Water surged against her chest as he swiftly lunged for her, as he claimed her mouth in a hard, possessive kiss. She shivered as he held her above the water, as the full length of his bare body pressed against her naked curves, his hard length digging into her right hip. Gods, she wanted him, had to fight to resist the need he ignited in her.
A kiss would be enough for her. For now.
She savoured it, loving how he clutched her to him, how he was in control, steering the kiss towards one that was so intense, she couldn’t think straight when he finally released her. He gazed at her, heat in his eyes. Not the heat of lust, but the heat of love.
She lifted her hands from the water and framed his face, just gazed into his eyes and savoured that look too.
He raised his hand and cupped her cheek, stared deep into her eyes as his black eyebrows furrowed. His voice was little more than a husky whisper. “I feared I was going to lose you back there. I am sorry, Calindria. I will do better. This is not easy for me.”
She knew that, could see it in his eyes and feel it in him. As much as she wanted to know what had happened to him, why he had held himself back from her and lashed out at her, she wasn’t going to push him. She was just going to enjoy this calmer feeling that flowed between them and the fact he was trying to be better for her.
She craned her neck and kissed him again, a softer one this time, poured her love into it in the hope he would feel it. He relaxed against her, slid his arm around her back again and kissed her slowly, his breath mingling with hers.
When he eased back this time, he looked lost, or perhaps dazed. She felt that way too, felt as if she was drifting in his arms, floating on more than water. He sat her up and sat back, stared at her a moment longer and then dropped his gaze to her side.
“Is it healing?” He frowned at the wound.
She nodded and inspected it, surprised by how well her injury was doing. “It does not hurt, and the wound has closed now. Apparently, I heal quickly.”
Thanatos scrubbed a hand over his face. “Gods, that is a relief.”
She wanted to tease him by asking whether it was a relief because he worried about her or worried about how her father would react if she was still injured when she reached home. She held her tongue though, focused on washing the rest of the dirt and blood from her body. Thanatos fell silent and did the same, glancing at her from time to time, the heat in his gaze slowly fading. This felt comfortable and she liked it.
She had never bathed with anyone present before, and she found she liked the way Thanatos would steal glimpses of her, as if he couldn’t keep his eyes off her.
“Where did you go?” She looked across at him.
He paused halfway through scooping water over his left shoulder. “I sensed the demigoddess and chased her. I feared she would try to hurt you and I wanted to protect you, and also see if I could capture her for your father to question in Tartarus. I am sure she is involved in what happened.”
That was very noble of him.
He huffed and glared at the water. “I did not do a good job of protecting you though. I left you with that male.”
“You didn’t leave me with him.” Well, technically he had, but only after she had issued her ultimatum and told him she was going with the Messenger whether he liked it or not. “I chose to leave with him. I will not let you take the full blame for what happened. We can share it.”
The corners of his broad lips twitched at that.
“Why did you come back?” she said and the way he looked at her, his gaze searing her with heat that branded his name on her heart, told her that she knew why he had returned—he had come back for her. To protect her. To stop another male from stealing her from him. She shuffled closer to him, water sloshing around her, and resisted the urge to touch his wings. “I mean, why did you not continue after the demigoddess?”
He swallowed hard. “Because she entered a place I… It made me realise that she was leading me into a trap and had been luring me away from you, attempting to separate us so the Messenger could capture you.”
“What place did she enter?” She regretted asking that when pain surfaced in his eyes and he turned his cheek to her to stare into the shadows at the far end of the pool.
“A building.” His throat worked on another swallow and she sensed the tension building inside him. When she rested her hand on his left arm, he looked down at it and then into her eyes. “It was the place I was held captive before. Perhaps it was an illusion.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t.” She had to put that out there. “This realm is filled with lies and illusions, but a lot of it is real. The female I saw seemed real enough to me, and if you could sense her… I think that means she was real… like the Messenger.”
He lowered his gaze to the water, stared hard at it in silence, and then muttered, “How do we know for certain?”
She caressed his arm, wanting to soothe him and ease some of the tension from him. “There is one way. We go there. If it is not real, you will not be able to touch it.”
“Touch it.” He glared at the rippling surface of the pool now. “I do not wish to get close enough to touch it. I fear the demigoddess might be lying in wait there, ready to capture me again.”
Calindria wouldn’t let that happen.
The darkness within her seethed at just the thought of it, wanted to lash out with black talons and roar at any who dared to come near her and Thanatos. No one would take him from her. He belonged to her now.
She stilled.
He did?
Her gaze drifted over him and the dark beast that lurked within her growled that he did. This god of death was hers and hers alone, and anyone who tried to harm him or steal him from her would pay for their insolence in blood.
Thanatos’s eyes narrowed on hers.
“What do you think to make your eyes so red, little goddess?”
Chapter 24
“What do you think to make your eyes so red, little goddess?” Thanatos lifted his hand and brushed his damp fingers across her cheek, his touch igniting a possessive heat inside Calindria that made her want to growl and stake a claim on him.
But what he said threw a bucket of ice on that fire.
Had her blinking at him.
“My eyes are red?” She tilted her face towards the pool, trying to see her reflection.
“As blood. Your father wears that look when he is feeling angry, or sometimes when he is gazing at your mother. In fact, I have seen that same look in the eyes of your brothers too, when they watch their females.”
She was about to snarl and tell him she wore no such look, a need to defend herself rising to the fore even though she wanted him to know how deeply she desired him.
How fiercely she wanted to claim him.
Only she ended up reeling as his words sank in.
“My brothers have females?” She couldn’t believe that.
In her head, they were all young still, none of them really grown up enough to pursue a long-term relationship. It struck her that back when she had been captured, the last time she had seen her family, her oldest brother Keras would have been only a little over four hundred years old.
Now he would be close to one thousand.
She was now older than all her brothers had been when she had last seen them, and here she was wanting a relationship with Thanatos, while at the same time thinking her brothers weren’t mature enough to pursue a real relationship with females.