Stone Solitude (11 page)

Roman tilted his head to the side and his brows pulled together as her words writhed through his body, attaching themselves to his very soul. Now that she had him where she wanted him, she let the mask drop, revealing her terrible beauty. Her eyes burned with black flames as her burnished skin shined as bright as the burning moon. She was imbued with magic… no, she was the personification of magic. Power radiated off her in waves and he finally knew who she was. “Isis.”

Her smile was mocking as she bowed her head in acknowledgement. “Poor Romulus. It isn’t your fault that you were created for me and it isn’t fair that you will be the one to pay the price. Your life for my love’s.”

“Stop,” he whispered, desperate to push her off but unable to move any of his limbs. His eyes widened in panic as she gave him a sad smile and he knew that it was too late. It had only been a few minutes since the sun had set but already the sky was lightening with the new day. And he was unable to turn his head. Glaring at the goddess that used his body, he asked, “How?”

Her smile widened as she nodded towards the rising sun. “It’s time, Romulus. Come.”

His body arched off the bed and a guttural roar was torn from his throat as the spell, the curse, was completed. Instead of getting a month beneath the sun with the woman to whom he had given his nights, he turned into a statue. It had happened so quickly, he hadn’t even felt his body shift. One moment he was a man and the next he was a gargoyle, frozen for eternity.

As the sun set and Roman woke from his frozen slumber, he realized he had forgotten his name. Romulus, twin of Remus. It was his mother’s perverse sense of humor, naming the twins after the mythological founders of Rome. Perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that his and his brother’s forms were both that of a wolf.

Stretching, hearing all of his stone muscles groan in protest, Roman stared up at the ceiling. He hadn’t dreamed about the night he was cursed in ages.

Throwing the cloak on, making sure his face was completely hidden within the folds of the hood, Roman stalked out of the room. He was determined to see his brothers that still lived in the city, even if they weren’t his pod brothers and they had been born hundreds of years after he had been cursed. He needed that connection to remind him what he was fighting for. If there was time before the sun rose, he’d find some better food to eat. The crap that Xerec was bringing him was no longer tolerable.

And as long as he didn’t think about Daisy he’d be fine.

For nearly two weeks, as soon as the sun went down, Daisy had kept an eye out for Roman. Whenever she had a spare moment, she had grabbed Dominic or one of her cousins and explored a few of the condemned buildings around the city but they never came across Roman. They met a lot of transients, both human and non-human, but no gargoyles.

Growing up in a family that was well off, Daisy had never realized there were so many people living on the streets. Thinking about Roman living that way nearly broke her heart and made her even more determined to find him. But, of course, he wasn’t going to be found until he was ready. It had made the end of summer term nearly impossible to deal with.

“How do you think you did on the final?” Adrian asked as they walked out of the room of their last mythology class long after the sun had already set. He had short, pale blond hair and brown, puppy dog eyes and a swimmer’s body, since he was on the swim team. They had been friends since freshman year, though there had been a period she thought he might have been interested in her. He had asked her out a few times but when she finally accepted, he started avoiding her like she was the carrier of the Bubonic plague.

It wasn’t as if anything was going to come of it because she hadn’t been attracted to him in any way, which made sense since she was definitely her mother’s daughter and that meant one destined love. Still, his sudden aversion to her had been a little strange, making her realize that every guy who had ever shown an interest in her always started avoiding her. Luckily, Adrian found himself a beautiful, if slightly crazy and possessive, dryad named Anaiis and oddly, he and Daisy renewed their friendship. Anaiis tended to hover but she accepted Daisy because she knew Daisy wasn’t a threat to her human.

With a rueful smile, Daisy admitted, “I’ll be surprised if I passed it.”

“You probably scored an A,” he huffed but he didn’t know how distracted she had been lately or how she had spent every spare moment searching for Roman, not that Adrian knew who Roman was. “Even with all of Anaiis’s help, I still couldn’t remember all of the gods and goddesses of the Pantheon to say nothing of the Nordic gods or the Egyptian gods or all of the lesser deities and creatures.”

Daisy smiled, nodding her head in agreement. Not for the first time she wondered how much of each myth was true and how much was fabricated to hide the truth that these creatures truly existed. If it was difficult for someone like her to wrap her head around, someone who had roots in the mythological world, she couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it was for humans to figure out. Granted, there were those like Adrian who accepted the mythological world with hardly a second thought and found love with a dryad.

After nearly ten years, most humans were at least learning to live with their new reality. Hell, many of them were planning on participating in the celebrations that were planned throughout the world in a few weeks. For them, it was either celebrate life or give in to despair. If she found Roman, she might actually join in instead of just lighting a candle for her friend.

“I’ll see you later,” Adrian murmured as they came to the parking lot. Since all of her crap was packed up into her car, there was no need to go back to the dorm, which was just as well because she just wanted to go home and crash.

With a wave, she started off towards her car, already planning what she was going to do for the next four weeks before the fall term started and she was officially a junior. Dominic wanted her to spend more time with the wolves in the hopes that it would nudge her inner wolf into action. Daisy wasn’t sure what good that would do since she spent most of her free nights with the pack and so far nothing had happened. She had pretty much chalked up the scent of her mom’s pregnancy to a fluke since she hadn’t smelled anything that strongly since.

There were several friends that she could call up if she just wanted to hang out or she could go to either
Skin
or
The Black Wolf
to check out any local action. There were a few bands lined up to play at her dad’s bar but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to drive an hour on the off chance they might be decent. Of course, knowing the manager, the bands were probably all fantastic. And non-human.

Realistically, the only thing she really wanted to do was find Roman.

“Are you going to say hello or are you just going to walk right past me?” a low, seductive voice whispered from the edge of the building, a voice that she knew very well.

With a gasp, she spun around and watched as Roman peeled himself away from the shadows and stepped into the light of the parking lot lamps, the hooded cloak covering him from head to toe. Pressing her hand over her racing heart, she rasped, “Roman.”

Roman watched as she walked out of the building with some sorry excuse of humanity, a smile on her pretty face as the two of them talked. It hurt to see her but Xerec had told him that she had been at the building looking for him, probably to apologize and ease the guilt that was no doubt eating away at her petty, little heart. Then she’d tell him she never wanted to see him again because she was frightened. Hardening his heart to withstand her tender smiles and enchanting eyes, he figured it was time to re-insert himself into her life before she had the chance to say goodbye. Even if he had to accept Xerec’s offer to give her a demon aphrodisiac, he would seduce her and break the damn curse. He would do whatever was necessary.

“Roman,” she breathed, his name coming out on a gasp. He could see her pulse fluttering madly along her neck, probably out of fear, and he wanted to see if he could make it race even faster. Stepping closer, he refused to cringe when she took a step back, a step away from him.

“Where are you going?” he asked, noting that she was heading towards her car and not her dorm room.

With a shaky smile, she answered, “I’m going home.”

Fury swelled in him because she was running away again, running to the protective arms of her family, and she’d be beyond his reach. Grinding his teeth together, he bit out, “Because of something I’ve done? Because I’ve stayed away to give you time to… adapt to my face?”

Her brows pulled together as she shook her head. “Noooo. I’m going home because summer term is done and fall term doesn’t start for a couple of weeks.”

Shit, she was leaving and he had lost his chance to ever be free. By the time school started back up, she’d realize she deserved more than an ugly gargoyle and he’d lose her before he ever had her. His stone heart thundered in his chest as he blurted, “What are your plans?”

She avoided his face as she shrugged her shoulders. “I’ll probably run with my family.”

He inhaled sharply at that bit of surprising news. Gods, she was slipping further and further away from him and he was starting to panic at losing something that was never his. “You’ve bonded with your wolf.”

Her shoulders stiffened and she suddenly became very interested in smoothing the front of her shirt. “No, she’s still ignoring me. I’ll run with them in this form, in my human form.”

His brows drew together in unwanted concern. Damn it, he had hardened his heart and he shouldn’t give a fuck but he did. “Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt?”

“Why?” she asked with amusement. “They’re my family, Roman, they won’t hurt me. Besides, all of the younglings will be there, too. It’s perfectly safe.”

“For them,” he ground out. “They’ll all be wolves.”

She shook her head as a smile still played at her lips. “Wolves don’t shift until puberty or shortly after and bonding can come even later. I swear it’s safe. Where have you been?”

“I told you,” he said, taken aback as she finally looked at him with a steady gaze. “I’ve kept my distance because I frightened you.”

Regret and remorse filled her eyes as darker color stained her cheeks and she looked away. “You didn’t have to stay away for so long. That wasn’t necessary.”

“I think it was.”

“I dream about you, you know,” she murmured so softly he wasn’t sure the words were meant for him to hear. But then she looked at him with those mesmerizing eyes and he had to remind himself to breathe. All thoughts ceased when she reached up and pushed the hood off his head, making him freeze in place. His heart pulsed sluggishly in his chest as he expected the worse. Instead, her eyes moved over his face in a caress that was almost loving. He felt her gaze in his gut as her eyes moved over his rugged brow, his stubbed nose, his thick lips. Her throat became taut as she swallowed and rasped, “Your face has become very dear to me in my dreams.”

There was a band around his chest, squeezing until it felt like his blood was too thick to move through his veins. He started to speak and found his voice was non-existent. Clearing his throat, he tried again, “And when you’re awake?”

“It haunts me,” she said softly, drawing her fingers over his lips, making him tremble beneath her tender touch. But her words tightened the band around his chest until he didn’t think he would survive the pain. Apparently, Daisy retained the ability to hurt him despite his hardened heart. Licking her lips with the tip of her tongue, unaware of the knife sticking out of his chest, she continued, “It haunts me because I’ve searched everywhere for it for nearly two weeks but I haven’t seen it until now. Have you forgiven me?”

Before he could process her words, she put her hands on his shoulders and stood up on her tip toes. Pressing her lips against the corner of his twisted lips, she breathed into his mouth, “Forgive me, Roman.”

Unsteady on his feet, he grasped her elbows, still feeling the heat of her kiss as she stared up at him with those silver eyes. He could almost believe she was sincere if he didn’t look into those eyes and see the trace of fear she tried so desperately to hide. As long as he focused on that fear he would be able to keep her at a distance and do what needed to be done. Forcing his lips into a smile, he nodded, “Of course.”

Her smile lit the night and he barely had time to catch his breath before she threw herself into his arms. With no other choice, he wrapped his arms around her slender body and returned the hug. Her scent danced over him and he closed his eyes to breathe her in, the scent of moonlight and sunshine and warmth and
her
. How could a girl smell of moonlight and sunshine? Gods, she was dangerous.

Pulling out of his arms before he was ready to let her go, she beamed up at him, “I want you to come home with me, Roman. I want to learn everything there is to learn about you.”

“I can’t,” he said, forcing his legs to take a step away from her. Struggling to regain his armor, he pulled the hood back and retreated into the shadows. “I’ll not be your charity.”

Her lips pursed in displeasure as she frowned at him. “You can’t keep living in a condemned building, Roman. I’ve been to a couple these past few days and no one should have to live like that.”

“Some of us choose to live like that,” he countered defensively. “Some of us would rather live like that than be beholden to a society that looks down upon us.”

“Roman, I don’t want to pick a fight with you,” she said gently, running her hand along his arm until her palm settled against his and her fingers curled around his. “I just want to help.”

He took a breath to calm the rage that was boiling up within him. He wasn’t even sure why he was so angry, especially since he loathed living in such squalor. Instead of wasting the opportunity she gave him by asking for forgiveness, he should move forward with his plans. Her hand was in his and she was looking at him with true affection. Forcing his lips into a smile, he managed, “I know but I do not require your help, only your love.”