Awakened (Eternal Guardians Book 8) (32 page)

“Well?” Across the suite where he’d stood with his arms crossed over his chest while he’d observed the medical exam, Ari stared at the healer with his eerily mismatched eyes. “Did you figure anything out, Callia?”

Cerek shrugged into the black button-down his father—now there was a title he’d never get used to—had given him when they’d arrived at the castle. He didn’t like being a specimen, and he liked even less that the Argonaut—father or not—wouldn’t let Cerek out of his sight. Especially when all Cerek wanted to do was find Elysia.

“I don’t think it’s a block,” the healer answered. “It’s as if his memory has been completely wiped. I can’t find anything to access, even if we wanted to.”

“So he’ll never get his memory back?” Ari asked.

“No, I’m sorry,” Callia said.

Across the room, Ari’s jaw tightened. “What else?”

“Well, I definitely sensed some kind of energy. But I can’t say if it’s dark or light or what it’s related to. If Zeus used witchcraft to wipe his memory, it’s possible I’m picking up lingering elements from that.”

An image flashed in Cerek’s mind, and his fingers stilled against the button at his chest. A female with fire-red hair, emerald-green eyes, and the body of a seductress, looking down at him as she called him back from the darkness with one word:
Damianos.

“So it’s not dark energy,” Ari said.

He gave his head a swift shake and resumed buttoning. He was not Damianos. He’d never go by that name again. And he
really
wanted to find Elysia.

Callia reached for her healer’s bag from the table to her left. “I honestly can’t say.”

“Demetrius thinks there’s something wrong with him,” Ari went on. “That he’s a threat.”

Callia tugged the stethoscope from her neck and placed it in her bag. “Physically, I can tell you he’s in perfect shape. His vitals are good, his heart is strong, he shows no signs of abuse, mentally or physically. As for Demetrius, I don’t know what to tell you. He’s a descendent of Medea. He can sense and use spells. If magic was used to wipe Cerek’s memory, Demetrius could be sensing that himself.” She glanced Cerek’s way. “What do you think? Are you a threat we should be worried about?”

Cerek’s pulse raced as he stared up at the healer, and that energy pulled at his limbs again, telling him to get up, to go, to search—

“Cerek?”

He blinked twice. “Yeah?”

“I asked how you feel,” the healer said. Her eyes were a different color but shaped so much like Elysia’s, they made him blink twice. “Is there any reason to be worried?”

Sweat broke out across his spine, and that energy intensified. Yes. there was a reason to be worried, he just couldn’t explain why, even to himself, and he knew these people would never understand if he tried. As for how he felt? Restless. Unsettled. Boxed in. Desperate for Elysia.

He pushed to his feet. “No reason to worry. I’d like to take a shower if there’s somewhere—”

“Oh, sure.” Callia crossed the room and opened a door. “Through here.”

Cerek cast one quick glance at Ari, unsure what to say. This was worse than awkward. When the Argonaut only continued to stare at him, he figured there was nothing he could say. “Thanks,” he said to the healer.

“I’ll make sure fresh clothes and pajamas are left on the bed,” Callia said as he stepped toward her. “I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

He was. But he wanted Elysia more than he wanted sleep.

Callia stepped back so he could move into the bathroom. Just before he closed the door, Ari said, “Don’t worry about this,
yios
. We’ll figure everything out.”

Cerek’s hand hovered on the door handle, and that energy grew stronger, urging him to rush out of the room. Unable to form a coherent response, he nodded and closed the door.

Skata
. He dropped his forehead against the hard wood when he was alone and breathed deep. What the hell was happening to him? What was this energy pulling at him? And why was it happening now when he’d never felt anything similar in twenty-five years?

He crossed the room, leaned into the open stone shower, and flipped on the water. After wiping his wet hand on his pant legs, he paced the length of the marble and stone bathroom, trying like hell to settle his roaring pulse.

Steam filled the room. His thoughts pinged back and forth between what Elysia’s father had said and the questions the healer in the other room had asked him.

Was he a threat? Was it possible the red-haired female with green eyes he kept remembering was a witch? And if so, had she somehow cursed him?

But if that were the case, then why? What would she get from it? What would Zeus get? And wh—

Across the room, the window above the soaking tub creaked, bringing Cerek’s feet to a stop. He looked up as the window pushed open and a sultry bare leg he’d recognize anywhere slipped through the space.

“Elysia?” He crossed the floor in two strides, pushed the window wider, and helped her climb all the way through. “What are you doing?”

“I needed to see you,” she whispered, stepping on the edge of the tub with bare feet. “I would have come through the front door, but Callia and Ari are still in your room.”

She was still wearing his T-shirt. Grasping her at the waist, he helped her down, then pulled her into his arms. Warmth filled his chest, distracting him from the strange energy.

“
Emmoní.
” He lifted his hands to her face. “Gods, I missed you.”

He took her mouth, driving his tongue between her lips so he could touch and taste and feel her. She opened to his kiss, stroked her tongue along his, and gripped his arms tightly at the biceps.

“I missed you too,” she murmured against him as he changed the angle of the kiss, as she pressed her sensual body against his from knee to chest.

Need erupted inside him. The need to lose himself in her and forget everything else. He kissed her deeper, pushed her back until her spine hit the wall, groaned when she rose up on her toes and rubbed against his swelling erection.

“I need you.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, her jaw, nibbled at her neck. His hands streaked down her shoulders and sides. Grasping the T-shirt that hit at her thighs, he pulled it up and palmed the soft skin of her ass.

“Ah gods.” She swallowed hard. Trailed her hands down his chest and grasped the button at his waistband. “I need you too. Right now.”

Need turned to a roaring demand he couldn’t ignore. He claimed her mouth as she worked the button free and tugged the zipper down. Grasping her around the waist, he lifted her off the floor and pushed his way between her legs. She groaned against him, wiggled her hands inside his pants, and pushed the fabric down his hips. Cool air washed over his cock as she pulled it free, but heat was all he felt when she wrapped her hand around the steely length and stroked.

Her tongue tangled with his. Pulling him close so her soft, slick center brushed the tip of his aching erection, she whispered, “Now, now, now.” She lined him up and let go to wrap both arms around his neck. “Take me now.”

He was powerless to do anything but. He drove into her body as he licked into her mouth, tasting her deeply while he thrust hard and bottomed out, as he drew back and plunged in again. Breaking their kiss, she dropped her head back against the wall and moaned. He gripped her ass tightly, lifted and lowered her against his cock. Shoved in and out again and again until they were both sweating.

“Oh yes,” she moaned. “Don’t stop.”

Her slick channel constricted around him, and he knew he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. The need to take her, to fuck her, to own her drove him faster, harder, deeper than ever before. She gasped and lifted her head from the wall. Tightened her arms around his shoulders and held on. Sweat slid down his brow as his cock hammered inside her, as he dropped his forehead to her throat and pleasure raced down his spine, teasing his control.

“Come for me,
emmoní.
”

“Yes, yes…” Her body tensed; her fingernails dug into his shoulders. “I’m so close, don’t stop.”

He wasn’t going to last. The need was too strong. But he wanted her to spiral over the edge with him. Drawing the soft skin at her throat between his lips, he shifted one hand around to her front, between their bodies. And the moment he pinched her clit, he suckled.

“Oh my GO—”

He lifted his head and captured her scream with his mouth. Her slick sex spasmed around him in ecstasy, causing his orgasm to ricochet down his spine, explode in his balls, and pull a grunt from his throat as hot jets of pleasure pulsed deep inside her.

He swallowed her groans as he thrust deep once, twice, three more times, and finally stilled. She broke their kiss and sucked back air. Dropping his forehead against hers, he simply tried to breathe.

“Oh my gods,” she whispered, dragging her fingers through the damp hair at his nape, her chest rising and falling against his. “That was—”

“Loud.” A smile curled his lips when he thought of the way she’d cried out and how knowing she was climaxing had pushed him right into oblivion. He shifted his hand around her back to squeeze one delectable cheek. “I’m pretty sure my father and that healer are still in the other room.”

Her fingers paused in his hair. “Callia?
Skata.
Do you think they heard us?”

He turned his head and listened. He couldn’t hear any voices over the hum of the shower, but that didn’t mean they were alone. “Hopefully not. She’s related to you, isn’t she?”

Elysia nodded. “She’s my aunt. My mother’s half sister.”

Of course she was. And if she’d heard any of what they’d just done, she was probably already on her way to tell Elysia’s parents.

Reluctantly, he disengaged from Elysia’s sultry body, lowered her to the floor, and tugged up his pants. “You have to leave.”

“What?” Worry rippled over her features as his T-shirt fell back to her thighs, covering that secret, succulent place that belonged only to him. “No. I just got here. I want to stay—”

“
Emmoní
.” He gripped her shoulders and kissed her, cutting off her words. “I don’t want you to leave either, but I don’t want you to get into any more trouble than you’re already in.”

“I don’t care about my father.”

“I do.”

Her brows drew together. “You do?”

He exhaled, trying to find a way to say what he felt. The energy was still there, but close to her, it was muted, not as insistent, and he knew that was because she did something to him. She calmed him in a way nothing else could. She believed in him in a way no one else ever had. As much as he wanted her with him, he couldn’t be the cause of any more trouble or pain in her life.

“Your parents are worried about you.”

“I’m fine.”

“Yes, but they don’t know that. All they know is that you showed up here with me, someone who’s supposed to be dead.”

Her eyes darkened. “My father’s wrong about you. Don’t you go believing what he said. Because I don’t.”

There she went, loving him again like no one ever had. His heart filled, and for the first time since he’d stepped through that portal, he felt as if he could think clearly. Gripping her hands in his, he lifted them to his mouth and kissed each one. “I don’t. But I don’t want to give your father any more reason to hate me.”

“But—”

“But nothing.” He pulled her into his arms. “I’m not going anywhere. It’ll kill me not being with you every minute like I’d planned when we left Olympus, but I think for now it’s best if we keep what’s between us secret.”

She sank into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that. But I might be able to go along with it if you answer one question.”

“Anything.”

“What
is
between us?”

He drew back and looked down at her, stunned she didn’t already know. “Love.”

“You love me?”

“Madly.” His heart squeezed tight. “Which is why I want to make sure we do this right with your parents. Because I plan on being part of your life for a very long time.”

Her eyes grew glassy, and she rose up on her toes and kissed him, throwing her arms around his neck and holding on as if she never wanted to let go.

A knock sounded at the door. “Cerek?” a male voice called. “Are you okay in there?”

“
Skata
.” Elysia drew back from his mouth long before he was ready to let her go. “That’s Ari.”

Right. His father. He still couldn’t get used to the fact he had a father.

“I should go,” she whispered.

Reluctantly, he nodded and walked her back to the window. When she was perched on the sill, one foot out and one foot in, he whispered, “Wait. Maybe you should hide until he leaves and go out another way.”

She flicked him a bemused look. “Seriously? I’m perfectly safe. I made it here okay, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but”—he glanced down at her toes—“your feet are still bare. You might slip.”

“Won’t happen,” she said confidently.

“Won’t happen?” He lifted his brow.

“I trained with the Sirens, remember?” She smiled, a mesmerizing warm smile that filled his heart with joy. “Not to mention all that warrior power I stole from Athena, thanks to you.”