“The hellhound she’s bonded to,” Ares explained, his voice as sharp as Than’s sword. “Who took him?”
Cara tugged the sheet up to her neck, her gaze darting between Thanatos and Limos. “There were six of them. Five men and a woman. He didn’t want to go. They jabbed him with spears… he was inside the cage and couldn’t get away.” A tear squeezed from her eye, and he had the absurd urge to wipe it away. It was a feeling he shouldn’t experience while wearing his armor, but being this close to Cara had turned the hard leather to supple doeskin, and emotions that would normally be blocked were annoyingly close to the surface.
“Can you tell us anything about what they looked like?” Than propped himself against the dresser, getting too comfy in the bedroom for Ares’s liking as he grilled Cara. “Their weapons? What they were wearing?”
Cara replied, but to Ares. “Jeans, mostly. Some were in leather. One had a crucifix and a bottle of liquid.”
“Holy water,” Ares muttered. “What else?”
She reached up to her throat, fingered where she’d been bleeding when Ares took her from the Guardians the other night. “They had the same weird, S-shaped things that cut me. They have blades on each end. One is gold, the other is silver.”
“Stangs,” Li snarled. “Aegis weapons. Fucking human scum.”
“Dammit,” Ares breathed. “Thanatos, talk to Reaver and set up that meeting with the Aegi now. We’re going to get some answers, and we’re going to get that damned hellhound away from them before they kill it.”
Limos’s amethyst eyes glittered. “They won’t kill it right away. They’ll experiment on it first.”
“And I’ll weaken while they do it.” Cara’s eyes lifted and clung to his until he felt as if he was drowning in them. Willingly, the way a human male could be lured to his death by a water nymph. “Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah.” He could sugarcoat the rest, but she already knew. And he’d never sugarcoated anything in his life. “You’ll weaken until you die and trigger the end of the damned world.”
You’ll weaken until you die and trigger the end of the damned world.
Cara wondered how many times she’d have to hear that before it truly sank in that the fate of mankind rested with her.
Blindly, she reached for Ares’s hand, not knowing fully why. Maybe because the guy with the pale yellow, hawklike eyes and an eyebrow piercing was staring at her and the raven-haired, violet-eyed woman had snarled about human scum, and right now Ares was the only ally she had.
If he could truly be called an ally.
She slid covert glances at the newcomers. The guy wasn’t as broad in the shoulders as Ares, a little slimmer all over, and his hair was much lighter and longer, but the similarities in the commanding way they held themselves, their angular features, and their intense expressions were striking. The girl was one of those women Cara had always hated; flawless skin, long, black lashes framing stunning eyes, and drop-dead gorgeous without a touch of makeup.
“So this is your brother? And sister?” Another Horseman And a… Horsewoman?
“That’s Thanatos.” Ares gestured to Yellow Eyes. “The female is Limos. They won’t hurt you.” Reaching down, he tugged the sheet up to cover her exposed chest. He shot a glance at his brother and sister. “Could we get a minute?” He sounded irritated, which was nothing new, Cara supposed.
“Yeah.” Thanatos eyed her, and she suddenly felt very na**d under the sheet. A growl-like noise rumbled out of his throat, and his voice went deeper. Rougher. “I need to… go. I’ll summon Reaver.”
“And I need to pack a few things if I’m going to babysit your human.” Limos adjusted the flower in her hair, and with a swipe of her fingers over her throat, the armor disappeared, leaving her in shorts, flip-flops, and a Hawaiian print top.
This situation just kept getting weirder and weirder. Strangely, Cara wasn’t freaked out by things that would have had her hyperventilating a couple of days ago. Just yesterday, actually.
A moment later, she and Ares were alone, and she peered around the sparsely decorated bedroom. “How did I get here? I don’t remember falling asleep.”
“I gave you a mild sedative.”
Mild? It felt more like he’d clobbered her with a bottle of whiskey. She rubbed her eyes, but it did little to clear away the sleep-haze. She realized she was still holding his hand, but she didn’t let go. In fact, she squeezed harder, needing an anchor. He stood there, looking vaguely confused, as if he wasn’t sure what to do.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” He tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t let him. He might still be a virtual stranger to her, but he was the most familiar thing around.
“For being here.” Idly, she smoothed her thumb over his. His hands were so rough, and yet, for all the times he’d manhandled her, he’d never hurt her. “Your brother and sister scare me.”
“They should.”
She sighed. “You really aren’t very good at giving comfort, are you?”
“I’m a warrior, not a nursemaid.” His tone was completely void of sympathy.
“No kidding,” she mumbled. “So why do they hate me? Your brother and sister.”
“They don’t hate you.”
“Right,” she said dryly, as she studied a scar in the web between his thumb and forefinger. How odd. If he was immortal, why would he have scars? “I must have slept through the warm hugs.”
Ares peeled her hand away and stepped back, flexing his fingers as though trying to rid them of her touch. “They don’t trust you. You’re human. Easily corrupted and brainwashed. Weak of mind and body.”
Weak. The word was a spear through the heart, completely obliterating the mild annoyance at the reminder that she’d been drugged without her knowledge. She’d been weak once, but she’d spent two years building herself back up. Therapy. Weightlifting. Self-defense classes. Not that any of her training had come in handy when she’d been attacked by the demon-slayer people. Fear had taken over, and in the midst of the terror, she’d forgotten most of what she’d learned about self-defense.
Well, she remembered now.
The mark between her br**sts throbbed as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and stood, not caring that her pajama top had fallen open. “I might not be some sort of biblical legend warrior guy, but I’m not completely helpless.”
“Against the beings in my world, you are.” His gaze raked her, pausing a little too long on her chest, and a sound broke from his lips, a whispered curse, she thought. “So you’ll listen to me and do what I say.”
“So that’s it? You drag me to your island, drug me, shove me in a room, and hold me prisoner?”
“That about sums it up.” He pivoted on his heel and started toward the door. “Go back to sleep so you can contact your hell mutt. We need to find out where The Aegis took him.”
Oh, no. She would not be held against her will again. Fury and frustration at her helplessness, her situation, and Ares made something inside her snap, and she launched herself. He spun and caught her easily as she struck out, and in a heartbeat, she found herself backed into the wall, his body pinning her, one hand gripping her shoulder, the other cupping her chin so she couldn’t so much as turn her head.
“I am the only thing standing between you and death,” he said through clenched teeth, “so I’d be a little more grateful if I were you.”
“Are you completely delusional?” She wriggled, but she might as well have been trying to move a boulder. “You want me to be grateful? Okay, how’s this? I’d be grateful if you’d find someone else to transfer this… this… agiwhatever to. I’d have been grateful if you had protected the fallen angel who had it so he didn’t need to give it to me. And I’d be really grateful if you released me.” She struggled more, and this time, his big arms bucked under her struggles, and after a brief flash of surprise in his expression, his grip grew firmer.
“Listen to me carefully, Cara.” His voice had gone quiet. Chillingly quiet. “Don’t ever use violence against me. Violence… excites me. You do not want to be part of that.”
His dark gaze narrowed, his jaw tightened, and for a moment, she thought she’d gone too far. After all, she didn’t know anything about the Horsemen beyond what she’d seen in the movies, read in books, or heard in Bible school so many years ago, and none of it was very flattering. Her heart pounded as her anxiety level rose, and then a subtle shift in his expression made her heart pound for a different reason.
He’d softened. Even his grip had loosened, and yet, he somehow had gotten closer. The brand between her br**sts drummed, and as she studied the pulsing vein in his temple, it occurred to her that the rhythm was the same as her own.
She became achingly aware of a dozen different sensations, including erotic energy radiating off him, and though the room was already warm, his weight, his heat… sent a fluid surge of lust to her very center.
And his mouth… she remembered putting her lips on him. Yes… when they’d been in the room with the ram-demon thing. They’d been talking, she’d had some water, and then… then she’d felt funny. A sudden clarity made her pulse roar in her ears.
“You said you put a sedative in the water!”
“I did.”
“Then why did it make me…” Heat blasted her cheeks.
“Horny?” he finished. “Orc-weed is an aphrodisiac for some species. For others, like humans, it’s a sedative. For you, apparently, it’s both.”
“Oh, isn’t that wonderful,” she snapped. “And you keep this date-rape drug handy… why?” Probably not the smartest thing to say to a man who was three times her size, and whose name was War, but she was tired of being a victim. Of being helpless. Helpless…“Oh, my God, you didn’t—”
“No, I didn’t,” he said, and was it wrong to notice again how good he smelled? Like leather and horse, warm sand and rich spice. “I wouldn’t have had to. You molested me on your own.”
“Because you drugged me!”
He shrugged, a slow roll of one massive shoulder. “Would have happened eventually. Females always yield to me.”
Yield? What. A. Jerk. “Female what? Demons?”
His thumb stroked her cheek, and she hated herself for liking it. “I prefer human females, but—” He gnashed his teeth so hard she heard the crack.
“But, what?” she pressed. “They’re too smart to put up with your crap?”
“I make them combative.”
“Well, gee, with your personality, I can’t imagine why that would be.”
Something sad flickered in his expression, but then it was gone, replaced by that ruthless cruelty again. “It’s my curse. When I’m around humans, they want to fight.”
She squirmed in his grip. “You think?”
His smile was both sensual and wicked. “This is normal fighting. You seem to be immune to my effect.”
“Really? Because you seriously piss me off.” He did other things to her, too, things he shouldn’t, but it seemed that when it came to him, her body and brain were divorced.
“Yeah. Really.” Amusement glittered in his eyes. “If you weren’t immune, you’d be insanely pissed for no reason, and you wouldn’t have any moments of rational thought.”
She wasn’t feeling very rational right now, that was for sure. “Am I the only human who isn’t affected? Is it because of the agimoney thing?” The mark grew hotter, and an intense energy spread over her skin and seeped into her veins, where it seemed to circulate through her entire body.
“Agimortus. And yes. Though Guardians are immune as well. They wear enchanted jewelry to ease the effect. I’m the reason they started enchanting their bling in the first place.”
He seemed proud of that. “Good for you.” She frowned, remembering how she’d thrown Sestiel across the York street so easily. “What else does the agitatus do that I should know about?” Yes, she knew she was pronouncing it wrong, but she was out of her element, and she wanted to have control over something, even if it was one little word.
“Nothing.”
“Is it possible that it could somehow make me stronger?”
“Why?”
“Because… I can’t really explain it, but I feel like I could lift an extra hundred pounds.”
His face darkened. “It’s killing you, so if anything, you should be weaker.”
God, how she hated that word. “Well, I’m not weaker. Now, tell me if there’s another way I can get rid of it besides transferring it to an angel.”
“There isn’t a way.”
“Do you have a computer? Books?”
He regarded her as if it was a trick question. “Why?”
“It’s called research, ancient biblical legend guy. I’m not going to sit by and do nothing. Maybe there’s something you’ve overlooked about getting rid of the agithing and getting unbonded to hellhounds.”
One eyebrow crawled up his forehead. “On the internet?”
She sniffed. “You can Google anything.” She ignored his snort. “Can you release me now?”
“I don’t know.” He leaned into her, and whoa… he had an erection to go with that low, husky voice. Her brain wasn’t sure if she should be seriously nervous or seriously aroused, but her body had made up its mind. Heat built between her thighs, her br**sts tightened, and her breath quickened. “Will you promise to do what I say? Because here’s the thing. You die, the world ends. You listen to me from here on out, because you’re nothing but a… a—” He scowled as if searching for the right word, and when he spoke again, his voice was little more than a snarl. “A pawn. You’re nothing but a pawn in this game, and I play to win.”