Marked (23 page)

The daemon saw her falter. And the SOB actually laughed.

Oh, shit
.

Sweat broke out on her forehead. She was going to fall. She was sixty feet up, with no weapon and no one to save her. If, that is, she survived the drop.

Oh, shit, oh, shit, oh, shit.

“Theron!”

The branch she was holding snapped like a twig. And then all she felt was air.

Hades wasn’t alone. He’d know that damn flower scent anywhere.

His head jerked up, and he leapt off his throne so fast he nearly tripped down the five marble stone steps. He made it as far as the archway before the double wood doors were thrown open and Persephone flung herself into his arms.

“My sweet,” he crooned, gathering her close and kissing her hard. Her hands flew to his face, her mouth was possessive against his, warming the coldest space inside him. “Missed you…so.”

She groaned against him, frantic as her hands ran under his shirt and across his skin. “My, god.”

He chuckled and turned her around, pushing her back toward his throne and the solid stone table just to the left
he knew she liked so very much. “I am. All yours. Now tell me how you got away from the wicked bitch of the west.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled back and chuckled to herself while he kissed her throat. “Don’t talk about my mother like that. You know I don’t like it when you take that tone.”

Since she sounded anything but upset, he licked the column of her neck, slid his hands around to her ass and lifted her so he could get her to the table as fast as possible.

“Hades, wait. We have business first.”

“Business?” And that’s when he noticed the slight creature standing in the corner of the room, just inside the door. He dropped his queen to her feet and whirled back around. “She’s human.”

“Argolean,” Persephone said, placing one of her delicate hands on his chest. “Future Queen of Argolea, actually.”

Oh, now this was interesting.

He looked down at the slight
gynaíka
with her big brown eyes and nearly white hair. He could tell she was sick, but she held an air of authority that intrigued him. One he doubted she was even aware of. “Come in,” he barked.

She hesitated, then cautiously stepped forward.

In the light she wasn’t simply beautiful, she was magnificent, and he knew interest flared in his eyes before he could stop it. Persephone saw it too. She punched him hard in the stomach and glared at him. “Not her. And not when I’m standing here, you jackass, or I’ll make you both sorry.”

Hades coughed and rubbed a hand over his abdomen, then laughed when he saw the
gynaíka
’s frightened eyes dart between him and his queen. “She’s too small. I’m pretty sure I’d split her in two. Besides, I gave up virgins last year.” He looked back at his wife. “Really, Persephone, if you were going to bring me a treat—”

Persephone socked him again, and he doubled over, laughing twice as hard. She was the only creature in the world allowed to raise a hand to him, and he loved every moment of it.

Persephone’s eyes flashed. “Pull your head out of your pants for ten seconds. She’s here about the pact.”

That got his attention. “My pact?”

“Is there any other?”

A wicked smile slid across his mouth. “Oh, now this
is
interesting. What is it you want, little queen?”

The
gynaíka
took two steps closer, then stopped. Fear flashed in her eyes, but she lifted her chin, looking every bit the regal queen she could become. “I—I ask that your pact be broken. Or at the very least, postponed.”

He lifted one eyebrow as he drew his queen to his side, amused at the Argolean’s audacity. “And why should I do that?”

“Because…” The
gynaíka
swallowed. “Because I’m one half of the prophecy.”

Well, duh. He’d already figured that out, but he was intrigued enough to hear the rest of what she had to say. “And the other half?”

“My sister.”

“And let me guess,” he said, slowly running his hand up and down Persephone’s spine. “You’ve come to ask me to spare the human’s life.”

“She’s not just a human. She’s a Misos.”

“Even better.” Hades scoffed. “Useless. I don’t know why your kind can’t keep their pants zipped.” Persephone punched him in the arm. His head swiveled in her direction. “Do that once more, wife, and I’ll make you pay.”

Desire lit her eyes. “Promise?”

He growled low in his throat and leaned in to take her mouth again.

The Argolean’s coughing brought his head up in irritation. He pinned the exasperating creature with a look. “Why in all that is evil in my realm are you still here?”

“Hades,” Persephone warned.

He sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting inside his queen until he appeased her and dealt with this situation first. “Very well. You do realize the ramifications of this, correct?”

The
gynaíka
nodded.

“And you realize that by interfering, you set events into motion that cannot be undone?”

The
gynaíka
hesitated, looked between them and nodded again.

Hades shrugged. “Fine. Your human’s life is spared.” The
gynaíka
breathed out a sigh of relief. “But not without a price.”

“But Persephone said—”

He nuzzled his queen’s jaw. “What ever bargain you struck with my conniving wife is between the two of you. I still require payment. One soul. Yours or hers. I don’t care which.”

“Now?”

“Now could be interesting,” he said, smiling down at his wife, “but the time isn’t of my choosing.”

The
gynaíka
looked as if she would be ill. Which pleased him. It very much pleased him.

“Well?” he asked. “What do you say?”

She glanced at her hands, seemed to struggle with some internal debate, then closed her eyes. “Mine,” she whispered.

His laughter bubbled up from the depths of his soul as his eyes ran up and down her slight and very feminine body. Oh, what he would enjoy doing to her, with Persephone’s approval or not.

“Make yourself comfortable, little queen.” His hand slid down to Persephone’s ass. “The show’s about to begin.”

The
gynaíka
’s eyes snapped open, and shock registered in her fine features, igniting a whole new set of bargains
in his head. Ones that involved not only him, but his wife as well. “I’m not going home?”

“Not yet.” Hades’s smile widened. Catching on, Persephone’s did too. “Not yet. Not until we’re both done with you.”

She smelled lavender. And leather. And something she thought had to be thyme.

Which was strange, because thyme wasn’t a scent she could normally stomach. Today it smelled like heaven.

Casey drew a deep breath and tried to roll over. A stabbing pain in her side kept her from getting too far, and she pried her eyes open, wondering just what the heck was going on.

The first thing she noticed was the fire roaring in the massive marble fireplace across the room. A quick glance down and she realized she was in a bed with crisp white sheets and a fluffy comforter. She was clean, her toes were toasty, her pillow was soft, but this wasn’t a room she’d ever been in before.

She tried to sit up as her brain slowly came back on line. The last thing she remembered was being in that tree, the daemon shaking it vigorously, her fingers slipping and…

She turned her head and saw Theron asleep in an armchair next to her bed.

His hair was damp, as if he’d recently showered, and he was dressed in faded jeans and a tight black T-shirt. His perfect feet were bare, propped up on the side of the mattress, his head tipped to the side, his eyes closed as he caught a few z’s. He looked like an angel fast asleep, and try as she might to squelch it, Casey’s heart did a little flip at the sight of him.

On closer examination she saw the bruises and nicks on his arms and face and remembered back to the way he’d
fought in the clearing. Then realized this was no angel. He was a warrior. And somehow, he’d rescued her again.

Damn hero complex.

She wiggled his toe. “Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

He jerked awake and dropped his foot to the floor. Eyes sleepy and sexy and a little dazed, he stared at her. Then moved so fast, she couldn’t track him. One minute he was on that chair, blinking as though he didn’t know who she was, and the next he was with her in the big bed, pulling her into his arms and holding her close.

Okay, not a bad way to wake up, all things considered. Casey’s heart kicked up as he ran his hands up and down her spine and spoke soft words in her ear in a language she didn’t understand.

Oh, man. She’d always been a sucker for the foreign-language thing.

“Either I was asleep a lot longer than I thought or you’re just happy to see me,” she teased.

He didn’t laugh at her joke, but his big body relaxed against her. “You’ve been asleep for nearly eight hours,
meli
. I was worried.”

Eight hours didn’t sound so bad. Considering she’d knocked herself out during the middle of a war, though…

“Where are we?” she asked against him.

“My home.”

His? Really?

“You’re completely safe here. The daemons can’t get into Argolea.”

They couldn’t? She wanted to ask why, but was distracted by the realization that…she was in Argolea.

Wow. That was just…wild.

“How did I get here? I thought Nick said I had to willingly cross the portal. I don’t remember doing that.”

He ran a hand down her hair, smoothing the stray locks back from her face. “You were a little out of it from the fall. Nick helped me bring you here. Yes, you agreed to cross, but you were going in and out of consciousness
at the time. It doesn’t surprise me that you don’t remember.”

“Nick’s here?”

He shook his head. “He went right back.”

Back. To that battle. To the daemons attacking his people.
Her
people.

She grasped his forearm. “Marissa—”

“She’s fine. Nick and the others beat them back. They’ve been doing this for a long time,
meli
.”

Was that sadness in his voice or had she just imagined it?

And then she thought of Dana.

She dropped her head against his chest as a wave of grief rolled through her. “Where did he find Dana?”

His hand traced a lazy circle on her back. “I don’t know.”

But he did. She could hear it in his voice. Feel it in the tingle at the base of her spine, near her birthmark. Just as she sensed he wasn’t about to tell her the details. Because it had something to do with her. “I didn’t even know she was one of them. Us. Me. I should have. I always sensed she was different. She…” Casey closed her eyes tight. “We led them to the colony.”

“No. What happened wasn’t your fault. What happened to your friend wasn’t your fault. It was just…circumstances. Sometimes bad things happen for no reason.”

She knew that. Her whole life was filled with those rotten circumstances. But it didn’t make reality any easier to accept. And she missed Dana with a ferocious ache she wasn’t sure would ever ease.

When she finally let go long minutes later and looked up, the scratches and bruises on his face again reminded her of what he’d done. She ran her fingers over his cheek. “You look like you’ve been wrestling with a mountain lion.”

His sad smile nearly melted her heart. “I’m fine,
meli
. You were the one…” He closed his mouth, seemed to
gather himself. “When I heard you scream…I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

Casey’s heart thumped against her ribs at the emotion she heard in his voice. She closed her hand over his. When their fingers intertwined, she had a flash of the battle. Of his fighting daemon after daemon, saving the lives of the Misos, hearing her scream and rushing for the tree just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. She saw her body slam into his and the way they rolled, the way he took the brunt of the force and shielded her from harm. Then he was on his feet again in a flash, clashing with the daemon at the bottom—the one waiting to kill her.

My hero.

The words revolved around in her head as she stared at him. And in that instant she knew. Whether she really was his or not didn’t matter. She’d fallen for this very unlikely hero who’d slipped into her life and turned her entire world upside down. Two days ago she’d been so angry with him, she could barely see straight. But now…

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing. I just…”

Now she loved him.

Her chest grew tight at that thought. Holy cow, was it possible? Could she…love someone? Especially him? He was an Argonaut. One of his race’s guardians. She still wasn’t entirely sure why he’d brought her here. And he despised humans.

“Are you all right,
meli
?”

No, she wasn’t
all right
. She was on the edge of freaking out. She shook her head to try to clear the fuzz and looked down at their joined hands. Then remembered the vision she’d had of him and his father in those woods. “What did he say?”

“Who?”

“Your father. Before he died, he said, ‘
To peprōmenon phugein adunaton, gios mou.’
What does that mean?”

Something unsettling crossed his face. But he didn’t look away. “He said, ‘It is impossible to escape from what is destined, my son.’”

She looked back down at their hands.
What is destined
.

Was coming here destined? Was meeting him part of her destiny? She didn’t buy into all that crap about soul mates and finding the one person you were fated to be with for life, but at the same time she couldn’t ignore that there was something pushing her toward Theron and had been from the very beginning. Something that seemed…almost out of her control.

Was that love?

His fingers wrapped completely around her hand, engulfing hers in his. He stroked his thumb gently over her skin. “It’s an ancient Greek saying. A reminder that each of us is born with a purpose.”

Purpose. That made sense. “And what’s your purpose, Theron?”

His thumb stopped moving, and when he looked down at her, it was as if she could see forever in his dark eyes. “For as long as I’ve been alive, it’s been about doing what I was trained to do for my people. But now…I’m not so sure anymore.”

Her heart skipped a beat. And another. And another.

And right then she knew.

She did love him. Which was scary and electrifying all at the same time because she’d never been in love before. Somehow over the past few days, she’d fallen for this big, bad guardian in a way she knew she’d never totally recover from. And the fact he was still struggling with figuring it all out himself was sort of endearing.

And completely empowering.

She needed to do something about it before she lost her nerve.

Ignoring the ache in her side from hitting the hard earth, she leaned in to kiss him. He sucked in a breath as she closed the distance between their mouths, held it
while her lips brushed his, then went lax beneath her touch.

A smile pulled at her lips. How fascinating that she could turn such a virile warrior to jelly just by kissing him. And how enthralling that he reacted this way to
her
.

No one else ever had. Oh, she’d had a handful of lovers—in college, later when she’d been traveling—but none had ever fired her up like Theron did. None had
ever
seemed unable to get enough of her like Theron did.

He tipped his head and opened his mouth to her, drawing her deep into a kiss he took charge of. His hand slid into her hair as he dragged her closer until she was against his chest and very nearly on top of his lap as she’d been in that cave.

Oh, yeah, she could get used to this. The way he took what he wanted, but was gentle and giving in the process. Almost as if her pleasure meant more to him than his own. Why hadn’t she given in to this earlier?

“Meli,”
he whispered, shifting his big legs and pushing her back on the bed. “What you do to me. Ah, gods.”

Her whole body quivered at the desire in his voice. She reached for him and pulled him down on top of her. He was still gentle, settling his weight on his elbows, easing down into the cradle of her body until his erection prodded between her legs. But instead of stripping her bare and driving deep, as she expected him to, he brushed her hair back from her face with both hands and gazed at her so long, that tingling near her birthmark kicked up all over again.

Something was definitely wrong here.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, running his thumb softly along her temple. “So beautiful and so fragile. Like the most exquisite crystal in my hands.”

Okay, that was sweet but…there was more he wasn’t saying. She could see it in his eyes. Like he knew something she didn’t. She searched for answers in his face as his words whirled in her head. Beautiful. Fragile. Breakable.

Those weren’t words she’d ever use to describe herself. Unless she was sick.

And suddenly it all made sense.

What if the whole mystery illness Dr. Jill had found wasn’t such a mystery after all? What if it had to do with her Argolean half? And what if that’s what was making her sick? It explained why her long-lost father was looking for her. Explained Theron’s sudden search for her and the need to bring her here before her time was up.

Holy…
hell
. Was her time nearly up?

She searched his face, hoping for some sign she was wrong, but she didn’t see it. All she saw was…pity. A lump formed in her throat. “How long do I have?”

If her question surprised him, he didn’t show it, and that fact just cemented her suspicions. “I don’t know,” he said softly.

Wow. Now there was a mood buster. She was too stunned to feel anything other than disbelief as she ran her fingers through his dark hair. The strands were like silk against her skin. Soft and real and solid.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to help you, Acacia.” His resolute voice drew her attention back to him. “Nothing’s changed. I’ll still protect you.”

His eyes were hard and intense, and she saw then he was a man who always got his way. He didn’t know how to fail.

“But you can’t, can you?” she said. “Because what’s happening to me isn’t something that can be fixed.”

His eyes slid to her hair, where he played with a stray lock without answering. But it wasn’t only pity she saw on his face anymore, it was secrets. And sadness.

“Don’t hold out on me, Theron. If you know what’s wrong with me, I want to know too.”

He sighed, as if he didn’t want to answer but knew he was stuck. “I don’t know. Not completely.”

“Best guess, then.”

He hesitated so long she was sure he wasn’t going to
answer, and then he said, “If I had to guess, I’d say your body isn’t strong enough to handle all the changes you’re going through right now.”

The changes. Meaning her Argolean side coming out of nowhere. Which explained why she was suddenly having glimpses into the past. “Is it normal for people in your race to come into their powers? To go through a change of sorts?”

He looked back to her eyes and shook his head, and she didn’t miss the shot of gut-wrenching sorrow there. “No. But it could be different for a Misos. Nick would know. We could ask him.”

We.
The one word both electrified and scared her all at the same time. Because she wanted to read so much more into it than what he implied.

Which was dumb, considering she was growing weaker by the day. Nick couldn’t help her. If he could, he would have already. And that meant this was a losing battle. And Theron knew it. Her chest tightened with the reality she was suddenly facing until all she wanted to do was forget.

Threading her fingers in his hair, she pulled his mouth back to hers. “Just kiss me, Theron.”

He hesitated, and she sensed the war inside him between what he wanted and what he deemed right. But when her fingers touched his cheek, his restraint broke. Suddenly he was kissing her deeply, pushing his hips into hers, driving her deeper into the mattress, filling not only her mouth but her heart and soul as well.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she mouthed against him. This was exactly what she wanted. What she’d wanted from the first moment she’d met him but was too afraid to ask for. Now? Now there was no reason to hold back. She ran her hands up his spine and groaned when he shifted his weight, pressing into the one spot she needed him to touch most.

His tongue slid over and around hers, stroking until
she felt her entire body come alive. He nipped at her bottom lip and she felt a lick of pain, then sucked the spot until she melted. Just when she was sure she couldn’t stand a second more teasing with his mouth, his lips blazed a trail across her jaw to her ear, while his hand found the edge of her shirt and slid along her abdomen, sending sparks down the column of her neck and the length of her torso. “You’re a gift, Acacia,” he said against her neck, kissing, licking, lavishing her with his touch. “One I never expected.”