“Oh, gods….”
“Casey?” Callia called. “A little help here?”
Fear pummeled Demetrius from every side. But he had to stay strong for her. He turned Isadora’s face toward his. “Look at me. I’m not leaving. I’m right here with you.”
She panted through the contraction, but her gaze never left his. And though he knew she was scared, strength—a strength she’d always had deep inside her—shone in her eyes. A strength he felt all the way to the bottom of his soul.
“I love you,” he whispered. “You are the best thing that ever happened to me.”
She reached for his hand, placed it on her swollen belly, and covered it with her own. Through labored breaths, she said, “Promise…if anything goes wrong…you’ll love this baby…the same way.”
His heart squeezed tight. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers. Don’t take her from me… “Everything will be okay, kardia.”
“Promise…me.”
Please, Dimiourgos…
“I promise.”
Her breathing slowed. The contraction eased. Drawing in a last steadying breath, she looked deep into his eyes and brushed her fingers over his jaw. “I love you, too. Just you. No matter what happens, Demetrius, you are my heart.”
His chest felt as if it grew ten times its normal size. But before he could kiss her, before he could tell her the same, Callia announced, “Okay, you two. I hate to break this up, but we have a baby to deliver.”
Eyes damp, he eased away from the bed. Reluctantly, he let go of Isadora’s hand. With a grunt, Callia pushed the bed forward. Casey helped her guide it toward the door.
Where Nick stood, covered in dirt and blood from the fighting, blocking their path.
Chapter Seventeen
Titus stared into the fire he’d built and watched the dancing flames lick across a branch then devour it whole.
His link to the Argonauts screamed he wasn’t where he was supposed to be, that they needed him. Doubt teased the edges of his mind, but he pushed it back.
Whatever was happening at the half-breed colony wasn’t his concern anymore. He’d made his choice. He and Natasa had spent the entire day hiking around the island and hadn’t found any sign of Calypso. He knew Natasa was already discouraged—her mood had darkened with every degree the sun had dropped in the sky—but they still had at least half the island to search. Tomorrow they’d find her. He was sure of it. And the Argonauts…
That screaming grew louder. The Argonauts were highly trained. They didn’t need him. Not really. Not like Natasa.
“You seem to be somewhere else.”
Her voice drew him back to the fire. To her. The flickering flames lit up her hair, made her skin look warmer, her gemlike eyes brighter. “Just thinking.”
“Hm.” She clasped her hands, hooked them over one bare knee, and looked into the fire herself. She’d put her dusty white T-shirt back on and was sitting on a nearby log. Close, but not close enough to touch. And though he needed the warmth from the fire to ease the night chill, she’d moved a few feet away from it where he couldn’t reach her.
He pushed to his feet, crossed, and sat next to her on the log. She scooted a few inches away. He followed.
Frowning, she looked into his eyes. “You have more than enough room.”
“I don’t want room. I want you.”
Something dark flashed in her eyes, but he couldn’t read it. She looked quickly away and rose to her feet. “I’m tired.”
“Want me to help you relax?”
“No. I want to sleep. Alone.”
A definite brush-off. And a one-hundred-and-eighty degree change from earlier.
He watched as she moved to a mossy area under a giant tree and lay down on her side. Tucking her hands up by her head, she closed her eyes, drew in a breath, and let it back out.
She’d bypassed the soft coat he’d laid out for her. Chosen, instead, to move farther away from him. Something was up with her. She hadn’t eaten much either. Granted, the fish he’d caught and cooked hadn’t been that tasty, but it was food, and they both needed to keep their strength up. He ran through their earlier conversations, but couldn’t figure out what had triggered this change.
He looked back into the crackling fire and watched a swirling flame pop and sizzle.
Volatile…
He hadn’t touched her in several hours. Her temperature had been warm during the day—not as hot as it had been at the colony—but hotter than when they’d tangled in bed. Way hotter than it had been at the Amazon city. When he had to wear all that stuffy, formal Argonaut gear and was overheated, he was a bear to deal with. She lived with that feeling daily. No wonder she wasn’t in the best of moods.
Quietly, he rose to his feet and crossed to where she lay. Her breaths were already slow and steady. She hadn’t been lying about being tired. Easing down next to her, he gently wrapped an arm around her waist and spooned against her back.
Heat rushed from her into him.
She was definitely getting hotter. The element inside her was growing more and more unstable with every passing hour. And, he realized…he hadn’t picked up a single thought from her since the colony. Before long, the traces of water left in him wouldn’t be enough to cool her.
Duty warred with desire, but he refused to let it change his mind. She was his soul mate. He was the water to her fire. They’d find her father before it was too late.
For her—for the world—they had to.
* * *
Natasa gasped, the heat so strong it jerked the breath from her lungs.
She turned right and left. Twisting, curling, angry flames licked toward the sky in every direction, blocking her in. She covered her mouth with her hand, coughing through the smoke filling her lungs, and fought back the panic. Somewhere overhead, an eagle swooped over the flames and screamed. An eagle that should be flying high and far, far away.
Stupid bird. Stupid her for following it. She was trapped. No way out. Growing hotter with every second. Burning from the inside… Igniting into flames…
“I can help you. Come to me and live. You have but to give me one tiny thing…”
A roar echoed. She looked up above the edges of the flames, rising high in the sky. The ground shook. The heavens opened. Water rushed in on a wave, filling her mouth, her lungs, dragging her down. She screamed, but the sound was muffled, the force so strong it knocked her off her feet.
Liquid closed over her head. She struggled against the pull, kicked her legs, and reached for the surface. Watery light lingered above. Grew darker.
“Oh yes. When the fire consumes you, our deal will be complete. And the element will belong to me…”
“Tasa, open your eyes.”
Natasa jerked back. Her center of gravity tilted, and she went down. Water filled her lungs again. She panicked. Sputtered. Kicked and clawed out. Strong hands wrapped around her biceps, pulling her up. Sweet, blessed air rushed into her mouth.
“I’ve got you,” Titus said. “Hold on to me.”
She gasped and grabbed on to him for support. Drawing in deep, gulping breaths, she realized his hair was wet and slicked back from his face. Cool, clear water surrounded them, moonlight reflecting off its dark surface, illuminating the trees and brush around the small lake.
The lake. Where they’d stopped for the night after scouting Ogygia for most of the day. Where Titus had built a fire to cook the fish he’d caught for dinner. Where she’d fallen asleep thinking about her father and the deal she’d made to stay alive and how she could possibly fix the mess she’d gotten into.
“That’s it,” he said softly, running his hand up and down her back. “I’ve got you. Just breathe.”
She held on tighter. Poseidon hadn’t said anything about taking the element when it consumed her. She’d agreed to give it to him only if she found her father. But giving and taking were two very different things, and being a god, he probably assumed the same thing she had. That if she found hi
m, Prometheus would know a way to free her from that bargain.
A horrible realization caused the air to catch in her throat.
Epimetheus hadn’t betrayed her. Poseidon had. He’d purposely drawn her off course, sent her to Epimetheus in search of Maelea, knowing it would force Natasa to waste valuable time. He’d given her just enough extra “time” for the element to become unstable, guaranteeing she wouldn’t reach her father before the element took control. And now he was waiting for it to burn through her so he could swoop in and claim his prize.
“Skata.” Titus’s arms flexed around her. “You scared the crap out of me. You were screaming in your sleep. That must have been some dream.”
Not a dream. The reality of what was waiting for her. When she reached the end of this road. Long before she ever lived up to some meaningless destiny.
An eagle swooped low over the water, then rose high into the sky. An eagle just as in her dream. A shudder ran through her.
“Hey.” His voice softened. “You’re trembling. Are you cold?”
“I’m just…” She couldn’t get close enough. “Don’t let go of me yet.”
His soothing breath spread across her neck and shoulders. He held her tight, just as she wanted. Long seconds passed. Finally, he whispered, “Wanna talk about it?”
She shook her head again. Couldn’t find the words to answer. What the hell was she going to do now? Every day they spent together put his life in jeopardy. There was no telling when she might spontaneously combust and spew fire across the earth. Theron had been right. Titus was blind to her. He wasn’t thinking logically. If he were…
Her heart felt like it could shatter with the smallest tap. If he were thinking logically, he wouldn’t be here with her now. He’d have let his Argonauts lock her away. He’d be with his order now. Fighting to save the world like he’d been doing since long before she’d ever tumbled into his life.
All the times he’d offered her help, the numerous ways he’d saved her life, the compassion he’d showered on her again and again tumbled through her soul. She wasn’t going to be the reason he died. She wasn’t going to be the reason millions of innocents died. She wasn’t like the gods, selfish and only concerned with herself. As a thousand frantic thoughts raced through her mind, one solution solidified. One that she never would have considered until now.
A renewed sense of purpose washed through her, easing the fear. She drew in a deep breath, let it out, and forced herself to be strong, forced herself not to give anything away. Because she knew in her heart if Titus caught wind of what she planned to do, he’d never let it happen.
“H-how did we get in the water?”
“You were burning. I needed to do something to cool you. As soon as I carried you in, though, you started flailing around. Scared me,” he added on a whisper.
That explained the dream. But it didn’t change what she knew was coming.
She pressed her face against his neck and drew in the sweet scent of his skin, loving the rasp of his stubbly cheek against her flesh.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re holding something back?” he asked softly.
Because he was smart. And because even in the short amount of time they’d been together, he’d learned more about her than anyone else in her entire life. “I believe in signs. I never did before but…I dreamed about you.”
“You did?”
She nodded. “I think I have for a while, I just…I didn’t know it was you. But now…” She swallowed hard. “I should have waited for you. It’s the biggest regret I have. I’m sorry I didn’t wait.”
He pulled back and stared at her face. She saw the questions in his eyes, saw that he had no idea what she was talking about, but she didn’t care. Words were tumbling from her mouth now. Words she needed to get out. “The fire element inside me messes with your gift, or curse, or whatever you want to call it. It’s why you can touch me when you can’t touch others.”
“Maybe,” he said slowly. “And maybe I can touch you because you’re my soul mate.”
No…it was the fire element. And maybe it was the trace of the water element inside him too. She wasn’t sure. She only knew that he was trying to ignore the obvious…like she’d been doing since the day they’d met.
She tightened her arms around him. Didn’t ever want to let go. Knew she’d have to soon. “This isn’t going to end well, you know. Fate has different plans for me.”
He eased back again and stared down at her. Moonlight accentuated his strong jawline, the stubble on his cheeks, his rugged and sexy features. But this time the curiosity was gone. Stone-cold resolve filled his eyes. “The Fates are just going to have to change their plans.”
She opened her mouth to argue, wanting him to be at least a little prepared for what was coming, but he let go of her waist, brought his hands up to frame her face, stopping the words on her tongue. Water dripped from his fingers, splashed against her shoulders, a refreshing chill that spread over her skin before it warmed again. But it was the look in his eyes, the determined no-one-messes-with-me-and-wins look that consumed her.
“I’m not going to lose you, Natasa. I spent too long thinking I didn’t need a soul mate to find her and then have her taken from me. Tomorrow we’re going to locate Calypso, and she’s going to tell us where your father is. And then he’s going to remove that damn element so we can be together. Something more than the Orb brought us together. Something deeper is at work here.”
She couldn’t take it anymore. She wrapped her arms around his neck again and buried her face in his hair. Silence settled over them, the only sound the gurgle of water from the stream that dumped into the lake. Her heart danced with joy over the things he’d said, and yet it was breaking at the same time. Fate was playing a cruel game, spinning a never-ending web of impossibility. One that she knew now she couldn’t escape. No matter how hard she tried.
“I have a house,” he said softly. “In the mountains outside Tiyrns. It’s not fancy, and I rarely go there, but it sits on a river, and it’s the only place that’s ever felt like home for me. There’s a pool, a lot like this, that’s perfect for swimming in the summer months. I’ve never taken anyone there. I want to take you.”
The space beneath her ribs contracted. Of course he’d be drawn to water. She squeezed her eyes tight and pictured the wood-and-glass house on the riverbanks, the rushing water, the towering trees, and the swimming hole. Pictured him sliding into all that refreshing water, dusty and sweaty from a hard day of work, then coming up dripping and so damn mouth-watering, he took her breath away.
“I doubt your Argonaut kin would approve of that,” she managed. “They didn’t much like me being in your realm.”
“They’ll just have to get used to it. Some things in life are more important than duty and honor.”
Gods, how she wished that were true. “Nothing in life is more important than duty and honor, Titus.”
He cradled her face in his hands again. “You are.”
That was it. All she could take. A desperate need to be close to him one last time overwhelmed every thought and action. She pressed her mouth to his and kissed him hard. His arms closed around her waist with the strength of a vise, and she gasped, then lost herself in the sweet taste of his tongue stroking urgently across hers.
“I want you,” she whispered against his lips. Desperation clawed at her soul.
She pressed her lips to his again, opened, and licked into his mouth. Warmth, wetness, hunger caressed her tongue in an erotic dance. She trailed one hand down his bare chest, over the waistband of his pants, and squeezed his cock through the layers of fabric between them.
He was already semihard. It wouldn’t take much. Fire burned between her thighs, made her wet with need. She ran her fingers up his shaft, down again, groaning when his tongue thrust deeply into her mouth the way she ached for the long, rigid shaft in her hand to do to her body.
The muscles in his arms and stomach flexed. “You’re playing with fire,
ligos Vesuvius.”
“No, I am fire.” She stroked him again. Finding the button on his waistband, she flicked it free. “And I want to erupt. With you.”
“Skata, Tasa. When you talk like that…” He drew back from her mouth. His lips were swollen, his eyes heavy with desire. But there was worry there. He was holding back. “I don’t want you overheating.”
She didn’t want gentle anymore. She wanted hard and deep and desperate.
Her fingers slid beneath the waistband of his pants, down his lower belly and finally wrapped around the length of his cock. He sucked in a breath. She stroked him, base to tip and back down again. “So fuck me here. In the water. I need you, Titus. I need to feel you inside me.”
He shuddered as her fingers closed over his erection. Indecision raced across his features, but she wasn’t going to be deterred. She kissed him again, sliding her tongue into his mouth. Then squeezed the glorious hard shaft in her hand and brushed her thumb over the underside of the flared head.
He tore his mouth from hers. “Come here.”
His arm closed around her waist, and he moved back, dragging her through the water with an urgency that brought every inch of her body to life.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders again and slid her legs around his waist. Then groaned long and deep when the bulge of his arousal pressed against her mound.
Water splashed somewhere close, but she didn’t care where. Her mouth found his, and she kissed him again. Couldn’t get enough. His hand landed on her ass, squeezed, and pulled her into him. “I’m gonna make you scream. In a minute, you won’t be thinking about anything but me.”
She trembled. She was already only thinking of him. Sliding her fingers into his hair, she licked into his mouth. He jerked away before she’d tasted her fill and whipped her around to face a handful of rocks. Water splashed into her face, and she sputtered, then realized he’d pulled her into a small waterfall. Water cascaded over fist-sized stones, rushed into her shirt and across her breasts, tickling her nipples and dragging another gasp from her lips.