Catalyst

by Elisabeth

  I wanted to pull out of her embrace, but she was smart. Elani had wrapped her arms and her legs around me keeping me hostage. I avoided her eyes and stared at a spot on her shoulders. It was so quiet. She didn’t push anymore. She just waited for me to talk.

  I sighed.

  “My mother didn’t die like us. She would have no reason to be here. There was nothing she regretted in her life.” I finally looked at her and the look on her face said she knew something else. “What?” I questioned her.

  Elani cleared her throat. “When I remembered all my memories as Alana, there was something else. I saw your mother and the agony on her face when our bodies disappeared, especially yours. She never saw it coming, Ales.”

  “Never saw what coming?” He probed.

  “Cyril…he, he stabbed her from behind and she was defenseless. I saw the look in your mother’s eyes. She loved him, Ales. She loved Cyril, and she thought he loved her back, but he revealed it was all a plan to find your weakness. To kill you. Your mother died with regret that she betrayed you, the only person she ever protected with every fiber of her being.”

  I heard every word Elani said to me. I really did, but I needed a moment. She sensed that, and she reluctantly let me go. I moved out of her warmth and my body immediately missed hers. I got out of the bed, walking over to take my phone from my jeans. I walked toward the bathroom, feeling like I needed a moment alone. I dialed Patro. After a couple rings, he picked up.

  “Is it true?” I asked him before he could say anything.

  “Is what true?” he asked, sounding like I just woke him up out of his sleep.

  “My mother. Cyril killed her? Stacey?” I couldn’t form complete thoughts.

  Patro cleared his throat.

  “Yes, Achilles. It is all true. How did you know?”

  “Elani. She saw it when her memories came to her.”

  “Cyril was the one who killed me all those centuries ago. My body was long gone before anyone could find it. He tricked your mother, and he learned of your weakness, giving the information to Paris. He wanted to take everything from you and when your bodies disappeared, he went mad and killed your mother. Her blood was spilled unjustly, her regret and guilt for feeling like she betrayed her son traveled to the ears of the gods, but I didn’t know it was her at first. Then, before we left, she said something only your mother used to say.”

  “What? What did she say?”

  “She called you the one that hid as a little girl.” I thought I heard him snicker.

  I rolled my eyes and hung up.

  My mother, Thetis, a goddess who could never be killed was murdered in cold blood by Cyril. I held my phone so tight I heard it start to crush under my hand. I dropped it to the ground as I buried my head in my hands. My death changed everything. I ran my fingers through my hair and cleared my throat. I stood up, taking my battered, but not broken, phone back to bed. I dropped my phone on the nightstand and slid into bed. I shut my eyes, laying on my back with my arm over my face. I felt Elani the moment she moved closer to me. She wrapped her arm over my waist and nestled close to my body.

  She kissed my bare chest and laid her head down on it.

  “I will always protect you,” she said.

  I wanted to smile, yet I couldn’t, as I tried drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 7

  Elani

  When Ales came to bed, I wanted to put his mind at ease. He was trying to sleep, but knowing him, it wasn’t going to happen. I decided to try and make him forget, if only for the moment. In the past as Alana, I never did this, and I knew it would surprise him. I smiled at the thought of him being in shock. I sat up and he still had his arm over his eyes. I moved my leg and straddled him, and I felt his other hand automatically go to my waist, but he didn’t remove his arm from his face. I leaned down and kissed him. I kissed his neck, then his shoulders, moving down to his chest. I felt the rise and fall of his chest, and I wanted him to know I was there for him no matter what.

  “Tell me what to do, baby,” I said to him.

  I leaned forward to kiss his lips that were visible. He kissed me back with so much passion it made me dizzy. I snaked my tongue into his mouth as I grinded my sex into his. If we couldn’t communicate with our words, then our bodies would do it. I removed my lips from his and kissed his jaw.

  “Let me make you feel good. I’ll take all your pain away,” I whispered in his ear before I sucked on it.

  I got off him, then right back on reverse cowgirl style. He was already naked, and his enlarged member was at full attention waiting for me to soothe the pain. I positioned myself on top of him and slowly slid down until I was filled to the brink.

  I threw my head back from the way Ales filled me. I didn’t move at first, wanting to concentrate on making him feel good and not myself. I planted my flat palms in front of me, grabbing his muscular thighs for support. I began to slowly move up and down, making love to his body, showing him he never needed to be sad or alone; I was here. Some had therapy where they talked out their feelings, some needed alone time, but I knew what Ales needed. I knew it like it was my own soul. I could heal him with the way I moved and showed him everything with the movement of my waist.

  I felt both of Ales’ calloused palms gripping my waist and his legs spread wider causing my palms to hold onto the sheets instead. I arched my back as Ales’ bent his knees and sat up. I continued to move, not wanting to stop the rhythm and flow. I shuddered the moment I felt the control being taken from me. He gripped my waist tighter while his other hand fisted my hair. He pulled my hair back so hard, I thought my scalp would detach from my head. Instead of pain, I moaned out of pleasure.

  “Ride me harder,” he commanded.

  I was dripping by now as my movements became harder, rougher, the friction and intensity of this feeling driving me into a euphoric state.

  Ales groaned as he yanked, and he guided me harder on his shaft. My eyes rolled so far back, I knew this was different. He moved so fast I didn’t notice as he came up on his knees and took all the control I had left. His calloused hands grazed my back, and I felt it land hard on my butt cheek. He just spanked me! I yelped, but my body seemed to like the roughness, remembering the Achilles from the past. He moved with such finesse inside of me I wasn’t sure where I began or where he ended. He was giving me pleasure, but there was pain, as he continued to spank me, losing himself in my body.

  My body didn’t hold back or wait as I orgasmed so hard I collapsed on the bed. His sinister chuckle reached my ears as he yanked me back up positioning me on all fours and my back arched for him..

  “Oh, baby… We’ve only just begun,” he said to me, and chills ran up my spine.

  I turned my head to look at him and he gripped the nape of my neck. I closed my eyes, loving the feel of his fingers around my neck, gripping ever so tightly, yet not tight enough for me to feel unsafe with him. I opened my eyes again when I felt his lips brush mine. When my eyes connected with his, I recognized that crazed look from when he would come back from his battles blood thirsty and ready to slay anything in his path. This wasn’t simply Ales or Achilles looking at me, this was the warrior looking at me wanting some blood.

  He let me watch him for a moment and then he ever so slightly smiled. This smile wasn’t the million-dollar smile nor was it the boyish grin he gave me, this was the devil’s smile. This was the man I never wanted to piss off. The man I hadn’t seen in so long, but now, he was out to play, and my body was his first victim. He roughly pulled me into him causing our lips to crash. His kiss was so rough that my lips bled. I tasted blood on my tongue. He didn’t care as he deepened the kiss, making me insanely dizzy once more. He ripped his lips from mine, once again looking into my eyes as if warning me. I challenged him back, my gaze never wavering.

  His smile turned into a wicked smirk as he leaned back without removing the grip on my neck. He was still enlarged inside of me as he flexed his grip causing my body to respond by arching. He
chuckled and maneuvered me so that my face rested on the bed, looking to my left, as he began to move. I felt every powerful thrust his body released onto me. I moaned loving the attention my body was getting, yet hating that I couldn’t touch him. I reached out, but his other hand grabbed both my wrists. I was bound, unable to move. He continued to drive in and out of me, ripping another orgasm from me so quickly it surprised even me. I dared to move my eyes and look at him. He looked like the perfect painting of ecstasy. He had his head thrown back as his hair flowed behind him while biting his bottom lip. His body flexed with every movement, every thrust caused his abs to constrict as the sounds of our rough love making filled the house. He gripped both my neck and wrists tighter as his moving in and out became slower yet rougher. His face contorted in what seemed to be pure bliss. I smiled. Even if it was momentary, I gave that to him. I would always give him that.

  “Ales…” I called out to him.

  I spread my legs a bit wider, wanting to match up with his slow, rough thrusts. I moved my body in sync with his.

  “Just let me, baby…” my voice filled with pure ecstasy as my body sung out to him. “Let me make you feel good. I can do it,” I beckoned him, wanting him to open his eyes and look at me. I wanted to see his eyes. I wanted to know and feel him with both his eyes and his body.

  I couldn’t look away from him. He straightened his head and looked at me. The intense look made his pale green eyes grow darker, almost mischievous.

  “Come for me, baby,” he said to me and my body obeyed. I shuddered as we continued to look at each other while he released inside of me. “I love you.” He grunted.

  My eyes fluttered at the after effect.

  “I love you, Ales. I always will.”

  Ales

  I watched the love of my life as she fell asleep in my arms. I had all this pent-up anger I needed to release, but I didn’t want to take it all out on her. She didn’t deserve all of that. I thought about where my anger and energy were most needed. It was time to extract all the information from the asset, whether he liked it or not.

  I slipped out of the bed walking toward the bathroom. I shut the door and jumped in the shower. I quickly showered, fighting my body from wanting to go back to bed to rest in Elani’s warmth. I shut the water off, opened the glass shower door, and began to dry myself off, hoping this last session wouldn’t go as horrible as it had been.

  My fist connected to the muscular man’s jaw. I knew it would break if I did it again. I stopped torturing him with the fists I had been raining on him. He looked battered as he hung upside down with blood all over his face. I inched closer to his face.

  “Are you ready to tell us how much information you gave them?” I asked.

  He spat in my face, a mixture of blood and spit. I curled my upper lip in disgust as I wiped the spit of my face. I glared at him for a minute. I smiled, loving his reaction. The nameless man, now that he was wiped from existence, looked at me and I knew he was terrified. I got a rush from the fear in his eyes. He knew that I knew he was broken already. I had him.

  My smile didn’t disappear as I reached into the small of my back, where my gun was tucked. I pressed the barrel of the gun on his temple.

  “You don’t want to die, do you?” I asked, taunting him. “I mean, you want to live and get some sort of immunity, right? You claim to be this strong man, but you forget before you left for your part of the mission, you were the bottom. You are weak. Little boys like you make me cringe.” I forced myself to stop speaking, not wanting to waste even more time on him.

  I watched his facial expression as I used my other hand to punch him right where his Adam’s apple bobbed. He opened his mouth to exclaim, then I shoved my gun in his mouth. I cocked my eyebrow as the stench of his piss filled the air. This was nothing to me, and it didn’t distract me from my mission.

  “Tell me,” I commanded. My voice came out menacingly lower than it usually was.

  He mumbled the name I was looking for to unlock his computer.

  “Thank you,” I said as I removed the barrel of my gun.

  He started to breathe again.

  I cleaned his spit off my gun on his drenched t-shirt. I heard a knock, and then someone came in the room. It wasn’t the director; he never wanted to get his hands dirty. He pretended like this side of the job never existed, nor had he heard of it. I shook my head as I heard Patro’s heavy footsteps make it toward me. I tilted my head and observed the traitor. It took me almost a whole month to break him. I had to give him props for remembering his training. I had trained him, but he seemed to forget why I was the leader of this team. Unfortunately, instead of seeing the example, he became the example.

  “Did you hear me?” Patro interrupted my thoughts as I began to drift off into that headspace when I remembered the Trojan war I fought in.

  I shook my head to rid of the blood lust rising inside of me.

  “What did you say?”

  “It’s Jace.”

  I rolled my eyes at that name. I swear, if he caused more trouble, I would do more than just let Patro beat him to a pulp.

  “What about that punk?”

  “Cyril. Jace is Cyril.”

  At his statement, I turned around so fast I almost lost my balance. My eyebrows furrowed.

  “What does that mean? How?”

  Patro shook his head.

  “He made a deal with Hades. I didn’t know about all this until now, when your mother told me.”

  “SHE ISN’T MY MOTHER!” I yelled.

  My chest was heaving, and I didn’t know why. Why couldn’t I accept her as my mother as easily as I accepted everything else? I shook my head again. I needed to kill something.

  After a moment, I looked Patro in his eyes and whatever he saw there made him take a step back from me. I should’ve been shocked, but instead, I fed off the fear.

  “Kill mission,” I said, before walking away.

  The nameless man whimpered.

  I had forgotten all about him. I stopped and slowly turned to face him. He seemed relieved to see me walking back toward him, but then I smirked, and the fear crept back in full force; his body started to shake.

  Good.

  I stared down at him as he stared up at me. I didn’t say anything, nor did my smirk disappear. I pointed the gun at his temple and pulled the trigger.

  I didn’t think about anything else as I turned around to leave. I fought in many wars. This was nothing compared to what I had seen and participated in. He should feel lucky that what I did to Hector’s body, back then, was not done to him. I didn’t mutilate his body, nor did I humiliate him.

  Lucky bastard.

  One way or another, something had to be done about those who tried to infiltrate and were successful at turning one of our agents. I reached into my jean pocket, pulling out my phone. I sent a mass text to my team of six letting them know it was time. My body hadn’t felt like this for a long time now, and I was ready to kill. What brought me joy was knowing Cyril was back in my life. I could just jump from glee at how much I would enjoy ending his life. Many different things flashed in my head, but I told myself one kill mission at a time.

  “Find him,” I said to Patro as we were in the hall walking toward the helicopter waiting outside for us.

  ***

  I shut my eyes as we rode in through the dark Vegas sky, the angry clouds mirroring my mood.. I needed to get my head into this moment, and be void of everything else, yet a memory of when Alana and I became one popped into my head.

  I hadn’t thought about that moment for so long, but even then, when I made that decision, I never regretted it. It was days before I left again for war, after she begged me not to go. I told her to wait in my chambers as I discussed something with the priest. She trusted me, not questioning what I wanted from a priest I never talked to even from the moment I was born. It could’ve been because of the memory of my dear friend Patrocleus and how much love I had for him as my brother that made me realize I never wanted
to lose another soul I loved dearly.

  Although I loved Patrocleus and Alana two different ways, it did not mean I loved one less. It was silent when I walked back into my chambers. I looked around to see Alana preparing my bath before the feast began, the feast I told her not to go to. She looked beautiful as her curly mane cascaded down her back. It was much longer than before, but I was the only one with the honor to run my fingers through it when she unbraided it. She was a sight for me in her silky, see-through nightwear. I could see the outlines of her ample breasts as she got on her knees, bending over a bit to test the temperature of the water. Her movements weren’t done on purpose, but her back arched exposing more of the roundness of her butt.

  I looked behind me to see the priest watching her as well. I tilted my head and cocked my eyebrow with my arms folded over my chest, waiting for him to look my way. He felt my eyes on him then turned to look at me. He had the nerve to look ashamed. I could’ve gouged his eyes out for that simple act, but I needed him.

  I cleared my throat and turned to look at Alana. She looked up at me and innocently smiled. I loved this woman so hard that I would never be able to see straight ever again. She owned me in more ways than one.

  “Come here, love,” I called to her.

  She didn’t hesitate as she stood up and walked over to me. She stood at a distance from me because of the priest in the room. I reached out, taking her hand in mine. I never wanted her to feel like she couldn’t stand closer to me than she already was. I looked down at her as she faced away from me looking down at her bare feet. I tucked a finger under her chin and guided her to look up at me.

  Alana stared into my eyes while I watched her for a moment. She didn’t say anything as I smiled at her. I knew how much she loved that smile and she was always the cause of it. I was in a dark place after Patrocleus died, and she was there, just as if the gods knew, if they placed her right in front of me, I would never let go of her. Not even in death will I ever let go of her.