He chuckled. “Technically, he’s not a demigod because both his parents are gods. Now, Gilgamesh, on the other hand…”
“Flame. Don’t care. You can give me the politically correct version later. I need you to get me to the,” she waved her hands above her head, “wherever we need to get to, right away.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and raised a blond brow. “And how will you get in?”
She gave him a faint smile. “I have a plan.”
“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”
Dagan had always liked that particular human verse. He thought it appropriate under the circumstances. His entire body felt as though it had been plowed over by a herd of the
mredí
, a form of elephant indigenous to his planet, and his head felt ten times too big because his brain had swelled and would break out of his skull any minute. It took the last vestiges of his strength to drag clothes over his bruised body and all his willpower to do it without waking Reese and making love to her again.
As before, he appeared fully armed and in his general time walker attire, not wanting to give a quarter in this battle. A show of strength if nothing else.
The members of the Pantheon were seated in their proper regal positions when he arrived. Strolling forward to the bottom of the arena, he bowed before them as was proper.
“So, Time Walker, again you come before us well-armed. Is that to suggest that you will fight our decision?” Ki purred.
He stayed silent. She would not bait him into a scene of insolence to add to the pile of charges the Pantheon already held against him.
A soft chuckle from somewhere behind him announced the presence of Inanna.
“You are bold, Dagan. I will give you that. Still, you disobeyed orders to relinquish the protection of Reese Whittaker.” She stopped in front of him. “Do you deny this?”
“No, my lady.”
“No,” An stated. “As well you should not since we are fully aware that you performed the
démarr
without our sanction. And with a human.”
“And I would do it again, my king.”
“You are insolent,” Ki offered.
“He is my son,” Enlil announced.
His father’s outburst stunned Dagan.
Inanna said, “We know his bloodline, Enlil. But this deed cannot go unpunished. This matter had been discussed and still he chose to ignore the order.”
“To perform the sacred ritual with a human is unheard of and will not be allowed.”
“Well it’s too late and you better damn well get used to it.”
Her voice bounced with the acoustics in the arena. What the hell was Reese doing here?
The king stood. “How dare you enter this hall,
human
.”
“Don’t give me that human crap,” Reese threw back. “I’m not your servant and neither is he.”
Reese came to stand by his side. She grazed her fingers across his.
“How did you get in here?” Ki asked.
He noticed the sideways glance Reese cast at Enki, who sat silently in the upper tier watching the scene with interest.
“What matters is that I am here and I’m not going away. I’m his mate. We have performed your ritual, done the deed, and now we’re bound together as per your customs.”
Reese paced before the gathering. “I love Dagan and he loves me. Why is that not enough for you? Because I’m human. You say it as if the word sticks to your tongue.” She glared at Inanna. “I’ll tell you this. We were good enough to do everything for you when you could not do for yourselves. We tended the fields, brought sacrifices so you could sit on your lazy butts and rake in what humanity toiled.” She lifted a brow then frowned at them. “Not to mention, at least some of you have taken it upon yourselves to dally with humans over the ages, but that’s okay, even if children are produced.” Reese shook her head. “I must say, that’s a poor example you so-called gods present.”
Dagan had to fight to keep the smile from curling his lips. Her chin rose in defiance.
“Get the guards,” Ki roared. “Have this female thrown out.”
Dagan grabbed Reese’s arm and pulled her to his side. Facing the Pantheon he growled, “No one will touch her.”
Inanna’s temper flared. “Are you not in enough trouble already? You would stand against us? Surely you know you cannot win.”
“He would not stand alone.” Enki finally stepped down. Enlil and Ninmah stood with him.
“We have made our decision,” Reese said.
He tried to keep her behind him, but she shook her head and squeezed his hand before stepping in front of Enki.
“Dagan feels very strongly about his duty as a time walker. I respect this as should you. I won’t ask him to give up his duties and he hasn’t asked me to change my life for him. He chose to take the risk of giving up his life to protect me and has done this time and again for all other humans he protects against Kur and his army.”
Nammu moved forward and everyone in the room lost some of the bluster. “What are you saying, my child?”
Reese blew out a breath. “I’m saying that he wants to continue as a time walker and he’s a damn good one. You need him.”
“And what of you?”
“I’ll continue to do my work as an archeologist on Earth.”
The mother of them all floated toward the center. A frown captured her brows and lips. “You would separate yourself from him, your
blethred
?”
A strand of hair had fallen into her bright eyes. “We haven’t worked out all the details yet.”
“Dagan, have you not explained to your woman about the
fury
and how it affects our race?”
Dagan bowed low before Nammu. “We were otherwise engaged.” He straightened and sent a devilish grin Reese’s way. She blushed.
Turning his attention back to Nammu he said, “First, I had not planned on ever seeing her again. We haven’t had time to discuss the rest for I was uncertain as to what would happen when I came here.”
“That is sound thinking on your part.” She walked over to Reese and framed her face in both hands. “You are so beautiful, with quite the temper.” Winking, she said, “Keep a leash on it. Control is what you will need to handle this one.” She pointed to Dagan.
Reese smiled and shot him a quick glance.
Nammu stood regally before Enki, Enlil and Ninmah. “You three seem to always manage to have ruckus surround you.” Moving closer to Enlil, she scolded. “He has your traits engrained in him.”
“That he does, Great Mother.”
“Enki, you created this problem so long ago, and now, in a roundabout way, you bring us a new weapon to fight against it.”
“Only too happy to help, Great Mother,” Enki offered, his lips twisting in wry humor.
“An,” Nammu called.
“Yes, Great Mother.” He appeared instantly at her side.
“I have witnessed the pain and agony Dagan has suffered not only over the last couple of days, but before. I decree that it is more than enough punishment for his crime.”
“But…”
She held up her hand. “We must come to terms with the facts. We created then interacted with the humans. Lines get blurred, laws change; it is the way of things.” Nammu faced the rest of the Pantheon. “However, this does warrant close attention. We have no idea what other surprises await. Mankind is an evolving species and no longer limited to our rules.”
An bowed. “Yes, Great Mother.”
“Dagan, take your woman from this place. Explain to her the extent of our race and the
fury
.”
“As you wish, Great Mother.” He grabbed Reese’s elbow and escorted her toward the door.
“But…” Reese protested.
“Not now, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear.
Dagan scurried Reese as quickly as he could back to his dwelling. He closed and locked the door.
“Well that was interesting,” she said as she moved farther into the room.
“Quite.” He followed in her wake, dropping his weapons along the way.
She turned, recognizing the all-too-familiar look in his eyes. She squealed and took off running with him in chase.
He caught up to her in one long hallway, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her against his rock hard body. He inhaled her incredible scent and rubbed his already swollen cock against her behind.
“Did you mean what you said?” His hot breath sent shivers across her skin.
“What?” She groaned when his hand caressed her breast through her shirt.
His free hand unbuttoned her jeans and then unzipped them, sliding his hand down the front and into her panties. “That you would be willing to find a way to make this work…us?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
She gently rocked her pelvis.
“Good,” he murmured against her neck.
My woman.
Easing his fingers from her, Dagan picked Reese up and carried her to his bed where they stayed for the rest of the day and well into the night.
Hours later when Reese woke, the darkness swelled and the bed was empty. “Dagan?”
“I am here.” His voiced drifted from the dark.
She scooted up to rest her back against the headboard and pulled the covers over her nakedness. “What are you doing?”
He moved into the dim light coming from the windows. “Watching you sleep.”
“Oh.” She grinned, liking the thought of him watching her in slumber. It was kind of a turn-on. “Shouldn’t you get some rest?”
“Soon enough.” He sat on the bed. “I’ve been thinking about us…our situation.”
She bit her lip. “So have I.”
His brows shot up. “You have?”
“Yes.” She grasped his hand.
He sighed. “I do not want to stop being a time walker.”
“I understand that and would not ask you to.”
Laying his forehead against hers he said, “I will be gone for long periods of time.”
“When I’m on a dig I’m gone for months and months. It’s no different.” She cupped his face in her hands. “Maybe I can stay here for a while. I can do as Enki suggested and take some lessons from Gilgamesh.”
He shot her a disgruntled frown. “No.”
“But…”
“No, Reese. If there is any teaching to be done, it will come from me. He will not touch you.”
She heaved a sigh. “Dagan, he will be teaching me to fight, which would involve touching, but not groping.”
“The Great Mother told me to teach you our ways. One thing you should learn about bonded males is that we have little tolerance for another male touching our mates.”
Irritated she said, “And you should get used to the fact that I don’t take orders well, nor do I hold to that jealousy crap. I love you and we are married, in a sense, but if I want to hug Joe or Geoffrey or some of my other male acquaintances, I will do it.”
He absently toyed with a strand of her hair. “I carry weapons.”
She batted his hand away. “Let’s get one thing straight, big boy. The rules that dictated the Naruki lives are changing. You should realize when you’ve lost an argument and you’ve lost this one.”
“So we are at an impasse.”
“No, we’re at a turning point. We’ll take it one day at a time and see where that leads us.”
“Here, angel.” He pulled a solid gold, beautifully hand-carved bracelet out of nowhere and presented it to her.
“It’s gorgeous.”
“Since we have agreed to try and work this unusual relationship out, I had it made for you.”
She lifted it into the faint light to see it better. “These stones are extraordinary.”
“They mine them from deep in Mount Cradacus.”
“What is Mount Cradacus?”
“It’s the most active and volatile volcano in existence.”
She tilted her head. “I’ve never heard of it.”
He chuckled. “It’s unseen by the human eye. It lies here in Dilmun. It’s where Pyre forges our weapons.”
Reese slipped the bracelet on her wrist. “Oh.” The bracelet grew warm and set off a humming vibration. “What’s it doing?”
An odd smile touched his lips before he clutched her hips and shifted her back down to the bed and settled his body atop hers.
“It has been enchanted and attuned to me. When I have to be away from you, it will let you know I’m coming back. When it gets warmer and starts to hum, you’ll know I’m not far.”
A smile curved her lips. “Really?”
He interlocked his fingers with hers and kissed her gently, tenderly. “Wear it always,
reskar
.”
About the Author
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