweet kiss.
“This is hard for you, isn’t it?” Logan whispered, looking Seti in the eye.
“You are hard for me,” Seti answered through gritted teeth. He couldn’t decide if he had meant Logan’s body or his company. Or both. Submission, compounded by talking, was nearly too much for him to bear. All he knew was that his mind was screaming at him to take back control, while his body was begging for Logan to do more than talk.
“Tell me the truth, Seti. Before, in your old life, you didn’t bottom, did you? I can tell. It’s as if you’re waiting for me to attack you, rather than make love to you. You’re lying there as stiff as a board.”
“This is stiff,” Seti growled, thrusting his cock upward into Logan’s belly. “Attack me or please me, the choice is yours, but do not make me wait any longer.”
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