Hunting Medusa: The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1 (38 page)

He laughed, his fingers catching her wrists. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

She let him press her against the cool tiles, loving the feel of his body along hers. “I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You haven’t.” He kissed the tip of her nose, then met her gaze. “And now you’re stuck with me.”

She inhaled slowly, her heart full to bursting.

She met his kiss and the next and the next, and all the rest, until the pleasure exploded for them both, and they slid down the tile to the floor of the shower, where the water pounded on them while they caught their breath. She smiled against his mouth when one of his hands slid lazily up her side.

“Thank you.”

He lifted his head just a little, his green eyes slow to focus, but intense when they did. “
Agaph
, I wasn’t going to let him have you.”

“I know.” She stroked his wet hair away from his face. “I think that’s when the amulet disappeared.” She told him what had happened, and when she finished, he frowned thoughtfully. “I need to let Aunt Lydia know, because if that’s not in the book of family lore when she gets her hands on it again, it needs to be.”

He nodded slowly. “We can’t stay here.”

Her smile faded. “I know.” She glanced away for a second. “How long before someone else comes looking, do you think?”

“A day maybe.” His expression was somber. “Possibly less, depending on who was at the motel last night. I’m sure he’s been in regular contact with Ari.”

“Okay. Then we need to move.” She tried to shift to her feet, but he held onto her. She lifted one eyebrow.

“We aren’t going to need to run for long. They’ll know someone else is the Medusa and start the hunt for her.”

“How?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure how it works. But Ari will know the amulet has moved on. I don’t think he can sense the cup—or we would have found you long before now—but he knows somehow when there is a new Medusa. Perhaps the Goddess knows.”

She bit her lower lip. “I wish the amulet and the curse would just go away forever.”

Kallan smiled faintly. “I don’t think the Goddess has forgiven the original Medusa yet.”

“What about Ari? He won’t be happy with you. We did kill five of your cousins.” Andi could live in hiding—she’d done it for years, but she didn’t think Kallan would enjoy it.

He considered that. “I imagine he will be very angry. But I don’t think he’s going to waste resources hunting for us when he has to start a brand new search for the Medusa. The Goddess will be angry with him. With all of my family.”
 

“After all of this, you just really believe he’s going to let you go?”

“I think he’ll want to find us, but I believe Athena will make sure his focus remains on his hunt. She is determined.”
 

Her eyes narrowed, making his smile widen.

“Don’t say it.” He kissed her hard, then released her, easing to his knees while she got to her feet, both wincing as their bodies parted. “Where do you want to live?”

Andi stopped moving, her hand halfway to the faucet. “Can I think about it?”

“As long as I get to go with you.”

She shut off the water and straightened. “I expect you to be with me forever.” She slid both hands up his wide chest to his shoulders.

“Good. Because I’m not leaving you.” His green eyes swirled with emotion.

“I love you, Harvester,” she whispered, going on tiptoe to kiss him.

“No, no Harvester here. Just Kallan Tassos.” He held her gaze. “Part of your family.”

Her eyes stung with tears. “I like the sound of that.”

Epilogue

Athena scowled at the old man on his knees before Her. “You assured Me you would take care of the Medusa, Aristotle.”

“I am sorry, My Lady. My nephew betrayed not only You, but his family. He killed his cousins to protect the monster.”

She knew perfectly well what had occurred in Maine. Knowing didn’t make Her happy. “Now you must begin the search anew.” That made Her even unhappier.

Aristotle Tassos bowed lower, his forehead nearly touching the floor now. “I have already, My Lady. We will do better this time.”

“You told Me that only weeks ago, Harvester.” The Goddess tightened Her grip on the bow She held in Her left hand. “You cannot fail Me again.”

He nodded once. “I vow I will not.”

She knew his words were heartfelt. If he were much younger and still actually in the hunt, She’d feel better about the promise. But Aristotle hadn’t been in the hunt for many years, and She had Her doubts about his current generation of hunters. “If your family fails Me, Aristotle, there will be consequences.”

He shuddered a little below Her. “I understand, My Lady,” he said hoarsely.

Andrea straightened from the suitcase she was unpacking, and Kallan smiled at her when she caught him watching her from the doorway. “You could help with this, you know.”

He winked. “I was enjoying the view.”

Color tinted her cheeks. “Such a man,” she muttered, even though she was smiling as she said it.

He crossed the room to her and slid a kiss along her cheek.

“Do you think she’s okay yet?” Her blue eyes were shadowed with concern.

He lifted one shoulder. “I hope so. But I can’t say for sure.”

“I remember it really sucked.” She caught the corner of her lower lip in her teeth. “Maybe I should have gone—”

He touched one finger to her lips. “Your mother said she asked you not to. She said she’d deal with it.” He knew she was worried about her cousin.

“But she’s young. And Mom knows how bad it was for me. She should have told Philomena I would come. She’s so young.”

“So were you.”

Andrea sighed and turned to wrap her arms around his waist. “I know.”

“We can visit her when she’ll let us. Maybe by then Lydia will have finally tracked down the book so we can share it with her.” He rubbed his face against her hair, marveling at how long it was already, past her nape and nearly to her shoulders, glistening like black silk in the sunlight streaming in the window.

“I know,” she said again, her fingers tightening on him for a moment.

“So, how about getting this honeymoon started?” he said, keeping his tone light.

Her smile curved against his chest, through the light shirt he wore. “What did you have in mind?”

“Well, wife, I was thinking about trying out that great big bed over there.” He scooped her up, startling a laugh out of her.

“What did you think we might do in it?” Her fingers sifted through the hair at his nape, making him shiver.

He nuzzled her ear, and then whispered a suggestion.

A throaty laugh escaped her, and when her head tipped back, he took advantage, sliding his open mouth along the creamy skin of her throat so a shiver made her tremble in his arms. “Really? Well, I suppose we could. If you insist,” Andi said.

“Oh, I insist,” he growled, carrying her down onto the bed. “
Sas agapw
, Andrea. I love you. Forever.”

The Legend

Millennia ago, a beautiful young Gorgon made a fatal mistake—one her descendants are still paying for today. She so angered Athena that the Goddess cursed Medusa, changing her lovely hair to snakes and causing her gaze to turn any living thing to stone. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she then sent Perseus to kill the unfortunate Medusa.

Perseus didn’t know, however, that Medusa had already found a way to protect her descendants from a part of the Goddess’s curse: she created an amulet that would transfer from one future Medusa to the next, either when she fell in love or died. This cup prevents the curse from wreaking constant havoc in the women’s lives, instead limiting it to once each month.

And you thought you had PMS from hell.

Along with the Goddess’s curse, Perseus’s descendants have also followed the Medusas through the centuries, trying to take the amulet as they hunt, or harvest the Medusas. These Harvesters have so far failed to steal the cup, and—for several recent generations—have also failed to kill the reigning Medusas.

But they are persistent and, while they have failed this time, they are closer than in many years to killing the newest Medusa.

About the Author

Elizabeth Andrews has been a book lover since she was old enough to read. She read her copies of
Little Women
and the
Little House
series so many times, the books fell apart. As an adult, her book habit continues. She has a room overflowing with her literary collection right now, and still more spreading into other rooms. Almost as long as she’s been reading great stories, she’s been attempting to write her own. Thanks to a fifth grade teacher who started the class on creative writing, Elizabeth went from writing creative sentences to short stories and eventually full-length novels. Her father saved her poor, callused fingers from permanent damage when he brought home a used typewriter for her.

Elizabeth found her mother’s stash of romance novels as a teenager, and—though she loves horror—romance became her very favorite genre, making writing romances a natural progression. There are more than just a few manuscripts, however, tucked away in a filing cabinet that will never see the light of day.

Along with her enormous book stash, Elizabeth lives with her husband of nearly twenty years and two teenage sons, though no one else in the house reads nearly as much as she does. When she’s not at work or buried in books or writing, there is a garden outside full of herbs, flowers and vegetables that requires occasional attention.

Blog:
elizabethandrewswrites.wordpress.com
/

Facebook:
www.facebook.com/ElizabethAndrewsAuthor

Twitter:
www.twitter.com/elizwrite

The darkest secrets are the hardest to unearth.

Secret Unleashed

© 2013 Sierra Dean

Secret McQueen, Book 6

After her last mission tested the limits of her humanity and took her out of this world, Secret’s friends, determined to keep her safe from her old nemesis Alexandre Peyton, keep ushering her from one babysitter to the next.

Couch surfing would be a lot more fun if Alexandre would let up on her long enough to allow her to get in some alone time with her lovers. Including Holden, her self-appointed shadow.

As if living out of coffin isn’t bad enough, Secret literally brings down the house while hunting a rogue, causing the council to exile her from New York—for her own safety, of course.

With her list of people to trust getting shorter and shorter, Secret ends up embroiled in a mystery to find a vampire warden gone AWOL and a missing artifact. Things go from bad to worse when she falls into the hands of a man who will prove that humans can be the worst monsters of them all.

Warning:
Contains a cross-country journey, an unexpected family reunion, heated lovers’ embraces and a hell of a lot of trouble.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Secret Unleashed:

Holden was a fish out of water in the dilapidated interior of the abandoned complex. The former
GQ
editor was wearing a gray Hugo Boss suit worth about a thousand bucks—he’d narrow down the price range for me if it was damaged somehow—and looked peeved.

His dark brown hair was brushed back from his face, curling slightly behind his ears and long enough to tease his nape. Brown eyes managed to convey his absolute disdain in a way words never could.

But it was the faint turn of a smile on his lips that hooked me. Holden had a way of taking the most terrifying situations and twisting them on their heads to distract me from the danger. Either by annoying me so intensely I wanted to murder him, or making me forget there was any risk by charming the pants off me.

Sometimes literally.

Even when he was being a snob, he made me feel safe.

It was one of the things I loved about him.

There was no shortage of those, unfortunately. It made
not
loving him almost impossible.

“What have you gotten us into now?” he asked. “And who are these civilian casualties?”

“
Dude,
” Shane responded, “we’ve
met
.”

“Ah yes. Secret two-point-oh. And you, tiny Irish?”

“Siobhan,” she said.

“Siobhan’s a druid,” I told him.

Holden wrinkled his nose, trying to keep from outright sneering at her. I admired his version of restraint. “How lovely.” He drew out the word
lovely
, making it as sarcastic as possible.

“I’m sorry,
why is he here
?” Shane was clearly exasperated by the way the hunt was spiraling out of his control.

“I called him.”

“For the love of—”

“Now, now, children. If you don’t want me here, I can just take my toy and go home.” With a burst of vampiric speed he was across the room with his hands possessively around my waist, pulling me towards him. I guess in this scenario
I
was the toy.