She shivered and grabbed hold of his shoulders. Stavros shuddered, his big body shaking as he shared his seed and his life force with her. He sensed the moment he’d given her enough and pulled back. The light disappeared, taking the brilliant colors with it.
Stavros collapsed on top of her, covering her entire body with his. Protecting her. Toni was his now. But would she want him when she learned what he’d done?
She shivered beneath him and he angled himself off her enough so he wasn’t completely crushing her. It wasn’t easy. He didn’t want to move at all.
Her face was pale, her eyes slightly glassy. “I feel different.” She put her hand on her chest, covering her heart. “What did you do to me?” He hated the tinge of fear in her voice.
Stavros sat up and braced himself for her reaction.
“What did you do?” she asked again, this time louder.
He swallowed hard and faced her, knowing whatever her reaction, he’d do the same thing again. Whatever it took to protect her. “I made you immortal.”
Chapter Seven
Toni was sure she’d misunderstood what Stavros had said. “You made me immortal?”
He nodded. “Yes. To protect you from Hades.” Stavros reached out and touched her face, rubbing his thumb over her rosy cheek. “Now he can never harm you because you are a part of me.”
Okay, she was really getting freaked out now. Her body was humming with satisfaction from the most amazing orgasm of her life, but she couldn’t relax and enjoy it. Her skin still tingled from where a shower of colored lights had fallen around them. And her heart—that organ felt different. Powerful yet light. She felt as though something inside her had been stripped away and replaced. And if Stavros was to be believed—and at this point she had no reason not to believe him—that something was her mortality.
Toni raised her hand in front of her and studied it. She didn’t look any different. At least not that she could see. “I’m not going to become a jaguar, am I?”
Stavros shook his head, his expression unreadable. Toni buried the small disappointment. It might have been cool to be able to shift into a big cat. And she wasn’t seriously contemplating this, was she?
There really was no choice. She had to consider the fact he was telling the truth, that she was now immortal. How did she feel about that?
Before she could decide, the atmosphere in the room changed. The light from the bedside lamp grew dim, as though something was sucking power from it.
Stavros leapt from the bed, all sleek and fluid grace, landing lightly on his feet. He was now wearing pants and holding a four-foot sword in his hand. She blinked, but the sword didn’t disappear. The blade gleamed, and she had no doubt it was lethal. The jaguar tattoo stared back at her, the cat’s expression fierce. But she didn’t fear the jaguar any more than she feared the man.
Her heart skipped a beat. In spite of everything, she trusted him.
“Whatever you do, stay behind me,” Stavros instructed. Toni grabbed the blanket from the top of the bed and wrapped it around her. Too bad she couldn’t conjure clothing out of thin air like he could. She had no idea what was happening, but she knew she didn’t want to be naked and any more vulnerable than she already was.
An inky-black circle appeared in the corner of the room. With each passing second, it grew larger and larger and seemed to suck most of the light from the room. Toni rubbed her eyes, but it didn’t disappear. She wasn’t seeing things.
A rush of pure menace slammed into her, and she scooted back on the mattress before she stopped herself. The hell with this. No way was she letting Stavros face whatever this threat was alone. She briefly wished her gun wasn’t tucked away safely in the trunk of her car.
She slid from the bed and took a step toward Stavros. He never took his gaze off the swirling black hole, but she knew he sensed her movement.
“Stay back,” he warned her.
“What is it?” She had to know. It looked like some dark portal. She shivered as another wave of menace slammed into her.
“Not what. Who.” Stavros held the sword hilt with both hands, the blade angled in front of him. “Hades has come for you.”
Up until that moment, Toni realized a small part of her had doubted Stavros entire story in spite of everything she’d seen and experienced. But no more.
Before she could ask Stavros any questions, a man stepped from the dark depths of the portal and it collapsed behind him, winking out of existence. He was tall with dark hair and midnight-black eyes. There was a cruel twist to his lips, which was echoed in his eyes. His face was all angles and planes. There was nothing soft about him. He wore a suit that had obviously been tailored to his lithe, muscular frame.
“Hades.” Stavros called the man by name. No, not a man, a Greek god.
Toni felt slightly lightheaded. She took a deep breath and then another. She’d been holding her breath and that wasn’t smart. An honest to god— No, scrap that. This guy was the real deal.
Hades looked more like a CEO than a god. His shoes gleamed, his shirt was crisp and he even had a pocket square in flaming red tucked in his breast pocket.
“Warrior.” The god inclined his head at Stavros and then turned his attention to her. Hades pinned her in place with his dark gaze. There were nightmares in those eyes, endless suffering and fear. In spite of her determination to be brave, Toni shivered as a sense of dread filled her.
Hades smiled as if he knew the effect he was having on her and was pleased by it. Toni straightened her shoulders and glared back at him. Hades chuckled.
“I’ve come for your little friend,” Hades informed Stavros.
Stavros shook his head. “You can’t have her.” And then her warrior smiled. “In any event, you’re too late. I’ve already claimed her. Toni belongs to me.”
The possessiveness in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. Her skin went clammy and she felt slightly ill. What did he mean that she belonged to him? She belonged to no man. She liked being single. Liked her life as it was. It was one thing to sleep with Stavros, but that was all it was—sex between two mutually consenting adults.
She was lying to herself. Somehow, someway the jaguar has sneaked beneath her barriers and into her heart. Damn him.
Red fire blazed in Hades’ eyes. The fires of Hell.
Toni clenched her fists and stepped closer to Stavros, not so close she would impede him if he needed to swing that scary-looking sword, but close enough for him to know he wasn’t alone. She might fight with him later, but right now they were united against a common enemy.
Hades hurled a bolt of lightning at her. Toni screamed. There was nowhere for her to go, no way for her to avoid being hit. It was instinctual to throw up her hands in front of her. It was a puny defense at best, and she knew she didn’t have a hope in hell of surviving. But the deadly blast never touched her. It seemed to ricochet against an indivisible barrier and deflect back at the god.
Hades was thrown backward and crashed into the wall, crumbling the plaster as his body punched a huge hole in it. He seemed dazed for a moment. He swore and shook himself. The flecks of plaster disappeared from his suit, leaving it pristine once again.
“What have you done?” Hades demanded.
“I’ve shared my immortality with her, my life force. She is part of me now. And more importantly, I am part of her.” Stavros’ smile made her shudder. Right now, she wasn’t sure who the most dangerous man in the room was.
Holy hell, the whole immortal thing was real. And she had to stop using any sayings with the word hell in them. But it was hard to comprehend the idea that she was now immortal. Stavros had given her that. And all because he wanted to save her from Hades.
“And since I am a part of her, you cannot harm her,” Stavros continued. “If you try, you are the one who will be destroyed.”
Hades clenched his hands at his sides,
threw back his head and roared. Glass shattered and the furniture rose in the air before slamming back to the floor. He didn’t look so suave and sophisticated now. No, now he was the all-avenging god.
“Why?” Hades demanded. “Why do you warriors share your power with these human women? You barely know her, yet you give so much to her. Why?”
It was obvious to Toni by the way he said the word human that he didn’t think much of them as a race.
Stavros shook his head. “If I have to explain it, you’ll never understand.”
“Tell me,” the god demanded. He was panting hard and, if she wasn’t mistaken, smoke was seeping from beneath the cuffs of his sleeves and the hem of his pants.
“When you love someone, you’ll do anything in your power to keep them safe, even if that means sacrificing yourself.”
Toni was dumbstruck. This was the first time in her life a man had told her he loved her, and he hadn’t really told her at all. He’d told Hades.
Stavros had gifted her with part of his immortality to save her. That was easier to believe than the fact that he loved her. But Stavros wasn’t the type of man to lie. He would always tell her the truth.
He loved her.
She played that over in her head, trying to get used to the idea.
Hades spoke in a language she couldn’t understand, but she didn’t need a translation to know he was swearing.
Just then, another portal began to form. This one was a swirling combination of brilliant white and darkest black. It formed much quicker than the first one had. A gorgeous woman stepped from the depths of the spinning circle and into the room. She was slender, but there was no mistaking the surge of power that preceded her. Her hair was black and fell to her waist. She was also wearing jeans and a silk blouse. Toni wondered who she was.
“Persephone.” Hades seemed surprised to see the woman. From what little Toni knew about the Greek gods, she knew Persephone was married to Hades. Or at least that’s what the books said. Toni was quickly realizing that they truly knew little about the ancient gods.
Persephone frowned and shook her head. “You just had to come here, didn’t you?” She walked over to the dark god, totally unafraid. Toni admired the other woman even if she wondered about her sanity. After all, the guy was the Lord of the Underworld.
Hades flicked a nonexistent piece of lint off the sleeve of his suit jacket and shrugged.
Stavros came to stand beside Toni. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her into the curve of his body. His sword was pointed blade down, the tip resting against the floor.
Persephone waved her hand in the air and the damage Hades had inflicted to the room was quickly repaired. The glass jumped from the floor and reassembled itself in the window, the furniture became sturdy and whole again and the plaster repaired itself.
Toni was in awe. That was some skill. Gave an entirely new meaning to the idea of renovation and redecorating.
When she was done, the goddess turned to them. “You’ll have to excuse us. We must be going.”
Stavros inclined his head to the woman and shot Hades a deadly glare. “We’re done. The curse is finally finished.”
Hades didn’t acknowledge Stavros at all. He simply wrapped one arm around the woman and ushered her into the swirling portal. It disappeared in the next breath, leaving nothing but a residual energy that made the short hairs on her arms stand on end.
The sword in Stavros’ hand disappeared. She wondered where all that stuff went. Did he have a home somewhere he sent it to? Or did he have a cosmic closet? There was so much to consider. Her life had completely changed.
Toni moved away from Stavros, turned and faced him. She wished she was wearing a little more than a blanket but would have to make do. She was good at that.
He stood with his hands on his hips, tall and powerful, and—uncertain. She could see it in his eyes. He wasn’t sure what she was going to say or do. That was to her advantage.
Toni stared into his dark eyes. They were black like Hades’ but so different. Stavros’ eyes held the secrets of the night and a sensual promise. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his chest. His heart raced beneath her palm.
“So you love me, do you?”
Stavros tried to gauge Toni’s mood, but it was impossible. Her expression was inscrutable, and his own emotions were all over the place. His blood pumped through his veins thick and hot. He wanted to scoop Toni into his arms and drag her back down to the bed. But he wasn’t sure of his welcome.
He’d changed Toni in the most fundamental way and without her permission. Not only that, he’d blurted out that he loved her. He knew she wasn’t ready to hear that. Might never be. The woman had trust issues, and he’d violated that trust by making her immortal without her permission.
He nodded in answer to her question, not trusting himself to speak yet.
Toni’s palm was hot against his skin. She still smelled of sex, of him. His cat yowled his dissatisfaction. The jaguar wanted him to touch Toni, wanted to rub its body over her until it marked her as his own.
She tilted her head to one side, making her hair fall in a thick curtain. “Why?”
“Why?” He wasn’t sure he understood her question.
“Why do you love me?”
Stavros couldn’t stand their separation any longer. He scooped her into his arms, ignored her startled gasp and sat on the bed, resting his back against the headboard. Cradling her in his arms, he sought to find the words to make her understand.
“I have been alone for many years.” The five-thousand years he’d spent imprisoned were the worst of his entire existence. Toni rubbed her hand over his chest as though to comfort him. He caught her fingers in his and brought them to his mouth and kissed each of her knuckles one by one.
“I was created, not born. I came into being exactly as I am—a warrior of the Lady of the Beasts.” He sought to share some of his history with Toni. “I have existed since the dawn of time, since the birth of the world.”
“That’s incredible.”
He lost himself in her eyes. So blue, so warm, like the sky on a summer’s day. It would be so easy to sweep her beneath him and make love to her. But she deserved to know exactly who and what he was.
“The seven of us warriors lived to serve our goddess. She is kind and benevolent.” He paused and gathered his thoughts. “It was a good life until the rise of the Greek gods and goddesses. They were a troublesome bunch from the very beginning.”
“And then came the curse,” Toni prompted.
Stavros rubbed his hand up and down Toni’s arm, enjoying the warmth and the smoothness of her skin. “Yes, then came the war and the curse. I didn’t believe we’d ever go free. I think it changed all of us.”
“In what way?” Her concern was a balm to his soul.
“When I was freed, I was confused. I watched over the woman who’d freed me. I felt a debt of gratitude to her but nothing more. Eventually, I made my way to the jungles of South America. I gave my jaguar free reign, not sure how to behave as a man anymore. To my shame, I stayed that way for long years until I finally felt the call of the Lady once more.”
Toni clasped his face in her hands. There was no anger or disgust in her expressive blue eyes. Only understanding and empathy. “You have no reason to be ashamed. Not after all you’ve been through.”
He swallowed hard. That she would defend him meant everything to him, but he could not allow her to absolve him of his guilt. “No, it was wrong of me.” She looked like she was going to disagree with him, so he hurried onward. “I arrived to help the last warrior freed break the curse. We defeated Hades and the rest of my friends found their mates.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I didn’t think there was anyone for me.”
Toni stilled and looked down at her lap. “I see.”
“No, you don’t see.” Frustr
ation rose in him. He was doing this all wrong. “Then I met you.” He smiled in spite of the seriousness of the moment. “You fascinated me from the first moment I laid eyes on you. I followed you for several days.”
“I knew it. I knew some animal was following me. I thought it was a cougar.”
Stavros scowled. “You take too many chances out there alone by yourself.”
“So you were protecting me?”
“Yes. No.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. Women were confusing creatures. “I wanted to leave. Tried to leave you alone on several occasions, but I kept coming back.”
She was pleased by his answer if the smile playing at the corners of her lips were any indication. Stavros hurried on with his confession. “The Lady told me I could gift the woman of my choice with immortality. It was her gift to all of us for what we’d endured. I didn’t think I’d ever find a woman to share it with. I’d planned on keeping to myself for the rest of time.”
“To protect everyone from Hades.” Toni nodded as she spoke and he knew she understood.
“Yes. I wouldn’t risk the life of an innocent.” He sighed. “Even though I knew it was wrong, I couldn’t stay away from you. It was because of me that Hades tried to harm you. And for that, I’m sorry.” He slid his hand behind her neck and cupped her nape. He tilted her head to one side and slowly lowered his lips to hers. “But, Toni, I’m not sorry for loving you. And I’m not sorry for this.”
He kissed her then like he’d been dying to do since Hades had left. The curse was finally over. A weight he’d been carrying for five-thousand years dissolved beneath the warmth of Toni’s lips. She kissed him back with no hesitation. That gave him hope that she would forgive him for what he’d done, how he’d changed her life. That she might give him a chance to prove himself and his love for her.
Hades stepped out of the portal behind Persephone. He’d expected her to take him straight to his brothers for judgment. Instead, they were in his private quarters in Hell. The portal winked out behind them. Hades strode to the liquor cabinet, poured himself a double scotch and drank it all in one gulp. Then he poured himself another.
Lure of the Jaguar: Hades' Carnival, Book 7 Page 7