Usually when he awoke with a hard-on and a woman in his bed, what happened next was pretty straightforward. He rolled onto his side, watching her sleep. Her cool beauty turned haunting in the moonlight that slid through the curtains. She lay sweet and vulnerable on her back, her lips parted and warm body tucked against his side. He touched her face and trailed a finger down her neck, between her breasts, and rested his hand on her stomach.
There were many things he thought of doing to her. He couldn't risk alienating the woman in his bed, partly because she was still too delicate, too new to his world to take the next step and partly because he was still leery of the powers of an Oracle.
"Damian?" Her voice, thick with sleep, ratcheted up his hormones another level.
"I'm here, kiri," he said. He brushed stray hairs from her face and replaced his hand on her stomach. The simple movement took discipline Dusty would be proud of.
"Do you think I'm a monster?"
"No, kiri. I think you're a lost angel."
"I know where I am," she said with sleepy stubbornness that made him smile. She roused herself and lay on her side, facing him. His hand shifted to her hip, and he felt the absence of her warmth to the bone. Her eyes glowed and spun. They gazed at each other for a long moment.
"You're always welcome in my bed, kiri," he said, satisfied when her pupils dilated and her face reddened. She looked away, embarrassed.
"You shouldn't say those things," she whispered.
"Why not? You're mine already. You just haven't realized it," he said.
She gave him an agitated look and rolled onto her stomach, twisting her head away from him.
"Will you answer something personal, Damian?"
"Shoot."
"What are you? And don't tell me a divine spirit of sorts. That doesn't make sense to me."
He pulled her into his body, even as she refused to look at him. She didn't resist his touch. She never did, and yet she never surrendered either. It was an odd mix that warned him she'd not yet accepted her place in his world.
"My father was the White God, the deity charged with safeguarding good and battling evil on behalf of all the creatures of the universe. My brother inherited the title when he died. I inherited it from him on his death," he started.
"You're a god?"
"Yeah. Cool, isn't it?" He rested against her, enjoying her scent.
"Why are you on earth? Shouldn't you be floating in the sky somewhere?" she asked skeptically.
He chuckled.