Stone Solitude

by A C Warneke

  “Yes,” Isis said with a brilliant smile, nodding her head regally, acknowledging his intelligence. It was surreal to be having this conversation with the goddess as he was dying, especially since he could feel the separation happening within him. His entire body was being ripped apart cell by cell and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer.

  “Where’s Daisy?” he panted, his nerves on fire as his heart, his fucking heart, was tearing itself in two and it was killing him.

  Her lips pressed together as she stared at him. When he simply stared back, she sighed and said, “She’s been here all along.”

  His eyes widened as Daisy appeared in the middle of the room, her eyes the size of saucers as she looked around in utter confusion. Her clothes were rumpled and stained, her hair was falling out of its ponytail and strands were curling around her face, her skin was pale and she was the most beautiful thing in the universe. He wanted to live for her but it was too late and so he would die to protect her and take his fucking heart with him.

  With an all-mighty roar, he launched himself at Isis, tackling her and her fucking throne to the ground. From far away, he heard Daisy scream but he had to ignore it as he wrapped his fingers around the bitch’s delicate throat. “Let Daisy go.”

  Isis’s eyes sparkled with amusement as she laughed at him, “Oh, my Beloved, I see you so clearly now.”

  Roman swallowed the bile that threatened to choke him and he squeezed tighter until her face started to turn purple. Oblivious to the fact that he was about to rip her fucking head off, Isis reached up and tenderly brushed her fingers over his eyes, his cheeks, his lips. Her hand drifted down his throat and over his clavicle, stopping at his heart. As her eyes closed, his heart seized up and it was done. Blackness danced before his eyes and all of his strength abruptly vanished.

  In the next moment, he was in Daisy’s arms, listening to her cry and begging him to live. Holding her, breathing her in, he closed his eyes and clung to the moment knowing it couldn’t last. He didn’t even know how he was standing. But Daisy was there and his missing heart beat only for her. “Don’t cry, my love. It’ll be okay.”

  “No it won’t,” she sobbed, pressing desperate kisses along his throat, the underside of his jaw. Her fingers convulsed against his back as she held him to her, as if she could spirit them away to safety. If it was day, he could wrap her in his arms and fly them far away. But he was a gargoyle who never should have been born, whose sole purpose was to house the heart of a god. There was no place for him to go, no place for him to hide, that Isis wouldn’t have tracked him down. And in the end it hardly mattered because his heart was no longer his own.

  Sinking his fingers into her hair, he gave a gentle tug so she was looking at him, her beautiful silver eyes wet with tears and filled to the brim with misery. “Daisy, I need you to be strong.”

  “This isn’t your fate, Roman,” she growled, her fierce soul shining through. “You’re not hers, you’re mine. You were created for me. Fight this.”

  Brushing his thumb over the skin of her cheek, the soft flesh damp with her still-spilling tears, he felt his foolish soul shatter. He was bleeding inside and his strength was already fading but he would be strong for her, only for her. “Daisy, my little flower, I love you.”

  His knees gave out as his blood no longer coursed through his body. He held Daisy’s eyes as he collapsed to the ground, taking her down with him because he couldn’t let go. As the world dimmed, he realized Set had lied to him all of those years ago because the heart that once beat in his chest had never belonged to him. But Daisy did. She had brought him back to life, she had taught him how to live, how to love, and he would always love her.

  Always.

  Love.

  Her.

  Tears streamed down Daisy’s cheeks as the life drained from Roman’s beautiful eyes and she didn’t know what to do. The faintest trace of a pulse sluggishly beat against her fingers as she pressed them against his throat and only the shallowest breath moved his chest. Wrapping her arms around his body, holding him tight as if she could will him to take another breath, she begged, “Please, Roman, please don’t do this to me. You’re my everything. Roman!”

  Distantly, she heard the goddess chanting in a long dead language and rage swept through her. Fire burned in her soul and she wanted to rip the woman’s throat out and bathe in her ancient blood. But if she let go of Roman, if she stopped breathing for him, she’d lose him. Hugging him, rocking him, she glared at the chanting woman and hissed, “What did you do to him?”

  “I took back what was mine,” Isis said over her shoulder. Turning around, she faced Daisy with a glowing, triumphant smile. “You see, I found my Beloved’s heart so very long ago but it wasn’t strong enough to sustain him once I brought him back so I placed it in the heart of a gargoyle.”

  “In the heart of a gargoyle?” Daisy asked, her eyes darting to Roman’s pale face, to his neck where his pulse still trembled. “Roman’s still alive?”

  “For now,” Isis said, her eyes dropping to Roman for just a moment. Shrugging her shoulders, she added, “But he’s human now and most likely won’t survive the damage done to his body.”

  “He’s human,” Daisy breathed, her eyes flying to Roman, willing him to live with even fiercer determination. If he was human, she could bite him, she could make him a wolf, give him a chance to survive.

  If she could bite him.

  Please, just this once, she begged silently, closing her eyes and picturing her wolf in her head. I haven’t asked anything of you for over ten years but I’m asking now. I’m asking for the most important thing in the world. Please, waken enough to bite him, just bite him. Give him a chance.

  “I never wanted him to die,” Isis said softly and yet without a trace of guilt or remorse or regret. “But it was the only way. Besides, the gargoyle wouldn’t have existed without me.”

  “Shut up,” Daisy growled, squeezing her eyes shut and concentrating on her wolf. Please!

  One time, the wolf rasped in a voice rusty with years of disuse.

  With a quick cry of triumph, she felt her teeth lengthen, sharpen. Her eyesight sharpened, letting her see every eyelash against Roman’s pale cheeks. Her sense of smell heightened, letting her breathe in the crisp, clean, masculine scent that was all Roman. The smell of pine filtered through the incense filling the Egyptian chamber and she wondered how that was possible. And then she didn’t wonder anything else as she sank her teeth into the curve of Roman’s neck, poisoning him with her bite and giving him a chance to live as a wolf.

  If he survived the transition. God, let him survive, she prayed as her teeth receded before she had even pulled them out of his neck. His blood lingered on her lips and she closed her eyes, savoring the sharp, metallic taste.

  “You would do nothing less to save your love,” Isis continued, watching Daisy with narrowed eyes. “You would risk the wrath of the gods to bring your lover back to life….”

  Daisy’s eyes shot open and she stared at Isis in joyous realization. The wrath of the gods! Licking her lips, she forced her gaze to meet and to hold Isis’s black eyes as she bellowed, “Apollo!”

  Isis’s eyes widened and the first trace of alarm passed over her face. “What use is it to contact Apollo? He doesn’t even remember….”

  “He remembers,” Daisy grinned darkly. “Apollo! I need you! Your son needs you!”

  Isis skittered backwards, pressing against one of the large statues of Anubis. “Impossible.”

  Before Daisy could answer, there was a loud rattling sound behind Isis as the stone creature she was leaning against shuddered to life. Daisy’s mouth went dry as the stone melted away and became flesh. Her eyes moved up the massive body of Anubis, from muscled calves to muscled thighs to taut abs to broad shoulders. A massive hand reached up and tore the wolf mask off, revealing a face of utter masculine beauty. Midnight black hair hung in braided ropes over broad shoulders as midnight black eyes blinked in surprise. Golden brown skin gleam
ed in the light of the chamber and Daisy held her breath as he bent his head and looked down at her.

  “Give it back,” she said in a breathless whisper. If the god gave Roman back his heart, he would survive the wolf’s bite. “Give him back his heart.”

  “It is impossible,” he said, his deep voice rumbling through her. Squatting down so he was closer to her, though he still towered over her, he reached out his massive hand and touched the top of her head. “My little flower.”

  Agony tore through her as she stared into the stranger’s eyes, the stranger with Roman’s words. Tears slid down her cheek as the familiar words said in the god’s voice echoed in her head. She looked at her beloved Roman and then back to the god and whispered, “Roman?”

  “No, my little flower,” he said with a kind smile. Pressing his hand over his chest, he added, “But a part of him is inside of me, the part that remembers you.”

  A sob caught in her throat as she held Roman’s dying body tighter. “Give him back.”

  A tear slid down his golden skin and he caught it with the tip of his finger. Holding it out to her, he rumbled, “The time will come when you will know what to do with this.”

  In a haze, she raised her hand and the tear landed on her palm, stinging her skin. As she watched, it sank into her flesh and she frowned because she didn’t understand why the god would give her a tear. Osiris chuckled and her eyes flew back to his, drowning in the black of night as he rasped, “If he is yours, you will give this gift to him but you cannot give it to him until he is yours.”

  She opened her mouth to ask him to explain but he held a finger over her lips and issued more orders, “Do not push him, do not sing. He will come to you if he is meant to be yours.”

  “He’s mine,” she whispered.

  “He was yours,” the god corrected. “The part that belonged to you is within me now and your Siren’s imprint is severed. Can you not feel that the bond has been broken?”

  A new kind of anguish ripped through her because the connection that had been so strong, so eternal, was gone. She still loved him but they were no longer bound together. Her eyes dropped back to her Roman and fresh tears streamed down her cheeks because the connection was gone. “He’s mine.”

  “Perhaps,” the god said, his voice fading away. “In time. If you let him go.”

  As the ancient gods disappeared, the Egyptian décor morphed back into the familiar forest that surrounded her home. Dominic was laying on the ground not five feet away, his furry ribs rising and falling with each deep breath he took, and Roman was still unconscious.

  “Apollo!” she cried out in desperation one more time, never tearing her eyes from Roman’s still face. A rush of wind and Roman’s father was by her side in his Merrick disguise. Looking up at the beautiful man, she begged, “Save him. Please.”

  He kneeled in front of her, running his hand over Roman’s face as a look of unease crossed his features. Leaving his hand on Roman’s forehead, he looked at Daisy, “What will you give me to save him?”

  Her brows drew together as she stared at him with her mouth hanging open. “He’s your son, Apollo. Save him.”

  His tongue moved over his lower lip as he looked at her with pity. After an eternity, he heaved a sigh and said, “He is and always will be my son but you bit him, Daisy. He answers to a different god now. My help comes with a price so what will you give me to save him?”

  His words whipped through her, leaving a trail of bloody scratches in their wake. Her eyes moved over his face, at the sorrow and the helplessness. In a soft voice, she asked, “What do you want?”

  His lips curved up in a sensual and totally inappropriate smile, “Good girl. But you must know that even though I can give him the strength to survive the transition, I cannot give him the will to live.”

  Her lips parted and she blinked slowly, once, twice, before she managed to ask, “What?”

  He looked at her with so much sadness in his hazel eyes she wanted to cry. Only, she was already crying. “He’s no longer a gargoyle. I don’t know how much of his life he will remember but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s no longer a gargoyle.”

  “He won’t remember what he no longer is,” she said pathetically, her chest tightening as she held her breath at the cruel words. She just wanted Roman to be happy. At Apollo’s wry expression, she shook her head in helplessness, “He’ll be a wolf. He’ll be with me.”

  Apollo shook his head no and a wave of despair swept over her. She wanted to deny Apollo’s words because she knew in her heart that Roman was still hers. He just had to remember her. “Daisy, if you push him, you will shatter his mind and you’ll lose him.” She opened her mouth to protest but he held his hand up to keep her quiet. “You don’t know how much damage was done when Isis took his memory, Daisy. You have to give him time to heal.”

  Her stomach twisted in on itself in anguish because he had read her deepest, darkest thoughts and then he had effectively repudiated them before they could even be fully formed. Shame swiftly followed her despair, mingling with the agony and grief and rage until it was a toxic cocktail of negative emotions. Pushing away everything that wasn’t conducive to helping Roman, she concentrated on willing Roman to survive. She’d have to figure out how to be a part of his life without pushing him….

  “I’m taking him to another pack when he wakes. They’re a good pack with strong bonds that live far away from here,” Apollo informed her. At her gasp, he pressed his lips together and added, “If he survives and actually wakes up. Now, let me do my job, Daisy. We’ll discuss payment later.”

  No matter what the cost, she would willingly pay it if it meant Roman would be okay.

  As Apollo closed his eyes, Daisy’s brother stirred next to her. A heartbeat later, he was naked and scrubbing his hands through his hair. Bewildered, he looked around the forest before his eyes focused on Roman and Daisy and Apollo. Barely sparing the god a second glance, he asked, “What happened?”

  She let out an incredulous laugh as she blinked back her useless tears and watched Apollo do whatever it was he was doing. Roman’s body jerked and she tightened her hold, refusing to let him suffer any more than necessary as the wolf’s venom worked its way through his human cells. Softly, she asked, “Will he be okay?”

  Apollo shot her a disgruntled look before he returned his attention back to Roman.

  “Daisy,” her brother started again and she shot him the look that Apollo had just given her. But unlike her, he didn’t shut up, “What the fuck happened?”

  “Gather up the wolves and make sure everyone is safe and accounted for,” she told him, needing to concentrate on Roman and nothing else. Turning to her brother when he didn’t move, she said, “Go. I’ll explain later.”

  Later, when Roman was awake and Apollo had taken him to his new home to recover, she’d tell her family what had happened and how Roman became a wolf and why he was no longer with her. With a half-hearted protest, Dominic shifted back and ran off, letting out short yips and barks to communicate with the pack and find out where they were. Releasing the breath she had been holding, she turned back to Roman, relieved to see a little color seeping back into his face. Her lips moved as she prayed in silence, asking whatever god that was listening to keep Roman safe. Her eyes flickered to Apollo and despite her worry, color climbed into her cheeks.

  “He’s strong,” Apollo muttered, running his hand over Roman’s heart, his human heart. Glancing at Daisy, he said, “It’s possible he would have survived the transition without my help.”

  “I wasn’t willing to take the chance,” she murmured, her gaze focused on Roman’s mouth as his lips parted and he took a deep breath. A smile trembled on her lips and tears slid down her cheeks as his eyes fluttered open. Hope surged in her chest as she lost herself in his beautiful blue eyes. Already she could see his wolf and she knew it was going to be beautiful. Powerful. Tenderly brushing a strand of gold hair from his forehead, she whispered, “Hey, you.”

 
“Hey,” he returned, his voice gravelly. Clearing his throat, he looked from her to Apollo and back, a frown furrowing his brow. “Who… who are you?”

  Blood spilled from her shredded heart but she didn’t let it spill on to him. She knew he wasn’t going to remember her but she hadn’t been prepared for how much it would hurt. For his sake, she would keep smiling, even if her cheeks cracked. As she watched, his eyes rolled up and he passed out and her smile finally faltered and then disappeared. Keeping her eyes on Roman, she growled her words at Apollo, “You’re not getting my memories of him.”

  “I’d never take those away from you. But, Daisy, I have to take him now,” Apollo whispered, trying to ease Roman from her arms. She hadn’t even known he had bent down and now he was trying to take Roman away. Tightening her hold, she shook her head no, wanting more time with him. Her gaze moved over his beloved face, memorizing every detail because it could be years before she saw him again. If she saw him again.

  No, she wasn’t going to allow those thoughts to enter her head. Pressing her lips against his, she closed her eyes and poured all of her heart and soul and love into the kiss. Tears continued to leak from her eyes, making the kiss a little salty but she didn’t care. Opening her eyes, she gave him a smile even though he was unconscious. Brushing her thumb over his lips, she breathed, “Be well, my love.”

  “Don’t go looking for him,” Apollo warned again. “Let him come to you.”

  “He doesn’t even know me.”

  “Then let him go.”

  “I can’t.”

  But then he was gone anyway, taken to some unknown pack far, far away and Daisy’s entire world lost all of its color. She thought she’d scream, wail and gnash her teeth, but there was nothing left, just a gaping hole where her heart used to be.

  There was a rustling of leaves behind her but she was too despondent to care. When the intruder cleared his throat, she asked in a dead tone, “What?”