Or rather, I was murdered. Every. Single. Time. At least this time, I had immortality on my side. But if it was a god who was murdering me, I didn't think immortality would save me.
But back to Jake, Cyrus, and Lex. I thought our bond would be about magic and sex. Then they told me they needed me to survive. After hearing that, it became even more about them in my mind. I was something necessary. A tool. No one loves a tool. They use tools. Again, I would have been okay with that, using them and their hot bodies right back, if not for Ace.
Ace was my link to happiness. To love. He was the first man I had ever loved and the only one who managed to surpass my beliefs about men. Ace was the source. The pure relationship that I had unknowingly measured all others against. I'd been searching for someone like him and expecting men to be like him. Then I got let down because they weren't Ace. I hadn't been searching for someone like him; I'd been searching forhim. And I had finally found him.
But, staring into Jake's eyes, I saw another option. There, in those jade depths, was something I never expected to find with a hound. Love. Or rather, the start of it. The idiot was falling in love with me. And I was an idiot too, because my heart responded to that romantic potential. It lurched and shrieked, jumping up and down in my chest to get my brain's attention.This is what we could have!it shouted.It's already ours. Here for the taking. You can have it all. Security, wealth, and love. You can trust him. All of them. They're your hounds now! Take them!
That inner monologue scared the hell out of me. So, I looked away.
I felt Jake's disappointment. It practically smacked me in the chest. But I wasn't ready to take that leap. I was too confused. Still processing. Putting the pieces together. Maybe after we saved Ace, I could explore this.
Ugh! I wanted to slap myself. What was I doing? Did I really think I had seen love in Jake's eyes? Love? Oh, please. What a moronic fantasy. You can'tseelove. It has to be shown to you. Proven with actions. Whatever had just happened, it had nothing to do with love and everything to do with pheromones. Yup, that was it. Puppy pheromones and magic.
“All right, enough of the past.” Cyrus held a hand out to me. “It's time to make some new memories.”
I looked at his hand, then lifted a brow. “Are you . . . is this your way of asking me to have sex?”
Jake burst out laughing.
Cyrus grimaced and dropped his hand. “No. I wanted to—never mind.” He started for the backdoor.
Jake looked at me.
“I know,” I muttered and got up. “Are you coming?”
He propped his feet on Cy's empty iron chair.
“Guess not.” I hurried after Cyrus. “Hey! Don't be like that. It was an honest question.”
Cyrus waited for me to catch up and slid me a sideways look. “If I was going to seduce you, I'd be a little more sexy about it.”
I chuckled. “I'm sure you would.”
“Come on.” He took my hand and drew me inside the house.
We went up the back staircase and toward Cyrus's room. I looked at him again.
“I swear, I'm not trying to have sex with you.” He rolled his eyes. “I have something for you.”
“Is it in your pants?”
He snorted. “No.”
Cyrus let go of my hand to open his door and then crossed the room to the bed. It, like Jake's, was masculine, but this bed had a little more style. Four posters, but of a short variety. I'm not sure if you can still call them posters when they're that short. Either way, it was a solid frame for that big bed. And I got nervous just looking at it. The mattress was big enough for four and the frame was sturdy enough to survive a vicious pounding.
My face heated with the thought. I still hadn't broken in my new body. Oh, wow. That made me a virgin. No wonder I was panting after these guys uncontrollably. I needed to get laid. Was I going to lose my virginity to three men at once? No. No, the plan was to have a little fun before settling down. Oh, who was I kidding? That plan was out the window now. It was down to either Ace or the Hounds. And at the moment, I was leaning toward—
“Salina?” Cyrus called me.
“Huh?”
“Uh, I bought this a long time ago when I, uh, well, here.” He handed me a long, slender leather box.
I recognized the type of box immediately. It was an old necklace box. There was jewelry in there! I made a delighted sound and snatched the box from him. “Thank you!”
“You haven't even opened it yet.” Cyrus laughed.
I looked up and got stuck in his eyes for a second. It was hard to remember that these guys had basically abducted me. Sure, they had their reasons but did that make it okay? Hell, no! You don't abduct people. Period. Not cool. Not fun. Not sexy. Like his eyes. Those were some sexy blue eyes.
