“Wimp. Him, not you.” Morpheus disregarded him with a wave. Then he looked closer at Kaia. “Oh, this is interesting.”
Orion curled around her. “What?”
“Relax. She’s cute and all, but she’s been tagged as demon bait.”
“What?”
Morpheus pointed to a spot on her neck just under her nape. “See that? She’s been bought and sold. Might want to fix that before her owner comes calling.” Morpheus shook his head. “Shame too. She’s on the verge of Becoming.”
“What does that mean?” Orion couldn’t stop looking at the tiny black dot on the back of her neck. Shit. Had her mother done that to her? Or had it been the possessed lycans and ghost ghouls, or whatever they were? He needed Macy’s help. Or Mormo’s. Maybe Hecate’s?
Morpheus cocked his head. “Sorry, boy-o. Gotta motor.” He vanished.
“Bastard.” Orion gathered Kaia to him, concerned. And then the strangest thing happened. The dot disappeared, and he blinked up at his ceiling, now lying flat on his back next to Kaia, who remained asleep.
Careful, so as not to wake her, he shifted her head and lifted her hair. And breathed a sigh of relief to see nothing marring her skin. He lay back beside her and watched her eyes open. No blue in their depths, just a deep, dark brown that looked black, her eyes shadowed by thick lashes, her lips the richest rose.
“Orion?” she whispered then struck him right in the feels with a smile that grew. “Orion.” She sighed, cupped his cheek, then went back to sleep.
My mate. He heard her say and jumped out of bed, worried she’d bewitched him somehow.
For a second there, he’d almost said something schmaltzy, near poetic about the moonlike glow of her skin, or the bloode-red kiss of her lips.
“Shit.” He waited as he watched her, prepared for some other weirdness. When nothing happened, he left the room, relocked it, and ran into Hecate. It was all he could do to contain a tiny jump of surprise.
She looked up at him, small in this incarnation. “Have you seen Kraft with our prisoner?”
“He was downstairs playing Mortal Kombat with the guy.”
“Really? Because he’s not there now, and Varu wants a word with the lycan.”
Orion shrugged. “No idea.”
Hecate stared at him. More like through him, but whatever.
“I sense a water mage about.” She smiled. “Is Kaia here?”
Orion cleared his throat and glared down at the nosy goddess. “She’s resting.”
“Oh, good. When she wakes, bring her to me in the basement, if you would.” She took his hand in hers. “Hmm. What’s this? A smudge, I think.” She rubbed the exact spot where the possessed lycan had bitten him earlier. Then she dropped his hand and turned to go.
“Hecate?”
“Yes?”
“Can a magir or human be tagged by a demon? Sold without knowing it?”
“Of course. It’s only too common in the slave markets, in particular in Galla-Ahtma, a stone’s throw from Irkalla.”
“Huh?”
“The Mesopotamian underworld, also known as Kur.” She frowned. “Pazuzu has been known to frequent such places.”
“The same demon Sabine’s been messing with,” he murmured.
“That’s just an example. Heck, if you run into the wrong person, you can come back from Pike Place Market with a demon tag.” She snorted. “Steer clear of the fish market if you’re smart.” She laughed. “I’m kidding.” She continued to chuckle at her own joke, which Orion didn’t find at all funny. “Did you have something else you needed?”
“What? No. I’m good.” He took a step back. “I’ll bring Kaia when she’s awake.”
“Do that.” She left.
Orion didn’t know what to do. Hecate didn’t seem bothered by his hand, and he’d been dreaming that bit about Morpheus and Kaia’s demon mark. But it couldn’t be a coincidence that Hecate mentioned Pazuzu and Galla-Ahtma in the same breath.
He heard Kaia stirring and let himself back into his room.
Unfortunately, she’d sat up, the covers pooled around her waist.
She didn’t seem to realize he’d put her to bed without her clothes.
He really should look away. But I can’t.
Kaia glanced at Orion, seeming confused about how she’d come to be where she was.
He couldn’t stop staring at her breasts, a bit less than a handful, tipped with hard, rosy nipples just begging for a bite.
It took her a long moment to realize she was naked. “Oh.” She grabbed the covers and held them over her chest, a pretty blush coloring her cheeks. “Thanks a lot.”
A little sarcastic there, Kaia. “For saving your ass from demonic lycans? You’re welcome,” he growled.
She blinked. “That wasn’t a dream?”
He leaned against the back of his door and crossed his thick arms over his chest, bursting with muscle. The shorts he wore came to just above his knees and only emphasized his powerful thighs and trim waist. And that bulge between his legs grew as she stared.
He wished he couldn’t read her thoughts, but her need was obvious. Hell, he could smell her creaming for him as she watched him, her gaze zeroed on his cock that felt like steel the longer she stared.
Orion cleared his throat, wondering how far to take her game.
She whipped her gaze to his. “What?”
He wanted her to want him, needed her like he needed blood. And the feelings, emotions cascading through him as he looked at his pretty, frail mate. It felt like a trap, so much pressure to protect her, to be what she needed. Fuck, he couldn’t handle it and not want her so desperately.
None of which felt remotely real to him but like that fucking enslavement spell cast by her mother and then Kaia.
He snarled at her, not buying for a minute her cringe as real. “You did this.”
“What?”
“You get off on me wanting you.”
“I do not.” She bit her lip, and he smelled a more intense desire emanating from the sea nymph. What would be natural coming from her sister nymphs, but what had never been normal from Kaia before.
“Cut it out.”
“I’m not doing anything,” she cried and clutched the coverlet in front of her.
“So this intense need is all my doing, huh?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.” She did the vulnerable bit a little too well.
“Come on. Let’s just get it over with. We both know you want this.” He cupped the raging erection his shorts couldn’t hide, so he dropped them. “It’s not a spell. It’s normal need.” Bullshit, but he wanted to see if he could get her to admit the truth. “You want sex. So do I. How about you give that V-card you’ve been saving up for a rainy day? Maybe then I’ll believe you’re not putting a spell on me.”
“How does that correlate or make any kind of sense?” she asked, her temper high.
Not so frail now, eh, princess? “It doesn’t. But maybe I want to know that the woman I’m going to sleep with is real. That she didn’t use magic to get what she wants. You give me that V-card you’ve been saving up. I’ll give you the best sex of your life, because it will be real, not a spell.” He paused. “And maybe I’ll forgive you for putting me under your spell the last time.”