by Lana Kole
Her own lover had stabbed her.
Maya gaped at the raw agony on Sekhmet’s face, not only from the pain in her body, but it was as if Maya watched her heart break before her very eyes. Her eyes widened, and she gripped the arm that wrapped around her chest and held her to him, as if she didn’t know whether to hold him closer or push him away from her.
Maya rushed forward at the same time her men did, in time for Kyril to jerk the blade from her body, a sickening sound echoing around the marble. The guys caught Sekhmet before she hit the ground, but Maya turned on Kyril faster than he could blink. Before he could even recognize she was moving, she’d chambered her leg and kicked high, slamming her heel into his chin. Just like that, he was out. He hit the floor like a dead weight at the same time a bright light flashed behind her.
Whirling, she came face to face with the god she’d seen in her vision.
“Who the hell is killing my goddess?”
It was none other than Ra.
Chapter Fourteen
Maya froze. The raw power that tingled across her skin when Ra appeared raised goosebumps on her arms. Hell, across her whole body.
His entire being was raw, unmitigated power. It was in the way he stood, well over six foot, with dark eyes that said he could make or break someone with the snap of his fingers. Maya didn’t want to be that someone.
However, she had to do a double take, since he had changed over the centuries. If Maya had not felt the power tickling across her skin in a dangerous warning, she would have thought he was just another surfer guy. Not that she had seen many in her life, but he looked like what she imagined to be the epitome of a wave rider.
His long, dark hair twisted into dreads, his dark, tanned skin, beautifully kissed by the sun—naturally. His chest was bare, his lower half covered by a half-zipped wetsuit. It was almost as if he’d been plucked right off a beach and planted here. Actually, as he shook his head and sand granules pattered the floor in a soft sound, Maya mused that was probably exactly what happened. His ears were decorated with inch-wide gauges, and his chest was tattooed with an Egyptian style collar, calling to the modern culture as well as paying respects to his own.
It was only after she stared for far too long that she realized it was silent in the room, aside from Sekhmet’s wet whimpers. Her gaze jerked to the goddess, and Maya’s heart lurched at the sight of her blood pooling. Before she could rush to check on her, Ra stole her attention with thunderous words.
“I asked, who is killing my goddess?” His voice was so deep it practically entered her system through vibrations, the power in his tone sucking the breath from her body.
Instantly, Maya pointed a finger to the unconscious Kyril splayed out on the floor.
Ra simply arched a brow before approaching where her men gathered around Sekhmet, trying to staunch the bleeding. Maya reached out as if she could pull them out of the way of the storm stalking across the room, but they had enough sense of their own to get out of way. Smoother than Maya would ever be able to dream of moving, they crawled to the other side of her body, letting Ra have a clear vision of the goddess.
Sekhmet’s eyes met his, and Maya’s heart broke all over again as a tear trailed out of the corner of her eye to track over her temple and into her dark hair.
“Sekhmet, what did you do?” Tone gentle, he chastised her with only a hint of concern, his humor heavy in the words.
Rolling her eyes, a soft smile crossed her lips as she looked up at him. “Shut up and heal me, you sunlit bastard.”
“Fine, but you know this doesn’t mean I’m bending knee for you.” But that’s exactly what he did, as he bent down and laid a hand over her stomach. Ra seemed like he would be busy for a while, so Maya crept around the sun god until she stood behind her men and reached out to touch Amir on the shoulder. He tensed up for a split second before he exploded up from the floor and pulled her into his arms. Squealing slightly, Maya gasped, her breath escaping her in a noise that in no universe whatsoever would ever be considered tough.
As his arms wrapped around her, her throat constricted as she fully accepted her men were back. Tilting her head up with a gentle finger under her chin, he kissed her lightly on the lips, something she didn’t think was in Amir’s repertoire. Gentle wasn’t exactly his strong suit.
Amir pulled away as she was tugged into another pair of arms, and she grinned up at Asher when he leaned down to kiss her on the forehead. The simple, affectionate gesture left butterflies in her stomach, and she breathed a sigh of relief at the happiness that swelled in her.
Finally, she turned to August. The look on his face was one of guilt so strong she could feel it wafting off him in waves. His mouth opened once, twice, before he shook his head and just stared at her. His vile words filtered through her mind, but she pushed them away. That hadn’t been him. He hadn’t been himself. Maya knew this, yet her heart pulled in two different directions when she thought about the moment she had recognized him as something… else.
It reminded her of—no. Maya wasn’t going there.
And Maya hated that. Slowly, she stepped forward until she was close enough to pull August into her arms. Right now, she was just relieved he was himself again.
“I know that wasn’t you. It’s okay.” But even she heard the hesitation in her own words.
Pulling away, his hands framed her shoulders as he held her at arm’s length. “No. It’s not okay. But I’m going to do whatever it takes to make you see the difference. I’m not him.”
Maya teared up all over again. He knew exactly where her mind had gone in that moment, and he brought her back that easily. Nodding, she tugged on his arm until he let her go and pulled her into a hug. Breathing in his comforting scent of home, she sighed.
Their reunion was interrupted by a cough. “Well, this is cozy and all, but who wants to explain what the hell is going on here?” Ra turned to Sekhmet, brushing a stray lock that had fallen in his face. “Seriously, Sekhmet, I leave you here for a few thousand years, and you manage to find yourself a live-in, and get yourself almost killed?”
Maya turned with her men to face the two gods.
Sekhmet huffed as she stood, brushing off her ruined skirt. “You expected me to stay here by myself? No. That was boring. I needed someone to keep me company.” Sheepishly, she eyed Kyril’s prone form where he lay sprawled on the ground.
“So you made that?” He gestured a hand to the lax form, who groaned as if awakening.
Hold up. Sekhmet made him? This was news to Maya. As she shared a glance with her guys, it was clear this was news to them as well.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Sekhmet answered, “Well… yes. Clearly not my best decision.” Her words might have been spoken with bravado, but Maya could see the longing in her gaze as her eyes trailed to Kyril. Once again, Maya’s heart hurt for her.
Maya still couldn’t believe what her men had been through—being trapped as a cat for fifteen years—but being stuck in this… pocket of time, no matter how pretty, for thousands of years?
How is she still even sane?
Well… that’s debatable, a familiar voice answered her, pulling a gasp from her throat and turning her gaze to Asher. He winked before pinching two fingers together and crossing them over his lips in a zipping motion.
Shh, it’s our little secret.
“Nothing’s a secret from me, Keeper,” Ra called out to them. Her gaze jerked to the god, and she swore her blood pressure rose in that instant with such a powerful being focused on her.
A deep chuckle slid over her skin like warm honey, and she smiled. Amir pulled her closer with a growl, bringing a smirk to her lips.
Ra saw his action, and a knowing smile answered hers. “The first female Guardian. It is a pleasure.” He reached out a hand, and without thinking, Maya gripped his in a firm handshake.
Instead of a comforting warmth, a zing of heat lit through her veins in a flash of agony so strong, it sucked the breath from her lungs, but just as qu
ickly it faded like a wave in the ocean, washing away grains of sand. Amir pulled her back, and she went lax in his grip, a mix between drunkenness and energetic vitality flowing through her.
“You’re welcome.”
Maya giggled at the warm floaty feeling that drifted through her body.
“What did you do to her?” Ever her Amir, butting in to take care of her. She could kiss him if he was close enough. He… wasn’t.
Actually, he handed her off to Asher and stalked toward Ra. Maya rose up from where Asher held her up, calling out to him, “Amir! Don’t pester the sun god!”
Chuckling, Ra made a calm down motion with both hands parallel to the floor and brushed another few locks away that had fallen into his face.
“Listen to your woman. Don’t pester me.” But the look on his face was one far from annoyance. He was amused. “As the Keepers of Time, time itself obviously does not affect you. Congratulations, you're immortal.” The last was pronounced with a tone as dry as the Sahara.
Maya was starting to suspect she would have whiplash at the end of the conversation.
It only dawned on her the downside to his announcement, and she tried to keep the disappointment from overtaking her. Her men would stay the same forever, whereas she would grow old and die.
A snap of fingers in front of her face brought her out of her reverie. “Yes?” She looked up to find Ra smiling down at with kindness in his gaze.
One would think such a powerful god would be scary and intimidating—and he was, there was no denying that. But there was also a touch of gentleness to the giant that made her want to hug him.
Or maybe that was whatever drug he’d buzzed into her veins with that handshake.
“Don’t look so sad, Maya. You’re the Guardian. You have powers all of your own.”
Her eyebrows drew low as she considered his words. “I see the past and the future. And sometimes I adopt their strength but—”
“Eh, eh, stop there. That’s the key.”
Frowning, she studied him a little closer, as if there was a screw loose.
Ra rolled his eyes before motioning to them as a group. “When you adopted their strength and agility… did you happen to participate in any… ah, extracurricular activities beforehand?”
The light bulb didn’t just light up inside Maya’s head—it burst apart and shards of shrapnel struck her like lightning. “Holy shit!”
“Bingo,” Ra said with a grin.
“Wait, I’m missing it, what does he mean?” Asher’s voice came from beside her, and she turned to wink at him.
“It seems when we have sex, I borrow a bit of that stamina you guys seem to have.”
Ra snapped and pointed, aiming a finger gun in their direction. “Exactly. As long as you guys are doing the hanky-panky, you’ll keep Maya here young and healthy for as long as you want.”
Maya grinned giddily. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem with that.” Her heart soared to the highest of highs. Her men would be hers for as long as she wanted. She could spend lifetimes with them.
The thought was absolutely thrilling—she could only imagine the ways—
Another cough interrupted her giddy happiness.
“And what about me? Can I get out of this gods-forsaken time pocket?” Sekhmet nudged him in the side when she came close. “Please get me out of here.”
A look akin to pity crossed his face and Maya knew what he was about to tell her wasn’t going to be something she liked.
“Ra, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Sekhmet laughed, the sound far from anything humorous, more of a nervous tick than something belying joy.
Kyril stood not too far away, a furious look on his face as Sekhmet pleaded with Ra.
He was having none of it and gestured to the man in question. “Why would you want to take him with you anyway? He tried to kill you.”
The sun god made a good point, but Sekhmet couldn’t even think straight with all the emotions surging through her body.
“But how is that fair? I spent hundreds, thousands of years here! Is that not enough?” Sekhmet's voice came out shrill with emotion. Her throat constricted, her fears pronouncing themselves in the tenor of her fingers. Her heart ached like a fist squeezed around it within her very body. When Ra looked at her with a dreaded emotion in his face, pity of all things, Sekhmet knew his words were true.
She closed her eyes against the wave of emotion that swelled so high and strong she feared she would drown in its furious depths.
Slowly, she turned to the one person she loved most in the world. The only person she loved in this world. His strong, handsome features were stricken as he met her gaze, his bravado fading as he stared at her. The tears that had welled spilled as he spoke as if trying to convince both of them. “You don’t love me, Sekhmet. Don’t do this.” A touch of anger still colored his tone, and she couldn’t blame him.
Her heart was breaking, and it was the worst feeling she could ever imagine. She’d rather be embalmed alive than for this hole to grow and fester as it was.
Ra’s words speared her just as efficiently as Kyril’s blade had.
You must give up what you love most.
“It’s what Ma’at requires of you to start over. A blank slate,” Ra spoke softly.
Suddenly, an inferno of anger, pain, and fury rose within her, her eyes sparking as she turned to the sun god. In the next instant, a calm overcame that, eclipsing the wave of violent emotions in her like a cold breeze.
This could be a blank slate. This could be her blank slate. Ra was right. Kyril had tried to kill her. But Kyril was wrong, she did love him. However, she also now understood that he didn’t love her. With that, her decision was made. “Fine. I can pay your balance. It will get me out of here?”
He simply nodded, and hope bloomed within her.
“I can go wherever I want? And you’ll leave me alone?”
Studying her for a moment longer, he arched a brow. “Alone? I thought this whole,” his hand motioned to the chaos around them, “ordeal was because you didn’t want to be alone.”
Sekhmet stared hard at Kyril, not even blinking as he sputtered at the dead look in her gaze. “Sometimes alone is better than being with those who don’t want you.”
Empathy might have been something she struggled with, but in this moment it was sympathy that she couldn’t conjure into her heart.
Not even when Kyril made a move to step forward, maybe to take her into his arms and whisper sweet apologies. She would have none of it and focused only on her freedom. With wide eyes, he brought his hand up to his line of vision, watching as first his fingers, then his palm dissolved into a dusty sand to disperse on the mysterious breeze blowing in the room.
“No, Sekhmet, I’m sorry! Please, don’t do this.”
Sekhmet could feel, even if she couldn’t empathize with what others were feeling. Maybe if she had this quality, this trait, she would have seen his betrayal coming. Maybe he wouldn’t have betrayed me in the first place?
His pleas broke her heart even as it hardened her too. “No, Kyril. You showed me exactly how you felt about me today. You tried to kill me.” The last was spoken through gritted teeth, and she willed the dusting faster, his other hand and arm matching the first, his feet following in the same fashion. “My love kept you alive, and you killed that too.”
Staring at his beautiful blue eyes, she shed exactly one tear for him and locked the rest away. He would get no more of a reaction from her, he would feel no satisfaction from succeeding in hurting her. None.
His legs were now faded, until he existed just as a torso. Her throat tightened as if a vise squeezed, or perhaps from the remembered feel of Kyril’s perfectly placed palm. Shaking herself of the thoughts, she spoke to him one last time, whispering between just the two of them.
“May you receive the justice you deserve.”
And with that, he was gone.
Epilogue
One year later
Giddiness flowed t
hrough Maya’s veins like molten gold as she shut the door behind the last patron. Finally, her night was almost over.
Or rather just beginning…
The sly thought passed through her mind as she turned back around, her boots thudding over the brand new, shiny hardwood floor of the bar as she walked right past Theo. Pausing at the hallway entrance, she turned to study her family’s bar. The golden threads in the tapestry featuring her three felines glimmered in the low, exposed lighting of the bar. The new lights also highlighted her favorite pieces of Asher’s art. He was in the process of opening his own gallery, but for now she was proud to showcase whatever he would give her.
They’d refurbished the entire bar with the Keepers’ funds. Apparently, if your family’s funds amassed interest over hundreds of years, you could live quite the nice life.
Maya still owned the bar, but she’d promoted Theo to manager while she’d taken time off to get used to her new… abilities.
Let’s go with that.
Yeah, she’d played hooky for a few weeks to get used to the new strength that never seemed to fade. Just like Ra promised them, her strength and agility stayed as strong as their bond. Her men literally couldn’t keep their paws off her.
Not that she was complaining. As a matter of fact…
She clacked her new piercing against her teeth, the metal ball resting comfortably on the top of her tongue.
Maya had a surprise for the guys, and it wasn’t the average candy and flowers.
Turning away from the beautiful bar that she would never grow tired of looking at, she turned and jogged to her office to finish up some last minute paperwork. The guys had been out all day, doing only the gods knew what.
She didn’t blame them. Maya had been gone from the bar for half the day, getting her new piercing and a little something extra.
Let’s just say her advanced healing, which came alongside the shifter strength and speed, would come in handy tonight.