What a Goddess Wants

by Stephanie Julian

  ***

  “You really think this has any chance in hell of working?”

  Cal stared down at her as she sat on the couch. His hands rested on his lean hips, and a scowl marked his handsome face.

  Tessa had said good-bye to her sister goddesses a few minutes earlier and Salvatorus had headed for the kitchen, where she heard pots and pans clanking in the sink.

  Already she felt whatever confidence she’d had in Turan’s suggestion begin to seep away like air from a pricked balloon. But at least the suggestion was something to go on. Tessa was so tired, literally exhausted from lack of rest and sick of being someone’s prey.

  She was willing to try anything at this point, but Cal didn’t seem willing to get with the program. And that pricked at her pride. “I think if we don’t try, we’ll never know. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t had sex before.”

  “Yeah, well, before I wasn’t being offered up on an altar as a sex sacrifice.”

  She cringed a bit at the wording, although he wasn’t far off the mark. “You’re not a sacrifice, Cal. There will be no blood spilled. I just need a little sex magic to fuel my request.”

  “And I’m just supposed to spread myself on the altar and let you do me?”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “Would that be such a bad thing?”

  His eyes rolled. “Christ, Tessa, I’m not a fucking sex toy.”

  Fine. He didn’t want to have sex with her. She could accept that. But damn him for making her feel like her heart was being squeezed in a vise.

  “You know what? You’re absolutely right. You’re not my sex toy. So I guess I just need to go out and find someone who won’t mind giving me a hand. Or a cock, as the case may be.”

  She stood and began to stalk away but two strong arms wrapped around her from behind, lifting her off her feet. “Oh, no, you don’t. Don’t even think about it, Lady. You will not go out trolling the streets for meat for your little party.”

  Struggling in his arms, she kicked at his shins but that didn’t seem to bother him at all. He just continued to hold on. “You think this is a party? This is my life. It may not be much of a life lately, but it’s all I have and I’m not ready to give it up.”

  She wasn’t aware she was crying until she felt moisture drip onto her chest and slip down between her breasts.

  “Hey, babe. Shh,” Cal whispered in her ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… Damn it, just calm down. There’s no need for tears.”

  Yes, there was, actually. Other than this one suggestion, her sisters hadn’t come up with anything to help her. Not that she’d thought they would, but she’d been hoping maybe they’d see something she hadn’t, something she’d missed. Some way to avoid Charun’s ever-tightening noose.

  She didn’t know why he’d targeted her, why he’d want the tiny amount of power she retained. She only knew she didn’t want to live her life in constant fear of being consumed. She already lived with the fact that she was obsolete.

  And thinking about that made the tears fall faster.

  Against her back, she felt Cal groan. “Come on, Tessa. Don’t cry.”

  That, of course, made the tears flow even harder.

  With a muttered curse, Cal easily maneuvered her until he held her in his arms and against his chest. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and she rested her cheek against his broad chest.

  How was she supposed to fight off a god intent on destroying her when she was so weak? When the man who’d brought her more pleasure than she’d had in centuries refused to help her?

  She caught back a sob.

  “Damn it, that’s enough.” Cal finally growled. “I’ll do it. Okay? We’ll go to Uni’s Temple tonight, and we’ll try your sex sacrifice. Just give me a break and don’t cry anymore.”

  It took her a few more minutes before she could shut off the tears. They hadn’t been for show. She was tired… of running, of hiding, of being unable to save herself.

  She hated needing anyone. She was a goddess.

  And yet… Hadn’t she felt power pulse through her the last time she and Cal had had sex? He’d even commented on it.

  Maybe this crazy plan did actually have some merit.

  After a deep breath, she lifted her head from his chest to stare up at him. He’d carried her to the couch and eased down onto the cushion with her, his arms still wrapped tight around her.

  It felt good. Comforting. Right. That made her smile, and some of the tension she’d seen on his face eased.

  “So… what?” Cal said. “We go to Uni’s Temple, have sex on the altar, and ask the Involuti to help you contain Charun?”

  “That’s the general idea, yes.” She sighed, lifting her hand to cup his strong jaw and feeling the play of muscle and bone beneath. “Does that sound so repulsive?”

  Cal shook his head. “Sex with you is not repulsive. But this is a Hail Mary pass, Tess. It’s not really a plan.”

  “Then what can it hurt to try until you come up with something better?”

  His sigh sounded long-suffering. “You’re safe here. Maybe you shouldn’t leave until I have a better idea—”

  “No.” She shook her head for added emphasis. “I’m not going to continue to cower like I have been the past few weeks. It might only have one chance in a million of working, but even that’s more than we have right—”

  Before she realized what he intended, Cal dropped his mouth on hers for a breath-stealing kiss. He caught her off guard, the passion behind the kiss hot and fiery. She let it wash over her like the warmth of the sun. Bright, burning heat flooded over her skin and sank into her body.

  She opened her mouth to him, letting his tongue sweep inside and tangle with hers. Her body went boneless as she responded to his passion. To the need in his kiss.

  She’d never felt so worshipped in her very long life.

  When he would have drawn back, she clung, keeping him tied to her, his mouth against hers, his body hard and ready. She tasted heat on his lips and strength in his arms and let both sink into her.

  When she finally opened her eyes to stare up into his, she saw a hint of confusion there. And maybe resignation. But about what?

  Going with her to Uni’s Temple?

  Was he really that reluctant for her to leave Sal’s? Charun’s demons would not dare abduct a goddess from Uni’s Temple. She should be safe there. But she couldn’t live there.

  With a sigh, Cal set her on her feet and stood as well. She had to look up to see his face. She liked that he was big and broad and strong. She liked pretty much everything about this man.

  “Come on.” He took her hand and tugged her along with him toward the kitchen. “Let’s go see if Goat-Legs has anything to eat. I want the sun to be long gone before we head out.”

  ***

  Cal had never been to Uni’s Temple. He’d never had a reason.

  He didn’t worship the Etruscan gods. He didn’t worship any gods. They always managed to screw you over somehow.

  Pretty much the same reason he’d never taken a woman as a bed partner for more than a few months: because they could be almost as fickle as goddesses.

  Now he was heading willingly into a temple to let a goddess fuck him on an altar. When the hell had his life become part of The Twilight Zone?

  “Pull in there.” Tessa pointed at a narrow, one-way alley that cut off from Chestnut Street and ran parallel with Fifth Street. “There’s a parking lot behind the building.”

  From the alley, he turned into the parking lot marked by a sign that read, “Parking for Marelli’s Trattoria.”

  A city institution for more than a hundred years, Marelli’s Trattoria served the best traditional Italian food in the state, maybe in the entire country. No, Cal had never been in the temple, but Marelli’s was the only place he could get food that came close to being as good as his mom’s.

  The building was nearly two hundred years old and had been built specifically as camouflage for the temple. Originally, it had been all apartmen
ts, renting only to Etruscans, of course. The restaurant had been a later addition.

  No cars sat in the lot at close to 1 a.m., and the only light came from the street lamp halfway down the block.

  Beside him, Tessa reached for the door handle, but he stopped her before she could open it. “Sit tight a minute. Let me take a look around first.”

  Tessa opened her mouth but closed it right away. Good. She was learning.

  As he cut the engine on the Jeep, he let his gaze roam over their surroundings. From this lot, all they could see were the back sides of buildings. The buildings on this side of the alley fronted Fifth Street. Those on the other fronted Pearl Street.

  He saw no one at all. Curtains covered most of the windows, and those that weren’t covered were dark.

  “Where’s the entrance to the temple?”

  Tessa pointed at a barely visible breezeway between the Trattoria and the next building. “It’s just a few feet in there. The door’s locked, unless you have a key.” She smiled at him, though he could barely see her in the dark. “Or you have your very own goddess.”

  The words tripped around his brain for a few seconds. His very own goddess.

  Yeah, right.

  “Stick close, Tessa. I don’t want any surprises.”

  Getting out of the Jeep, he walked around to open her door and grabbed her hand to help her out.

  The heat of her skin against his nearly made him drop her hand. He still had no explanation for that, but now wasn’t the time to examine it.

  She didn’t say anything when he kept hold of her hand. Instead, she pressed closer to him, so close he could smell the faint, floral scent of her skin. Which he should not be thinking about right now. No way.

  As they entered the pitch-black breezeway, he expected Tessa to let him lead. His eyesight was exceptional in the dark, but she didn’t hesitate as she headed straight for the door he saw ahead on the left.

  It looked like any other service entrance to any other building, a big slab of metal with a handle. However, this door was made of iron, not steel, and you didn’t necessarily need a key to open it. Tessa only had to touch it, and it swung wide for them to pass through.

  As the door closed behind them and the lock clicked into place, faint light began to glow around them. Not enough to blind him, as bright fluorescents could. Just enough to lead the way down the short, plain hall.

  “If you have any weapons, you’ll need to leave them out here, Cal. You can’t take them into the temple.”

  He thought about arguing, but her expression made it clear that wouldn’t matter.

  Not a problem. He didn’t need weapons. He was one.

  Pulling the iron blades from his boots, he set them in a small alcove by the arched wooden door in front of them and took the thin wire garrote from his pocket and put it there, too.

  Tessa looked at the garrote and the blades then back to him and lifted one eyebrow.

  “That’s all I got, babe. Let’s do this.”

  That sweet-hot smile she gave him made his cock twitch and start to harden. “I plan to.”

  As she pushed open the door, the mellow glow of candlelight surrounded him when he walked into the temple. For a brief second, Cal had the sense he was stepping back in time. Back to when there were no such things as electric lights or cars or computers. Back to when a belief in deities, plural, didn’t make you politically incorrect. Or just plain crazy.

  But this place would make a believer out of anyone.

  The white marble walls shone with the red-tinged light of the torches on the walls. Real, oil-burning torches. Enough of them to light every nook and cranny of the temple.

  The large room was open to the top of the three-story building. Three columns on each side of a center aisle led to a wooden altar decorated with gold leaf at the front of the room.

  Cal let his gaze deliberately pass over that altar while he checked out the rest of the space.

  Wooden benches lined the sides of the temple, leaving the floor mosaic bare for everyone to see.

  It must have taken months to create the beautifully intricate piece of art featuring various members of the Fata and Enu, the two main races of the Etruscans, in a forest of huge trees.

  A half-hidden salbinelli chased after a winged folletta, the folletta’s smile teasing, sexy. A mass of tiny human-shaped candelas, glowing like fireflies, danced around a tree stump as a linchetti couple, their pointed ears prominently displayed, lay entwined on a moonlit patch of grass.

  Several lucani howled at the bright moon, the wolves a sleek gray or midnight black, while a strega bent over a moon bowl set on a tree stump and her male companion held an athame in his hands.

  In his peripheral vision, Cal saw Tessa take a seat on one of the benches closest to the altar. He felt her gaze follow him as he circled the room, checking for any other access points. He found only the entrance they’d used, and he walked back to that door to flip down the solid iron bar that acted as a lock. Probably wouldn’t do a damn bit of good if someone really wanted in, but still…

  Finally, he walked back to the altar. The top slab was as wide as a twin bed and as slick and shiny as glass. He’d probably slide off the damn thing.

  Christ, was he really going to go through with this?

  He reached up to scratch the nagging itch at the back of his skull.

  “So… what? You want me to just strip down and spread myself out here?”

  Her laughter sent a wave of lust so fucking hot through his blood, he thought he’d come right then.

  He turned to find Tessa standing only inches from him, smiling up at him. “I think we have time for a little foreplay, unless you’re really that eager to get down to business.”

  He crossed his arms across his chest so he didn’t grab her, strip her, and spread her on the altar so he could worship her with his mouth. “So why don’t you tell me how this is supposed to work, Tess.”

  “Well…” She walked over to run her hand along the top of the altar and circled until she was on the opposite side from Cal. “The idea of a sacrifice is to offer something to the gods in order for them to hear your plea. In this case, I’m hoping the energy we create by having sex will give my plea the necessary power to reach the Involuti. Uni, in particular, since this is her temple, and, theoretically at least, she should be monitoring what goes on here.”

  “The Involuti have been gone for centuries. You can’t tell me someone hasn’t tried this before.”

  Her brows lifted as she faced him across the altar. “Are you trying to find out if you’ll be the first sex sacrifice on this altar?”

  He shook his head. “I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m sure this table’s seen more action than a by-the-hour hotel. But that’s my point. No one’s heard from the Involuti. Not since they left. What makes you think you will?”

  Doubt crept like ice through Tessa’s veins, making her shiver.

  And that’s the problem, isn’t it?

  She had no faith that she’d be able to reach Uni, much less convince the Great Mother Goddess to listen to her.

  Why would Uni hear Tessa’s plea when she’d not answered anyone else’s in all the centuries since Uni and the rest of the founding gods of the Etruscans had returned to Invol and hidden the gate?

  “Shit, Tessa.” Cal sighed, his expression one of self-disgust. “Look, forget I said that.”

  Shaking her head, she gave him a brief smile. “No, you’ve got a valid point. I just don’t know what else to do.”

  “Then we’ve got nothing to lose.”

  So true. She’d already lost so much that she was obsolete. And really sick of feeling sorry for herself.

  Maybe, just maybe, she could find a way to make this work. Especially with Cal by her side. Or on top. Or beneath.

  Yes, sex with Cal was much more pleasant to contemplate than failure.

  She let her gaze eat him up from head to toe. The man truly was a prime specimen of masculinity. Definitely not one of the
pretty boys she typically found to amuse herself.

  No, Cal wouldn’t bow to her every whim or fawn over her beauty. Not that she needed to be fawned over. Well, maybe a little fawning would be nice.

  It always made her feel… loved.

  Of course, Cal didn’t love her. She still wasn’t sure why he’d agreed to protect her. He hadn’t seemed to like her very much in the beginning, though he did seem to be warming to her.

  Or maybe that was just the sex. The sex was really good.

  As her lips began to curve in a smile, his gaze narrowed. Before she could say anything, though, he beat her to it.

  “So, how do you want to do this?”

  Her smile grew. “The normal way, I suppose. Unless you have a few more kinks that I don’t know about. Would you like me to conjure up some rope? Or would you like me to tie you down this time?”

  Was that curiosity she saw flash in his eyes? She’d bet her last ounce of power that the man had never been anything but the dominant one in bed.

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Got a secret fetish, Lady?”

  Did she? “Can’t say that I do. Although I must say I enjoyed having you tie me up.”

  “Then maybe you should conjure up those ropes.”

  Oh, the man simply took her breath away when he decided to turn on the dominant charm. And she did mean dominant.

  Even though he stood across the altar from her, he still loomed over her. She wasn’t tall and leggy like Turan. She was petite and curved, and she’d never had any complaints from her lovers. Not that they would dare criticize her to her face, but most of her bed partners had seemed genuinely happy to bed her. In fact, they’d been so genuinely happy that most of them would have bent over backwards to please her.

  Which had gotten old more than five centuries ago.

  “What are you thinking, Tessa?”

  Cal’s soft query refocused her attention on him. Those beautiful gray eyes had a laser focus on hers.

  “I’m thinking you should be naked.”

  “Maybe I’m thinking the same thing.”

  Now this was more like it. This wasn’t dire consequences and end-of-the-world gloom. This was fun.