Blessed (The Chosen Book 2)

by Mayburn, Ann

  Gently, as if she were made of glass, Aiden stroked his lips over hers. “I love you. You're everything I have ever prayed for, even when I didn't know what I wanted.”

  Running her hand through his thick hair, she whispered against his lips, “I love you too. I have so much work to do for my god. I could not have a better man at my side to help me save the world.”

  Exquisitely gentle, he stroked his lips over hers again and whispered, “Eliana Marie Shay, will you marry me?”

  Joy burned through her body and soul, bright and clear. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.” Peace filled his eyes, and he knelt next to the bed. “You are the greatest blessing the gods ever gave me.”

  Despite the pain, she couldn’t help but smile. “You’re the love of my life. Of course I’ll marry you.”

  He gently scooted next to her on the bed and pulled her close. In his eyes, she saw their future, filled with magic and love.

  Epilogue

  Devon took a deep breath and looked at his assembled team of Temple Guards, all suited up for battle. “Okay, we’re going to do this quick. Who knows what kind of fucked up weapons Linda and Dillon have inside of their apartment, so our only chance to grab them is going to be after they leave. The building they live in is too heavily populated to go in and try an extraction anyways.”

  From the com-link in his ear came Jack’s voice. “Their limo has pulled up out front.”

  “Roger that.”

  He moved to the edge of the alley across the street from Linda and Dillon’s high-rise apartment building in New York. It had taken him close to a month after Eliana’s abduction and attempted murder, but they’d finally found Linda and Dillon and the pair had a multitude of sins to pay for. Across from Devon a Chosen of the goddess Diana, Flavia, checked the string of her bow. Hopefully she’d be able to assassinate them without having to engage in a full on battle with the pair. Apart Linda and Dillon were lethal, but put them together and Devon feared that he would lose some people he considered dear friends in the ensuing battle.

  “Movement from the lobby,” came Jack’s voice again.

  The other man was currently watching from a room in the building across the street from Linda and Dillon’s home above a comedy club. Jack was using the club to cloak his presence, allowing him to watch without being detected. It was close to midnight, but New York was truly the city that never slept and far more people walked the streets than he would have liked. The street was still filled with traffic and Devon’s gut knotted at the logistical nightmare ahead of them.

  “There’s Dillon,” came Jack’s voice, “but no Linda yet.”

  “I’ve got movement at the back entrance,” another member of their team said through the link. “It’s Linda. She’s looking around the alley for something. She’s walking over to someone…it looks like a bum sleeping next to a dumpster. Oh shit, I think she’s going to kill him. Fuck, I have to stop her.”

  Panic raced through Devon and he had to keep himself from yelling as he said into the com, “Bill, fall back. Do not engage, fall back!”

  “I can’t let her kill him,” the other man said in a low voice.

  Devon looked over to Flavia and she nodded. “I’ve got Dillon, go.”

  Hoping his cloaking talisman would shield him, Devon ran across the street, unsheathing his sword as he went. Behind him came the high pitched scream of a man and he glanced over his shoulder, satisfaction filling him as he watched Dillon trying to pull out a silver arrow from his chest just as another one pierced him through his eye.

  As he rounded the corner a woman’s scream of rage shook the very walls of the alley, bits of dust and debris raining down over his body armor. He caught sight of Linda with her arms raised up in the air, chanting something that had his stomach twisting into knots, he gasped. She screamed Dillon’s name and began to chant in a language not known to him as Destruction energy built around her in a towering inferno of dark fire.

  Then her gaze landed on him and all of that negative energy came crashing down on Devon in a tidal wave of evil.

  Pain lanced through his bones and he dropped to his knees with a sharp scream. She focused her gaze on him and the pain intensified, rendering him totally immobile, helpless before the approaching woman. Dressed in a sleek black raincoat and high-heeled boots, she pulled a long, curved blade from her purse as she continued towards him, her lips peeled back from her teeth and madness shining in her eyes.

  He strained to move and caught sight of the crumpled body of the Temple Guard that had been watching the back entrance, his heart constricting with grief that he’d failed to protect the other man. Gathering the last of his strength he prayed to Mentu, begging his god to give him the strength to at least take Linda with him. There wasn’t a doubt she would kill him, help was too far away and the death of Dillon had obviously driven her insane.

  For a brief moment disappointment filled him for all the things he would never do, never experience, all the people he would never see again. But by far his biggest regret was that he’d never known true love and he screamed in agony as the evil began to attack his soul.

  Through his blurred vision he watched as Linda began to make this hideous sound that was a mixture between a laugh and a scream, even more negative energy filling the space around him until he was sure he was already dead and in hell.

  Even though it was futile he held on, fighting as best he could, using everything he had to try to summon enough strength to do something, but all he did was prolong his pain, yet he refused to give up. Praying with everything he had he managed to keep the evil out of his soul, but he couldn’t stop Linda as she stumbled towards him, her face sinking in on itself as her teeth grew into long, pointed fangs.

  The sight terrified him and if he’d had any control of his body he would have been crawling away from her as fast as he could, but she had him pinned to the ground like a bug with a needle through its body. The fear fell away from him and he began a litany of devotion to the Gods of Creation, a thanks for his life, for all that he’d been able to experience, for the joy and their protection of his people. While his life may be over, his soul was returning to the Creator of them all and it was impossible to be afraid of returning to the source of all love.

  From behind her something disturbed the darkness, a brief point of light. That light grew and to his shock the homeless man that had been sleep stood and began to glow like a start in the darkness, a single point of burning light. The weight smothering Devon lifted the slightest bit and he took in a deep breath of the thick air, struggling to move, but all he could do was watch as Linda slowly turned, her body shivering and morphing, contorting before his eyes into that of a demon.

  To his shock the homeless man morphed as well, his beard vanishing and revealing deeply tanned skin and a regal face. The double crown of Egypt appeared on his head and the regal robes of a pharaoh covered his body. Devon’s heart stuttered as he realized he was looking at Amun-Re, the Egyptian god of many things, including the poor. From what he knew of Linda one of her favorite victims had been the homeless and a fierce satisfaction filled him as he realized the time to pay the price for her crimes had come.

  Linda, or whatever the hell she’d turned into, screeched in fear. Before she could move Amun-Re reached out and casually snapped her head from her neck like a child popping a flower from its stalk. A rumble filled the air, the ground, and the marrow of Devon’s bones as the dark energy began to pour back into Linda’s corpse, filling it, bloating the shape until it exploded into nothingness. For what seemed like an eternity fresh air roared into the space left by the departure of all the evil and Devon stared at the god looking patiently back at him.

  He struggled to move as sensation filled him, but managed to roll over onto his stomach in the filthy alley, going prostate before Amun-Re.

  A sense of divine peace moved over him, tinged with pride, and tears burned his eyes as the realization that he was going to live swept over him.
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br />   The sense of the divine slowly faded and by the time his people found him in the alley he was on the verge of passing out.

  Jack reached him first, turning him over and frantically searching his face.

  “Holy fuck, every inch of his body is bruised.” Jack peered into his eyes. “Devon? Can you hear me?”

  “Yeah.” Fuck, even his tongue felt bruised.

  Jack frantically shouted for a healer before lowering his voice and turning his attention back to Devon. “What the fuck happened? We tried to get to you, but some crazy fucking strong shield kept us out.”

  “Don’t know,” he whispered even though his body felt like it had been beaten with a thousand hammers. He strained to remember what had happened, but his memories of the event were slowly draining away. “Linda…did something. Then…then….I don’t know.”

  “Take it easy, okay. We’ll figure it out.” Jack screamed again for a healer. “Just hang in there man, okay?”

  Devon tried to nod but his energy was almost completely exhausted. “Tell…Shay she can sleep now.”

  Shaking his head, Jack moved to the side as a healer finally reached him. “Just hang in there, man, and you can tell her yourself, okay?”

  “Tell her…wedding present. Better get lucky…with…hot bridesmaid.”

  “I’ll tell her. Just relax and let the healer work.”

  He closed his eyes, too tired to keep them open anymore. The soothing touch of the healer helped deaden his pain and he took a deep breath as the pressure around his lungs eased. Exhaustion pulled at him and as he drifted off a fragment of a memory reached him, the sense of despair of never having known true love. He sent out a final prayer, a desperate plea that the gods would bless him with a woman to call his own.

  Look for more of The Chosen in Dreamer, out now.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  With over forty published books, Ann is Queen of the Castle to her husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.

  From a young Ann has had a love affair with books would read everything she could get her hands on. As Ann grew older, and her hormones kicked in, she discovered bodice ripping Fabio-esque romance novels. They were great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.

  Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has accepted that her Muse has a severe case of ADD.

  Ann loves to talk with her fans, as long as they realize she's weird and that sarcasm doesn't translate well via text. You can find her at:

  Website

  http://www.annmayburn.com/

  Facebook

  https://www.facebook.com/ann.mayburn.5

  Pintrest

  http://pinterest.com/annmayburn/

  Twitter

  https://twitter.com/AnnMayburn

  Other Books by Ann

  Prides of the Moon Series

  Amber Moon

  Emerald Moon

  Onyx Moon

  Amethyst Moon

  Opal Moon

  Club Wicked Series

  My Wicked Valentine

  My Wicked Nanny

  My Wicked Devil

  My Wicked Trainers

  My Wicked Masters

  Virtual Seduction Series

  Sodom and Detroit

  Sodom and the Phoenix

  Submissives Wish Series

  Ivan’s Captive Submissive

  Dimitri’s Forbidden Submissive

  Alexandr’s Cherished Submissive

  Alexandr’s Reluctant Submissive

  Long Slow Tease Series (FemDom)

  Still

  Penance

  Emma’s Arabian Nights (FemDom)

  First Kiss

  Second Touch

  Third Chance

  Fourth Embrace

  Bondmates Series

  Casey’s Warriors

  Jaz’s Warriors

  Paige’s Warriors(Novel Coming Soon)

  Iron Horse MC Series

  Exquisite Trouble

  Exquisite Danger

  Exquisite Redemption

  Exquisite Karma(Coming Soon)

  For the Love of Evil Series

  Daughter of the Abyss

  Princess of the Abyss

  Chosen by the Gods

  Cursed

  Blessed

  Dreamer

  Single Titles

  Blushing Violet

  Bound for Pleasure (FemDom)

  Sensation Play

  Peppermint Passion

  The Breaker’s Concubine

  Guarding Hope

  Scandalous Wish

  Pursued by the Prisoner

  The Bodyguard’s Princess

  Summer’s Need

  Wild Lilly

  Diamond Heart

  Sam and Cody