Marked by Death (The Godhunter, Book 4) (16 page)

In the throes of immense pleasure, his teeth clamped down harder, just barely drawing blood and the pain sent me over again. He pulled away to lick at the blood dotting my skin, nuzzling my core at the same time. I looked down my bite covered body and felt like I was trapped in a nightmare. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run, but my body was heavy with his heat and my pleasure.

He flipped me over and I whimpered again, wanting it to be done and needing it to last forever, all at once. There was the soft sound of fabric falling as he divested himself of his pants and then his hands were on me again. He raised my hips up and sunk into me until his pelvis hit me hard. I cried out at the sudden invasion and fell forward in the grass. He pulled me roughly up on my hands and knees, his hands clutching possessively at my body as he drove himself into me deep and fast. I could barely hold myself up under the onslaught but soon my body was clenching powerfully around him and tingles were spreading over my skin.

I threw my head back, my hair slapping over his face, as I screamed my release. Above me, he shook and let out that horrible jackal scream, head lifted to the sky in triumph, as he gave one last thrust and then collapsed over me. I grunted under the weight, legs too shaky to hold myself, much less Anubis in god form. When I buckled, he rolled us so I was spread over his stomach, staring up at the clear blue Underworld sky with him still inside me.

Strange, to stare at that perfect sky while terror rippled through my body.

His hands stroked over my breasts, as magic coursed over us and I felt him shift beneath me, his body slowly sliding out of mine and sending one more shiver through me. Human lips found my neck and kissed me gently, all the more startling after the violence of our joining.

“You never stop fighting,” his hands became more soothing. “Even when you know you’re beat, you still fight.”

“
You sound amused,” I tried to roll away but he kept me pinned. I felt like a sacrifice, spread over him, my spine bent a little backwards and my head falling back over his shoulder.

“
Amused only at myself,” he kissed me again, “at my surprise in you. I should have known the Godhunter would be special.”

His hand trailed over the tips of my breasts and down my stomach. When he reached the tender spots above my center, I flinched and pulled away, using the movement to roll up and away from him.

“Miw-sher,” he sat up and I saw his human body finally, bronzed and glistening in the sunlight.

I quickly looked away and struggled into my dress.

“Don’t get dressed,” his voice was soft and cajoling.

“
Listen to you,” I whirled on him. “You sound like you’re my lover.”

“
I
am
your lover.” He grinned and lay back, his arms behind his head.

“
No, you’re not,” I glared down at him. “You’re my jailor, you’re my rapist, and most of all, you’re my nightmare!”

“
Rapist am I?” He sat up and I felt the pull of his power in my body. “Nightmare? Oh no, Miw-sher, not yet but I have no problem accommodating you.”

I tried to run, to turn my back on him and walk away, and then when neither of those worked, I tried to simply stand still and deny him. My body rebelled against him but in the end he won, he always won. How could I fight when my very flesh was a weapon against me?

Tears were coursing down my cheeks by the time I knelt beside him and his arms pulled me close.

“
Don’t cry, Miw-sher,” he kissed me gently. “You’ll know when the time for tears is and we’re not even close yet.

Chapter Eighteen

“You will not win.”

I looked up from my book, to see Thoth standing in the doorway to the library. I sighed and laid the book down. Thoth’s rants were getting old. I’d been in the Underworld two weeks and he still snuck around, trying to catch me in some evil plot. It was annoying in so many ways but mainly because I couldn’t think up any evil plots to be caught in.

“I’ll never win what, Thoth?”

“
Him… Anubis,” he narrowed his beady eyes at me, making them almost disappear in his pointy head. “He’ll never love you.”

“
Love me?” Now there was an evil plot. I still had bite marks all over me and this guy thought I wanted Anubis to love me. “This may come as a huge shock to you but I don’t want Anubis. I don’t want his love or any part of him. I want his absence, or more specifically, my absence from him, from here. You wouldn’t happen to want to help me with that, would you, Thoth? You could get rid of me and I could go home. Then we’d both be happy. What do you say?”

“
And Anubis would kill me.”

“
No he wouldn’t,” I made a very unladylike noise. “He needs you and that book of yours.”

“
You know as well as I, that I’m the most easily replaced.” Thoth frowned, turned sharply, and stomped away.

I let my head fall into my hands. Two weeks and I was no closer to finding a way out of the Underworld, than when I’d first arrived. My magic was either gone or repressed and I still wasn’t sure if it was Anubis who’d frozen it or the magic of the Underworld. My beasts surfaced occasionally but we all knew they were no match for Anubis on his own turf. I was well and truly trapped.

“Godhunter?” Ma’at’s sweet voice brought my head up.

“
Lady Ma’at,” I smiled. She was the only sane person in this insane asylum I was imprisoned in. “Please join me, I’m in desperate need of polite company.”

“
Yes, I saw Thoth,” she laughed, a low delicate sound. “I thought you might need a little pick me up.”

She waved gracefully and a servant walked in carrying a tray with a glass decanter and two crystal champagne flutes on it. The werejackal set the tray down on a table between our seats and left without a word.

“Wine?” I eyed the dark red liquid in the decanter.

“
From our vineyards.”

“
I won’t be bound forever to the Underworld if I drink it or anything, will I? It’s not pomegranate wine, is it?”

Ma’at’s mouth went slack for a second before it twitched with laughter. “No, you won’t and no, it’s not. I think you’ve been hanging around too many Greek gods.”

“Maybe,” I smiled at my own paranoia. “Persephone is one of my best friends.”

Before I could offer to pour, Ma’at had both glasses filled and was handing one to me. I took a sip and the taste rolled across my tongue with the strength of an exploding star. I gasped and reeled, hearing Ma’at chuckle louder. Sin, I tasted sin, and Heaven was lost to me because now I couldn’t give it up.

“This is amazing,” I took another sip, even better than the first.

“
There’s nothing like it,” Ma’at nodded. “Shall I have some sent to your room tonight?”

“
You mean Anubis’ room?” I sighed, the wine wasn’t strong enough to change my circumstances.

“
Stop that, Godhunter,” Ma’at gave me one of her stern looks. “You’ve become accustomed to fighting battles with your sword but you must remember that before anything else, you’re a woman and we fight with our bodies. We fight with our hearts and our beauty, with our mind and our sex. Don’t shy away from the power of womanhood. Conquer him, men have given up crowns for love, imagine what a god could sacrifice.”

My hand was shaking when I put the glass down. “My body?” I pulled up the sleeve of my green dress. “Look at what he's done to my body.”

One of his bites, still an angry red, stared up in accusation at Ma'at. Her jaw fell open, a small sound of dismay passing over her lips, as her hand reached out and touched the mark. If not for the salve Anubis gave me for my lip, the damn things would have scarred. Wouldn't that have been attractive?

“
He bit you?” Her eyes flashed up to meet mine. “In his god form?”

“
Do these appear to be human teeth marks to you?”

“
No,” she whispered and withdrew her hand. “They look to be jackal.” She met my eyes again with such an intense stare, I almost pulled back. “What did he say to you, when he gave you this?”

“
This?” I waved at my arm. “
This
is only one of many. I'm covered in them, Ma'at. He used me for a god damned chew toy and I fucking enjoyed it!” I took a deep breath and tried to rein back my anger. None of this was her fault. “I can't take much more of this. He's tearing me apart, piece by piece. Turning me against myself, changing me into something shameful. Soon there will be nothing left of me.”

“
Vervain,” she held her head aloft, looking down her nose at me. “You will cease this useless melancholy. I know this is hard. I know you've been mistreated but you must hold onto your strength and yourself. You must step back and look upon this with new eyes. Sometimes things are much different than they appear.”

“
You're right,” I gave myself a mental slap. Too many people were depending on me. I couldn't let myself get drawn down into defeat. “I'm sorry.”

“
You think his bite was a punishment?”

“
I think it was kink,” I laughed grimly. “I think this has all been a game to him. He enjoys pushing me, seeing how far he can take it.”

“
What I see,” she mused and then took another sip of wine, “is that you're thinking is wrong.”

“
How so?”

“
What do you know of jackals?” She asked instead of answering me.

“
Besides the fact that they make the most horrendous sounds?” I shuddered. “I can't stand the sound of them screaming like banshees in the night.”

“
That's just how they talk to each other,” she shrugged. “You'll get used to it.”

“
Why don't they just talk when they take human form?”

“
You don't know about Anubis' jackals either,” she frowned. “No, I guess you wouldn't. His jackals are not like other weres.”

“
Yes, I've seen them in action.”

“
No,” she waved impatiently. “I mean that they are not men turned into beasts but beasts turned into men.”

“
Heh?” I made a confused and slightly panicked noise.

“
Anubis called regular jackals to him and worked magic upon them,” she explained gently. “They have only basic human intelligence but are very loyal.”

“
Holy shit,” I breathed, “that explains a lot.”

“
Yes, but I've digressed,” she waved her glass of wine gracefully. “Your wolves are not the only animals who mate for life. Jackals do as well. They are very family oriented creatures. Often, pups will stay with their mother to help raise the next litter.”

“
Fascinating,” my tone said clearly that it was not.

“
Shut up and listen, Godhunter,” she snapped and I snapped to attention.

“
Sorry.”

“
Those bites were not kink,” she smiled then. “It is a trait of his pack. Anubis' jackals regenerate so quickly, a bite means nothing. They use them to mark their mates. Only once, to show other jackals that the female is taken, and then the bites heal.”

“
So, he was marking his territory,” whatever, like that hadn't been done before.

“
You are once more missing the bigger picture,” she sighed. “He brought you here to punish. So why is he marking you clearly as his mate? The only mate he will ever take?”

“
Cause he's fucking insane?” I shook my head at her chastising look. “Okay, so maybe he does like me a little. What do I do about it?”

“
Use it, for it is power.”

“
I’ve gone that route and it hasn’t got me anywhere.”

“
Oh please,” she rolled her eyes. “Have you never seduced a man into loving you? Sex is easy but love takes time and patience, especially with Anubis.”

“
What did I do wrong?” I was grateful for her friendship and every part of me wanted to be able to trust her but it was just too good to be true. What if she had some ulterior motive? Like Aphrodite had when she set me free. Mama always said that if it’s too good to be true… grab it fast before someone else sees it, but I was a little more cynical than she.

“
You were doing so well at first,” Ma’at’s face became sweetly pensive. “I saw Anubis weakening but then you pushed him too hard, too soon, and you slid back. Don’t let the small skirmish decide the war. Strap your armor back on and fight him.”

“
I don’t know how,” I retrieved my glass. “To answer your question, no, I’ve never seduced a man into loving me. I am who I am, if they love me, great, if they don’t, I don’t want them. It baffles me that a woman could want a man who doesn't really want them.”