Strangling back the urge to go after her, Reynner went in search of Lucan instead, and found the mage in the gym. “Why is the scroll affecting Eve in this manner?” he demanded.
Lucan set down the free weights he indulged in whenever he visited. Sweat glistened on his face and over his abdomen. He glanced at Reynner as he reached for a towel and dried off. He didn’t pretend to not understand what Reynner meant.
“It’s the magic in the parchment, it responds to her blood. She’ll be fine once the Stone is found and taken home.”
“And in the meantime?” he spat.
“I suggest you keep the affair short. Our kind was never meant to fornicate with mortals.”
All the frustration and fury in him uncorking, Reynner punched him. Lucan flew across the room. A red haze blurred Reynner’s view. “Don’t fuck with me, Luc.Wedragged her from her world to aid us. She didn’t have to do this. You may be a mage, but by Urias, show her some respect or next time it won’t be just a fist to your jaw.”
Reynner stormed out of the gym. He had no idea what had changed Lucan from the easygoing male he once knew—to give it all up and become a mage—and he didn’t care, but he refused to let him think of Eve as some whore.
A sharp pain flared across his pec, and the tattoo on his chest heated up, yanking at him to respond to the summons.
Fuck! Not now! He didn’t have time for this shit. But ignoring Inanna wouldn’t make her go away, nor could he go chain himself in the dungeon, not with Eve here. The star on his chest blazed like hell.
Anger surging, Reynner changed into jeans and a shirt then walked out onto the balcony. He opened a portal into the Sumerian pantheon and stepped through the misty veils. Only, he didn’t go straight to Inanna’s chambers. After he’d almost succumbed the last time when she burned that hallucinogenic crap—no, never again. She wanted to see him, then she’d meet him where he chose.
He headed toward the gardens and didn’t bother to hide his presence. In this place, even invisible, they would sense him. Inanna’s servants, in their flowing white gowns approached in a sedate line, dipping their heads when they passed him. But several eyed him boldly beneath their slanted, kohl-rimmed eyes. Obviously, he presented too much of a temptation to worry about their jealous goddess.
The burn on his chest made him want to tear his skin off, but he refrained from doing anything, refused to show an iota of weakness. He dropped down to the low stone wall and waited.
Eve. Thoughts of her swamped him. Her golden limbs tangled with his, her satin-smooth body sliding beneath him. His groin hardened.
He scrubbed his face. Gods, he’d hurt her with his claiming. But the trust he’d seen in her eyes filled him with longing. Their kind never put much stock into virginity. Hell, virgins were a myth in his world. But he was fiercely glad no other had touched Eve in that elemental way but him.
The scent of myrrh and exotic spice reached him first, reminding him of his curse. It hauled his mind out of thoughts too dangerous to have in a place like this.
“Reynner?” The sexual overtones made his lips tighten. Inanna smiled and slithered closer, about as innocent as an asp. She wore a wine-colored gown, a bunch of plump red grapes in her hand. She stopped a foot away. A glitter warmed her yellowy brown eyes. Her musky perfume overwhelmed him.
He tried to remember Eve’s scent. Needed her with a desperation that twisted his gut. She gave him peace, eased him.
Reynner?
He froze.Eve?
Another tentative touch, almost like a whisper, it swirled through his mind.Reynner?
She heard him?Urias!Shock drenched his mind.
Unable to sit still, he shot to his feet. He rubbed his chest at her warm presence in there and paced to the edge of the trees that lined the temple gardens.
Eve couldn’tseehis thoughts when she touched him because he’d bolted his psychic shields. But this? To be inside his mind? And, like a punch in his gut, the truth hit him.
He’d not only claimed her and sealed his fate when the mystical light had entered him—their bonding had opened their telepathic connection, too. For a heart-stopping, joyous moment, he reveled in her gentle presence inside him.
Then he turned and stared into the gleaming topaz eyes of his reality.
He shut down his mind-link to Eve. Grateful then, he’d taken the swim in the ice-cold lake after making love to her. It had been more to cool his ardor because his desire had barely been satiated, but if Inanna ever found out that he’d bonded and had a mate, she’d go after Eve. She would think nothing of hurting her. Or worse, killing her.
Over my dead body, he vowed. And not even then.
He would never ruin Eve’s life. Once he left, the threat to her would be removed because Inanna would follow him. But he’d make damn sure not Inanna or anyone else would ever touch a hair on Eve’s head.
The cool skin of a fat grape caressed his mouth, brought him out of his mind-shattering revelations.
Jaw tightening, he stepped back.
