What a Goddess Wants (31 page)

She hit hard and couldn’t help her short scream. The demon had its arms wrapped tightly enough around her upper arms and chest to make it hard for her to breathe. But Tessa wasn’t about to play helpless victim this time.

“Tessa! Hang on!”

“Finish it, Cal!” He obviously needed more time to do whatever he was doing, and she’d give it to him.

“Hello again, Lady of the Golden Light.” The demon who’d tried to take her two days ago breathed in her ear. “How—
Ugh
.”

Tessa swung her head back hard and heard a satisfying crunch when her skull connected with the demon’s face. Of course, pain burst through her own head, making it difficult for her to think clearly.

Luckily, her flight response worked just fine. She scrambled away on her hands and knees, back to Cal. She knew he wasn’t far. She just—

“Tessa, over here!”

She course-corrected without thought, forcing herself onto her feet. She couldn’t see, fear making her blind. Her outstretched hands groped in front of her but she couldn’t find Cal.

Behind her, she heard the demon moving. They had to get out of here. Now.

Cal grabbed her hand and yanked. And then they were falling.

Chapter 12

Tessa fell, this time from a great height.

At least, she thought she did. The sensation of falling seemed to last forever. But when she hit the ground, she didn’t hit as hard as she’d thought she would. Part of the reason for that might have been because she fell on Cal.

He was ready for her, but she must have landed on a sensitive body part because the noise he made sounded… painful.

She tried to roll off him, but his arms came around her and held her tight. “Don’t move, Tess. Just… give me a minute.”

He sounded winded, which was exactly how she felt. Winded and tired. No, not tired. Drained.

Shit.

Looking around, she only saw mist. A blanket of it so thick that she could barely make out the hand she held in front of her face.

“Cal, I…”

Damn, what the hell could she say?

“What? What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Tessa, what’s wrong?”

She felt him shift beneath her, felt him reposition her, and then his hands began to slide all over her body. Checking for injuries.

This was no blind fumbling. He could see her just fine. She couldn’t see anything but the mist. Was it because of her weakening powers or just the fact that Cimmeria lay between the planes of existence?

“Cal, I can’t…”

“Can’t what?” His hands had reached her legs, and when he got to her feet, she heard him breathe a sigh of relief at not finding any broken bones or gaping wounds.

“I can’t see anything.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Well, no. It’s just all gray mist.”

Another sigh. “That’s okay, babe. You’re all right. You’ll get your vision back in a few minutes. Sometimes it takes a little while to adjust when you first come through. Especially the way I do it.”

“And that’s different from how others do it?”

“Yeah. Turns out the Etruscan blood gives me a unique way to travel between the planes. I can make shortcuts though a tree but it has to be at least a hundred years old. Not too many of those left in this area. We got lucky. The demon couldn’t follow us through, and if we’re really lucky, the thing will need a little while to figure out where we went and how to follow us. All of the gates into Cimmeria are well guarded. If it tries to come through another gate, the Sentinels will know.”

Good. All good. Except for that pesky energy drain.

Cal moved again, this time away from her. Her heart stopped for a brief second before he laid his hands on her shoulders and helped her to her feet. “We gotta get moving. I know you can’t see it yet but we’re on a path. We can follow this all the way to my parents’ house. It’ll take a little while but the mist will clear.”

She heard the confidence in his voice and forced a smile, hoping he wouldn’t see the strain behind it. “Then I guess we should be moving.”

He paused. “Do me a favor and close your eyes for a minute.”

Her lids fell closed immediately, and she had a brief second to wonder at how willingly she did anything he asked before his mouth closed over hers.

Heat flared, immediate and overwhelming. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t see him. Or maybe it was the fact that she’d fallen in love with him.

His lips touched hers, and she lost herself in his taste. Hot male. Dark, spicy, and all Cal.

Her arms wrapped around his shoulders and she clung, uncaring if it made her seem weak. He had strength enough for both of them. When he pressed open her lips and let his tongue slip inside her mouth, licking and teasing, she felt that strength seep inside her.

She sighed into his mouth, pressing closer. Her nipples hardened and peaked, rubbing against his muscled chest. She arched her back, needing more of him, and his hands swept from her shoulders down her back and to her ass as he lifted her to himself and against his bulging erection.

Her hips moved, her clit needing that pressure. If he rubbed just enough, at just the right angle, she’d come.

And, just that fast, she needed to come. She was panting for it, begging him for it with each gyration. He seemed to want the same thing, thrusting his cock against her, mimicking the sex act until both of them were panting.

When his hand fell to the button on the slim black pants he’d given her to wear, she leaned back just enough so he could open it and pull down the zipper.

Quick and dirty. She wanted to come with him buried deep inside her. Didn’t want to screw around with foreplay. She wanted him to fuck her.

Cal appeared to be on the same page.

He shoved down her pants and her underwear as his mouth ravaged hers. Then his hand left her and brushed against her thighs as he ripped at his pants. She could barely breathe but refused to give up his mouth. She had one hand cupped around his jaw, though he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. He kissed her with the same frantic passion she felt vibrating through her.

Tearing his mouth away, he spun her, guiding her hands forward until she braced herself against a smooth tree trunk.

“Bend forward, baby.” Cal’s hands gripped her waist. “Damn, you’re gonna be tight this way.”

With her pants around her ankles, she couldn’t spread her legs too far. Just far enough to let him in. He didn’t waste time with preliminaries, and she didn’t want him to.

She was wet and he was ready—

He thrust inside, sinking so deeply that she swore he couldn’t go any further. He proved her wrong by pulling out and doing it again. He set a hard pace, the sound of his thigh slapping against her ass erotically charged. His fingers dug into her hips, the sharp bite making her gasp. She loved it. Met him thrust for thrust. Wanted more.

He gave it to her. Every hard, wonderful inch.

Her breath sawed from her lungs, and she let her head hang down as she took him. Sensation popped and crackled through her nerves, muscles tightening as she drew closer to orgasm.

And drew more power from their joining.

“God, Tessa. Tell me you’re close.” Cal’s rough, deep rasp made her sheath clamp down on him, eliciting his groan. “I can’t last much longer.”

“Just don’t stop.” She heard the plea in her voice… and the breathless anticipation. “Please.”

He thrust harder. “Never. Gods damn, you feel so damn—”

With a gasp, she came, her body spasming with the strength of it. Pure bliss. Nothing had ever felt so right or so wonderful.

Until Cal groaned out her name and poured his seed into her.

She didn’t know how long it took for him to empty into her. For her orgasm to wind down to occasional spasms.

She only knew that when her arms wavered, Cal wrapped his arms around her waist and held her against him. Cal’s chest labored against her back, the fast-paced thudding of his heart arousing and comforting at the same time.

Her fingertips stroked along his arms as she felt her power returning.

A double-edged sword.

Opening her eyes, she now saw shades of gray instead of a solid blanket of it. After a few more minutes, she could actually make out forms.

Around them, trees towered up from the forest floor, the trunks dark brown, limbs reaching for a dusk-gray sky. Beneath them, grass grew, soft but not green. More like a pale brown.

With her head pillowed on Cal’s hard shoulder, she had no desire to move. But she knew this was only a temporary respite.

“Tessa. You okay?”

Cal capped his question with a bite to her earlobe. Just hard enough to bring up a quick lash of pain. She shivered and his arms tightened around her.

“I’m fine. I’m better than fine.”

“The trip through the gate took a lot out of you, didn’t you?’

She nodded, unwilling to tell him that the first rush of fuel from their sex was already starting to wane.

He didn’t ask any more questions, but he did hold her a little tighter for several more minutes. Making her heart ache just a little more with each breath.

Then, with a sigh, he turned her around so they could adjust their clothes. She felt his gaze follow her, sensed his worry in the heaviness of his breathing and the tenseness of his muscles.

Which merely heightened her own sense of impending doom.

“Tessa…”

When he didn’t finish his thought, she forced a smile, knowing he could see it, and lifted her hand to caress his cheek. “We should go. I’m anxious to meet your parents.”

He nodded, but she could tell he was still chewing over something in his head. “The village is about an hour’s walk from here. Sorry I couldn’t get us closer.”

“Cal.” She rested her fingers over his lips, cutting off anything else he might say. “You got us away from the demon and you got us here. That, in itself, is amazing.”

With a short nod, he grabbed her hand, pressed a kiss to her palm, and started walking.

***

The village, when it finally came into view through the trees, reminded Tessa of home. Of Tuscany.

Set into a slight hillside, the single-story homes sprawled away from their original footprints in haphazard directions, as if whoever had built them hadn’t cared one bit for aesthetics. Which they probably hadn’t.

Made of stone, the buildings had doorways but no doors and no glass in their many windows. Everything was open.

What light fell from the sky shone brighter here, and the mist that had settled over the forest dissipated until it could almost be considered bright.

They hadn’t spoken much on their walk, but Tessa couldn’t help asking, “How does the light get here?”

Cal stopped before they left the cover of the trees, holding onto her hand so she didn’t walk ahead. “It seeps in from the other planes. We have night and day, just like above. It’s just… diffused down here. Filtered.”

Which was why her strength was draining. Not a huge drain, only barely noticeable. But it
was
noticeable. She couldn’t help but wonder what she’d feel like in a week. A month.

And if she stayed here, safe and untouchable, would Charun move on to one of her sister goddesses?

Yes, they’d been warned, but what if Charun caught one of them? What if, instead of running and hiding like a coward, she should have stayed with them? Would they have had better luck banding together and trying to find some way to get Charun off their backs? To convince him his plan was destructive and possibly world ending?

“Tessa?”

Cal’s urgent tone had her lifting her head to smile at him, but the dark look on his face wiped her smile right off.

“Let me do the talking,” he said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

She wanted to believe that. She really did. But she knew it wouldn’t be.

“Caligo. What the hell are you doing skulking around the perimeter of the village? Good way to get yourself killed. I taught you better.”

Cal didn’t turn from her right away. He stiffened and took a deep breath, his gaze locked to hers. Only when she gave him another smile did he finally turn to face the speaker.

Tessa couldn’t see around Cal and would have been content to wait until he introduced her, but when Cal said, “Nice to see you, too, Father,” she leaned to the right.

And felt her mouth drop open for a brief second before she could catch it.

Well, now. Weren’t all the men of Cal’s family just too handsome for words. The man had dark hair so black that it had blue highlights and eyes a deep charcoal gray.

His face had more rugged angles than X’s or Cal’s did but, Great Mother Goddess, the man was gorgeous. She absolutely saw what had made his mate give up her place in the sun for him. Especially when Diritas’s mouth quirked at one corner. Yummy.

He still looked pretty pissed off. But, if she had to guess, she’d say the bad-ass stance was mostly a front because his eyes looked happy. Happy to see his son.