What a Goddess Wants

by Stephanie Julian

  She wished she could really enjoy the chocolate. The sweet had magical properties that allowed it work on the biochemistry of the deities. Unaffected by all diseases, man-made drugs, and most poisons, the deities had discovered many millennia earlier that chocolate acted as a sedative.

  And she definitely needed one. Between the attempted kidnapping by the demon and Cal’s kiss just now, she needed to calm down. She couldn’t think clearly, and that would not help them.

  “Have you told the other goddesses what’s going on, Tessa?” Cal asked, drawing her back into the conversation. She took a few moments to think before answering.

  “Not yet, no. I’ve been a little preoccupied.” Trying to stay alive. “I can try to contact them, but it will be tough to get them all in one place at the same time. Deities can be notoriously difficult, and several have had, ah, disagreements over the years.”

  Cal snorted, his expression clearly showing he thought she’d understated the matter. Then he sighed, long and deep, as his expression became dead serious. “And you haven’t tried to reach Uni or Tinia? To see if they’d help?”

  She shook her head. “No. We’ve tried for centuries with no luck. Some believe they’ve deserted us for good.”

  Cal’s gaze sharpened. “What do you believe?”

  Another good question.

  Did she, like some of her fellow deities, believe that Uni, the Great Mother Goddess, along with her consort, Tinia; sister goddess, Menrva; Ani, God of the Sky; and Voltumna, God of the Seasons, had deliberately abandoned their children, the Etruscan pantheon, and cut them off from Invol, the ancestral home of the Etruscan gods? That they’d hidden the entrance to Invol and forced their children to live forever on this plane of existence?

  Some days…

  Then she shook her head. “I honestly don’t know. I would like to believe they’re unable to answer us. That something is keeping them from us. But I don’t know what that could be.”

  Something flickered in Cal’s gaze, something she couldn’t identify. “Could it be related to the problem you’re having now?”

  She frowned. “Do you mean, do I think Charun has gotten to them? No. If he had their power,” she had to stop to yawn, putting her hand over her mouth before shaking her head and continuing, “nothing would stop him from leaving Aitás. The world would be overrun with the dead, and Charun would spread death and destruction in this world.”

  Cal’s eyes narrowed as he thought about that, still holding her gaze. “You need to rest.”

  Her mouth tried to quirk into a smile. “You know I can’t do that.”

  “Then at least lie down. If you don’t, you’ll get pissy and not listen to me and then we’ll both be in deep shit.”

  Now, she couldn’t stop her grin. “Oh my, Cal. You have such a way with words. Do you talk to all the girls like that or only ones you have sex with?”

  The man didn’t flush, didn’t look away, didn’t show any sign of discomfort at her teasing.

  And she was teasing. Salvatorus started to laugh, and finally Cal broke their gaze to give the salbinelli a glare.

  “Sounds like you’ve been on your best behavior, Cal.”

  “Yeah, well, fuck you, Goat-Legs. If you’d given me a heads-up—”

  “You would’ve been long gone when she showed up.” Salvatorus gave Cal the finger. “Don’t piss me off, boy, or I’ll give you a tail.”

  Cal shut up. Salvatorus had the power to do it.

  “Lady, the kid’s right, though. You look beat.” Salvatorus stood, his hooves clopping against the tile floor as he walked to the sink. “Why don’t you take the bedroom at the top of the stairs? I gotta go out for a while, see a few people. You’ll be safe here for now. We’ll talk when I get back.”

  ***

  The room was dark, spare, and comfortably cool, with a double bed, a wooden chair, and a television sitting on top of a low chest.

  Cal immediately grabbed the remote, sat in the chair, and began to press buttons. Tessa had to stifle a laugh. No matter what race, religion, creed… hell, no matter the species, some things were universal.

  Sitting on the bed, her back against the pillows, she let him flip around the channels for a few minutes.

  “How old are you?” she asked when he stopped at the Syfy Channel for an X-Files rerun.

  “Ninety-eight.”

  “Really? I didn’t realize Cimmerians were so long-lived. But you’re still a child, comparatively.”

  He flashed her a quick look. “Well, you did say you like ’em young.”

  Yes, she did. And she really liked him. “Please, anyone is young compared to me.” She shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed. “So, how did you come to live in the States, Cal? You said you were born in Cimmeria. When did you leave?”

  He didn’t bother to look at her, just continued to stare at the television. “A few years after my naming. I traveled for a while, did a few jobs. Discovered I liked this part of the world so this is where I decided to stay.”

  Now, why did she think there was more to that story? “Are there many Cimmerians living here, like you do, instead of in Cimmeria?”

  He nodded. “Some.”

  Ooh-kay. This was worse than pulling teeth, Tessa decided. But she wasn’t going to give up just yet. “So, tell me about your culture. I only know that your people are carefully bred to produce great warriors.”

  His face contorted into a grimace that he quickly wiped away. “Yeah, well, don’t believe everything you hear.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “It means some of us aren’t as carefully bred as others.”

  She heard something in his tone that made her consider his words carefully. “You’re not purebred Cimmerian, are you?”

  Now he did look at her, lifting one eyebrow. “Wanna trade me in for a better model?”

  Not on her life. And it very well might be her life. She rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be foolish. You’re stuck with me. I’d just like to get to know you a little better since we’re going to be spending some time in close proximity. I’m going to assume your father is Cimmerian. So who’s your mother?”

  He leaned back in the chair, the wry smile on his face hiding the uneasiness she could sense in him. “Pretty sure of yourself, huh? But you’re right, my mother’s aguane, which is probably why Sal sent you to me specifically.”

  Tessa’s mouth dropped open for a brief second before she recovered. Aguane were elusive, elemental Etruscan water spirits. Unlike many Etruscan descendants, most aguane had remained in their homes in Etruria, while the other Fata had moved to the United States two centuries earlier.

  Aguane were solitary beings for the most part, but obviously some of them had found Cimmerian men irresistible. And, she had to admit, who could blame them, if Cimmerians looked like Cal? “How long have they been living there?” she asked.

  “My mom’s been living in Cimmeria for more than a century. And she’s not the only one.”

  “But… why? Why would they choose to leave their forests and hills for the constant gloom of Cimmeria?”

  His expression hardened, and he turned to stare straight into her eyes. She felt the force of that stare like a physical weight. “You’ve never been to Cimmeria, have you, Goddess? It’s not all gloom and doom. We might not have sunlight, but it’s not always pitch black. There are many levels of darkness, from the pale blue of morning to the silver gray of day, light purple in twilight, and velvet black at high midnight.

  “Those colors soothe the soul. They camouflage and hide and conceal. The dark holds a freedom you can’t find in the light, where your every move, your every fault is revealed. Cimmeria is forest and wood, mountains and valleys. And a lot of beautiful water.”

  Tessa found his deep, raspy voice completely mesmerizing, her gaze riveted to his beautiful mouth as he painted a picture of his world.

  “At one time, our people had settlements all over Cimmeria, but now we live mostly in c
ommunal homes in the valley near the river. The boys and girls sleep in separate barracks, away from our parents’ homes. Easier to train that way.”

  “Are you trained from birth?”

  He nodded. “Pretty much so.”

  “Are there many children of mixed blood, like you?”

  He held her gaze steadily. “No. When I left, there were three. I don’t know how many there might be now.”

  “So you had to be doubly tough, didn’t you?”

  He didn’t answer right away, seeming to think about his response as his gaze slid back to the TV for a few seconds. “We all had it tough.”

  “But they were harder on you because you were part Fata.”

  Cal knew Tessa wasn’t asking him a question. He heard it in her soft tone and saw it in the rueful tilt of her lips. “I’m a better warrior for it.”

  “But who do you fight for now?”

  He shrugged. “Whoever pays.”

  “No matter what they want that help for?”

  Ah, he knew what she wanted to know. “We don’t wage war against the undeserving, no matter who that might be. We might be considered mercenaries, but we have to believe in the cause.”

  “Do many of your people leave Cimmeria for this plane?”

  “No.”

  “So what do your people do?”

  He couldn’t answer that question truthfully. He had sworn an oath he would never break. “We exist. Like you.”

  “Exist.” Her mouth twisted in a sad little curve. “That’s a good word. Don’t you ever want to go back?”

  His answer was immediate and didn’t require any thought. “Not if you paid me. I love it here. There’s always something to do, always someone to do.” There was that wicked smile again. “What about you, Lady? Would you leave this world? If you could?”

  She blinked, as if processing his question. Then she frowned as her gaze turned inward. “I don’t know. After the gates to Invol were lost to us, it wasn’t an option. I… I guess I’d have to give it a lot of thought. I still have duties that I perform for the Etruscan races. Ones I enjoy.”

  Good. He needed to get her onto another subject so he sank back, trying to get as comfortable as he could on the hard chair. “Like what?”

  “Well, I’m a damn good midwife.” Her back straightened and her little chin pointed higher. “I’ve yet to lose a baby or a mother.”

  “Good track record.”

  “I think so.”

  He shifted on the chair again. Wouldn’t have to worry about falling asleep on this thing. His ass hurt too much.

  “Cal, why don’t you come sit over here?” She patted the bed beside her. “You’ll be more comfortable.”

  Yeah, he would be. But he’d be way too close to her. Because even though they weren’t talking about sex, the time they’d spent on his bed played on an endless loop in the back of his mind. He thought about the softness of her skin. Of the warmth he’d felt and shouldn’t have.

  Neither of them could afford for him to be distracted.

  “I’m fine here.”

  Her lips kicked up into a smile. “No, you’re not. What are you worried about? It’s not like we haven’t had sex. And since we’re stuck here all day and I can’t sleep…”

  She let her implied suggestion hang there, tempting him closer. Her soft grin shouldn’t have lit a fire in his gut, but it did. His cock stiffened in his pants, pulsing with blood and heat. He wanted her. Hell, all she needed to do was be in the same room and he wanted to tear her clothes off.

  And why the hell shouldn’t he have her? She was right. She couldn’t sleep, so neither could he. They were safe here, at least for the time being.

  Why couldn’t they relieve a little stress? That first time had damn near blown his mind. He could only imagine how good it would be if he let her use her hands…

  But if something happened to her on his watch…

  He tried to tear his gaze away from hers but couldn’t manage it. “Why don’t we just watch a little—”

  “Are you afraid of me?”

  He heard the indignation, but that twinkle in her eyes made him grin. Afraid? “No. But you’re paying me to protect you, and I can’t do that if I’m fucking your brains out.”

  “Well,” her smile turned wicked, “we didn’t exactly discuss payment for your… protection services.”

  His cock throbbed.

  Holy hell, if she smiled at him like that, with that heated look in her eyes, he’d take whatever payment she offered.

  Lust tightened his balls and his cock hardened even more. His body urged him to crawl onto the bed, strip her naked, and fuck her, hard and for the rest of the day, until the sun sank and they could safely head out.

  But where the hell were they going to go? Was there anywhere he could take her that she’d be safe from Charun?

  His place was warded out the ass but not against someone like Charun. The most Cal had been able to manage had been to rig an early warning system where deities were concerned.

  That’s what had tipped him off about Tessa.

  But was there anything he could do about Charun personally? Anything he could do to stop the god from breaking out of Aitás?

  He’d had an idea earlier tonight, one he’d let sit in the back of his brain to simmer. It was risky and might actually put her closer to the bastard who was searching for her. And it would require a major sacrifice on his part but—

  “You’re thinking again.”

  He caught her gaze, those bright blue eyes giving him a glimpse of the sky as he’d never see it. She’d already given him a taste of a warmth he’d never thought he’d feel again, and his addiction to it grew every time he touched her.

  He shouldn’t touch her. Hadn’t meant to, but his body had acted without checking with his brain. He rose to his feet and walked to the bed, staring down at her as she smiled up at him.

  And when she reached for him, that was all it took to break his control.

  He fell on her as if he’d been starved without her, his mouth slanting over hers and grinding down to force her to open to him. She did so without hesitation, and he shoved his tongue into her mouth. He was rough with her, but instinct had taken over and he couldn’t stop.

  His tongue wound around hers while his hands stripped her clothes from her body. Sun-kissed flesh, sleek and soft under his hands.

  Her arms wrapped around him, and her fingers dug into his back through his shirt. He felt her moan, felt her hot breath seep into his mouth. It acted like a shot of adrenaline straight into his heart. Lust exploded in his gut, potent and powerful.

  He needed to feel her hands on his skin.

  Sitting back on his haunches long enough to rip his shirt over his head, he dropped back onto her, her breasts smashed to his chest, nipples digging into his skin like tiny branding irons. He wanted to crawl inside all that heat and let it burn him to ash.

  He dropped his mouth on hers again and took that heat into him as her hands splayed on his back and began to explore his skin. They moved from his neck to his shoulders, smoothing along the muscle and then down his spine to his pants. She traced the waistband, raising goose bumps on his flesh and making his already hard cock throb.

  She grazed along his waist twice before she slipped her hand under the fabric and scraped at his skin with her nails. His groan made her entire body quiver under his, and her hands shot around to the front for the button.

  She squirmed and wiggled, but she couldn’t release the button because he was pressed too tightly against her.

  The next thing he knew, he was flat on his back with Tessa sitting on his thighs and one hand slipping the button through the hole.

  She’d flipped him as if he didn’t weigh a hundred pounds more than she did.

  Gods damn, that really shouldn’t turn him on as hard as it did. He shouldn’t want her to smile at him like that, so sweet and hot that his lungs had to fight to suck in air.

  Dangerous. Too damn dangerous to his p
eace of mind.

  He shouldn’t want to touch her so badly that his hands shook as he cupped her breasts, kneading the firm flesh and playing with the nipples until they pebbled and turned rock hard. And oh so fucking warm.

  God, her heat…

  She reached for his zipper and began to release it tooth by tooth, her eyes glued to the sight.

  With each audible snick, he gritted his teeth in brutal frustration. He felt every small release of metal against the sensitive skin of his shaft. It was torture, more punishing than having his nails torn from his fingers because the promise of the pleasure to come was killing him.

  When she’d finally lowered the zipper all the way, she leaned forward. His mouth dried as he expected her kiss, but she bypassed his lips and whispered into his ear. “Grab the headboard and don’t let go, Cal.” Her voice became a husky growl. “It’s your turn to squirm.”

  Oh, fuck. He was ready to come just from the sound of her voice.

  He did exactly as she told him without thought, so completely caught up by the desire in her eyes and the heat of her hands as they gripped his pants and boxers and started to pull them off his legs.

  They didn’t go easily. They fit like a glove, and his cock was so hard and thick that she had to work at it. But once she’d gotten them over his hips and down below his knees, she stopped, trapping his legs.

  “That’s to ensure you don’t go far if you try to get away.” Her smile let him know she didn’t think he was going anywhere. “I don’t have any ropes on me.”

  “I’ll do whatever you tell me, babe. Just don’t stop.”

  Lifting her hand, she stuck her index finger between her lips, sucked on it, and then slid it out slowly. It left her lips with an audible pop, and his cock jerked against his stomach.

  Straddling his thighs, she pressed that finger to the taut head of his shaft and circled the slit, combining his moisture with hers. He nearly jumped out of his skin when she used her nail to lead her finger down to his balls, drawn up tight between his legs.

  She flicked at the puckered skin then pressed her finger between the balls and slid back to rub the perineum. Combined with her warmth and the sensitive skin there, her teasing made the slats of the headboard creak in his hands as he forced himself to hold tight.