You should have told me. Remorse tightened his suddenly encumbered lungs. He felt like such a cad! The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Two freaking amateur virgins trying to act like they knew what they were doing when, in truth, his experience came from porn, and the extent of hers was most likely the tip of a vibrator. What idiots they were. He wrapped his arms around Lenore’s waist to lift her up, but she resisted.
Finish me. Lenore demanded, breathlessly.
Had he heard correctly?
Make me come.
Anshar barely recognized her voice, the plea was so earthy. Every fiber of his body instantly became alert and damn, he’d do everything to fulfill her needs. Shifting to support her more comfortably, he licked his fingers where they had been saturated with her essence, savoring the taste on his tongue, and preparing them to tease her sweet pussy again. He moved her legs open…this time, gently. Knowing what he did now, he was going to take his time. The orgasm he would give his little virgin wife would be the best she’d ever had.
He ran his fingers slowly down the crack of her sensitized ass to her honeyed warmth. There, he stroked and squeezed her outer lips, listening to her inner dialogue, knowing just what she wanted and needed. There would be no more plunging into her tight pussy to that painful barrier, but nothing else was off limits. Her clit was particularly sensitive, and he tugged on the small protruding flesh, feeling her orgasm move closer.
When she was teetering on the edge, he pinched one nipple and sent two fingers into her sex, only one knuckle deep, so as not to tear her protective membrane, but deep enough to make her crazy. She writhed against him, clenching and unclenching her thighs around his hand. Her hot flesh cried out, and her cunt, slick with juices, allowed him to slide in and out easily. He could sense her reaching for the top, feel her orgasm approach as—mind-blowingly—his did, too. She would know they were coming together. He couldn’t hide that from her, nor did he wish to. In truth, it had hit him so fast that his feared reaction to it hadn’t had a chance to rear its ugly head.
When Lenore finally cried out and spasmed around his fingers, Anshar jettisoned a painful, yet earth-shattering orgasm into his jeans. His heart sounded loudly in his ears; hers slowed only after minutes of him holding her tenderly, his fingers milked by after-tremors. They lingered, sated, for the storm to pass.
Anshar could tell the minute Lenore began to feel embarrassment. His lovely mate squirmed and seemed to shrink down further into his lap. In response, he carefully tipped her up and drew her close to his chest, cradling her head with one hand and soothing her reddened ass with the other.
When she started to protest, he softly said, “Hush. We’ve had some difficult beginnings, you and I, but I foresee that we’ll be working them out.” Anshar relished her afterglow, also his afterglow, proud of the way he’d made her feel. He chuckled. “It’s a good thing we’re in the far basement.” His lips turned up. “You make enough noise to wake the gods.”
She slapped at his hand and pushed off his chest.
He was reluctant to have her move away. Was she upset because he teased her?
“What is it, Lenore?” He thought to reassure her. “I like that you’re noisy in your pleasure.” When she refused to meet his eyes, he tried to puzzle it out of her. “Did I scare you? Did I hurt you?” He realized that those were the last things in the heavens he’d wish upon her. “Tell me what it is?”
She lowered her head against him, rubbing her forehead back and forth across the soft material of his shirt. He could sense she hated the words she was about to say, thinking it would put distance between them.
“I belong to Dagon.” Her voice became flat and dead.
Anshar gathered her closer, his protective instincts coming into play. “That’s impossible, Lenore,” he assured her, trying to control his voice and his body. Stirring within him was his beast, and now…now his friggin’ shoulder lit up like Times Square! If she looked at him she would see it, and it would probably scare her to death. He kept her head cradled to this chest and couldn’t help the words that emerged, could not have stopped them if he had wanted to.
“You can never belong to Dagon, Lenore.” His voice rose to a growl and fangs lengthened in his mouth. “Because, understand this, you will always and forever more belong to me!”
His silver bicep cuff began to cut deep. The warning was clear. With extreme concentration, he suppressed his natural instincts. He was barely able to pull back from the brink. But he did. Anshar breathed a deep sigh of relief when he finally found himself back in complete control.
Chapter Eight
“Shit!” Ishkur swore. “This is the stupidest piece of crap I’ve ever worked on.”
Marduk brought his head up and glanced from Ishkur to Lahar, who was sitting smugly next to the blasphemer at the work bench.
“Just finish it up,” Lahar said calmly. “It will work.”
It was too early in the morning to get so irritated, but Ishkur had been messing with the new invention, 24/7. Marduk knew the god was mechanically sure of what he was doing, Ishkur just didn’t understand the technology behind it, and that bugged the crap out of him. It was a good thing Lahar was Mensa material, or Marduk would also doubt it
“Explain it again.” Ishkur was just finishing up the last circuit boards Lahar had given him.
“I’ve told you before. Cell towers are different now but, when they were first installed, they all had microwave antennas that sent analog signals. Most of those old antennas are still in place, the companies that owned them never bothered to take them down. All we need to do is tap into those and create a base transceiver station or BTS.” He snickered. “We could call it a GTS. A gods transceiver station. That’s what I’ve got you making.”
Ishkur took another look at the ancient microwave oven in front of him, shaking his head. Lahar continued. “We’re modifying this device to hone in on the little slice of frequencies we use that are well above the range monitored by humans. We should be able to tap into the towers around the world and have our inner-voice signal boosted by them and by any private parabolic dishes in people’s yards that happen to be pointed in the right direction. Don’t you get it? This means communication beyond our ten-mile radius!”
“If you say so,” Ishkur, the hands-on-guy, grumbled. “But I’m going to feel pretty stupid sticking my head in this oven to talk to our brothers.”
Marduk chuckled. They wouldn’t really have to do that. Lahar had devised a separate microphone.
Ishkur went back to work and Lahar turned, once again, to Marduk.
“Where’s the wife?” the genius asked the thunder god, good naturedly. Marduk gave him a look that would kill. He knew Lahar wanted to inquire whether Tess was naked in bed—where the gods teased she had spent three-quarters of her time since she’d moved in—but Marduk was a little sensitive where his new goddess was concerned.
“Cooking omelets, which is the only thing she can make.” He changed the topic to something humorous. “I hope we find a Chosen soon who can mix it up a little. Not that I’m complaining or anything, but eggs get a little old after a while.” Marduk didn’t beleaguer the point because the incorporeal gods were, sadly, still unable to smell or ingest food.
“You can get on Absu’s case,” answered Lahar, not taking offense. “He used to do the most unbelievable things with boar meat and spices…mmm.” Marduk knew that Lahar was remembering the aroma of roasting pig.
Marduk shook his head. Absu, though invisible, would be able to acquire ingredients, but it seemed mean to make someone who couldn’t eat do the cooking. “I think we’ll spare him that.” He pointed back at the bench, where there was a lot of acquiring going on.
“So have you got that last board in? Is it finished?” Marduk looked at the microwave.
Ishkur removed his head from the item and grinned. “Why don’t we test it?” He wiped his hands on his jeans, even though they couldn’t possibly pick up dirt. He unacquired his screw driver
. “It should be ready. Let’s see what we’ve got. Maybe we can pick up Dagon in Plymouth.”
Lahar plugged it in and the display appeared, blinking and asking for hours and minutes. “Shit, Ishkur. Can you fucking enter the time? I hate how these new contraptions do that. And they all want it entered a different way.” He indicated the number pad to Ishkur and stepped back. Marduk stifled a laugh. For a genius, Lahar could be such a fucking baby.
“Luddite,” Ishkur jokingly admonished Lahar, who was anything but. Marduk thrust his cell phone toward Ishkur, who checked it for time, then quickly punched it into the blinking display. “There. Now what?”
“Now we use the frequency modulator you installed,” Lahar rubbed his eager, nonexistent hands together. “And get it into our band width. Give it a try. Trawl around using the fine tuning and see if we can hear any earth-bound and unsuspecting immortals.”
Ishkur did as he was bid, and surprisingly, Enten’s head-voice came over the remote speaker loud and clear.
Do we have to watch the Miss America Pageant again?
Marduk was shocked. “What the hell? It’s picking up our guys in the house.” He looked, askance, at Lahar.
The genius was quick with an explanation. “It’s like a new listener has been added to our repertoire, and nobody has had a chance to block the intruder yet. Don’t worry, they’ll all catch on pretty fast.” He shushed the group as they continued to listen.
Fucking, yeah. And FYI, it’s back in Atlantic City next year. Finally. Emesh sounded triumphant. For some reason that Marduk couldn’t fathom, a bunch of the gods loved the pageant, and Emesh sounded excited to have news that the others had yet to hear.
Enlil, just entering the control room, heard the words coming from the microwave. “Hah! Emesh thinks he’s got hot news. Now he’s going to blow a gasket when I beat him to the punch and ask if he’s heard that the pageant will be back in Atlantic City!” Enlil rubbed his hands together, and Marduk witnessed the glee on his face as the wind god looked at the microwave. “The possibilities of eavesdropping like this could be endless. Are you sure we have to tell everybody?”
Marduk just shook his head and went back to testing the unit. “Who else can you find?” He asked Ishkur.
The god adjusted the dial the slightest bit.
…maybe we’ll find you a dog goddess. That was Dumuzi talking to Archie the border collie, his new best friend who he’d enticed from Tess’s home in Maine. There’s such a thing, you know. I used to play with them all the time back when I was in favor…
Ishkur finessed the dial again. “Gods, he needs to get a life.”
“Don’t we all,” answered Lahar, then looked over his shoulder at a corporeal Marduk and Enlil. “Oh…present company excluded.”
Ishkur chose to ignore that. “I’m picking up someone else…” He took his hand from the dial. “Hey. It’s Anshar.”
…you don’t have to be here. Why make yourself uncomfortable in the woods, when you’ll know where I am and what I’m saying or thinking all the time regardless of your location?
Orders are orders. A female voice responded. It’s not just you he’s interested in, it’s the comings and goings of the whole gang of gods. Besides… Had the voice just dropped a half octave? Who says I’m not comfortable?
The innuendo in her voice was unmistakable. Marduk pictured a female sidling up to Anshar and twining herself around him.
“Am I hearing things?” Marduk looked at the dumbfounded faces around him and realized he wasn’t. “Anshar is able to talk to someone? A woman? And it sounds like they have some kind of a…a…thing going on between them! What the fuck?” He looked at Lahar.
“Why don’t you ask him? Press the talk button on the microphone, and you’ll be all over his ear-waves. I can’t wait to see where this is going,” he muttered the last.
“Screw that,” Marduk bellowed. “Open a channel to all of the guys. Anshar deserves no privacy if he’s being dishonest with us.”
Lahar flipped a switch and turned a few dials before indicating the microphone. Marduk pushed the button.
Anshar! You are so fucking dead! Get your ass in the meeting room, now. And bring the female with you. Everyone else, we’re convening in thirty seconds. Move it! Marduk stalked from the room. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so enraged at one of the brothers, and Anshar was supposed to be his best friend.
****
Anshar had been about to drag Lenore close for a kiss when Marduk’s voice hit him like a bomb.
“What the fuck? Did you hear that?”
Lenore’s face had lost all color. “That was your glorious leader, Marduk, wasn’t it? He doesn’t sound happy. How did he…”
“I don’t know! He’s never been able to tap into my brain before without an e-vite. I have no idea how that just happened.” Anshar swallowed hard, grimacing at the anger and unrelenting tone in his friend’s voice and knew he was in deep shit. He’d been caught withholding information from the thunder god, which was one of the “unforgivables” on Marduk’s “die or let live” list.
He reached for Lenore’s hand. “I can tell you this. Unless I can convince him that I had no choice but to deceive him,” he shook his head, “that place we used yesterday? It might just become home sweet home for both of us.” Without preliminaries, Anshar misted them into the compound, coming to rest just outside the meeting-room door, where he became aware of the raised and angry voices within. This was going to suck.
Lenore obviously wasn’t good at waiting and pushed the door open. She immediately whispered to him that she recognized four in the room: Tess, the girl whose life she saved, king-man Marduk who was Tess’s mate, and Enlil, the golden hunk from hell. Shit. Had she really said that? Didn’t Lenore know that acute hearing was a universal super power for gods? She ignored his warning look and told him she was also familiar with Huxley who, after her brief sojourn in the compound being stitched up, had helped her get a ride back into town. Lenore finally went silent under the lethal stares in the room.
The other nine faces, Anshar figured, would be new to Lenore, having been invisible to her before, and yup. They all looked hostile. They had been able to see her when she was mortal and were well aware of who she was. Did that bode ill or well? They’d soon find out.
Anshar closed the door behind them, then moved to put himself in front of Lenore. But she was having none of that and wound around to his side.
Marduk was so purple in the face, he looked ready to explode.
“Lies Anshar,” he spat. “Everything you told us was lies!” His eyes bored holes into his best friends face. “Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now.” Lenore saw that Marduk was having trouble keeping his hands still, plus he had grown to enormous proportions. His fists clenched and unclenched with such pent-up rage that even his wife Tess backed away from him.
Lenore had to hand it to Anshar. He dared to step closer, then expelled a breath. “I was forced to undergo the amulet procedure without my consent.”
His words hit the room like a bombshell, and a startled hush fell across the room. Marduk dropped down into his chair, deflating as he went. Wow. Lenore looked around, stymied. Was it that big of a deal? Shit, if the faces of every god were any indication, it wasn’t just a big deal…it was a huge deal. She watched Marduk absently rub his left shoulder. His voice, when he finally spoke, had lost all its fire. “Dagon did this to you?”
“He did.” Anshar stared him down and squared his shoulders. “He also forbade me, while wearing the collar, to tell you…” Anshar clutched at himself. Did his chest just seize up? Lenore’s ribcage twinged. She watched closely as he began speaking again. “…tell you that Lenore could… Argh!” Anshar doubled over in obvious pain. Now Lenore felt the punch, and was getting pissed. Exactly what had Dagon done to him?
“…read your thoughts, and you can’t block her.” Marduk ran a hand over his face.
Anshar nodded, and Lenore was incredulous. Dagon was s
uch an asshole.
“Also, the rest of what I told you before was only partially true,” Anshar cleared his throat. “Lenore was the one waiting outside the T-Taj the day I disappeared. Dagon put her there, after discovering that she shared blood with him.”
Heads that had been shaking in horror at Anshar’s predicament, once again went still with shock. Lenore was suddenly nervous. How would things go now that they knew she was a descendant of Dagon?
“That was how he knew of the maternal link that the women we seek all share,” Anshar informed them, and Lenore watched as another piece of the puzzle fell into place for all the gods. “Since Lenore hadn’t turned any of you corporeal when she was at Bloody Pond, if any of us were…”
Why was Anshar choosing his words so carefully?
“…to share an amulet with her, it either had to be me, since I was off on a mission, or Enlil who already had his body. Either way, she was to find out which one of us it was and bring us back to Dagon’s headquarters in Plymouth.” Lenore looked around. Anshar’s audience was rapt.
“I misted out the morning of the meeting and, before I could catch myself, I plummeted from the sky and became impaled on a felled tree. Lenore was there along with a bunch of the PP.” Anshar touched her hand briefly. “That’s what we call your guys in Plymouth,” he explained in an aside to her. “The Pilgrim Posse.” He turned back to Marduk and continued. “Before I could get up, I got tranq’d.”
Lenore knew that she was instantly flushed with a telltale blush of “sorry, baby” across her cheeks.
“Next thing I knew, I was in Dagon’s osmium jail, collar in place, and strapped to a table.” Thank the gods he’d skipped the hand job, Lenore thought. Although after looking around, the company would probably enjoy the tale, she smirked.
“The next morning, Dagon approached with his knife already sharpened and told me what he was about to do.” Anshar’s eyebrows drew together. “Having just watched you go through it,” he looked directly at Marduk, “you can imagine how I felt.”
Taken By Storm Page 7