Rogue Soul (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 3) (21 page)

Cam’s head buzzed with possibility as they walked across the rolling green lawn toward Esha’s tower at the far edge of the campus. The night was so silent compared to the jungle that it made his skin itch. A pale moon illuminated the damp green grass, and it made him ache for the Amazon.

“So, what do you think?” Ana asked, nearly hopping in her excitement.

“I know what you’re thinking. But I don’t know. I doubt he’s powerful enough.”
 

It’d be the perfect conclusion to this. Someone to take both their places in Otherworld. But it was unlikely. He wasn’t being cocky. Being a war god took an extraordinary strength of will and a desire to succeed above all else. And skill in war. In all his years as a god, he’d only ever met one person who had what it took.
 

Ana.
 

“But it’s Logan Laufeyson,” Ana said. “You heard how she talked about him.”

“Yeah. And though I’ve never met him, I have heard of him. Centuries ago when I was living in northern Canada.”

“News traveled all the way up there?”

“Some news. I listened particularly for news like that. Even I was impressed with what I heard. But he’d have to agree to become a god.”
 

She sighed, and they trudged along. “I’m operating under the assumption that we’re going to convince this guy to take my place, okay?”

He nodded. He doubted it would work—when had anything been that easy?—but even he couldn’t fully crush the hope that had started squatting in his chest as soon as Fiona had mentioned the man. From what Cam remembered, if anyone on earth was qualified, it was Logan Laufeyson. Lucky as hell he wasn’t dead.

They arrived at the base of the round stone tower that sat near the forest a few hundred yards from the rest of the campus buildings. Cam pushed opened the door for Ana, his eyes following her inside. Christ, he liked looking at her.

“Oh, chivalry,” she teased as she climbed the spiral stair to her friend’s apartment.
 

He followed behind her, not particularly excited to be spending the night in the home of a soulceress. It was an eerie feeling, having his strength drained away like that. All Mytheans had something extra in their souls, a power that gave them immortality and whatever other strengths were inherent to their species. Esha fed upon that power. And there was nothing he could do about it, which he despised.

But Ana trusted her, and the flat was one of the safest places in the world. Not only was it on the university campus, no Mythean would come to a place where their immortality was drained away by the resident. Even the gods would be affected here.

They reached the top of the stairs and Ana burst through the door without knocking. She leapt over the scruffy black cat sprawled in front of the door. Cam followed suit with a less excited step.

“Gods, I’m so glad you’re here!” Esha said from where she stood in the kitchen of her open-plan flat. She eyed Cam suspiciously, which he figured was par for the course. People didn’t normally take to him easily.

“Gods damn it, this stupid thing isn’t working!” a feminine voice exclaimed.

Cam glanced toward the living room to see a small woman who was all shades of gold—skin, hair, eyes—sitting on the floor in front of the couch, glaring at the glowing screen of a tablet. Her short hair stuck out at all angles, like she’d been shoving her hand through it.

“Hey, Aurora,” Ana said to the woman.

“Huh?” Aurora jerked her head up. After a moment, her eyes cleared. “Hi, Ana. Sorry, I was so distracted I barely even noticed you come in. This stupid tablet is giving me hell.”

“Tablet? I’ve never seen one.” Ana’s voice brightened and she veered toward Aurora. “Show me.”

Aurora handed over the device and explained the problem while Ana ran her fingers over it, fascination evident on her face.

“You should have seen them last month,” Esha said. “They were playing with a flashlight like it was the most advanced technology on earth.”

A grin tugged at Cam’s mouth. Ana really did love technology. Probably because there was nothing like it in Otherworld. Her happiness and fascination were magnetic. He glanced at the other woman whose golden eyes were so like Esha’s.

“Your sister?” he asked.

Esha nodded.

“Here.” Ana handed the tablet back to Aurora, reluctance in her voice.

“Thanks. Hey, Esha? I’m going back to my place. I left the instruction manual over there. I’ll see you tomorrow.” After saying goodbye to Ana and looking at Cam questioningly, she departed.

Ana looked at Esha. “I’m going to get a shower, okay?”

“Sure. Hang on a sec.” Esha turned and rummaged through her fridge, then spun back around and handed over a bottle with a grin. “Here’s a beer.”
 

“Score. Shower beer is the best.”

“True story. Sorry I don’t have any donuts or we’d have the perfect dinner.”

“Well, I saw you’ve got the
Die Hard
movies on your shelf, so we could still have the perfect night.” Ana waggled her eyebrows.

“That I do. We can watch one when you’re out.”

“Awesome.” Ana shot Esha a grin over her shoulder that hit Cam in the chest, punched through his ribs, and yanked on his heart. Seeing her at ease, in her element with her friends. Shit, it did something to him. Something dangerous. She took so much joy in life and in other people. He loved that about her, but it gave him the strangest empty feeling. Like loneliness. He shook the thought away. He might be a loner, and his life might lack the joy Ana felt at being with her friend, but he wasn’t
lonely.
That was ridiculous.

“Can I get you something, Cam?” Esha’s voice cooled when she addressed him.

He turned to catch her still eyeing him suspiciously, then caught sight of the cat doing the same, his citrine eyes offering threats along with distrust. He was big, with a tomcat face and disheveled fur.

“Ah, beer. Thanks. Mind if I take a seat?” Cam shifted on his feet, feeling eerily like he’d stepped into the den of some kind of predator.

“Sure.” She snagged a beer out of the fridge and handed it to him. The sound of water singing through the pipes emitted from the bathroom. Esha sprawled in the chair across from him, but it wasn’t hard to see that the sprawl was an act. “So you and my friend have a history.”

Here it comes.
He sipped his drink. Nodded.

“A fucked-up history, from what I’ve heard.”

He nodded again and she gave him an appraising look.

“Hmm. Didn’t expect you to admit it,” she said.

“Well, you’re right. It’s fucked up.”
 

“You gonna unfuck it up?”

“What do you mean?” But shit, he knew what she meant. Exactly what he’d been fearing since Ana showed up on his river.

Esha’s amber eyes now glowed with the same aggression that shone from her eerie cat. “Get her the fuck out of Otherworld. She hates it. No.” She shook her head and gestured. “She doesn’t just hate it. It’s killing her, from the inside out. She was a fucking mortal. Skilled and driven and strong enough to be a god, but not built for it. Not inside. She’s so lonely in Otherworld that her soul is withering.”
 

Cam’s grip tightened on the beer bottle as some invisible force squeezed his ribs. At first he thought it was her magic, just a hit to convince him she was serious.
No need, lady.

But then he realized it was him, because he was fucking agreeing with her. Guilt was a live thing in his chest, filling him up until he nearly strangled on it. He was responsible for what had happened to Ana. For all the loneliness and misery in her life.

He’d made the decision before he’d ever set foot in Esha’s tower, but only now was he accepting it. He’d go back to Otherworld to save her. No question. He could hardly live with himself now, knowing how lonely she’d been in Otherworld. She was too bright and fun and lively to be in a place like that.

But the idea of going back, to that place where he’d tried and failed, made him sweat. He prayed that Logan Laufeyson was strong enough for the task and wanted the job, because if he wasn’t, Cam’s own life was about to get a hell of a lot more miserable.
 

Going back to Otherworld—well, shit. He supposed he’d been headed in this direction, he just hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.

“I’ll fix this,” he said.
 

Esha seemed to see the truth in his eyes and she relaxed. The cat didn’t, and Cam had a feeling that the bruiser would be glaring at him all night. It hissed, like it could read his thoughts, and he glared back.
 

“The Chairman likes you,” Esha said.

He raised a brow.

“Yeah, just fucking with you. He’d eat you if he were big enough. But I trust you to take care of this. Because if you don’t…”

Then he did feel something squeeze around his chest. And his legs, arms, head. His vision temporarily blacked out, and claws of panic pierced his heart while his muscles strained to break free. When the pressure finally released and he opened his eyes, he had to force himself not to gasp in front of her.

“So we’re on the same page.” Esha gave an eerie but genuine smile. “Can I get you another beer?”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Keane Hotel, Inverness, Scotland, Present Day

“I can’t believe she wasn’t there,” Ana said as she crossed the street with Cam toward their Inverness hotel. A cold drizzle exacerbated her pissy mood.

“She’ll be there tomorrow.” He held open the door of the hotel for her.

“Yeah. It’s just so anticlimactic. We’re so close, and we came up empty.” After waking late at Esha’s—Cam on the couch and Ana in Esha’s bed with her friend and the space hog of a cat—they’d driven north all afternoon until they’d reached Inverness.

“Tomorrow,” Cam said.

Ana looked around the lobby of the hotel. She’d never have guessed it was another Mythean hotel, complete with protections, from the look of the place. A shining wood registration desk and plush couches decorated the space. It looked like any other mortal hotel in the city.
 

“Let’s head to the pub,” Cam said after they’d checked in.

“What, you’ve got business down there?”

“No, just thought you’d like to go out. Live a little.”

Her head swung toward him and she took in his not-quite-casual stance. “Just for fun?”

He nodded.
 

Huh. He’d really been listening when she’d talked about her trips to earth and wanting to live as much as she could. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“They’ve got some local whiskeys I’ll bet you’ve never tried. But no getting drunk.” He smiled. “One glass only, so we stay alert.”

It felt warm and fuzzy and strange to do something so normal with him. But maybe that was the point. They had no idea what was coming tomorrow. She knew what she hoped for. But there was no guarantee. One last night—the only night—when they wouldn’t think about what was coming.

She smiled. “Yeah, all right.”

They walked into the crowded pub in the basement of the hotel a few minutes later and managed to find a seat by the old wooden bar. The beauty of the hotel’s protection charm was that if someone sought out another with ill intent, he wouldn’t be able to find them. Not even if they were standing right in front of his face. The place was dark and low ceilinged, all wood and leather, dingy in the way of a beloved old pub that hadn’t needed to change to keep its clientele coming.
 

Clientele which, she noted while looking around, were quite strange. Most were human-passing Mytheans, but more than a couple looked like creepy movie extras. But then, it was the only Mythean watering hole in town, so if they wanted a drink, this was it.
 

When she finally turned back to the bar, Cam was holding out a heavy glass of golden liquid. One corner of his mouth was kicked up in a sexy grin. She swallowed hard and reminded herself that she had the control of a saint.
 

Sure.

“Thanks.” She raised her glass to his, caught his eyes and then her breath, and finally found the focus to take a sip. “It’s good.”

He nodded, and they sat on the barstools with their backs to the bar so that they could people watch.

“Not too different from your jungle bars, is it?” she asked.

“Nah. Just needs a fight ring out back to be perfect. A few of these fellows could stand to work out some of their aggression.” He gestured to a group roaring over a football match on the telly.
 

“Work out something else, more like,” Ana said as she caught sight of a couple groping each other in a darkened corner. A flash of jealous heat streaked through her. She glanced at Cam. Her state of mind was contagious, and the dark heat in his gaze made her turn away from him and sip her whiskey to get control of herself.

But when had alcohol ever made one wiser or less prone to their baser instincts?
 

A man stepped up next to her on the side away from Cam. He caught her eye and grinned. He was handsome, and nearly as big as Cam. But he left her cold.

“Buy you a drink when that’s finished?” he asked.