Cursing Athena (Order Of Seven) (3 page)

The reaction he got was not the one he expected.

She stiffened and pulled away, her small gasp muffled by the oblong mask. Clearly uneasy about something, a heavy dose of anxiety flowed off of her in waves.

“Oh,” she said hesitantly. “I’m…I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I’m not allowed to take off the mask while I’m on duty.”

Ty frowned, and narrowed his eyes.
The hell with that.
“Unacceptable. I’m a paying customer, and I want to see you with the mask off.” He leaned forward again, reveling in her delectable scent as he spoke. “Besides, I’d bet good money you’re dying to tear the damn thing off. Am I right?”
Sweet Aphrodite!
What he wouldn’t give to lean forward and lick that sweet smelling skin. He was sure she’d taste every bit as good as she smelled.

A set of large, otherworldly eyes stared back at him for several moments, and he watched with complete satisfaction as she reluctantly set her tray on the table and slowly pulled the offending piece of plastic from her head.

Great Zeus above!
The sight of her perfectly built frame and delicious scent had started a fire burning deep within him the moment he’d laid eyes on her. But the sight of her beautiful face brought forth a raging inferno that sent his blood boiling and his heart thundering against his ribs. The lion within roared, begging to be freed. Heat scored every inch of his flesh, the mad rush synonymous with shifting consuming his immortal body like a flash fire.
Godsdammit!
His beast wanted out—wanted her. He needed to get a hold of himself, or shit would get ugly—fast.

Painfully aroused and helpless to do anything about it, he shifted in his seat, sucked in a deep breath and willed himself to remain calm. An impossible task, it seemed.

The tiny blonde was sheer perfection from head to foot. Her delicate features were perfectly formed. Full, pouty lips, high cheekbones and…
fuck
…a set of impossibly large blue eyes he found himself wanting to get lost in stared back at him with a mixture of anxiety and thanks.
By the Gods!
She had him dangerously on edge. It would be so easy to forget himself, give in to his passion and have his way with her if she was willing (and she would be), but he knew it wasn’t an option.

Athena be damned!
Why was this happening to him now? His mission was set—his purpose clear: find and kill the Hirudo demon before more innocents were slain. Finding his life mate was not on the menu.

Ty shook his head as he silently reasoned with himself. There was nothing wrong with having a good long look at the female, nothing wrong with appreciating her perfectly formed figure. But, it was another thing altogether to start something with her while he was working. He had to stay focused. He was going to track down the body-jumping parasite that had been feasting on the good people of Arcane for the past two weeks and dole out a punishment that would make Prometheus’s fate look like a cake walk. Which meant, he didn’t have time for distraction. Even from a possible life mate.

Her soft voice was like a brush of silk against his sensitized skin, a siren call that drowned out all reason, made him forget himself, his purpose. “Oh, my God.” She made a show of fanning herself, then reached for a napkin to wipe her face. “That mask is so…oh…it’s just awful.” Lips mashed together, she cast a series of worried glances over her shoulder.

Ty frowned. Was she nervous? Afraid? Why? Was her boss really that much of a tyrant that he wouldn’t allow his employees to break character, even for a few minutes?

He clenched his jaw, fighting to maintain control of his base urges.
Great Zeus!
Even with a delicate sheen of sweat coating her skin, she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. Her movements were both fluid and graceful as she reached up and removed the pins that held her hair in a tight bun. Her long, blond hair fell down past her shoulders in gentle waves.

A powerful surge blasted through him and he shifted in his seat, desperately trying to ease the painful bulge straining against the seam of his pants. Ty swallowed hard and gave her a single nod. “My pleasure.”

With a gentle smile, she held out her hand. “My name is Danika. It’s nice to meet you…”

It was clear she wanted him to give her his name by the expectant look in her eye, and the hand she held toward him. The pressure to provide her with an answer lingered in the air like a bad stench.
Fuck.
He needed to quit dicking around and get with the program. Getting personal was
so
not on the menu. Not with a body-hopping demon on the loose. Until he executed the monster the local news referred to as The Arcane Slasher, getting cozy with anyone was out of the question.

Chapter 4

Ty sat back in his chair, crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “Sorry,
mikroula
. I’m here on business. No time to make nice with you.”

Disappointment flashed across Danika’s face for a brief moment, her delicate features finally settling into what looked like a forced smile. Her rapid change of emotion had happened so fast no one but Ty would have been able to see it. With his quick reflexes and keen eyesight, he’d been able to pick up on her fleeting sadness. It pained him to cause her grief, but he didn’t have a choice. Becoming involved with anyone while he was on a mission was simply out of the question.

With a shrug and a sigh, she slid her tray from the table, haphazardly plopping her mask on top. “Okay then, Mr. No Name. Hope you enjoy your evening. I’ll be back in a bit to—”

A rough, grating voice filled the air, cutting Danika off mid sentence. “And just what do you think you’re doing with your mask off, sweetheart?”

Danika stiffened, the forced smile she wore quickly morphing to an expression of panic. She snatched her mask from her tray with a shaky hand. “I-I’m sorry, Tony,” she stuttered. “I…”

Short, greasy and stupid, the Tony character jabbed a finger toward her, a vicious sneer painted across his face. “I don’t want to hear you’re sorry. You know the rules. You are never to break character while you’re on the clock. I should fire you right now.” He stepped back and crossed his arms, leering at her with a smug grin drawn across his thin-lipped mouth.

So, the douchebag is her boss.
Ty grimaced and shook his head. It was plain as day the asshole was getting off on making Danika squirm, and dammit, he was not having it.

“I told her to take it off,” Ty said. He leaned forward and glared at the greasy pipsqueak who had mistakenly assumed he was in control. Small dogs tended to compensate for their tiny size by barking loud and long, and Tony was no different. Her yippy boss was in serious need of a muzzle—and maybe a shock collar.

Living up to his small dog classification, Tony foolishly stepped forward with his chest puffed out, apparently ready to put Ty in his place. “And just who the hell are you to make decisions regarding
my
employees?”

With an eyebrow raised, Ty rose from his seat to stand at his full height of six-foot-six. Jaw clenched, hands balled into fists, he towered above Tony, who in comparison looked like a scrawny weakling. Ty stepped forward, his massive frame mere inches from the overconfident club owner, and glared down at him through a haze of red. A low growl emanated from deep within his chest, the lion within hungry for a choice helping of asshole on a stick.
Bring it, numbnuts.

Ty was more than willing to throw down with Greasy Boy if that’s what it took, but something told him a gratuitous display of machismo would send Danika running in the opposite direction. He didn’t want her to think badly of him. Why that was, he didn’t know.

Scratch that. He did know; he just didn’t want to cop to the possibility that Danika might be his life mate. The timing was all wrong. With a parasitic killer on the loose, sex and romance were out of the question. Still, the urge to protect the blond ingénue was strong—damn strong. And his brothers
were
trolling the city at that very moment, also in search of the demon. Surely he had a few minutes to spare to ensure Danika would be okay.

Resisting the urge to pummel the lecherous bastard, he decided instead to play on the owner’s obvious greed. Pulling out a thick wad of cash, Ty tossed several large bills onto the table and eyed the club owner with disdain. “I’m someone who is prepared to spend a lot of money in your establishment. I don’t appreciate your tone or the way you’re eyeballing your employee. I suggest you back off my shit right now or I’ll put you in your place. You hearing me?”

Tony, clearly nervous and sweaty, adjusted his suit jacket and ran a hand through his oily hair. His gaze shifted from Ty to Danika, then back to Ty again. “Yeah…okay then. We’re cool.” He snatched up the wad of bills and crammed them into his pants pocket, then gestured toward Danika. “You won’t be needing your mask for the rest of the night, anyway. You’re working the chair. C’mon. Let’s go.”

Danika paled and exhaled an uneven breath. “The chair? But…” Large tears welled in her eyes and she shook her head back and forth frantically. “I don’t work the chair, Tony. You promised me I wouldn’t have to.”

The growing panic emanating from the blond beauty chipped away at the barrier Ty was determined to keep between them. Why was she so upset? What was this chair thing she and Tony were referring to? From her less than pleased reaction, whatever it was couldn’t be good.

“I don’t care what I told you,” Tony said while blatantly leering at his employee. “Alexei Karpos has requested a lap dance from you, and you’re going to give it to him.”

“Alexei?”

Ty followed Danika’s gaze as it traveled toward the club’s VIP section. Her eyes settled on a squatty, pot-bellied thug who appeared to be of European descent. Flanked by two meatheads dressed in matching suits, the man licked a set of thin lips before blowing Danika a kiss.

Gasping, Danika quickly turned her back to the oversexed sleazebag and faced Tony, her ivory skin now a sickly green color. “But…but…he beat Charity last week. And Raven said he held a knife to her throat the two nights ago. He…he hurts women, Tony. How can you—”

The neon lights from the dance floor reflected off the bevy of gold rings gracing Tony’s pudgy fingers as he waved his hand through the air. “Enough.” He stepped forward and placed a hand beneath Danika’s chin and raised a brow. “Money talks, sugar. You want to keep your job, you’ll work the chair and show the man a good time. Capice?”

The tears that had threatened to spill forth moments ago now glistened down the length of Danika’s ivory cheeks in slick, uneven tracks. Breaths coming in shallow pants, she white-knuckled her tray with one hand and covered her mouth with the other, fear shining clear as day behind her sky blue eyes.

Fuck this shit.

A low growl rumbled from deep within Ty’s chest, his beast threatening to spring forth and tear the greasy club owner into a pile of shredded flesh.

He wasn’t about to sit back and allow the slimy douche to bully his frightened angel into performing a kinky sex dance for a known abuser. It was obvious the idea of performing a lap dance scared her to death, let alone performing one for a known monster. Not to mention, the very thought of Danika straddling another man made him want to go on a killing spree. It didn’t matter that she was a stranger to him. The pull he felt to shield and protect her was strong, and he was helpless to do anything but give in to its call.

Great Zeus above!
It had been ages since he’d been with a woman. Consumed by his work, he’d no time to dally with the fairer sex. But now… The desire, the burning ache to lay siege to this sweet siren’s body with his hands, with his mouth, was almost too much. What he wouldn’t do to taste that sweet skin of hers, to sheath himself deep within her slick warmth and find comfort, solace from his eternal nightmare, to forget—even if only for one night, one hour.

The idea of being able to ease his burden, the lure of finding a safe place to land for a few hours
…shit...
for an eternity, was beyond enticing. And Danika…
Sweet, Blessed Aphrodite!
She was the epitome of perfection. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d experienced such a powerful reaction to a female. In fact, he was damn sure he’d never felt such an elemental pull.

He shook his head and groaned.
Stay focused, Ty. Keep to your mission!

Blatantly ignoring his voice of reason and sense of duty, Ty widened his stance, crossed his arms over his chest and inclined his chin toward the greedy club owner. “I’ll double whatever this Alexei character has paid you. The girl stays with me.”

Tony’s eyes widened, appearing as though they might pop out of his skull. The corner of his mouth pulled back as he adjusted his suit jacket and puffed out his chest. “You don’t have the kind of cash it takes to buy her time.”

Ty gnashed his teeth together and spoke through gritted teeth. “Try me.”

Tony tugged at the sleeves of his suit jacket and raised a crooked brow, eyes alight with greed. “Two grand—cash.”

A soft gasp came from Danika’s direction, her empty serving tray clattering to the floor.

Ty bent over and quickly retrieved the wayward piece of plastic. He mouthed the words “it’s okay” and “trust me” as he eased the tray into her shaky hands. There was no doubt in his mind he’d regret his actions later, but right now, his only motivation was to protect the gentle beauty trembling in front of him.

Eyes glassy and full of tears, she mashed her quivering lips together in a desperate attempt to hold in a sob. Her efforts were in vain, a ragged gasp blowing past her lips moments later.