What a Goddess Wants (27 page)

Christ, did the Romans do nothing on a normal scale? What the hell were they compensating—

“Holy shit.” He knew exactly what they were compensating for. “Big fucking shoes.”

Tessa spared him a quick glance, and this time he saw fear in her warm blue eyes. Now,
there
was his Tessa.

Even though they were nowhere near being in the clear yet, all the blood began to rush to his cock. Well, at least something still worked. And that was definitely not what he should be thinking about now. He had to concentrate on getting his legs to work so they could get the fuck out of here.

“Thesan, hurry.”

Aurora’s stage whisper echoed through the entry hall, loud enough to be heard through the ringing in his ears. That worried him. So did the numbness in his left leg.

Still, he kept moving. They had to get out of here and fast, before either Mercury or Venus decided they needed to converse a little more. Tessa took his arm, probably because he stumbled and nearly fell, and he sighed in relief as he felt her warmth seep into him. His heart beat just a little faster and he swore the ringing in his ears eased.

Still his Tessa.

“Aurora,” she whispered, “we need to get out of here right now.”

“I know. Jupiter’s asking questions and that’s a very bad thing.”

Tessa stopped and took a second to enfold the other woman in a hug. Hell, Tessa even looked like she meant it. “Thank you. For everything.”

Aurora’s smile was nearly as bright as Tessa’s. “You know you only have to ask.” Then Aurora shocked the shit out of him by curtseying to Tessa before straightening with an impish smile and giving a little finger wave. “Later.”

With a snap, Cal’s vision went black. When it cleared again, he realized they were back at Frentani’s.

“Cal!”

He heard X shout his name and heard Tessa gasp. He wanted to reassure her that he was fine, but he was pretty sure that was a lie.

Then he passed out.

***

“Lady, why don’t you take a seat? You look like you’re going to fall over.”

Tessa shook her head, unable to take her eyes off Cal. She and X had carried him downstairs to the medical facility after he’d passed out and put him to bed in the safe room.

A minute ago, Eric had hurried in, taken one look at Cal, and started to swear under his breath. That terrified her. But no more than the ash-gray color of Cal’s face.

“I’m pretty sure he’s bleeding internally, and I’ll have to operate to stop it.” Eric’s voice seemed to come at her from far away. She could barely make out his words as she stood next to the bed, staring at Cal. “I’m going to need someone to assist. It’ll take the nurse a few minutes to get here, and I don’t think we have time to spare.”

Cal was dying. She knew it without having to be told. She swore she could feel him slipping away from her with each passing second and every labored breath. Leaving her alone. Nothing she could do to stop him.

Powerless—

No, not powerless. She blinked, her body shuddering as if with shock.

She looked at her hands, then lifted her gaze to Eric. “You need to leave. You and X. Right now.”

Both men whipped around to stare at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Lady, what—”

“Tessa,” Eric cut off X. “This man needs immediate help or he’s going to die within minutes.”

“I know that.” She turned to X. “I can fix him. But if anyone else is in the room when I do, they could drain my power. You have to leave.”

“What?” Eric looked stunned. And unconvinced. She couldn’t blame him. He didn’t know about her returning powers. “Tessa—”

“No. No arguments.” X nodded at her, his expression set. “Do it. I know you can.” Then he turned to Eric. “Let’s go, Doc. Now.”

“Wait.” Eric’s shell-shocked expression nearly made her smile. “Just wait a minute. Tessa, you don’t have the power to—”

“Yes, I do. I won’t let him die.” She shook her head. “Not like this. I can do this, Eric.”

Eric didn’t believe her. She saw the doubt in his eyes. It didn’t matter.
He
didn’t matter. Only Cal mattered right now.

She had to fix Cal.

As X practically dragged Eric out of the room and shut the door behind them, Tessa walked to the side of the bed.

She barely saw the rise and fall of Cal’s chest as he took a breath. His color had become even more ashen. She was almost afraid to touch him, but Eric had been right. They couldn’t wait even a few minutes.

She had to do this, and she had to do it right the first time. If she was wrong about her power… If she couldn’t do this…

He’s mortal. They all die eventually.

It was the one immutable fact of their existence.

And though he would return again, reborn into another body, he’d return with no memories of his previous life, possibly centuries in the future. And she was selfish. She didn’t want to lose him. Not yet.

This had to work. Placing her hands on his chest, over his heart, she closed her eyes. And tried to feel each beat of his heart. She strained to hear it in her hands and feel it echo in her own chest.

There! Faint, but there.

Though she’d helped to deliver hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies, and she’d fixed defects ranging from cleft palates to heart murmurs, she’d never attempted to fix damage such as this in a full-grown man.

And there was a lot of it.

She heard the air escaping from the puncture in his lungs. Heard the bile leaking from the tear in his spleen and the acid from his ruptured kidney. Each fracture in his bones registered as a white-hot pulse of pain in the corresponding area of her body.

At least she knew he felt no pain.

But with each passing second, he slipped farther and farther away from her. She refused to allow it.

“You will not get away from me that easily. I won’t allow it.”

Digging deep, she sought out the part of herself where her power resided. It’d been dormant so long that she wasn’t sure at first that she could remember how to call it.

It’d come to her unexpectedly at the club. She’d done nothing to encourage it, hadn’t even realized she was using it. It’d been so long since she’d been able to. Now, she forced herself to remember. She had to. Cal’s life depended on it.

At first, she felt nothing. Nothing but his pain. It burned inside her, so she dug deeper, knowing that each passing second put him closer to death.

Blessed Goddess, what if she couldn’t do it? What if—

“No.” She forced herself to focus, to block out that inner doubt demon. “You can do this. You
have
to do this.”

And she would. She just needed—

With a gasp, she felt the power rise up, so strong it caused her vision to go dark around the edges. It burned hot and bright in her blood and brought tears to her eyes.

Blessed Mother Goddess, she’d missed this! Missed the heat as it consumed her, the fizzy elation, and the sense of completeness that came with her power. For so many years, she’d felt like she was missing a part of herself. And she had been. Maybe one of the most important aspects of herself.

At least, she considered it important. And right now, she figured Cal would, too.

After that first rush, when the power wanted to have its way with her, to burn her up from the inside out, she wrestled it back under her control. And forced it to do her bidding.

She had to heal Cal. She wouldn’t be able to bear it if anything happened to him.

“I pray to you, Mother Uni. Give me the strength to do this right.” She took a deep breath and began to focus all that energy. “Please don’t let me screw this up.”

***

Cal woke to the sounds of a storm.

Loud booms of thunder followed by flashing light. Cool. He loved thunderstorms. He tried to open his eyes… and found he couldn’t. Damn, he was tired.

He must have fallen—

Images rushed through his head. Tessa, Venus, Mercury. The Roman deities’ Hamptons estate.

What the hell?

He needed to open his eyes but they felt like they had weights attached to them. His body felt unnaturally heavy, too, which just freaked him out even more. He began to struggle, to make his foot, his arms, his fingers move. Anything. He struggled against the darkness that confined him.

At first, nothing happened. His body refused to respond, as if he was paralyzed. No. That wasn’t possible. Yeah, he’d taken a beating, but it hadn’t been
that
bad. It couldn’t have been.

Move, damn it.

Panic began to set in and he knew that if he let it, it’d take over until he couldn’t think straight. He needed to think, to command his body to listen to his brain.

Forcing himself to calm, he focused on his breathing. On the motion of his lungs as they filled with air and then released it. On the beat of his heart, a little fast with panic but strong. Steady.

Okay, let’s try this again.

In the darkness, he visualized his big toe, imagined wiggling it. Yes! It moved. Now his legs.

Boom, boom, boom.

With a firm grip on his emotions, he worked his way up his body until finally he got to his head. And he opened his eyes. From total blackness to complete whiteout.

He blinked a few times. The white never changed, but he noticed variations in the color now. His hands clenched. Sheets beneath him. And warmth throughout his body.

He turned his head. “Tessa.”

She lay across his torso, her head pillowed on his chest. Not moving.

“Tessa. What—”

Boom, boom, boom.

What the hell was that?

The door. Someone was banging on the door to the safe room in Frentani’s clinic.

Though his body felt sluggish and uncooperative, he forced himself to sit up. He hoped to hell he didn’t have any broken bones but he couldn’t take the time to check.

Tessa wasn’t moving. With his heart in his throat, he shook her shoulder gently.

“Tessa, sweetheart, wake up. Tessa, please.”

At first, she didn’t move, and the tightness in his chest became a stranglehold.

She appeared to be breathing but—

Groaning, she lifted her head and turned to face him.

“Cal?” He barely heard her whisper. “Are you okay?”

“Jesus, Tessa, what the hell’s going on? Are you okay?” The dull sheen over her normally vibrant blue eyes made the bottom drop out of his stomach. “What did you do?”

Shaking her head, more to move her hair than as an answer, she cupped his jaw in both hands, her gaze traveling all over his face then down his body.

“How do you feel? Are you—”

The pounding on the door started again, and Tessa shot a quick glance in that direction. “Don’t move. I’m going to tell your brother what’s going on. I’m sure he’s worried sick.”

“No.” He reached for her but overestimated the control he had over his body. His arms moved but not fast enough to stop her. “Damn, what the hell happened?”

She took each step toward the door as if feeling her way along a dark alley. He made a move to get off the bed and follow her, but the effort was just too much for him. Damn, whatever the hell had happened, he had to get over it fast.

She looked wiped out, weak. Why?

Opening the door, she spoke in a low voice then heard X answer back. He couldn’t hear them but it didn’t matter. Their tones were low, concerned.

Shit. Whatever had happened had been bad. He lay back, trying to think of the last thing he remembered. He remembered taking a hell of a beating from Mercury. Remembered Tessa coming to his rescue. Vaguely remembered Aurora having something to do with getting them out of there.

After that, nothing.

“Cal.”

Tessa’s voice pulled him back to the present, and he looked up to find her standing by the bed.

“You need to tell me what happened,” he demanded. “Why do you look like you’re about to pass out?”

She smiled, but it lacked conviction. And brightness.

“I’m fine—”

“No, you’re not.” In fact, she looked worse than he’d thought a minute ago. And he felt better. “Tessa, what the hell happened?”

Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she nibbled on it for a second before releasing a tired sigh. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

“Everything’s a little fuzzy after Mercury started to use me for a punching bag, but I vaguely remember Aurora sending us back here. After that, nothing.”

“You were badly injured, Cal. I wasn’t sure you were going to make it.”

She blinked, her gaze skittering away for a second before returning, tears dampening the corners.

He wanted to pound on his chest like Tarzan at the obvious concern in her expression, but he managed to contain the barbarian instinct. “Hey, babe. I’m fine. No harm, no foul. Did Frentani put me back together?”