Seducing Destiny (Brothers of Fate Book 2) (3 page)

An hour’s drive to find this place, and Blake still hadn’t figured out what he was supposed to say. Morrigan provided an ice breaker, but seeing her had summoned centuries of demons, rage, and grief. Blake would have ripped her to pieces right then and there if it was within his power to do so.

Despite his ultimatum, no part of him was willing to leave Luci to her fate. He racked his brain for a next step. “You’re being hunted by powerful gods, because you may or may not be a threat to their future.” It sounded just as crappy and crazy when he said it aloud.

Her raised brows and twisted mouth indicated she felt the same. “You’re insane. I don’t know what kind of game this is, but I’m calling the cops unless you leave right now. Hell, I’m calling them anyway. Was that even a real job interview this afternoon?”

Her distrust left an ache inside, but he ignored it. “You can’t call anyone. Just listen. Morrigan—or someone like her—will be back.” With any luck, it wouldn’t be her. He didn’t need to see the past repeat itself.

She stood, crossed the room to the kitchen, and grabbed her phone. “I’m calling the police.”

“Hear me out.” Despite the adrenaline racing through him and the desire to get her to safety
now
, he forced his voice to stay calm. “Please.” He had no idea why it was so important to him she listen. With anyone else, he’d have already tossed them over his shoulder and spirted them away to safety regardless of what they thought of him. Mortals were fragile, and he wasn’t a god known for his patience. But it was important she trust him, even though he couldn’t explain why he was being irrational about that. “If I can’t convince you, I’ll go.” He couldn’t though. There was no way he was leaving her.

She clenched her jaw and crossed her arms. Seconds ticked away, and the uncomfortable silence grew. “You have two minutes.”

Great. That didn’t make it any easier to come up with an explanation. Fuck it. He held out his hand, and with a flicker of concentration, summoned a ball of electricity and let it float about an inch above his palm.

A gasp strangled from her throat, and her phone clattered to the table. She snapped her jaw shut and closed the distance between them. “Bullshit. That’s a trick.” She pushed up his sleeves.

When her skin met his, a shock of familiarity seared through him, and images flooded his thoughts. Random snippets he couldn’t make sense of. Memories of a woman he’d known almost two centuries ago. A nightgown. A high collar. Her soft gasps, as he stripped away her clothes, mingled with Luci’s sigh in the now and dragged him from the vision.

He found his voice. “It’s not a trick. It’s real.” He pulled off his suit coat, draped it over the back of a chair, and rolled up his sleeves. “See? It’s just me.”

“Can you vanish like that woman did?”

“No. Teleporting isn’t in my arsenal.”

She made a sound that was half huff, half sniff. “You need better tricks.”

Wounded pride swelled in his chest. “I have better tricks.” He closed his eyes, bowed his head, and inhaled deeply through his nose. He summoned an image of the afternoon sky, heavy with clouds blocking most of the sun. Electricity and water broiled through the air. Through his eyelids, he saw the light fade. He looked at Luci again, as a clap of thunder rattled the windows and echoed off the walls.

She squeaked and jumped. Her hand flew to her heart, and she met his gaze. “Did you do that?”

That was a better response. He smirked. “We need to go now. I’ll explain everything I can, once we’re safe, but that requires you to follow me.”

*

Luci looked out the window—rain hammering against it from a sky that had been bright blue seconds ago—then back at Blake. She still had no idea what to believe, but she didn’t know of a single magic trick that could make it rain in an instant. The flash of images she’d seen when she touched him... they’d felt like her memories. They couldn’t be. Was he doing something to her head? Hypnosis, maybe. That made more sense than a random god having it in for her and Blake coming to the rescue.

Even knowing all that, she couldn’t convince herself to send him away. It had to be better than waiting for some vanishing woman who could summon wind from thin air to come back and kill her. “All right. I’ll go.” Luci expected more anxiety at speaking the words. Instead some of the fight escaped her, and relief sank in.

He pulled a blank card from his wallet, intertwined his fingers with hers, and tugged her toward the closet. What the hell?

“I can’t teleport,” he said as he passed the credit-card sized object over the knob, “but this always gives me a doorway home.” He opened the door, and her eyes grew wide. Instead of coats and jackets, an entryway stretched out in front of her.

He pulled her hand. They stepped into the new room, and the door swung shut behind them. This was too weird. She didn’t know if she should freak out or just enjoy the madhouse. She whirled and yanked the knob. The other side was an unfamiliar street, instead of her living room. “How did you....? What...?” She didn’t know what to say. Nothing in her scope of experience prepared her for this.

“It’s magic.” He flashed her a broad smile.

She might have to start believing that or lose her mind.

“You’re back.” A female voice interrupted Luci’s thoughts. A woman tossed her arms around Blake’s neck, and he returned the hug. “You’re early,” the woman said.

Jealousy speared Luci, leaving a sharp pain in her lungs. That was ridiculous. She didn’t care who Blake had waiting for him at home, even if the woman was tall, thin, and almost glowing.

“We need to rethink our plans.” Blake stepped out of the woman’s grasp.

Another man joined them. He looked a lot like Blake but not as broad in the shoulders, and instead of a suit he wore more casual jeans and a T-shirt. He glanced at Luci before turning back to Blake. “You got there in time. I have more information about her relevance.”

Luci was a guest, and it was true she had almost zero idea what was going on, but she still didn’t like being ignored. She opened her mouth to protest, but Blake rested a hand on her lower back and nudged her forward. The contact sent a jolt of warmth through her and snatched away her objections.

“This is Luci.” Even in a few short words, Blake commanded the situation. “She had the distinct pleasure of running into Morrigan, so no, I didn’t make it in time. Did we know there were other pantheons involved with her name?” He looked at Luci. “And this is my brother, Eli, and his fiancée, Marley.”

Fiancée. The single word soothed Luci more than she thought possible, especially given the last hour or so of insanity. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d known this guy for a few hours, he’d already threatened to uproot her life, and she was crushing on him? She stuffed any further reactions deep down inside, focused on being calm and logical, and smiled at Marley and Eli.

“Fuck.” Eli drummed his fingers against his legs. “You still have the copies of the Celtic myths surrounding Morrigan, correct?”

Something resembling a growl rumbled from Blake’s chest. “What do you think? And why are you in my house? A phone call wouldn’t do?”

“We’re here because the old filing cabinets that had the documents with your name are here.” Marley looked at Luci. “Goddess in your apartment? You have my sympathy. Are you all right?”

No one seemed to have any issues with this entire bizarre conversation besides Luci. “I’m really fucking confused, and someone promised me an explanation.”

Marley reached for Luci’s hand and squeezed her fingers. “Don’t blame them. They’ve had centuries to deal with it.”

Blake sighed.

Eli wrapped an arm around Marley’s waist and pointed her toward the front door. “We’ll catch up soon.”

Luci’s head spun, as silence engulfed her and Blake again. He finally spoke. “Do you want something to drink?”

“I want answers.” She hated to sound like a broken record, but the last of her restraint was slowly slipping away, leaving in its place a panic she couldn’t define and didn’t think she could contain.

He nudged her to the right, toward an open room. It was the embodiment of the term
sitting room
brought to life. A fireplace dominated the far wall, and leather sofas and chairs were arranged to face each other. Blake took a spot on one of the two couches and waved for her to join him.

She couldn’t sit. Too much energy thrummed through her. She folded her arms, to keep herself from shaking apart. “I’m waiting.”

Blake was done searching for the best way to phrase things. At this point there was no reason to try and break the news gently, or ease Luci into things. He hated the worry lines around her eyes, and the way she chewed the inside of her cheek, but something told him meting out information wouldn’t ease her expression.

Besides, as gods they didn’t keep their immortality and power secret because of things like concern for their safety. Once upon a time, they’d worn the label proudly. It was just that these days, no one believed them anyway. The numbers of people who kept the faith were so small, a god wearing his birthright like a badge didn’t make any sense.

Luci stopped her pacing, and started at him. “Well?”

He sucked in a deep breath. Might as well start at the beginning. “Morrigan, the woman in your apartment, is a god. She’s not the only one. Eli and I are as well. Marley wasn’t, but she is now, and...” He trailed off when Luci’s brow furrowed and confusion settled onto her face.

“And at least one of you wants me dead. I get that. But why?” she asked.

“I’ll back up.” He patted the couch next to him. “Sit. It’s going to take a while.”

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and then dropped into the chair across from him. She drew her mouth into a straight line and watched him, eyes wide in expectation.

“Every pantheon… you would call them mythologies”—he hated that term, but he needed to make her understand this was real, not a children’s story about imaginary creatures—“has their own curses, fates, and texts surrounding the end of the world.”

She held up her index finger. “Stop. I’m not super up to date on my mythology, but I’m pretty sure there are no gods named Blake. Or Eli.”

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not at her but at destiny. “It’s not our fate for people to know our names.”

”Really.” Her tone was flat.

“I’m not just saying that,” he said. “The text around us specifically says only our brother will be famous. But you’re right. Eli’s full name is Byleist, and mine is Helblindi.”

“I guess I can see why you don’t go around calling yourself that.”

He scowled. “Thanks. Anyway, besides stripping away our notoriety, our legends say a lot of gods will die, and others will take their place during and after the rebirth of the world as we know it. As you can imagine, not everyone’s so keen on seeing that happen. Especially those gods who aren’t supposed to survive. None of us took it seriously until a few months ago, when the poems and rhymes we’d recited for centuries started coming true.”

“Let’s say I believed you.” She wrung her fingers together. “Why do any of them care about me? And how did—” She clenched her jaw and shook her head. “Why me?”

He wanted to push her question, find out what else was in her head, but something told him that wouldn’t get him anywhere right now. “That’s what Eli and Marley are trying to figure out. It’s why...” He let out a slow breath. “It’s why I’m looking for contractors. All of this information is written down in so many random places, we need to pull it all together. Digitize it.”

“But it’s not like you can tell someone what you’re working on, without them thinking you’re insane. So you’re having it built in separate modules.” She filled in the rest of the thought for him.

“Exactly. Apparently there’s a reference to you in one. We’d have known that if we already had the system online.”

She flopped back in the chair and turned her gaze to the ceiling. “And it’s completely a coincidence that I showed up on your interview list.”

The way she said it made the entire thing sound so... conspiratorial. “It is. We still would have found you, but not like this.”

“Wow. That makes me feel so much better about the entire thing.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice. She dropped her chin to her chest and locked her gaze on Blake. “When can I go home?”

“I don’t know.”

She rubbed her face, and a tiny whimper escaped from her throat. Her frame shuddered. She dragged the back of her wrist across her cheeks, and looked at him again. “What now?”

“We keep you safe until we have answers and a plan.”

“That’s swell”—she was on her feet again, pacing—“but it’s not going to work for me. I have a life. Things to do. And that doesn’t involve sitting around in the middle of—where are we, anyway?—just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“We’re in Nevada. About ten miles outside of Las Vegas.” He didn’t understand why, but it tore at him to see her so upset. It knotted his muscles and coiled his instinct, making him search for a target he wouldn’t find. He stood and stepped in her path. She huffed. When she tried to step around him, he rested his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look him in the eye. He kept his voice low and calm. “It sucks. I get that.”

She let out a snorting laugh. “How could you? If this is true, you have no idea how I feel.”

“You’re right, I can only guess. But I can still tell it sucks. I’ve had my home, my life, and the people I love ripped from me enough times...” He clenched his jaw at the surge of memories. Grace, in nineteen-twenties’ New York. Sayuri, with the flowing dark hair and kimono. Elizabeth, in the silk Victorian dress. An ache throbbed in his chest. “You don’t have to just sit down and surrender, but we do need a plan, and we need information first.”

“Then let me help.”

A compulsion sped through him, and he brushed a thumb over her cheek. The direct contact added another wash of color to the images vying for his mind’s attention, blurring her face with others and morphing them together. Except instead of drawing his attention from her, the memories honed his senses in on her presence. On top of it all was heat and desire and the need to protect Luci. “I will. But right now, if we dive into a random spot and start digging, we’ll be spinning our wheels. Once Eli has more information, he’ll let me know.

She nodded and covered his hand with hers. Lust jolted through him. She licked her lips. “What do we do until then?”

Find out if Luci tasted as delicious as she looked. “I’d still love to buy you a drink,” he said.

Some of the lines on her face faded, and the corner of her mouth pulled up. “The last thing I need right now is to be drunk. Though, trust me, it’s tempting.”

The slightest twist of his hand, and he could wrap his fingers in her hair. A dip of his head, and he could claim her mouth. Ancestors, she was wreaking havoc on his thoughts. “I’ll buy you dinner, then.” Or make her the main course. Trace his tongue down her chest. Dip between her breasts.

“Dinner. Crap.” She frowned and stepped out of his grip. “I completely forgot I ordered pizza before my reality imploded. The poor driver is going to be pissed. I need to call them and apologize.”

Desire still skittered over Blake’s skin. He clenched his fist, to bring his racing pulse under control, and tried to ignore the strain of his cock against his slacks. He was disappointed at the lost moment, but something about how flustered she looked over a forgotten dinner delivery was still enticing. Flushed cheeks, wide eyes. He laced his fingers through hers. “Calling them will wait.”

She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. Did she have any idea how seductive that was? “I feel bad,” she said.

He could think of a couple very specific ways to distract her into feeling something else, but the moment was gone. “I don’t suspect they’ll hold a grudge. If you’re that worried about pizza, I can have something more authentic delivered.”

“Authentic pizza. In the middle of Nevada. How do you define authentic?”

He knew the perfect place in Naples. Italy. And the goddess who ran the place just happened to be a close friend. “Trust me.”

Luci’s smile slid back in place. “Oddly enough, I do.”