Zeus (Frozen Origin) (9 page)

Major Dunlevy was watching them rather than the enemy which turned out to be a fatal mistake. He was caught right between the eyes by a sniper with a high powered rifle. A portion of h
is brains splattered over Zeus’ face. In the confusion of their retreat, Zeus forgot to assign someone to see to the body that should have been taken back with them. It was a mistake he never made again, but to this day he felt shame whenever he thought of that mission. The enemy identified the major in no time sending parts of him to his family through the mail. Origin had considered the mission a complete success saying the major was paid well and that death was a possible outcome he was aware of. Zeus had always hoped someday to do something for his family, but Origin kept close track of them when they were away from the facility so he had never been able to.

Escape wasn’t an option because one god had tried it. He was killed and his gruesome tortured body placed on display until the trainers that worked with them could no longer stand the smell. They were told and they believed it, that had they not found him, they would have chosen one of the others to kill in his place. Eventually, he would
have been found and then he would die as well. The world was a cruel place for those who were different without the protection of a group or money. The lesson had stuck and all these years no one had been willing to risk the lives of their brothers. They had considered an uprising, but again they learned the place was wired to explode from an outside trigger. It seemed they had been lucky that the current manager didn’t want to die. When she found out about the explosives, she had them disconnected. If they’d only known, they would have taken over months ago, even with the risk that they wouldn’t have been able to survive with few resources and no money.

He woke up from his dream soaked in sweat and filled with
a regret that nothing, not even time, ever dimmed. He looked at the clock seeing it was the middle of the night but he felt hungry so he went to get a snack. He intended to remodel and move into the manager’s quarters soon because it had room for a mate and it had a kitchenette. The rest of the council and the mated gods would need larger quarters when they could manage it. They would fix this place one room at a time.

He fixed himself a sandwich and a glass of milk then as an afterthought he grabbed a couple cupcakes because he and all his males had god sized appetites. He thought about his mate wondering if the changes she was going through were painful, but he couldn’t regret them since they made her more compatible with him. The scientists had studied the mating behavior and process of gods after one of them accidently bonded with one of the female personnel. One of the female scientists had found it fascinating studying it in depth so the gods could be told what to avoid. The female worker that had been bonded was never seen or heard from again. The god that bonded her wen
t crazy for a time, was kept drugged for part of that time, but eventually recovered. The scientist had stressed that recovery might not be possible for all gods under those circumstances.

Rules had been developed to prevent further instances of mating bonds such as no biting, no close interaction after sex, and if signs of closeness between a god and a sex partner developed, all intimacies were halted. It worked since no further matings had occurred after the rules were enforced until now. The odd thing was now the bonds were starting without sexual intercourse making him think it might be a matter of recognition of a perfect mate rather than a developed attachment caused by mutual liking. He knew Sierra liked him no matter how much she tried to hide it, but the bond he felt to her was instantaneous and every moment near her and now every moment away from her, added to his attachment.

He had even begun changing her which was one of the things the scientist had discovered that had excited her and brought support to her research. If given in small amounts, the venom they carried that was distributed through a bite to the recipient, would start changing their biology to make it compatible to that of the gods. In simple words, it changed the biology of a human into that of a goddess. Full of enthusiasm over that discovery, the scientist had injected herself with some venom she had milked from a god. It was the last thing she ever did because it seemed that the venom was extremely poisonous to the majority of humans and only worked on a small percentage. Those were the females that for whatever reason nature selected as acceptable mates for the gods.

Zeus observed that so far those females that his gods had selected were extreme alpha females that had desirable traits such as intelligence, strength, and leadership. He had not met the female accidentally mated by one of his, but he would be willing to bet she had been a superior female. The scientist who had injected herself while intellectually superior didn’t have any other alpha traits. She had been weak both physically and
mentally when it came to those traits a leader had. None of his males had been attracted to her although some had been forced to pleasure her. That had just been part of the life they had lived, the life they would live no more. Now they would chose women for their own reasons, hopefully those they chose would choose them in return.

He thought of the female he had chosen, the one he wished with all his being to mate. He hoped her change was easy for her giving her no pain or confusion. He might not have started the change had he known she would leave him. Even though she had said she would he had thought against all logic that she would change her mind or he would be able to find a way to keep her with him. She hadn’t changed her mind even though he had seen signs she was growing to care for him and he had not found a way to keep her, yet.

Chapter 3

Going Back

She woke up bathed in sweat, aching all over, and feeling ready to hurl, hopefully just a bad flu bug. It had started with slight symptoms that had seemed more hormonal than anything but now they were physical and debilitating. If they were called out on a mission she would be so screwed since she could barely walk much less run or fight. Maybe she had just a little PMS but then caught some serious illness in the cave that the creature was buried in. It would explain the complete change of symptoms and the severity of the illness which was hard for her to deal with since she was never sick. Oh, she had broken bones, been shot, stabbed, beaten, and bruised, but the flu, coughs, colds, and those types of things never bothered her.

Her parents told her it was superior genes, but
that her attempts at dying with her crazy albeit heroic actions would catch up with her. A body could only take so much and she had put hers through its paces, so maybe it was rebelling now. It had been two days since she had left the facility where the gods were and she found she thought of Zeus constantly, yearned for him incessantly. She had never had feelings like these before not even as a teenager with the first love which she had been told is always emotional. She admitted she was obsessed with the big, handsome god to the point of almost going insane with need for him. How she would recover from it, she had no idea. It seemed to grow with time as much away from him as it had grown when she had been with him. Could it be absence did make the heart grow fonder and what should she do about it?

She checked her email only to find dozens of messages from Kyler to go with the dozens of messages he had left on her phone. They were from his personal accounts so she felt justified in ignoring them since as far as she was concerned they no longer had a personal relationship.
She was within her rights going by the agreement they had made to walk away if either of them wanted to and she had had enough. She didn’t believe in long drawn out goodbyes, the blame game, or the just one more time that others indulged in.

She dragged her tired ass to the kitchen where she made some chicken noodle soup because wasn’t it suppose to cure all ills? It tasted good and her stomach tolerated it so it was bound to help. She threw the dish in the sink and hurried to get to bed before her aching, tired body refused to function any more. She had eaten
, which usually helped her get to sleep but not this time since she tossed and turned thinking of her god constantly. She finally fell asleep hoping tomorrow would be better than today had been.

She woke stretching enjoying the feel of her body for the first time in over a week. It wasn’t back to its usual condition but the improvement was noticeable. Her cramps, which were the most severe symptom, had left her even though she still felt hot an
d achy. Maybe this would improve in baby steps but as long as it improved, she wouldn’t complain. Her thoughts were still dominated by the gorgeous god, but her body was her biggest problem right now. She got up to eat feeling more comfortable with the thought of real food, actually feeling the need for large amounts of real food. The fridge didn’t hold enough food to match her hunger so she just let her fingers do the walking ordering enough food to satisfy a god.
Damn, couldn’t she stop thinking about those guys?

While she waited for her food to be delivered, she checked her emails.
Damn! There was one from the boss.
She was lucky he had just sent it this morning but she should have replied by now. She read it surprised and a little pissed off. They were sending her back to Zeus, um, back to the facility that is. She wondered if Kyler had fucked things up or if something major had gone down that required her particular skills. The bell rang so she went to the door, hunger slamming into her as she caught the smell of food. It must not be covered to smell so strong from the other side of the door or maybe she was just so hungry she imagined it.

She opened the door paying the teenager then bringing her large bag of Chinese food inside where she tore into it. If it hadn’t been so hot, she would have just fallen all over it, but as it was she had to eat slowly so she wouldn’t burn her mouth. The food was good and somehow she managed to eat it all even though it was the most food she had ever eaten in one sitting. She put that down to the fact she had eaten little in two days due to severe stomach cramps. She felt hotter than usual, but since she was feeling
even better now that she’d eaten, she decided not to worry about it. Energy pulsed through her making her feel like running a few miles or climbing a large mountain, it was crazy but she suddenly felt that good.

She went back to look at the email which said she’d be leaving in the morning with her whole team and that they’d already been notified. She sent back an affirmative answer, thought about asking for details, but decided against it for now. She packed her ruck sack with her essentials, a few changes of clothes for
different situations, and a small bag of personal care items. In the morning before leaving, she would strap on her weapons and wear her winter gear including some appropriate boots. She wondered how long she would be there causing her to pack another sack that one of her sisters could send to her if she needed it down the line.

She spent a couple of hours cleaning house, took a nap, then when she got up, she evaluated her other needs. She packed her computer after checking emails one more time setting
it by the door with her other gear. She went for a run that was longer than her customary one without even feeling winded. She noticed an improvement in her hearing, vision, and sense of smell but was she just imagining it or was this a dream? When she got home she took a shower noting the intensity of the water on her skin again wondering if all these changes were real or imagined. She had a glass of milk and twice the amount of cookies she usually had which also wasn’t usual for her in her well moderated life. Things were always habit for her with nothing changing until now.

She went to bed early to get some extra sleep because she really wasn’t quite herself hoping she would be back to normal by morning. She woke up ready to go, but if anything
, the changes she had noted had only increased. Last night Zeus had been a porn star in her dreams and a damn good one. She had never felt such pleasure in her life but she suspected if she succumbed to his desires, that was exactly the kind of pleasure she would feel. It was like life and everyone in it was conspiring to push her into his arms and his bed, which was exactly where she was tempted to be.

She heard the knock on her door, made one more quick check to be sure she had everything she needed, and she opened the door with bags in hand. The young officer insisted on carrying half her bags, even thoug
h she could more then handle it, but she could tell he was a well mannered gentleman. There was a time she would have flirted, maybe even agreed to a date but he might as well be chopped liver for all that he appealed to her sexually. No one seemed exciting or appealing now that she had met Zeus and she had to admit she was falling for the top god. The lieutenant shot her admiring looks as they headed for the helicopter that would take her to the facility with a stop for fuel along the way. The Lt. would drop her then head back to wherever he came from once she was on the copter.

The pilot was one she had seen many times and one member of her team was already on board. They would pick up the rest on the way before heading out for the main trip. It would be a long trip with no talking since the noise level would prevent them from understanding each other. Her sensitive ears seemed to be bothered by the noise more than ever so she put on headphones listening to music instead as she nodded to each crewmember as they stopped to load them onboard.
She listened to soothing music as she tried to work out exactly what they had sent her back for. The look on the faces of some of her team indicated they might be wondering why they were sent back too.

The flight was long and uneventful in between listening to music and sleeping but Zeus arrived
to greet them right away. When their eyes met she felt electricity shoot through her making her whole body aware of him.
Damn, that never happened before.
He stepped forward looking like he meant to say something but then his lips pressed tight without him saying a word. He motioned to them so they followed him inside where they could speak without the loud noise of the copter.

Kyler hurried in to see them too with his assistant following behind like a lap dog. Sierra wished she could like her but she had never managed to. Brenda felt the same way so it was a mutual dislike they shared, it being the only thing they shared.
Kyler stared at her like he wanted to eat her whole but those days were over. She could tell even if his look tried to absorb her essence that he wished she wasn’t there because of Zeus, no doubt. This was going to be an awkward and uncomfortable meeting which she would have preferred to avoid. The best thing was to get on with it so it would be over then they could all get to the work that was set before them. Her tasks for the day would include talking to Doc and checking on Way just to be sure everything was going alright.

They all sat down in the meeting room with Brenda directly across from her, talk about bad luck. Brenda was taller than average for a woman at about five foot ten. She was lean and athletic with a penchant for fighting and a rough way around others
, especially other woman. Her hair was a deep chestnut, her eyes brown, and her milk white complexion with the slightest of freckles only across the top of her nose would probably seem cute to most men or at least she would be until she opened her mouth. She had the personality of a snake with no redeeming qualities that Sierra knew of. While examining her she had noticed her attention seemed to be mostly on Zeus with it wandering toward Kyler once in a while and her expression was like a kid in a candy store. That better not continue or a can of whoop ass would be opened on her and it would hurt. She could moon over Kyler all she wanted to but Zeus was simply not for her.

Zeus opened the meeting by thanking Sierra and her team for returning to help them acclimate to their new life in what to them
, was a new world. Kyler listened with a stony expression on his face and his eyes were cold as ice as they stared at Zeus. In a room full of regular men, Kyler was usually the handsomest man around but in a room of gods he was sadly lacking which would be hard for someone like him to handle. Kyler had often had too much pride, which was one of his biggest failings since he put himself above those he lead, those who led him even if he tried not to show it, and his adversaries which caused him to sometimes underestimate them. His hair was blond, buzzed low so it allowed a clear look at his stiff unyielding profile. Anger radiated from him like heat from a fire and he made no effort to hide it or rein it in.

Zeus covered some trivial matters that didn’t relate to her team dismissing everyone else but asking her to stay at the end of the meeting.
Meeting alone with Zeus was the last thing she wanted to do but if she was going to be here for a time, it was something she would have to get used to. Once the room was clear except the two of them, he stood moving in her direction. Her fear of being trapped in her chair, made her rise before he reached her. He stopped once he was close enough to touch her, but he held himself back from doing so. She found she almost wished he would even though she would never admit it, not even to herself.

She looked into his golden eyes and felt herself softening towards him
, feeling the desire to throw herself into his strong arms. She felt like running her hands through his long, curly black hair to see if it was as silky and soft as it looked. His copper colored skin begged to be explored, stroked, and licked all over. He was her image of masculine perfection down to that sexy low voice that made her melt. Her core heated sending moisture to the apex of her thighs in preparation of his complete possession and she could swear from the look on his face and the way he inhaled that he could smell it. Her cheeks heated while she wondered if he truly could know how she felt or what her body wanted.

“I’m glad you came back.” It was almost like he held back the words ‘to me’. It was probably her imagination because a man so gorgeous had no need to come after any woman much less one like her that wanted to remain free or at least she thought she did. She wasn’t sure when she had started to question the way she wanted to live her life but that’s what she was starting to do.

“I didn’t really have much of a choice. I was ordered back.”

“You didn’t want to come, really? You don’t feel every nerve in your body come to life when you are near me? You don’t want to forget about everything just so you can throw yourself in my arms, just so I can love you? If you deny it
, I’ll know you as a liar, my mate.”

“I’m not…we’re not…”

“We don’t belong together, we don’t want each?” He stepped right up against her pulling her into his arms, his kiss branded her, claimed her, and seared her to her very soul. “Now what do you have to say?”

She looked at him unable to speak or even move after
his kiss had stolen her strength, her very breath from her lungs. She just looked at him like she imagined prey would look at a very large, very hungry predator. When her breath, her thoughts, and her ability to move returned, she did what any rational creature with a healthy dose of self preservation would when presented with a dangerous unstoppable destructive force. She ran like the demons of hell were at her heels. She ran all the way to medical where she had allies that would help protect her even though she was half afraid he would follow her.

“Whoa, lady. What the hell is going on? You came tearing into the room like a team of terrorists were at your heels, but no one is following you.”

Sierra glanced back just to be sure. “I’m just wound up from a long flight and needed some exercise.”

“Sure, if you say so.
” Doc said looking at her skeptically.

“I need a favor but it has to be kept quiet.”

“If you can’t trust family, who the hell can you trust? Anything you need, just ask.”

“Thanks. I know I can always count on you. I need you to take some blood and check for anything that might account for emotional shifts or flu like symptoms. I’ve just been out of sorts to the point it worries me. I need to be one hundred percent for my team.”

“Come sit on the stool and I will poke you with my needle.”

“Vampire!”

“You shouldn’t say naughty things when you need favors.”

“I know you won’t hold it against me. I’m really worried Doc.”

“It’s okay, Cap. I’ll figure it out if it’s physical.” She pulled two large tubes of blood before pulling the butterfly needle out. Sierra always marveled at how good Doc was at her job because she caused little pain and always managed to draw the blood with one stick.

“Let me know as soon as you do.”

“Of course, you’ll be the second one to know.” Doc promised as Sierra left the office. She felt better now that she was doing something to solve her problem or at least to find out what it might be. Her next move would be to see Way just to be sure she was okay as well as to find out how everything was going. Had she been less stressed, she would have asked Doc where Way was but she wasn’t going to go back now or Doc would realize just how messed up she was. Sierra was always calm, cool, and collected, under control regardless of the circumstances. She didn’t want Doc to see that Zeus had put a chink in her armor that had now grown to a huge gaping hole. What was it about that god that was driving her nuts? It wasn’t like there wasn’t a bunch of them, but he was the only one who drove her crazy.

Unable to find Way in any of the expected places, she left a message on her desk for her before turning in to get some solid rest in her assigned room. The manager’s suite was no longer available since it was being remodeled and Kyler had claimed the next best suite.
She didn’t blame him but did wonder how he was enjoying the pink and violet theme of the room which had even irritated Brandi when she had stayed in there. At least that gave her something to laugh about because damn, she had needed a laugh with all the shit coming down on her lately.