“Yes. I lay on the bank of the Nile, bleeding from the numerous wounds I’d received, on the verge of death, not wanting to go out like that. I called to the Christian god I’d pledged to crusade for to save me, but got no response. So I called to any god who was listening.”
“Anubis heard you.”
“He did. He offered to give me back my life. In exchange, I had to become one of his warriors. I didn’t think twice, gave Anubis my vow that I would serve him.”
Brisa squeezed Darius’ hand. She couldn’t imagine what it would have been like for him, lying on a battlefield, dying, not wanting to give up the fight to stay alive.
“What exactly does it mean to be a warrior of Anubis?” she asked.
“I’m charged with hunting evil in the mortal realm. When I encounter an evildoer, I feel pulled to him or her. I automatically shift into this form. While in it I can capture their gaze and see, and live through, every evil thing they have ever done in their lifetime. Then I send them to Anubis in the underworld to be judged. My gold dagger is spelled to do that. One cut and they leave the mortal realm.”
“So you don’t kill them.”
“No. I’m not their final judge. Anubis is.”
Darius groaned and pushed Brisa onto the bed. She watched as his body realigned itself, shifting back to his human form. The sound of his bones cracking got to her, as did the sounds of pain he made. Once complete, he was breathing heavily.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
He looked at her and gave her a small smile. “I’ve gone through a shift thousands of times, but it never gets any less painful.”
She pulled back the covers and saw Darius now wore the clothes he’d had on before. With gentle fingers she lifted his t-shirt. Anubis’ bandage was still there around his middle. “Are your wounds any worse?” Her gaze also landed on the black tattoo of Anubis that was inside a cartouche on his upper chest, over his heart. “Did you get this tattoo after becoming one Anubis’ warriors?”
“No, they feel about the same. I guess I have to wait for the second spell to wear off. And that’s not a tattoo. Anubis placed his mark on me once I’d taken my vow.”
She nodded. “Let me help you take your shirt off, so you’ll feel more comfortable.”
Brisa reached for it, but found herself tugged up against Darius’ chest, his lips moving over hers in a passionate kiss. He had her well on her way to being aroused when he pulled away, but she knew it would go no further than this, not with him so badly wounded.
“Thanks for staying with me, Brisa,” Darius said in a husky-sounding voice. “I didn’t know how alone I actually was until I met you.”
She reached up and stroked the side of his face. “Well, I’m not going anywhere.” She noticed his eyes were becoming heavy lidded. “I think we both should get some sleep. It’s late. Hopefully by the morning you’ll be healed.”
“I am tired.” He gave her back her pillow, then tugged his until it was on the mattress under his head. Darius held out his arm. “Come here.”
Brisa hesitated. “I could hurt you in my sleep.”
Darius pulled her against his uninjured side and held her close. “It’ll be worth the pain. I want to feel you next to me. I’ll sleep better.”
Settling her head on his chest, she relented. A minute later, Brisa felt Darius relax and his breathing even out. She closed her eyes. Before sleep took her, she thought of all that had happened that night. Being in love with an immortal warrior would take some getting used to, but she was glad Darius was hers.
Chapter Nine
Darius opened his eyes to find the room bright with the light of day. He looked over at the curtains to see they hadn’t been closed. He tried moving and found he could do so without experiencing pain. His wounds had healed while he’d slept.
He turned his head and saw Brisa lay next to him, still lost in slumber. Darius slipped out of bed without disturbing her. Standing next to it, he stripped out of his clothes and tore off the linen bandages. There weren’t any marks on his skin to show where he’d been hurt. Naked, he climbed back in next to Brisa.
Shifting so he lay on his side with his head supported on his hand, he stared down at her. Last night, after he’d first shifted, he’d thought for sure he was going to lose her. She’d been too fearful of him. Even though she’d agreed to let him explain, he’d still felt as if she wouldn’t be able to accept what he was.
Then the demon had showed up and gone on the attack. Darius had had only one thing on his mind—protect Brisa. But in the end, it’d been she who’d saved his life. If she hadn’t been there, Darius knew he wouldn’t have walked away from the fight only wounded, if he walked away at all. He would have lost his head.
He reached out and brushed a lock of hair away that had fallen over Brisa’s forehead. A surge of love and protectiveness washed through him as he looked at her beautiful face. The face of his mate.
Even though he’d told her his story of how he’d become a warrior to Anubis, and what his duty was to the god, he hadn’t told her about being his mate. She’d already had a lot to take in without him adding that to the mix. But now was the time to do so. He wanted to make love to her, and had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to hold back from biting her, making them mates. Anubis had told him that he had to let Brisa have the choice, not to take that away from her.
Darius leaned down and brushed his lips across Brisa’s. “Wake up.” She mumbled something incoherent and tried to push him away. He chuckled. “Come on. You can sleep later.” He nibbled on her lips and covered one of her breasts with his hand, giving it a squeeze.
Brisa kissed him back. “Mmm,” she said against his lips. “What a way to wake up. I’d like your kisses to do that every morning.”
He pulled back and smiled. “I think that can be arranged.”
She turned her head and looked at him. “How are you feeling? Did the other spell wear off?”
He nodded. “I’m all better. The wounds have healed. You want to see?” Darius flipped back the covers.
Brisa’s gaze ran down his body and stopped at his cock. He was already aroused, his shaft fully engorged.
She licked her lips. “I can see that you are.”
She rolled to her side and reached for his cock. Her fingers wrapped around it, stroking up and down. Darius gloried in the feel of Brisa touching him, but he knew he had to get her to stop until they’d had a chat.
“That feels good. Too good. I have to tell you something before we go any further,” he told Brisa as he tugged her hand off his erection.
“Tell me what?”
Darius sank fully onto his side so he was on Brisa’s level. “The day you heard me talking to Anubis in the room I set up as a temple to him, he and I spoke about something that concerns you.”
“Was it good or bad?”
He smiled. “I like to think it’s good, but that’s for you to decide.” Darius ran the pad of his thumb along Brisa’s kissable bottom lip. “I’ve never had feelings this strong for a woman as I do you. Even when I was mortal, I had no wife. Back then, I was only interested in finding the next battle to fight. That was part of the reason why I joined the crusade, not because I had a strong religious conviction.”
“So you were a knight who liked to play with his sword,” she said coyly.
Darius understood her double meaning and shook his head with a laugh. “There you go with your mind in the gutter again.”
“Hey, I can’t help it. I have a sexy, naked man in bed next to me. One who also happens to be horny.”
“I’m trying to be serious here.”
“Sorry. I promise to behave.”
“Anyway,” he said with a sigh. “What I’m getting at is that I’ve fallen in love with you, Brisa. I want you to be a part of my life. I’ll always be one of Anubis’ warriors, but if you think you can accept that, and what I have to do, I promise I’ll do everything in my power to keep you happy.”
She gave him a sad look. “I love
you as well, Darius. There’s one thing, though. You’re immortal and I’m not. I know I’ll love you when I’m old and gray, but the big question is, will you? You’ll stay looking as you do now forever.”
He put his arm around her waist and tugged her close so their fronts pressed together. “This is where my talk with Anubis comes in. I thought something was wrong with me, because just about every time we’ve made love, right before I come, a change comes over me. My eyeteeth become longer and sharper, as they do when I shift. I also had the urge to bite you.”
Brisa swallowed. “Bite me? You must have hidden this well, because I didn’t have a clue about any of it.”
“I guess I did. Anubis told me there wasn’t anything wrong. That it was something that would happen when I found the woman to be my mate.” He paused. “You’re that woman, Brisa.”
“So you want to bite me since I’m your mate.”
“Yes. I’m giving you the choice, though. Once I bite you, you’ll become immortal like me. Your life force will be tied to mine.”
Brisa cupped the back of his head and brought his lips to hers. Her kiss was hot and demanding. She pushed her tongue inside his mouth before she sucked on his, driving him crazy. Darius rolled them so she was on her back with him on top of her.
As he made a trail of wet kisses along the side of her neck, she said, “Do it, Darius. Bite me. I want to have forever with you. I know you’ve waited a long time to find me, but I’ve waited for you as well, even though I didn’t know it. Make me your mate.”
He nipped her skin where her shoulder and neck met. “Not yet. But I will if this is truly what you want.”
Brisa pulled his head up and met his gaze. “It is. I know what I want, and I want you.”
Capturing her mouth again, Darius kissed her hard and long. He molded one of her breasts with his hand and plucked at the taut nipple under her shirt. Brisa squirmed beneath him, pulling at her clothes. He ended their kiss and quickly stripped her naked. He groaned at the feel of her curves pressing along his naked skin.
He suckled at her breast as he reached between her legs to see how ready she was for him. Darius moaned. Her pussy was wet, and his finger easily slipped inside it. He added a second, pumping in and out, loving the sounds of pleasure Brisa made as he worked her.
His cock aching, wanting to be buried deep inside her, he shifted up higher on her body and pushed the head of his shaft into her pussy. Brisa wrapped her legs around his waist. She rocked with him, matching his strokes, as he pushed deeper until she’d taken his full length. Her warm wetness bathed his cock while he slid in and out.
“Harder, faster,” Brisa moaned.
He set a quicker pace, giving her what she wanted. His cock grew harder. Already he felt an orgasm building, his balls drawing up close to his body. Brisa’s whimpers of passion drove him on. He strained against her, taking her in harder thrusts.
She called out his name when her pussy clamped down around his cock, clutching it, holding it in a tight fist. It had him racing to the point of no return. He felt that now-familiar burning in his gums as his eyeteeth dropped. There was no denying his urge to bite Brisa this time. He bit down where her shoulder and neck met, his teeth sinking beneath the skin. She stiffened under him, then let out another loud moan when she was thrown into another climax. Darius followed her, groaning against her skin, his cock pulsing deep inside her pussy, filling her with his cum. Just before the last wave of pleasure receded, he felt something snap into place between them, like an invisible bond.
He released her neck and looked down at her. “Did you feel that?”
She nodded and looked up at him with the love she had for him showing in her eyes. “I think it worked.”
“It did.” His gaze landed on the spot where he’d bitten her and watched the teeth marks he’d left behind heal and disappear.
Brisa pulled his head down and kissed him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“I hope you weren’t planning on doing anything else but staying in bed today,” she said with a smile. “Since we’re now mates, and I guess technically married, this is our honeymoon. I’m not going to waste any of it.” She rolled him to his back with her ending up on top. “Starting right now.”
Darius surrendered himself to his mate, quite happy to give her all that she wanted.
* * * * *
“I really don’t like this,” Brisa said as she watched Darius pick up his sword off the kitchen table.
“I know, but it’s best if I do it this way.”
It was now night. Darius and she had indeed spent the day making love, only coming down to eat when hunger drove them out of the room. It had been during one of those breaks that Darius had told her his plan to draw the demon out, to fight him.
“What if he stabs you again with a spelled dagger? He got the drop on you the last time.”
“He won’t be able to do so again. I’ll be ready for it. Last night I was distracted by you, worried you wouldn’t accept me. I’m not anymore.”
“You’re still sure he’ll come?”
Darius gave a harsh chuckle. “He’ll come. He won’t resist having me out from under Anubis’ protection. He already thinks he’ll be able to defeat me.”
“Just promise me you won’t do anything that will get you killed. I just got my immortality, I don’t want to lose it on the same day.”
He gave her a hard kiss. “We being mated just gives me another incentive to get rid of the bastard.”
Brisa silently nodded. She had to trust that Darius knew what he was doing. She watched him walk out of the door in the kitchen that led to the backyard. When he headed past the pool and hot tub to a long stretch of lawn, she raced to the dining room where there were a set of french doors that gave her a better view.
Darius stood with sword in hand and waited for the demon to put in an appearance. Seeing him like that, Brisa could see the ancient knight he’d been. All he was missing was chain mail and armor.
Not like the other time, the demon didn’t give Darius any warning that he was nearby. The demon didn’t taunt him with a disembodied voice, nor did he force a shift on Darius. One second the demon wasn’t there and the next he was, his sword slashing toward the man she loved.
Brisa felt her heart jump into her throat, but breathed a sigh of relief when Darius easily blocked the hit with his sword. This fight, he did seem more focused. Unlike the last time, the demon didn’t gain any ground. Watching Darius, she decided his movements were beautiful and deadly at the same time.
The demon must have sensed that he wasn’t going to win. He disappeared. Brisa thought for sure he’d taken a coward’s way out and run. But he reappeared behind Darius. Not thinking of her own safety, she ran out of the house toward them, screaming a warning at Darius. He blocked the hit that would have skewered him in the back.
“Brisa,” he yelled, “get back in the house.”
Too late she realized her mistake. The demon disappeared again only to appear in front of her. She didn’t have time to turn and run before he had her held with her back to his chest, an arm around her middle and a knife held to her throat.
Darius gave a bellow of rage and advanced on them. The demon held the blade tighter against her skin, making Brisa hiss with pain when it cut her. “Stop right there, warrior. You want your precious mortal to live, you’ll put down your sword.”
Seeing Darius start to lower his weapon, Brisa said, “Don’t, Darius. He won’t let either one of us live, you know that.”
Darius took another step closer, and the knife cut a little deeper. Brisa felt they were at a standoff. She racked her brain to think of a way to get herself out of the spot she’d stupidly put herself in.
A low growl brought her out of her racing thoughts. While she’d looked away, Darius had shifted to his other form. This time she didn’t think the demon had used a spell on Darius. Her mate didn’t seem surprised by it. If anything, a look of determination came over his
face.
Moving faster than she could keep track of, Darius ripped the demon’s knife from her throat and shoved her aside. Brisa spun around, feeling blood dripping down her chest, but didn’t pay it any heed. Her attention focused on the scene that played out before her.
Darius took hold of the demon and quickly seemed to catch his gaze with his own. The demon suddenly gave up the fight as he stared into Darius’ eyes.
“Evil,” Darius growled. “Time for you to face your judgment.”
A dagger appeared in his hand, but it wasn’t gold. This one looked to be some kind of black metal. Darius cut the demon across the chest with it, the sound of sizzling skin followed. Darius released the demon as he seemed to fade out of sight, screaming with rage.
Once they were alone, Darius growled as the change swept through him until he again stood as a man. He turned to her and opened his arms. Brisa ran into them, holding him tight.
“Is it over?” she asked.
“Yes. I sent him to Anubis to be judged.”
She pulled away only far enough to look at Darius. “I thought you couldn’t do that.”
“While he held you, threatening to end your life, it brought on the change.”
“And the dagger?”
“Something new, though I’ve always had the ability to will any weapon I need into my hand. I just thought of what I would need to send a demon back to the underworld to face Anubis.”
Brisa tucked her head under his chin. “That’s one demon down, but how many more are out there hunting the rest of the warriors like you?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure Anubis will warn them.”
Darius let her go, then scooped her up in his arms. “Right now, I’m just happy I sent the one after me to a place where he can’t ever hurt us again.” He carried her toward the house. “That taken care of, I’m going to make love to you for the rest of the night.”
Brisa wrapped her arms around her mate’s neck and whispered all the dirty things she wanted to do to him in his ear. She soon found herself laughing as Darius put on a burst of speed no mortal could manage and had them up in the bedroom where he showed her how much he loved her over and over again.
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