The Amazon and the Beast (Mythos Book 1)

by Hati Bell

  “I’m a Nemean lion,” Leroy said, and Kellsey drew a hurt breath. It felt like he had punched her in the stomach.

  “How long is the hike to the lake?” Leroy asked, avoiding her look.

  “It’s a pond,” Zlatan said. “And we have to trek a day through the jungle.”

  Leroy frowned. “A whole day?”

  Zlatan’s eyes fidgeted to the siren. “Yeah, there are rumors of a group of vampires near the edge of the volcano, so we’re taking a detour.”

  Celest cleared her throat. “It’s okay to admit that the hike will take longer because I’m not an experienced hiker.”

  “I was trying to be polite,” Zlatan muttered.

  Kellsey rolled her eyes. Apparently, his manners were reserved for the siren. She didn’t share his politeness. “What business do you have on top of a mountain if the hike is such a struggle for you?”

  Celest gave her a pained look. “My little sister got injured during a fight. I need the Rinjani water to cure her.”

  Kellsey immediately felt lower than a medusa’s belly. “I’m sorry about your sister,” she uttered, and she leaned back, wishing the backseat would swallow her up.

  “Don’t be,” Celest said coolly. “Only someone with a sister could understand me. As an amazon without a tribe, I don’t expect you to be able to put yourself in my shoes.”

  It sounded like she was a boat adrift at sea, floating around. “I don’t have a sister but I do have–”

  “Never mind,” Celest cut her off, her tone condescending. “I bet you’re the youngest. I wish I could say the same. It’s different when you’re the oldest.”

  Before Kellsey could think of a snappy comeback, Celest had already turned her back on her.

  She told herself that the siren had a family crisis and it wouldn’t be nice if she punched her in the face. Moreover, unfortunately, she was right. Kellsey was the youngest, but that didn’t automatically mean that she had no sense of responsibility whatsoever. She was just as protective of her brothers as they were towards her.

  An hour later they finally arrived at their destination and got out of the vehicle. The silence in the car had been stifling and Kellsey was glad when they stood on the edge of the jungle.

  Zlatan led them deep into a heavily wooded area, which was interspersed with rocks they had to climb over and from there to an uncultivated area that consisted of muddy hills. It was a small consolation that Celest was now sweating as well. It was obvious that she lacked the stamina to keep pace with them and after only two hours of hiking Zlatan called for a break.

  Their guide took out fruit and pre-packaged rice from his backpack and handed it out. Kellsey got it thrown into her lap, while to Celest he handed it over gently, as if she was made of porcelain.

  Kellsey gritted her teeth when Celest began to subtly flirt with Leroy. A smile here, a pout there, a finger that accidentally slid onto his thigh. Her mood reached its lowest point when Celest accidentally-on-purpose spilled her drink on Leroy’s shirt. She apologized profusely, of course, but couldn’t keep her eyes from Leroy’s biceps when he pulled his shirt over his head. Celest gasped when she saw the poison on Leroy’s chest that had spread like branches of a tree.

  Kellsey looked away when she was reminded of what she’d done. She realized that she had no right to pluck Celest’s blond hair from her head. She was here on a mission. A mission to cure Leroy of the poison that flowed through his veins because of her. It would just be nice if Celest also focused more on her mission than on Leroy.

  She let out a sigh of relief when Zlatan finally got up. She was anxious to continue hiking toward the volcano, which loomed on the horizon. Climbing further up the mountain also meant that Celest could no longer keep fondling Leroy.

  “Zlatan, can you help me with my bag?” the siren asked. When he’d taken her bag from her and had hung it on his shoulders, she went a tad further. “Leroy, can you give me a hand?”

  “Sure,” Leroy said and he helped her over a tree trunk, which she could’ve easily stepped over by herself.

  Zlatan led the way, followed by Leroy and Celest. Kellsey trudged after them. No one had offered to carry her bag or hold her hand. Not that she wanted or needed it, but it was the principle of it. Okay, so the siren looked frail, but did both men have to hold her hand when they crossed a river? The water only came up to their ankles and the current wasn’t so strong.

  Zlatan avoided her like she was a slimy troll. However, he had no qualms about holding Celest’s dainty hand. Kellsey knew she shouldn’t care, but she wasn’t used to people disliking her on sight.

  Deep down, however, she knew what the real reason was for her jealousy. Celest was everything she wasn’t. She wished it was something simple like having a different hair color, but it went deeper than that. The siren was pumps to her Doc Martens, a tea dress to her leather pants, a pastel cardigan to her rock tee. The contrast between them couldn’t have been bigger. Sirens were small, slim, super-feminine, and looked somewhat fragile. Was that the kind of woman Leroy was into?

  Kellsey might not live with amazons, but she did have their muscular build, their generous ass and breasts. It was a myth that amazons cut off a breast so they could draw an arrow more easily. The story likely originated because they wrapped their breasts in a high-necked corset, so they weren’t a hindrance during a fight. A custom she had no interest in, since she liked to breathe normally.

  Watching Leroy and Celest climb up the mountain side by side, it was getting harder and harder to breathe normally. She didn’t need a corset for that.

  11

  LEROY

  Leroy caught their guide glancing back at Kellsey a few times. When he let her and Celest walk past him at the waterfall, Zlatan’s eyes lingered on Kellsey’s ass. If the kumiho didn’t stop ogling her, he was gonna pull out his tails. All nine of them.

  A growl escaped his throat and Kellsey shot him a quizzical look. His amazon was trying to kill him with her eyes and if they’d been alone, she would’ve given him a piece of her mind for shutting her out again. However, Kellsey would never let on about their personal issues to strangers.

  He wanted to grab her and hold her under the waterfall until her white top was soaked, and then he wanted to peel off her top and jeans. Unfortunately, she’d exchanged her Doc Martens for sneakers, or he would’ve let her keep those on.

  Shit. His mind continually fantasized about all the things he wanted to do to her. A fantasy that could never become real. One taste of Kellsey hadn’t been enough. It only made him want more, which had to stop right now. So he did what he’d been doing since the moment she had crawled into his bed when she turned seventeen. He forced himself to stop thinking about the life he could never have. He knew it wasn’t rational, but he fucking hated Macan from the bottom of his heart. He’d had everything Leroy wanted, but couldn’t have, right in the palm of his hand and had thrown it away. The alchemist was an idiot.

  After they had crossed the river, Zlatan let go of Celest’s hand and set out at a fast pace. The siren looked out of place in the rough jungle, in her flowery dress and sneakers. How different was the fiery amazon before him. He absolutely preferred Kellsey’s curves over a bag of bones. He followed behind her, watching her bouncy ass as she went up the path angrily.

  Dusk had set in by the time they arrived at a second waterfall.

  Zlatan stopped and announced that they would spend the night. He placed his backpack against a few boulders and started to make a fire.

  Celest looked beat and she dropped beside Zlatan on a pile of bamboo and banana leaves. Kellsey was sweating from the heat, but overall she looked as great as always. He knew she was in excellent shape.

  “I’m going to go freshen up,” Kellsey said, and she walked towards the waterfall.

  Leroy waited until she was out of sight and then turned to Zlatan. “Keep your fucking eyes in their sockets.”

  Zlatan blinked, looking surprised. “What’re you talking about, man?” />
  “Quit staring at her ass.”

  “What? I don’t even like her,” the kumiho protested heavily. Too heavily. They both knew that he didn’t have to like her to want her.

  “And that’s another thing,” Leroy said, his voice a threat. “Watch your tone with her. I hear you being rude to her one more time, and I will fucking gut you like a fish. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like shit.”

  “What do you mean?” the boy began, but Leroy grabbed him by the shirt.

  “I don’t give a shit what history you have with amazons. Maybe your mother was one or your sister, I don’t care. Don’t take it out on Kellsey.” With a last threatening glare at Zlatan, he followed the path where his amazon had disappeared.

  He tried not to think of the fact that he was responsible for her disheartened look. Celest’s interest in him, however, was like a godsend. She was a perfect barrier he could hide behind, because Kellsey’s proximity drove him mad. His lion was restless and in a constant state of readiness to pounce on her. It was getting harder and harder to keep his paws off her.

  His breath caught in his throat when he saw Kellsey standing under the waterfall. She was buck naked. He felt his anger rise up at the thought that Zlatan could have been the one to find her like that. Had that been her intention? Had she stripped hoping that Zlatan would follow her? He told himself that he didn’t have the right to be angry. Besides, Zlatan was barely twenty, just a kid compared to him. A kid who kept ogling Kellsey’s ass. Fear grabbed him by the throat at the thought of them together. He told himself that he hadn’t sensed any interest on Kellsey’s part, but what if he was wrong? Zlatan was much closer to Kellsey’s age than he was. He was millennia old. Kellsey would turn twenty-five in a few weeks.

  Part of him wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to be jealous of the siren. He only had eyes for a certain amazon. Another part of him enjoyed the green monster on her back. After years of watching her with that fucker Macan from a distance, this felt like sweet revenge. Even though he was being unreasonable since he had driven her into the arms of the alchemist himself. He just wasn’t reasonable when it concerned Kellsey.

  He was taken aback when his hands suddenly changed into deadly weapons. A moment later the claws were gone. The poison clearly didn’t know what to do with his body.

  At the sheer idea of seeing her with another man, he realized he couldn’t go through that again. It was as if a light bulb switched on in his head and the realization shifted his world on its axis. Feeling much better after this decision, he walked up to her.

  His eyes wandered over the curves of her luscious body. She was soaping herself. Soon, the night carried his favorite fragrance: Kellsey with wild cherries.

  “Kellsey?” She was like a magnet. He simply couldn’t stay away from her. He gave up trying and stepped behind her under the waterfall.

  Kellsey spun around and threw the bar of soap at his head. Her eyes spat fire.

  “I can’t believe you told her you’re a Nemean lion!” she yelled. “Go to Hel!”

  12

  KELLSEY

  “Don’t say her name out loud,” Leroy growled. “Last thing we need is that icy hag up our ass.”

  She ignored his comment about Hel, too hurt to respond to it. “We’ve known each other for ten years and you’ve never told me what your beast was. Two minutes with that slag and you tell her your life story.” Okay, so she was exaggerating, but it was either yelling at him or slapping him silly. She kept going back and forth between the two options.

  She pulled her tee over her head and put her jeans on, but wasn’t finished yelling yet. “I’m done. After this mission, I never want to see you again.”

  It was as if something broke inside him as he strode after her. His hands turned into razor-sharp claws and with one strike, he cut down a tree. “Dammit, Kellsey!”

  “No, dammit, Leroy,” she chastised him. “There’s no reason to destroy a perfectly good tree. Do you have any idea how many trees and forests disappear every year? How many rainforests go up in flames?”

  “I’ll make a donation to WWF,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “Damn right you will.” She folded her arms over her chest, refusing to budge an inch. “I’m through with you,” she repeated. “I finally have my answer. I know now that….”

  Leroy grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the bark of the destroyed tree. “You know nothing,” he growled. “Do you know what it’s like to have to hide yourself for millennia? And worst of all, having to stay away from you? To watch another man take what should have been mine? You think you know everything? You know I fantasize about you when I fuck someone? It’s easier that way to pretend you’re the one lying under me. That you’re the one who moans my name when you come.”

  Her heart beat in her throat, but she forced herself to stand still. The thought of him with Celest still hurt. The story of his conquests didn’t exactly make her want to burst into song either.

  She arched a brow. “It’s awfully presumptuous of you to assume you can make me come. Also, amazons don’t moan. Scream? Perhaps. But a no-no to moaning.”

  He buried his head in her neck with a sigh. “You make me crazy, Kellsey. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I’d lie, cheat, kill, and start a war over you.” His eyes glowed in the dark, with a light in them that bordered on madness.

  That didn’t change the harsh reality, though. “I don’t want a man who wants to kill for me. I want a man who wants to live for me.” A man who wanted to create a new life with her. She decided to keep that to herself. If she voiced that desire, he would leave skid marks running away.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Kellsey.” It came out as a growl.

  She couldn’t anymore either. She was sick and tired of having to take his feeling into account. “Well, tough. Sometimes you just have to do things you don’t like but are necessary. It builds character.”

  “And what would you know about doing things you don’t like?” he challenged her.

  “Plenty.” She dropped on the ground and folded her arms over her knees, suddenly tired of arguing. “You are so determined to do everything by yourself. You have a whole clan around you, but it’s as though you don’t see us.” She looked straight at him. “As if you don’t see me.” She couldn’t keep the pain out of her voice.

  He dropped down beside her. “Tell me about doing things you don’t like,” he insisted.

  Leroy was the type of man who listened instead of just talking about himself. Now she wondered if that was a way to deflect talking about his life. This time, however, she was determined to not let him get away with it.

  “You know I’ve studied in Edinburgh for four years,” she began. “All by my lonesome. Vicky can’t leave the Asylum without being hunted by white witches and Shay wasn’t interested in coming along, so I already felt lonely before I had even left. So I wasn’t planning to live in Edinburgh. And why would I? It’s only a few hours drive from Oban.”

  “It’s a three-hour drive,” he reminded her.

  She frowned. “I could’ve hired a djinn taxi and traced back and forth, but Riz vetoed that.”

  She could tell that it began to dawn on him. “He sent you away.”

  “Something about the amazon having to leave the nest.” She had pleaded and argued until she thought she would get her way, but to her surprise, Riz had put his foot down. “Riz raised me just like the rest. I learned to fight as an amazon and pay my monthly contribution to the clan. My brothers never babied me. Well, perhaps with the exception of Kuno, but he’s a werewolf and the urge to protect women and children is ingrained in his DNA. But not even he took my side when Riz declared I had to take a room at the university. It was like my heart broke. I was so disappointed that I packed my suitcase and left for Edinburgh. I didn’t go home for a year.”

  “What was it like to live outside the clan?”

  She knew why he asked. Unlike Leroy, she wasn’t raised as a nomad. Her
family was everything to her and it had been a bitter pill to swallow when from one day to another she’d been standing outside the gates.

  “It was harder than I’d expected,” she admitted. “I immediately felt homesick. The first few days I was busy decorating my room and I tried not to think of the Asylum. The second week I almost got depressed, but when I was sitting in the cafe, I met Jolene. She’d just moved to Edinburgh from New York and felt as lost as I did. Which is probably why we took a shine to each other and made fast friends.”

  “You’re telling me your brothers left you alone for a whole year?” Leroy sounded incredulous, and she smiled.

  “Of course not. Every month one of them appeared to have a chat. I barely spoke two words to them, I was so angry.” Even after all this time, she felt her cheeks color in shame. “When I left I had yelled at Riz that if he wanted to get rid of me that bloody much, he would get his wish. I would never come back.”

  His finger stroked her cheek. “You came back,” he said softly.

  “Of course I did. It just took a long time until I had swallowed my pride, gathered my courage, and could face Riz again. When I walked into our house for the first time after a year, I was dead nervous. I didn’t know if he’d welcome me.”

  “He would never turn his back on you,” Leroy immediately said.

  A new blush of shame colored her cheeks. Even Leroy knew what Kellsey had dared to doubt. “He didn’t say a word when he saw me. All he did was open his arms. I’m not ashamed to admit that I burst into tears and jumped into his embrace.”

  “I remember that year you were away well,” Leroy said. His eyes told her a thousand tales.

  “You missed me,” she said with a grin.

  “Yeah, well, I kinda noticed when no one was waiting for me at the gate with a box of harpies, begging me to adopt one.”

  He might complain about the harpies, but he had taken them with him. Just like any other animal she’d needed a temporary shelter for. Once she’d even caught him feeding the harpies and talking to them.