Marked

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

She smelled lavender. And leather. And something she thought had to be thyme.

Which was strange, because thyme wasn’t a scent she could normally stomach. Today it smelled like heaven.

Casey drew a deep breath and tried to roll over. A stabbing pain in her side kept her from getting too far, and she pried her eyes open, wondering just what the heck was going on.

The first thing she noticed was the fire roaring in the massive marble fireplace across the room. A quick glance down and she realized she was in a bed with crisp white sheets and a fluffy comforter. She was clean, her toes were toasty, her pillow was soft, but this wasn’t a room she’d ever been in before.

She tried to sit up as her brain slowly came back on line. The last thing she remembered was being in that tree, the daemon shaking it vigorously, her fingers slipping and…

She turned her head and saw Theron asleep in an armchair next to her bed.

His hair was damp, as if he’d recently showered, and he was dressed in faded jeans and a tight black T-shirt. His perfect feet were bare, propped up on the side of the mattress, his head tipped to the side, his eyes closed as he caught a few z’s. He looked like an angel fast asleep, and try as she might to squelch it, Casey’s heart did a little flip at the sight of him.

On closer examination she saw the bruises and nicks on his arms and face and remembered back to the way he’d fought in the clearing. Then realized this was no angel. He was a warrior. And somehow, he’d rescued her again.

Damn hero complex.

She wiggled his toe. “Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

He jerked awake and dropped his foot to the floor. Eyes sleepy and sexy and a little dazed, he stared at her. Then moved so fast, she couldn’t track him. One minute he was on that chair, blinking as though he didn’t know who she was, and the next he was with her in the big bed, pulling her into his arms and holding her close.

Okay, not a bad way to wake up, all things considered. Casey’s heart kicked up as he ran his hands up and down her spine and spoke soft words in her ear in a language she didn’t understand.

Oh, man. She’d always been a sucker for the foreign-language thing.

“Either I was asleep a lot longer than I thought or you’re just happy to see me,” she teased.

He didn’t laugh at her joke, but his big body relaxed against her. “You’ve been asleep for nearly eight hours, meli. I was worried.”

Eight hours didn’t sound so bad. Considering she’d knocked herself out during the middle of a war, though…

“Where are we?” she asked against him.

“My home.”

His? Really?

“You’re completely safe here. The daemons can’t get into Argolea.”

They couldn’t? She wanted to ask why, but was distracted by the realization that…she was in Argolea.

Wow. That was just…wild.

“How did I get here? I thought Nick said I had to willingly cross the portal. I don’t remember doing that.”

He ran a hand down her hair, smoothing the stray locks back from her face. “You were a little out of it from the fall. Nick helped me bring you here. Yes, you agreed to cross, but you were going in and out of consciousness at the time. It doesn’t surprise me that you don’t remember.”

“Nick’s here?”

He shook his head. “He went right back.”

Back. To that battle. To the daemons attacking his people. Her people.

She grasped his forearm. “Marissa—”

“She’s fine. Nick and the others beat them back. They’ve been doing this for a long time, meli.”

Was that sadness in his voice or had she just imagined it?

And then she thought of Dana.

She dropped her head against his chest as a wave of grief rolled through her. “Where did he find Dana?”

His hand traced a lazy circle on her back. “I don’t know.”

But he did. She could hear it in his voice. Feel it in the tingle at the base of her spine, near her birthmark. Just as she sensed he wasn’t about to tell her the details. Because it had something to do with her. “I didn’t even know she was one of them. Us. Me. I should have. I always sensed she was different. She…” Casey closed her eyes tight. “We led them to the colony.”

“No. What happened wasn’t your fault. What happened to your friend wasn’t your fault. It was just…circumstances. Sometimes bad things happen for no reason.”

She knew that. Her whole life was filled with those rotten circumstances. But it didn’t make reality any easier to accept. And she missed Dana with a ferocious ache she wasn’t sure would ever ease.

When she finally let go long minutes later and looked up, the scratches and bruises on his face again reminded her of what he’d done. She ran her fingers over his cheek. “You look like you’ve been wrestling with a mountain lion.”

His sad smile nearly melted her heart. “I’m fine, meli. You were the one…” He closed his mouth, seemed to gather himself. “When I heard you scream…I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

Casey’s heart thumped against her ribs at the emotion she heard in his voice. She closed her hand over his. When their fingers intertwined, she had a flash of the battle. Of his fighting daemon after daemon, saving the lives of the Misos, hearing her scream and rushing for the tree just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. She saw her body slam into his and the way they rolled, the way he took the brunt of the force and shielded her from harm. Then he was on his feet again in a flash, clashing with the daemon at the bottom—the one waiting to kill her.

My hero.

The words revolved around in her head as she stared at him. And in that instant she knew. Whether she really was his or not didn’t matter. She’d fallen for this very unlikely hero who’d slipped into her life and turned her entire world upside down. Two days ago she’d been so angry with him, she could barely see straight. But now…

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing. I just…”

Now she loved him.

Her chest grew tight at that thought. Holy cow, was it possible? Could she…love someone? Especially him? He was an Argonaut. One of his race’s guardians. She still wasn’t entirely sure why he’d brought her here. And he despised humans.

“Are you all right, meli?”

No, she wasn’t all right. She was on the edge of freaking out. She shook her head to try to clear the fuzz and looked down at their joined hands. Then remembered the vision she’d had of him and his father in those woods. “What did he say?”

“Who?”

“Your father. Before he died, he said, ‘To peprōmenon phugein adunaton, gios mou.’ What does that mean?”

Something unsettling crossed his face. But he didn’t look away. “He said, ‘It is impossible to escape from what is destined, my son.’”

She looked back down at their hands. What is destined.

Was coming here destined? Was meeting him part of her destiny? She didn’t buy into all that crap about soul mates and finding the one person you were fated to be with for life, but at the same time she couldn’t ignore that there was something pushing her toward Theron and had been from the very beginning. Something that seemed…almost out of her control.

Was that love?

His fingers wrapped completely around her hand, engulfing hers in his. He stroked his thumb gently over her skin. “It’s an ancient Greek saying. A reminder that each of us is born with a purpose.”

Purpose. That made sense. “And what’s your purpose, Theron?”

His thumb stopped moving, and when he looked down at her, it was as if she could see forever in his dark eyes. “For as long as I’ve been alive, it’s been about doing what I was trained to do for my people. But now…I’m not so sure anymore.”

Her heart skipped a beat. And another. And another.

And right then she knew.

She did love him. Which was scary and electrifying all at the same time because she’d never been in love before. Somehow over the past few days, she’d fallen for this big, bad guardian in a way she knew she’d never totally recover from. And the fact he was still struggling with figuring it all out himself was sort of endearing.

And completely empowering.

She needed to do something about it before she lost her nerve.

Ignoring the ache in her side from hitting the hard earth, she leaned in to kiss him. He sucked in a breath as she closed the distance between their mouths, held it while her lips brushed his, then went lax beneath her touch.

A smile pulled at her lips. How fascinating that she could turn such a virile warrior to jelly just by kissing him. And how enthralling that he reacted this way to her.

No one else ever had. Oh, she’d had a handful of lovers—in college, later when she’d been traveling—but none had ever fired her up like Theron did. None had ever seemed unable to get enough of her like Theron did.

He tipped his head and opened his mouth to her, drawing her deep into a kiss he took charge of. His hand slid into her hair as he dragged her closer until she was against his chest and very nearly on top of his lap as she’d been in that cave.

Oh, yeah, she could get used to this. The way he took what he wanted, but was gentle and giving in the process. Almost as if her pleasure meant more to him than his own. Why hadn’t she given in to this earlier?

“Meli,” he whispered, shifting his big legs and pushing her back on the bed. “What you do to me. Ah, gods.”

Her whole body quivered at the desire in his voice. She reached for him and pulled him down on top of her. He was still gentle, settling his weight on his elbows, easing down into the cradle of her body until his erection prodded between her legs. But instead of stripping her bare and driving deep, as she expected him to, he brushed her hair back from her face with both hands and gazed at her so long, that tingling near her birthmark kicked up all over again.

Something was definitely wrong here.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, running his thumb softly along her temple. “So beautiful and so fragile. Like the most exquisite crystal in my hands.”

Okay, that was sweet but…there was more he wasn’t saying. She could see it in his eyes. Like he knew something she didn’t. She searched for answers in his face as his words whirled in her head. Beautiful. Fragile. Breakable.

Those weren’t words she’d ever use to describe herself. Unless she was sick.

And suddenly it all made sense.

What if the whole mystery illness Dr. Jill had found wasn’t such a mystery after all? What if it had to do with her Argolean half? And what if that’s what was making her sick? It explained why her long-lost father was looking for her. Explained Theron’s sudden search for her and the need to bring her here before her time was up.

Holy…hell. Was her time nearly up?

She searched his face, hoping for some sign she was wrong, but she didn’t see it. All she saw was…pity. A lump formed in her throat. “How long do I have?”

If her question surprised him, he didn’t show it, and that fact just cemented her suspicions. “I don’t know,” he said softly.

Wow. Now there was a mood buster. She was too stunned to feel anything other than disbelief as she ran her fingers through his dark hair. The strands were like silk against her skin. Soft and real and solid.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to help you, Acacia.” His resolute voice drew her attention back to him. “Nothing’s changed. I’ll still protect you.”

His eyes were hard and intense, and she saw then he was a man who always got his way. He didn’t know how to fail.

“But you can’t, can you?” she said. “Because what’s happening to me isn’t something that can be fixed.”

His eyes slid to her hair, where he played with a stray lock without answering. But it wasn’t only pity she saw on his face anymore, it was secrets. And sadness.

“Don’t hold out on me, Theron. If you know what’s wrong with me, I want to know too.”

He sighed, as if he didn’t want to answer but knew he was stuck. “I don’t know. Not completely.”

“Best guess, then.”

He hesitated so long she was sure he wasn’t going to answer, and then he said, “If I had to guess, I’d say your body isn’t strong enough to handle all the changes you’re going through right now.”

The changes. Meaning her Argolean side coming out of nowhere. Which explained why she was suddenly having glimpses into the past. “Is it normal for people in your race to come into their powers? To go through a change of sorts?”

He looked back to her eyes and shook his head, and she didn’t miss the shot of gut-wrenching sorrow there. “No. But it could be different for a Misos. Nick would know. We could ask him.”

We. The one word both electrified and scared her all at the same time. Because she wanted to read so much more into it than what he implied.

Which was dumb, considering she was growing weaker by the day. Nick couldn’t help her. If he could, he would have already. And that meant this was a losing battle. And Theron knew it. Her chest tightened with the reality she was suddenly facing until all she wanted to do was forget.

Threading her fingers in his hair, she pulled his mouth back to hers. “Just kiss me, Theron.”

He hesitated, and she sensed the war inside him between what he wanted and what he deemed right. But when her fingers touched his cheek, his restraint broke. Suddenly he was kissing her deeply, pushing his hips into hers, driving her deeper into the mattress, filling not only her mouth but her heart and soul as well.

“Yes, yes, yes,” she mouthed against him. This was exactly what she wanted. What she’d wanted from the first moment she’d met him but was too afraid to ask for. Now? Now there was no reason to hold back. She ran her hands up his spine and groaned when he shifted his weight, pressing into the one spot she needed him to touch most.

His tongue slid over and around hers, stroking until she felt her entire body come alive. He nipped at her bottom lip and she felt a lick of pain, then sucked the spot until she melted. Just when she was sure she couldn’t stand a second more teasing with his mouth, his lips blazed a trail across her jaw to her ear, while his hand found the edge of her shirt and slid along her abdomen, sending sparks down the column of her neck and the length of her torso. “You’re a gift, Acacia,” he said against her neck, kissing, licking, lavishing her with his touch. “One I never expected.”

She was already on fire and he’d barely even kissed her. She pulled his mouth back to hers. “No, you are.”

He obviously liked that, because he slanted his mouth over hers again and kissed her deep, and when his hand found her breast again, they both moaned in unison.

For this moment at least, she wasn’t exhausted and weak. She was powerful. She loved what he was doing to her mouth with his own, to her breasts with his fingers, but she wanted more. She wanted as much as he could give, for as long as he could give it. And she wanted to give him all of it back tenfold.

“Theron,” she mumbled against his lips. “I want you. Now. Here. No more waiting.”

He eased back just enough to look down at her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

She ran her finger along the exposed vee of his chest. “Based on personal observation, I have a good idea what I’m up against.” She lifted her hips to his and watched desire flash in his midnight eyes. “And I’m pretty sure I can handle you.” She slid her fingers down his chest to the waistband of his jeans. “I know I want to.”

He groaned and pushed that impressive erection against her softest spot until she shivered. “You tease me, meli.”

She smiled as she fumbled with the button on his jeans. “No, guardian, I promise.”

A slow grin spread across his face just before he kissed her. He found the front latch on her bra and released it, finally touching her, skin on skin, just the way she wanted, until her nipples pebbled into stiff points. Cool air washed over her when he pulled her shirt up and lowered his mouth to her breast. And when his tongue found her nipple, electricity raced through every cell in her body.

She arched her back. Offered him more. Moaned in desperation when he released her breast and lifted his head.

“Don’t stop. Theron—”

“Shh.”

Her eyes flew open. She looked up and saw he was intently listening to something.

The heavy footfalls outside registered for both of them at the same time. He climbed off her quickly and reached the door in three long strides. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Theron exited the bedroom and closed the door firmly behind him. Dazed, Casey readjusted in the pillows, pulled her shirt down and fixed the sheets. Then listened closely. She heard Theron’s deep voice, followed by two other male voices she didn’t recognize. She couldn’t make out any of their conversation.

He’d said the daemons couldn’t get into Argolea. And that Nick had gone back to the colony. Whom then was he talking to?

The footsteps receded until all she heard was silence. She waited for Theron to come back into the room, but he didn’t.

Curiosity finally got the best of her. She climbed out of bed, fixed her clothes and headed for the door.

The bedroom opened to a long hallway. Skylights in the vaulted ceiling filtered in sunlight and cast shadows along the floor. Dark wood ran beneath her bare feet as she headed toward what she hoped was the main part of the house. As she drew closer, she heard voices again—Theron’s mixed with the other two.

The scent of thyme was stronger here. She drew a deep breath as she reached the end of the hall and stepped into a massive living room done all in masculine greens and burgundy. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high, made of thick pine beams and rustic materials. Another fireplace built entirely of river rock graced one whole wall. Next to it, a sea of windows looked out into a wonderland of woods made up of wild olive, myrtle and strawberry trees.

She gasped at the beauty, and stopped dead in her tracks. In her peripheral vision she saw movement, and swiveled her head in time to see the two men standing with Theron near the windows gape at her as if she were a three-headed beast.

“Holy Hera,” the blond one said. “She’s human.”

“Acacia.” Theron immediately crossed the floor to her. “What are you doing out of bed? You shouldn’t be up and around.”

“I…” She glanced around him at the other two, clearly as shocked by her as she was by them, and didn’t know what to say.

Both were nearly as big as Theron, with the same strange markings on the backs of their hands. The blond was David Beckham handsome, with a youthful face and a wicked glint in his silver eyes. His short hair was unkempt, and the thin mustache and goatee was damn sexier than she would have expected.

The other was dark and mysterious, with eyes she sensed saw way more than he let on. A thin scar ran over his upper lip, and his golden skin glowed in the light coming through the windows.

But it wasn’t their good looks that gave her pause. It was the power she sensed from both of them. As if it radiated off their bodies and swirled in the air around her. She knew immediately these were Theron’s guardian kin. Two Argonauts. Up close and in the flesh. Theron’s comment about women throwing themselves at their feet? Yeah. She got that now.

The blond marched toward her. Theron immediately put his body between her and the guardian and spoke in a language she didn’t understand. His words sounded oddly Greek, but were different at the same time.

The blond guardian stopped mere feet away. Stared at her around Theron’s shoulder with cautious eyes while Theron continued to speak in a harsh tone she hoped was a warning not to harm her. The other guardian stayed rooted in place across the room, still shocked and staring, but even still, Casey swallowed back a lick of fear. If one of them wanted to squash her like a bug, he could in an instant.

When Theron stopped speaking, the blond guardian’s eyes flicked from her face to Theron’s and back again. And then he did something she never would have expected. He dropped to one knee in front of her and lowered his head.

Casey’s eyes grew wide, but before she could ask what was happening, Theron wrapped a hand around the guardian’s arm and pulled him to his feet. “Enough, Zander.”

Zander stood to his full height but bowed his head one more time her way. “Many apologies. I didn’t realize who she was.”

Theron slanted an uncomfortable look her way before turning back to his guardians. He said something again in that native tongue Casey was coming to despise, and then the dark guardian finally spoke up.

“Leonidas wants to see you.”

Her father?

Theron’s eyes narrowed. “How did he know I was here?”

“He didn’t,” Zander said. “Cerek and I came to see if you were back. We were going to cross over and look for you if you weren’t, but I guess we won’t need to now.” He nodded Casey’s way. “You’re taking her, I assume.”

Theron quickly said something again in that native language, and both guardians looked bewildered. Casey didn’t have a clue what was going on, but she sensed when something wasn’t right, and big red warning flags were raised in her head.

Just what was Theron hiding from them? From her?

“Theron,” the one named Cerek said in a placating tone. “It’s not wise to—”

“Enough,” Theron barked. Casey jumped at the sound of his hard voice. “It’s not open for discussion.” He glanced at the blond guardian. “Zander will go with me. Cerek, you’ll stay here.”

Casey’s gaze shot to the dark guardian, who looked as enthused by that order as she was.

Casey touched Theron’s arm. “Theron. I—”

He turned her way, and she saw then the man he’d been when he came into her store that day. Hard. Unfeeling. Full of purpose that had nothing to do with her. She hadn’t realized just how much he’d softened toward her until this moment.

As if he knew what she was seeing, he gently took her hand and turned her toward the hall. “Come, meli. You need to rest.”

She let herself be pushed along, partly because she didn’t have the energy to argue and partly because she was still trying to make sense of the strange encounter. But behind her she heard Cerek say, “Skata. Did you hear what he just called her?”

That tingling ignited across her back again as Theron led her to the bedroom and tucked her into the massive bed.

“I won’t be long,” he said. His eyes were once again soft and gentle, but there was an edge to them that hadn’t been there before.

“I could go with you if you want—”

“No,” he snapped.

She recoiled, and he quickly sat on the side of the bed and took her hand. Turning it palm up, he rubbed his thumb over her skin. “No,” he said softer. “It’s Argonaut business. You’ll be better off here. And besides, I want you to get some rest.”

“You said the daemons couldn’t cross into Argolea.”

“They can’t. The portal’s safely guarded.”

“Then why did you tell Cerek to stay?”

His thumb rubbed a soft trail over the inside of her wrist. “Because I feel better knowing he’s here, that’s all. You have nothing to worry about, meli.”

Yeah. Like she was buying that one. She was just about to ask him what was really going on when she looked down at where he touched her. “You’re not doing that mind-control thing on me again, are you?”

He chuckled. “I was trying. Is it working?”

“No.”

He smiled then as he looked up. That same sexy grin that had nearly melted her before. At her house. In that cave. Here, right now. “I never was very good at it.”

His smile faded as he let go of her hand and stood. “I’ll be back soon. If you need anything, ask Cerek. He won’t harm you.”

She found his last comment oddly unnerving, but before she could ask what that meant, he was leaning down. She lifted her face for his kiss, only to be disappointed when he pressed his lips to her forehead. Then he was gone.

With a frown, Casey eased down into the pillows. She could smell Theron here, as strong as if he were lying beside her. The scent of thyme wasn’t as prominent in the bedroom, but it was still definitely somewhere in the house.

She closed her eyes and tried to figure out what was going on. Why wasn’t he being honest with her?

Her mind spun with possibilities, but before she could spend anymore time wondering, sleep claimed her.