Enslaved (28 page)

“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.”