But this wasn’t quite the same thing, was it? Marrying Cal had been a decision she had made with her head, not her heart. Had she even loved Cal? Maybe, on some level. But her heart had never beat with fervor at the sight of him the way it did now, looking at Nikolaos. Her soul had never rallied on Cal’s behalf as it did for the incredible man standing before her, asking her to trust him. To trust herself.
Until death do us part. The words she had spoken in front of a priest three years earlier echoed in her head, followed by those of the beautiful, terrifying voice. It had said her mortal life was over, that her vow to Cal had been fulfilled. Did that mean she was now free?
“Yes,” answered the voice, reading her thoughts. “That part of your destiny lies behind you. You are now at a crossroads, Raven Elena, and must choose your path.”
A rush of memories flooded her mind, brief glimpses of all the past lives she had led. Did she want to go through that again? No, she realized, she didn’t. All those reincarnations had been but stages of a journey, a long and complex journey of discovery, shaping her into a woman capable of choosing her own destiny, instead of simply accepting it.
The all-encompassing voice sounded again. “Raven Elena, Nikolaos loves you and wishes to claim you as his immortal mate. The question you must answer is: are you worthy of him?”
If she had been asked if she loved Nikolaos in return, the answer would have been a resounding yes. But to be worthy of an angel slash demigod?
Yes, you are, a voice answered. Not the terrible voice. Not Nikolaos’s voice. Not Kalliope’s. Her own.
“Yes,” she answered aloud, her voice strong and clear. “I am.”
“Then it has been decided. Go forth, Raven Elena, and join your husband.”
Nikolaos held his arms out to her, and she stepped into them. His massive wings settled around her, and then she was floating again ...
* * *
“Mr. Cavanaugh? Mr. Cavanaugh, can you hear me?”
Cal tried to think past the sledgehammer pounding against his head. Something sticky was making it hard for him to open his eyes. He managed a groan.
“Mr. Cavanaugh, you’ve been in a car accident. You have sustained serious head injuries. We are going to take you to the hospital. Do you understand?”
“My back. Be careful of my back.”
The EMT shouted something to someone else, and then he soon felt a stiff board being slid beneath him and straps drawn tightly over his chest.
“My wife. She has a list of my meds and numbers for my doctors. Tell her to meet us there.”
There was a pause before one of the emergency responders acknowledged him. “Your wife?”
“Yes. She was in the car with me. She was right here. Where is she? She’s all right, isn’t she?”
The two EMTs exchanged a glance. The car had crashed through the guardrail and rolled several times down a steep embankment. Cal had been ejected halfway down the hill. The rescue workers were still trying to reach the wreckage at the bottom, but had been unsuccessful so far. The fire was so hot, the firemen were having trouble getting close enough. Still, they had all caught enough glimpses of the mangled metal in the light of the flames to know that no one could have survived.
* * *
When Ellie opened her eyes again, she felt ... different. Really different. It wasn’t a bad thing. On the contrary, everything felt perfect. There was no soreness, no fatigue, no aches or pains anywhere in her body. It was as if her lids opened and, pow! a strange, powerful energy coursed through her veins. Every sense was sharper, clearer than ever before. When she stretched, her limbs were filled with incredible strength and flexibility.
Except for her back. Something was poking her between her shoulder blades. It wasn’t painful, just ... unexpected.
A soft, male grunt sounded from behind her as she shifted again. Then she realized there was something else poking her, too, but this wasn’t a static thing. This something was expanding and prodding more insistently with every breath.
“Keep wiggling against me like that, Raven, and see where it gets you.”
Ellie stilled. She knew that deep, sexy male voice, but the lighthearted teasing infused in the words was something new.
“Mr. Deimos?”
He laughed and wrapped his arms around her naked body, pulling her closer. “Yes, Mrs. Deimos?”
Mrs. Deimos? What the ...?
The images started flooding back to her. The accident. The weird clouds. That all-encompassing voice crafted with infinite love ...
She turned quickly in his arms, ignoring whatever it was that was stuck beneath her, pulling at her shoulders, and looked right into the molten gold eyes of Nikolaos Deimos. He was even more beautiful than she remembered, because now she could see him with perfect clarity. The sculpted lines of his face. The burning glow of his eyes. And those unbelievably sensual male lips curving right back at her.
“We’re married?” she asked.
“Oh, we’re more than married, sweetheart. Inextricably and eternally bound, soul-to-soul. Joined by the big guy himself. Don’t you remember?”
“I don’t understand.” It was all so foggy, like a dream.
“Look to your heart. What is it telling you?”
She looked into his golden eyes, and a wave of calm poured over her, through her. She knew, with absolute certainty, that everything was right. Being here with him, like this, was exactly the way it was supposed to be.
“That you are the other part of my soul.”
Nikolaos grinned. “As you are mine. It took a couple thousand years to get it right, but it was worth it.”
“What?” It was hard to concentrate on anything he said when he was looking at her like that, with so much love, so much hunger.
“I will explain everything later. Right now, I feel the need to be one with my wife.”
* * *
The service was a simple one, attended by a relatively small number of people. Ellie’s parents, her brother and his wife, Cal, and his mother. A few coworkers from Mystikos also showed up.
Ellie’s mortal body, what was left of it, now sat as ashes in an unadorned, silver urn.
There were tears of genuine grief shared by those who had known her, but no overly emotional displays. Death, even violent and unexpected, was a part of life. They would miss her, but no one among them doubted for a minute they wouldn’t continue with their own lives.
It would have been terribly sad had that been all there was. After a sufficient time, nothing would remain of Raven Elena Cavanaugh, except a mild ache and a few fond but unremarkable memories.
But that wasn’t all there was. It had never been Raven Elena’s destiny to become necessary to any of those people’s lives. Her mortal end was not meant to devastate any of them.
Her destiny was, as it had always been, to belong to Nikolaos.
It had been a long journey. Her soul, reborn again and again over the centuries, was honed and forged until it was strong enough to make the transition, to become what she was always meant to be.
Epilogue
Raven exhaled in profound relief as Nikolaos pushed himself inside her. Yes. This was what she had been working toward all those lifetimes. Bodies melded to one another, her legs and arms wrapped around him as he joined with her, became a part of her.
Their hearts sang out to each other, their souls finally at peace.
He moved within her, against her, in a rhythm as old as time itself. And as he did so, he opened his mind, merged with hers, and she knew all that he did.
Diamond eyes, now glistening with the knowledge of the ages, looked into the golden eyes of her husband, her partner, her mate in all things.
“When did you know?” she asked, cradling his body with infinite tenderness as she held him inside her. The warmth from his release radiated through her, empowered her; the very source of life, sprung from a love so pure and true that it was beyond human comprehension.
“I didn’t. Not until the ni
ght of the party. After we danced, I saw Bacchus and a couple of the others with Cal. I knew he was up to something, but you were already gone before I figured out what it was.”
“The accident ... it was planned?”
“It was Fated. There’s a difference. Bacchalakis had his part to play, as did everyone else. He didn’t know what was going to happen until everyone else did.”
Nikolaos rolled to his side, and unwilling to let go even for a moment, Ellie followed him, using her arms and legs to keep him close. She might never let him go.
“And when was that?”
“After you left. I didn’t even realize my aunts had crashed the party until my sister spotted them slipping something in Cal’s ouzo and told me. By the time I found them, it was too late to do anything but let things play out. Clothos had your thread. Lachesis was grinning like a fool. Atropos had the scissors. I knew something was going to happen, but not what. They’re very secretive that way. Drives everyone nuts.”
She gave that a moment to sink in, then realized it was going to take a lot longer than a few moments for that to make sense. “So ... is everyone at Mystikos like you?”
“Like us,” he corrected, tenderly tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “You are no longer human, Raven. But to answer your question, no. The upper level administration is, of course, but the company is mostly comprised of mortals. It is how we stay connected and forge the bonds to intercede when necessary. It is also why we must move around every decade or so, so that our lack of aging is not noticed.”
The reality of her situation truly began to hit her then.
“I won’t age?”
“No, never. You will stay my perfect, young, beautiful wife forever. And, of course, my PA.” He winked. “I should have known you were my fated mate. You were the only woman ever capable of putting up with me for any length of time.”
Ellie laughed. “You’re not so bad.”
“I’ll remind you that you said that after our first fight.”
“We’re going to fight?” She stroked the perfect lines of his face, still unable to comprehend that she could. Fight? With this man, er, god? She couldn’t even imagine it.
“Not for real. But if we don’t fight, how can we have make-up sex?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.
She laughed again, then attempted to reach behind her when the movement caused something to press against her. “What keeps poking me in the back?”
He ran a hand down her back over something so sensitive that it immediately sent shudders along her entire body. Her sheath clenched him so hard, he groaned.
“Your wings,” he said, his voice a husky moan as he rode on the wave of sensation she was providing.
“Wings! I have wings?” Ellie pushed against his chest in an effort to look over her shoulder.
“Ellie, wait, you need to loosen your grip there, sweetheart. You are a goddess now.”
She looked at his face, seeing his eyes roll back into his head in ecstasy. Joined as they were, his need crashed over her.
Temporarily forgetting about her wings, she gripped his shoulders and soared with him, bringing them both to a quick, violent release.
He sagged against her for a moment, breathing heavily, then smiling. “Thanks for that.”
That smile nearly melted her bones from the inside out.
“Anytime.”
He slid from her so she could sit up.
A glance over her shoulder revealed glossy black feathers tipped in silver. Eyes growing wide, her heart beating with excitement, she flexed the muscles between her shoulder blades and watched as her wings flared open. Ellie squealed with delight, automatically reaching around Nik’s neck, even as her wings enveloped him in a soft, downy embrace.
“They are beautiful, just like you.”
She couldn’t help it. Overcome with joy, with the love that poured out of him and into her, her eyes filled with happy tears and overflowed.
“Raven? Are you crying?”
“No,” she lied, sniffling against him as she burrowed into his warm, solid chest.
He held her close and closed his eyes, wrapping around her, cradling her in his arms, as well as his heart. “It’s okay. It’s a lot to take in.” He stroked down her hair; his other hand, down her back.
“It just ... seems too good to be true.”
He smiled at that. “But it is true.”
He held her like that for a while, then pushed her back far enough to wipe away her tears.
“Now, come on. The family is waiting for us.”
“The family?”
He grinned. “Yep. Well, only a couple of them. It’ll take centuries for you to meet all of them, I imagine.”
“Centuries ...?” she murmured, still having trouble accepting it all.
Ellie shook her head to clear her thoughts. “I’m not sure about this, Nik. Are they all like you?”
“Like us. And don’t worry; you’ve already met some of them.”
“I have?”
“Sure. Phil Atos? He’s Phantasos, a dream god. David Alles, head of Research and Development, is Daedalus.”
She blinked. “Daedalus? You mean Daedalus, as in, the father of Icarus, creator of the mythical labyrinth?”
“Not so mythical when you have too much ambrosia after a family reunion and can’t find your way out.” He grinned. “And Bacchalakis? Most people know him as Bacchus or Dionysus, depending on whether you prefer his Roman or Greek name.”
“Oh, of course.” Alice in Wonderland had nothing on her, she realized. “So, who are we meeting today?” Her voice sounded so calm, so normal, as if she wasn’t asking what ancient gods and/or goddesses she would be talking to.
“Mom and Dad.”
“Mom and Dad?”
“Yeah.” Nik grinned boyishly. “Aphrodite and Ares.”
Thankfully, he moved fast enough to catch her before she fell off the bed in a dead faint.
* * *
“I cannot believe he just blurted it out like that,” came from a female’s musical voice. It was infused with unimaginable power, yet held more exasperation than anything else.
Ellie felt a cool compress pressed against her brow.
“What was he supposed to do?” said another voice. This one was inherently masculine and made of steel and fire, both terrible and beautiful.
“She’s only been an immortal for a couple hours. She needs time to adjust.”
“Bah! She is my son’s wife. If she can handle him, she can handle anything.”
Ellie opened her eyelids and stared into the most beautiful face she had ever seen.
Aquamarine eyes, a shade unlike anything she had ever seen before, looked back at her.
“Ah, there you are. How are you feeling, dear?”
Ellie blinked. Once, then twice. A huge figure loomed up over the beautiful woman, red eyes peering down at her with curious interest.
“See? I told you she’d be fine. Stop fussing and give the girl some air.”
“Do not mind him,” Aphrodite said soothingly, dismissing the man. “God of war and all that.”
Ellie sat up, her head still swimming a little. “Where’s Nik?”
“He went to get some ambrosia, dear. Thought it might help.”
Ambrosia. Of course. Food of the immortals.
Nik came back into the room and slid behind Ellie. Holding a cup to her lips, he commanded her to sip. She did, and instantly began to feel better.
“She is beautiful, Nik,” Aphrodite said with approval. “You will make lovely babies.”
Ellie blushed.
Ares grunted. “Speaking of which, we should let them get to it.”
Nik groaned. Tact and subtlety had never been part of his father’s personality.
Aphrodite rolled her eyes and patted Ellie’s hand. “You learn to get used to him after a few centuries, worry not.”
Ellie wasn’t quite sure she would ever get used to this, but she smiled at Aphrodite’s reassurance.
“And we must be going. We will see you next month at your uncle Poseidon’s, yes? He’s so excited that Zeus is letting him hold it out there on his island for a change. They have already started posturing over who will command the barbecue pit. I don’t know why they bother; Hephaestus won’t let anyone mess with fire as long as he’s around. And that should give you two enough time to, well, you know, get acquainted.” She smiled at Ellie again. “Everyone is so looking forward to meeting you.”
With a quick kiss to her son, and a nod from Ares, they vanished into a golden mist.
“Are you okay?” Nik asked.
Ellie looked at him with silvery diamond eyes, her face as serene as ever, except for the tiny smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. “Me? Yeah. Sure. I’m an immortal with wings. I’m married to the man of my dreams. My mother-in-law is the goddess of love, and my father-in-law is the god of war. No worries.”
Nik’s eyes glowed. “Man of your dreams, huh?”
She nodded, melting into him on a contented sigh. This was going to take some getting used to, but Ellie was nothing if not capable.
“Tell me, wife, will I ever know what goes on inside that mind of yours?”
Ellie allowed her mind to fill with some of the more wicked fantasies she’d had over the past year.
Turning in his arms to straddle him, she gave him a seductive smile. “Maybe it would be better if I showed you ...”
Bonus Feature – What’s In A Name? ... A Note from the Author
I have always loved mythology, particularly Greek mythology. Perhaps my fascination stems from the fact that I am, in truth, at least part Greek by ancestry, and that imaginative part of me is so like Ellie’s Raven.
Despite having taken an elective on the subject in college (3 whole credits!) and hours of Google & Wikipedia research, be forewarned that I have taken my share of literary license here. But I wanted my characters to have the feel of authenticity, if not the real thing, so I tried to base names and certain personality traits on Greek origins where possible.
Immortal Dreams Page 10
