“Whoa,” Cameron interrupted. “So if I track down Lugh and he is trying to hide from me, he really will kick my ass, won’t he?”
Badb sighed in his direction then picked up Selena’s hand again. “I’m going back to Tara with you, and this time, I’m staying. Macha will stay here for now. She and Nemain can take turns, and if we ever need more help, Athena will come instantly. But you will need your own bodyguard, and I’m going to guard you whether you like it or not.”
“If you’re right, then I’m only pregnant, Badb,” Selena said. “I’m not dying.”
“Exactly. And you’re going to do what you always do… make sure everyone around you is safe before worrying about yourself. Especially if the person who needs your attention is Cameron.”
“You were there in the Basin when Ušumgallu struck her,” Cameron pointed out.
“Do you want extra help protecting her or not?” Badb snapped.
Cameron held a hand up in submission, but Selena pulled her hands free and crossed her arms angrily. “Why does everyone always treat me like I’m so helpless?”
“You’re not helpless, love,” Cameron assured her. “Far from it. But you’re not a fighter. You never have been. It wasn’t in your nature as Étain, and it’s certainly not in your nature as the most powerful healing goddess in the world.”
Badb tilted her head at the young couple, her soft gray eyes vacillating between them as she studied them, which made Cameron squirm uncomfortably. What other shocking announcements could she possibly drop on them now?
When she finally spoke, she didn’t deliver an announcement at all but had apparently decided to start stating the obvious. “Étain always wanted children.”
“Uh… the Dagda has a magic chef who makes the best shrimp po-boys,” Cameron offered.
“Cameron… what?” Badb groaned.
Cameron shrugged. “I thought we were throwing out information everyone already knew.”
Badb opened her mouth then closed it and twisted sideways on the bed so she could only see Selena. “Pregnancies among goddesses aren’t that common, actually,” she explained. “We’re sort of immortal. We reach adulthood and we stop aging and unless something kills us, we’ll live forever. If it were easy for us to get pregnant, every realm in existence would be overrun with gods.”
“I haven’t been a goddess long,” Selena reminded her. “I probably got pregnant while I was still a demigoddess and the symptoms are just now starting.”
“Maybe,” Badb reluctantly agreed. “Or maybe Fate is intervening for you both one last time.”
Cameron’s stomach turned. Why would they be so important that Fate would continually intervene on their behalf? Selena undoubtedly deserved it, but plenty of gods and goddesses had existed for thousands of years who also likely deserved Fate’s attention but never received it. But Badb was also just guessing, and besides – they weren’t even sure she was pregnant. And if Selena were right about the timing, then their hypothetical child couldn’t be a god… could it?
“If she’s pregnant, and if she were still a demigoddess when this happened, then does that make our child a demigod?” Cameron asked. The possibility that their child could continue to age and die had just occurred to him, and his mild level of panic threatened to burst open to full-blown panic.
Badb had apparently decided the circumstances allowed her to pry in their heads again because she smiled at him and attempted to calm his fears. “Even if your child is a demigod, Cameron, it will be ok. All four of mine are. None of them ever stepped foot on Earth so they never aged beyond adulthood. They’re each still alive, and have always lived here in the Otherworld.”
“Why haven’t we ever met them then?” Selena asked.
Badb shrugged. “Áed is almost as much of a scoundrel as his buddy, Cú Chulainn. I rarely know where those two are. And my daughters have families of their own. They’ve never been interested in wielding swords and battling invading armies of gods.”
“Of course your son would be best friend’s with someone like Cú Chulainn,” Cameron teased.
“Do I need to remind you that you’re related to Cú Chulainn?” Badb teased back.
“Do I need to remind all of you that my daughter is likely pregnant and still wants to go back to Earth to fight heart stealing gods?” Cynthia demanded.
“Technically,” Cameron said, and all four women in the room groaned. “It’s just one heart stealing god. Although Tlaloc…” Cameron’s eyes settled on Selena, his breath catching in his lungs as he shook his head at her. “No way. You’re staying here now.”
“I don’t think he can hurt our baby until it’s born,” she countered.
“We’re not risking it,” Cameron argued.
“And I’m not risking you!” Selena cried.
“If you’re pregnant and he finds out, he’ll have even more of an incentive to kidnap you!” Cameron cried back.
“I don’t know who this god is with the name I can’t pronounce,” Tara interrupted, “but I agree with your fiancé, Lena.”
“Boyfriend,” Selena corrected.
“Oh…” Cynthia said quietly.
“No, Mom, it’s not like that,” Selena quickly added. “We just want to get married on our terms. And Cameron wants to propose. Until he does, I’m still his girlfriend and no one will guilt us into marrying before we’re ready.”
“Oh,” Cynthia said again, although Cameron thought she sounded relieved.
“For the record,” Cameron added, “I was ready to marry her the moment I saw her in my past life as Midir, and I was ready to marry her the moment I met her as Cameron. But we’re kinda busy at the moment.”
Badb snickered and nodded. “You have kept this place interesting, Sun God.”
“Why does everyone keep blaming me for all the bad shit that goes on around here?” Cameron demanded.
“Look, I’ll agree to the personal bodyguard if it makes you all feel better,” Selena compromised. “When Nemain’s month is up, what are you going to do though?”
Badb waved a dismissive hand toward her. “She and Macha can take turns during my month. I’ll still be there, but my first priority will be you rather than Huitzilopochtli.”
Selena lifted an eyebrow at Cameron again, silently asking him if he’d please just agree and stop making such a big deal out of it, but his girlfriend could be pregnant, and she still wanted to chase asshole gods who murdered people to make themselves more powerful. How couldn’t he make a big deal out of it?
But he also knew he had no right to tell Selena what she could or couldn’t do so he brought her hand to his lips and gave up. He was about to ask the others to leave the room so he could talk to her privately about finding out if she were really pregnant when rapid knocks tapped at the door. No one had the chance to invite the person in. London pushed the door open and hurried inside.
“She’s ok?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yeah, why?” Cameron asked.
London’s pink cheeks and disheveled hair indicated the young goddess had likely been running for a while; even a goddess as swift as she was could grow tired. She placed her hands on her knees and took a few deep breaths.
“Because we need you back on Earth,” she finally panted. “Ukko thinks he knows where Loviatar went, and we need you. Now.”
“God,” Cameron groaned. “How many more snakes can there be?”
London shook her head slowly. “No snakes. But we’re going to Norway.”
Cameron and Selena exchanged uneasy glances then Selena carefully asked, “Why would she be in Norway?”
“Why do you think?” London answered. “She needed a god as evil as she, and there’s one there who would be desperate enough to help her.”
“No,” Selena breathed.
London stood up straighter and took a deep breath. “Thor has already checked the cave. Loki has escaped.”
The Battle Cry, book two of The Guardians of Tara series, coming soon
Als
o by S.M. Schmitz
Receive a free copy of my post-apocalyptic novella, The Scavengers, when you sign up for my mailing list, which will keep you up to date on new releases and great deals from multi-author promotions.
For more information, please visit my website at smschmitz.com.
The Resurrected trilogy, a science-fiction romance (also available in The Complete Resurrected Trilogy Box Set)
Awakened from death. Herself but no longer alone in her own body. Two lives merged into one.
A mistake. An aberration. A miracle.
And a company that wants her dead for existing.
When Dietrich’s fiancée, Lottie, is killed in a car accident, he descends into his own personal Hell until he runs into her in a café two years later. Claiming she isn’t really Lottie but only possesses some of her memories, the young woman offers him an unbelievable story then disappears.
Using his position as a CIA agent to track her down, Dietrich quickly discovers Lottie remembers far more about her past life than she’d originally let on. But his attempt to learn more about the planet she comes from or the woman she is now is disrupted by a group of men from the company that transports people from their home planet to Earth when they find out about her resurrection and attempt to murder her.
Because for Lottie, something went wrong, and her existence threatens their entire business on Earth. And Dietrich’s ultimate second chance with the only woman he’s ever loved will be threatened as well.
The Chosen, a Resurrected series novel
They promised her happily ever after. Instead, they gave her Hell. Now, she's getting revenge.
When Bella agreed to travel to Earth to start a new life with the man she loved, she’d been promised two things: healing dead human bodies so they could live on this planet always worked, and they could have the happily ever after forbidden to them at home.
But soon after arriving on her new planet, she discovers both of those promises were lies. And the consequences for trusting the wrong people are deadly.
After six years of hiding from the company that helped her cross over, she is approached by a beautiful but mysterious stranger who offers her a different kind of promise: the chance for revenge. And Bella’s journey to end her own nightmare and to seek justice for the man she’d once loved is finally able to begin.
Genesis Rising (The Genesis Project, a science-fiction series)
I am not a man. I am not human.
When Drake awakens in an unfamiliar room with no memories, Dr. Mike Parker reveals the answer to Drake’s puzzling existence through a silent directive sent to the microchips in his brain intended to control his thoughts and behavior. The Genesis Project created him to be the perfect special operations soldier, but as the product of advanced genetic engineering, the lines are immediately drawn in his mind: he is not human. He is the property of the Project, incapable of free will, and he shouldn't have his own thoughts or reservations.
Five years later, those codes that made him believe he’s not really a man and that he’s not really human are tested when he meets Saige, the first woman who’s ever made him reconsider what it means to be human. Not only will he finally begin to question what he is, but he will discover that the transformative powers of falling in love are stronger than the fears that have kept him tethered to the Project for years.
But his love for her will have far more dangerous consequences than he could have imagined, and their only chance for survival may lie in Drake’s own ability to overcome the beliefs that have been so deeply ingrained within him.
The Immortals series, a fantasy & mythology series (also available in The Complete Immortals Series Box Set)
When demons refuse to play by the rules, all Hell will break loose.
Colin and Anna are sent to Baton Rouge by the Angel with only one directive: keep their past a secret, including their relationship. Believing their new mission would be short-lived, Colin agrees, but as the months pass and the demons they’ve grown accustomed to fighting defy every rule of war between Heaven and Hell, it seems more and more likely that the city has nothing to do with the unusual behavior of these demons and everything to do with this couple.
Connected by a gift from the Angel, Colin and Anna have long shared a bond she promised was unbreakable, but when Anna disappears from him, Colin will discover that the demons he’d agreed to fight on behalf of Heaven are far from the most terrifying creatures to walk the Earth.
The Golden Eagle, a romantic suspense
After a vicious second civil war in the U.S., the states that seceded are occupied, and the people there live by different rules.
Jon is the highest-ranking officer in an elite Task Force whose purpose is shrouded in mystery. Ava is just trying to survive the occupation after two years of brutal war. After meeting unexpectedly, they discover they are both willing to risk everything for the chance to love one another. But what those risks entail may be far greater than anything either could have imagined.
Dreamwalkers, a paranormal psychological suspense
My father used to tell me our pasts shaped our presents and our presents shaped our futures and that we could never really get rid of our pasts. The deeds of our fathers and grandfathers and their fathers before them lived on forever, and we would have to live with the choices they made as well as our own so he would warn me to choose wisely. But I never understood my father. Not until my thirtieth birthday. And then everything changed.
After losing his father to suicide, Gavyn Cooper becomes convinced that his dad’s odd ramblings were nothing more than the product of mental illness. But on his thirtieth birthday, Gavyn begins having vivid dreams that transport him into the world of Caleb Ellis, a young man who lived on a sugar plantation in 1835, and he is forced to question not only his own experiences but his father’s as well. Now, Gavyn will have to make a choice between following in his father’s footsteps or writing his own future.
The Cambria Code series, a science-fiction romance
When a mysterious spaceship appears above Cambria, Zoe remains skeptical that it’s anything but an elaborate hoax. By the time the first spaceship is joined by two others, Zoe reluctantly admits that Earth has been invaded, even though it’s a pretty lame invasion: the aliens look remarkably human and keep to themselves. From what humans are able to learn about them, they seem incredibly arrogant and boring anyway.
After meeting Peyton, one of Earth’s newest residents, Zoe feels an immediate attraction to him although she is reluctant to become involved with someone who isn’t even human. But she soon discovers that these aliens are far more dangerous than they’ve led everyone to believe, and the secrets they are hiding may signal the destruction of her entire planet.
The Gatekeeper (The Guardians of Tara Book 1) Page 16
