Tipping her head back, I flicked my tongue inside her mouth, tasting her, falling into her, losing control of myself as I surrendered to what I was feeling.
Her arms wrapped around my neck and I seized the opportunity to release her face, grabbing her around the waist instead, pulling her even tighter against me. When her teeth nipped at my lower lip, I growled in satisfaction, hauling her up into the air and guiding her legs around my waist, clutching her to me as tightly as ever.
“Wait,” she suddenly said, breaking away from me, her chest heaving.
Gods help me, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
“What is it,” I asked breathlessly, trying not to stare as I held her to me.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you think we’re doing?” I asked, not able to help it as I grinned wolfishly.
“Put me down!” she ordered, pushing on my chest.
Doing as she asked, I looked at her bewildered, hands on her hips. The skin was so soft, covered only by her shirt, which I rubbed up with my thumbs, my fingers caressing her sides softly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, confused, feeling the high from before waning.
“You’re just like your dad!” she accused me. “Trying to get into my pants!”
“What?” I asked, shocked. “That is not at all what I was trying to do.”
“Save it,” she snapped. “I’ve heard the stories about your family.”
“Avalon, I swear—”
“You would take advantage of me like that? When I was so upset?”
The hurt in her eyes stung, killing any arousal I’d been feeling. Instead, it was like she’d shot me straight through the heart with one of Arsenio’s arrows.
“It wasn’t like that,” I managed to get out, knowing she wouldn’t believe me.
“Just . . . Leave me alone, okay?”
She glared at me sadly for a moment longer before turning and grabbing up her clothes, leaving the clearing without saying another word.
“Avalon,” I called out, frustrated. “Avalon, wait!”
My breath caught in my chest as I watched her go, shock resonating through me at her words. Angrily, I slapped the water, glaring at the spot where she’d disappeared from view.
Never in my life had I’d been accused of being a womanizer. I’d been raised better and had Zeus’s experience on the matter to learn from. Taking any woman I wanted was not something I did. I’d thought that maybe, someday after the war was over, I’d meet someone and fall so completely for her, just as Zeus had for Karly. I didn’t want the same spotted past as my father.
She’d kissed me back! How was I the bad guy if she’d been enjoying it? How dare she treat me like a villain! I gave her time to tell me no. She could have stopped me at any moment and I would have listened.
She was right, my timing could have been better. She was upset, it would look like I was trying to take advantage of her. All I’d been trying to do was comfort her.
It just got really out of control really fast.
You will join with the demi-Titan . . .
I stopped cold in my tracks, the prophecy seemingly being screamed at me from every angle, so much so that I dove under the water trying to escape it. When my face broke the surface again, I felt my head had cleared some.
I’d never even thought of kissing Avalon before, not until it was happening, just like I’d never really thought of being kind to her until I was doing it.
I never should have stopped thinking of her as an It, I thought bitterly.
I stayed in the hot spring, lost in my own thoughts for quite some time, not wanting to go back to camp and face her again in front of Arsenio. It was clear to me I was going to have to be a little meaner, to protect myself.
In the end, Avalon was a mystery. I didn’t know what was going to happen to her, only that I had to keep the Titans from getting her. Being harsher would protect me from losing anything and it would help her, too. Somehow.
As I finally left the water and headed back, I couldn’t help the last thought that entered my mind.
What if I’ve already sealed my own fate?
Chapter Sixteen
Avalon
I lay under my blanket next to the fire, stiff as a board, listening to the soft breathing of Arsenio a few feet away. Cristos was sitting guard on the edge of camp, obscured by the trees, silent as always.
I could still feel his lips on mine, the way they’d sent shivers down my spine, tumbling even the Titan into a bliss I’d never felt before. Being swept away had been easy, like it was the one thing I’d been made to do on this earth. Stopping it was another story.
You should have been more cautious, I scolded myself. You knew what Olympians were like. Good grief, more than half the trouble they got themselves in came from not being able to keep it in their pants!
I adjusted my position slightly, daring a look in Cristos’s direction. He had his back turned to me, the hilt of his sword showing from the mouth of his ratty back pack. Everything about him was still except for his long, unbound hair, blowing over his shoulders gently as a burst of air glided over his black clad form, another storm on the horizon.
I’d been lost in that hair, feeling it with my fingers, tousling it as I gripped him.
Stopping my train of thought immediately, I looked back up at the sky, a few stars twinkling down from between the clouds. If it weren’t for the fire and the blankets, I would be freezing.
Did he only start treating me nice because he wanted me like that?
The thought left a bitter taste in my mouth, sticking to me like glue no matter how I tried to get rid of it.
I’d arrived back at the camp, changed into my new clothes, arms wrapped tightly around my body as I looked to see if my would be romancer had beaten me back. He was nowhere to be found, so I simply sat down and watched Arsenio flick sticks into the fire. He’d asked me if I enjoyed my time at the hot spring and I’d blushed darkly, wondering if he knew what Cristos had been planning.
The brute returned some time later, still soaking and shivering in the cold, avoiding any eye contact with me. No one said a single word the entire night. It was eating at my nerves, picking at my brain, driving me insane with the thought they’d probably planned to take me for themselves.
I couldn’t lay still any more, all of the thoughts tumbling through my head over and over, and I suddenly shoved to my feet, wrapping my blanket around me and moving for the edge of camp opposite of Cristos.
I’d left my boots on when I went to bed, not wanting cold feet in the morning, and they moved over the ground quickly, carrying me to a place of refuge. It was only a few feet from the camp, but the small screen of trees made me feel alone. Sitting on a stump, I pulled the cover tighter around myself and looked up at the sky, greeting the few snow flurries that had begun to fall.
Again, I relived the memory of being kissed, touching my lips softly with my fingertips, trying to find a sensible reason for its occurrence. The Titan in me shifted, flames burning hotter as she pushed to be released, to end my thoughts of our enemy.
“You shouldn’t leave camp like that.”
I jumped at the sound of his voice, turning to face him, a smug smile on my face.
“Why? Do I need to stay close by in case you feel like grabbing my face again?”
Cristos frowned, anger in his eyes, and I saw his fists clenching, jaw working to hold off whatever retort he’d wanted to spit out.
“If you can’t follow the rules, I’ll tie you to a tree for the night,” he growled, the truth of the statement flashing in his eyes.
“Why did you kiss me?” I blurted out suddenly, trying to change the subject from anything but me being held as a captive once more.
“I told you,” he mumbled, looking up to the sky as he sighed. “I was only trying to make you feel better.”
“By attacking me?”
I couldn’t help the skepticism in my voice, or the disbelief in my eyes. He was full of cra
p. He had to be for any of this to make sense. Kidnappers didn’t suddenly fancy their prey, not for honest and good reasons.
“What do you want me to say?” he hissed, looking over his shoulder towards camp quickly before turning his attention back to me. “That I’m a god and can’t help myself? That I take whoever I want whenever I want? Fine. Stand up.”
“Why?” I trembled, frightened by his sudden onset of fury.
Instead of answering, he shot towards me, lifting me off my feet and slamming my back into a nearby tree.
“You’re hurting me,” I gasped as he grabbed my wrists, lifting them above my head and grasping them in one hand.
“That’s the point,” he growled.
He pressed a knee between my legs, spreading them apart as he silenced me with his mouth, tongue slipping between my lips and stroking roughly against my teeth.
Squirming to get away from him, I bit him for good measure. Unfortunately, he only chuckled, not even halting in his onset.
Anxiousness filled me, the realization I’d truly pushed him too far with my simple comments catapulting me into dread. It was all I could do to keep the Titan at bay, to push back the desire to kiss him back, as wrong as it was.
“Do you feel the difference,” he murmured against my mouth, his free hand grabbing my thigh painfully.
Close to tears I nodded, worried my voice would give away how scared I was.
Breathless, he finally released me, stepping back abruptly and straightening his shirt.
“If I’d wanted to take you, I would have,” he glowered. “But I’m not that kind of man. You would do well to stop assuming I am.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, a tear sliding over my cheek, from relief or fear I didn’t know.
His face contorted into an expression I’d never seen on him before, one of pain and sorrow, and he stepped toward me hesitantly, reaching a hand out and slowly wiping the water from my face.
“Damn it, Avalon,” he said softly. “You’re going to destroy me.”
“I’m confused,” I stated simply, leaning into his touch as my instincts told, even though I’d wanted nothing more than for him to stop touching me moments before.
“I am too,” he said, just as surprised by the confession as I was. “I’m not even supposed to let myself think of you as a human.”
“Why?” I asked, stepping closer to him.
“You will ruin me if I let you get too close,” he muttered, his other hand reaching for my hip, pulling me up against him like it had a mind of its own.
“I don’t understand,” I mumbled, sighing as his arms wrapped around me.
“Why do you let me hold you like this?” he asked suddenly. “After how I treated you before?”
“I don’t know,” I replied, twisting my fingers into the fabric of his shirt. “I should be running away, trying to escape. But, it’s nice to be held after everything that’s happened, even if it is by you. I didn’t realize how badly I needed a hug until I got one.”
I looked up into his eyes, my stomach twisting while my brain yelled at me to think straight.
You’re supposed to be mad at him! it screamed at me. He kidnapped you! He hurt you! He touched you without permission!
My body seemed to have a mind of its own, though, easily remembering what it felt like to be owned by him, caressed by his lips, and held against him in a most delicious way.
“Am I your prisoner?” I asked timidly, recognizing the look in his eyes and movement of his body.
“Yes,” he confirmed, mouth hovering just above mine.
“Are you going to kill me?”
He pulled back some, eyes searching mine before he answered.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you,” he replied honestly. “Everything is jumbled from where it was before.”
“Were you going to kill me before?”
“Yes.”
I bit my lip, backing away from him and leaning against the tree again.
“Thank you for being honest,” I stated breathlessly. “I think I need some air.”
He nodded, his face tight, hiding any emotion he might be feeling, and turned to leave.
“I’m going to sit on this side of camp,” he said uncertainly, stopping to look over his shoulder at me. “Don’t go too far. I will come and get you if you try to run.”
“Okay,” I whispered, having no doubt that he would.
He disappeared through the trees and my breath released in one great movement, tears pricking at my eyes.
Now that he was gone, it felt like I could think clearly again. Every time I saw him now, I remembered what his skin felt like on mine and my brain practically shut off, ignored in the heat my body felt. The Titan made it worse, feeling the change in my body and fueling it with her own fire and intentions.
I didn’t know if I should frown or smile over the fact that he’d kissed me again. Of course, being treated like I’d had no choice in the matter had been scary, terrifying even, but he’d made his point. It was much different from what had happened earlier. The first had been passionate but soft, versus this time where he’d hurt me and not cared at all.
He was going to kill you.
I’d known as much before, having heard him say almost just that, but having it put so clearly just now was unravelling. The fact that he hadn’t come right out and said he wasn’t going to kill me was also eating at me, making me feel more like running with every heartbeat that pounded against my chest. However, escaping would do me no good, a fact I’d accepted some time ago.
He said I would destroy him.
Whatever had he meant by saying that? The only powers I had rested with my Titan and there was no way I was going to purposely let her out again, not when it hurt so much. The fire was the only thing I could stand and even that made my skin prickle like it’d fallen asleep.
The world around me was crumbling again, changing from the normal I’d been used to. First I was human, on my way to being a doctor, helping people. Then I was a prisoner, treated like dirt, hurt, abused in almost every way. Now I was still a prisoner, but free to move alone, holding some power over my captor. It was like he knew something about me I didn’t, something he was sure would be the end of him. He didn’t shy away from touching me, though, from driving me insane with his kiss.
My fingers brushed over my lips once more and I looked in the direction he’d left, wondering if he was still watching me, thinking of whatever it was that had caused the change in his attitude. His wasn’t the only one that changed.
I liked being kissed and held by him. It was comforting somehow, when it should have been the last place I wanted to be. Cristos had saved me from the Titans several times. It was natural to think of him as a protector now, without all of his harsh treatment. Perhaps I was only being fooled into trusting him, but it really did feel like he was suddenly telling me the truth. All I knew was his touch instantly soothed me, wiping away the thoughts and fears I’d had before, pushing aside anything but the feel of his skin on mine.
Lust. I’d never really felt it before. Was that what this was? Now more than ever, it seemed it could be the culprit of my feelings. I could fight it, refuse to give in to something I didn’t want. I knew what happened to people who gave in, who let themselves fall into its trap.
I’d been scared for my life before, but now I was scared for my heart.
Chapter Seventeen
The next few days found us walking through more countryside, avoiding any towns or major roads around us. Cristos had returned to his somewhat rude self, ordering me around when he felt I was moving too slow, but never following through on any of his threats to tie me up again. There were no more sudden kisses, either, something I was embarrassed to realize I missed.
Most of the time was spent silently, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I didn’t know about my captors—friends?—but the prominent thing on my mind was what was going to happen once we reached Sicily. Apparently, my death wasn’t a ce
rtain thing now, if Cristos was to be trusted at all. What was I supposed to do then? Hide behind a rock and watch everything else unfold? It seemed highly unlikely I would be able to do so, not if I was the bait drawing everyone in.
On the third day, around noon, we crossed the border into Poland, my nerves grating at me as we got closer to our end goal. It would take a few more weeks at least before we arrived, if we truly were going to walk the whole way. I was going to go mad if I had to stay silent for that much longer, dwelling on what could be the very short remainder of my time on Earth.
“So,” I asked, my voice greeted by their surprised faces as I broke the silence. “What’s it like to be the son of Zeus?”
Cristos laughed, his smile sending butterflies through my stomach.
“I imagine it’s just like being anyone else’s son,” he said offhandedly. “He taught me how to take care of myself and those around me. His love for my mother showed me how to treat women and his affection for me has given me many thoughts on how I’d like to treat my own children, if I ever have any.”
“He taught you everything you know,” I summarized, smiling softly.
“Arsenio, too,” he confirmed.
“I’ve always been more of their family than Poseidon’s,” Arsenio agreed, grinning as well. “But only because I didn’t want to live with my real father.”
“Why not?” I asked, curious.
“Poseidon and Audrey are very, uh, emotional,” he laughed. “It’s because of their powers, their connection to the ocean. Their moods can change as quickly as the waves do.”
“Wouldn’t you be the same way, though? Being his son?”
“The mortal side ties him firmly to the ground,” Cristos replied, grinning viciously. “That’s why he’s so stubborn—he can’t move from one spot to another without great effort.”
“If anyone here is stubborn, it’s you, cousin,” Arsenio chuckled. “You received more than one lightning bolt during our training, if I remember correctly.”
“You were punished with lightning?” I asked, shocked. “Isn’t that a little harsh?”
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