by Becca Van
“Come sit down.” Nina patted the chair beside her.
Krysta hesitated for a moment before shrugging her shoulders, skirting the table, and making her way around to sit beside Nina.
“Let me introduce you to everyone,” Nina said before Mit could begin.
As she pointed out each person and said their names, Krysta nodded. As the food was passed around, Lavinia turned to smile at Krysta. “What do you do?”
“Cook,” Krysta answered.
“You do?” Paser leaned around Nina to smile at Krysta. “I love to cook. I do most of the cooking for this lot. Maybe you could help out?”
“Maybe.” Krysta shrugged her shoulders noncommittally.
“What’s your specialty?” Paser asked.
“Italian food.”
“Really?” Zara asked. “I love Italian food.”
“Most people do,” Krysta replied, and Mit was glad to see the tension leaving her shoulders and she was beginning to relax.
“Where did you learn to cook?” Lavinia asked.
“Giovanni’s Restaurant.”
“In Austin, Nevada?” Set asked.
Krysta nodded.
“Sab and I met Giovanni once. He was one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. He told me he’d found a young homeless girl searching the trash cans for food. Giovanni took that girl into his home and treated her like his own daughter. It was such a crime the way Giovanni's sons treated him. Those greedy bastards had been trying to talk to Giovanni into selling his restaurant and giving them the money from the sale so they could buy their own homes.” Set trailed off when he realized how quiet it was.
Mit wished he could have stopped Set once the other sentinel began talking but the other man had his mind shield up and had been so intent on his story Set hadn’t noticed that Mit had been knocking so he could talk to him telepathically. Krysta hadn’t moved a muscle since Set began speaking. Her shoulders were so tense they were up near her head and she was staring down at her plate as if it was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.
“Do you want some pancakes, Krysta?” Lavinia asked.
“Thanks.” Krysta stabbed one with her fork and dropped it on her plate.
“What about bacon and eggs?” Zara asked, already holding both platters of the food ready to hand them over.
“Please.” Krysta took a little of each before handing them back.
Mit sighed with relief when the others began talking, diverting the attention away from his uncomfortable mate. He knew from the way Krysta had tensed up that she’d been the girl Set talked about. He wanted to ask her how she’d ended up on the streets but kept his mouth shut.
“How did you learn to fight the shadow demons?” Zara asked.
“Necessity.” Krysta shoved a piece of pancake in her mouth and chewed.
“Care to elaborate?” Zara’s voice was harsher than usual and Mit hoped her attitude didn’t piss Krysta off.
“Those fuckers were trying to steal my soul every damn night. It finally pissed me off enough to do some research. When I found what I was looking for I hooked up with a martial arts and sword expert and hired him to teach me how to fight.”
“Damn, you must have one hell of a backbone,” Zara said. “I was scared out of my freaking mind when Set and Sab told me I had been targeted by the demonic.”
“I was, too, at first,” Krysta said. “But after months of being plagued by the same nightmare I decided to do something about it.”
“You’ll be able to fight them off better now that you’ve been transformed.” Zara smirked. “How about after breakfast we go to the training room and test your skills?”
Mit shifted in his seat when Krysta frowned, worried she was about to refuse and ask to leave. He almost sighed with relief when she nodded.
“Do you want us to come with you?” Mit asked.
“Why?” Krysta scowled at him.
“Just trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help,” Krysta muttered under her breath but he and Nina heard her, and from the way Wen tensed beside him so had his friend.
Mit’s heart ached. He was trying his best to make Krysta comfortable with him, Weni, and the others but she was fighting them every step of the way. Maybe he should just let her go her own way. It didn’t look like she wanted anything to do with any of them.
When the women finished eating, they left to head toward the training room. Mit slumped in his chair and rubbed his chest wondering if he and Wen would ever be able to claim their mate properly. From the way things were going so far, he doubted it.
* * * *
The moment Krysta entered the large training room, Nina turned to face her with a scowl on her face.
“Did you have to be such a bitch?” Nina snarled. “Do you know that you hurt both your mates by what you just said?”
Zara and Lavinia came to stand beside Nina, supporting their friend as she confronted Krysta.
“Look, I don’t know what you all want from me, but I never asked for any of this shit.”
“That’s just too damn bad.” Zara poked Krysta in the arm. “Those men have been fighting the demonic for nearly five thousand years. How old are you, Krysta?”
“What has the got to—”
“Just answer the fucking question,” Nina demanded angrily.
“Twenty-five.” Krysta crossed her arms over her chest.
“Let me guess,” Lavinia began. “You’ve spent most of your life alone. Not letting anyone get too close because you’re scared that they’ll leave you and you’ll get hurt again. How was that?”
Krysta knew the expression on her face was probably one of shock.
“Do you think you have the monopoly on getting hurt or being let down by people who come into your life?” Nina asked.
Krysta shook her head and she started to feel guilty.
“You’ve got one big fucking chip on your shoulder, lady.” Zara poked Krysta’s shoulder again. “We’ve all been where you have. Not necessarily because of the same reasons or quite the same situation, but we’ve all been lonely for one reason or another. But if you ever hurt your mates the way you just did, I will rip your fucking heart out.”
Krysta’s shoulders slumped. They were right. She’d been a complete and utter bitch to Mit and Wen and all because she found herself in a situation she didn’t know how to handle.
“Are you attracted to them?” Nina asked in a calmer voice.
Krysta couldn’t lie and ended up nodding.
Nina smiled. “Good. Those poor men have avoided relationships for millennia, not because they wanted to, but because they would have ended up heartbroken again and again and again. Can you imagine being with someone you love, watch them age, and then fade away while you stayed young and healthy for thousands of years?”
“They’re already in love with you, Krysta,” Lavinia stated. “You’re their mate. They will do anything and everything they can to keep you safe and make sure that you’re happy, and I know damn well you want them just as much as they want you. We’ve been where you are. You can fight it as much as you want to but you can’t fight fate. It was meant to be.”
“I’m scared,” Krysta whispered, surprising herself by admitting that, and from the looks on the other women’s faces, them, too.
“So you’re not as tough as you make out,” Zara said with a smile. “What are you scared of?”
Krysta bit her lip indecisively. She’d never looked too deep into her emotions, preferring to ignore them as much as possible and just get on with life, but she could see by the implacable expression on Zara’s face she was going to let her off the hook.
“I don’t…”
“Is it being different now that you’re a sentinel and demigod?” Nina asked.
Krysta frowned and shook her head.
“Are you scared of fighting the demonic?” Lavinia asked.
“Not really. I’ve gotten used to dealing with those bastards.”
“Then what?�
� Zara threw her hands up in frustration. “Are you scared of Mit and Wen?”
“They wouldn’t hurt me.”
“I’m glad you said that,” Nina stated and then frowned as the tapped a finger to her lip. Her eyes lit up as if she’d just had an epiphany. “Are you a virgin, Krysta?”
Krysta didn’t know if she should answer that question. It was no one’s business but her own.
“Come on,” Zara waved her fingers at her. “We’re all friends here. We were all virgins before we met our mates.”
“Really?” Krysta asked. “So I’m not the only paradox in the room?”
“No,” Nina replied. “None of us have been with any other man except our mates.”
“Is that what’s worrying you?” Lavinia asked. “Having two men make love to you?”
Zara grabbed hold of Krysta’s hand and tugged her across to the other side of the room. Lavinia closed the door before following.
“You don’t have any reason to be scared,” Nina said. “They won’t take you the first time together. But let me tell you after they have made love to you one after the other and claimed you properly you’re going to want them to make love to you together.”
“What do you mean?” Krysta frowned.
“Your body will go into a sort of mating heat,” Zara explained. “You going to need them to take you together to ease the burning desire inside of you.”
“That sounds…painful.”
Lavinia laughed. “Not in the least. Having both your mates make love to you at the same time is out of this world. Once you’ve experienced it you’ll want it again and again.”
“So are you going to lay off of them?” Nina asked.
“I didn’t mean to hurt them,” Krysta said.
“Maybe you should apologize.” Nina smiled.
“I will.”
“Great,” Zara said as she tugged her T-shirt up over her head and turned away to drop it on the floor in the corner.
“Wow, I love your tats.” Krysta moved closer to see the falcon and Egyptian eye on Zara’s shoulder blades.
“They’re not tattoos.” Nina came to stand beside Krysta.
“We all have them,” Lavinia said, drawing her gaze. “I’ll show you.”
Krysta watched as Nina and Lavinia drew their T-shirts off and tugged at the sports bras they were wearing. Both women had the Egyptian eye marking on the top of their left breasts and when they turned she saw they each had a falcon on their left shoulder blade and another on the right with the Egyptian eye incorporated into it.
“If you look closely you can see the faint outline of an angel next to the falcons on the right shoulder blade,” Zara said and then traced over the faint white line of the angel on first Nina and then Lavinia.
“If they aren’t tattoos, then what are they?” Krysta frowned.
“The eye is the eye of Ra. The falcon is also a depiction of belonging to Ra,” Zara explained.
“And the angel?”
“That we don’t know.”
“What about your mates? Do they know?”
“No.”
“I have a theory about the angel,” Lavinia said.
“Well, let’s hear it then.” Zara moved to the sickle-shaped swords hanging on the wall and pulled two down from the rack.
“I think it has to do with the glowing thing we do.”
“You may be right,” Nina said excitedly.
“You know, that makes a lot of sense.” Zara walked toward Krysta.
“What are you talking about?”
“We’ve each faced the shadow demons alone and together,” Lavinia explained. “We actually did it the night we found you fighting the demonic.”
“Don’t you remember the bright glowing light?” Nina asked.
Krysta nodded.
“That was us,” Zara said. “We seem to have this ability to blow the shadow demons to smithereens. I didn’t realize that by joining hands we would be so much more powerful.”
“How do you do it?” Krysta asked.
“We’re not totally sure,” Lavinia said. “I found out I could to it when I was pulled into the bowels of hell by Apep and his evil minions.”
“You were pulled into hell?” Krysta asked on a whisper. She shivered as a frisson of fear raced up her spine.
“Yeah,” Lavinia replied. “We’ve all been in the clutches of the demonic. We were able to get out when we started thinking about our mates and how much we love them. As soon as we pictured our men in our minds and let the memory of their love flow into our hearts we began to glow.”
“I burned Apep,” Nina stated matter-of-factly.
“You did?”
“Yeah, the fucker was trying to strangle me, but when I felt my mates love flowing through my heart and soul something happened. Apep began screaming in pain and it was then that I realized he was being burned while touching me. I planted my hand on the asshole’s face and he ended up dropping me and running away.”
“How did you get out of there?” Krysta asked in a hoarse voice.
“Ra!” Nina and Lavinia answered at the same time.
“Ra saved you?”
“Yeah,” Lavinia sighed. “My men were able to follow the connection I have with them and they got into hell, too. They were like avenging angels but when Ra arrived he destroyed the demonic with the wave of his hand and zapped us back here, to the temple.”
“Is that the room with the glass pyramid ceiling?” Krysta was having a hard time keeping up but her mind kept zeroing in on one thing that just wouldn’t be pushed aside. “If you all and Ra can get into hell, why are there still so many shadow demons getting out of there?”
“That’s a good question,” Zara said. “I’ve been thinking on that for months now.”
“And?”
“I think Ra has rules he has to adhere to as well. There has always been a balance between good and evil. We don’t know what would happen to the world if that balance was no more.”
“Hmm, you’re probably right,” Nina said.
“I have a feeling you are.” Lavinia nodded. “Ra probably would have wiped Apep and his evil followers from hell and the world if he was allowed to. He’s definitely powerful enough.”
“Subject change.” Nina met Krysta’s gaze. “Do you have the marks?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?” Lavinia asked.
Krysta grabbed hold of the neck of the borrowed shirt she was wearing and tugged the neckline down, exposing the top of her left breast. “Nothing.”
“Maybe it’s because you aren't really mated to Mit and Wen,” Nina suggested.
Krysta shrugged, making herself look busy by righting the shirt, but deep down she was very disappointed she didn’t have the mark.
Shit, Krysta, you can’t have it both ways. You either want to be their mate or you don’t. Make up your mind.
She sighed because the urge to go to Mit and Wen was almost too compulsive to ignore, but she resisted. She had no idea whether they would want to see her again after the way she had treated them. They’d saved her life and she’d been a total bitch.
“Are you ready to play?” Zara asked, drawing her from her thoughts.
Krysta nodded and took the proffered sword from her, weighing it in her hand. “What’s this called?”
“A scimitar.” Zara lifted her hand. “Hold it like this with the curve away from your body. The last thing you need is for the tip to get stuck in or snagged on something.”
“Yeah, I can see how that would be bad.” Krysta moved toward the middle of the room. She glanced about the edges looking at all the gym equipment and treadmills and planned to use them later. She’d never had the money to buy such things because any extra cash she had went on buying food to feed the homeless. She ran in the mornings along the streets of her hometown but always felt a little self-conscious. Especially when she caught the opposite sex gawking at her body.
Zara positioned herself near Krysta and with a nod of her
head they began to test their skills.
Krysta blocked each blow and slash with an ease that surprised even her. She’d never moved so fast or felt so strong and with each minute that passed, her confidence grew.
“Damn but you’re fast,” Zara panted as she swung at Krysta again.
Krysta didn’t acknowledge that the other woman had spoken because she would become distracted and could end up getting hurt or injuring Zara.
“You move with such power and grace,” Nina said.
“Zara’s just as good.”
“I don’t think so.” Zara lowered her scimitar and panted for breath. “The last time I was out of breath and worked up a sweat was before I was changed.”
“There is no way I’m going up against you.” Nina eyed Krysta with awe.
“I will,” Lavinia said with a grin.
“We all should.” Zara straightened, breathing less heavily. “We need to learn to move like Krysta.”
“Agreed.” Lavinia glanced at Nina. “We’ll be able to take out more demonic by the time we’re up to par with her.”
“Okay.” Nina sighed with resignation as she grabbed a sword and walked toward the floor. “So are you going to cut Wen and Mit some slack?”
“Yeah,” Krysta answered. “I feel so guilty for what I said to them. I’ll apologize as soon as I see them again.”
Nina pointed toward the door and Krysta turned around to see all the men just inside the doorway and along the wall. She felt her face heat with embarrassment and desire. When she met first Weni’s and then Mitry’s gazes she had to look away.
Both men were looking at her as if she was their next meal and she was on the menu.
Chapter Six
Wen had at first been enthralled as he watched Krysta training with Zara. Their mate was so natural in the way she wielded the scimitar that she looked as if she had been born with the sword in her hand. What got to him the most was how her firm muscles flexed and moved, the way her peach of an ass wiggled and her breasts bounced slightly. His cock had gone from relaxed to hard within the blink of an eye. He’d moved along the wall, hoping the other men and women wouldn’t notice the hard bulge in his jeans.