Goddess Bound: Goddess Series Book 6 (Young Adult / New Adult) (7 page)

Chapter Eight

He was holding her so tightly that she wondered if he’d leave bruises. He peppered kisses all atop her head, mumbling words she couldn’t understand, but she pretty much understood the meaning. When he’d gotten enough of kissing her hair, he released her, gripped the sides of her face, and kissed along her forehead, temple, cheeks. Now his words were clearer.

“…missed you so much…been worried sick…love you, gods, I love you…” He finally stepped back and looked into her eyes. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” His eyes were red-rimmed, but he’d never looked more beautiful.

“I-I…” her voice cracked, and he didn’t give her a chance to recover. His lips found hers in almost a frenzied move, and he held her tightly while he devoured her mouth. No memory of his kiss could ever compare to the real thing. His hands tangled in her hair as he kissed her with abandon, and all she could do was grip his sides to keep from climbing up his body. No, she hadn’t just missed this. She had ached for it.

“I’m sorry to break up the reunion, but…” Lissa murmured.

Adin groaned as he ended the kiss, but instead of letting her go, he wrapped his arms around her once again and guided her head to his chest. It was obvious he wasn’t letting her go anytime soon.

“How did you know she was home?”

“Grandma. She was pruning the flowerbeds out front when you showed up. She called me. I was with River. I just said your name and ran for my car. He’s probably coming right behind me.” No sooner had he said that, tires squealed in the driveway again. “Sounds like him.” Then he looked down at Legacy. “You didn’t answer me. Did he hurt you?”

“You didn’t give me a chance,” she said, giggling.

“Holy shit! It is you!” River bellowed. Legacy looked up at him. He had this look of awe, shock, disbelief, and happiness all combined together. He walked toward her slowly, as if she’d disappear any minute…or try to flee.

Legacy rolled her eyes. “I’m not a timid animal.” She tried to step away from Adin to walk toward River, but her boyfriend was having none of that. He kept an arm around her as she walked toward her best friend. River hugged her to him from her free side and exhaled slowly.

“My god, girl. You’ve had us freaking out for weeks.” He squeezed her gently and then let go. “What the hell happened?”

She looked at Adin, and he was waiting expectantly. “Long story.” She looked over at Lissa who was putting away her cell phone. “What are you doing?”

“Texting Calli. She needs to be here for this.”

Legacy nodded. Then her stomach growled. “Can we talk while we eat?” She looked over at Kate, who seemed relieved that she’d mentioned food. “Kate and I haven’t eaten since we’ve been gone.”

“Oh gods, girls, you must be starving. Come on into the kitchen.” Everybody went in there and sat around the table. Well, Legacy sat on Adin’s lap, apparently not ready to stop touching her. Lissa pulled leftover spaghetti from the refrigerator and started heating it up. Adin kept dropping kisses on her hair again and stealing pecks from her whenever she turned in his direction. “So you didn’t eat
anything
while you were there, right?” she asked as she put a plate in front of Kate and Legacy. After they both shook their heads no and started scarfing down the food, she looked at Adin and River. “Do you boys want anything to eat?”

Adin’s lips were pressed to Legacy’s head so she felt him shake his head no in response.

“No, I’m straight, Ms. Borne,” River replied.

Lissa smirked. “I’ve told you to call me Lissa. You’re a god now anyway.”

Legacy drew her attention away from the marinara heaven to look at River. He chuckled. “I’m a god, so I do what I want.”

“True that,” Adin mumbled against Legacy’s hair.

The doorbell rang, and Legacy wondered if the door had even been shut after River had come in. But before anybody could go answer it, Calli had come into the kitchen.

Legacy jumped up as Calli ran to her. They hugged, and Calli started crying. Legacy rocked her BFF back and forth as her own tears made another appearance. “I can’t believe you made it back,” Calli mumbled.

Legacy leaned back. “I owe it all to Kate.”

Calli looked over at Kate, who hadn’t stopped eating, but didn’t smile. Then she walked over to her and hugged her as Adin pulled Legacy back down onto his lap. He hadn’t stopped touching her the whole time she’d been standing and hugging Calli. His hand had remained on her hip.

Adin stroked her hair. “Okay, beautiful, tell us what happened.” She nodded and started the story again. This time going into more detail. Seth’s rough treatment of them one minute and then almost normal the next. The flame video thing. The three-headed dog. Seth’s clingy woman. Discovering and honing Kate’s ability. Getting away from Seth. No topic was left out. When Legacy started telling them about everybody’s roles, she decided to keep quiet about Calli. She knew this would be a major shock to her BFF, and she didn’t want to tell her with an audience.

“So Thad’s little brother thought he was going to marry you?” Calli asked incredulously. Adin’s hold on her tightened. If she looked at him, she was sure he’d be gritting his teeth.

“It’s not so farfetched. He’s descended from the god who wanted Persephone. Of course, he’s not as pure as you are, Legacy,” Lissa said, turning from Calli to look at her. “Even if he had gotten you away, rescuing you from him wouldn’t have been as difficult as trying to get you out of Hades.”

“So you don’t think he’ll come after me now?”

“No,” Adin growled. She looked up at him. His face was hard. “I’ll have a talk with him. And his father. Make sure they
both
know how things are going to be.” She didn’t ask him to elaborate. As long as he made sure she didn’t have to add Ric to her list of people to watch out for, it didn’t matter.

“I’ll go with you. Two gods are better than one,” River said, wagging his eyebrows.

Next they talked more about Ellen. The guys didn’t like the news about her, especially when they tried to warn Legacy about what the oracle had said. She waved her hand, cutting off River just as he was about to explain.

“I know. I already heard.”

He clasped his hands together and leaned back. “I guess Lissa already told you. That’s cool. You need—”

“Kate and I found out about it while you and Adin were talking the other day.” When he gaped at her, she continued. “The flame, remember? We only saw its high-tech capabilities twice. Once while Seth was looking in on Thad and Ric, and another time when Kate and I snuck into the room to give it a test. It was the night you were talking about Hecate.” She glanced at Kate and smiled. Kate blushed and picked up her glass of water to guzzle.

“So you get that this news about Ellen created in the likeness of Helen is major?”

Legacy nodded. “Lissa was saying the same thing when Adin came in. But how can we deal with her if she doesn’t even know about the reality of Greek mythology…well, the
real
reality?”

“I think we need to stick close to her. Make sure she knows nothing, and see what all she’s up to. Something might clue us in on when or how she becomes that major player.”

Kate looked up. “I’ll keep an eye on her. She won’t suspect anything if I’m following her around.” She frowned, and for the first time, Legacy realized that maybe the friendship Kate and Ellen had hadn’t been that great for Kate.

“Good,” Adin said. “Don’t say a word about gods and goddess and all that. Just keep your eyes and ears open. We need to know everything she’s doing. No matter how small you think it is.”

“Got it.”

After she finished eating and talking about everything Legacy was going to bring up right now, she realized she didn’t even know what date it was. “How long were we gone?”

Adin stroked her hair and opened his mouth to respond, but River beat him to it. “Almost four weeks.” By her calculations, that was about the same amount of time it had felt to her. Maybe there was no difference in how time moved there.

“My parents must be freaking out!” Kate said as she slumped into her chair.

“Nope,” River said, smiling. “I paid them a visit.”

“What did you say?” Legacy asked.

“I just convinced them she’d been accepted into a highly competitive program in D.C.” He looked at Kate with a smirk. “They’re very proud of you.”

“Wha—how?”

River shrugged. “Trade secret, doll.” Then he winked at her. Legacy frowned. He’d been able to convince their classmates that Adin hadn’t died a few months ago too. She hadn’t been able to get him alone to ask about that.

“You should get cleaned up. You can borrow something of Legacy’s,” Lissa said, and looked at Legacy for approval. When Kate looked down at her clothes, she too looked at what she had on. They both looked horrid. These clothes would have to be burned.

“Not necessary,” River said. “We got some of her clothes from her house so it’d look like she’d packed for a trip. They’re at my house.” He turned to look at her. “You can shower and change there.”

Legacy’s gaze flashed to Calli, who’d been suspiciously quiet. The look of indifference on Calli’s face seemed convincing…but Legacy knew better. Kate stood slowly. When Legacy got up and walked toward her, Adin stayed seated, not touching her for the first time since he’d arrived. “Thank you for everything. I am so sorry you got wrapped up in this, but I am extremely grateful you were there for me,” Legacy said as she hugged her.

“I didn’t do anything,” Kate mumbled.

Legacy pulled back to stare at her. “You did more than you think. If there’s anything you ever need, please don’t hesitate to ask.” With that, she let go of Kate.

River came up to Legacy and hugged her tightly. “We’ll catch up later. Get some rest.” Then he leaned back and waved his hand in front of his face. “And get friendly with some soap and water fast, baby. You smell like shit!” Legacy punched him playfully in the shoulder as he stepped away from her. She didn’t miss the brief glance he gave Calli, but Calli did. She was studying her hands as if she were very uncomfortable. What the hell had happened? The day Legacy had been kidnapped the two of them had been as giddy as any soon-to-be new couple their age…maybe even more so. But they hadn’t spoken a word to each other since arriving. Separately at that. Apparently there was more to talk to Calli about than her connection to the Greek gods. After they left, she turned and faced her BFF.

“I think I could use some chocolate ice cream. You got some at home?”

Calli smiled. “Yeah, it’s kinda been a staple in my diet lately.” That was what Legacy was afraid of.

“Good. Then we won’t have to stop at the store on the way to your house. We have a lot of catching up to do.”

Adin shifted, and she looked at him. The emotions on his face went from shock to dread to determination. She also saw his hands flinch. She didn’t need to ask him to know he was about two seconds away from going all caveman on her by throwing her over his shoulder and running away with her to his hidden grotto. She also knew it was a combination of missing her, fearing for her safety, and a little desperation that fueled his instinct. She walked toward him and sat back down on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her hair.

“I’m not ready to leave your side yet,” he finally whispered.

Trying to make light of it, she chuckled. “What about at bedtime? You can’t stay with me twenty-four-seven.”

He looked at her and the fierce look in his eyes told her otherwise. “The hell I can’t. You were ripped away, and I wasn’t there to stop it.”

Legacy sighed. After her talk with Calli, she needed to make sure Adin understood her abduction wasn’t his fault. She also knew the idea of sleeping in Adin’s arms every night would make her feel much better too. Going through the next couple of months this way sounded like a dream come true. Rather than go into any consolation efforts now, she looked up at him, trying for a compromise. “You can pick me up at Calli’s in a few hours and we can decide then where we’re going to sleep.”

Adin searched her eyes, but his arms relaxed a little. “I’ll be going out of my mind while you’re gone. It’s going to take awhile for me to not be so possessive. Please don’t be mad.” He crushed her to him and held her tightly. “We’ll be staying at my house,” Adin said, but she got the distinct feeling he wasn’t talking to her.

“I understand,” Lissa said.

Legacy looked at her to make sure she didn’t mind. Lissa smiled at her and nodded.

Adin kissed the side of her head and spoke into her hair. “Don’t worry. You’re not going far.”

She pulled back to frown at him. “Huh? Your mom lives across town. Are we staying at your grandma’s?”

“No, sweetheart. When I said my grandma was out front pruning the flowerbed, I didn’t mean she was at her house. I bought the house across the street and have been staying there.”

“What?” Legacy screeched as she looked at him. “You bought a house? In just the few weeks I’ve been gone?” When he nodded, she asked, “Why?”

He looked down, but then glanced at her through his lashes. “I was a bear to be around while you were gone.”

“Ha!” Olive barked. They both looked at her before Legacy looked at Adin again.

“Okay, more like a bear with a sore paw.” He shook his head. “Anyway, I wanted to be close for when you got back, but I didn’t want to keep grandma up at all hours of the night while River and I poured over books and conducted Internet searches for information. I hardly slept. He had to keep going to school during the day to make sure no one realized you were missing, but he’d come back during the evenings. We were both at the library downtown when Grandma called me or I would’ve been here sooner.”

“You bought a house,” Legacy repeated. She was having trouble wrapping her head around that. It was such a…such a grown up thing to do.

He searched her eyes. “You’ll like it. If not, I can sell it.” He shrugged as he tucked her hair behind her ear. “It was a very quick decision. It was either that or crash at River’s place. No way was I doing that! We might be getting along better, but he’s still River.” Adin pretended to shudder.

She nodded, not really ready to try to make sense of his decision. She had more important things to do right now. Like get friendly with soap as River had suggested and then go to Calli’s. She looked at her BFF. “I need to shower before we leave.”

“Excellent idea,” Calli said, but the smile didn’t match her eyes. Something definitely was going on with her and from the way she’d acted around River, Legacy was sure he was the culprit. They had a lot to discuss, but telling Calli about her link to Greek mythology felt as if it’d be taking a backseat to whatever had unfolded between Calli and River.

Just what the hell had happened while I was gone?