What else could possibly go wrong?
CHAPTER FOUR
By the time the sun rose the next morning, Brutus had finally made up his mind. He was through with being the polite houseguest. Jungle guest. Whatever. He had hoped if he allowed these females to work off a little steam, he might gain their respect. Or at least a little goodwill.
Negative. He would have to treat these women as hostile forces, meaning they would do as he said, or he would kill them. Kidding. He might enjoying giving them a good spanking if the opportunity ever arose. They are so rude and uncivilized. And this coming from an Uchben warrior. Uchben was the official name for the members of the gods’ army, himself being the toughest beast of the lot. But even he and his elite squad of soldiers possessed some manners. It was becoming abundantly clear that no man could quell these females’ aggressive, randy dispositions.
“Time to go and find the chief.” And some clothes. He pulled on the rope tethering him to the tree. Nothing happened.
What the devil? He tugged again, this time giving it all his might. “Arrrrgh!” The rope dug into his chest and wrists. Dammit all to hell. The rope was made of something very strong.
He groaned. Why am I surprised? These women were a tribe of immortal warriors. Of course they would have rope of superior strength. Still, I must tryyyy… He pulled again, putting everything he had into it.
“You can’t break free. You know that, right?” Fina appeared out of nowhere, holding her white and brown striped kitten, stroking its soft little ears.
“Release me at once!” Brutus growled in her general direction.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because, as I already told you and your band of cum bandits, I am here on official business. From the gods. I need to deliver a message to your leader.”
She narrowed her eyes and stopped stroking her cat. “Did you just call us cum bandits?”
“If it talks like a cum bandit and walks like a cum ba—”
“I beg your pardon! We are great warriors. We take what is ours because it is our right. We are not thieves.”
Oh. Had he hit a nerve? “The General says otherwise.”
“Who?”
“The General.” He glanced down at his flaccid member.
She shook her head and tsked with pity. “Well, looks pretty weak and sad for such a title.”
Brutus glared. “You try having sex with almost a hundred women nonstop for a week.”
She toggled her head. “Not my cup of tea.”
Cup of tea? That was an oddly civilized phrase for a woman cut off from the world. “Where were you educated?” he asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“Well, you speak like a modern human, and now that I’m listening to your accent, you sound like you might be from the east coast.”
“Boston. I went to boarding school in Boston, and then I later completed my BA in world history at Harvard. Mother insisted I learn the ways of the outside world.”
Impressive. “Do all of the women here go to school outside?”
“Just me.” She raised her chin. “I am to be leader someday.”
“Ah. I see. Well, then if you attended classes in Boston, you might be aware of the state of chaos in the human world.”
She shrugged. “I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.”
“How long has it been since you returned home to this jungle?”
“Hmmm…not sure exactly. We’re not big on calendars around here.”
“So you don’t know how old you are?” he asked.
“Three hundred—I think? To be honest, we’re not too big on birthdays either.”
“Well, if you truly are three centuries old, you look phenomenal,” Brutus said, hoping to butter her up a little.
“Thank you.” She dipped her head of long dark hair, the golden streak catching the sunlight, as if she were a magical creature.
Perhaps she is. “Might I ask how your tribe became immortal?”
“Who knows? My mother is the oldest at six hundred years old, and she doesn’t know.”
Very interesting. He wondered what their gene pool was comprised of and if they would be compatible with any of his men—some were demigods now after being gifted the light of the gods, like himself. Those were the ones they had to worry about. The plain old human soldiers were fine.
“Well, Fina, I suggest if you care for your mother and your people that you allow me to—”
Suddenly, the kitten jumped from her arms and ran over to him, brushing his little furry face on the soles of his feet.
“Zeus! What are you doing? Get away from that despicable male!” She crouched and tried to grab the kitten, but it darted straight up his leg and chest and up into the tree.
Brutus chuckled. “Looks like I’m not the only one who grows tired of your attitude.”
She ignored him and called to the cat. “Zeus! Kitty, kitty. Please come down.”
“I’m sure you have nothing to worry about. Since getting stuck in trees is part of your training process.” He chuckled. “Can’t wait to see him go up against a jaguar.”
“Shut up,” she snarled and turned her attention back to the cat. “Zeus! Baby kitty. Please come down! I’ll give you some nice snake meat.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to climb up there and get him.”
“I can’t,” she huffed.
“Why not?”
“I’m afraid of heights.”
Brutus refrained from laughing. What sort of warrior feared heights? However, now was not the time to foster any ill will. “I will rescue your cat if you agree to give me an audience with your mother.”
Fina frowned at him. “Nice try.” She turned to leave.
“Where are you going?”
“To fetch Helga. She loves climbing trees.”
Oh no. Not Helga. She would want more sex! “By the time you get there and back, your fur ball will have become a nice snack for a python or bigger cat. Sadly, I won’t be able to rescue him.”
“There are no pythons in this part of the jungle, and we haven’t seen a jaguar in decades.”
Hmmph! “All right. Then a poisonous snake!”
She kept marching away toward a dense patch of banana trees. Clearly, she was a woman who did not respond to fear. If he weren’t tied to a tree, he’d find that extremely sexy. “Then let me go because you do not want to watch your entire tribe slaughtered. Because, trust me, they will be!”
Fina stopped and turned to face him. “No one can best us in battle. Not even with guns. Note how we have successfully fended off invaders for centuries.”
“I’m not speaking of invaders,” he warned. “I’m speaking of the plague that is turning immortals against one another. It is only a question of time before the illness reaches here. You say you and your people are undefeated, but when they turn and start killing each other, you will be helpless to stop it. Or perhaps you will join them.”
She narrowed her dark eyes. “You lie. This is a ploy to get me to untie you.”
“Fina, I am an Uchben soldier and next in line to lead the gods’ army. Do you honestly believe I would take my time to come here and warn you if it were untrue? I have much better things to do: rogue immortals to hunt and humans to babysit so that they don’t blow up this planet and take us all with them. Also, I have an elderly cocker spaniel waiting for me at home. Men like me do not abandon their needy pets without good cause. My purpose for coming was to warn you,” he lied. His purpose was to convince them to return to Sedona for a singles mixer and hopefully some weddings.