Marked by Death (The Godhunter, Book 4) (10 page)

“
There,” he nodded, “now you’re completely mine. Follow me, Miw-sher, my kitten.”

Terror filled my defrosted heart as my body followed his dictates without asking me for permission. We exited the room and passed through a long chamber. Stone walls adorned with beautiful frescoes, pillars crowned with lotus blossoms, a raised dais with a throne, and a table with a golden scale, all blurred through my vision. I took it in but couldn’t process it, couldn’t grasp where I really was. I was too busy trying to regain control of my body.

Anubis kept walking, not even glancing back at me until we were through the room and in a corridor. Doors dotted the walls here and there but other than that, it was just a long, empty stone passage, leading to a very final looking doorway. It was the only door actually open and it seemed to be waiting for us, for me. Stepping through it was like walking into the jaws of, well… Jaws.

The room we entered was lavish and immense. Thick Persian rugs carpeted the floor, gilded walls glowed softly in the light of numerous candles, and a Pharaoh sized bed dominated one wall, with four lotus-topped pillars serving for posters. White gauze stamped with gold jackals hung from the pillars, partially concealing the aggressive expanse of mattress. I eyed it warily as he led me past, to a door in the back wall, and gave me a little push into a bathroom.

“Get cleaned up,” he looked over my rumpled dress and then tore it away easily. I gasped but was unable to cover myself, my arms limp and useless at my sides. “I can smell him all over you.” He threw the chain down and slammed the door in my face.

I stared at the pool of metal at my feet and felt like I’d fallen through the looking glass. This couldn’t be happening. I was in some twisted version of reality. I would never have betrayed Trevor in the world where things made proper sense. I would never have willingly gone to Anubis. My body started to shake again and I would have crumpled to the floor but his magic kept me standing.

“Wash yourself
now
,” Anubis’ voice came through the door. “Or I will come in there and do it for you.”

I inhaled a shaking, tear-filled breath and looked around. There was a large cream colored tub with a gold, lotus-shaped showerhead and sheer curtains, along one wall. I went over and turned on the water, easing out of my underwear and into the spray as if in a trance. What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I break free?

I scrubbed thoroughly, crying a little when the proof of Odin’s lovemaking washed away and cringing when the sound of my tears was emphasized by the clinking of the metal chains against the porcelain tub.

When I emerged from the steam, I found a gauzy, white, strapless dress waiting on the counter. I dried off vigorously before I slid it on and looked up at my pale reflection in the mirror. The dress came with a belt, thick gold plates coming to a point between my breasts. It emphasized both my waist and my cleavage, stunning really, but as it was, it only added to the surreal quality of the situation.

The door opened and Anubis walked in, calmly picked up the trailing chain, and led me out. We stopped in the center of the room and I had time to notice the other furnishings, a dining set in dark wood, a wide stone cabinet, and a long mirror. Then he was circling me, a soft smile on his lips, his hands stroking me as he went. My heart was a jackhammer in my chest.

“
It suits you. Now,” he moved to the edge of the bed, pulling me with him, then undid his pants and sat down. I tried not to look at the length of hard flesh rising up between his legs but it demanded attention… as did he. “Kneel,” I felt my legs give out and I fell to my knees in front of him, catching myself with my palms on his thighs. “This is your first lesson in pleasing me, Miw-sher.” His hand came out and slipped around my head, pulling my face down till I was inches away from him. I clenched my jaw and shut my eyes. “Open your mouth and taste me.”

“
No,” I grit out and his other hand came up so that he was completely encircling my face.

“
Spread those beautiful lips and worship me,” he whispered, his voice sneaking into my head and urging me down.

“
No, damn you,” my body actually let me pull back a fraction of an inch.

He made a surprised little sound and lifted my face to his. “Look at me.”

My eyes flew open and his started to swirl with beautiful colors. I felt suddenly at ease, everything gone but the need to pleasure the god before me. I spread my hands over his thighs and felt them tighten. A little thrill filled me at his response and I automatically sought more.

Bending my head, I ran my face against his length, delighting in the heated silk of him against my cheek. His hands clenched in my hair and his breath started to come faster. I shifted my hands down, trailing my nails, and brought them up under the heavy sacs between his legs. They shifted in my grip and I heard him groan as I flicked my tongue over them.

I kneaded them lightly with one hand as the other went up to hold him steady, ready for my descending mouth. I sucked him in and he cried out fiercely, shaking beneath and inside me. I gloried in it, licked him in further and pulled back, scraping lightly with my teeth.

“
Miw-sher,” he groaned. “You have magic in your lips. Don’t stop your sorcery.”

I swirled my tongue over him, rubbing him with my hand and squeezing him below as I continued. The rich taste of him filled my mouth as his scent filled my nose and I moaned, eliciting a similar sound from him. My breath came faster, matching his excitement and the speed of my hands, until he cried out, shaking violently and gripping my shoulders as he came into me. I drank him down, giving him one last lick before sitting back to stare up at him.

He’d fallen back onto the bed but he slowly sat up and looked at me with a slack mouth and wide eyes, his long, black hair falling into his face. In a second, the look was gone, blinked away by cold determination, and I found the spell lifted, my sanity returned and with it, a depth of shame I thought I’d never recover from. My face flushed and I looked away from his spent sex, denying myself the urge to cry. Or throw up.

“
Go ahead,” he whispered. “Your tears would please me almost as much as your mouth just did.”

I shot to my feet, wanting to tear into him, to cut that cocky grin off his face, but he pulled me back down into his lap and my limbs went limp. As I fumed in impotent rage, he laughed and fondled me from breast to core. I moaned and shook in a new battle to deny his mastery of my body.

“I’m not just the God of Death,” he licked the hollow of my throat and I shivered. “I’m the God of Mummification. I know every inch of the human body, all the places to bring pain,” he nipped at my skin, “or pleasure,” he began to rub me and in seconds I was wet. “They are the same, you know,” he lifted his head to look at me, “the painful places and the pleasurable ones. I can give you either or both, and I will.”

He laid me back on the bed and pushed up my dress. With a swift twist he tore my panties off and tossed them aside. I felt a couple of angry welts rise up on my hips from his rough treatment but I knew the sting was nothing compared to what he was about to do. I looked down as he spread my legs wide, the white of my dress framing my nudity like fine art. My whole body trembled as he ran his hands over me, pulling my dress down to reveal my breasts before returning to my center. His finger glided across my sensitive skin and he smiled, smug and sensuous.

I closed my eyes but it seemed to make it worse, so I quickly opened them just as he bent his head to lap at me like a dog. He flicked his hot tongue over me and then twirled it around that most pleasurable spot. Watching him was hypnotizing, the swirl of his tongue, the sensuality of his mouth, the dark possession of his eyes on me. My hands went to his hair, sliding through its silken weight and pausing at the cold touch of the gold beads. I was fast approaching oblivion, when he stopped and lifted his head.

“
No,” I gasped. “Please.”

He flung my skirts down casually and stood to lift up his pants. His eyes skimmed over me and again I saw them fill with passion for a moment before it was controlled. He took my hand and roughly yanked me to my feet.

“You will remain unsatisfied until it pleases me to see your release.”

I shook from unfulfilled desire, shame, and a good dose of anger. I was going to kill him slowly when I got out of this mess.

“You son of a bitch,” I slapped him, glorying in the control of my body the anger had granted me, before he once again took over.

He stared at me in shock, the side of his face turning red with my handprint.

“You’re stronger than I thought, little Miw-sher,” he lifted his hand and touched the mark on his cheek, “All the more fun to break.”

He turned and headed out of the room, a firm hand on the chain, to pull me along as I pulled up my dress to cover myself.

We went back into the room with the frescoes and down a hallway to the right. I followed woodenly, feeling like my heart was shattered. My wolf and lioness were curled up inside me, mourning and afraid. I didn't sense my jaguar at all, she seemed to have sunk back into me. I reached for my lioness and wolf but they shrank back and I couldn’t blame them. I was disgusted with myself too. In one single day, I’d betrayed Trevor twice and just the very fact that I was more concerned with that than my apparent captivity, shows exactly how much the betrayal cut me.

Anubis knew me well. He’d taken the time after all, to find out what made me tick. I thought over all of our conversations, all his questions, and I knew then what he’d been doing… research. He’d been figuring out the best way to hurt me. Add feeling like an idiot to my list of tragedies on the most horrible day of my life.

The room we entered was an intimate dining room. Black shiny dining set, red walls, and basalt Egyptian statues decorated the obsidian floored room. The elegant décor wasn’t what made me stop short though, it was the guests.

Sitting at the table with smug faces were Demeter and Ares, side by side. My mouth dropped, my skin running hot and cold as my humiliation skyrocketed. Anubis gave a little yank on the chain and it was all I could do to lift my chin and glide into the room with as much dignity as possible. Anubis shot me an almost impressed look as he sat at the head of the table.

The chairs on either side of him were taken, not by Demeter or Ares thankfully, but by a stunning Egyptian woman with white hair to the right, next to me, and a thin Egyptian man on Anubis' left. I distractedly wondered where Anubis was going to have me sit, there were three open chairs at the other end of the table.

Another yank on the chain caught my attention. I looked down at Anubis with a raised brow, enjoying my momentary height.

“Sit,” his face was cold and regal.

“
Sit where?” I yanked the chain away from him.

He looked startled a moment before he shot to his feet, grabbed the chain back, and pushed me down by the shoulder. “I said sit.”

“I’m not the bitch in the room,” I growled as I sat cross-legged, back stiff and hands calmly in my lap. The stone floor was cold but I’d be damned if I showed it. They could treat me like a dog but I knew who I was and I wouldn’t let them make me feel like anything other than Rouva, Tima, and Godhunter.

Demeter gasped but the elegant woman next to me actually stifled a laugh. I looked at her out of the corner of my eye and saw her secret smile. She was absolutely stunning, her hair shone with the luster of pearls, setting off her dark skin and eyes brilliantly. She was delicately thin, with the barest hint of breasts, exactly the type of body I used to envy, and her every movement was full of sublime grace. I was enthralled, so enthralled that I didn’t notice Demeter standing over me until it was too late.

The slap rang out in the silent room. I barely felt the sting, I was so shocked. And really, after all I'd just been through, it was nothing.

“
A bitch am I?” She was shaking in her anger, red faced with rage. “Well look who’s down on the floor in chains. The Godhunter enslaved, the great huntress is finally brought low and I for one intend to make use of it.”

She brought her hand back for another slap and I stared at her with complete indifference, making no move to block or otherwise defend myself. I’d been tortured by the best and if I could stand being manacled to a wall while Aphrodite tore my back into ribbons with a whip, I could stand being slapped by Dementor.

But before the slap could land, a hand shot out from behind me and casually caught hers. I looked over my shoulder in surprise. Anubis barely spared me a glance, he was too busy glaring at Demeter.

“
She’s mine,” his voice was cool, the breath of ghosts over the grave, with the threat of a thunderstorm beneath. “I’ve allowed you one strike, since your ego is so easily injured but that is the last time you’ll test my hospitality by damaging something of mine.”

“
I may be down now, Demeter,” I held my chin up, “but things change. When they do, I’ll be coming for you. For what you did to Kirill, to Trevor, and to Al. You’re going to pay.”

Demeter turned red, sputtered, and was about to start raging again, when the lady on my right spoke.

“I always found it easiest to be graceful when I’ve won,” she mused. “A goddess especially should show mercy in victory. Yes, victory is easy,” she turned and finally rested those black eyes on me. “It’s grace in defeat that’s difficult. In ruin, the true character is shown and I find that I’m struck in awe, not of your anger, Demeter but of her strength. Welcome to Death’s Door, Godhunter. I judge you worthy.”

A shiver coursed over me, my eyes tearing to look full on the magnificent beauty before me, and I bowed my head slightly as I heard Anubis’ sharp intake of breath behind me.

“May I forever honor that judgment by remaining worthy, Lady…” the formal words poured automatically from my lips, as if I’d been speaking them forever.

“
Ma’at,” she rested a hand on my head and I felt the whisper of feathers rustling against my skin.

“
Lady Ma’at,” I smiled, grateful to have found some bit of kindness in the midst of my nightmare.

Demeter raised her head and turned away stiffly. She went back to her seat and sat down with a haughty sniff. Ares looked thoughtful but it wasn’t me he was staring at, it was Ma’at. He caught me watching him though and changed his look to pure hostility.

“Ares?” Anubis filled the god’s name with a wealth of meaning.

“
You’ll have no issue with me,” Ares changed his expression to apathy. “It’s well enough that she’s caught and shall suffer.”

“
Good,” Anubis looked toward the end of the table, where a door opened and two servants entered carrying large trays of food.

The servants barely spared me a glance, intent on setting down their heavy burdens. With them came the smell of roasted meat, which filled the room, competing with baked bread and grilled vegetables. Pots of butter, wedges of cheese, and pitchers of wine completed the meal. I sniffed again, the lioness in me picked up another scent beneath that of the food… jackal. The servants were all werejackals.

Hmph, go figure.

The gods helped themselves, setting to the food with gusto, and I tried to ignore the rumbling of my belly, since no one had thought to give me a plate. Anubis casually cut his meat and then took a thin strip between his fingers and held it out to me. I felt my teeth clench and looked up at him like he was the mongrel at my table. I was
not
about to eat from his hand.

“
You
will
eat from my hand,” his eyes swirled with light and color and I frowned. “Did you think I’d left your mind now that you’re here? I’m inside you now. I told you there’s no escape from death. Now accept the meat from my hand or I’ll control your body and force you to take it.”

I looked down at the strip he was holding, feeling my pride, wither. I reached for my beasts, my magic, but felt nothing. It was as if the cold he’d driven out had actually just been driven into the core of me, into my magic. The beasts were there but they were cowed, the magic frozen.

“Your magic is mine,” he lowered his face into mine, his midnight hair swinging against my cheek. The gold beads clacking together like bones. “You can’t use it against me. Now eat,” his eyes sparked and the colors faded away to black before his voice lowered. “Please eat, Miw-sher.”

My heart fluttered, the heat he filled me with, spiking. I slowly bent my head, keeping my eyes on his, and took the meat in my mouth. My lips lingered on the tips of his fingers and when he sucked in his breath, it gave me an idea. I’d beat him at his own game. I bit his fingers lightly, pulling them into my mouth and sucking them clean. He wanted me to eat from his hands? Well then I’d do it like a lover, not a pet.

His hand trembled slightly when I finally released it and his eyes filled with dark colors only, the jewel tones of passion. He sat up slowly, keeping his eyes on me and taking another piece of meat from his plate. He held it down to me and I took it again with the greatest sensuality, watching as his breath quickened and his pulse fluttered at his throat.

“
You have yet to ask what I think,” the thin Egyptian man broke the spell and Anubis reluctantly looked over at him.

“
About what, Thoth?” It made me smile to hear the quiver in Anubis’ voice.

I caught movement in the corner of my eye and when I looked over at Ma’at, she was watching me shrewdly. I shrugged, indicating that I was doing the best I could under the circumstances, and she smiled softly and nodded. Finally, I’d found an honorable female adversary.

“About your new
pet
,” Thoth’s words brought me back to the conversation. The God of Knowledge would undoubtedly have something smart to say… or smart ass, you never know. Either way, I didn’t want to miss hearing it.

“
What do you think, then?” Anubis’ expression became guarded.

“
I think it’s folly to have brought her here,” his thin neck looked almost too fragile to hold his head and I was abruptly reminded of the ibis he could reputedly turn into. “You’re much too fascinated by her, you have been since she set her teeth into you. What’s even more troubling, is that you’ve hid that fascination beneath the guise of vengeance. Who will be the prisoner in the end? I’m not certain it shall be your Lady Lion.”

“
There’s nothing troubling about fascination,” Anubis gave me a sideways glance. “A toy can be fascinating.”

“
Maybe, but be careful when you play with this one. She has a look about her.” Thoth peered at me but I refused to meet his gaze.

“
A look?” Anubis’ mouth twisted in a sly smile.

“
A look of victory, or even worse… fate. Be careful that she doesn’t change yours.”

“
I’m merely teaching the Godhunter that there are repercussions for attacking gods,” Anubis looked down on me but I kept my gaze on the floor. “Do you want some more, Miw-sher?”

I nodded, still keeping my gaze on the black obsidian.

“Then ask me,” he pulled a little on the chain and I looked up at his face, the sharp angles of his cheekbones, the regal nose, the firm lips. I tried to focus on his beauty, so he wouldn’t be able to read the anger in my mind. “Ask me to feed you.”

“
I want more,” I lowered my voice to a purr. “Will you give it to me, Lord Death?” I leaned in, softening my eyes and focusing on his lips.

“
Oh, yes,” his breath caught as he raised my chin and fed me a small piece of carrot.

I rolled my eyes up to his and delicately licked butter off his fingers.

“See,” Thoth threw his hands up. “She’s barely here an hour and now your toy is playing with you.”

“
I told you she’s a whore,” Ares gestured at me with his wineglass before taking a swig. “What do you expect?”

I stood up and stared down the table at Ares. “Fuck you, Ares, cause that's what he's going to do to me,” I made it sound as neutral as possible, like I was talking about what color shirt he was wearing but everyone gasped, everyone but Anubis. “Well, you are, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” his eyes were rich swirling jewels again, “Repeatedly.”

“
Tonight?” I tried to stop my hands from shaking, my mind from screaming.

“
Yes.”

“
Then does it make me a whore to accept it,” I looked back to Ares, “to try and make the best of it?”

“
Yes, it does,” Ares sneered. “An honorable woman would fight him.”

“
I
can’t
fight him, he controls my body and turns it against me,” my whole body was trembling with rage, my lioness perking up her ears at it.

“
You seem to be doing just fine right now,” Ares leaned back in his chair and looked me up and down.

“
Because I’m allowing it,” Anubis’ hand stroked down the back of my arm and the cat inside me hissed.

“
You’re still a whore,” Ares ignored Anubis and concentrated on me. His eyes were gleaming and I knew then that he’d been biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to torment me. “They say that you fuck Fenrir as well as his pup, that sex is the tool you used to get the Great Wolf to accept you as mate for his son.”

The mention of Trevor and then Fenrir, sent me over the edge. My lioness rose up and slipped from my skin, turned me into the beast as I jumped over the table at Ares. I went for his throat but he blocked me in time and all I was able to get was an arm, an arm without a hand.

In the back of my mind, I remembered Trevor biting off that hand during the last battle. I felt a large amount of pride in my mate and it urged me along. I tore at Ares viciously, never letting up, until I felt my body weaken and fall back.

The collar had grown with me and I looked down to see that the cuffs were still in place too. Must be magic. I huffed through my feline nose and looked over my shoulder, to see Anubis holding the gold chain again. He pulled me away, a hint of amusement in his eyes. Ares was groaning and writhing beneath me, covered in blood. The scent of his blood teased me and all I wanted in that second was to finish the deed, to kill Ares and lap up his blood till it cooled.

But Anubis led me away, his control of my body working just as well on my lioness form as it did on my human. I looked up at him as I walked down the hall beside him and mewled. He casually scratched me behind the ears and I knocked at his hand when he stopped.

“
You’re beautiful in both of your forms, Miw-sher,” he led us back to his bedroom and I cringed when the door shut with an ominous thud. “But I’d rather see your human shape now.”

I felt the heat of him rip through me, sucking the lioness back within me with quick efficiency. In seconds I was human again, lying on his silky rugs, shaking with the stress his demand had put on my body. I could barely lift my head. So when he approached me, I just cringed, unsure of whether I could withstand a sexual assault in that state. But all he did was throw a pelt on me. The sweet scent of wolf musk filled my nose.

“Go to sleep,” he stripped his clothes off as he walked to the bed. “I want you strong when I take you.” I felt him pick up the chain and heard a click as he locked it around one of the bed posts.

A relieved breath escaped my lungs as all the candles in the room suddenly extinguished. That’s when I realized what I was holding, what he’d given me to keep me warm… a wolf pelt. I hugged the skin close, burying my face in the thick fur and letting the scent carry me away. I was home, safe in the arms of my Wolf Prince. I wasn’t on the floor of Death’s bedchamber, huddling in fear and mourning the loss of my morality and pride.

I controlled myself until I heard Anubis’ even breathing and then I finally let go of my tears. I’d never see Trevor again and that meant more than my broken heart, that meant that he’d die and part of me would die with him. Fenrir would go insane and what of Odin, Vali, and Vidar? Were they searching for me? Would they realize who took me? What would become of my lions or Nick?

I cried but even knowing Anubis was asleep, I was too proud to cry out loud in his home. So instead, I let the tears go as silently as possible and stifled the worst of my sobs in the fur. When I was spent completely, even more exhausted than I was before, I laid the pelt across my nude body and curled up, to fall into a coma-like sleep.

Chapter Thirteen

Trevor was touching me, waking me up in my favorite way, with his loving. His warm hands were at my throat, over my breasts, along my ribs, and finally between my legs. I moaned, rolling my head, too tired to open my heavy eyes just yet. I decided to enjoy the half-awake state of sensuality and spread my legs to bring him closer.

I felt his thick body slide between my legs, his hands gliding up my thighs and opening me wider. Then he was over me, one hand propping him up while the other took my breast. I sighed as his face lowered to it and surrounded the crest of it in warm wet sensation. Then his mouth came higher, over my neck, to nibble at the spot he liked to mark, his tongue shooting out to taste the tip of my ear.

“
Wrap your legs around me, Miw-sher,” his voice sounded different, not as deep but more resonating, like power filled his every word. And when had he started calling me kitten in Egyptian? How did I even know what the Egyptian word for kitten was?

My eyes shot open as Anubis plunged into me and I screamed denial even as my body’s liquid heat welcomed him. I felt him prod my mind, claim control of my body, and I screamed inwardly as he made me his. My legs lifted and hooked around his hips as he’d requested, my arms closed in around his waist and clawed at his shoulders with desire, and my lips searched for his, all as I continued to scream internally.