A Spartan's Kiss (21 page)

One look at the rough angles of his profile and she realised how hard he fought to remain under control. He cared if she left. He truly did. He didn’t care about Dare, or the chalice. He cared about her.

Dare tugged on her arm and snapped her sappy thoughts in two.

“You’ve broken the spells, Tabithia. We need to go.”

“I know, I know.” Tabithia waved Dare to one of the dark arches leading out of the mess they’d landed in, yelling to be heard over the creature’s roars. Aeros circled the beast, striking viciously, clearing the way for them.

They dodged for the opening, but at the archway she stalled. Dare hadn’t wasted time. She had already raced down the passage ahead of Tabithia.

Think, Tabithia, think.

She couldn’t leave like this. Aeros might get hurt.

And pigs might fly.

I can’t just go.

Dare slowed and glanced back. Seeing her standing still, the other witch stopped completely. Resting her hands on her knees breathlessly, she said, “What are you doing?”

“I have to help Aeros,” she whispered.

“What?”

In a stronger voice she said, “I have to help him. I can’t leave like this.”

“You can’t. Tabithia, listen to me.” Dare started jogging back towards her, but Tabithia ignored the other witch.

This was more than simply aiding Aeros. This creature threatened many within its domain. She’d bet her Ecosse it’d been brought here from another realm. Perhaps even forced here to stop its killing elsewhere. Wherever he was from, he didn’t belong to Earth. She felt the discord his existence caused. Quickly, thread by thread, she began a spell to ensure the creature never harmed another. Casting her hands up, she struck just as Dare gripped her shoulder and tried to jerk her around.

“Stop! Don’t use magic, Tabithia! Magic makes it stronger.”

Ah, goddess. Her spell hit, and as they watched, the beast grew bigger, clearly larger than before. Snarling at her, it snarled menacingly at her and took a step forward only to find Aeros in its face. Tabithia thought she saw something like greed in its eyes before it snapped its attention to Aeros. The two suddenly lunged at each other at the same time. Somehow Aeros managed to drive his shoulder into the creature’s stomach and toss him hard against the cave wall. The monster’s lion head made a sick sound hitting the rock and it slid downward, not moving.

Aeros rounded on her, sword still in his fist, breathless and sweating. He looked adorable.

“Sonofabitch, Tabithia, you need to get out of here.”

Hadn’t he just wanted her to stay? “I thought you wanted me to stay!” Immediately, she wanted to take the words back. She sounded too emotional. Too…something not like her. Whiny.

Aeros shot her a surprised look.

The creature lumbered to its feet, rising up from the floor. Across the space, she met Aeros’ dark gaze and saw him clench his jaw. He nodded sharply. “Stay back then, and don’t get fucking hurt.”

His words seemed to inflame the thing. One second it was swivelling its head from Tabithia to Aeros, the next it snarled, stood on its hind legs, and swiped at Aeros angrily, roaring so loud that dirt shook down on them.

Aeros jumped over the sheep carcasses and beat the beast back with stroke after stroke of his blade. Muscles straining, he fought the creature back gradually.

“What is that thing, Dare?”

“It’s a chupacabra-demon. Don’t let it touch you with its fangs. Its saliva will stun you, allowing it to take your blood. And it will drink you dry, sister.”

“Drink me dry?” Hecate, this was bad. She couldn’t leave Aeros like this. Not a chance. “Dare, I want you to head down that passage. Keep going until you hit daylight. If I don’t show up, start walking.”

“Leave you?” Dare frowned, eying the creature, then Tabithia as if she wanted to help.

“Your power is still bound, right?”

Dare nodded hesitantly. “I can use some of it…”

“Go, I will be fine. Go!”

Dare grimaced but nodded, glanced once at Aeros bear-wrestling the beast and dashed off quickly down the passage.

Good. Dare was out. Now to snag the chalice, hand it over and save Aeros. Saying a prayer to the Three, she drew her knife and moved in. If they could somehow cripple it, they could escape. “Aeros! Over here, you need to move him this way.”

Aeros didn’t seem to hear her, and she didn’t wait to see if he did, she simply moved in, striking low enough to hit the creature behind the knees and slicing deep at its tendons.

Roaring, it flung its head back, but didn’t appear to slow down.

Now what?

Aeros gave her a wild look and hissed his breath out when the creature wrapped a huge paw around his neck. A scream threatened to break free from her throat, but she shouted instead, “Don’t let it bite you, Aeros. It’s poison! Poison!”

She’d barely got the warning out before the thing shoved Aeros back and spun towards her. Faster than she could comprehend, a long, clawed paw ripped into her side, tearing her open from stomach to ribs as she jerked sideways.

Rage exploded behind her eyes as the pain erupted along her body. Still full of the jungle’s power, she called the wind, forcing the creature back, using the elements to get them free, but not hitting it directly with any of her power.

Aeros cursed, anger flickering in his eyes at her.

“Tabithia, get back!”

She centred her attention on him and saw by his angry scowl that she’d broken one of his ‘stay back and not get hurt’ rules.

“I told you not to get fucking hurt!” He looked at her with a worried frown, clearly upset by the blood oozing from her side. He said something else before jumping back into action, but she couldn’t hear him over the roaring.

Aeros tore into the creature with a vengeance, delivering blow after blow. But the beast didn’t slow down—it was only further enraged. She nearly screamed like Dare when it  knocked Aeros down with a blow to the head. He caught himself and used his backward momentum to ram his blade into the creature when it followed him. The blow didn’t appear to harm the damn thing. It simply kept coming at Aeros.

Tabithia took a breath and dived for the creature’s throat. The throat was always the best bet in a fight. She didn’t expect the monster to beat her to the grab, though. It roared again, and she heard her eardrum pop at the sound before its foul, smelly body suffocated her.

Aeros cursed wildly. She struggled against what felt like fur-covered iron granite without making a dent. Holy Hecate, this gave a whole new meaning to bear hug.

Aeros took one look at the creature, dripping blood and snarling with Tabithia slung under its arm like a trophy, and felt his head explode. Something he’d never let happen before—losing his temper—happened now. He practically roared louder than the creature. Tabithia, so brilliant, so brave, harmed already, had come back for him and here she was, in danger.

Letting loose with a flurry of attacks, he sliced the beast deep enough that it fell to its knees. Roaring in pain, fangs bared, it still didn’t release Tabithia.

She fought it, kicking and screaming, hitting it with volleys of wind and rain. Still, the beast fought them. Gradually, it began to slow, until, with a muffled groan, it fell to its side and Tabithia scooted away from it, kicking it once with a tiny boot and a snarl when she broke free.

“Geesh.” Breathless, she grinned up at him. She was covered in gore, blood seeped from her wounds, and still she looked as beautiful as ever.

“Tabithia, you scare the goddamn shit out of me.”

“Really, Aeros, you need to watch your language.” She slowly stood upright herself but immediately hunched back over, gripping her side and sucking in a sharp breath.

He took one step and she hissed, stopping him in his tracks. Head down, she held up a hand and shook her head. Damn it, the woman was hard-headed. Still, instead of aiding her, he bit the inside of his cheek.

She was in pain. Needlessly. He could have taken the beast down. Eventually. True, he’d had some trouble, but the damn beast had taken blow after blow. It had only been a matter of time before the creature had died. The point was, he never wanted to see her harmed. Something inside his chest constricted at the mere thought. His heart felt like a fist gripped it. Panic, he realised. She could have died. Poison, she’d said. The thing could have bitten her.

“No, no, no, I’m good. Did you get harmed? Any bites? Cuts?” She looked him over from head to toe. Seeming satisfied, she nodded. “Good then. You’re fine. No harm, right?”

“Tabithia, you should not have come back. You are harmed!”

“Duh, I’ll heal. I’m immortal.” She gave him an odd look, as if she wanted him to say something, as if she wondered if he were immortal. She had to know he was. He served Ares, had done so for what felt like forever.

“We are both immortal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be harmed. I don’t like it. I told—” A relieved look passed over her small face but she shot her shoulders back at his tone. He snapped his mouth shut. He’d been scolding her like a recruit.

Taking a deep breath, he finally got his heart back on track. The colour was coming back to her cheeks. She stood straight. Her side, he hoped, was healing already. Passing a wrist over her forehead, she squinted up at him.

“Yes, Aeros, I know. I broke the ‘don’t get hurt’ order, but so did you. Geesh, you’d think a guy your age would—”

“Tabithia.”

The creature at their feet let out one more moan and stilled, the life leaving it. The stench of the place was enough to knock Aeros off his feet but he stood, waiting for Tabithia’s next move. She was trying to distract him from the truth. He knew she was up to something, but now he wasn’t certain if she had freed the godhead—Dare, she’d called the other woman—and was now going to aid him out of this maze or not.

“Where is the godhead?”

She stepped over to the wall covered with the smoking runes and bent to pick up the chalice. Tossing it to him, she watched him grab it before she snapped, “You mean Dare, the witch your god unjustly held prisoner for a few, oh, I dunno, thousand years?” Tabithia grew angrier as she spoke. Her hands glowed light green, and Aeros wasn’t sure if she was aware of it. “I’ve done my part. There’s your god’s little cup. Take it back to him, Aeros. I won’t allow you more than that, though.”

“Tabithia, I had no idea Ares had taken a human.”

“Not a human, a witch. One from my own coven no less. What are the odds, right?” A slow breeze lifted the wisps of her hair free from her braid, giving the curly, red tresses a life of their own. “Do you believe him worthy of taking and imprisoning another?”

“I am not Ares’ keeper, Tabithia.”

“But he was Dare’s. Will you try to take her back to him?”

“Will you allow me? It is what I paid you for, Tabithia.”

“I don’t think so. You paid for a godhead.” She nodded to the empty cup in his hands, “I brought you to the godhead. That was our deal, Aeros, remember? You simply wanted me to guide you. You’d do the rest, remember?”

He gave her a stern look. She’d twisted their agreement.

Taking a deep breath, Tabithia drew her temper down, replacing her fire with ice. His worry skyrocketed. Tabithia all fire was full of life. Her expression seemed resigned now, as if she’d made some decision about them. A decision he’d not like. He was tired. He felt like he’d not rested in moons, and now he had to somehow navigate through this situation without offending either Tabithia or his god. But he couldn’t make both happy.

Tabithia watched him closely. Her eyes sparkled like green ice. “What will you do, oh Captain of the Mighty Spartans? Take an innocent witch against her will to your god?”

His life, Ares’ life, depended on this—at least according to Ares. His god had lied about the chalice. Had he lied about the power of this witch? Was the witch tied to Ares’ existence? If so, how? So many unanswered questions, and all he wanted was Tabithia. He couldn’t have her, though, he realised. Not until he’d discovered the truth behind Ares’ warnings. He wasn’t taking Dare back to Ares. He had the cup, and now, when push came to shove, he couldn’t disappoint Tabithia.

“Aeros?” The sound of Ajax calling him snapped them both out of their debate. Resisting the urge to pull Tabithia tight and kiss her worry away, he bent and cleaned his blade on the fallen beast. She was going to make her move. Now, if he had to guess. His heart contracted, feeling jagged and sore. She was so beautiful, so pale, and so fragile-looking to him. He wanted to pull her close, check her damn wounds and ensure himself that she wasn’t suffering. If she were his, he’d not allow her to go into this kind of danger. He’d protect her, cherish her, keep her safe, and pleasure her as often as he could.

Cinnamon eyebrows snapping down, she said, “Your men don’t follow orders well.”

“My orders were to give us two hours, then come after us.”

Looking surprised, she edged away from him.

“What will you do now?” he asked.

Her gaze flashed to his face. “What will you do?”

She challenged him. Her deep green eyes demanded he make the right decision. If he did what she wanted him to do, he would risk his own life as well as that of his men and possibly end up destroying Ares. Yet now that he’d seen Dare, he doubted the honesty of Ares’ words. How could one witch destroy them all? Even if Ares had lied, Aeros might never see Tabithia again, or if he did, it could be years from now. Ares punished without mercy when he didn’t get his way. This girl, Dare, was proof of that, no doubt. As it was, it might take weeks before he could see Tabithia again. Even if Ares merely chewed his ass, Tabithia hid so damn well, he knew finding her wouldn’t be easy. Just the thought had him gritting his teeth. He’d gamble for a few weeks, but he’d not chance years without this woman in his arms. He’d had enough of existing in a grey world without this brilliant, stunning woman.

But, right now, he was going to taste her, and, gods help him, he might not be able to back down after a mere taste.

“You’ll have to stop me from taking her, witch.” As he said the word ‘witch’, he snatched her into his arms and took possession of her soft, pink lips before she could react. He’d heard that holding a witch’s hands held her power. Holding her tight, he kept her hands trapped between them. Her taste exploded on his tongue—sweet, spicy cinnamon sugar.