Hunting Medusa: The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1 (7 page)

“Have you had enough walking yet?”

He sighed. “No. I thought maybe being in the fresh air would help clear my head. Help me find a solution.” He moved to stand in front of her. “Instead, I find myself ready to take you here against a tree.”

She bit her lower lip and looked away.

“Andrea.” He wished she would discourage him, as apparently he no longer had a will of his own. That said nothing good about him, he realized. He curled his free hand into a fist at his side instead of lifting it to cup her breast as he wanted.

She met his gaze, her own troubled. “I don’t suppose you’d just leave. Let me alone.”

Something in his chest tightened, and he shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Besides, I’ve already found you. That means others can find you as well.” Somehow, he hadn’t thought of that before, and it unsettled him. Any of his dozens of cousins could be on their way to Andrea’s mountain now, following the same vague clues he had, intent on killing her. And none of them knew they couldn’t take the amulet after they did. Somehow, that bothered him less than the idea of one of them killing her.

“You have to figure something out soon then. You only have a day or so.”

Then her curse would kick in, and she could kill him instead of the other way around. And with far less difficulty.

Kallan sighed, tipping his head back to look up at the dark green canopy for a moment. “I’ll figure something out,” he said at last. “Let’s walk some more.”

She looked away, her mouth turned down, as they began to walk.

He linked their fingers again, ignoring her slight start at the touch, and led her deeper into the forest.

Though they walked for nearly two hours, he couldn’t quite find his way around the only solution to present itself thus far: he could take the amulet and then kill her, or kill her without retrieving the amulet. Neither option was palatable, yet it was his duty as a Tassos. The Harvesters of the Medusas, since the first Medusa. To destroy the amulet would break the protection on her family, exposing all of them as monsters his family would eliminate. Somehow he’d never realized exactly what it would mean to kill someone. Anyone.

But to kill Andrea would destroy something he hadn’t realized until now was in him.

Chapter Three

Andrea rested her head on her folded arms on the kitchen table, only half listening to Kallan typing on his keyboard. She didn’t want to die just yet. She knew for sure she didn’t want to be mutilated before she died.

But she didn’t look forward to killing the Harvester either.

She never should have had sex with him. She knew it. She’d known it beforehand.

And she should definitely
not
still want him.

When the phone rang, it was a relief. For a few seconds. Until she realized it was Thalia. “My cousin.” She didn’t think she needed to explain her mental caller I.D. to him.

Kallan held her gaze for a long moment. “Don’t try to let her know what’s going on,” he said at last. “I know where a lot of your cousins are located, and I’m not the only one.”

Her heart pounded harder at the implication, but she got to her feet and picked up the receiver. “Hello, Thalia. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Andi, but I think you need to get away for a while.”

She frowned, feeling Kallan’s presence behind her. Close behind her. Close enough to hear her conversation. “What do you mean?” His body heat teased her.

“The Harvesters are out and about. I’m afraid for you.”

Andi shut her eyes for a second, then opened them again when he put his hands on her shoulders. She shot him a glare and moved away, back toward the table. “I’m fine.”

“Please don’t ignore this, Andi. You know I’m hardly ever wrong.”

That was true. But she wondered if her cousin realized she was very often late with her flashes of intuition. Far too late in this case. “Okay. I’ll give it some thought, all right? Mom said something the other day about visiting.” Gods, had it only been two days ago? “And Aunt Lydia just called yesterday too. I could go to see either of them if anything seems odd.”

His hands settled on her shoulders again, massaging the tense muscles there.

She didn’t bother to shrug him off this time. He was persistent. “I could even come visit with you,” she teased, forcing a lightness into her tone.

Her cousin cleared her throat. “I actually have company right now,” she said after a moment, and Andi could almost see her blushing. “You remember I met someone in Athens last summer? Well, he’s come again to stay for a while.” Even over the phone, the emotion in Thalia’s voice was obvious.

One more cousin safe—none of the cousins who’d fallen in love ever had the curse land on their heads. A tiny bit of relief made her relax further under Kallan’s touch. “That’s terrific, Thalia. When do the rest of us get to meet him?”

“We’re talking dates,” the other woman said, a hint of a smile in her tone now. “I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“Good. And thanks for the warning. I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I’ve got to go, Andi. Talk to you soon. But promise you’ll be careful. Danger is coming from more than one direction.”

She pushed the off button on the phone and shut her eyes, ignoring the slight sting in them. She was
not
envious of Thalia’s good fortune. She was just in an impossible situation here.

His warm breath brushed the top of her head a second before his lips. “That was good.”

She wanted to tell him to go screw himself. She wanted a weapon to swing at him. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her and carry her down onto the nearest flat surface.

Her eyes popped open.
Damned hormones.

His hands slid down her sides and wrapped around her, settling her back against his chest as if he’d read her mind. She hoped he didn’t have
that
ability.

“What have you found?” she asked instead, keeping herself upright instead of relaxing further.

“Not a cursed thing.”

She blinked. She hadn’t really expected he’d tell her, but the resignation in his tone told her his reply was the truth. She inhaled unsteadily. “I guess you have to make up your mind then. You or me.”

“There has to be something else.” He sounded frustrated now, as if he were gritting his teeth, and his grip on her tightened marginally.

Andi shut her eyes. No matter how torn he seemed to be about his destined tasks, she had no doubt he’d do them eventually. And if not, she’d do what the Medusas had been doing for millennia and eliminate the threat to her. That was
her
destiny.

“We need some supper,” he murmured, sliding his face along the top of her head. “If I let you have a paring knife, will you promise not to try to stab me with it?”

She smiled in spite of herself. “I don’t need a knife to kill you, you know.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” He squeezed her tight against him for a heartbeat, and she felt her pulse quicken.

Stupid.
She moved away. “I’m not sure what’s in the house,” she said, clearing her throat to get rid of the rasp in her voice.

“You have plenty of food here.” He walked with her to the refrigerator and tugged open the top freezer door. “What are you in the mood for?”

She snapped her mouth shut when the first thought that popped into her head was, “sex”. Obviously, her hormones were still kicking after the taste she’d had of him that morning. “Fish. Veggies.” No, wait—not just from the taste of him earlier, but the regular boost of her hormones before full-on PMS kicked in.

He stepped aside and let her take two packages out of the freezer, then he shut the door while she moved to the island with them. She put the fish into the microwave to defrost. He watched as she found a pan and poured some oil into it, then added the vegetables and fish once it was snapping over the heated burner.

When his phone rang, he took it from his pocket absently and thumbed the on button without looking at the screen. “Yes?”

“Kallan.”

His burgeoning smile vanished. “Stavros.”

“Have you found her yet?”

“No.” He glanced at her when her quizzical gaze lifted from the stove to meet his.

“I’m getting closer. My information is looking good. I’ve found an excellent prospect, dropped out of college right after the last Medusa died and has never married.”

His heart stopped beating. He couldn’t tell his cousin the problem facing them. He didn’t want any of his cousins coming here. Especially not this cousin. And not just because he didn’t want him to know Kallan had found her and not killed her.

“Everything I’ve found points to one of several women in Maine.”

Kallan shut his eyes. Stavros had found the same clues he had followed.
Dammit.
“Ah. My leads are suggesting Ohio, actually. The young woman I was tracking in Oklahoma moved here six months ago and changed her name. Single, reclusive for the last eight years or so, according to everyone I’ve spoken to so far.” He opened his eyes in time to see Andrea’s jaw drop. He winked at her.

“Hm. Well, you should follow your own information while I will follow up on mine. One of us will find her this time, take her head.”

He clenched his jaw for a second. “Where are you now? Maybe we can pool resources. Compare notes.”

“I’m in New York, but I’m heading out tomorrow to drive to Maine. I should be able to narrow down these threads to one location in the next day or two.”

Just in time for her PMS to really kick in.

Kallan smiled grimly. If his cousin walked into that, it would be bad. For Stavros. “Oh, what a shame. Maybe next time.”

“Sure. After this one is found and eliminated. I’ve got to go. I’m meeting someone who may have better information for me.”

He shut his phone off and stuffed it back in his pocket. “Bad news, Medusa.”

“You tried to send him to Ohio?” She still stared at him, confusion in her blue eyes. “Don’t you think reinforcements would be a good thing for you?”

He shrugged. “Stavros has never been one to wait until he has all the information he needs for a job, and I’d prefer he went somewhere else right now. Unfortunately, he’s heading this way.”

Her cheeks paled, and she dropped her gaze to the frying pan before she stirred the food there.

“He’ll be here just in time for you to turn him to stone, if he’s being honest about his timing.”

“If?” She looked up, fear shadowing her bright eyes.

He rubbed at the back of his neck, hoping to dissipate some of the tension gathering there. “He isn’t always.” And that was far from the worst thing about his character.

“So now I have two killers after me.” She swallowed. “Fantastic.”

Kallan glared at her, even though he knew she had a point—he
had
come here to kill her. “Thanks.”

“I’m being honest, even if your cousin isn’t.” She lifted one shoulder in a shrug and set down the spatula.

The scent of their meal filled the space between them, but he ignored it for now. “How about some honesty from me? I’m known for not lying, which is why he’ll believe I’m in Ohio. I am not going to let him kill you.”

She snorted. “Until you get the amulet.”

He clenched his jaw harder and wondered how much more it would take to crack a tooth. He couldn’t even protest, as that was his ultimate goal—to collect the amulet that protected the Medusa’s offspring so the world could know them for the monsters they were. To make it easier for his cousins to find and eliminate them all.

Except Andrea wasn’t a monster.

And he wasn’t at all sure now that he could kill her. He never should have given in to the attraction between them.

He watched her pace the small area between the island and the sink. “I had an idea earlier,” he said after a few minutes.

She didn’t stop walking, only paused to stir their supper. “About what?”

“About you not turning me to stone.” He was fairly certain she wasn’t going to like it, but he had to bring it up.

She arched one eyebrow at him, silent for a moment. “Let’s hear it.”

“You have that sleep mask upstairs,” he started.

She shook her head before he’d even finished speaking. “No.”

“It would involve a little trust on your part,” he continued a little louder. “That I wouldn’t do anything to you while you were defenseless.”

Andrea kept shaking her head. “No.”

“What can I do to persuade you?”

She stopped walking and faced the sink, her head hanging as she braced herself on the edge of the counter.

He waited.

“There’s nothing.”

His heart sank a little. To protect her from his vicious cousin, he would agree to nearly anything. He tried not to think beyond that though, to the reason—whether it was because he still thought he should fulfill his destiny, or because he’d had sex with her. He just didn’t want Stavros to get his hands on her. That was enough for now. “There has to be something.”

She sighed, still staring into the sink. She unclenched her fingers from the edge of the counter, then traced a pattern on the surface.