Mark of the Bear (Hades' Carnival)

by N. J. Walters

  She squashed the hope. If Marko was the real deal then he was an immortal warrior. So not good dating material. Talk about a dysfunctional relationship. And she thought things had been bad with Jonathan. They’d be a million times worse with Marko if he were embroiled in a battle with the Lord of the Underworld.

  She dragged her jeans off the pile of boughs, ignoring the bed where only moments ago she’d experienced such ecstasy. Now it was nothing but a pile of sticks and pine needles, which poked at her skin. Ignoring the mild discomfort, she tugged on her jeans. She might not be wearing underwear but she didn’t feel quite so vulnerable now that she was covered. She needed her socks and shoes.

  Marko crouched beside her. She’d avoided looking at him for the past few minutes. She honestly didn’t know what to say or do. She was on the verge of tears and that just wouldn’t do. She was a woman of action, a doer. That’s what she had to keep reminding herself.

  He didn’t say anything. Instead, he picked up her right foot and dusted off the sole. She grabbed his shoulders for support so she wouldn’t fall on her ass. When he was satisfied, he slipped her sock on and followed it with her sneaker. Then he did the left one. When he was done, he stood. Her sneakers were unlaced so she bent down and laced them while he watched. Neither of them spoke and the moment seemed to expand with the growing tension.

  She still stubbornly refused to look at him. He was too good looking for her peace of mind, too male, too overwhelming to her senses, too everything. But he had other ideas and caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger to tilt her face upward until their eyes met.

  “We will be cautious. No one must see us or we will have to fight for our lives, our very souls.”

  A shiver skated down her spine and goose bumps broke out on her arms beneath her long-sleeved shirt. She wished she had her jacket. A thought occurred to her. “If this is real then why aren’t Hades and his minions or demons or whatever they’re called already after us?”

  A dark frown crossed Marko’s face. “I don’t know. And that worries me. The others who were released before me were never able to come back and tell us Hades’ plan of battle. It’s possible he wants me to get attached to you and forget all about trying to rescue my brothers-in-arms and the Lady.”

  He didn’t look pleased at that thought. In fact, the way he was watching her, as if she might be a minion of the devil himself, was making her very uncomfortable.

  She’d had sex with a hot guy. So what? Why did it have to be anything more than that? They’d go back to the movie set and go their own ways. Simple.

  She snorted under her breath. Nothing about this situation was simple. Damn, she had the worst luck ever when it came to men. Marko was gorgeous, but he came with a lot of baggage.

  She held up her hands in a placating manner. “Listen, bud. I don’t have any idea what Hades’ plans are. That’s even assuming I believe in him.”

  “He’s very real. Make no mistake about that. Just as I am. Just as you are.”

  Kellsie swallowed hard and tried to still the trembling in her knees. Marko suddenly looked very large and angry. She needed to distract him from his current train of thought. “Tell me about the others who came before you.”

  The anger bled from his face to be replaced by sorrow. “Phoenix and Stavros are lost.” He raked his hand through his hair, his agitation growing with each passing second. Kellsie didn’t move, afraid to do anything that might provoke him to violence. Not that she really thought he’d hurt her. After all, so far he hadn’t, but she didn’t want to take a chance.

  She paused and frowned when she realized she wasn’t really afraid of him. And how stupid was that? Now that the initial moment had passed, she felt quite comfortable again. Not only that, she wanted to console Marko, drive out the sorrow pressing down on him.

  God, she really did need therapy.

  “Mordecai has joined with Hades.”

  “Mordecai?” Now this was traveling back into the realm of reality. “The same Mordecai I met on the movie set? The one who is supposed to play my leading man? The one who let me ride the carousel?” Or at least she thought he had. She was no longer certain what had really happened earlier.

  Marko growled low in his chest. “He will not touch you.”

  Okay. Her bear was feeling a tad possessive. It was silly how good that made her feel. She ignored it and forged onward. “Who else?”

  “Roric, the white tiger. With the help of the female who released him, he fought Hades.” Marko shook his head. There was tension in the way he held his shoulders. “I only wish I knew where he was, what has become of him and if they are safe.”

  This was getting crazier by the second. “Umm, I think I might be able to help with that.” Marko grabbed her shoulders and pulled her toward him. Kellsie went up on her toes and slapped her hands against his naked chest for balance.

  “How?” he asked.

  Oh, Marko was fierce, but it made him all the more attractive. And she was obviously losing her grip on reality if that was foremost on her mind. “I was doing some research for the role and Googled the Lady of the Beasts. I came across a website owned by one Aimee Horner and a guy named Roric. There was an icon for a white tiger, but before I could click on it I lost my Internet connection. There was an email address so we can contact them if I can get my netbook and a decent connection.”

  Marko closed his eyes for a brief moment, when he opened them again he was all business. “A netbook. That is a computer?”

  “Yes.” How could he not know?

  As if reading her thoughts, he tapped the side of his skull. “I know many things, but it is not always easy to assimilate and understand them.”

  She wasn’t touching that one. She was having a hard time coming to grips with the idea that this situation was very real. And if that was the case, she was well and truly screwed. Not only was the devil himself after her, she’d just had unprotected sex with an immortal warrior. She hadn’t cared about the unprotected sex when she thought it was only a dream.

  “Can you get me pregnant?” she blurted. “Or give me any diseases?”

  He stilled and canted his head to one side as if the thought had never occurred to him. He shook his head. “No. You are human and I am not. Only the gods can mate with humans, and we do not have human diseases.”

  Great. Instead of the wave of relief she should be feeling, she was vaguely…disappointed. Which was crazy because she wasn’t ready to be a mother. Her career was up in the air and, hey, she might be dead by tomorrow.

  The reality hit her like a sledgehammer and she slowly sank to the ground, or would have if Marko hadn’t been holding her.

  “Oh my God.” This couldn’t be happening. But it was.

  She studied the man in front of her. There was nothing crazy in his steady brown-eyed gaze. He was straightforward and strong. Honesty shone from him like a beacon in the night. Unless he was a hell of an actor, he was telling the truth.

  For the first time since they’d met, she believed him with every fiber of her being. “What are we going to do?” The enormity of what was before them was almost too much for her to comprehend. And this wasn’t fair. She hadn’t asked for this. Didn’t want it. All she wanted to do was make a movie, bank some money and help her career.

  Marko tightened his fingers around her shoulders. His expression was grim.

  “Whatever we have to.”

  “This is useless.” Mordecai stalked through the woods, not bothering to mask his footsteps. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack. Around him, the small woodland creatures cowered, sensing his power and his growing anger. The moon gave more than enough light to search by, not that he needed it with his preternatural vision. But there was simply too much ground to cover and time was running out.

  Hades was meeting with his brother. Not wanting to make Zeus suspicious, Hades had been forced to join the god for dinner. He’d left Mordecai in charge and the warrior wasn’t about to fail.

&n
bsp; Behind him, Brittany struggled to keep up with the pace he’d set. He couldn’t seem to shake her and was beginning to believe that Hades had set her to watch him. If that was the case, he’d give her something to tattle to the god.

  Mordecai came to an abrupt halt. “We’re going back to Hell.”

  Brittany stumbled to a stop beside him, her blue eyes wide. “What do you mean?” She nibbled on her bottom lip and struck a seductive pose, but he was immune to her dubious charms.

  “We need to find them before Hades returns. That means I need to use the mirror.”

  Brittany gasped and swallowed hard. “You can do that?”

  “Yes, I can.” He was the only other person in Hell who could use it besides Hades, and he’d never done so before without the god’s express permission. But this was an emergency.

  He held out his hand and felt the dark, sticky power of Hades well from within him. This was another little perk Hades had temporarily bestowed upon him. He could conjure up a portal to Hell. Hades held that power tight as it opened his realm up to others, but he’d gifted Mordecai with the ability while he was away with Zeus. Hades would know what he was doing and Mordecai knew he’d have to answer for it later. So be it.

  The dark circle swirled before them, growing larger with each passing second. When it was his height, he stepped forward, bracing himself for the cold nothingness that existed in the space in between realms. Brittany jumped in behind him before he could shut the portal, not that he’d expected anything different. He was convinced now that she was indeed Hades’ spy. Brittany much preferred the world and her current form than residing in Hell.

  He stepped out into a pitch-black corridor and started walking. Red eyes glowed from the darkness. There were a multitude of demons watching him, but none challenged him. He ignored them and turned left down a wider tunnel.

  It only took him a few minutes to orient himself and he headed for Hades’ chamber. There he would use Hades’ enchanted mirror to find the bear and his lady. Once he knew where they were, he would return to the earthly realm and keep an eye on them until Hades arrived.

  Chapter Eleven

  Marko knew there was nothing he could do to help Kellsie assimilate everything. He knew the exact moment she truly started to believe this could be real. She had a very expressive face. One he would never tire of watching.

  His heart ached for what she was going through. He wanted to turn back the hands of time to when they were locked in each other’s arms. After thousands of years imprisoned, he’d had sex with a woman, but not just any woman, Kellsie. And it had been well worth the wait.

  But their interlude was at an end. The time had come to face the battle at hand. He had no time to despair about what had been or worry about what would be. There was only the here and now. Each tick of the clock took them both closer to safety.

  But Marko knew that was nothing more than a false sense of security. Hades was out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting for Marko to make his move.

  He could take Kellsie and simply run—far and fast.

  For a brief moment, he considered doing just that. But deep in his heart he knew it wouldn’t work. Nor could he simply walk away from his trapped brethren and his Lady.

  Nor did he think Hades would allow it.

  No, Hades was giving him, both of them, some leeway. The question was why?

  Kellsie fidgeted constantly. She shifted from one foot to the other while rubbing her hands up and down her arms. He knew she was cold and rubbed his hands up and down her back to help warm her. It was also an excuse to touch her one more time.

  He was procrastinating, but he wanted these few final moments of peace between them. Once they left the sanctuary of this cave and started back to the carnival all bets were off. Hades and his minions were out there waiting for their chance to pounce.

  Marko knew he had to separate himself from Kellsie. He could not allow his attraction to her to distract him from his mission. Both their lives were at stake. Reluctantly, he set her aside. He tried not to notice how devastatingly cute she looked with her tousled hair and slightly swollen lips. There were dirt stains on her clothing and it was more than obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her unbound breasts swayed with every movement she made, which distracted him from the matter at hand. After all, he was male and couldn’t help but notice.

  He reached into his pocket and stroked the flimsy material of her bra. He’d tucked the garment in there while she’d been dressing, her attention turned away from him. Her silky panties were hidden in his other pocket. They were talismans, a token of their time together.

  “We must go.” Angry with himself for harboring fantasies about what had happened, he spun and stalked out of the cave with Kellsie hot on his heels. It was just sex. Incredible sex. But sex nonetheless. Nothing more. There couldn’t be anything more.

  He rolled his shoulders, shaking off his thoughts and mood. He had to put all emotion aside or he was useless. He paused and sized up the best path back to the carnival. He wanted to make sure they always had some kind of cover in case they had to make a run for it. Not that he was afraid to stand and fight, but with Kellsie with him, he might have no choice but to retreat, even though the very thought of having to do so made his stomach curdle.

  “How long do you think it will take us to get there?”

  If he was alone, maybe an hour at most. With Kellsie slowing him down it would take much longer. “Two, maybe three hours.” He cast a glance over his shoulder. “If you can keep up.” The bear claw on the necklace she wore seemed to glint in the moonlight. Every muscle in his body tensed and his body sang. She belonged to the bear. A low rumble broke from him before he could stop it.

  Possessiveness. It was a strange feeling and one not easily shaken. He wanted to examine it more closely, but now was not the time.

  Anger flashed across her face, making her cheeks flush. Her lips thinned and her shoulders squared with determination. “Oh, I can keep up.” She eyed him up and down, blatantly pausing when she got to the bulge in his pants. The double-entendre made him want to toss her over his shoulder and head back to their cave.

  Shit. He whirled around and started through the woods, setting a grueling pace. It wasn’t their cave. There was no their anything. They were two strangers thrown together in a life-and-death situation, forced to depend on one another for survival.

  In fact, it made perfect sense that she’d had sex with him. Since the beginning of time women had used sex to attract the strongest males, the ones who could protect them and their children.

  And he didn’t believe a word he was saying. Neither did his bear. Kellsie wasn’t the type of woman who’d depend on a man for anything, which perversely made him want her to depend on him for everything. He should be thrilled she could stand on her own two feet, wasn’t whimpering or cowering behind him.

  If the muttering and swearing he was hearing from behind him was any indication of her mood, Kellsie could probably defeat Hades single-handedly. The thought brought a smile to his lips. No doubt about it, Kellsie was one tough lady.

  But she had a soft side too. One he’d been privileged to see firsthand. She was a generous lover, holding nothing back, giving herself freely, at least with him. Marko didn’t think she was that open with most men. Only the fact that she’d thought it was a dream at first had allowed her to lay down the shields she normally kept erected around her and allow him to see the real woman beneath.

  He realized he could no longer hear her litany of complaints and spun around, cursing himself under his breath. He knew she couldn’t keep up with him—she didn’t have his preternatural night vision or his speed—but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.

  He sniffed the air and caught her scent. Then the low sound of her muttering reached him. His claws were extended and the lower half of his jaw was contorted, teeth bared, sharp and deadly, ready to rip to shreds any threat to Kellsie.

  He forced himself to relax as he headed back up the trail. S
he was about fifty feet behind him. He’d been moving way too fast for a human to keep up.

  She was sitting on a log and her right shoe was off. She didn’t even glance his way as she dumped the rocks from her shoe and shoved it back on her foot. He waited as she laced her footwear and climbed to her feet. Her hair was plastered to her skull. She was sweating and shivering.

  Again, he cursed himself under his breath. She wasn’t immortal, but human. The cold didn’t affect him but it did have a huge impact on her. At this rate she’d be too sick to fend off any attack. “You need to get warm.”

  She gave him a look that would have withered a lesser man. But Marko was impervious. All he cared about was making certain she was all right. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He’d manifested his pants, boots and a sword, so why not more? Maybe it was time to try his powers again.

  He’d had a cloak. One lined with the pelt of one of his brethren. The ancient creature had lived more than eight thousand years ago and Marko had watched him raise a family and die in its defense. He’d taken the beast’s pelt to remind him of the fierce strength that his brother had used to protect his mate and cubs. They had lived and Marko had watched over them and their line until he’d been imprisoned. He couldn’t manifest it earlier, but maybe now he could.

  Softness, rich and thick, filled his hands. He heard Kellsie gasp and he opened his eyes. The long cloak was draped across his extended hands. Kellsie was standing now, her eyes wide and her lips parted. He walked toward her and went down on one knee before her. “For you. To keep you warm.”

  She reached out her hand and tentatively touched the fur lining. She looked at him and back at the cloak, burying her fingers in the fur. “It’s incredible.”

  He came to his feet and shook out the cloak. It was short on him, which meant it would come to her ankles. Marko wrapped it around her shoulders.