And just like that, Jac was twenty-two again, standing in her parent’s kitchen, her father sprawled on the floor, his hand clutching his chest. He wasn’t breathing. She’d done CPR until the paramedics had arrived, but it wasn’t enough to save the man she’d always considered invincible.
Her father’s face blurred behind the tears she’d kept buried so deep inside. Jac swiped a hand across her cheeks, wiping away all evidence of weakness. Her father had been a decorated Navy SEAL. He’d taught her how to swim, fight, and survive in harsh environments. He would have had her drop and give him fifty if he could see her crying now.
‘Soldiers don’t cry’ he’d said. Jac sniffed a couple of times and got dressed. At times Ares reminded her so much of her old man it was frightening. Hell, the two would probably have hit it off. But her father had been in the ground for ten years now. Heart attack wasn’t the way a SEAL was supposed to die.
When she finished dressing, Jac pushed the hide away from the door and walked straight into Ares’s massive chest. The shock was like hitting a concrete wall. His hands closed over her waist to keep her from falling back. Warmth seeped through his fingertips into her back, tickling her spine. Her awareness of him was sharp, razor-like, and way too uncomfortable first thing in the morning. Jac shook her head a bit dazed, and pulled away.
“Are you well?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice. He was studying her too closely for her peace of mind.
“I’m fine.” Her chin shot up. “What are you doing here?”
He released her, his lips quirking up at the corners. “I’ve come to escort you to the gathering area. Ariel is about to announce the requirements for the challenge.”
She scowled. “What you and Coridan choose to do doesn’t concern me. I don’t plan on staying long. I certainly won’t be here for the challenge.”
Ares crowded her with his big frame, backing Jac into the hut, surrounding her, until escape from the small room became impossible. “It most certainly does concern you,” he said, with an edge that hadn’t been there before. “It is because of you this is to occur. I will not have what is mine taken from me.”
Jac held up her hands to stop him from getting any closer. She could barely think. “You sound like a spoiled child, angry over not getting his way. Don’t be such a cry baby about it.”
Ares’s gaze narrowed. “Warriors do not cry.”
Jac gasped as if she’d been punched. He’d used her father’s words. Was it a coincidence? She calmed her emotions and smoothed her expression. It had to be a coincidence. Her heart squeezed in her chest, then thudded heavily.
She pointed to the door. “Get on with it then.”
Ares stared at her for a moment, as if to say something, then gave a quick nod instead. He moved to her side and grabbed her hand, wrapping it around his thick forearm, like homecoming night when the school announced the names of the year’s court. Ares led Jac out of the hut and down a wide branch to the basket Rachel had used last night to bring her here.
She stepped in before he could help her, trying to put as much distance between them in the confined space as possible. It didn’t stop her awareness of him for a second. She could still feel the heat emanating off his body from across the basket. Sex, power, and strength practically oozed from his pores in a wave of pheromones.
Jac took a deep breath and held it. Ares glanced down at the front of her t-shirt and her nipples poked out from beneath the thin material, responding to his intent gaze. The air crackled with tension, as if the slightest spark would send them both up in flames.
She watched Ares from beneath lowered lashes. His body was a marvel to behold. Solid muscles rippled like a gladiator as he moved. She knew under that loincloth lay hidden a natural wonder. Unconsciously Jac licked her lips as she recalled his thick length slipping inside her. It was all she could do not to shudder.
Ares tensed, his eyes following her tongue’s motion. Her thoughts were driving him insane. He wanted nothing more than to lay her on the floor of the basket and bury himself inside her. Jac’s body wanted him as much as his needed hers. Maybe by winning this challenge, she would realize the depth of his emotions—but he doubted it. She was not swayed by acts of strength and cunning. Those things only brought out her fiery temper, the shield she so readily wore to protect her tender heart.
He had to figure out a way around her defenses. Direct assaults hadn’t worked. Ares had come up with many plans, but none seemed suited for his quest. It required more thought, more soul searching. Something he wasn’t altogether comfortable doing. He preferred action to flowery words. But if it were words that she needed to hear, then he’d find them somehow. The basket came to a halt on the jungle floor, jarring him back from his musings.
Sunlight glistened on the leaves of the trees. A crowd had gathered in the clearing. Coridan stood loose limbed, already positioned to the side of the Seer. Ariel's left side remained vacant, waiting for Ares. He stepped out of the basket, helping Jac before she could protest. Her eyes hardened, flashing blue ice, but she didn’t push him away. He fought the urge to chuckle. They were so much alike.
Rachel and Eros stood off to the side to witness the proceedings. Ariel’s attention seemed unduly occupied by Coridan, Ares noted before taking his place by the Seer. Her expression burned hot when Ariel placed her hand on Ares’s wrist. Ares concentrated on keeping the elation from his face. If Jac knew that he was aware of her jealousy, it would only harden her resolve to avoid him.
Speaking of his other half, Jac stood eight feet away, a scowl on her face, arms crossed over her chest, with one hip cocked out to the side. Her stubborn chin couldn’t get any higher or she’d be staring at the sky. She all but dared anyone to say anything to her.
Ariel released Ares and Coridan. “The challenge is as follows. The first warrior to gather a pound of gold, traverse the river, bring down a mighty anaconda, and remain standing after an energy battle will be considered victorious.” She paused. “And remember, no healing. This must be done as it was in the old days.”
At the mention of the river, Coridan’s face drained of color. Fear quickly replaced cockiness. Jac wouldn’t have noticed, if she hadn’t have been watching so closely. What did he have to be afraid of? The crowd’s attention remained riveted on the Seer, but murmurs of the upcoming energy battle swept through the tribe.
Jac carefully replayed Ariel’s words. She’d stopped listening after ‘anaconda’. “What’s an energy battle?” She didn’t like the sound of that. She and Coridan might be worried about the snake, but catching an anaconda didn’t sound nearly as dangerous as an energy battle.
All eyes turned to Jac. She glared at the group. She didn’t care that she’d interrupted the meeting she was more than a little scared for Ares’s safety--not that she was about to admit that any time soon. But still, if there was any real danger to this challenge, then it was better to put an end to it now before it got started.
Ariel stepped forward, her hips gently swaying. “An energy battle is when two warriors face each other and try to injure the other until one concedes.”
Jac’s heart slammed in her chest. “Does the battle end in death?”
The Seer’s smile widened. “It can, but that has not occurred for several thousand years, so ‘tis unlikely,” Ariel said it so casually that Jac almost didn’t believe her. Almost. The Seer turned away and faced the men once more.
Her words did nothing to soothe Jac’s worries. If anything, her casual comment about death made them worse. She fisted her hands at her side. She had to do something to stop the challenge. Coridan had made it sound like a game, but it wasn’t.
“Why can’t they heal themselves?” Jac grit out behind Ariel’s back.
The Seer swung around, her gaze narrowed. “To do so forfeits the competition.”
“So if they’re injured…” Jac said.
“Then they’ll have to deal with the pain,” Ariel replied. The glare she sent Jac’s way was damning. It was al
l her fault. If she hadn’t gone along with Coridan, there wouldn’t be a challenge.
The tension in Jac’s shoulders cramped her muscles. One more smartass remark from Ariel and she’d snap, not that she done a good job of holding it together thus far. “This has gone far enough,” she commanded, using her courtroom voice. “I want this competition, this challenge, whatever you call it, stopped at once.”
There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Jac knew she was stomping on toes. She didn’t care. Her eyes found Rachel’s. Her friend looked as if she was about to faint. Jac swallowed hard and shored up her resolve. “Civilized peoples do not participate in challenges that could end in death. This is not the Middle Ages.”
Ariel slowly turned to face her once more. “Are you calling us uncivilized?” she asked.
Jac glared, then looked down at the Seer’s bare feet. “If the shoe fits, bitch.”
A spark of warning flashed in Ariel’s aqua eyes. “The challenge cannot be stopped without one of the warriors losing. Which one would you have me choose?”
Jac looked at Ares, then to Coridan. “Neither,” she said.
“Then the challenge stands,” Ariel said.
“Fine, if you two idiots want to kill yourselves, be my guest. But I’m not staying to watch.” Her eyes pinned Ares and Coridan in place, then she shook her head in disgust. “I’m done. I’m over it. Let me talk to Rachel, then I’ll get myself together, and hike my happy ass right out of this jungle.”
You cannot leave. The words were a whisper in Jac’s mind, but there was no doubt who they’d come from. The Seer’s seductive voice was distinctive. At that moment she was grateful these people couldn’t read her thoughts, had they been able to their ears would’ve burst into flame by now.
Ariel watched her intently, waiting.
“You can’t hold me here against my will.” Jac shook her head in denial, but her gaze remained watchful. She didn’t trust Ariel as far as she could throw her. Given a different location and another circumstance, she might have respected the woman. “Rachel told me that she wasn’t a prisoner.”
“The Queen is not being held against her will.” Ice dripped from the Seer’s words. You should know though that I can do many things—the least of which would be to keep you here. But I will not. Your conscience will be your guide in this matter. You have brought these two brave warriors to stand against one another for the right to be with you. Personally, I do not think you are worth it, but if anything happens to either of them it will be entirely your fault—no others. Ariel paused, her head tilting from side to side as if considering her next words. You must see the challenge to its completion, even if the ending is unsatisfactory. You are not the only one with something to lose.
Jac hauled air into her lungs. The bitch was trying to guilt her and damn it, it was working. She looked up at the sky, trying to settle her tumultuous emotions, before returning her gaze to Ariel. The Seer glared back.
“Fine,” she said, then spun on her heels and stomped off toward the jungle.
Before she reached the trees, Ariel added, “Until the challenge is completed, you will make your home in Ares’s hut. As you’ve already seen fit to spread your thighs for him, I see no reason that you cannot continue to do so.”
“No!” Coridan protested.
“Silence,” Ariel hissed. “My decision is final.”
Jac stumbled at the decree, but kept walking. She bit back the urge to respond verbally, instead without looking back she raised her middle finger high in the air for all to see. Some things were universal. She was sure Ares had a smile planted on his arrogant, blatantly sexy face. Jac knew if she turned and saw it right now, she’d have to drop him like the bad habit he was becoming. She marched through the jungle for several hundred yards, anger, fear, and humiliation, slamming into her from all directions. She didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s safety, much less the safety of Ares and Coridan.
Screw Ariel.
Screw her mental telepathy, X-files crap.
Fuck them all.
Ariel could shove the challenge up her perfect ass.
Jac was tired of being manipulated. She didn’t even want to think about the fact she’d been the queen of manipulation back in New York, because that was different. It was! How it was different, wasn’t exactly clear at the moment, but it had to be. She’d never met anyone like this tribe’s seer. Any other time, Jac would respect a woman with that much beauty, power, and control.
Just not now, and—not her.
The bitch got on her nerves, always laying her long fingers on Ares’s arm, brushing against his chest like a cat in search of a stroke, undressing him with those freakish aqua eyes. Jac had seen her scoping out his cock beneath his loincloth. It was disgusting. Ariel was like a splinter working its way deeper and deeper into her skin, infecting her well-being. Well she knew what to do with splinters. If need be, she’d hack off her own damn finger.
She stopped walking and looked around to ensure her privacy. Jac could no longer see the clearing, only solid walls of green from the Jurassic growth. At any moment she expected to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex sticking its head through the trees. With her luck, the damn thing would look like Ariel. Frustrated, Jac approached a defenseless tree trunk, pictured Ariel’s face, then let loose. She kicked and jabbed, timing each strike, using precise movements, until her lungs labored for breath. Then she dropped and started doing pushups. One hundred pushups later, she collapsed onto the jungle floor.
Jac lay there for a few moments trying to catch her breath, then she sat up and started weeding the area around the roots of the plants. Whenever she got upset or confused, which wasn’t often because she prided herself on her control, she’d tend her plants. But since they weren’t here, she’d have to make do. And Brigit damn well better remember to water them.
By the time Jac had finished gardening, an hour or so had passed. She had cleared the area around her of tangled growth. She dusted off her hands on her shorts and started back to the compound. She’d stay, biding her time with Ares, until this stupid challenge ended, then she was out of here—with or without Rachel. She hated that the idea of playing house with Ares didn’t disturb her more, but always a realist, Jac simply accepted it for what it was—great sex, nothing more and she’d keep telling herself that until she believed it.
Jac wound her way back through the growth. Lianas curled across her path, twisting like giant snakes up into the trees. The air warmed, almost suffocating her in its intensity, but it never seemed to disturb the animals. Birds still sang their cheery songs. Monkeys howled and cried, leaping from branch to branch, using their hands, feet, and tails. Jac caught flashes of green, red, and orange among the leaves.
When she arrived at the compound, the smell of baking bread filled the air and her stomach growled. A few half-naked women worked, rolling out dough. They glanced her way once or twice, but seemed to be trying hard not to stare.
She strolled over to them. They turned in unison to face her. Their aqua eyes were intense, curious—Stepford and creepy in Jac’s opinion. Slightly embarrassed by her wayward thoughts, she said, “Do you think I might be able to…I mean would you mind if I…can I have a piece of bread, please?”
The women giggled behind their hands. One walked to the end of the bench and ripped off part of a loaf and held it out to her.
Jac stepped forward, taking the warm bread from the woman’s hand. “Thanks, I appreciate it.” She held up the bread in salute. Her mouth watered in anticipation. She took a big bite. The bread crunched. The soft sweet grain melted, causing an explosion of flavor, light, airy, and utterly delicious, honeyed enough to be able to skip the butter. Not that Jac would put any on it. She avoided fatty foods if at all possible. “This is delicious. Thanks again.”
She looked around the campsite, wondering where Rachel had wandered off. The well-worn area appeared large enough for the whole tribe to gather in. Flowers perfumed the air, along with ginger plants. A long b
anquet sized table had been shoved to the side. Maybe these people had communal meals or rocking parties, too bad she wouldn’t be sticking around long enough to see one.
Jac shrugged, swallowing the bread and took a deep breath. She should probably go find Rachel and apologize for her outburst. As far as she was concerned, Rachel was the only one here that deserved an apology. She scanned the area again. Everyone seemed to be missing, with the exception of the three women cooking. Maybe in the late morning everyone here took a siesta. If that was the case, then she didn’t want to disturb her friend, especially considering her delicate condition. She groaned, heaven help Ares if she ended up in the same state as Rachel. A baby was the last thing she needed right now. Make that ever.
Yet somewhere inside her, Jac’s heart held onto the smallest spark of hope that she carried Ares’s baby. She’d die before she admitted it to anyone, but it was there, buried next to the pain of her father’s death. She took another bite of bread, but this time it tasted flavorless. She broke off pieces of it and tossed them at the edge of the jungle for the birds and monkeys.
She decided to return to the hut Rachel had put her in. She was halfway across the clearing, when Ares stepped out of the jungle. His eyes smoldered, even from a distance. He paused only a second, then came forward. His muscles flexed and tensed as he approached. Black hair flowed down his back, glowing blue in the muted light, like a dark angel, a conqueror of old. His emerald gaze held her, drew her like a moth to a flame. The slash of his sexy mouth reeked havoc on her senses. Jac imagined those firm lips teasing her nipples, searing her skin, sucking on her clit.
Atlantean's Quest Volume 1 Page 30