Immortal Dynasty (10 page)

He hovered in the hallway, telling himself that he was just making sure that she didn’t slip and crack her head on the tub. He valiantly tried to ignore the sighs and moans above the hum of the spa jets. She was apparently doing just fine.

As time passed and water kept running, he realized Shaila did not know that she was supposed to turn off the faucet. As he approached bathroom door, he felt the hallway carpet squish under his feet.
Shit.

She didn’t answer when he knocked on the door. He rubbed the back of his head and his jaw clenched with indecision. It had to be done now, before she flooded the whole house. He slowly peered around the door.

“Shaila, the faucet!” She still did not answer him. It looked like she was underwater. Darius rushed over and shut off the faucet. The spa jets continued tossing water and bubbles into frantic little whirlpools. He pulled out a large pile of towels and threw them onto the floor to soak up the wet mess. She was still oblivious to him, submerged with only her knees showing above the bubbles. “Shaila!”

Again, she wasn’t coming up to answer him. The water needed to stop sloshing, before it started soaking the hallway and ruining the floorboards. He unclipped his cell phone and left it where it wouldn’t get wet. Feeling around the edge of the tub for the spa jet button, his hand lightly brushed her shoulder.

He was completely unprepared for her defensive response. In one swift move, she’d grabbed and flipped him into the tub underneath her. She held him in place with her hand cupped around his throat.

He thanked god for the water in the tub, because otherwise that flip would have really hurt. Trapped underneath the ancient warrior goddess, he couldn’t help but notice again that she was ripped. Golden skin, taut in all the right areas. Bubbles slowly dripped off of her breasts, revealing her lotus tattoos. With the centuries of dust scrubbed away, Shaila glowed. The scent of musky soap filled the air. Her dark hair dripped rivulets of water down her shoulders.

Damn.
He couldn’t help himself. A slight groan escaped his lips. This tough, green-eyed woman excited him.

Deep in meditation underwater, she hadn’t heard Darius’s approach. When he touched her so unexpectedly, her whole body reacted instinctively. She caught Darius around his midsection and flipped him into the tub. The movements sloshed a wave of water onto a group of towels strewn around the floor.

Her eyes focused on the room around her and understanding dawned. “I am so sorry, Darius.” She withdrew her hand from his throat.

He did not seem to be angry. The heat sparking in his hazel eyes reminded her that here was something else she had not felt in over three thousand sun cycles. Desire. It zinged through her body, firing off nerve endings that now craved to be touched. She craved skin. She leaned into Darius, seeking the feel of flesh again. She had felt only cold metal for so long.

Shaila lowered her body against him and rubbed slowly up and down. The water swirled in gentle waves around them.

Still, the man would not release his fierce grip on the edge of the tub. His pulse beat quickly at the base of his neck, and a moan escaped his lips. His eyes even dilated with excitement. She wondered why, if he was this stirred by her touch, he held himself so rigid. Maybe he just needed a bit more encouragement.

Slowly, she lowered her lips to his, feeling the softness of them. Finally she felt his muscles relax. His hands felt strong and commanding as he pulled her in for a crushing kiss. He tasted of life, warm and sweet. Rubbing a path down her back, his hands massaged every inch he could reach. The feel of skin on skin felt divine as he pressed her hard against him.
Oh goddess!

His tongue explored her lips and entered her mouth. She teased it with little nibbles, and then sucked the pain away. Her hands explored downward between their bodies but rough, wet clothing impeded her exploration. Shaila growled her frustration.

Holy shit!
Desire hummed in his ears so loudly, he’d almost passed out. Every muscle trembled, and that scared him. He couldn’t remember ever experiencing such an intense craving asthis. His rational mind finally broke through the fuzziness in his brain. Control. He needed to get control of himself before he did something stupid.
Like, screw a hot warrior goddess?

What a lame excuse for a man. Two gorgeous women in one day, and he was about to put the brakes on the second one. He was so damned to hell.

“Shaila.” He gently slid her off of him to one side, aided by the buoyancy of the water. “We can’t do this.”

She looked stunned. “Oh, goddess! Is this not acceptable now too?”

Something buzzed, but this time it wasn’t in his head.

“No, Shaila. That’s not it. We just can’t…I can’t...” He didn’t know what to say. What would she understand?

“What is it with you humans now? You travel like herded cattle. You live in isolated dwellings. You wear clothes tighter than a womb. You cover up almost every delectable part of your bodies. You seem to prefer to be alone. You…” She panted with obvious frustration.

“I can’t do this right now…because I have to answer my phone.” His cell phone buzzed and vibrated on the marble counter. He held up his cell phone as proof. “Because we live in isolated dwellings, we have to talk to each other through these.” He had plenty of other reasons, but this one was easiest to go with.

Hauling his wet body out of the tub, he heard her laugh at the funny squishing sound his clothes made as a he tiptoed across the room over the soggy towels.

He’d missed the call, but the number was familiar. Mr. Majeed, his grandfather’s closest friend and secret society brother. Stepping into the hallway, Darius returned the call.

But he could hardly concentrate on the conversation. The door to the bathroom was still open, and the sounds of soft splashing and moaning drifted out. He could clearly see her profile as she soaped up parts of her body that he had held in his hands moments ago.

“Thanks. We’ll see you tomorrow.” He snapped the phone shut before his voice began to betray his agitation.

I’m a friggin idiot!
He was so tempted to drop the cell phone into the puddle at his feet, but sheer force of will rooted him to the spot. The sounds of her climax nearly broke him. The idea of living three thousand years ago sounded really good right now. Instead, he tucked his mental tail between his legs and squished down the hallway to change his clothes.

* * *

Finally, everything was clean and dry again. An extra large load of towels was tumbling and thumping along in the dryer downstairs. The hallway rug would take a lot longer to dry, but that couldn’t be helped.

Passing by the bathroom, Darius knew he’d never be able to look at that tub in the same way again. Even now, he could feel his pulse quicken just thinking about her in it. He sucked in a deep cleansing breath.

Papa Shadi’s cat leapt in from the window and landed on the soaked rug, apparently just arriving home from prowling the mean streets. She meowed her displeasure, flicking water from her paws with each step. Amused, he picked her up, letting her wipe her paws on his clean shirt.

“Sorry, girl.” He scratched the sweet spot behind her neck, but frowned at the new, unusually fat, studded collar.

Papa Shadi had been wrong about one thing. Darius did believe in something. He believed that events occurred in a natural order. Logical progression. All of these things must be connected, and as illogical as it sounded to him…they were all tied into that damn prophecy. He did not believe in coincidence.

To save his grandfather, he had to find out everything Papa Shadi knew: the statue, the sword, the amulet, Lilith’s private collection…all of it. How had his grandfather known about the woman inside the statue? Did he know why Lilith wanted the amulet? Instinct whispered that Lilith needed the amulet for reasons beyond just adding it to her personal collection. Somehow, the amulet was connected to the prophecy too.

He needed his grandfather to help him search for it. With Papa Shadi held hostage and in a coma, how was Darius to find out what the old man knew? That friggin’ brought him around to square one again.

However, he did have Shaila. He had an ancient Egyptian goddess who might know something about the prophecy. She was from the same period of time that Lilith referenced. Hell, she could be related: if not by blood, then by species. She might be in league with Lilith. What loyalty was there among their kind?

She was warrior tough. Big turn on. She was also uninhibited, and that was the part that scared him. To him that meant unpredictable. You couldn’t control someone with an unreliable personality. Hadn’t his mother proved that?

It was a huge gamble. He would need to rely on Shaila, but he wasn’t sure he could trust her. Hell, he was not going to wait until tomorrow to start asking questions.

He found the object of his frustrations pacing in the kitchen…half naked again.

* * *

The bath was just what she needed physically, but mentally Shaila was more anxious than ever.

Where was her priest? Where was her mother? Why were they not there to awaken her? Why had she been in Lilith’s possession? What else did Lilith have? Where was the sarcophagus with the babe she was supposed to protect? There were plenty of questions, and no answers.

She was a divine failure. Again.

She should have thought to question her priest more about this future world. The world had grown colder, and the dwellings she’d passed today had held a lifeless aura around them. Humans had prospered, but they smelled of fear and loneliness. They moved about like a farmer’s herd. They covered their skins and closed their eyes, seemingly blind to the darkness growing around them.

Most troubling was the realization that her astral spirit had not returned to her as it should have when she awakened.
 
Without it, she was disconnected from the deepest of her immortal powers. She still possessed many abilities, but not the strength she would need to protect the babe.

Added to that was the weakness from thousands of sun cycles of slumber. Physically, she had little more strength than a human.

One aggravating human came vividly to mind. She shoved aside the memory of his kiss, and replaced it with those of the first moments when she met him. He wore the
Eye of Ra
. Did that mean she could trust him? She thought not. With supreme pride he had said he stole her from Lilith. Did that mean he was responsible for her awakening? Could he have deliberately disrupted the return of her astral spirit?

The object of her thoughts sauntered into the room, carrying a black cat. Arching under the man’s gentle stroking, the feline nuzzled deeper. Her purrs vibrated loudly, grating on Shaila’s nerves.

“Who performed the awakening spell? You?” She could tell by the way he tensed that she had caught him off guard. He deserved it.

“What spell?” He placed the cat on the floor, and stood facing her. His aura colored with defensive energy.

“How did you resurrect my body?”

At the mention of her body, his eyes briefly flicked down to her bare breast. Her nipples hardened. She felt the hot thrill of control. Returning his gaze to hers, he slowly pulled the medallion from under his shirt.

“With this.”

“Just that? No spell?” He was still too arrogant for her liking. “Where is my priest? He will know how to correct your mistakes.”

“Mistakes?” He closed the distance between them in two very determined strides.

“Yes. You did it wrong. You should have left such things to those who are—”

“Listen, your highness, I have a few questions of my own.”

“I do not answer to you.”

“You
will
answer me because my grandfather’s life depends on it. He believed in an ancient prophecy. He spent his whole life searching for you. You are a part of it. So, let’s just start with any easy one…why were you in that statue?”

He was so close that his scent filled her, calmed her. She thought about denying him an answer. He was not a part of this. Yet, he was the one to find her. Regardless of how it turned out, he had been the one to free her to fulfill her destiny.

“I was waiting. Waiting for the time of the prophecy to begin.”

“What part do you play in it?” Turning away, he chased the cat off of the counter and back down to the floor.

“My priest foresaw everything. Thousands of sun cycles in the future, the dark army would rebuild. It would be a time when humans would be unprepared and incapable of defending themselves.”

“So, you’re here to defend us. Not a bad plan to send the warrior goddess.”

“There was a flaw. He also foresaw my death. Although he could not see when, it was clear that it would occur before the time of the prophecy.”

“He saw all of that?”

Shaila nodded.

“Well, he missed another important detail.”

“Which one?”

“He didn’t see me coming, did he? Or you wouldn’t be standing in front of me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that if he saw me in the picture, he would have made better plans for your resurrection.”

“There is another possibility. Maybe he did not see his own demise.” Did that mean her destiny had been altered? And what of the babe’s destiny? She had to find out what happened to her tomb. “I would like to know how I came to be in Lilith’s possession. There were other items in my tomb. Items that are equally important to fulfilling the prophecy.”

“Would one of those items happen to be a black diamond amulet?”

His eyes studied hers too intently. She realized he wasn’t just waiting for her answer. He was judging her reaction to the question. A lie could be convenient, or it could produce more questions that she had no intention of answering. Shaila’s answer would have to be an honest one.

“Yes. It was sealed in the tomb with me.”

* * *

Stay!

Shaila still reeled from his arrogance. He had actually ordered her to stay put like some trained animal, while he went off to some place called a lab. Then, he had commanded her to put those awful clothes back on.