North of Need (Hearts of the Anemoi, #1) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Owen gasped. Life grew within her.

Words spilled from him in the ancient language. Eyes fixed in wonder, he skimmed his hands over the silky skin of her abdomen.

Megan slid down the door, straddled his lap. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip, her eyes searching his. “So, um, I take it you can, uh, tell, too?”

“You’re pregnant,” he whispered, awe stealing his voice.

“Yes.”

He pressed a hand against her belly, held it there. “I feel him within you.” My child.
My son. Our
son
.

Megan grinned. “Yeah?”

He nodded. “Gods, Megan. I’m to be a father?”

“Yes.” Her breathing hitched.

“And you…you are the mother of my child.”

“Yeah,” she whispered. “Is all this okay?”

Okay?
Owen’s head reeled at how miraculous, how momentous, this news truly was. “Second to you saying you love me, it’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard.” His chest expanded and eyes stung with the force of his emotion. “Oh, however was I fortunate enough to find you?” He placed a worshipful kiss against her forehead.

“I’m the lucky one,” she said, then released a long, weighty sigh. “God, I’m so happy you’re happy about him.”

He sucked in a breath, pulled back so he could see her eyes. “Oh, angel, were you worried?”

“I don’t know, I…” She shrugged.

He pressed a chain of tiny kisses all over her face. “Be assured I want all of you. Every part of you. And this is more than I ever hoped for.” The joy that brightened her face was his greatest reward. Then something she’d said occurred to him. “Hey, what did you mean by ‘could I feel him,
too
?’”

A blush colored her face. How he’d missed that lovely tell. “Boreas was here.”

“What? When?” The Supreme God appearing to a human was beyond unusual. It was unheard of. Boreas had always kept to himself, ensconced within the Realm of Gods.

“The day you…disappeared.” She shuddered and her eyes glassed over. “I tried to bring you back by building a new snowman. The snow was too wet, though, and it wouldn’t stay together. And I, uh, I guess I passed out in the snow.” She waved her hand. “Anyway, he found me and brought me in. He said he could feel the baby, too.”

A torrent of responses erupted within Owen. Her effort to resurrect him. Putting herself in harm’s way, especially in her condition. Boreas’ rescue of his beloved. Mother of Gods, much had happened while he was gone. And she’d had to handle so much of it on her own. He kissed her again, poured his thanks and love, his heart and soul into it. “I love you, Megan.”

“I love you, too, so much.”

“Then take me to bed. Make love to me. Claim me once and for all. Root me in this world for all time.”

Megan pulled back from their constant kisses and whispered words. “What do you…what are you saying?”

“We must declare our love while I’m inside you. That was what the gods agreed would prove you’d chosen me, that is what will make it possible for me to stay here, with you, as a human.” Owen wrapped his arms around her and brought them both to their feet. He kissed her one last time, giddy with excitement at what was about to happen—not just the sex, but the humanity.

They fumbled their way to the bedroom, kissing, removing clothes, touching, laughing, exchanging sweet declarations of love and need. Together, they climbed onto the bed. Megan lowered her back to the cool covers and beckoned his body to come to hers. Owen settled his body between her thighs and uttered a long low moan of relief and desire. He was home.

Then he sprang up from her. Looked down at her stomach. “I will be too heavy on you…and the baby.”

Her giggle drew his gaze away from the part of her that would soon swell with his child. A demigod. Part him. Part her. She carded her fingers through his hair, and he leaned into the touch. “You’re sweet for being concerned. But we’ll both be fine. Now, come here.”

He crawled up her, found her lips with his. His hand dropped between her legs and stroked and circled, but found her already wet and wanting. His cock twitched and throbbed, ached for their joining. Eyes fixed on hers, he pushed forward, filled her in one slow, slick stroke. “It feels so right when I’m in you,” he said against the shell of her ear. “Like I’m right where I belong.” His body moved in long, deep strokes.

“You are,” she whispered. “Oh, God, I love you so much I might float away.” Her arms tightened around him, nails bit into his skin.

“Don’t worry, angel. I’ve got you. And you’re not going anywhere.”

“Not without you.”

“Not without me.” Never again.

She groaned. Wrapped her legs around his lower back. “I need more.”

He grunted. Kissed her ear, neck, cheek. “Anything. For you.” He thrust harder, faster, angled his hips to hit right where it would drive her wild. “Aw, gods, I love you.”
“Love you, too,” she panted, her breath coming in shallow gasps and throaty moans.

Pleasure clawed up Owen’s spine, ripping him apart, pulling him back together again, preparing to reassemble him into a new man. Into a human man. It was the most beautiful torment, and he chased it with every wet stroke, every open-mouthed kiss. His release would be like no other—for it would not only be physical, but psychic.

Ecstatic pressure pooled low in his belly, gathered, intensified. Her body tightened around his length, one by one severing the ties to his sanity. “I love you, Megan,” he ground out like he couldn’t stop saying it.

Megan groaned and sucked in a breath, released just enough air to whimper, “I love you” back. And then she screamed his name. Her whole body pulsed with the force of her orgasm. Head wrenched into the pillow, back arched, thighs clenched, her muscles milked him over and over.

He buried his shout in her neck. His orgasm hit like a tidal wave, tossing him around until he didn’t know which way was up, dragging him down and then right back to the heavens again, stealing his breath until he dangled near the brink of unconsciousness.

Peace descended on Owen, body and mind. One beat passed, then another.

The tingling, like standing too near a live electrical current, started in his extremities and worked inward. Body still shuddering, he rolled off Megan and looked at his hands, but couldn’t see the phantom presence making its way up his arms, up his legs. His heart set off at an even wilder gallop. When the preternatural sensation hit his chest, his whole body seized against the mattress. His back arched unnaturally, like someone was pulling him upward by the heart.

In the far-off distance, he imagined he heard Megan calling for him, yelling his name over and over. His brain conjured the soothing feel of her hands on his face, his chest. He wanted to tell her not to worry for him.

But then he wasn’t with her anymore. Wasn’t in their bed in the cabin.

One glance down at the cold white marble below his feet and he knew instantly where he was. He’d walked the halls of Boreas’ primary residence many times, but he was moving through the space like he was in a dream. He felt in it, but not of it.

“That’s because you’re not really here.”

Owen pivoted toward Boreas’ deep voice, found him sitting on the deep ledge of a wide window that looked out over the pristine tundra. The white marble, the animal furs, the floor-to-ceiling jeweled mosaic of a compass rose, arrow pointing to the calligraphic ‘N’ at the top… Boreas’ private chamber materialized around him, as if out of a fog. He bowed his head. “My Lord?”

“I have a proposition for you.”

Glancing down at his nakedness, he resisted covering himself and instead thumbed over his shoulder. “Now? I was kind of in the middle of something.”

Still gazing out the window, Boreas chuckled. “Yes, I gathered. Thus our need to talk, now, before the change is finalized.”

That strange current continued to flow through him, and now adrenaline born of curiosity joined the sensation. “I am, of course, willing to hear anything you have to say.”

“Congratulations on your son.”

Owen’s confusion didn’t keep the pleased grin from dominating his face. “Thank you. It is wonderful news.”

“Indeed. Which is why I think you should consider maintaining some of your powers. Instead of becoming a mortal human, I would like to propose a demotion of sorts. To demigod.”

His mind raced over the implications of Boreas’ words, began to compile lists of pros and cons. What he mostly saw were the pros—his ability to protect Megan and his son, his ability to teach him, by example. “What about my vulnerability to heat?” he asked. He couldn’t tolerate such weakness ever again.

Boreas nodded. “Unlike now, as a demigod you would possess the strengths of your human and god natures, while bearing few to none of the weaknesses of either. The trade off is you won’t have the full strength or variety of power you now possess.”

Owen’s main concern allayed, he nodded. In that very first conversation regarding John’s request for help, Owen had in part been attracted to the idea of finding a way free from the unendingness of immortality, to the idea of finally experiencing firsthand the many joys it seemed humans did on a daily basis. Boreas’ proposal would get him much of what he’d wanted, while also offering other benefits he didn’t know enough to realize he’d need. He frowned. “What’s the catch?”

“The boy. He will work for me upon majority. After he’s been trained in his powers, of course.”

A fierce protectiveness shot up Owen’s spine. “You will not speak of taking my son from me before he is even born.” His raised voice echoed around the marble. He would make sure his son never experienced the pain of familial loss like he had.

Boreas held his hands up. “Fear not. Hear me out. He will work for me within the human realm, as a human. We are losing, Owen. Every year, Zephyros gets stronger and stronger, and the gods of winter lose small increments that in the blink of an eye will add up to catastrophe for the planet we all share. We need more people from our team working on issues of climate change, to stem the current damage, to try to turn it back.”

Owen’s hackles settled some, but he was still on the defensive, waiting for the next shoe to drop. “And?”

Boreas smirked. “And I will set up and fund a foundation to bring together the greatest thinkers, policy analysts, and scientists of the day. You will run it. And then you will pass on stewardship of it to your son.”

Owen scowled, but didn’t mind so much for himself the idea of a useful occupation. And what better for him to do? He knew firsthand the devastating effects of deforestation on the Earth’s atmosphere and polar ecosystems, how much less Arctic sea ice formed every year—soon it was likely no ice would form in the summers at all. “How about this: I’ll run this foundation for you, but first I get a whole year to enjoy my life with my new family. And the child will have the foundation as one occupational choice among many he might choose on the issue of climate change.”

“Are you negotiating with the Supreme God of Winter?”

Owen nodded, confident he was on an acceptable path because of the twinkle of humor illuminating the ancient god’s silver eyes. “I am.”

“Fatherhood agrees with you.”

“It does.”

“I can accept these terms.”

“And what of Megan?” As demigods, they wouldn’t be fully immortal, but his and his son’s aging would be so slow as to extend their lives well beyond the normal range of a human. His stomach clenched at the thought of Megan growing old, dying. No. There must be a way.

Boreas leaned back against the wide stone molding, crossing his arms and looking totally self-satisfied. “Already taken care of. While a god of any rank, all of your bodily fluids will remain infused with the healing powers of the River Acheron. As long as the two of you are
together
, the river’s elixir will pass through you to her and bestow upon her the health and longevity you and your son will enjoy as demigods.”

Owen gasped. Son of a— He’d planned this all along. “Sure of yourself, eh?”

“No, son. I’m sure of you. Sure you are the kind of man who would do what is in his family’s best interest. And if my causes are helped along the way, why, that is all the better.”

Hope and excitement to begin this new life infused Owen’s entire being with an incredible levity. He couldn’t see the downsides, though these weren’t decisions he could fully make on his own. “I would like you to give Megan the opportunity to discuss any other details I haven’t thought of with you, later, but otherwise I would be all too pleased to accept your proposal.”

“Done. Tell Megan hello from Grampa.”

Before Owen even had the chance to reply, his whole body sucked backward through time and space. He collapsed into the mattress at their cabin. The breath whooshed out of him and he coughed and rolled to his side, his head finding Megan’s lap.

“Owen, Owen, are you all right?” She stroked his hair and shoulders. “I thought you were having a seizure. Can gods have seizures?”

“Don’t…worry,” he panted, worked to regain his equilibrium. Part of his struggle was the sensation of trying to see the world through a new pair of glasses with a radically different prescription. Supernatural power still flowed through Owen’s body, but it hummed where before it had vibrated in its intensity. Then again, the air in the bedroom felt cool against Owen’s body, proving his part-human nature. “I’m better than all right. Now.”