Mitry and Weni (8 page)

“How did you learn to fight the shadow demons?” Zara asked.

“Necessity.” Krysta shoved a piece of pancake in her mouth and chewed.

“Care to elaborate?” Zara’s voice was harsher than usual and Mit hoped her attitude didn’t piss Krysta off.

“Those fuckers were trying to steal my soul every damn night. It finally pissed me off enough to do some research. When I found what I was looking for I hooked up with a martial arts and sword expert and hired him to teach me how to fight.”

“Damn, you must have one hell of a backbone,” Zara said. “I was scared out of my freaking mind when Set and Sab told me I had been targeted by the demonic.”

“I was, too, at first,” Krysta said. “But after months of being plagued by the same nightmare I decided to do something about it.”

“You’ll be able to fight them off better now that you’ve been transformed.” Zara smirked. “How about after breakfast we go to the training room and test your skills?”

Mit shifted in his seat when Krysta frowned, worried she was about to refuse and ask to leave. He almost sighed with relief when she nodded.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Mit asked.

“Why?” Krysta scowled at him.

“Just trying to help.”

“I don’t need your help,” Krysta muttered under her breath but he and Nina heard her, and from the way Wen tensed beside him so had his friend.

Mit’s heart ached. He was trying his best to make Krysta comfortable with him, Weni, and the others but she was fighting them every step of the way. Maybe he should just let her go her own way. It didn’t look like she wanted anything to do with any of them.

When the women finished eating, they left to head toward the training room. Mit slumped in his chair and rubbed his chest wondering if he and Wen would ever be able to claim their mate properly. From the way things were going so far, he doubted it.

* * * *

The moment Krysta entered the large training room, Nina turned to face her with a scowl on her face.

“Did you have to be such a bitch?” Nina snarled. “Do you know that you hurt both your mates by what you just said?”

Zara and Lavinia came to stand beside Nina, supporting their friend as she confronted Krysta.

“Look, I don’t know what you all want from me, but I never asked for any of this shit.”

“That’s just too damn bad.” Zara poked Krysta in the arm. “Those men have been fighting the demonic for nearly five thousand years. How old are you, Krysta?”

“What has the got to—”

“Just answer the fucking question,” Nina demanded angrily.

“Twenty-five.” Krysta crossed her arms over her chest.

“Let me guess,” Lavinia began. “You’ve spent most of your life alone. Not letting anyone get too close because you’re scared that they’ll leave you and you’ll get hurt again. How was that?”

Krysta knew the expression on her face was probably one of shock.

“Do you think you have the monopoly on getting hurt or being let down by people who come into your life?” Nina asked.

Krysta shook her head and she started to feel guilty.

“You’ve got one big fucking chip on your shoulder, lady.” Zara poked Krysta’s shoulder again. “We’ve all been where you have. Not necessarily because of the same reasons or quite the same situation, but we’ve all been lonely for one reason or another. But if you ever
hurt your mates the way you just did, I will rip your fucking heart out.”

Krysta’s shoulders slumped. They were right. She’d been a complete and utter bitch to Mit and Wen and all because she found herself in a situation she didn’t know how to handle.

“Are you attracted to them?” Nina asked in a calmer voice.

Krysta couldn’t lie and ended up nodding.

Nina smiled. “Good. Those poor men have avoided relationships for millennia, not because they wanted to, but because they would have ended up heartbroken again and again and again. Can you imagine being with someone you love, watch them age, and then fade away while you stayed young and healthy for thousands of years?”

“They’re already in love with you, Krysta,” Lavinia stated. “You’re their mate. They will do anything and everything they can to keep you safe and make sure that you’re happy, and I know damn well you want them just as much as they want you. We’ve been where you are. You can fight it as much as you want to but you can’t fight fate. It was meant to be.”

“I’m scared,” Krysta whispered, surprising herself by admitting that, and from the looks on the other women’s faces, them, too.

“So you’re not as tough as you make out,” Zara said with a smile. “What are you scared of?”

Krysta bit her lip indecisively. She’d never looked too deep into her emotions, preferring to ignore them as much as possible and just get on with life, but she could see by the implacable expression on Zara’s face she was going to let her off the hook.

“I don’t…”

“Is it being different now that you’re a sentinel and demigod?” Nina asked.

Krysta frowned and shook her head.

“Are you scared of fighting the demonic?” Lavinia asked.

“Not really. I’ve gotten used to dealing with those bastards.”

“Then what?” Zara threw her hands up in frustration. “Are you scared of Mit and Wen?”

“They wouldn’t hurt me.”

“I’m glad you said that,” Nina stated and then frowned as the tapped a finger to her lip. Her eyes lit up as if she’d just had an epiphany. “Are you a virgin, Krysta?”

Krysta didn’t know if she should answer that question. It was no one’s business but her own.

“Come on,” Zara waved her fingers at her. “We’re all friends here. We were all virgins before we met our mates.”

“Really?” Krysta asked. “So I’m not the only paradox in the room?
”

“No,” Nina replied. “None of us have been with any other man except our mates.”

“Is that what’s worrying you?” Lavinia asked. “Having two men make love to you?”

Zara grabbed hold of Krysta’s hand and tugged her across to the other side of the room. Lavinia closed the door before following.

“You don’t have any reason to be scared,” Nina said. “They won’t take you the first time together. But let me tell you after they have made love to you one after the other and claimed you properly you’re going to want them to make love to you together.”

“What do you mean?” Krysta frowned.

“Your body will go into a sort of mating heat,” Zara explained. “You going to need them to take you together to ease the burning desire inside of you.”

“That sounds…painful.”

Lavinia laughed. “Not in the least. Having both your mates make love to you at the same time is out of this world. Once you’ve experienced it you’ll want it again and again.”

“So are you going to lay off of them?” Nina asked.

“I didn’t mean to hurt them,” Krysta said.

“Maybe you should apologize.” Nina smiled.

“I will.”

“Great,” Zara said as she tugged her T-shirt up over her head and turned away to drop it on the floor in the corner.

“Wow, I love your tats.” Krysta moved closer to see the falcon and Egyptian eye on Zara’s shoulder blades.

“They’re not tattoos.” Nina came to stand beside Krysta.

“We all have them,” Lavinia said, drawing her gaze. “I’ll show you.”

Krysta watched as Nina and Lavinia drew their T-shirts off and tugged at the sports bras they were wearing. Both women had the Egyptian eye marking on the top of their left breasts and when they turned she saw they each had a falcon on their left shoulder blade and another on the right with the Egyptian eye incorporated into it.

“If you look closely you can see the faint outline of an angel next to the falcons on the right shoulder blade,” Zara said and then traced over the faint white line of the angel on first Nina and then Lavinia.

“If they aren’t tattoos, then what are they?” Krysta frowned.

“The eye is the eye of Ra. The falcon is also a depiction of belonging to Ra,” Zara explained.

“And the angel?”

“That we don’t know.”

“What about your mates? Do they know?”

“No.”

“I have a theory about the angel,” Lavinia said.

“Well, let’s hear it then.” Zara moved to the sickle-shaped swords hanging on the wall and pulled two down from the rack.

“I think it has to do with the glowing thing we do.”

“You may be right,” Nina said excitedly.

“You know, that makes a lot of sense.” Zara walked toward Krysta.

“What are you talking about?”

“We’ve each faced the shadow demons alone and together,” Lavinia explained. “We actually did it the night we found you fighting the demonic.”

“Don’t you remember the bright glowing light?” Nina asked.

Krysta nodded.

“That was us,” Zara said. “We seem to have this ability to blow the shadow demons to smithereens. I didn’t realize that by joining hands we would be so much more powerful.”

“How do you do it?” Krysta asked.

“We’re not totally sure,” Lavinia said. “I found out I could to it when I was pulled into the bowels of hell by Apep and his evil minions.”

“You were pulled into hell?” Krysta asked on a whisper. She shivered as a frisson of fear raced up her spine.

“Yeah,” Lavinia replied. “We’ve all been in the clutches of the demonic. We were able to get out when we started thinking about our mates and how much we love them. As soon as we pictured our men in our minds and let the memory of their love flow into our hearts we began to glow.”

“I burned Apep,” Nina stated matter-of-factly.

“You did?”

“Yeah, the fucker was trying to strangle me, but when I felt my mates love flowing through my heart and soul something happened. Apep began screaming in pain and it was then that I realized he was being burned while touching me. I planted my hand on the asshole’s face and he ended up dropping me and running away.”

“How did you get out of there?” Krysta asked in a hoarse voice.

“Ra!” Nina and Lavinia answered at the same time.

“Ra saved you?”

“Yeah,” Lavinia sighed. “My men were able to follow the connection I have with them and they got into hell, too. They were like avenging angels but when Ra arrived he destroyed the demonic with the wave of his hand and zapped us back here, to the temple.”

“Is that the room with the glass pyramid ceiling?” Krysta was having a hard time keeping up but her mind kept zeroing in on one
thing that just wouldn’t be pushed aside. “If you all and Ra can get into hell, why are there still so many shadow demons getting out of there?”

“That’s a good question,” Zara said. “I’ve been thinking on that for months now.”

“And?”

“I think Ra has rules he has to adhere to as well. There has always been a balance between good and evil. We don’t know what would happen to the world if that balance was no more.”

“Hmm, you’re probably right,” Nina said.

“I have a feeling you are.” Lavinia nodded. “Ra probably would have wiped Apep and his evil followers from hell and the world if he was allowed to. He’s definitely powerful enough.”

“Subject change.” Nina met Krysta’s gaze. “Do you have the marks?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” Lavinia asked.

Krysta grabbed hold of the neck of the borrowed shirt she was wearing and tugged the neckline down, exposing the top of her left breast. “Nothing.”

“Maybe it’s because you aren't really mated to Mit and Wen,” Nina suggested.

Krysta shrugged, making herself look busy by righting the shirt, but deep down she was very disappointed she didn’t have the mark.

Shit, Krysta, you can’t have it both ways. You either want to be their mate or you don’t. Make up your mind.

She sighed because the urge to go to Mit and Wen was almost too compulsive to ignore, but she resisted. She had no idea whether they would want to see her again after the way she had treated them. They’d saved her life and she’d been a total bitch.

“Are you ready to play?” Zara asked, drawing her from her thoughts.

Krysta nodded and took the proffered sword from her, weighing it in her hand. “What’s this called?”

“A scimitar.” Zara lifted her hand. “Hold it like this with the curve away from your body. The last thing you need is for the tip to get stuck in or snagged on something.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be bad.” Krysta moved toward the middle of the room. She glanced about the edges looking at all the gym equipment and treadmills and planned to use them later. She’d never had the money to buy such things because any extra cash she had went on buying food to feed the homeless. She ran in the mornings along the streets of her hometown but always felt a little self-conscious. Especially when she caught the opposite sex gawking at her body.

Zara positioned herself near Krysta and with a nod of her head they began to test their skills.