Awakened (Eternal Guardians Book 8) (45 page)

“Talented in the ways of seduction… You must have had a really good trainer.”

Her grin widened. “The very best.”

Her lips found his, and as he kissed her, he knew that regardless of the ups and downs and twists and turns of his life, everything was finally the way it was supposed to be.

“If you get my daughter killed because you couldn’t get your ass outside these gates before Zeus’s Sirens showed up again,” Demetrius called, “I’ll take back everything I said and deliver you to the fucking god myself.”

Elysia dropped to her heels and giggled.

“That’s not funny.” Releasing her, Cerek steered her in front of him and pushed her down the path. “I’m pretty sure your father still wants to kill me.”

“I know.” Swiveling back toward him, she grasped his hand in both of hers and pulled him with her toward the gate. “Isn’t it awesome?”

Cerek couldn’t stop himself. He laughed. She was right. It
was
awesome. Awesome and normal and messy and right. And it was his life.

A life he couldn’t wait to get back to living.

EPILOGUE

“W
here are you taking me?” Elysia reached out with her hand to try to feel her way in the darkness. The blindfold Cerek had tied around her head blocked out all light, and she stumbled up the step.

“Gods, you’re so impatient.” Cerek’s warm hands against her upper arms sent tingles rushing all across her skin as he guided her forward. “Just a little farther.”

“You like when I’m impatient.”

“In bed. I like when you’re impatient in bed, not when I’m trying to surprise you.”

She smiled at the memory of her impatience last night. He’d recently rejoined the Argonauts, and last week was the first time they’d been separated since their binding. His four-day mission in the human realm as the guardians intensified their search for the water element had felt like twenty, and she’d been more than impatient when he’d finally come home. So impatient they hadn’t even made it to the bed. She’d torn off his clothes in the living area of their suite and rocked both their worlds right out from under them before he got even three steps into the room.

“Okay,” he said, drawing her to a stop. “That’s far enough.”

His hands lifted from her shoulders to untie the sash from the back of her head, and as the fabric fell from her face, she blinked several times at her surroundings.

“Oh my gods.”

Cerek turned to look over the suite. Pale yellow walls framed a living room with plush furnishings and a rock fireplace that rose to the ceiling. The great room opened to a kitchen with granite counters and gleaming appliances. A hallway led back to what she guessed were the bedrooms, and a wall of windows overlooked the white-capped, blue-green Aegis Mountains in the distance.

Wide-eyed, Elysia moved toward the windows to gaze out at the view. “This is the north wing of the castle.”

“Yep.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “It’s been empty for years.”

He tucked his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and smiled, a warm, sexy smile that did crazy things to her insides. “I talked your parents into letting us have it. If it were up to me, we’d have our own place outside the city, in the trees, far from anyone who might interrupt us. But we can’t.”

She gazed back at the view. She wanted that too, but being heir to the throne came with a number of sacrifices, and on this point she’d had to agree with her parents. It wasn’t safe for her to live outside the castle walls. There were still political factions within Argolea that wanted to see the demise of the monarchy. Until that changed—or until her parents produced a son who would overtake her in succession to the throne—she had responsibilities, and those responsibilities outweighed her personal wishes and desires.

He moved up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What do you think?”

She lifted her hands to his and ran her fingers over his rough and sexy skin. “I think it’s incredible. Did you do all this?”

“Your mom helped. And Daphne. It was their binding gift to us. They did the decorating. All I did was some of the renovations.”

“When?” She angled her head to look up at him.

“At night. When you were sleeping. I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I love it.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

“So do I.” He turned her in his arms and brushed the hair back from her face. “Especially because this far from your parents’ suite, they can’t hear your throaty, sexy screams when you fuck my brains out right here on the floor.”

She laughed, then sighed as his mouth found hers. And as she sank into his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck, she thought back to the day she’d run from this castle. Back then, she’d believed binding herself to another and accepting her role as heir to the throne would signal the end of her life. She’d had no idea then that it would be the start of something wonderful.

He drew back and gazed down at her with warm, gorgeous brown eyes she sometimes couldn’t believe she was lucky enough to stare into for the rest of her life. “Happy?”

“Yes. Sublimely.” She trailed her fingers through the silky hair at his nape and grinned. “Or I will be. If this carpet you picked out is half as soft as it looks.”

His eyes lit with an erotic light, and he chuckled. “Oh, it is,
emmoní
. Extremely soft.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to the floor. “Let me show you, right now.”

She fell on top of him and giggled. But her laughter turned to sighs of pleasure when he rolled her over and kissed her. And as their hands explored and their mouths fused, she couldn’t help but be thankful that Zeus’s Sirens had kidnapped her all those months ago. Because if they hadn’t, she never would have found Cerek, and she wouldn’t have the one thing that now mattered more than anything else.

She wouldn’t have love.

“A
h.” Lachesis sighed and leaned back from the bowl of water in the courtyard behind the home she shared with her sisters and waved her hand so the image of Cerek and Elysia faded in a swirl of water. “They both fulfilled their destinies. And we didn’t have to intervene after all.”

Frowning, Zagreus went back to deadheading roses in the courtyard. Leave it to the fucking Fates to cut the feed just when things were about to get interesting between the Argonaut and his hot little mate.

Atropos harrumphed as she tucked her hands behind her head and reclined on the chaise in the sunlight. “I still think we could have cut that boy loose and the girl would have ultimately fulfilled her destiny.”

“Maybe,” Clotho pointed out from her seat on the edge of the fountain. “But she would have accepted her fate as heir begrudgingly. And she wouldn’t have been happy.”

Atropos rolled her eyes. “Happy schmappy. Happiness is overrated. Look at Ziggy over there. He’s not happy, and he’s fulfilling his destiny just fine.”

Zagreus clenched his jaw. He’d like to use these shears to snip the bratty Fate’s head off, but he didn’t dare. Fuming, he glanced down at the blades in his hand. Oh, how he wanted to, though. Just one good snap to shut the bitch up.

“Well,” Lachesis said, sitting in the chair beside her sister, “regardless of what you think, everything worked out. That was a good idea by us, I must say.”

Zagreus huffed.

“What was that, Ziggy?” Lachesis called. “Did you say something?”

“What the hell worked out?” he snapped before he could stop himself. “Zeus has the fucking Orb. He’s one element away from being able to release Krónos from Tartarus. And if that happens, hold on to your boobs, bitches, because that sick fuck will find a way to mess up every one of your so-called ‘good ideas.’”

The Fates exchanged glances.

In the silence, Zagreus looked from face to face. “Oh, you don’t like hearing the truth? Too fucking bad.” He went back to snipping roses. “Someone needs to say it. Might as well be me. You can’t fuck up my life any more than you already have.”

The sound of water spraying in the fountain echoed through the courtyard. Frowning, he tossed a rose hip in the bucket at his feet and went back to pruning. Holy hell, he was ready to use the damn shears to snip off his own head. And he would. If it would work. But of course it wouldn’t, because he was a minor god and therefore im-fucking-mortal.

“Atropos is right,” Lachesis said, “you don’t seem happy here, Ziggy.”

“Ya think?” Zagreus tossed another rose hip in the bucket, this one with more force than necessary. The rose hip hit the bottom and bounced out to land in the flower bed.

“When Hades sent you to us,” the Fate continued, “it wasn’t supposed to be forever. Just until you had time to reflect on the error of your ways.”

Zagreus’s shears stilled against the rosebush, and a tingle raced down his spine. Was the Fate saying—

“As much as we enjoy your company,” Clotho added, “we think that time has come and gone.”

Heat spread through Zagreus’s limbs as he turned to stare at the Fates. Holy shit… They were letting him go.

“Not quite,” Atropos said, clearly reading his mind. “We have one stipulation to granting your freedom.”

Zagreus dropped his shears into the bucket. “I’m listening.”

“We agree with you in that Zeus cannot have the Orb.” Lachesis tipped her head and pinned him with her hard gaze. “The repercussions, should he find the last element before the Argonauts, are unacceptable to the balance of the universe.”

“Well, no shit.”

“In order to earn your freedom,” the Fate went on, ignoring his comment, “you must complete one task for us. You’ll steal the Orb from Zeus.”

Excitement burned hot and wild inside Zagreus’s belly. Zeus had stored the Orb with his lusty Sirens. Zagreus had no problem fucking his way through that Order to steal the Orb. “Consider it done.”

Atropos cleared her throat. “Ah no. That is
not
what you’re going to do. You’re going to keep your dick in your pants, find the Orb, and return it to the Argoleans.”

Whoa. Wait. What the fuck? His eyes widened. “You want me to give it back to them? They want to destroy the damn thing.”

“Exactly.” Lachesis folded her hands in her lap. “That is the only way order will be restored to the universe.”

“If you want your freedom, Ziggy,” Clotho said, “you’ll steal the Orb from Zeus, return it to the Argonauts, and you won’t touch a single Siren in the process.”

Where the hell was the fun in that?

“The point is not to have fun,” Atropos said. “The point is to do something for the good of all mankind.”

Zagreus huffed. “What the hell do I care about the good of mankind? I’m not human.”

“No, you’re not.” Lachesis pushed to her feet. “You have the potential to be a whole lot more.”

Clotho and Atropos rose and stood next to Lachesis, smiling knowing, secretive grins. And as Zagreus looked over each Fate, a tingle of apprehension rushed down his spine.

“That is the offer for your eventual freedom, Ziggy.” Lachesis lifted her brow in anticipation. “The decision is up to you. Now what is your choice?”

ETERNAL GUARDIANS LEXICON