Enslaved

Chapter Fifteen

Titus crossed his arms over his chest and watched as Lena, one of Nick’s healers, flashed a light in the redhead’s eyes where she sat on the exam table.

“Do you have panic attacks often?” Lena asked, studying the female’s pupils, then feeling her throat.

“Sometimes,” Natasa answered, those green eyes of hers flicking in Titus’s direction, then quickly away. “I’m claustrophobic.”

A trickle of irritation rushed through Titus. It was more than claustrophobia that had sent her into a panic attack. But just what, he didn’t know. All he’d managed to get out of her on the way down to the colony’s clinic were more lies that she’d known Maelea before, from Seattle.

Who the hell was she? What did she want with Maelea? And why the hell couldn’t he read her?

“Well.” Lena dropped her hands, stepped back. “You look pretty good now. Heart rate’s normal, lungs sound okay. You have a slight temperature, but it’s not high enough to worry me. If I were you, I’d take it easy for the rest of the day and try to avoid confined spaces.”

A weak smile spread across Natasa’s face. Her lips were plump and pink, her teeth white and very straight. A blush ran up her cheeks, making that flame red hair of hers look even redder. “Okay.”

Lena moved to the sink, washed her hands, and reached for paper towels as she turned. “And you, big guy. How are you feeling?”

Titus dragged his attention away from Natasa and looked toward the healer.

“Yes, you,” Lena said with a chuckle when he didn’t answer. “You’re sweating.”

Titus swiped at his brow, looked at the moisture on his fingers. Yeah, he was sweating, but not from his injury anymore. He could feel his body healing. In another day he’d be totally back to normal, thanks to a blessing from the gods. All the Argonauts healed fast. But this sweat had nothing to do with what had happened to him. His gaze cut to Natasa again, who was now watching him with careful and very interested eyes.

No, right now he was sweating because the redhead was throwing off heat waves he’d have had to be blind, dumb, and deaf to miss. All of which he was definitely not.

“I’m fine,” he said, dropping his hands, eager to change the subject. Whatever she was, he didn’t want to discuss it in front of Lena. “So she’s good to go?”

“Yes.” Lena tossed the towels in a recycle bin. “If anything else happens, Natasa, just come right back down and we’ll take a look.”

“Thank you,” Natasa said.

Lena cast a speculative glance between the two, then stepped out of the room and closed the door at her back.

The paper on the table crinkled as Natasa began to climb down. “Well, I guess that’s that.”

“Not so fast, female.”

Her hand froze against the table. Her eyes lifted to his. A curly lock of hair fell over her brow just before fire flashed in her emerald eyes. “I already told you why I was looking for Maelea. I think we’re done here.”

Feisty. Now that the panic attack had passed and she was no longer surrounded by the Argonauts—who, Titus knew, were designed to be damn intimidating—she was regaining some of her spunk. Which he liked. Way too much.

“Not quite.” He took a step closer. Watched as she leaned back and her eyes widened with surprise and…awareness. “You still haven’t told me what you are.”

Her gaze slid from his eyes to his lips, where it hovered. And if he hadn’t known better, he’d have thought she was holding her breath. “I’m no one you need to concern yourself with.”

“Oh, I think you are.” He moved a fraction of an inch closer. “I think there’s something about you that very much concerns me.”

She pressed a hand against his shirt. A hand that was warm and soft and sent tingles all across the flesh beneath the thin fabric. A hand he suddenly wished was pushing against his bare skin, so he could feel that high all over again.

“Move back, Argonaut.”

Her push had no power to it. Didn’t even budge him. And her eyes couldn’t seem to leave the vicinity of his mouth.

“Or what?”

“Or—”

His cell phone rang, and the sharp shrill dragged his attention away from her and down to his pants pocket. Her hand immediately dropped from his chest, chill air replacing the warmth of her skin, irritating him more than he liked. More than was rational.

“Skata.” He pulled his phone out, pressed it to his ear, but didn’t move far enough back that she could get away. “What?”

“T? It’s Orpheus.”

“O?” Shit. “Where are you? Did you find them?”

Reading thoughts over wireless cell-phone signals was a hell of a lot harder than in person, so he had to wait for Orpheus to tell him whatever was up.

“No, but what we found isn’t good.”

“He wouldn’t have left it like this,” Skyla said in a muffled voice somewhere in the background.

Titus’s brow lowered. “What’s going on? Why are you calling me and not Theron?”

“Because I don’t want Theron to know what we found. Titus, man, someone killed a handful of daemons. Clean cuts. Knew what they were doing. Looks like a pro job. But they left the bodies on the side of a road here in western Montana.”

“Decapitated?”

“Yeah.”

“Shit. It has to be Gryphon.”

“If I call this in to Theron or Nick, they’re going to assume it was Gryphon. And if the Council finds out he’s not covering his tracks…”

Titus didn’t want to think about what the Council of Elders would do if they found out Gryphon was violating every Argonaut code ever established. They already hated the Argonauts. This wouldn’t go over well politically in their realm. Especially not when the Council already thought Gryphon was damaged goods thanks to his stint in the Underworld.

“Gryphon would have covered his tracks,” Skyla said in the background, louder this time.

Titus wasn’t so sure. He’d seen what Gryphon had done to those daemons in that village. Skyla hadn’t been there, but Orpheus had, which was why O was calling him now. O knew Gryphon wasn’t thinking clearly. And if he called this in to Theron, Nick would catch wind of it. And then their chances of getting to Gryphon before Nick’s men would drop from slim to fucked.

“I’ll come to you. What are your coordinates?”

He waited while Orpheus gave him their location. “It’ll take me a few minutes to bounce back to Argolea and then to you. Any sign of them?”

“No. But someone knocked over an army surplus store in the town behind us. Took both men’s and women’s clothing, weapons, handcuffs, and survival gear. And they stole a car.”

Shit.

“They could be anywhere by now,” Orpheus added.

And therein lay the problem. Along with what the hell Gryphon planned to do with Maelea whenever he got wherever the fuck it was he was going.

“Stay put. I’ll be there in a minute.”

He clicked off the phone and moved back from the table.

“What’s happening?” Natasa asked.

He looked her way as he shoved the phone back in his pocket and noticed the curiosity and concern across her face. If she did really know Maelea, he didn’t want to be the one to tell her her friend was likely being held hostage by a psychotic Argonaut.

“How did you know Maelea was here? You said you knew her from Seattle.”

“I…” When she looked away from his eyes, he knew she was about to lie. Forget reading minds, he was a pro at reading basic body language, and hers was suddenly screaming Busted! “A friend told me.”

“What friend?”

“No one you know.”

She wasn’t going to cough it up. And he didn’t have time to try to pry it out of her. “Where would Maelea go if she wanted to disappear?”

Natasa’s eyes finally met his. Shimmering, gemlike eyes he knew he was going to have a hard time forgetting. “I thought that’s why she came here.”

“No, she was brought here, and not willingly. Where would she choose to go if she could?”

“I don’t know. She has property in Seattle and up on Vancouver Island. But I looked in both places before coming here. She wasn’t at either location.”

No, she hadn’t been. She’d been here at that point. But if Gryphon was using her to escape, he could force her to take him anywhere. Both locations were long shots, but they were options, if Gryphon’s trail kept leading west.

“Stay put in the colony,” he said as he moved for the door. “We’ll finish this when I get back.”

Fire flashed in her eyes as she climbed off the table. “We won’t be finishing anything, Argonaut. This conversation’s over.”

Humor curled one side of his mouth as he turned the knob. “I don’t think so, female. I have a feeling this, whatever it is, is long from over.”

An hour later, Titus stared down at the bloodbath beneath his feet. The motel room was something straight out of a Fright Night movie marathon. Five beheaded daemons, blood sprayed along the walls and floor, a bed torn to pieces.

Skata. Gryphon knew better than this. He knew to cover his tracks. Humans were not to know about the war between the Argonauts and Atalanta’s daemons. Bodies were always to be destroyed. But this…he’d left this here for anyone to find.

“Orpheus wiped the last cop’s mind,” Skyla said at his side. He hadn’t even heard her come back into the room. “That élencho comes in handy. We lucked out; this motel is in the middle of nowhere and there weren’t any other guests staying here.”

“What about the hysterical kid?” Titus kicked a daemon sword to the side. After meeting Orpheus and Skyla at the site of those daemon bodies, they’d disposed of the remains, then continued west and come across a pack of dead hellhounds. They’d cleaned up that mess as well, and finally found this.

Police lights swirling, an ambulance waiting. A handful of small-town cops who’d looked shocked to hell and back, mingling around outside. It was still night, but dawn would be breaking soon, and they had to clean up this disaster before anyone else arrived. Like the FBI special-crimes unit or some paranormal-obsessed freaks.

“Orpheus wiped his mind as well,” Skyla said. “Kid was lucky. The daemons destroyed that office. I’m not sure how he hid from them.”

Dammit. Gryphon should have wiped the kid’s mind, then torched the place after he killed these fuckers. If humans knew daemons roamed their world, pandemonium would break out. And there was no telling who or what Atalanta would target if that happened. Or what the gods would do in retaliation. It was the Argonauts’ responsibility to clean up Atalanta’s mess.

Orpheus’s boots crunched over broken glass as he came back into the room. “They’re gone. For now. But we don’t have much time before others show up.”

From the corner of his eye, Titus saw the way Skyla reached for Orpheus, wrapped her hand around his, and squeezed, giving him a little of her strength. And he thought back to the redhead at the colony. About how he could touch her like that if he wanted. About the light-headed, way-too-enticing feeling he’d experienced when his skin had brushed hers. About the fact she was the first person in over a hundred years he’d wanted to touch again.

Orpheus swiped a hand over his brow, let go of Skyla, and stepped farther into the room. He looked like shit. Worry lines creased his face and dark circles marred the skin under his eyes. He probably hadn’t slept since Gryphon went missing, but then Titus couldn’t blame him. To bring his brother all the way back from the Underworld, only to have it result in this…

“We’ll find him,” Skyla said softly.

“I know,” Orpheus answered, turning a slow circle as he stood in the middle of the devastation. “That’s not what I’m worried about. I’m worried about what the fuck he’s doing in the meantime. He’s obviously not thinking right.” He eyed the handcuffs hanging from the bedframe. A sick look crossed his face, and Titus picked up the memory rushing through his mind, one of seeing those female undergarments on the floor in the bathroom.

Skyla moved back to reach for his arm. “Maelea’s strong.”

Orpheus huffed. “Maelea’s not strong. She’s a pincushion.”

“She’s lived for thousands of years—”

“In hiding. She’s not you, Skyla. You know the shit Gryphon went through. You know what it did to him. You saw it firsthand. If he…” He closed his eyes. Swallowed. When he opened his mouth to speak again, his voice was pained. “She wouldn’t know how to fight back. She wouldn’t know how to stop him.”

Skyla wrapped her arms around Orpheus’s waist. His face slid into the hollow between her shoulder and neck, and he held on as if she really was his strength. Right there in the middle of a nightmare.

Titus watched, more than a little in awe. Orpheus had spent hundreds of years on his own. Hadn’t needed anyone. Had been a thorn in the Argonauts’ sides as long as he could remember. But this woman…she’d changed all of that. Not only was he now serving with the Argonauts, he was different. Yeah, he was still a smart-mouthed sonofabitch, but he was now an utterly devoted, softer around the edges, cooperative, smart-mouthed sonofabitch.

Titus turned away, knew in the bottom of his heart he didn’t want a soul mate. Didn’t want to be left open to the pain losing one could cause. Or the responsibility of protecting someone else. And that meant he probably shouldn’t go back to the colony with the intention of finishing anything with Natasa.

He wasn’t convinced she was his soul mate, but there was obviously some kind of connection between them. Something drawing him to her. Something that could get him into serious trouble if he wasn’t careful.

And he’d had more than enough of that kind of trouble. Had been cursed because of it. Had vowed never to dabble in it ever again.

“We need to go,” he said, more harshly than he intended. “I say we torch the place, then keep heading west. They can’t be far ahead of us. Wherever they’re going, we’ll catch up sooner or later.”

Orpheus finally let go of Skyla. And before he even asked the question, Titus knew what he was going to say. “What about Theron and the others?”

All the Argonauts wanted Gryphon back in one piece, but if they called this in now, Theron would have to report it to both Nick and the queen back in Argolea. And though Titus trusted Isadora, he knew the Council had spies in the castle, waiting for any reason to undermine the Argonauts. No, if they called this in, they wouldn’t be the only ones hunting Gryphon. For Gryphon’s sake—and Maelea’s—it was better to keep this quiet for the time being. “We’ll call Theron when we’ve found him.”

Skyla slid her hand into Orpheus’s, turned to face Titus too. “Then let’s stop dicking around and find him.”

Titus’s thoughts exactly.

Doooooouuuulas… Come to me. Come…

Gryphon sat straight up, cringed when pain ignited behind his eyelids. Grasping his head with both hands, he closed his eyes tight, breathed through the throb in his skull.

He felt as if he’d cracked his head through a plate-glass window. His fingers passed over a knot on the back of his scalp, and he tried to remember where he’d gotten it. Couldn’t.

Prying his eyes open, he glanced around the room. Sunlight filtered through windows covered in sheer white curtains. A slight breeze blew through the screen door. He was in a bed. White sheets were tangled around his legs, and whitewashed furniture sat against the wall on both sides of him. An open door led into a dark room to his left, and ahead, a white wicker chair held neatly folded clothing. At the base sat his boots.

A quick look down confirmed he was naked, but he couldn’t remember how he’d ended up like this or where the blazes here was. But as he tried to clear his hazy mind, he had fuzzy flashes of skin, of heat, of the sweetest mouth he’d ever tasted. Of a blinding orgasm that even now made his dick hard.

Doooooouuuuulas…

He shook his head. Ignored the voice. It was there, but not as strong as before. And always in the back was that damn buzz he’d grown accustomed to.

He pushed to his feet, gripped the dresser at his side when he wobbled. The sheet fell to the floor. On shaky legs, he made his way over to the chair, lifted a pair of jeans that definitely weren’t his. Since they were better than walking around naked, he tugged them on, was relieved when they fit. As he zipped the fly, he turned for the window, then pulled back the sheer curtain and looked out at…an ocean of blue.

Surprise rippled through him. A balcony overlooked a beach. Rock walls created a sheltered cove on both sides. Trees rose up all around, offering privacy. And down below, waves lapped gently against the shore, where a female with long dark hair, wearing a thin white dress, frolicked in the sand near a cluster of seagulls.

Something in his chest cinched down tight. He knew it wasn’t his heart, because he was pretty sure he didn’t have one anymore, but as he stared out at the female, something stirred inside him. A feeling. A calling. Something pulling him toward her. Something that wasn’t related to the darkness that still lingered from the Underworld.

She turned and looked his way, almost as if she’d sensed him watching her. And as their eyes met, he remembered the hundreds of times he’d stared out at Maelea like this from his room at the colony.

Sotiria…

Images flashed in his mind. A boat rocking. A closet-sized bathroom. Closing his mouth over hers. Dragging her up his body. Laying her out over a table like an offering and all but devouring her whole.

His skin grew hot. He turned away from the window, tried to slow his racing pulse. He didn’t know where they were, but he was pretty damn sure the images flitting through his mind weren’t fantasies. They were real. Which meant that sometime between the motel where those daemons had attacked them and here, he’d done something horrible. Something he never ever should have done.

Fuck. Fuck! He gripped his hair and pulled until pain shot across his scalp. Why couldn’t he remember? Why did his brain feel like it was short-circuiting?

Doooouuulas…

Why the hell was that voice suddenly the least of his worries?

His skin tingled with the intensity of a thousand needles stabbing into him over and over. His pulse was a roar in his ears. He didn’t bother with a shirt or shoes, had only one thought in mind as he pulled the bedroom door open and headed out into the hall in bare feet. He had to see for himself that he hadn’t hurt her. But shit…would he know if he had? That kind of pain, the kind he lived with every damn day, was on the inside. It couldn’t be seen, only felt. Sickness brewed in his stomach, threatened to push up into his chest at the thought that he’d done that to her.

He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, gripped the newel post, and breathed deep, forcing back the bile. When he was sure he wasn’t about to lose it, he scanned the wide family room with white beadboard trim, comfy oversized furnishings grouped around a fireplace, the adjacent open kitchen alight with an orange glow, and the wide windows that looked out over the serene beach.

Serenity was the farthest thing from his mind. His nerves kicked up as he crossed the room, pushed the screen open, and stepped out onto another deck, this one with stairs that led down to the sand.

Maelea stood ankle deep in the gentle waves, throwing breadcrumbs up into the air for the seagulls to catch, her dark hair flowing in the breeze behind her. The birds squawked and fluttered over her head. The gauzy white, long-sleeved gown with the wide cuffs hit at her calves, cinched in at her waist, and was open just enough at the neckline to showcase her breasts. Tight, firm, high breasts he remembered closing his mouth over, drawing deep, licking to stiff peaks.

Skata. He was every bit the monster Nick and all the other colonists thought he was. Orpheus never should have rescued him from the Underworld. The Argonauts shouldn’t have let him stay in the human realm. They all should have left him in Tartarus to rot. He deserved that. Deserved more than that now.

His skin felt three times too small. He swiped a hand over his brow. Forced his feet forward. If Maelea heard him, she didn’t show it, and that only increased his guilt and nausea. As he moved down the stairs and crossed the beach toward her, all the shitty things he’d done and said to her since the day he took her hostage at the colony rolled through his mind. But none of them—not even all of them combined—compared to what he’d done to her on that boat.

He stopped several feet away, shoved his hands into his pockets so as not to scare her. Didn’t know what the hell to say. What could he say?

She threw up the last piece of bread, dusted off her hands, then turned his way. No surprise rushed over her features in the sunlight, and he couldn’t read her dark eyes. Wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was thinking.

“I thought you’d sleep longer,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

How are you feeling? Seriously? She was asking him how he felt? He searched her face for any signs of injury, didn’t see it. But that didn’t mean there weren’t internal injuries…emotional injuries.

“Maelea…” His throat grew thick. Words dried up on his lips. Now that he was out here, now that he was staring at her face-to-face, he didn’t know what the hell to say. What the hell to do, for that matter. His stomach rolled, and that bile pushed right back up his throat.

She stared at him for several seconds, waiting, he knew, for him to say something. Anything. When he didn’t, she looked past him to the house. “You were out most of the trip. I thought it was best to let you sleep. After all, it was my fault you were hurt in the first place.”

Her fault? Confusion seeped into his already hazy mind.

“It’s mine, by the way.” She gestured behind him. Still not sure what the hell was going on, he turned to look at the two-story beach house with wide decks, nestled into a private bay. No other houses could be seen. No other people, either. Just trees and cliffs and the one little house. “I bought it over a hundred years ago. It’s been remodeled once. Probably about due for another update, but I don’t get up here very often.”

He looked back at her. She was talking about a stupid house, when inside he wanted to die over what he’d done.

The wind blew a lock of hair across her face, the contrast between the dark of her hair and the light of her skin reminding him of her lineage. Of who she was and how long she’d lived. She tugged the lock away from her eyes, shook out her hair. He remembered her doing that in the caves, when her hair had been wet and plastered to her face. Remembered sliding his fingers in those thick locks as he’d kissed her again and again on that boat.

He swallowed hard, forced himself to find his voice. “Maelea—”

“No one will find us here, in case that’s what you’re worried about,” she said. “I paid cash for it. Didn’t put my real name on the deed. And it was so long ago, it’d be hard to track this place to me. Plus, I used the ore.”

“The what?”

“The mineral? The one you picked up in the caves? I found it in your backpack when we got here. I did some research on therillium while you were asleep, and you were right. When heated, it makes the area around it invisible from the outside. The invisibility factor seems to spread out at least a quarter mile from the source. Or at least that’s what I found from my unscientific tests. I have it under a heat lamp inside. From the road up on the hill, you can’t even see the house anymore.”

He wasn’t sure whether he should be impressed or way the fuck confused.

Confusion won out. “Maelea—”

“Let’s go inside,” she said, moving out of the waves and up on the beach. The bottom of her skirt was wet when she stepped onto the sand and moved by him. She didn’t touch him, but her heat warmed the air nearby. Stirred a memory of their bodies locked tight together on that boat. “It may be July up here on Vancouver Island, but that doesn’t mean its beach-weather warm. You look cold.”

For the first time, he noticed the temperature. Brisk. The slight wind puckering his nipples. Likely only in the upper sixties, even with the sun.

“Vancouver Island?” he asked as she headed for the house. Why the hell wasn’t she screaming at him? Why didn’t she look…hurt and upset? What the fuck was going on? “How did you get us all the way from that motel in Montana to here?”

“I drove.”

“Drove? The whole way?” No, that wasn’t right. He remembered water, a boat. He remembered bending her over a table, closing his mouth over hers, pushing—

She stopped at the base of the steps and looked back as she gripped the banister. “Okay, I didn’t drive the whole way. When we got to Coeur d’Alene, I had to stop. We needed a place to get cleaned up, and you were injured, so…”

Coeur d’Alene. There was a lake there. A big one. That’s where he remembered the boat. Guilt seeped back in to tighten his stomach to painful levels as he crossed the sand. “Maelea, about the boat—”

Her eyes snapped to his, but he didn’t see anger there. Or fear. He saw…heat.

His feet faltered. No, that wasn’t right either. She couldn’t possibly have enjoyed what he’d done to her.

A rose tinge spread up her cheeks. “Yeah, about that. I’m…I’m sorry.”

She was sorry? His head spun. What could she possibly be sorry for?

She looked at a spot on the banister. Wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I…I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you when you were…injured…like that. I should have stopped it. I think it was the adrenaline rush from killing those daemons and being on the run. And then when you kissed me on that boat, I…” Those cheeks turned even pinker. “Yeah, I…that was a stupid idea. But you don’t have to worry. I won’t get pregnant or anything. I mean, I can’t. Hades’s curse and all that.”

She blew out a breath, and her cheeks turned a full-blown red. “Oh boy, that was more than I needed to share, huh? How about food? Are you hungry? Because I’m starving all of a sudden.”

She jogged up the steps in her bare feet before he could stop her. Before he could figure out what the hell was going on.

She’d taken advantage of him? Images ran back through his mind. Maelea unbuttoning his pants. Her small hand stroking his cock. Her fingernails digging into his shoulders and holding on tight.

His blood ran hot, and that sickness that had been churning in his stomach since he awoke slowly morphed to arousal.

Oh, Gryphon. Yes, there. Right there. Don’t stop.

He grew rock hard when her words drifted back into his mind. And even in the cool breeze, sweat broke out all over his body.

He hadn’t forced her. He hadn’t hurt her. He looked up at the house as his pulse roared in his ears. She’d wanted him.

Him. The guy who’d kidnapped her. Said cruel things to her. Used her so he could think straight. Not to mention handcuffed her to a bed, nearly gotten her killed multiple times, and made her decapitate those daemons back at that motel.

There was something seriously wrong with her. There had to be.

His hands shook as he moved up the steps, as he pulled the screen door open, as he stepped back into the airy, light family room and looked toward the kitchen. Her back was to him. She was pulling items from the refrigerator, setting out food he couldn’t imagine eating. An orange light from somewhere in the kitchen made the room glow, but he didn’t give a rip where it came from right now. He only cared about her.

“Why didn’t you run?”

She froze, one hand on the refrigerator door, the other inside. Light from the appliance shimmered over her in waves of gold. “What do you mean?”

“At the motel. When those daemons were attacking and I freed you. Why didn’t you run? Why did you come back?”

She turned slowly, set a block of cheese on the granite counter, pushed the refrigerator door closed with her spine. Then bit her lip and stared down at her feet. “I was going to run.”

“So why didn’t you?”

“I knew if I left, you would have died.”

“Why would that matter to you?”

“Because I didn’t want to be responsible for that. And because…you saved my life. Several times before that.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have needed saving.”

“True, I guess,” she said with a ghost of a smile. “But…”

“But what?”

Her smile faded. “But…in the motel? When we were having dinner? And we were talking? I realized we weren’t all that different. We were both running from the colony, both running from our pasts and who everyone thinks we are or should be. I don’t know. I guess I just realized you weren’t the monster I’d pegged you to be.”

He remembered that moment. How she’d asked him to let her go, and when he told her that he couldn’t because he needed her, instead of lashing out at him as he’d expected, her eyes had softened. He’d already told her several times that he needed her, but that time…that time, he’d been racked with guilt over the fact he couldn’t let her go. And she’d obviously seen it. Then she’d pushed to her feet, crossed to him, given him his first taste of something sacred he’d been craving for months.

His nerves vibrated at the memory. And then he remembered how he’d accused her of trying to seduce him to get away.

Shit. His eyes slid closed at that doozy of a memory. “Then I handcuffed you to the bed and left you.”

His voice was gruff. That guilt slithered in and grabbed on tight. He opened his eyes, forced himself to meet her expression. Didn’t deserve to hide from it.

“Yeah,” she said with a smug smile, her dark eyes lifting to his. “I was pissed about that. But…I can’t really blame you. I mean, I was planning to seduce you so I could try to get away. But then we talked and I started to understand you better and…everything changed.”

He didn’t know what to say. Wasn’t sure what to make of this. Not only was she admitting something she didn’t have to, she was doing so staring at him across the small space as if…he were nothing more than a man.

He’d never been just a man. The entirety of his life was wrapped up in being an Argonaut, a warrior, a fighter trained in honor and duty. Females had come on to him, but they’d never wanted him for who he was inside. They’d only wanted him because of his status, because screwing an Argonaut was akin to banging a celebrity in the human realm. And then…then, after he’d been sent to the Underworld, he’d lost even that. He’d become everything he despised. Someone so desperate to avoid torture, he’d sacrificed everything he’d ever believed in and done things that would horrify even the sickest bastard, all in an attempt to save his sorry ass. No one had wanted him after that. No one should want him after that.

Gryphon, gods, I want you.

No one except her.

She could have seduced him without those words, but hearing them… Reality slammed into him as he stood there staring at her. She’d wanted him. The real him. Even knowing all that other shit.

Then she’d saved his life. Brought him here. Tended his wounds.

The hole around his heart slowly started to close in. And air choked in his lungs until it was hard to draw a breath.

“Do you like grilled cheese?” she asked. “It’s my favorite comfort food.” She glanced toward the cupboards on the opposite wall of the kitchen. “I think I have tomato soup somewhere. I did some shopping while you were asleep.”

“Maelea.” His heart—a heart he was starting to think he might still have—pounded hard as he moved into the kitchen, as he stepped up behind her, as he gently turned her to face him.

She didn’t flinch at his touch, but her muscles tensed, and a shudder ran through her. Not one born of fear but rooted in…awareness.

She stared at his chest, didn’t make any move to reach for him. Didn’t make any move to pull away either. He wanted to kiss her, wanted to taste her again. Didn’t know if he should. She’d said her reaction on the boat had been the result of adrenaline, of nearly dying. He knew all too well how amped up a fight could leave a person.

Skata, he didn’t know what to do. Only knew…that he wanted her. That what was pulling him to her now had nothing to do with the darkness inside him and everything to do with her as a woman and him as a man and this roaring desire he hadn’t felt for…anyone. Ever.

“I…ah…I have a proposition for you,” she said before he could decide what to do. What to say.

Surprise lifted his brows. “A proposition?”

“Yeah. I was thinking about it on the drive out here when you were asleep. I know why you need me. I know it’s my link to the Underworld and the light inside me that…balances you. I’ve watched you, and I can tell that when I’m close you seem calmer, more relaxed. So I have a trade I’m willing to make.”

His eyes narrowed. “What kind of trade?”

“I want you to teach me how to fight. Really fight and protect myself. I learned a little at the colony, but after you grabbed me in the orchard, I discovered I don’t know nearly as much as I should. And truthfully, I haven’t needed to know all these years, because I’ve been hiding. But when I was fighting those daemons, I felt something. Some strength I didn’t know I had. The ground rumbled, just like it did in the caves before we fell into that river. And looking back, I’m not entirely sure—maybe—somehow, that didn’t come from me.”

She drew in a breath. Straightened her spine. “I know it sounds silly. My only gift has been the ability to sense energy shifts on the planet, but what if there’s more? What if I just wasn’t strong enough before to use it? I’m not the same person I was before I went to the colony. And the last few days with you—as much as I hated it at first—it taught me that I’m a heck of a lot tougher than I thought. And the truth is, Gryphon, I’m tired of hiding. I would do anything to get to Olympus. Sitting back waiting isn’t going to get me there, and being afraid to go after what I want isn’t doing anything but prolonging my measly existence. But I can’t even try, until I hone my skills.”

She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. Met his gaze with such determination and strength, he couldn’t help but be awed. “So I’m willing to make you a deal. If you’ll stay here for a few days, if you’ll teach me what I need to know, then when I’m ready, I’ll go anywhere you want me to go. And I promise I won’t try to run until you’ve done what you need me to help you do.”

He’d been floored before, but now…shock and disbelief and wonder rippled through him. She didn’t know him. Didn’t know what he had planned. But she trusted him. And that meant more to him than anything she’d said or done to this point. The space in his chest filled in until that emptiness he’d lived with since his soul had been condemned to the Underworld—since before that, really, when he’d been an Argonaut wondering what kind of difference he was really making in the world—was gone.

When was the last time someone had trusted him…really trusted him? When was the last time someone had been willing to put their life on the line for him? His Argonaut brothers didn’t count, because for them, protection wasn’t even a thought. It was a duty. But this…this was different. She could find anyone to teach her how to protect herself. She didn’t need him the way he needed her. And yet, she was offering. Looking up at him with those big eyes. Making him feel after all this time.

“Why would you want to do that?” he whispered.

“Do what?”

“Stay with me.”

“Do you really have to ask?”

He swallowed hard, almost afraid to hear her answer. Somehow found the strength to nod.

“Because you didn’t ask for what happened to you any more than I asked to be born between worlds. Because if somehow in the middle of this craziness we can each help the other get what we need, then it’ll make all of this—what we’ve been through—worth it. And because…”

“Because what?” he asked when she bit her lip and her gaze dropped to his mouth.

She drew in a deep breath. “Because I care about you, Gryphon.”

He couldn’t breathe. She cared about him. Really cared. Not because she had to, not because some warped sense of duty or honor said she should. She cared simply because she could.

His heart beat so hard, he was sure she had to hear it. And when her gaze slowly lifted to his, he saw all the things he’d dreamed of seeing on her face for months. Desire. Hunger. The same damn yearning he felt in the depths of his soul.

“Gryphon?” she whispered.

“Yeah?” he managed, still unable to believe what was happening was real.

“What do you think? Do we have a deal?”