Guardian (Daughters Of The Gods, Book 2) (8 page)

“
You cannot? Or you will not?”

“I will not,” he said.

Confusion settled on her features before she disappeared then appeared a foot away from him. The small dagger she’d held against his skin only days ago again pressed hard against his neck. “Pull out your sword. I won’t ask again.”

Lelantos held fast to his hope that she would think before she reacted. His life
. Their life together, one he’d never thought possible only weeks ago, hung in the balance. To be determined by her actions over the next few minutes. Her eyes flickered with anger and wariness as he removed her helmet, yet the knife remained firmly against his throat. His heart thumped hard in his chest at her stunning, ethereal beauty. Hunter and guardian of the gods she may be, but to him she would never be anything other than the enchanting woman who’d picked him up in a bar only days ago.

His life among the human race had bestowed
on him one gift at least. Humanity.

“No,” he repeated.

Lelantos watched as power emanated from her. He’d angered her and perhaps too much this time. He could disappear and walk away, but to do so would mean the end for them. And after what they’d started in New York the last thing he wanted was to lose Cat now. His body ached to have her again. Her wit and easy nature suited his reserve and manner. He couldn’t live without her.

“Lelantos, what are you doing? Why won’t you pick up your sword?”

Her tone was pleading and sounded more like the Cat he’d recently discovered, not the goddess confronting him here this day. His body thrummed with increased hope. “I can’t hurt you. I won’t. No matter what that means for me.” Never would he raise a hand in anger toward her. He had found a new commitment in life: to protect the immortal female standing before him. She was everything to him. She was like him in many respects and she understood him. She was a goddess in every way, not just by birth.

“I love you.”

She paled, her delectable lips opening on a gasp of breath. Never had he told another such words. Seeing her shocked response to his declaration, he wondered if perhaps he would have done better to have kept his mouth shut.

“What
?” Cat stepped back and glared. “Stop stalling and pull your weapon.”

“I’m not stalling,” he said, pulling her against his chest. “I meant what I said. I love you. I want you every minute of every day and I’ll not let Zeus and his unending revenge on his enemies destroy what
we feel for each other.” He shook her a little to emphasize his words. “Admit it.”

“
Admit what?” she asked, the smallest smile forming on her lips.

“
That you like me a little too.” Lelantos grinned.

Cat sighed but pulled the knife away from his neck and sheathed it. “I think you’ve forgotten that you’re a Titan. A
divine being of monumental strength. with the added bonus of having the ability to go unseen. We’re enemies, Lelantos. I’m supposed to kill you today and all you end up doing is to make me fall more in love with you.”

“So you do like me?” Lelantos pulled her up against his body and kissed her.
Hard. Her tongue instantly sought his and he hardened. Even here, in the middle of an ancient battleground, love conquered hate, revenge, even family duty.

“More than it is safe to do so.” She shook her head. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Come away with me. Live with me.”

She smiled, yet the
joy he heard in her voice didn’t reach her eyes. “You know I would love nothing more but I cannot. To leave everything I’ve ever known is inconceivable. To be banished from Mount Olympus is incomprehensible to me.” She sighed and dropped her gaze. “But then, so is living without you.” Cat raised her hand to his jaw, her fingers idly stroking his unshaven cheek. “What are we going to do?”

“There is nothing to be done.”

Cat whirled to find Hermes standing behind them, in full armor and with sword drawn. Were he not the enemy, he’d look magnificent, but the deadly gleam in his eyes was pinned on Lelantos and her stomach crunched with fear.

B
y his attire her brother had arrived to complete a job she’d found impossible and he had little patience. Lelantos pulled her behind him, but she reappeared before him once more. While Lelantos stood behind her he was safe, anywhere else and he was fair game.

“You’ve
betrayed our kind, sister. Father is not pleased.”

The sky rumbled and Cat knew
Zeus watched from above. “I’ll not let you harm Lelantos. No matter that the blood in our veins is shared.”

Hermes laughed
, the sound ominous. “He’s immortal. How much harm can I do him? If I kill him he’ll only heal and live again, unless I use the golden sword that you, my dear sister carry and then he’d be dead. For good.” Hermes paced before them and smiled. “Or perhaps Father has changed his mind and wishes for your Titan to live out his days in Tartarus...with you.”

A shiver of repulsion ran down her spine. Tartarus! To be imprisoned there would mean eternal agony, ridicule and pain. Most of the beings held there were incarcerated because of her. She couldn’t
allow it.

Cat watched her brother
. What the fuck should she do? Never had she been termed an enemy by her fellow gods, and the feeling wasn’t pleasant. To know your own family hunted you, thought dishonorably of you, left a sour taste in her mouth. She’d always been the daughter who played by the rules. Followed decrees to the letter.

But not anymore.

“I won’t let you win,” she said.

“So be it.” Her brother lifted his sword and swung.

Cat ducked and felt the air above her head swoosh past. On her brother’s upswing, she ran at him knocking him over. He quickly recovered and moved before her fist connected with his nose. She threw a dagger to Lelantos and watched as he deftly caught it mid-air.

Cat unsheathed her sword
, keeping her gaze fixed on her brother as they circled each other. Not since learning as young gods had they done battle against each other, and never for such high stakes. The grin on his lips said he was enjoying their bout as much as she.

Hermes swung again. The fight was on. His strikes were fast and powerful, sending pain ricocheting up her arm. It didn’t matter she hadn’t practi
ced for some weeks, Cat held fast and brought forth all the power she had to equal her foe.

“
Help me, Lelantos?” she yelled, keeping her focus on her brother.

“I can’t
seem to move,” he said, and out of the corner of her eye, she noted Lelantos struggling to move as if fighting an unseen enemy.

Her brother laughed. “I
couldn’t have him stepping in to ruin our fun. I will fight you first, little sister, then I shall imprison him.”

Cat snarled when a blow connected with her forearm. Hermes was strong and rarely lost a fight. The ground shook as two more
gods landed behind him and unsheathed their swords.

“Give up, Caitlin. Lelantos is to be imprisoned and so are you.” He rolled his
head. “You never know, perhaps in a thousand years, Zeus may forgive you and grant you your freedom.”

“I will never give up and you know it.”

“Yes you will.”

Cat stepped back as her father appeared. His
dull, grey robes looked like an extension of his beard. Today he favored the appearance of an old man, frail and weak. Yet he was anything but. Never was there a more powerful god and never again would there ever be.

“You have lost, Caitlin. Your Titan is already incapable of helping you and it
’s time you realized your fate is sealed.”

“Why must you be so cruel? Lelantos may have helped Chloe
, but if you’d only allowed her to live the life she wished, his assistance in keeping Cian alive would not have been necessary.” Cat gestured to Lelantos who stood watching her, a longing in his gaze that she shared. “I’ve been a true and faithful servant. A hunter for the gods for millennia. I deserve to live with and love the one I choose.”

“No.” At her father’s words, lightning shot across the sky and the ground rumbled beneath her feet. “I do not feel inclined
to agree.”

Cat gasped as Zeus slashed the air with his arm and her sword flew out of her grasp. Before she could will another weapon
into her hands the two guards flanking her brother grabbed her arms, their hold like vices of steel.

“You cannot put me in Tartarus. I’ll
be in danger there. Most of the prisoners in your mountainous hold I placed there.” Cat tested the guard’s strength and feeling no hope of escape saved her energy. “Father! Release me.”

“I cannot. It does not please me to do so.”

Fear crept across her skin chilling her body. Then without warning, the guards hold dissipated and within a second, both flew over Zeus’s head. Cat turned, her eyes wide with wonder. Lelantos stood behind her, his body twice the height of hers. The bulging muscles and wild look in his eyes made the god in her quiver with fear.

“Lelantos?”

“Cat,” he said, in acknowledgement before turning his attention toward her father. “Leave her or face me.”

Zeus snarled but didn’t move to raise his
thunderbolt. Instead he studied Lelantos as if he were a bizarre apparition. Cat supposed this was true to some point; not for thousands of years had Zeus faced a Titan in natural form. Even she was surprised by his size, despite having faced Titans of similar caliber during the war of the gods. Beholding Lelantos as he now was filled her with awe and a stirring of lust. Even with the changes to his features (which were anything but complimentary), his body structure and strength, beneath it all was the man she loved. A Titan with a heart of gold, who’d protect her and risk his life in doing so.

He was divine.

“You do not scare me, you traitorous blight on the divine world. You escaped me once; I’ll not let you escape me again,” roared Zeus.

Lelantos laughed. “You have no choice. I won’t be imprisoned.”

Lelantos grasped Cat’s arm and pulled her from Zeus’s reach. “And you’ll not touch Caitlin again. Ever.”

The words reverberated around the mountain and sounded as solid as the rock
on which they stood. Cat’s lips lifted in a half smile. He’d told her he loved her and now was trying to protect her from the most powerful being in the cosmos. He was too sweet.

“Lelantos,” she said, watching as he turned toward her, his face softening as he did so. “I didn’t say this before and I should have. You just caught me off guard.” She smiled. “I love you too.”

Zeus roared and grew to a height that matched that of Lelantos. He lifted his thunderbolt and lightning shot toward them. Even Cat had been unaware of the extent of Lelantos’ power as he raised his hand and blocked her father’s powerful strike. Zeus’ eyes widened in shock before another punishing blow from his weapon arced toward them.

There were many things
gods could do. Some gods wielded magic, others changed forms, orbed and travelled through time. Cat for instance could find people, hone in on their auric field and locate them. Quite a handy ability for a hunter. She could transport herself via thought to any destination. If she thought she could get them away from here and safe forever she would. But Zeus would only find them. Hunt them down and mete out his intended punishment.

The time for running was over. Now they
had to stand and fight.

Fight for
the life they wanted.

Together.

CHAPTER

Ten

Lelantos kept blocking the endless attacks from Zeus. He knew the father of the gods was furious that another of his daughters had decided to leave behind the ways of the gods. No longer to remain in the hallowed halls of Mount Olympus, but to dwell below on Earth. With a Titan.

He smiled
, savoring the joy that flowed through his veins at Cat’s declaration of love. She loved him. He loved her.

Who
’d have thought?

There was
no time to bask in the joy of her pronouncement. Instead he fought with all the might and forgotten strength he harbored against the father of the love of his existence.

The ground shook and the clouds above them churned with wind and rain. Zeus’s temper
was visible for all to see. The full force of his power unleashed upon Lelantos.

And
he was winning.

Fuck!

“Get out of here, Cat. I can’t hold him much longer.”

“No, I won’t leave you.”
She screamed over the storm that raged down on them.

Another arc of lightning
barreled toward Lelantos. Thousands of years away from the battlefield was taking its toll and he barely managed to block the deadly bolt. He was weakening against the most powerful divine being in existence.

“Please Cat. I won’t survive if I know you’re in Tartarus
at the mercy of your enemies. Please. Go.”