Enraptured (26 page)

The wounds. Those crazed eyes. And Gryphon’s voice.
I
can’t get it off
.
It’s all over me. Inside me. I just…oh, gods, make it go away.

She reached for Orpheus’s hand, pulled it from his pocket, and squeezed her fingers around his, hoping to take the haunted look from his eyes. The one that said he remembered every detail as clearly as she did. “Come with me for a few minutes.”

“I can’t leave him.”

“You’ll be no good to him if he wakes and you’re falling over from exhaustion.”

“No. He needs me here.” He pulled back from her hand.

“She’s right, O,” Theron said. “You need some rest. Callia and I will come find you if anything changes.”

“He’ll be out for at least another twenty-four hours,” Callia added from the other side of the bed.

Isadora crossed the room, her ballet-style flats barely making a sound on the floor as she came to stand next to him. Beside the queen, Orpheus looked huge. She laid a hand on his forearm, right over the Argonaut markings, and not for the first time Skyla had the impression these two had some special bond. Not sexual, but…a friendship. “Go with Skyla, Orpheus. I promise when Gryphon wakes, we’ll come find you. Everything will seem better after you’ve both gotten some sleep.”

The frown on Orpheus’s face said he didn’t agree, but he finally nodded. Skyla stepped toward the door. A little of her worry eased when Orpheus followed.

In the long hallway his boots echoed like drumbeats as they moved toward the elevator. When they were inside the small car, Orpheus shot her a frown. “Since when do Theron and Isadora side with a Siren?”

She punched a button. “Since Demetrius explained what happened after we left the Argonauts on Crete. Apparently, you help one Argonaut, the rest are friends for life. Even if you are a Siren.”

Orpheus didn’t answer, but his scowl deepened and he crossed his arms over his muscular chest.

“Speaking of,” she said, “I notice you still have the markings.”

“I know.”

He didn’t say more, and she sensed he wasn’t happy about that fact. Not wanting to push things, she let the topic drop as the elevator came to a stop and the door opened.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise.”

“Skyla,” he sighed, “I’m really tired. One of the rooms across from Gryphon’s would probably be bet—”

She took his hand and tugged him down the long empty two-story hall with its wall of black windows before he could dig his heels in. “Just humor me for a few minutes, would you? If you want to go back down and find a room closer to Gryphon after you see the surprise, I’ll take you.”

He scowled again, but let her pull him along. When they reached the double doors at the end of the hall, she pushed them open. Chilled air cut to her spine. She continued to pull him after her, heading for the curved stairs off to the right.

“I don’t think it’s snowed since the last time we were up here,” he said at her back as they started up the steps.

She shot him a smile. Though she knew the events of the last few days weighed heavily on that soul he didn’t think he had, she was happy that at least a little sarcasm was back in his voice. “Contrary to what you think, I’m not wild about snow.”

“Could have fooled me,” he muttered.

And oh yeah, the hero she’d come to care for was still in there. Hidden beneath a layer of pain she hoped to alleviate.

“Fooling you isn’t as fun as it used to be, daemon.” She tugged him to the upper balcony. “Okay, close your eyes.”

He frowned but did as she asked. “If I get a snowball in the face, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

She grinned. “Will you spank me?”

“I’ll do more than that.”

Heat flooded her veins.
That
was the guardian she wanted to find again.

Her free hand closed around the door handle. She pulled him into the glass room behind her, shut the door. Warmth from the fireplace to the right dampened the chill, and the orange glow from the embers lit the room just enough.

“Okay, open your eyes.”

Orpheus’s lashes lifted. And his eyebrows immediately dropped low as he turned a slow circle. “Where’s all the stuff?”

For the first time since she’d hatched this crazy plan, a sliver of unease slid through Skyla. “In storage somewhere else.”

She watched as he took it all in. The couch and chairs positioned near the fireplace, the bookshelves on the far side of the room that were empty but for a few leather tomes, then past the dark windows to the other side of the room and the king-size bed with its blue comforter and mountain of pillows.

“What is this?” he asked.

Skyla’s stomach tightened with doubt. “Your room. Well, if you want it, I mean.”

When he slanted her a confused look, that unease pushed its way up her chest. She hated that she felt anything but confident. As a Siren, confidence was part of who and what she was. But ever since she’d met Orpheus, that confidence had been wavering. Because his was the first opinion that mattered. “Isadora suggested it, actually. A room of your own. She didn’t think you’d be leaving Gryphon and going back to Argolea anytime soon.”

Her voice trailed off because the whole idea suddenly sounded…lame.

“You did all this?” he asked, looking around again.

“Yes. Well, no, not all of it,” she corrected. “Nick had a couple of his guys help me move boxes and chairs and haul furniture up here.”

“You got Nick to agree to let me stay here?”

“Isadora did.”

He turned to face her, but she couldn’t read his expression. Was he impressed? Angry no one had asked him what he wanted?

He didn’t answer her unasked questions. Instead he crossed the floor, stepped past the bed, and pushed the door on the far wall open. After flipping on the light and glancing around the fancy bathroom she’d been surprised to find behind the door, he switched off the light, then came back and stared at the bed. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you do this?”

“Because you need a place to unwind.”

“No, why
this
?” He motioned to the whole room, accentuated by warm burgundy throw rugs and leather furnishings instead of the cold cardboard boxes that had dominated it before. “Why this room?”

Because it meant something to her. And she hoped it meant something to him as well.

A lump formed in her throat. She wasn’t sure how to answer. Not without putting her heart on the line. A heart she’d only just rediscovered in the last few days. All because of him.

He crossed back to stand in front of her. “Well?”

She hated that she wanted his approval. More than she’d wanted anyone’s approval before, even Cynurus’s. Though they were technically the same. Gods, none of this made sense, and she especially hated how that made her vulnerable. Vulnerability wasn’t something she had much experience with. “You don’t like it? I told you if you didn’t, you could find a different room downstairs. I was just trying to—”

“Why haven’t you taken it?”

Her mouth closed. She stared up into his intense gray eyes. Eyes that seemed to be looking deep into her soul. It took several seconds before she realized he wasn’t talking about the room but about the Orb.

Her gaze slid to his chest and the Orb she knew lay against his skin, hidden under the white button-down he wore. She’d seen the outline of it under his shirt after she brought help for Gryphon. Knew he’d put it on and that he’d probably already placed the earth element in its slot. And she knew right then that this was her defining moment. She could tease and seduce and imply all she wanted, but the only way she was ever going to prove her loyalty to him was to be honest.

“Because I don’t want it.”

“Zeus does.”

“Zeus is going to have to learn to live with disappointment.” When his eyes narrowed, she knew it was now or never. “I’m leaving the Sirens.”

Skepticism crossed his handsome face. “Why?”

“Two reasons. The first is because now that I’ve seen that thing and felt its power, I know no god can have it. If balance is to remain, it needs to be destroyed. I know that can’t happen before all the elements are found, but giving it to Zeus won’t do anything but cause trouble. I’m sure of it.”

“And the second?”

Right. The second. Skyla bit her lip. There was a jumping-off point, then there was a diving-off point. And right now she was either going to hit the water face-first and come up breathing, or she’d crash and burn in the bottom of an empty pit.

She pulled up her courage. “The second is that I can’t in good faith stay with an order that wants me to kill the man I love.”

There was no reaction from him, not even a muscle twitch in his jaw. And in the silence that followed, Skyla’s anxiety amped a good three notches.

“You love me,” he finally said. When she nodded, he added, “No one loves a daemon.”

Her heart pinched. “No one but me.”

For several long seconds he didn’t say anything. And she still couldn’t read his expression, had no idea what he was thinking or feeling. And then he frowned. “You are seriously fucked in the head, you know that?”

Her defenses came up. The same ones she’d used to protect her heart for far too long. A heart that was now battered and bruised and aching because she’d taken a chance and it had all been for nothing. “I—”

He closed the distance between them, grasped both sides of her face with his large, warm hands, then lowered his mouth to hers.

The air left her lungs on a whoosh. The fight slid right out of her body. As his tongue dipped into her mouth and she tasted the sweetness of him, she wrapped her hands around the guardian markings on his forearms and told herself not to let go.

There was urgency in the kiss. Mixed with relief and need. So much need it curled her stomach and made her whole body ache.

“Skyla, Skyla, Skyla…” She loved the way he mouthed her name against her lips, drew her closer with his arms until the long lean line of his well-defined body pressed up against hers. “They’ll never let you leave because of me.”

“It’s not their decision to make.” When he eased back and looked down at her with those soft gray eyes, her confidence shot up again. A confidence she now couldn’t believe she’d been lacking. “It’s mine. And I choose you. Daemon or no daemon. Argonaut or not. Zeus and Athena are wrong about you, Orpheus. You’re not evil.”

“How can you be so sure?” he whispered.

“Because I watched you with Maelea. I saw the way you protected her when you didn’t have to. The way you protected me even though you knew what I was. And I saw the lengths you went to, to save your brother. An evil soul can’t love like that.”

“I don’t have a soul—”

“Yes, you do.” She tightened her fingers around his forearms. “One that deserves so much more than you’ve been given.”

Emotion turned his eyes to shimmering silver. “Skyla—”

She rose up on her toes and kissed him, sliding her arms around his neck and drawing him even closer. “Let me love you, Orpheus.”

She kissed him long and deep, groaned into his mouth when his arms circled her waist and his warmth surrounded her. She stepped back toward the bed, pulling him with her, loving the way he couldn’t seem to stop kissing her, couldn’t seem to stop touching her just as she was touching him. When her legs bumped the mattress, she eased back, tugged him down with her until they fell on the mattress and his weight pressed into her, the heat from his erection pressing into her lower belly, warming her from the outside in.

She yanked at his shirt, broke the kiss long enough to pull it over his head. His mouth was back on hers, kissing, licking, sucking as he found the buttons on her shirt and undid them, then tugged her torso up enough so he could wrench the shirt from her arms and toss it on the floor behind him.

The Orb fell against her chest. Warm and enticing. She ignored it and focused on him, sliding her hand over his rough jaw.

His gaze ran over the red bra she wore, down to her waistband. “Gods, you are so beautiful.”

His hand followed, skimming over her cleavage, then down the line of her abdomen to trail heat to her belly button. She sucked in a breath even as a shiver raced down her spine. “It’s not real. Once I leave the Sirens, I won’t look like this anymore.”

His warm, desire-filled eyes slid back to hers. “What do you mean?”

“I mean this Barbie-doll body is part of the gig. Once a Siren leaves, her body transforms back to the way it was before she joined the order.”

His eyes narrowed with mischief. “Is this your way of telling me you were three hundred pounds with a hook nose before joining the Sirens?”

She ran her hands up his impressive arms. “Maybe not quite three hundred.” When his eyebrows lifted in question, she smiled. “It’ll be the same me. This is just the enhanced version.”

“Explain ‘enhanced.’”

“Well, for one, I’m not really this tall. Take about three inches off my legs. My hair isn’t normally this blond, and if memory serves—and remember, it’s been quite a while—my waist isn’t quite this small.”

“What about these?” His large palm slid up to cup her right breast.

Warmth puckered her nipple beneath the red lace. “Now those will likely stay the same.”

That mischievous grin widened as he flicked the clasp, freeing her breasts to spill out into his hand. “I had a feeling they were real. I can always tell.”

Her stomach tightened, and the humor faded as he lowered his mouth to her right breast, laved his tongue over her nipple, then drew her deep into his mouth to suckle.

Her fingers found their way into his thick brown hair and she arched her back, offering whatever he wanted. As much as he wanted.

He worked her over with his tongue, with his lips, with the wicked hot breath he blew across her nipples until they ached for more. She opened her legs so he could sink down into her body. So that long hard cock pressing against the fly of his jeans could rub right where she wanted it most.

“Orpheus…” She drew his mouth back to hers, kissed him deeply. Then eased back so she could see his face. “Will it bother you? If I don’t look exactly the way I do now?”