The Fury (15 page)

“That’s not the right action to take. You’ll leave the humans defenseless against Kur and his army.”

Enlil raised his chin. “The
nephili
and
doghume
will still be there to fight.”

“And a good fight they would wage, but you know as well as I, that if we do not help them, Kur would prevail and they would all be dead.”

“Their deaths would not be easy and the humans would pay an awful price.” Ninmah’s warm gaze fell to Dagan. “Not all of us agree with that option, and there has not been a final vote made yet.”

Enlil grunted.

Dagan clenched his hands into fists. “I will not forsake my duty.”

“Because of the female…Reese?”

His anger simmered. “Because it’s not the right course of action. The gods created this problem and it is our duty to correct it.”

“We will wage an argument before the Pantheon as will Enki, but do not hope for too much.”

“I understand, Father. Thank you.”

Enlil nodded, kissed his wife’s cheek and shimmered away.

Dagan kissed his mother’s hand before snapping his fingers. Her worried eyes were a lasting impression on his heart.

Rufus stood on the porch when he appeared. Hearing or sensing Dagan’s approach, he quickly spun.

“Any change?”

“Well I haven’t seen any
galla
around.”

Dagan stared at Rufus, whose gaze roamed the landscape but wouldn’t look him in the eye. “What happened?”

“I just want you to take a deep breath and relax, okay?”

Immediately Dagan’s spine stiffened and his fists clenched. “Tell me.”

Rufus stepped back. “A guy showed up about an hour ago…”

“What guy? Where is he? Is she all right?”

Dagan made to move toward the door but Rufus blocked his way. “She’s fine. I’ve been keeping an eye on them. He’s one of her co-workers.”

“Is he still in there?”

“Yes.” He put his hand on Dagan’s chest. “Take deep breaths. You can’t barge in there.”

“Move.” Dagan all but roared the order.

The urge to tear out the stranger’s various organs battered at Dagan with relentless zeal. Percilious’s words echoed in his head. “
Keep the fury in check and the temper controlled this eve
.” He knew. The bastard sorcerer knew this would happen tonight and had been warning him. How much more did he know?

He turned the knob but found the door locked. As if that would keep him out, he mused. Reese obviously didn’t want to be disturbed and that infuriated him. With his mind, Dagan shifted the tumblers on the lock. He fought hard to keep the rage under control. He opened the door with a thought instead of using his hand for fear he’d break the knob clean off.

Inside he heard Reese laughing and a deeper voice saying something in a soft tone. His nostrils flared and he caught Reese’s fragrance, an arousal scent for him. Did it arouse the other man as well? It damn well better not. With fierce steps, he headed toward the kitchen.

Stopping at the door, his eyes first set on Reese, who wore the same clothes he’d seen her in this morning but now had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. The man sat next to her at the table drinking coffee, the aroma of which gagged Dagan, and laughing from some private joke or amusement he and Reese shared.

He ground his back teeth before saying, “Who the hell are you?”

“Dagan!” Reese jumped up from her chair as though dynamite had been set off underneath her.

The other man slowly rose from his seat and turned to face him with a surprised but curious look on his face. He crossed his arms. “Who the hell are you?”

With a ferocious scowl, Dagan crossed his arms as well. “I asked first.”

“Dagan, knock it off,” Reese said.

He didn’t take his eyes off this newcomer.

“Reese, who’s your friend?” the man asked.

She sighed. “Joe, this is Dagan, an…”

Dagan glanced her way with a smirk.

“Acquaintance,” she finished. “Dagan, this is Joe, one of my co-workers and a member of my archeology team.”

“Why is he here?” Dagan said.

“He’s—” She stopped herself and narrowed her eyes in his direction. “Wait a damn minute.” Reese stormed over to stand between them and huffed. “I don’t need to explain to you why one of my friends is here. This is my house.” She glared at him. “How did you get in anyway? I locked the door.”

Dagan gave her his most innocent look. “Did you?”

“Ooooooh.” Facing Joe she said, “We should probably wrap this up anyway. I’ll work out some of the details tonight and see you tomorrow.”

“You sure you want me to go?” Joe asked, throwing a side glance Dagan’s way.

With fisted hands, Dagan attempted to move around Reese to get to the other male.

“Knock it off both of you,” she growled. “Joe, go on home.” She pointedly looked at Dagan. “I’ll throw the rubbish out before I go to bed.”

Joe shook his head and grabbed his coat. As he pushed past Dagan, he called over his shoulder. “If you need me, just call.”

Dagan snarled and tightened his fists, imagining those same fists pummeling and bloodying the man. “She’ll be fine.”

Joe met Reese’s eyes with silent meaning then left through the front door. When Dagan spun around, Reese had a pink blush on her cheeks.

“You have feelings for him? That human?” The thought burned him with a potent rage and he hated knowing they worked together, meaning that male would be in close proximity to his woman again.

The pink turned crimson as her temperature and anger rose. “He’s my friend. I’ve known him a hell of a lot longer than I’ve known you and yes, I have feelings for him.”

Dagan closed his eyes and felt his stomach—or was it his heart—drop. She cared for this human. He supposed he should be happy. She would carry on after he had become a mere memory. Why did this revelation not make him feel better? Because he wanted her, dammit. He wanted her under him, on top of him, surrounding him.

This is what the Pantheon worried about, his inability to separate himself from the human female. He’d seal her in for the night and stay outside with Rufus to keep watch. Better yet, Rufus could stand watch and he’d go back to Dilmun or Lysara, find him a willing woman and let himself go. He’d put Reese Whittaker out of his mind for the night.

Not likely, but he could try.

“Are you hungry?”

The softness of her voice broke through his barrier. He opened his eyes to find deep blue waves of emotion crashing over him, drawing him closer. Fighting the need had become extremely difficult. Her light scent grew stronger, as if to lure him to her body, securing his fall from grace with the Pantheon and his parents. She watched him with those lavish blue pools mirroring the very feelings he attempted to resist.

No words were spoken. He picked her up and headed for the living room. She didn’t argue or question. Did she feel it too, the overwhelming lust and sexual power?

Dagan knew he had to be alert and steadfast as protector, but when she bit his lower lip and started running her fingers through his hair, he gave in to the sensations.

Supporting her body with one arm, he snapped his fingers and the lights in the entire house went out. Only the roaring fire provided illumination in the room where he now carried her. Without breaking lip contact, he lowered Reese to the plush rug in front of the hearth and rested himself between her legs.

Pulling his shirt up his back and over his head, Reese placed fevered kisses on his chest and shoulder. His previous assessment of her being a vixen now held true, for she would have him naked and inside her very soon. As a purebred, he should do the honorable thing and make her see reason.

“Reese, maybe we should slow down and give you a chance to think about what you’re doing.”

“Shut up,” she said, as she threw the shirt she’d torn off him across the room. “Just shut up, Dagan. I don’t want to think anymore because when I do I get frightened about what’s happening. When I’m with you, I just feel and that’s what I want. I want to feel… you.”

He could live with that honest declaration and his purebred libido clawed its way up, refusing to be ignored. Having done the honorable thing in giving her a way out, he felt no remorse now in succumbing to the need.

As he removed her shirt and began sliding her pants down her legs, he said, “I want to lose myself in you.” He bent and ran his tongue up her swollen sex, tasting her wetness.

When all obstructions were gone, Dagan settled himself between her legs and feasted on her breasts. Her soft sounds energized him. He longed to taste every inch of her magnificent body and planned to take all night doing so. Kissing her ribcage, her abdomen before tickling her naval, Dagan teased and savored each delectable spot. He planted slow, lingering kisses on her inner thighs. The torture created need because Reese reached down and guided his mouth to that place where she wanted him.

“Dagan, please.”

He chuckled. “You’re impatient.” But he relented and sucked on her tender flesh.

She screamed in climax.

The next thing he knew the front door blasted open and Rufus stood there with a gun in one hand and a knife in the other.

Dagan turned his half-clad body around to block the view of Reese and her nakedness.

When he scanned the room and saw them on the floor Rufus immediately turned his back. “Holy shit, sorry, Dagan. I heard her scream and…”

“Yeah, I figured it was something like that,” Dagan said dryly.

“I’ll be going now. Are you done for the night—I mean can I go home?”

“Yes. I’ll be here for the night and I’ll make sure to seal the door.”

Rufus snickered. “Night, Reese.”

“I need to make sure I lock and seal the door next time.”

That jolted her out of her embarrassment and reality came crashing down. Grabbing what clothes she could reach and holding them in front of her body she said, “There won’t be a next time.”
What in the damn hell got into
me?

“You wanted
me
in you.”

She closed her eyes and breathed deep. “Are you reading my mind?”

“Not intentionally.”

“This shouldn’t have happened.” She gazed into the green eyes rimmed in black. His shadowed jaw clenched, his eyes penetrating.

“A few minutes ago you wanted to feel.” He rose up to his knees and grabbed his crotch. “Feel this.”

Her gaze lowered to the bulging erection he cupped. She could see the hard outline. She’d had her release and left him unfulfilled. Did he ache—for her? This was madness.

“I’m sorry,” she said and ran down the hallway.

He fought the encouragement from his brain to release his ferocious hold on the
fury
and take her now. It would be explosive and virile, everything his race was made of. He stared at the empty hall then fell back down to the floor. “Damn.”

A half-hour passed before he moved. After sealing them in, he walked down and knocked on the bedroom door. “Reese, are you asleep?”

“No. Come in.”

She sat on the bed in a flimsy nightshirt with her knees pulled up to her chest as though she were protecting herself…from him.

He flinched.

That she thought she had to protect herself from him doused any lingering desires. “I’d like to take a shower if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead. There’s clean towels in there.”

She didn’t look directly at him. “Thanks.” He needed to submerge himself in ice water for about a week. Instead, he stepped under a hot spray, hung his head and let the pulsating pressure ease the boulder-sized knots between his shoulder blades.

A sudden buzz of electricity coursed through him even before the shower doors opened. So much for relaxing.

In small soft circles, her fingertips worked their way up his spine, each one inching higher working pressure points to ease the tension. At the top, she took her thumbs and pressed them on either side of his spinal cord, and trailed them down his back.

Dagan raised his head. Reese rested her hands on his hips. Should he turn? He couldn’t bear to see the hurt look in her eyes again. He liked her better angry. Her temper made his
fury
rise.

She moved her hands around to his chest and lower. The head of his cock jumped when her fingertips brushed across it. Did she mean to torture him?

“If you want to wound and torture me, plunging a knife in my chest would be quicker and more merciful.”

Reese splayed her hands on his back. “Wound you? Torture you?”

He spun around and grabbed her arms. “Every time you look at me with those sapphire eyes, every time you smile at another man, every time I touch you and you cringe.”

She didn’t argue. Lowering her eyes and her voice she said, “I never meant to hurt you.”

He released her and she stepped back. A bit of her anger surfaced. “In the last two days my life has fallen out from under me. I have creatures trying to kill me and you trying to bed me. I’m scared and—” she shot her gaze at him accusingly, “—confused.”