Ellora's Cavemen: Jewels of the Nile III

by Anthology

  “It is seen as a weakness among many sorcerers. After all who wants your enemies to know that by killing your mate they can kill you too? Once the joining is complete, our lives would literally be as one. We would die within minutes of one another, whether that happened next week or centuries from now.”

  “That’s why you said your parents weren’t true mates. Because your mother died and your father didn’t.”

  “Yes. If they’d been fated to be together, she would have gained the lifespan of a wizard, like him. Instead he had to watch her age and die.” He was thankful that he wouldn’t have that experience with Lyra. Even if she rejected the mating, as a direct descendant of the gods, she’d almost certainly outlive him.

  Lyra’s arms crossed over her chest and she tilted her head to one side as another thought seemed to occur to her. “And if we choose to ignore the offer, will you eventually find another mate?”

  “No, my love. One mate to a customer.”

  She looked so agonized that his heart clenched in his chest. He sat down on the marble bench built into the wall and drew her down onto his lap and into his arms heedless of the water pouring around them. “There’s no rush,” he assured her with a kiss on the top of her head. “You can take as much time as you need to think things over. It’s a big decision.” The biggest.

  “I do love you, Cian.” Her words, muffled against his chest, made his heart sing. “But I live in the water and feed off anonymous sex. I just can’t imagine how we can be together. And it’s breaking my heart.”

  Chapter Four

  It took every bit of strength he possessed to let her go. After they made love in the shower, he fed her breakfast, then teleported both of them to a secluded area near the beach. Once there, he watched her walk into the waves without a backward glance.

  Had it only been yesterday he’d wondered what was missing in his life? How the world could change in less than twenty-four hours.

  He spent the day in his office, trying to ensure that his various business and charity ventures would survive if he had to take a sudden leave of absence. He sent a long email to his grandparents. Then he started reading, arming himself with every bit of information he could garner. Now, as the orange orb of the sun began to sink behind the city and paint watercolor hues on the lake, Cian waited on the rock. He had no idea what the hell he’d do if she didn’t appear.

  It was well past sunset when she finally arrived. The beach was utterly deserted except for Cian but suddenly he knew he wasn’t alone anymore. He didn’t need to see her rising from the waves. He could feel her presence by the sudden lightening of his heart.

  Lyra didn’t hesitate but walked directly into his outstretched arms. Cian wrapped her in his embrace and held her close, breathing in the scent of woman and water and life. Long minutes later, she gulped in a big breath and took a step back.

  “I missed you.” He tucked a tress behind her ear then leaned his forehead against hers.

  “And I missed you.” She sighed heavily and some of the weight on Cian’s heart returned.

  “Will you come home with me again?”

  Her smile was beautiful and tragic. “Of course.”

  He teleported them directly to his bedroom this time. Their feet had barely touched the carpet before they fell on each other like a pair of hungry tigers. This mating was brief and furious, nearly frantic. After one voracious kiss, Cian turned her and pushed her torso down on the bed. Lyra complied eagerly, widening her legs and wiggling her pert little ass in the air.

  “Take me, Cian!” Her panted words were muffled by the sheets, but Cian heard.

  “Oh, yes, leannan. You—” He paused to position his turgid cock at her weeping entrance. “Are.” With one hard shove, he pushed inside, seating himself to the hilt in her core. “Mine!”

  “Only yours, Cian,” she vowed. “My heart, my love, only yours.”

  Her body, too, he added silently. One way or another he’d find a way to have that for his own as well. He thrust inside her, deep and fast. Her spine arched, allowing him to penetrate her fully, claiming every inch of her heat as his own, just as she’d branded him as hers from the moment they met. The Fates had given her to him, and he was determined to protect and cherish that gift for all time.

  Her climax came quickly and hard. Her muscles clamped down on his cock, milking him fiercely even as her musical screams rang in his ears. Cian bellowed his own satisfaction, spurting furiously into her, wave after wave of white-hot pleasure. When it was finally over, he rolled to the side, collapsing beside her on the bed.

  They lay there for moments, both gasping for breath.

  “Oh!” Lyra’s pleased exclamation roused Cian enough to make him lift his head and gaze into her beloved face. “I feel…full. As though I’d fed. Cian, this is wonderful. It means I may not need to find a stranger to feed. At least, not every time!”

  “Not ever, if I have any say in the matter,” he growled. But he was more than pleased, and he squeezed her in his arms. “I have been doing research today, my love. I have a surprise for you, I believe.”

  “Oh? Is it as delicious as the chocolate?” She tickled his ribs with her fingertips.

  “I think so.” He pulled her into his arms and teleported them to another place.

  Lyra blinked and looked around at the room. It resembled the Roman-style bath in Cian’s apartment, but was much, much larger. Several lounge chairs clustered around two pools, one large and one small. The small one bubbled and gurgled. She looked up through windows in the ceiling to see the stars.

  “This is the swimming pool for my building,” he told her. “I changed the water today for lake water. It took a fair amount of magic, but I wanted to see if that would satisfy your needs.”

  “What a wonderful thought!” She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him soundly. Hand in hand, they stepped down into the water. “It feels…right,” she told him, her voice filled with wonder and hope.

  “I’d like you to come here tomorrow, instead of the lake. If this works, we’ll know we’re on the right track.”

  “Thank you, Cian. It means more than I can say, that you’ve gone to such trouble for me.” She blinked the unfamiliar tears out of her eyes.

  “Don’t cry, my love. I told you I would find a way. If this isn’t it, we’ll simply keep searching until we find another.”

  They swam for a while, touching and sliding along one another’s bodies as they did. When the temptation grew too strong, Cian lifted her and carried her to one of the cushioned lounge chairs. This time the lovemaking was so sweet and tender it brought fresh tears to Lyra’s eyes.

  “I love you, Cian,” she whispered, holding him tightly. His shaft remained embedded in her channel and his powerful body pinned her to the chair.

  “And I love you, Lyra.” He gazed into her soul with those vibrant green eyes. She didn’t hesitate this time, just opened herself to him and gazed right back. With an almost physical click, their souls merged and mingled. Everything was open between them. Every hope, fear, passion, and dream. Lyra couldn’t breathe, the experience was so overwhelmingly beautiful.

  “I would say the words, my love.” His voice was low, rough with love and vulnerability. “In my heart you are already my mate. Please let us say the vows that will seal the bonding.”

  “I want that more than I have ever wanted anything in my life.” She had to speak the truth. While they lay locked in the soul-gaze, there was no possibility of a lie between them. “Without you, I am afraid I would die, one way or the other.

  “I know I would,” Cian replied. He linked both his hands through hers and spoke reverently in Gaelic—or some similar ancient language.

  Through the soul-gaze she understood the words. She repeated them in ancient Greek, her own ancestral tongue. “Cian, my mate. You to me. Me to you. Two as one. One from two. For this life and beyond.”

  Time froze as she felt the bond snap into existence between them. She felt his heartbeat as her o
wn, felt the power that coursed through his veins as if it were in her own. She felt stronger, safer, more complete than she’d ever been.

  Cian flexed, and she felt his cock surge back to life inside her. She cried out at the pleasure, which was even more powerful now that she felt his as well as her own. “Cian,” she cried.

  “Lyra!” He pumped into her with strong, sure strokes. “My mate. My love.”

  She knew what he was going to say next and she said it for him. “My heart.”

  * * * * *

  It was evening the next day before she felt the gradual weakening that told her she’d spent too long out of the water. Lyra was curled in a big leather chair in the book-lined library at Cian’s home, reading about current world events while Cian studied an ancient magical tome.

  “I need to swim,” she told him.

  He closed the book at once. “Will you try the pool?”

  “Of course.” They met in the middle of the room and clasped hands, so Cian could teleport them to the swimming area. It was empty again, and Lyra looked around. “Does no one else use this pool? It seems large for just one man.”

  His smile was a bit chagrined. “My employees normally have use of this area. For the last two days, I’ve had it closed. They believe it is being repaired.”

  Lyra held her breath as she descended the marble steps into the pool. The warm, silky water lapped around her. When she stood up to her waist, she smiled widely at Cian, who waited on the edge. “It is good,” she told him happily. “I can recover here. I will not need to spend the winter under the ice of the lake.”

  “And it is almost six hours past noon,” he added with a grin. “I had hopes that the bond would extend your endurance.”

  Her gaze flew up to the skylights and she saw the colors of the sunset tint the sky. She had been out of the water for nearly a full day, and was only now beginning to suffer. “It is a miracle!”

  Cian laughed and dove cleanly into the water. “A miracle of love, leannan. I promised you we would find a way. And together we shall.”

  * * * * *

  He wasn’t smiling a few days later. Apparently the pool was only an interim solution. By the third day, he felt the tug of her weakness on the bond between them. He was able to lend her some strength, but soon it wasn’t enough. He needed to get her to the lake.

  “I am sorry, my love.” Lyra’s voice was full of unshed tears.

  Cian took her hand. “Don’t be sorry. We are not defeated yet. I’m taking you to Ireland. You’ll like the castle, and I can make my headquarters there as easily as here. The ocean doesn’t freeze over, so we can live there in the winter.”

  He teleported them to the family seat—a rambling stone manor atop a wild, windswept hillside. They arrived in a small cove, where waves crashed onto a rocky shore, but within sight of the castle.

  “It is beautiful,” she agreed. She was looking at the water instead of the house. Cian held her hand and walked with her into the surf. When he was up to his knees, she kissed him sweetly, then pulled away and dived beneath the waves.

  He watched for several minutes as she swam and splashed. Then she swam up to him and stood. “Go. I’m sure you have work to do, and this is mine. Come back for me at sunset.”

  Reluctantly, Cian agreed. He had research to do. He couldn’t stop until he’d found some way to be with her completely. And the spell he’d been working on was nearly complete. With one last look over his shoulder, he walked up the rocky path to the house. He saw her silver tail flash in the sunlight, and then she was gone once more, disappearing under the waves.

  * * * * *

  When sunset arrived, Cian was waiting by the shore. He smiled widely as Lyra approached. His research had been successful. He couldn’t wait to show her what he could do.

  “Cian!” She called his name excitedly as she transformed her lower body and stood in the surf. “It is wonderful here. Only a few hours and I am fully restored.”

  “And I have a surprise for you.” He waded out to meet her, taking her in his arms for a kiss. While their mouths were fused, he fell back into the waves, pulling her with him. As he fell, his lower body transformed. Instead of legs, he now possessed the muscular, gray-skinned tail of a dolphin.

  “Cian! What have you done?” Lyra broke free of his embrace and stood, chest deep in the cold waves. She stared at his altered form, biting her lower lip.

  Cian changed back, just to reassure her that he could. “I learned a new shape, my love, that is all. I can only maintain it for an hour or two, but that is a little more time each day that we can be together.”

  “Oh, Cian, I love you so much!” She tackled him there in the water, kissing him until they both came up sputtering and splashing. Then her eyes grew wide and serious and she gripped his hands hard. “I have…done something else, as well. Something that may change our future forever.”

  “What is it, áilleacht?” His heart thudded in his chest, fear condensed in his stomach.

  “I have made arrangements with one who may be able to help us.”

  “Oh? And who might that be?”

  “His name is Achelous.”

  “The river god.” Cian knew the legends.

  “Yes, though he can move in the sea as well. He is my great-great-grandfather and the ruler of my race. The original sirens were his daughters by Terpsichore, one of the Muses. If anyone can grant us the chance to be together, it will be him.”

  “Then why do you look so frightened?”

  She sighed. “He is not an Olympian, or one of the most powerful gods, but…”

  “But what, leannan?”

  “But he is a god, my love. And that means he is more than a little unpredictable.”

  “I understand.”

  “Do you?” Her lovely voice went shrill with worry. “If he is in a good mood, he could choose to make us both aquatic—or to alter my body so I can live on land. If he is angry though, he could simply kill us both.”

  “He will not hurt you, áilleacht. Not while there is breath in my body.”

  She shook her head. “What do you think I meant by kill us both?”

  Cian refused to consider that possibility. “When do we meet him?”

  “Soon. He said he would come here as soon as it grew dark.”

  “Then we wait.” Cian perched on a rock and held out a hand. “One thing first.”

  “What?”

  He waved his hand and held out a simple silk slip dress, one he’d purchased for her in Toronto. “I would have you dressed when we speak to another man, even if he is your ancestor.”

  She took the garment and slid it on over her head. “Thank you.”

  Cian flashed himself a pair of loose trousers, then they sat on the rock and waited. Cian kept one arm firmly around her waist while he studied the water. Lyra gazed out as well, finally pointing to a tall bearded man as he rose from the waves.

  She stood and dropped into a deep curtsey. “Grandfather.”

  Cian made a polite bow, never letting go of Lyra’s hand. “River Lord. Thank you for meeting us.”

  “So you wish to marry one of my sirens.” In human aspect the god was tall, powerful and imposing. In the reflected moonlight Cian could see that his skin was the pale tan of river rocks while his hair and eyes were slate gray.

  “I do.”

  “You wish me to make her able to live on land so you can take her away from all she has ever known.”

  Cian shrugged. “Or change me so I can live with her in the waves.”

  The god raised one eyebrow. “And if I do not?”

  Cian gestured up toward the castle atop the craggy hill. “Then this will be my home and we will make the most of whatever time we spend together each day. I promise she will never want for anything, not as long as I live.”

  “I see you have at least taken time to think,” the god acknowledged. “What if I were to say that in return for this boon you must give me that castle?”

  That was a no-brainer
. “Done. I have other houses.”

  “What if I demanded those as well? And your corporations and foundations. You see, wizard, I have done my research.”

  “I would prefer not to take a wife while destitute, but I will find a way to support her, whether in the water or on land. All of my assets are yours if you so require.”

  The gray head dipped in grave acknowledgement. “What if I said you had to fight me for her hand?” His voice rose to a thunderous roar. “Would you be willing to challenge the wrath of a god?”

  Lyra gasped in fear. Cian sent her a reassuring smile. Then he pushed her behind him and stepped away to summon a ball of fire and hold it in his hand. “I’d say bring it on, old one. But I’d ask that you sever the bond between us if I die, so the siren will not be harmed.”

  There was a flash of light on the beach, and Cian turned to see his grandparents standing tall and proud on the shore, hands linked. “I will fight in his stead,” called Cian’s grandfather.

  “It is my fight,” Cian replied. “And how did you know…” His voice trailed off. Of course they knew. His grandmother was a seer. He suddenly felt like an errant six-year-old. He was encouraged, though to see his grandmother immediately open her arms to Lyra.

  Achelous watched the spectacle and laughed. “You interest me, sorcerer. I have discovered a few things about you this day. Your corporations are among the greenest in the world. You sacrifice profit to reduce harmful impacts on the lakes, rivers, and oceans. Your foundations donate heavily to environmental causes. Why?”

  Cian let the fireball fade away. “Because this planet needs all the help it can get. Most humans exist in such a short span of time that they have trouble seeing the big picture. I have that advantage, so I do what I can. Power brings responsibility.”

  “Very true. But not every mage believes that.”

  “He was taught well,” Cian’s grandfather commented dryly.

  Cian chuckled. “Aye, so I was.”

  Lyra moved back into the surf to stand proudly at Cian’s side. “I love him, Grandfather. That should count for something.”