by Sandy James
But her sisters needed her, and she could never leave them to fight their battles without her help. Together, the Amazons were formidable. Three might not be able to defeat whatever evil was launched on humanity. Hell, in all honesty she loved being an Amazon. And she loved her sisters.
She wouldn’t leave them.
But what about Zach?
Her world could never include him. How selfish to think it might. He deserved a better life than to be constantly finding himself in the line of fire or ready to be a revenant’s snack. He deserved more than staying behind and worrying whether she would survive to return to him. He deserved to go back to his life and company so he could become the next Bill Gates and change the world.
Gina caressed Zach’s cheek, her heart near to breaking from the pain of knowing she had very little time left with him. When this battle was over, Ix Chel would erase his memories of Avalon. Zach would have to face all she’d wanted him to avoid. Guilt draped over her like a shroud.
With a hum, he turned his face toward her palm. “You’re awake,” he said, not opening his eyes.
“I’m awake.” She leaned in to kiss him.
He smiled against her lips and opened his eyes. “You’re feeling better?”
“I’m feeling better.” Better enough to take greedy advantage of the time they had left together.
“God, I love purple.” He ran his fingers through her hair, lovingly fluffing it.
Trailing her hands down his neck, she kissed him again, deeper, tickling his lips with her tongue until he opened them. As her tongue pushed into his mouth, her fingers smoothed down his chest to the waistband of his shorts. A quick tug on the elastic gave her enough room to slide her other hand inside. She wrapped her fingers around his erection as he murmured his approval.
The kiss turned carnal, as if they couldn’t get enough of each other. Gina dragged his shorts down his hips as Zach tugged at her flannel pajama bottoms. The more frantic they became, the more they got in each other’s way.
Frustrated and impatient, she rolled on top of him and straddled his thighs. She brushed his hands away and concentrated on getting him free of his clothes. The shirt quickly gave up the fight, and the shorts hit the floor only a few moments later.
Damn, but he was handsome. Sleek and muscular.
Perfect.
“No fair.” He pulled at her shirt. “Get this off.” His hands returned to her waistband. “Get those off too.”
Gina smiled and obliged him, letting her body slide over his as she worked her way to the foot of the bed. She rid herself of the bothersome clothes before she crawled back onto the mattress, stalking him like a feline predator. Kissing her way back up his body, she once again straddled his hips.
He tried to roll her to her back, but she resisted. She’d started this, and she had every intention of running the show.
When Gina forced him back against the mattress, Zach indulged her. “You want to be in charge?”
“Yes.” She leaned in to kiss him again, rubbing her tongue over his as she wrapped her fingers around his cock. “So hot. So hard.”
“Gina. Now.” He put his strong hands on her hips, guiding her closer.
With a smile, she eased him inside her body until he filled her completely. He thrust up into her, helping her set a pleasing rhythm.
The power she held over him was exquisite. She slowed their movements to keep him from climaxing, then returned to the frantic pace that made him gasp. He held her hips in an almost painful grip as he rose to meet her. As much as she wanted this moment to last, the tension built inside her, demanding the teasing come to an end.
Zach cupped his hand around her neck and pulled her down for another tongue-dueling kiss. He captured her moans as her orgasm raced through her, giving her spasm after spasm of pleasure. Then his head reared back. He shouted her name as he came.
Gina collapsed against his chest. “Wow. Gets better every time.”
“Yeah, love it—”
Someone pounding on the cabin door interrupted. A voice on the other side called, “Gina? You awake?”
“Sarita,” Gina whispered. She eased off him, jumped from the bed and grabbed her clothes from the floor.
“Just a minute.” Zach rolled off the mattress and reached for his own clothes.
“Can I come in?”
“No!” Gina shouted.
Sarita’s laugh was loud enough to reach inside the cabin. “How about I meet you for a late lunch in the lodge?”
“Late lunch?” Gina asked as she tugged her shirt over her head.
Lunch?
She’d never slept past seven in all the time she’d been at Avalon. Johann would’ve chewed her ass. “What time is it?”
“Almost two,” Sarita replied.
“I need a thicker door.”
Gina marched to the door and opened it enough to talk to Sarita while Zach headed toward the bathroom.
“Sorry I slept so long.”
“I expected you would. You should probably sleep a few more hours later today to get over those injuries.” Her gaze swept Gina from head to toe. “Doesn’t look like you were doing much resting.”
Dragging her fingers through her mussed hair and wondering if it was still purple, Gina sighed. It wasn’t like she could keep secrets in Avalon, but her hair color was a dead giveaway for whatever she felt.
Perhaps it wasn’t such a great gift after all. “I’m gonna lose him soon, Sarita. Can you blame me for giving up some sleep to spend time with him?”
“No,” Sarita replied, “but you’re not at full strength again, either. You were in pretty bad shape last night.”
“We need to talk to our sisters about what we’re gonna do now. Rebecca told you about Helen?”
Sarita nodded. “We should’ve killed her when we had the chance. Don’t worry about her now. We’ll come up with a solution when we plan our attack. Your job is to get back to your high-jumping self.”
“I’ll be ready,” Gina promised. “I’ll catch a nap later.”
Sarita leveled a hard stare at her sister.
“I will. Honest. Did Rebecca explain about Rich—”
Zach came out of the bathroom, derailing her train of thought. He was fully dressed in fresh clothes and seemingly ready for whatever the day had in store. He was so handsome, Gina almost sighed again.
She glanced down at her pajamas and hoped Beagan and Dolan would find her something passable to wear.
With a nod to Sarita, Zach moved to Gina’s side and wrapped an arm around her waist. He hauled her up against him. “No worries. I’ll be sure she gets more rest.”
The harsh frown Sarita directed at Zach came as a surprise. “You didn’t tell her.”
A statement rather than a question, and rude to boot.
She hated being out of the loop, especially when there was something concerning Zach. “Tell me what?”
Zach squeezed her tighter against him. “Sarita?”
The Water Amazon arched a dark eyebrow.
“Can we have some alone time? Please?”
“Depends on what you’re going to do when you’re alone.”
“I’m gonna tell her about Ra.”
“Ra?” Gina asked.
The way Zach’s body stiffened made a chill run over her flesh.
“Sarita, please?” he asked.
She nodded, turned on her heel and left the cabin.
“What’s going on?” Gina asked, the fear plain in her voice. If whatever he had to tell her involved Ra, it wasn’t going to be good.
* * *
Zach had planned on telling her right after they made love—while she was still content and relaxed—the same way she’d told him about being an Amazon. Then Sarita had broken the spell that might have allowed Gina to sit and listen calmly to all he needed to explain. The whole story wasn’t supposed to come out like this, not when Gina’s hair flamed to an angry red.
Turning her to face him, he hoped the telling wouldn’t
be as difficult as he dreaded. After all, the gift Ra had given him would allow him to remain at her side. Surely she’d see the rightness of it all.
Zach took the direct approach. “Ra was here.”
“Sekhmet’s dad was in Avalon, and I’m just now hearing about it?” A frown creased her brow.
He kissed her forehead to try to ease the tension. “It was while you were gone. Freyjr brought him to—”
“Freyjr? What in the hell was Freyjr doing here? Please tell me you didn’t listen to a single thing that bastard had to say. I’ll bet he was using you to try and get to Sarita again.”
“He brought Ra to—”
“If Freyjr brought him, then they’re both up to no good. Shit, Zach. What did you do?”
“C’mon, Gina, if you’d just listen...”
She stepped out of his embrace and headed for the door.
He followed.
“He’s after Sarita again, I just know it. I need to go and...” Her words were lost as she hurried away from him, heading across the grassy compound toward the lodge.
Zach wanted to shout his frustration. This was his news to tell, and if she got to the other Amazons, they would just spill the story and not give him a chance to spin it the right way—the way that would show her he belonged in this world. With her.
“Gina. Wait.”
She picked up her pace.
“Stop! Wait for me!”
She didn’t listen. Those strong legs of hers left him in her dust.
His desire to stop her swelled up in his chest, and his hands rose of their own accord. Holding his palms out, he stretched them toward her as heat seemed to drown him in some sudden, raging fever. Sweat broke out on his skin. In his mind, tethers flew from each hand, hurtling toward her and wrapping around her chest and thighs.
Gina froze in her tracks, her arms pinned to her side.
Binding—that was what Ra told Zach he would be doing. Binding powers. Right now, all Zach wanted was to slow her down and make her listen. The ropes, the ones he could see as if they were real, wrapped around her again and again as his frustration swelled. She needed to listen to him. She needed to give him a chance.
His fear that nothing had changed after what Ra put him through vanished. Hal Jordan had become the Green Lantern.
The powers worked. They drained his energy, probably because of the overwhelming heat they generated in his body, but they definitely worked. He felt as if he’d just finished running a marathon.
“What the hell?” Gina’s eyes were wide as she struggled to move her arms. Bending at the knees, she tried to jump. Launching only a few inches into the air, she looked like a kid in a potato sack race.
He felt guilty at binding her so completely and tried to free her. The ropes wouldn’t release. Learning how to use this new gift wouldn’t be easy.
Could he do to Sekhmet what he’d just done to Gina?
Ix Chel shimmered into Avalon, standing very close to her Amazon. She took one look at what had been happening between Gina and Zach before she narrowed her eyes.
Some force—an invisible gust of wind—blew him back several yards. He sprawled onto the ground, sliding on his ass as the strands tying him to Gina snapped, one by one.
The goddess’s angry voice rumbled like thunder. “You will never use your powers against my Amazon.”
Gina shook her arms and legs. Then she hurried to Zach’s side, and just as she knelt next to him, she cocked her head. “Powers?”
“Yeah.” He put his hands on his knees and took a couple of deep breaths. No harm done, he’d just had the wind knocked out of him. “That’s what I wanted to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Ix Chel walked over to tower over them, glaring down at Zach. Her anger had turned her eyes red as her sleek black hair swished and swirled around her in some unseen wind. “I should punish you. After all Gina has done to rescue you, you tied her. I should turn you into a toad for such insolence.”
“I didn’t mean to. It just...happened.” He stood, helped Gina to her feet and then brushed the grass off his jeans. “It was an accident, Gina. I’d never hurt you.”
Gina threw her hands up and groaned. “Will somebody please tell me what in the hell is going on here?”
“The inventor has been given the power to bind, a power almost as old as the Ancients themselves. ’Twas not given lightly, and—” she turned to glare at Zach again, “—it should not be used so capriciously and carelessly.”
Zach saluted her in the same way as the Sentinels. “I’m sorry, m’lady. I didn’t mean to use them against anyone, especially Gina. They just...popped out.”
Her eyes returned to their customary brown as her hair settled back into place. “Sí, they are tied to your emotions. You must learn restraint, control, or they will be useless in your fight.”
“Binding? Sekhmet?” Gina reared her head back. “If someone doesn’t tell me what you all know that I don’t, I’ll—”
Ix Chel set her hand on Gina’s arm. “Your mate was given the power to bind magicks. He shall be the one to hold Sekhmet as the Amazons return her to her tomb.”
Zach had never seen so many emotions cross one person’s face in such a short time. Surprise. Fear. Anger. All were apparent as her hair morphed in a kaleidoscope of colors.
“No,” Gina said, her voice a whisper. “He wouldn’t do something like that—something as stupid as taking on a power—without asking me.”
“But he did,” Ix Chel replied.
“Gina...” Zach reached for her hand, but she folded her arms over her chest. “Let me explain.”
“Explain what? Why you’d do something that fucking stupid and not ask me?”
Zach tried to keep his temper, telling himself that Gina had the right to be angry. Yes, he probably should have asked her—he’d planned to do just that. Circumstances snatched away his choice.
“I couldn’t ask you. Richard kidnapped you.”
Her scoffing laugh grated his nerves. “I don’t understand what you were thinking. Ra came here, with that dipshit Freyjr no less, and you just let that asshole endow you with some kind of power we don’t know anything about. I thought you were a genius.”
“Ouch. The ref takes away a point,” Megan said as she strode over from the sand pit.
Johann was close on her heels, sheathing her sword. “So you went ahead and did it anyway, didn’t you?”
Zach was getting damned sick and tired of being treated like a naughty child.
“I’m the reason Sekhmet’s dangerous,” he said. “I made the technology she plans to use to destroy the world. I took the power to bind to help you defeat her and fix my own mess.”
Megan shook her head. “Sekhmet would be dangerous even if you’d never been born. You shouldering the guilt sounds noble, but as Artair always says—”
“Beware of gods bearing gifts,” Sarita interrupted with a smirk as she sidled up to Gina. “He finally told you?”
Gina glared at Zach. “No. He didn’t have the guts.”
That was one Amazon jibe too many. “I have plenty of guts. What I didn’t have was the chance. You were hurt. And then when you woke up we were busy mak—”
She stepped over to him and put her hand over his mouth, setting everyone to laughing. “Fine. So tell me now. What happened?”
Zach explained the two visits by Freyjr and Ra, hoping she would understand. The teases and tidbits of addition by the Amazons and Sentinel sure didn’t help matters much.
“When I realized not only was accepting the power a way to stop all the problems I started, but it would also make it so I could stay with you, I didn’t hesitate.”
“You want to stay with me?” she squeaked.
“Forever.” His voice softened as he stroked her cheek. “Don’t you know that?”
Then he caught the concern in her beautiful brown eyes, a revelation of the vulnerability she liked to keep hidden. Her hair had shifted from its neon highlights to a pale yellow.
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For the first time since he’d met her, Gina was afraid.
Tugging at her hand until she finally gave up her self-protective and stern stance, he laced their fingers. He leaned in to rest his forehead against hers, ignoring the stares of the onlookers.
“Of course I want to stay. I love you.”
* * *
“But what—what about HanTel?” There was a catch to Gina’s voice.
“How important is some stupid computer company when compared to you? How important is building another new gadget when compared to saving the world?”
Her heart was near to bursting.
Zach wanted to stay with her. She’d always tried to believe that he wouldn’t leave unless forced to, but to hear all he’d done to ensure they’d stay together finally pierced her self-protective armor and made her believe. That and the three words she could never hear fall from his lips often enough to please her.
There remained only a few hundred more hurdles they’d have to jump. But now—for the first time—she believed they might stand a chance at clearing every single one of them.
One at a time.
Hurdle one.
She turned to her goddess. “Can he stay? You’ll let him stay? You won’t erase his memories and send him back now?”
Ix Chel opened her mouth as if to reply, but quickly shut it again.
Gina knew what that meant—the goddess knew something she wouldn’t share with them.
After a few very long moments, Ix Chel nodded. “When this threat has passed, should he complete his task and survive, the inventor may decide his own fate.”
“You mean Zach could die?”
“My child, you know better than to ask that of me. I cannot reveal what might be. I would anger my kind. Now, I must go. I have made my pledge to the inventor.” She inclined her head to Zach who responded by thumping his chest with his fist.
“But—but—”
“Don’t ask her again, Gina,” Zach said. “I don’t want to know.”
She scoffed. “How could you not want to know? If you’re going to...” She couldn’t say it aloud. It might make the threat real.
“No one ever really knows, do they?” His warm hand enfolded hers. “No one’s promised a tomorrow.”
