She shivered with pleasure when what felt like a sharp tooth dragged down the skin of her neck. A little aftershock inside her pussy accompanied it. For some unknown reason, Cena was tempted to ask Kysen to bite her. The way he licked and nipped at her neck had her becoming aroused again.
When he opened his mouth and sucked on her skin, she gasped. “How can the thought of you biting my neck turn me on?”
Kysen went completely still. His chest expanded when he took a deep breath. Then holding her tightly to him, he switched positions so she was on top of him with her head pillowed on his chest. She heard the sound of his heart racing beneath her ear.
“Did I say something wrong?” she asked.
“No. I think we need to cool things off a bit.”
She ran her hand down his abs to the top of his jeans. “Are you sure you don’t want me to—”
“I’m sure,” he said as he caught her around the wrist and placed her hand back on his chest. “I think I’ve reached the limit of my restraint for one day.”
Deciding that for both their sanity she wouldn’t push, Cena relaxed against Kysen. Truth be told, she’d be more than happy to stay snuggled up with him like this for the rest of the day. For now it was enough.
Chapter Five
Mot vaguely paid attention to the sound of the undead warrior screaming as he held him by the throat when Apep’s golden snake reached his heart. After he quieted, Mot released him and watched the undead’s eyes turn completely black.
He nodded at his handy work. He now had six new generation undead warriors in total—one for each of Ra’s Chosen—and they all had the demon god’s snake inside them. They were the perfect weapons to bring down the sun god’s warriors. Soon he’d have all of Ra’s Chosen under Apep’s thrall. The bite from the first undead warrior whom he’d used the snake on had managed to bring one of the warriors over to their side. It worked once, it would work again.
Mot touched the side of his face, fingering the heavy scarring there that pulled down the corner of his eye and mouth. The damage Ra’s daughter had done to him with her cursed diamond pendant served as a reminder that Mot couldn’t afford to mess up again. Losing Akori had been a loss Apep had made him pay for. The scars on his face Apep could have easily removed, but the demon god had chosen not to. Every time Mot touched the marred flesh, he cursed the fucking bitch who had given them to him. Once he’d taken care of all Ra’s warriors, he intended to make the sun god’s daughter pay.
Walking up and down the line of undead warriors, Mot nodded. “You’re all ready to do what you were created for. You’ve each been given one of Ra’s Chosen to hunt. The warriors are your main objective. Do not become distracted by the mortals around you.”
“Yes, master,” the undead warriors said in unison.
Satisfied, Mot nodded. “Good. Now go hunt your prey.”
* * * * *
It was just starting to get dark when Kysen pulled into a parking spot at the back of the bar he’d chosen to take Cena to. Before they’d left her apartment, he’d called Mehen on his cell to let him know he wouldn’t be coming back to the headquarters before going out to hunt. Thankfully, Mehen didn’t press the matter. He’d accepted Kysen’s explanation of something coming up without questioning him.
Kysen met Cena at her side of the car once they both got out. He took her hand and linked their fingers together as he guided her toward the front entrance. They’d come early enough that there wasn’t a line waiting to get in. A waitress came and took their drink order once they were seated at a table as close to the back of the room as he could get them. They both ordered a beer.
He watched Cena as she looked around. The longer he spent with her the more she reminded him of Acenith. Even some of her mannerisms were the same. The direct way of speaking Cena showed was all Acenith too. More and more he wanted to believe Cena was his lost love reincarnated. And he hoped it wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part.
But Kysen didn’t think broaching that particular subject at this juncture in their relationship would be a smooth move. He couldn’t exactly tell Cena she could possibly be the reincarnation of a woman he had loved thousands of years ago without explaining what it meant to be one of Ra’s Chosen. It would be a bit much for her to take in at this stage in the game.
After the waitress returned with their drinks, he paid for them, giving her extra for a tip. They each took a sip from their glasses before Cena turned in her seat to face him.
“This is nice, Kysen. Being out with you like this. It beats sitting alone at my place watching TV.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad you find me a better date than your television.”
“You win hands down every time.” She took another sip of beer before she continued. “You haven’t told me yet what your job is. And for someone who said he works for himself, why did you have to call and let another person know you wouldn’t be going back to your place first before starting work?”
“I do basically work alone, but there are more of us than just me who do my job. There are six of us in total.”
“And are the six of them your roommates as well?”
“You could call them that since we live together. We all emigrated together from Egypt. Four of us are married now so there are ten of us total.”
“You must live in a pretty big place if all of you live comfortably together like that.”
“It is. We bought one of the old warehouses and converted it into living quarters. It has enough space that we aren’t breathing down each others’ necks.”
“You must be really close friends if you can live and work together.”
“Very close. We’re almost like brothers. Since none of us have any family left, we’ve sort of formed our own. More so now that wives have been thrown into the mix.”
Cena nodded. “That’s nice.”
“Do you come from a big family?” he asked.
“No, not really. I just have my parents and sister. There are also a couple of aunts, uncles and a handful of cousins, but we rarely all get together.”
A familiar prickling of his skin had Kysen lurching to his feet. He scanned the crowded bar but couldn’t pinpoint where the undead could be. That one was actually inside the bar had the potential to be a disaster of huge fucking proportions.
Still scanning the room, he said without looking at Cena, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, concern lacing her words.
“Yeah. I just need to go to the men’s room. I won’t be too long.”
Kysen took the long route to where the washrooms were located at the other side of the room, hoping to get a bead on the undead. But the sensation didn’t increase in intensity no matter which way he turned. It was almost as if the undead knew where to move to keep under his radar.
He’d just walked into the empty men’s room when the prickling of his skin grew stronger, especially at his back. Turning, Kysen saw a large man, almost the size of him, step into the room. His eyes were dead looking and pure black. The undead opened his mouth and hissed as he reached for the sword at his back hidden beneath his jacket. A thick black substance dripped from his extended fangs.
Kysen didn’t give the undead a chance to attack. He rushed him, took hold of the wrist of his sword arm and around his throat as he used his ability to manipulate time and space to flash them both out to the back parking lot. Keeping the mortals ignorant of the fight that would take place was paramount.
With a hard shove, Kysen pushed the undead warrior away. Moving at preternatural speed, he just managed to get his sword out of the trunk of his car before the undead was on him again.
A loud clang sounded through the parking lot as the swords met. Kysen knew the sound would all too soon bring curious mortals to investigate the ruckus. He had to end this soon. He also had to make sure the undead couldn’t sink his fangs into him. Just like the undead warrior who had attacked Akori not so long ago, this one had one of Apep
’s golden snakes inside him. The black eyes and thick black substance dripping from his fangs were dead giveaways. Even though an undead bite didn’t normally affect Ra’s Chosen, a bite from one with a snake inside him would instantly bring the bitten warrior under Apep’s thrall.
Kysen hacked and slashed at the undead, but since his opponent was one of Mot’s newest generation of undead warriors, they were almost evenly matched. He couldn’t find a way to get under the undead’s guard to make the strike that would end his existence, especially when he had to not only watch out for a sword swinging at him but avoid being bitten as well.
Hard hit after hard hit fell, which Kysen blocked with his sword. And then the undead warrior got a lucky strike and managed to twist the sword out of Kysen’s hands. He hissed in pain as the blade of the undead’s sword slashed across his side.
Ignoring the pain of his wound, Kysen ducked under the undead’s arms as he reached for him, obviously going in for a bite. He dove for his sword and had it lifted just in time to stop another attack. Whatever Mot had done to improve his undead warriors had made them into expert swordsmen.
With blood dripping down his side, Kysen pushed the undead back with a quick succession of hits. He had to end this. Now. The fight had gone on too long. If he couldn’t defeat this one with straight sword fighting, he’d have to resort to dirty tactics, something he normally wouldn’t need to use to bring down an undead.
Kysen knocked the undead warrior’s blade aside then kicked out, nailing him right in the balls. His assailant dropped like a stone, cupping his abused testicles in his hands. Though technically undead, obviously his balls were still in working order. Kysen used that to his advantage. While Mot’s warrior lay on the ground moaning, he dragged the sharp edge of his khopesh across his back. After a few twitches, the foul smell of decomposition hit his nose as the undead warrior’s body turned to dust, leaving a pile of empty clothes.
He then swore and jumped back from the clothing when the golden head of a small snake popped out of the empty shirt. Its tongue flicked in the air, and as if it had picked up Kysen’s scent, and turned in his direction, slithering toward him. Letting the thing anywhere near him was out of the question. Hoping the bronze blade of his sword was as deadly to it as it was to an undead, he brought his sword down on the snake’s body just behind its head. He breathed a sigh of relief when it disintegrated into dust.
The battle over, Kysen took stock of himself. He lifted the bottom of his shirt and looked at the wound in his side. It still bled freely and looked pretty deep. He couldn’t go back into the bar like this. His blood-stained shirt could be hidden by putting on his coat he had in the car, but he had to get the bleeding stopped first. All Ra’s Chosen’s saliva healed minor wounds, making it as if they had never been. But for a wound like this, Kysen knew it would only partially seal it closed. He healed quickly, but to speed things up he needed to feed. With the loss of blood, already his blood hunger had risen.
That left only one option—he had to find a donor before going back to Cena. Snagging his jacket out of his car, Kysen put it on before he headed to the front corner of the building. He didn’t have too long to wait before he spotted a potential donor. A woman, who looked to be in her thirties, got out of a cab directly across from where he stood. Catching her gaze, he quickly got inside her head and planted the suggestion she come to him.
When the cab pulled away from the curb, Kysen took the woman behind the building and led her to the darkest part of the parking lot. She willingly went into his arms when he pulled her close. His fangs dropped when he brushed her long, brown hair away from her neck. She rubbed up against him and moaned, turning her head to the side to give him better access.
Kysen dragged his tongue across the large vein in her neck before he sank his fangs into her skin. As her blood filled his mouth, she cried out in ecstasy. Kysen swallowed, waiting for the pleasure that usually came with a feeding. He felt nothing. If anything, his blood hunger increased and did not get any better. He drew on her neck, taking more, but he met the same result.
Removing his fangs, he licked the puncture marks to heal them and erased the memory of him feeding from her before he sent the woman away. Fuck! Kysen looked at his wound to find it no closer to healing than it had been before his feeding. And not only that, his blood hunger had started to dig its claws into him because of it.
That he couldn’t feed from a donor any longer meant only one thing—he would find his mate soon. He looked toward the bar. Could Cena truly be his mate? He still had his doubts, and it wasn’t as if he could test her blood in his present condition. In no way could he explain away all the blood that now seeped into the waistband of his jeans and down the leg. Shit, he had to leave Cena at the bar without giving her any explanation. If only it had been day, he could have used the sun god’s rays to heal the wound.
Hating what he had to do, but not seeing any way out of it, Kysen got in his car and drove away, leaving Cena high and dry. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too pissed off at him tomorrow when he went crawling to her apartment to apologize.
* * * * *
Cena tapped her fingers on the table top as she looked in the direction of the men’s room for the fifth time. What was taking Kysen so long? He’d been gone for at least twenty minutes. How long did it take him to do his business in there? But then again, maybe he’d felt sick. He’d shot up from his chair pretty fast, looking not quite himself.
She debated about asking one of the male employees to go into the men’s washroom to check on Kysen. If he was sick, she needed to get him out of the bar. Throwing up in a public washroom was nasty.
Another ten minutes went by and Kysen hadn’t returned. When their waitress came to the table to see if she wanted to order another drink since she’d finished her beer, Cena asked, “Do you think you could send someone into the men’s room to check on my boyfriend? He’s been in there a long time and I’m afraid he could be getting sick.”
The waitress cringed, then nodded. “Sure thing, hon. I’ll do that right now for you.”
Cena followed the waitress with her gaze as the woman went to the bar and talked to the bartender behind it. The guy nodded before he walked away in the direction of the washrooms. She watched him disappear into the men’s room. A moment later he reappeared, without Kysen. He returned to the bar and spoke to the waitress.
The woman returned to Cena’s table. She shook her head, giving her a pitying look. “Tad checked the washroom, even the stalls, but there isn’t anyone in there. Sorry, hon, it looks as if he bailed on you.”
“Thanks for checking,” Cena said stiffly.
She sat at the table for a few more minutes, not wanting to believe Kysen would have done that to her. After the day they’d spent together, he couldn’t have. But the longer she sat with no sign of his returning the more likely it seemed he’d run out on her.
The only way she could be sure was to go to the parking lot and see if his Mustang was still there. Grabbing her purse, Cena got up and wended her way through the tables to the entrance. The waitress gave her another pitying look when she passed her.
Outside, Cena walked around the building to the back parking lot. She slowed her steps when she reached the space Kysen had parked his Mustang, which was now empty. The son of a bitch had abandoned her at the bar.
Her temper flaring to life, she practically stomped all the way back to the street side of the bar. How dare Kysen just up and leave without an explanation? What really pissed her off was the fact she hadn’t seen it coming. Right up until the point where Kysen had gotten up so suddenly, they seemed to be hitting it off great. Even the passionate aspect of what she thought would be a growing relationship had been pretty damn good.
Cena stiffened at that last thought. Could Kysen have taken off because of her still-in-place virginity? Most men wouldn’t care, but there were some who avoided virgins at all costs. She hadn’t thought Kysen would be one of those when he said he only wanted to wait a
few days to get to know each other better before taking her virginity.
Seeing an empty cab coming up the street, Cena flagged it down. The cabbie pulled to the curb and she got into the back seat. Once she’d told him her address, he merged with the traffic.
Looking out the car window, she replayed the day in her head. Cena paid particular attention to all of what Kysen had said and done. She picked up on nothing that would have been a warning sign of him just disappearing as he’d done.
At her apartment building, Cena paid the cabbie and headed inside. Still ticked off at Kysen, she decided he could go to hell. If he called her tomorrow thinking he could apologize, he had another think coming. She had his cellphone number and would recognize it on the call display when he called. She’d just not answer it. And if he decided to come over to her apartment, she’d ignore him until he took the hint and left. Stranding her at the bar—not even sure if she had enough money to get home—was more than enough cause to have her not wanting to see him again. Ever.
* * * * *
At Ra’s Chosen’s headquarters, Kysen used his mind to open the gate of the chain-link fence that surrounded the entire warehouse property. He shut it behind the same way after he’d driven through and into the docking bay. He parked his Mustang next to one of the four cars there. Since Mehen’s bike and the other warriors’ cars were missing, he assumed they’d already left to go hunting.
Angry that the undead warrior’s attack had forced him to leave the bar without Cena, Kysen slammed his car door shut harder than necessary. The sound reverberated through the large, open concrete space. She should have realized by now he wouldn’t be coming back. He bet she had called him every swear word in the book. Not that he would blame her. If the situation were reversed, he’d be spitting mad.
After he crossed the docking bay to the door that led to the headquarters, Kysen roughly punched in the numbers on the security pad on the wall next to it. He then slammed his hand onto the piece of stone set just under it and pushed down. It was a gift from Ra, and the only means of security they’d had to protect their headquarters before the invention of home security systems.
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