Goddess in the Middle

by Stephanie Julian

  Returning to his skin was always easier than calling his pelt. His body knew its natural state. This time, though, it hurt like hell.

  He made no sound as he shifted. Nothing felt out of place, but he looked down at himself just to make sure. Still looked okay.

  But now he needed a pair of pants. He’d fight naked but he’d feel a hell of a lot better if he didn’t have to. Leather would be—

  Leather pants molded to his skin. His favorite pair. He blinked down at them for several seconds then decided he really didn’t need to think about it. Not when he had a Mal to kill.

  He gave Charun a wide berth as he walked over to pick up the sword Remy had dropped. He felt the pull on his strength as Remy supported Amity while Amity healed Perrin.

  And hoped his remaining strength would be enough to protect them. It would have to be. He spared a final glance at Charun, who paid no attention to him. Then he planted himself at Remy’s back and prepared to fight. He didn’t have to wait long.

  The Mal stepped out of the gloom, his eyes wide, a crazed look in them.

  “You can’t escape now, Romulus. There’s nowhere for you to go.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to kill you. Because we’re not going anywhere with you.”

  “You will. See, Charun made a deal with my boss. He gets Munthukh. We get you and your cousin. When Charun takes the goddess, he’ll hand me both of you on a silver platter.”

  “Not if you’re dead.”

  Rom attacked without warning, hoping to catch the Mal off guard as he swung the sword straight at the other man’s ribs.

  In a flash, the Mal held his own sword, deflecting Rom’s blow but stumbling back. Rom pressed his advantage, fear for Amity and Remy and furious anger at the entire situation fueled his strength.

  But the Mal had wiry strength and a fanatic’s zeal. He twisted and turned, deflecting every one of Rom’s attempts to incapacitate him. Rom tried to draw him away from Amity and the others, tried to trip him up.

  But the guy just wouldn’t go down. Rom was beginning to feel the strain on his abused body, still not completely healed from the blow he’d taken from Charun.

  He took a step back and nearly went down, his ankle twisting painfully.

  The Mal saw an advantage and took it. He swung the sword at Rom’s head, which he blocked, but wasn’t fast enough to deflect the next jab. The sword skewered his thigh and he groaned in pain.

  And saw his opening a second later as the Mal thought he had him beat. As the guy drew back to strike again, Rom surprised him by swinging his sword low. Rom cut him across the left knee, hearing the thunk as it hit bone, grinning when the guy dropped his own sword to clutch his leg.

  Forcing himself to his feet, Rom pressed the point of the sword against the guy’s throat.

  “I should kill you now but I want you to deliver a message. Tell your boss he’ll never get Remy or me. Tell him if he comes after us again, we won’t stop to think about killing. We’ll consume him in red flame and leave him to rot for eternity.”

  “That will never happen. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. You don’t—”

  The words cut off with a gurgle as Charun appeared beside Rom to grab the man’s throat. “They don’t. But I do. And I’ll tell the man myself. Your soul is now mine.”

  Charun broke the man’s neck with one powerful flick of his wrist and dropped him to the ground without a second glance.

  “You’d better see to Remy and Amity,” Charun said.

  Rom turned, his stomach twisting. “No.”

  Remy and Amity’s still bodies sprawled on the ground beside Perrin’s.

  Rom’s heart pounded so hard it hurt, and his stomach threatened to heave its contents.

  Not both of them. Blessed Mother Goddess, please. Not both.

  He closed the distance between them and dropped to his knees beside them. Charun bent to gather Perrin in his arms then stood, disappearing from Rom’s sight.

  Remy was closer and Rom reached for him, but he couldn’t make his hand close the inches between them. He didn’t want to feel Remy’s lifeless body.

  Amity’s hair covered her face. He was afraid to brush it away to see the pallor of her skin.

  It wasn’t until he felt something drip from his chin that he realized he was crying.

  “What the… fuck… Rom.”

  Rom’s gaze snapped back to Remy. His eyes were slits of muddy blue but they were open.

  “Remy. Ceffo, I thought…” He quickly wiped away the tears before he reached for Remy’s shoulders to hold him still. “Don’t move.”

  “What happened? Where’s Amity? Perrin?”

  “How do you feel?” Rom ignored his cousin’s questions, not ready to deal with anything else right now.

  “Like I’m in hell.”

  Rom felt tears well again but ruthlessly forced them back. Time enough for that later.

  “No, but close enough. We need to get out. Now.”

  Rom’s gaze narrowed even more. “Not without Amity.”

  “We won’t leave her behind. Do you think you can stand?”

  Remy’s eyes widened a little more and his lips parted as if he were going to say something.

  Then he turned his head. Rom’s hands curled into fists but he didn’t try to stop him.

  With a groan, Remy sat up and reached for her. Unable to stop himself, Rom moved around to her other side and helped Remy lift her.

  Her skin was still warm and Rom drew in a sharp breath as he realized she was still breathing.

  “We have to get her out of here,” Remy said. “We need to get her home.”

  “Then take her.”

  Both of them whipped their heads around to Charun, standing behind them with Perrin in his arms. The other woman appeared to be sleeping, but Rom couldn’t tell for sure if she was breathing.

  “You and Amity may go,” Charun continued. “Perrin stays.”

  Rom knew Amity would fight them tooth and nail not to leave Perrin behind but they didn’t have much of a choice. If she was dead, there was nothing they could do to help her. If she wasn’t… they’d deal with that situation later.

  Rom knew Remy was about to fight with the god but Rom stood, grateful his head played nice and he didn’t go lights out again. “We’ll go.”

  “Tell Amity… we’ll talk later.”

  Not if Rom had anything to do about it. But he didn’t say that aloud.

  “Can you get up?” he asked Remy.

  He wanted out of here right away. Then he realized he had no idea how to get out. The intensity of his need to escape escalated until his skin crawled.

  Remy got to his feet, looking pretty steady as he cradled Amity in his arms. “So how do we get the hell out of here?”

  “The same way you came in.”

  Charun’s voice sounded all around them and suddenly they were drowning.

  ***

  “I don’t know what else to tell you, guys. Let her rest. If she doesn’t wake by tomorrow morning…”

  Sal shook his head and stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He never finished his sentence. He didn’t need to.

  There was a lot of that going around.

  They’d made it out of the dream plane and back to the pond, almost drowning in the process.

  Cal and X had been waiting for them, the unconscious bodies of the Mal’s guard trussed like pigs on the ground by the side of the pond. When Remy and Rom had surfaced, dragging Amity between them, the brothers had jumped into the pond to drag them out.

  They’d had a brief discussion about where to go that consisted of two choices. They chose the safest and headed for the den, where Cole himself met them at the little house, along with Sal and a lucani doctor named Dane Dimitriou. He’d done a complete exam and when he sighed and replaced the stethoscope around his neck, Remy had walked away to look out the window.

  He didn’t want to hear anyone else tell them they had no idea if she’d ever wake ag
ain.

  That had been last night.

  Ten hours later, Rom looked ready to crack under the strain. That in itself was enough to make Remy want to scream.

  His cousin hadn’t said more than two words at a time, probably because his jaw was clenched so tight, he could barely speak.

  Rom sat beside the bed they’d shared only two nights ago and stared out the window. He only left the room to use the bathroom. The only food he’d eaten had been because Catene had brought it and stood by him to make sure he finished it.

  The young woman who’d inherited Lusna’s powers as the Goddess of the Moon had attempted to rouse Amity, as had Lusna, Thesan, and Nortia, the Goddess of Fate. None of them had had any luck.

  Rom had even refused a direct request from Cole to talk about the two Malandante they’d brought back from the dream plane.

  Frankly, Remy was glad he’d turned that one down because it probably would’ve turned into a blood bath. Cole had a couple of guys working on them but so far they’d gotten nothing more than vague threats.

  Remy had told Cole that when they needed someone to gnaw on the men to come get him. Cole had promised he’d be the first in line.

  Now, the house was so fucking quiet it hurt Remy’s head. Which might have more to do with a lack of sleep than anything.

  He knew Rom had to be feeling just as bad. Neither of them had slept in more than twenty-four hours.

  “You need to lie down.”

  Rom’s voice startled him, he’d become so used to the silence.

  His cousin sat on a chair by the side of the bed, one hand wrapped around Amity’s resting on top of the quilt. Rom’s gaze was glued to their joined hands. Almost as if he didn’t want to miss the moment she woke.

  Remy had the awful thought that Rom would die in that chair waiting for her to move.

  “You haven’t slept any more than I have, Rom, what—”

  “You need to let her know you’re here and you’re okay.”

  Remy frowned, trying to make sense of his cousin’s words. Had Rom finally cracked?

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Can’t you sense her? Don’t you still feel her? She’s here. She just can’t find her way back. You need to show her the way.”

  Remy opened his mouth to tell Rom to snap out of it. That he was freaking him out. But before he did, he closed his mouth and thought about what Rom was saying.

  He didn’t sound crazy. He sounded as rational as he always did.

  And it was rationale that Remy latched onto.

  “What do you sense?”

  Rom finally lifted his head to look at Remy, and Remy breathed a sigh of relief at the completely sane look in Rom’s eyes.

  “All the other people, it was too much. I felt her retreating. Maybe now, with just the two of us here…”

  Could that really be it? Or was Rom grasping at straws?

  Remy slammed his eyes closed and forced out every other distraction but Amity’s scent and Rom’s presence as they lived inside him.

  He latched onto that other sense, the one he knew was Rom’s consciousness, and followed it.

  “Lie down and hold her, Remy. Let her know you’re here. I’ve been trying to reach her for hours but… I don’t think she can sense you.”

  That’s why he’d been so silent, so withdrawn.

  Uni’s ass, Rom had been holding her for hours. Mentally. And Remy hadn’t realized. Fuck.

  Remy knelt on the bed, careful not to jostle her. He forced himself to look, to really look at her. She appeared to be sleeping. Her cheeks still had faint color in them. And not a flush like a fever, but a healthy glow.

  Her lungs rose and fell in a slow, steady pace and her expression looked worried. Not blank or slack, but as if she couldn’t stop thinking about something and it’d followed her into her dreams.

  Hope began to pound like adrenaline through his veins. Toeing off his sneakers, he pulled back the covers and slid onto the bed next to her. Wrapping his arms around her, he turned her onto her side so his chest was plastered against her back.

  Tucking her head under his chin, he got her as close as he could, hoping against hope that she felt him. That she sensed he was there.

  They’d removed her clothes and slipped her into an oversized T-shirt of Rom’s before putting her in bed. Now Remy let his hands rub her bare forearms and thighs, her skin warming beneath his touch.

  He held her, losing track of time as he tried to reach her. He didn’t realize he was murmuring in her ear until he felt Rom begin to pull away.

  “No.” He reached for Rom and Amity’s joined hands and added his to the mix. “You have to stay too.”

  After a second, Rom nodded, his jaw loosening just the tiniest bit. And Remy let his hand slide back up Amity’s arm.

  Lowering his head, he put his lips directly against her ear. “Come back to us, Amity. We’re both here. We’re not going anywhere. You can’t leave us. Not now. We love you.”

  He felt Rom still even more at that last statement but he didn’t move away. And he didn’t deny it. Instead, Rom bent over their joined hands and pressed his lips to her fingers.

  Remy thought he felt her move, just a slight tremor in the arm holding onto Rom’s hand.

  And the stillness, that sense of waiting he’d felt from her before was gone. He swore he felt her struggling toward consciousness.

  Remy put his mouth close to her ear and dug deep for that well of power he and Remy shared, the power that made them able to defeat a tukhulkha demon.

  The power they’d always believed was meant for fighting and destruction Remy now channeled to reach Amity.

  “Amity,” he whispered in her ear. “Wake up now. We need you here with us.”

  Remy heard her breathing change, a slight hitch that hadn’t been there before.

  “Open your eyes, Lady.” Remy reinforced his words with a blast of power so strong, not even a goddess could ignore it, apparently.

  Amity took a deep breath and Remy held his until he heard her take another.

  And when she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes, her hazy gaze going first to Rom and finally to him, Remy could breathe again.

  “Bossy men.” Her voice sounded weak but steady and Remy closed his eyes as his arms tightened around her. “I love you too. Both of you.”

  Remy couldn’t get his vocal cords in gear. Luckily Rom wasn’t having as much trouble.

  “Good. Because we’re not going anywhere and neither are you. We will bind you to us if we have too. We’re not losing you again.”

  Remy lifted up on one elbow so he could see her face. Rom still held her one hand so she threaded her other with Remy’s and lifted it to her lips.

  Her weak smile made Remy’s heart pound. “That’s good to hear. How about we start right now?”

  The look in her eyes made Remy’s blood run hot even as Rom shook his head.

  “You need to rest.”

  She released Rom’s hand so she could stroke her fingers across his jaw. “No, what I need is the two of you.”

  Rom flashed him a look, but Remy figured she was entitled to make that decision.

  “I’m not one to say no to my goddess.”

  Her smile lit him up inside. “Then strip and let me show you how much I love you.”

  Remy shot off the bed, dropping clothes without saying a word, but Rom only stood by the side of the bed.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Exactly.” She grabbed Rom’s hand. “Don’t think.”

  Amity rose onto her knees to face Rom, and Remy slipped his hands under the shirt she wore, sliding his hands over the smooth skin of her stomach until he could cup her breasts in his hands.

  Leaning back into him, her hands reached behind her to slide into Remy’s hair and draw his lips closer to her neck.

  He did as she silently asked and put his mouth on the skin just below her ear. She shuddered beneath his hands and her arms reached for Rom, who mov
ed closer so she could hold onto his shoulders.

  “I can’t stop thinking.” Rom’s voice had dropped another octave. “About how we almost lost you.”

  “Then think about how good you’ll feel when you’re flat on your back and deep inside me.”

  Aw fuck. Remy’s cock throbbed at the promise in her voice. And when she slipped her hand behind her back to stroke him, he groaned.

  “And how tight it’ll feel with you inside me too.”

  If Remy had had any hope of holding onto his control, she’d just blown it to smithereens.

  Luckily Rom had slightly better control.

  “Take her down, Remy. On her side.”

  And fuck her. Rom didn’t have to add that part. He knew Rom wanted to watch first.

  And Remy couldn’t wait to get inside her. First, he swept the shirt over her head, hearing Rom’s indrawn breath as he revealed the beauty of her body.

  Then he swept her off her knees and laid her out like Rom had demanded.

  He laid down beside her, his cock sliding into the crease of her ass, making her moan as he grabbed her hips and rubbed against her.

  “No, watch me, baby,” Rom demanded. “Don’t close your eyes.”

  Remy didn’t know if she obeyed but she must have because Rom leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. His face was set in rigid lines, his eyes laser-sharp as they slid down her body, following Remy’s hand as it moved from her hip to between her legs. She moaned as his fingers found her clit and began a slow, sensual assault that had her writhing in his arms.

  Her ass rubbed against his cock, inflaming his already fast-burning lust. Damn it, he needed lube. He didn’t want to hurt her.

  He looked at Rom as he continued to stroke Amity. His cousin was one step ahead of him. He was already bending over and rummaging through the bag at his feet.

  Rom tossed the small tube and Remy had to release her to catch it.

  “Hurry.”

  That one word, whispered in her voice, nearly had him coming all over her back. As fast as he could, he made his cock slick then slipped his fingers between her cheeks and rubbed the excess against the tiny opening there. When he was sure he wouldn’t hurt her, he pressed the head of his cock to the entrance and pushed.

  He breached the outer ring and worked himself inside with a slow steady motion. Amity pushed back against him, her hand resting over his as he gripped her hip and sank deep.