Heart of the Phoenix Page 11

  Tayla wasn’t really satisfied with that answer but was curious about other things. “Do gods get married?”

  “Yes. My father married and my uncle has many wives.”

  “But you don’t have a wife and you have no girlfriend. Why is that?”

  Because he thought it a selfish and futile act to fall in love with someone and then leave them, and his leaving was an inevitable act. He came from the land of immortals, yet his mother had not been. It would be careless to bond with an immortal and leave them when his time came. So he remained alone. “It is not for me.”

  “Why?”

  They’d come to a waterfall and Thaddeus feigned concentration on the beautiful work of one of his ancestors. “It is beautiful here.”

  Tayla followed his gaze and looked at the water. She’d known they were coming in this direction. As a matter of fact, she’d brought him here on purpose. The hot springs was one of her favorite places, and she felt the urge to share it with Thaddeus. Why, she wasn’t quite sure. But he’d stayed with her last night because he was supposedly her protector. He’d ignored her advances and he’d helped her in her office. She was intrigued by him and wanted to share just a small piece of herself with the man who’d said he would die in her place.

  “Yes. It is.” She released his hand and took a few steps toward the water. Inhaling deeply, she let the smell of fresh air move swiftly through her lungs. Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, her hands went to her shirt and she pulled it over her head. “I can never seem to resist when I come here,” she was saying as she reached her hands behind her and unhooked her bra.

  Thaddeus felt his tongue grow thick and dry in his mouth. “What are you doing?”

  She was unbuttoning her shorts now and didn’t bother to turn and face him. “I like to swim in the springs. It’s reputed to be a fountain of youth. I don’t necessarily subscribe to that belief but I do feel relaxed after a swim.”

  Naked, she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled. “Join me?”

  He looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Maybe he wasn’t used to women undressing in front of him. Maybe he was a god who liked his women meek and docile. Maybe…

  “I like a woman who knows what she wants,” he said matter-of-factly.

  Tayla turned to face him then, with her hands on her lips. “You like reading my mind, don’t you?”

  His eyes roamed her body, the lush curves and secret places he longed to explore. “With you it’s not like mind reading.” He took a step closer to her. “It’s more like knowing what you need to hear, what you want. I seem to know these things without conscious thought. It is more than strange.”

  “I’ve never been called strange before.” She took a step back as he closed the distance between them. He was big and intimidating, exuding sexuality as if it were the most natural thing for him.

  “How about beautiful? Mesmerizing? Tantalizing?” He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek.

  “No,” she whispered breathlessly. “I’ve never been called any of those things either.” She looked up at him expectantly. She needed him to kiss her. If he truly knew what she wanted when she wanted it, as he claimed, he’d bend his head any moment now and take her lips.

  Thaddeus lowered his head, watched as her lips parted for him. He’d been hard since seeing her strip her bra off. Now his erection was painful, his blood pumping fast in his ears. “I told you this was not a good idea, Tayla,” he said, only inches away from her lips.

  “I don’t know about you, Thaddeus, but right now I’m not really thinking about what you said.”

  He groaned and pulled her into his arms, crushing his lips down on hers. He drank of her fiercely, hungrily, her taste now emblazoned on his tongue. He inhaled her scent and shook when she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. She was driving him mad.

  Moving his hands to her wrists he pulled them down and pushed her slightly away. “You are determined, aren’t you?”

  With a shaking finger Tayla traced her bottom lip, savoring the sensation of his kiss. “I know what I want, Thaddeus. Your words can’t change that.”

  Thaddeus sighed and thrust his hands through his hair. “Tayla, you don’t understand.”

  She shook her head. “And I don’t want to talk about it right now, Thaddeus. I want to swim,” she said pointedly and turned to enter the water.

  He watched her dive in, her sun-kissed skin sparkling just seconds before being submerged. Before he could think another defensive thought, he was stripping off his clothes. And when Tayla surfaced he was there, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist.

  She giggled impulsively, at the same time marveling in his strength and brazen masculinity. He glared down at her and for a moment she thought that he was angry. Then she realized that heated look was not anger but desire. She felt intense waves of it coursing through her body as her hands fastened on his shoulders.

  “You like tempting me, don’t you?” His voice was gruff as he grasped her buttocks, lifting her until her legs encircled his waist.

  “I think,” she said as she pressed her center closer to his thick arousal, “that I simply like you.”

  Her admission didn’t surprise him, but it did warm him, more so than her body had already done. “Should this water be so hot?” he asked through clenched teeth.

  Tayla smiled again. “Yes. It’s a hot spring.” She let her head lull back as a gentle breeze moved across her face. “I love to come here to get away from things, to relax. It is one of my favorite places in the forest.”

  Thaddeus held her tightly, enjoying the look of serenity he saw on her face. What he wouldn’t do to keep that look there permanently. She felt so good in his arms, her body slick with the warm water. If he could freeze this moment in time, he most definitely would.

  As if his thoughts had been read, the earth moved beneath the water. Tayla was oblivious as her feet were secure at his back. Her eyes remained closed, her long neck exposed so that he wanted to deliver soft kisses along it. Their moment of peace was interrupted by a golden light rippling from below the water. Over her shoulder he saw it and was thankful that she did not. Although he’d told Tayla who and what he was, he doubted that she was ready for living proof of his differences.

  Giving in to the urge and desperately needing a moment to slip away from her, Thaddeus bent his head and kissed the base of her throat. She moaned and he moved upward to nip at her chin. When he found her lips, she instantly opened her mouth, welcoming the onslaught of passion. He kissed her deeply, attempting to take all sane thoughts from her mind.

  The way she held onto him, thrusting herself in his arms, tangling her tongue wildly with his, said that he was doing his job. Her hands were now buried in his hair so Thaddeus slowly undid her clasped ankles from his waist.

  “Thaddeus,” she whispered against his lips.

  “Shhhh,” he insisted as he pulled her arms down and spread her body before him in the water until she floated in front of him. Her breasts were full and high, nipples puckering just above the surface. She looked up at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. He bent forward, kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips again, softly.

  He no longer held her and she floated serenely, eyes closed again, in a world of her own. Thaddeus glanced around. They were in a secluded area, surrounded by thick curtains of trees and shrubbery. She would be safe for the minute he would be away, and he would not be far.

  Without a second thought he dived into the water, moving quickly below what appeared to be the earth’s surface until the light was almost blinding.

  “I’m beginning to think you want her to see you,” Thaddeus said, unable to hide the irritation in his voice.

  “It does not matter since you have already told her of us.” Poseidon waved his trident again, the glare from his deadly weapon dimming tremendously.

  Thaddeus did not miss the note of disapproval in his father’s voice. “It was necessary. She would not allow me to prot
ect her without some explanation.”

  “I did not know we were asking for mortal permission now.” This was Zeus, his uncle.

  “She is not like other mortals,” Thaddeus stated simply. He would not go into why Tayla was different. That would be too much entertainment for these gods of Olympus. He changed the subject. “Cerberus is here.”

  Both Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other and frowned. “If he is here, than things are much worse than we ever imagined,” Poseidon admitted.

  “I thought as much.” Thaddeus acknowledged Zeus’ roar of thunder and wondered if it had shaken Tayla’s trance. “You could have told me about the possible connection before.”

  “We did not see it,” Zeus answered.

  “If you two weren’t so busy searching the globe for women and participating in these childish battles you would have gotten a clear view of things. Now how am I supposed to protect her?”

  “You do not have a problem protecting her at night.”

  That was his father, the lecherous womanizer that he was. Even though the words he spoke were true enough, Thaddeus did not need them thrown in his face.

  “He’ll come for her regardless of the time. And Cerberus is waiting. Waiting for her. Why would he be here? Who could have possibly sent him?”

  The two elders were quiet…for a change. Water moved around the threesome, shimmering walls of dull blue that cast them each in a hazy frame.

  “It’s Hades, isn’t it? You’ve done something to him again, haven’t you?”

  Still the silence.

  “Tell me!” Thaddeus roared.

  “Alright, I’ll tell you what I know. Hades is a bit angry. It is something about a woman.”

  “What did you do?”

  Thunder rumbled again, and Thaddeus frowned at what looked like Zeus’ obvious pleasure in this story.

  “She was a beauty and that is all I will say. Hades decided her fate long ago, but now it seems her descendents are on the rise, determined to seek their own revenge.”

  “You are fighting over a woman?” Thaddeus asked incredulously.

  The two elders laughed. “And you will too, soon enough.”

  * * *

  Tayla’s limbs felt weightless. The warm water engulfed her, relaxing tired muscles until she wanted to sing with relief. Her mind joined in tuning itself to the state of total relief. She hadn’t realized how stressed she’d been until her feet had touched the water and…he’d put his hands on her.

  Thaddeus. She thought of him and instantly felt Safe, secure, not lost and confused. Suddenly the water didn’t feel as good as it had. Her senses screamed with awareness. She struggled to open her eyes but felt as if she were in that blurry world between sleep and awakening.

  Now her limbs felt heavy, pulled down by the water, by something beneath the water. She kicked her feet but knew instinctively that they really hadn’t moved at all. Next she flailed her arms, trying unsuccessfully to right herself in the water.

  The water grew turbulent, swishing over her face until she felt as if she were deliberately being submerged. In a state of pure panic Tayla fought her way to the mental surface that would take her out of this dreaded dream state. Her lungs felt hot and burned for air. Her heart pounded with a sense of growing apprehension that she couldn’t quite explain. With focus and desperation she finally broke free. She opened her mouth to scream but instead took in gulps of water. Kicking her way to the surface, she coughed and sputtered, then swam to the shore.

  Pulling herself out of the water, Tayla found her clothes and quickly began to put them on. She looked around the clearing while she dressed, wondering where Thaddeus had gone. She clearly remembered getting into the water and him joining her. Then she remembered the kiss, the wonderfully sensual and dangerously erotic kiss. But now he was gone.

  Above her the sky filled with thousands of winged creatures. They couldn’t be birds because their heads looked human. Their wings were long and black with claws extended at their feet. There were so many of them that they completely covered the sun, casting the clearing in an eerie darkness. Her heart thudded in her chest and she heard the blood pounding in her ears. With shaking fingers she buttoned her blouse, then slipped on her shoes.

  Suddenly the winged creatures disappeared, the wind stilled. She felt a presence. It watched her. Just beyond the trees it sat waiting. It had seen her in the water and was now prepared to introduce itself to her.

  She looked around for something to use as a weapon because whatever it was, if it got close to her, she was going to beat it to death. She hadn’t come all this way in her life to be stalked like prey. She cursed the man that was reputedly her protector. He couldn’t very well protect her if he wasn’t there.

  She heard a sound to her right and quickly turned in that direction, searching the thick trees for any sign of a living thing. The wondrous tale that Thaddeus had told her wasn’t far from her thoughts, and she wondered if what lay in wait for her wasn’t more like the unliving.

  Leaves rustled behind her and Tayla turned again, feeling like one of those silly women in the horror flicks waiting like a ninny to be tortured by the killer. She felt like screaming but it would be useless here in the forest, far away from school grounds. Who the hell would hear her all the way out here?

  * * *

  Thaddeus felt the tremor deep in his chest. He looked to his father, who hadn’t changed his casual stance, and his uncle, who still seemed amused by this turn of events. Then he heard the silent scream, the sound of panic soaring through her mind.

  Tayla.

  He looked up toward the surface, which had turned black. Without another word he streaked through the water.

  Tayla’s skin had begun to crawl with fear. She held tightly to a limb she’d found. Turning this way and that, she was half hoping whatever it was would just show itself already. This guessing game was for the birds.

  Then she heard what sounded like a rush of water and her gaze was pulled back toward the spring just in time to see a large form emerge, naked and glorious, just like those Greek statues in the history books.

  Long hair billowed around his head as rivulets of water dripped from his golden body. His golden, naked body, she corrected.

  Chapter 7

  He was gorgeous. There was just no other way to describe him.

  He floated upright just above the surface of the water, that hazy golden glow outlining his magnificent form.

  Tayla’s throat went dry as she gripped that branch for dear life. On the one hand, she was afraid of whatever was beyond those trees. On the other, she was amazed at this beautiful specimen before her. Okay, she was shocked speechless at the fact that his feet were not even touching the water and he was moving in her direction. He didn’t fly, but more like glided his way toward her.

  She opened her mouth to speak, then quickly closed it when she saw that glowing knife in his hand lifting, preparing to strike.

  She was becoming too accustomed to that ugly feeling called fear. She couldn’t fight Thaddeus, or whomever he’d shifted into, and this limb in her hand, albeit heavy enough to cause her shoulders to ache, was no match for that horrendous blade. Still, she braced her legs, prepared to fight him to the death if she had to. Suddenly the sky darkened, sparked and came to life with flames.

  Thick, golden-red flames spewed from Thaddeus’ athame, forming an arch against the line of trees. The heat was instantaneous, hitting her skin with fierce determination. If her clothes weren’t already wet and clinging to her, the sweat that was now forming all over her body would have caused them to be so.

  There was roaring—a deafening sound different from the thunder she’d heard last night yet strangely akin to a loud, grumbled conversation. Thaddeus was no longer in front of her but moving over her, his large body seemingly weightless as fire spewed from that blade, striking the ground with grave precision.

  Then the roaring turned to a screech so shrill that it brought Tayla to her knees, the limb falling t
o the ground in front of her. She covered her ears and wondered when exactly it was her world had turned into a scene from the Twilight Zone.

  “You cannot save her.”

  Tayla heard the words clearly and lifted her head to see who had spoken them. It was a female voice, cracked and sinister. The clearing was illuminated by the glow of the fire, but she saw no one.

  Just as quickly as the strangeness had begun, the dark clouds receded. The flames burned out and the clearing was quiet. Tayla still sat on the ground, her heart threatening to thump right through her chest. Her mind tried to wrap itself around the words and their meaning while her body put up a valiant fight against the fear that had settled in the pit of her stomach and now threatened to release itself in waves of nausea. Cradling her stomach, Tayla moaned and rocked back and forth.

  A hand on her shoulder sent her right over the edge, and she finally released that scream that had been lodged in her throat for the past ten minutes.

  “Shhhh. It is me.”

  His voice sounded somber and restrained. Tayla lashed out immediately, turning on her knees to face him.

  “Where were you? You said you were my protector!” she yelled. “I was out here alone and something was in those trees. It was waiting for me. I could feel it! And you weren’t here. You weren’t here!” Her voice sounded hysterical to her own ears, but at this point she just didn’t care.

  Thaddeus fell to his knees, pulling her close to him. “I know. I know. I am sorry. I should not have left you.” There was a painful clutching in his chest and he suddenly realized it was his heart. Her fear, so evident in her high-pitched voice, squeezed it tightly until he thought he would die. He wrapped his arms around her, quieting her rantings.

  She felt weak and afraid. Tayla hated weakness. And suddenly she felt very alone in the world. In the past two years she’d had her students and her work. Now somehow that just didn’t seem to be enough. Thaddeus still attempted to hold her, and she pulled away from him abruptly. “Don’t touch me!”