No, it wasn’t, but she’d never told anyone the story before. She’d never had anyone to tell. She looked up at him then, his body so close, the heat warming her too-cool skin. “I feel like I need to tell you, why is that?”
“We already went over this. Because of who I am, how we are connected. I can’t protect you if I don’t know.”
“I didn’t ask for your protection.”
“It’s freely given.”
And she knew that. Deep down, even though she had just met this man, she knew that. If she ran away right now, he would still protect her. And he wouldn’t ask for a single thing. He was a man of honor. It should worry her, but it didn’t.
Plus, she was just so tired. She knew she needed to tell him. Even if he left after she did. “You know the stories of Medusa.”
“I’ve met a few gorgons in my time.”
“I’m a Medusa, not just a gorgon.”
“What’s the difference? I didn’t know there was one,” he asked, frowning.
“It means I’m at a higher level than most of the realm. I was born this way. I can’t change it. I’m even different than my parents. They’re all gorgons, but I was born a Medusa. It means I need a stronger glamour, but I have more control over it than most. It means while some gorgons can turn others to stone with just their snakes and their eyes, it takes them longer. They have to be forceful. I don’t have to do much at all. Unless you are my blood or my mate, if you look at my eyes or the snakes look upon you, you will die. Turned to stone in an instant.”
She swallowed hard, but he just kept looking at her. So, she continued.
“They banished me from my realm because I killed a mortal when I was nineteen.”
Jonah nodded, and his voice was soft when he spoke. “It was an accident, though, wasn’t it? You were nineteen. And you say you have so much power, didn’t they help you with control?”
She shook her head. “It is a Medusa’s honor,”—she spat the word—“to learn control. To have that power comes with great responsibility, they say. I had to learn how to protect myself and others. I’m the one who learned to glamour, even though someone should’ve taught me. In the end, however, I lost control, and I killed my boyfriend. I was nineteen, and with one touch, one look, killed the boy that I loved.”
She didn’t cry, she couldn’t. Not anymore.
“Poppy.”
She shook her head. “And it would have been fine, they would’ve covered it up, but the king of our lands has three daughters.” She said that wryly, and he frowned. “Three daughters who don’t have my power but want it. Women who didn’t have my boyfriend but wanted him. They drugged my water one night while at a court dinner. The drug took away my glamour in the heat of the moment. If I felt satisfaction, if I felt happiness, if I felt any strong emotion, my glamour would fade. And I loved that boy, I loved Alex. And he died. Because I loved him.”
Jonah cursed under his breath, but she didn’t stop. “My family disowned me. The realm banished me. Because those three girls wanted my power, and they couldn’t have it. They convinced their father, the king, that I was a plague upon our realm. That if I wasn’t caught and murdered, if I wasn’t beheaded, then I would be the end of our realm. Their realm.” She corrected herself. It wasn’t her home anymore. “The king loved his daughters, and in the end, he banished me.”
“Banished you, but didn’t kill you,” Jonah added, his voice a growl. “Yet the gorgons after you tonight wanted your head. I saw the knife.”
“At first, it was banishment, but then the king died,” she whispered. Jonah’s eyes widened. “I haven’t been in touch with anyone to know what he died of, but the timing makes me think it wasn’t natural. His eldest daughter, now queen, Mina, asked for my head. Demanded it.” She shook her head. “I’d had hope. Thought I could just live as banished in the other realms, with the humans or maybe another paranormal, but this year, Mina came after me. She sent her goons, and I can’t run anymore. I’m just so tired.”
And then Jonah was there, her face in his hands as he growled, his forehead against hers. “We will fix this.”
“We can’t.” She wanted to believe him, wanted to do something.
“We can. I might not be a king or the most powerful shifter in the world, but I know leaders. I know those with power. And I have strength of my own. We will fix this.”
She couldn’t say anything, didn’t have the words. Before she could even think of something to say, the sound of an explosion slammed into her ears, and fire engulfed the house. Jonah roared, throwing his body over hers.
Chapter 3
Jonah’s jaguar came to the surface, wanting him to shift, clawing for action against the inside of his skin, only Jonah couldn’t let the cat out yet. He needed to be in human form to get out of the burning home as well as carry Poppy if he needed to. She wasn’t a cub where he could just use his mouth on the scruff of her neck to drag her out.
They were both on the floor, the house burning around them. He didn’t have a single feeling within him for anything in the house other than the woman below him. Nothing within the walls was personal or had anything to do with him other than providing a place to sleep and shelter.
As it turned out, it hadn’t been a place for shelter at all. He hadn’t scented those who laid siege to his place. No, he had been too focused on Poppy and had missed the warning signals.
He scrambled to his feet, ducking low as smoke billowed overhead. They had bombed the house, windows shattered, planks of wood splintered all around them. Poppy lay on the floor, a thin trickle of blood trailing from a cut on her head, but he could feel her pulse, even as his jaguar growled, wanting revenge for someone having dared to hurt her.
He quickly lifted his head, trying to scent any intruders, but there weren’t any about. They were waiting outside, watching. He would get to them, but first, he had to make sure Poppy was okay.
“Poppy,” he whispered, checking her body for burns or other injuries. There was just the head injury it seemed, and there wasn’t anything just about it.
He growled low, sliding his hand over her skin to make sure that she was whole and unmarred everywhere else. Her glamour faded in and out, and he let out a shuddering breath as one of the snakes wrapped its body around his wrist. It looked up at him, its beady eyes searching.
The baby viper didn’t bite him, and he blinked, realizing that he hadn’t actually turned to stone. He was her mate, after all, and she wasn’t looking directly at him with those silver eyes. He would be safe from her snakes. In fact, the snakes she wore like a crown now seemed to look at him for help, as if wanting to wake their master and unable to do so.
He understood that, because he needed her to open those pretty eyes, as well.
“Poppy,” he growled again and went to pick her up.
She slashed out with her hands, her eyes wide. Suddenly, he found himself staring into those silver pools, her snakes all around her, hissing at him.
He hadn’t turned to stone, hadn’t ended right then and there.
Because he was hers. Something he could not ignore. Neither of them could ignore it.
She quickly closed her eyes and slid her hand over her snakes, whimpering.
“How…I didn’t…are you okay?”
“You’re the one bleeding.”
“You’re not stone.”
“I’m your mate.” His tongue tripped over the word, but it was getting easier to say. After all these years, after everything he’d lost, he could at least get the word out. “You’re safe with me. And I’m safe with you. But we need to get out of here. The flames are getting worse and closer, and we’re going to die of smoke inhalation if we’re not careful.”
“Okay, I’m okay.” Her snakes still writhed around her head. She hadn’t yet put on her glamour.
“Keep your glamour off,” he ordered, and her silver eyes widened.
“Why?
“Because it’s a good defense against those that are coming after you
.”
“But what if there’s an innocent?”
“Then close your eyes and pull your glamour up quickly. But I only scent smoke, fire, and those three damn gorgons. Apparently, I didn’t stab the bastard hard enough.”
He ground out the words, and her eyes widened for a minute before he lifted her to her feet, both of them coughing.
“Let’s go.”
She nodded.
They made their way out of the burning home, and he felt a tinge of regret that he was losing the place, but it didn’t matter. His true home was in the lion realm, as was his heart. No, that wasn’t the case anymore. Because the person beside him could also hold that organ. Just like baby Penelope already did as his ward.
“Can you fight at all?” he asked, and Poppy shook her head.
“I don’t know the moves. My parents didn’t want me to fight, thought it wasn’t in my nature. And not all gorgons are as violent as the current court and these men after me. And it won’t be just these three. The queen has far more.”
“I figured as much. Sending her entire army out at once would be idiotic. We’ll get out of this. I just need to know your skills.”
“My only skill is death,” she whispered, and he reached out and squeezed her hand. He hadn’t even realized his claws were out until she looked down, her eyes wide.
“Sorry,” he grumbled as they ducked under another fallen pillar.
“No, don’t be. You didn’t scream at the sight of my snakes. I’m not going to do so at your claws.”
He held her hand and pulled her through the damaged house. Soon, they were outside, hidden behind a tree, both coughing up smoke and whatever else had gotten into their lungs.
They were paranormals and would survive this, but Poppy was far younger, and therefore would take longer to heal.
Jonah looked at the wound on her head, grateful that the bleeding had stopped, but he still ran his hands over her body to make sure she was okay. Her snakes didn’t hiss at him, they just stared at him curiously.
If they were in any other situation, he might have quirked a smile or tried to reach out to say hello to introduce himself. That would come later. For now, he needed to keep them alive.
“I’m okay,” she whispered, and he really wished that were true. But there wasn’t a lot of time to ask and make sure.
The scent of gorgon intensified, and he knew they were out of time. Suddenly, they were on them, all three of them, and two extra little buddies. The gorgons had their snakes out, but they weren’t as strong as Poppy’s. They weren’t Medusas, so he might be safe from turning to stone as long as he didn’t let them focus for too long.
Poppy threw herself in front of him and screamed. “You know the laws. You do not use your powers within the human realm.”
“Yet you have your snakes out, your glamour gone. Maybe you’re just as weak as the rest of the world thinks you are,” one of the gorgons spat. Blood covered him, and he was limping, but he had caught up to them. Had hunted them.
These gorgons would die. By Jonah’s teeth and claws if he had any say in it.
“Will they hurt me?” he whispered, so low that he knew the gorgons wouldn’t be able to hear him, even with how close they were.
“They’re of lower rank and power. They can’t actually use their hair like a Medusa can. It’s only for show.”
“Truly?” he asked, surprised.
“We don’t speak of it outside the realm.”
The closest gorgon must have heard the last part because he snarled. “You dare defy our laws? You’re a murderer, a slayer of innocents, and now you’re telling our secrets to an animal?”
“And that is enough of being called an animal,” Jonah growled. And then they moved. He trusted Poppy, maybe not enough to defend herself because she didn’t know how—something that would change. However, he trusted her because, deep down, he knew that she wanted him to survive just like she wanted to survive.
He moved then, the soldier deep inside clawing at him, ready to fight for what was right, just, and his.
Five gorgons were on him at once, seemingly ignoring Poppy. Did they want her dead, or just incapacitated so they could bring her back to the queen? He wasn’t sure, and he wasn’t going to find out.
He slammed his fists into one of their jaws, and the gorgon spat blood. His snakes bit at Jonah’s hand, and he really hoped the damn fuckers weren’t poisonous. Venom wasn’t something he needed to deal with at the moment.
Another gorgon came at him with a knife, trying to slice him from behind, and Jonah ducked, spun, twisted the first gorgon’s arm behind his back and used him as a shield.
The gorgon that had been coming at him stabbed his friend, and they both growled, shocked, before falling into a heap as Jonah kicked them both from behind so they were on the ground in a blink. Jonah could move fast, even with just one leg. Not that anyone knew exactly what was beneath the leg of his jeans. They didn’t know that if they took out his prosthesis, they might have an advantage. He had been fighting with the fake limb for nearly as long as he’d been at war when he was whole.
He knew what he was doing.
The end of his stump hurt as he pressed all his weight onto the metal and other materials that made up his prosthesis, but he ignored the bite.
Because he needed to fight.
He leapt away from the two as they clawed at one another, trying to stanch the bleeding, still growling at him. He ignored them. At least, for the moment.
Three others came at him, one with a knife, the other two with their fists. And Poppy was there at his side, her hands outstretched, her snakes coiling and hissing around her head.
“Stay back,” Jonah ordered.
“You don’t get to do this alone.”
And then she opened her eyes, and the first gorgon in front of her spat, screaming. Stone slid up his calves, his knees, his hips. He clawed at it, screaming as blood seeped from his eyes, his nose, his mouth. The stone crept up his chest, and then down his shoulders to his fingertips, wrapping around his neck as if a vise. The snakes hissed, growled like they were shifters rather than snakes, and they spat at him, but then they were all stone. Dead.
Poppy shook at his side, her body swaying. He grabbed her, holding her close as she closed her eyes, sweat pouring from her.
It must have taken such strength to do that, even as she had more power than a normal gorgon. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if another gorgon tried to do what she had just done. But she had been beautiful, so strong, courageous. He wasn’t going to let the pain that he knew she had to be feeling from doing that to one of her own be in vain.
The last two gorgons came at them, and Jonah wasn’t playing anymore. He sliced out, twisted, jabbed again, tucking Poppy behind him, thankful that she could at least still stand. His jaguar was out in full force, taking over but still letting him stay in human form. Poppy shook against him, her eyes still closed, and he was glad for that. He didn’t want her to use any more strength, didn’t want her to harm her soul any more than she already had by having to kill. He knew she didn’t like it, but it wasn’t like he did either. However, this was a necessary means to an end, something he was used to. He had been a soldier for so long that he had forgotten what it felt like to not have those scars on his soul.
He slashed out, one strike to the jugular, a twist of the neck, and then there was nothing else. No more screams, no more sounds of fighting. Just the spark and crackle of fire behind them as the house burned. There were sounds of humans outside his home, sirens, but the warding he’d put on the place would keep it safe for a few more minutes. Not long enough to stay safe for long, however.
Jonah looked at the carnage and knew they’d have to clean this up soon. Perhaps not the two of them, though. Not when others could come after him and Poppy. One gorgon stood as stone, death within marble. The others were on the ground, blood pooling, death taking them.
“We need to get out of here,” he growled, know
ing that even though the battle had taken no time at all, it had taken long enough that the authorities would be on their way any minute.
“Where do we go?”
He took out his phone, grateful that it had survived everything that had just happened, and dialed Malik.
“We’re on our way,” Malik growled, and Jonah’s eyes widened before it hit him.
“The wards?”
“We felt them go off, but we’re still a couple of minutes out.”
“I need to get Poppy safe.”
“Poppy? Are you okay?”
“We’ll be fine. One’s stone, and there are four bodies, and my home is on fire.”
“Dante’s close, as well. He’s going to be there to take care of any authorities. We’ll glamour what we have to.” A pause. “Wait, stone?”
“They’re gorgons. They’re after Poppy.” Jonah paused. “She’s my mate, Malik.”
Poppy let out a little gasp, and he shook his head. He would explain Malik and everyone else later. They didn’t have enough time now.
“Well, damn.” He could hear someone else whispering, but then Malik was back on the phone. “Go to the place on Fifth. It’s protected behind wards, and you’ll be safe from the other gorgons. And then you’re going to tell me exactly what’s going on.”
That was an order from an Alpha, not just a friend, but Jonah understood. “Yes. Of course. Just make sure the humans don’t find out. We weren’t exactly quiet.”
“We never are when we’re protecting our mates. I’m glad for you, Jonah.”
Jonah couldn’t say anything because he had no idea what to feel. Adrenaline coursed through his system, so he just cleared his throat and said, “thank you,” before hanging up.
“There’s another safe house. This one’s an actual safe house rather than a home. It’s hidden deeper beneath wards and is harder to get to.”
“Was that the man from the bar earlier?”
“Yes, my friend and Alpha. They’re on their way. We’ll be safe.”
“You said I was your mate.”
“I’m staring at your snakes right now, and they’re not killing me, I am not stone. I am your mate. We can discuss exactly what that means later, but first, we need to be safe.”
Dante’s Circle Reborn: A Dante’s Circle Collection Page 9