by Becca Van
Zara shook her head again. She couldn’t get her mind around any of this. She felt like she was in a dreamlike state, but knew she wasn’t asleep. Her mind was overloaded with information and she felt like it was going to burst open at any moment. She wondered if the stress of it all had made her blood pressure rise. It certainly felt like it, and she had a pounding headache. But what she didn’t understand was what any of this had to do with her.
Chapter Four
Set could see the shock in Zara’s eyes as she tried to process what they had just told her. He wondered if she believed them or if she thought they were all insane. He and the others could prove to her what they said was true but as her mates, he wanted her to trust that he and Sab would never lie to her. But he knew that they needed to earn her trust. He couldn’t demand that she believe him after only just meeting him and Sab.
“What does any of this have to do with me?” Zara asked.
“We already told you, honey,” Sab said in a soothing tone.
“What?”
“We told you that the nightmares you’re having aren’t nightmares at all.” Set sighed. “The demonic shadows of the underworld have been trying to steal your soul, baby. If they steal a few souls their powers increase and they will be able to take over one of the bodies they are stealing spirits from.”
“Why?” Zara’s voice was more than a little panicked when she asked that question.
Set released her hand and slung an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer against the side of his body. He felt the slight tremble of fear quavering through her small frame. She was scared and although he hated that she was frightened he hoped she would look to him and Sab to protect her. Hopefully as they grew to know each other she would agree to be their woman.
“The shadows only ever target innocent young women, baby,” Set finally answered her question.
Her lips parted as if she were about to speak but she snapped it closed, her teeth clicking as they met. “I’m not innocent.”
“Maybe not in mind,” Sab gave her a gentle smile.
“This is crazy.” Zara pushed Sab’s arm off of her shoulders and tugged her hand from Set’s as she pushed her seat back and stood. “You all should be in a looney bin.”
Set watched her stomp from the room, his gaze zeroing in on her delectable firm round ass. He sighed with frustration when she disappeared from sight and slumped back in his chair. He wasn’t worried about her leaving their home. The hieroglyphs on the door to the underground tunnel were protection spells. The only way for her to open said door was by her DNA being added to the glyphs and for her finger or thumbprint to be added to the security system. Only he, Sab, or one of the other sentinels could do that through the computerized system. Even if she accidentally left DNA on the door markings, she still needed to be added to the computer. Maybe letting her alone for a while was what she needed.
“So that went well.” Sab sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“She’ll come around,” Mit said.
“How do you know that?” Sab asked.
“She didn’t actually refute what we told her.”
“Mit’s right.” En leaned forward. “She believed everything we told her, but is having a little difficulty processing it all.”
Wen nodded. “We’ve known about all of this for millennia. Humans think they are the only species alive on the planet. Being told otherwise would be a lot to digest.”
“What I want to know is what she means to the both of you?” Paser asked.
Set sighed. Paser always acted like he didn’t give a shit about anything but that was far from the truth and he was more observant than the others seemed to be. Although the other sentinels loved him like a brother, just as they all loved each other in their own quirky way, Paser usually kept to himself. He spent more time in the kitchen than anywhere else when they weren’t out and about scouting for ripples of unrest in the human world.
“We think she’s our mate,” Sab answered before Set could.
The others stared at them with their mouths gaping open, but Paser leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest, and sat back with a self-satisfied smile on his face. That gave him pause because even though he was eighty percent positive that Zara was the other half to him and Sab, he still wasn’t entirely certain.
“Have you asked Ra?” Men raised his eyebrow along with the question.
“Yes.”
“And what was his reply?”
“The answer wasn’t definitive.”
“What do you mean?” Mit asked.
“His reply was cryptic.” Set sighed with frustration. Although he loved and worshipped his deity, sometimes he wanted to shake him until he rattled. Of course he knew that if he ever got up the gumption to try such a thing, Ra would probably have his head on a pike.
Paser smirked but didn’t say anything this time.
“So what are you going to do?” En asked.
“One thing’s certain. We need to keep her close so that Apep’s minions can’t get to her,” Sab said but his gaze was on Set’s and he could see the same question in his eyes that En had just asked.
Set didn’t know how to answer his friend because he had no idea himself. He wasn’t used to dealing with the opposite sex. He’d had his fair share of women over his lifetime but he’d never been in a serious relationship. Ever. He’d never really had to work hard to get a woman he wanted, but he had a feeling that clicking his fingers like he usually did when he wanted sex wasn’t going to wash with their mate.
He’d never been rejected by a woman in his life, but if he metaphorically clicked his fingers at Zara, he had a feeling she would slap his face, and rightly so. Until now Set hadn’t realized how easy he’d had it. Maybe he would appreciate his woman more if she made him chase her. However, he didn’t think that was possible.
Zara had the most innocent soulful brown eyes he’d ever seen and when she looked at him he felt like he was drowning in her virtuousness. She may not think she was innocent but she was. He could practically see the purity of her soul every time she looked at him and he was determined that Apep and his shadow demons would never touch her again. She was going to sleep between him and Sab each and every night whether she liked it or not. It was the only way they would be able to keep her safe.
Most women would be free of the shadow demons’ pursuit once they lost their innocence, but there were a rare few who were so pure in spirit, so kind hearted and caring that losing their virginity didn’t seem to make any difference to the demonic. Set was worried that Zara was one of those few. And if that was the case she wouldn’t be safe until she was mated to him and Sab.
But first they needed to persuade her that they were the men for her.
And that was going to be a major task.
* * * *
At first Zara rushed through the long hallways willy-nilly, not taking any notice of where she’d come from or where she was going. She eventually slowed down and drew in deep ragged breaths, sighing with relief when her heart rate slowed.
Glancing about and trying to get her bearings as she walked through the rabbit warren hideout wasn’t helping any either. She stopped when she came to large double metal doors which were covered in pictures of ancient Egypt and somehow knew that this was the way out, but there was no sign of a keyhole or lock on the doors and no way for her to open them. As she thought back over what she’d been told she wondered if the exit was somehow controlled by magic. They had told her they were demigods and if that was the case then she would never get out of here.
When a pang of reluctance seared her heart at that thought she delved a little deeper into her psyche and found that she was reluctant to leave Set and Sab. It was as if she had already formed a connection to them on an emotional level, but how could that be when they’d only known each other for hours?
Zara turned away from the door reluctantly and followed the long corridor to the end, taking note of the other hallways lead
ing off of it and the closed doorways. Although curious about the doors, she didn’t open them because she was worried about invading the other men’s privacy. She would hate to think of some strange person exploring her room without her being present and couldn’t do it to them.
She backtracked and took a right at the first T intersection and then took another right. There was a bright light coming through the open doorway at the end of the hall and she made a beeline for it. The moment she stepped into the room her breath caught in her throat. It was absolutely beautiful, the walls covered in the Egyptian hieroglyphs.
When she looked up she could see clear blue sky under a thin layer of water. She moved beneath the glass and was awed at the pyramid shaped dome that had to be at least twenty feet high and maybe twice that in circumference.
Zara wondered how the space could feel so warm when the water covered most of the glass but she stood beneath it and soaked up the sun’s rays. She felt the turmoil in her mind lessening and the tension in her body began to drain. There was a peaceful tranquility in this room she’d never experienced before and wondered if this room had been set up by the men as a temple to Ra. Nothing would surprise her, she’d had enough of those to last her three lifetimes in the last couple of hours.
The tiled floor was terracotta in color and she thought that may have been done on purpose, to mimic the sands of Egypt which would have surrounded the pyramids back in the time of the pharaohs.
Zara tried to remember what she’d learned in history about ancient Egypt but she’d struggled to learn in that class. Her history teacher had been so damn boring, his voice an incessant monologue that droned on and on. She’d had enough trouble trying to stay awake in class, let alone trying to take in what was said.
She hated that she’d been a rebel back in high school but after her mother had died of brain cancer, her dad had gone off the rails. He’d taken to drinking to drown his grief, and since neither of her parents’ parents had been alive, and she’d been an only child of only children, she’d ended up having to do everything in the home. When he came home ranting and raving it had taken all of her will not to snap back. She’d tried to convince herself that if she did everything at home and kept him as happy as possible he would eventually see her as the mature young woman she’d become, once he’d finished the grieving process. But that day had never come.
The last day she’d seen her father before he’d slammed out of the house she had seen pure hatred in his eyes when he’d looked at her and knew he would never love her like a father was supposed to love his child. She hadn’t even realized how much her mother buffered her from her father’s razor sharp, disparaging tongue until she was no longer there. The words he’d spewed at her would be forever etched in her mind and Zara knew that her father’s hate for her had shaped her into the woman she was today.
“You look just like your fucking mother. You’ll probably spread your legs for anything with a dick. I should have walked away when she told me she was pregnant. She slowly ruined my life and has been since the day we met. There is no way on God’s green earth that I’m going to stay here and look after that slut’s spawn.”
Zara had been so shocked she hadn’t known what to say and when his large hand slapped her face she hadn’t so much as cried out. That hadn’t been the only time he’d hit her but it had definitely been the last. She hadn’t hung around to see if he’d come back because she didn’t care. She’d been saving every penny she’d earned babysitting for the neighbors and their friends, waiting for the opportunity to leave without a backward glance.
She’d quickly packed her bag, grabbed the money she’d had hidden in a plastic bag under a loose floorboard, pocketed her cell phone and left.
Thankfully, her English teacher, Miss Rankin, had been really nice and Zara had known where she lived. She’d gone to her teacher’s house and she’d arranged for Zara to board at another student’s house. The Warren family had a small apartment above their garage and Zara had jumped at the chance to stay there until she’d finished school. She’d worked hard and ended up getting her diploma a year early and then she’d gone to college. Although the Warren family had left her alone and barely spoke to her, Zara had been grateful for their generosity. Miss Rankin had negotiated a fifty dollar reduction on the lease which had left Zara with enough money to pay for the small amount of food she’d needed to survive.
It didn’t matter to her that the Warrens were rich and could have afforded to let her stay there for free. Zara would never have accepted charity from anyone. It had been hard and sometimes she would skip eating a few days in a row, but the struggle had been worth it in the long run.
The moment she’d graduated with her business degree, the sense of accomplishment had been overwhelming. It hadn’t bothered her to see other graduates being congratulated by family and friends. The moment she’d held that piece of paper in her hands had been one of the happiest. She’d felt empowered for the first time in her life and knew that the world was her oyster. If she put her mind to it, she could succeed in anything she chose to do and she was determined to reach each and every goal she’d had since she’d been a child.
Zara felt a bone deep weariness wash over her and sank to her knees beneath the waning rays of the setting sun. She felt like she was in a living dream and yet she knew those men were as real as she was. What had her baffled though was they had believed every word they’d said and she was beginning to believe them, too.
The story they’d told of stepping in to save that poor elderly man from being flayed with the whip had been alive in her mind. She’d smelled the hot desert air, felt the hot sands beneath the thin sole of the sandals and she’d felt the fear and exhaustion weighing them all down. That was when she’d left the large kitchen dining room. All the emotions and the sensations had been too much for her to take, but it wasn’t just the vivid depiction of their story that had scared her. It was the lust she felt for them and the heat she could see in Set’s and Sab’s eyes each time they looked at her.
Never had anyone looked at her with such hunger or emotion. Her mom had loved her in her own way but after her dad had left that fateful day so long ago, and recalling the words he said to her, she figured her mother had had secrets of her own. Zara had applied for a copy of her birth certificate before applying for college. She’d expected to see her dad’s name on the paper but it had said unknown.
That had given her an understanding of her father she’d never had before and although her mom was never very demonstrative toward Zara, the woman who’d given birth to her had at least tried to keep her away from his vitriolic tongue.
Zara didn’t know why she was suddenly thinking of her life when she had been growing up but suspected that this place of worship had something to do with it. She’d never been able to look back without becoming a little bitter about never being good enough but today she was able to look over her past with abject objectivity.
She felt so warm and comfortable she could have lain down on the floor and gone to sleep, but decided that when she did succumb to her weariness she wanted to be in a bed with a soft mattress and covers to keep her warm.
That thought led her mind back to Setau and Sabu.
Such unusual names but now that she knew their origin they weren’t that strange. She liked that the men were okay with the modern shortening of their monikers since they were reportedly thousands of years old. She guessed living for so long it would be inevitable for them to have to change with the times. She couldn’t even deem to consider what they had seen and been through and that gave her a new found respect for the eight men.
As she thought about them she wondered what sort of powers they had, since they had told her they were demigods. She wasn’t naïve enough to think they didn’t have any since they were all immortal. That thought gave her pause. She’d seen them eating food and suspected from the way this temple had been set up to expose sunlight, and the fact she’d seen them at the diner, that sunlight definitely
had no effect on them, but what was worrying her was whether they were vampire like and if they needed to drink blood.
If that was the case, was she in danger of being a snack to the eight men?
She shook her head over that ludicrous thought. She had seen Set's fangs, and that had scared the holy hell out of her. But what if they only appeared or lengthened—or whatever—when they hungered for blood. A shiver raced up her spine but not a shiver of fear. That thought sent arousal surging through her body. When she shifted on her feet her pussy lips slipped together in the abundance of cream dripping from her and her panties were uncomfortably damp.
“You are one sick woman, Zara. Get a grip.” A surge of power rushed through the room and she gasped when warmth enfolded her body. She turned in a circle to see who had entered but she couldn’t see anyone.
“What you’re feeling is natural,” a deep booming voice echoed off the walls.
“What? Who are you?” Zara went to step back toward the door but her body wouldn’t comply with her directive. She should have been scared out of her wits and screaming but for some reason she wasn’t scared. In fact she was feeling as calm and tranquil as when she’d first entered the room.
“Who I am is not important.”
Zara didn’t agree with that statement but held her tongue.
“You need to be cautious, little one. You’ve been marked as a chosen.”
“A what?” Zara quivered as a smidgeon of fear touched her soul.
“A chosen. You are one of a few who are pure of heart, mind, spirit, and body. The demonic aren’t going to give up on you.”
“What do I do?”
“Let your men mate you.”
“Men? You mean Set and Sab?” She trembled at the thought of both those men making love to her. Her body responded with lust but she tried to push it away.
“Yes. Mating them will keep you safe. They will be connected to you in ways you cannot imagine. They will be able to follow you to the ends of the earth and beyond.”
