Tayla showered and dressed the next morning, all the while thinking of what had happened the previous night. That is, what hadn’t happened.
Two times he’d rejected her. Two times she’d been ready and willing to sleep with him and he’d walked away. She was beyond angry at this point, but professional enough not to show it.
Sometime after dawn her thoughts had shifted to the things he’d told her. His superiors protected mortals. Mortals?
Just when she was thinking how strange his word usage was, she remembered his eyes. And with that she remembered the eyes of that beast they’d encountered. They were not the same as Thaddeus’ eyes but it was all quite unusual.
She planned to call Thaddeus this morning for a meeting. She was going to finally get to the bottom of his reasons for being here and all the strange things that had happened since his arrival.
She had rehearsed what she was going to say to him and walked into the living room to pick up the phone and call him over. She was not prepared for the sight of him stretched out on her couch.
She screamed.
He jumped up, his hand on his hip, where he kept that weapon. He looked wild and fierce and prepared to kill.
She screamed again and took a step back.
He moved toward her.
She put up her hands, prepared to fight him if he dared to touch her.
“Tayla?” He reached for her.
She swung wildly but he caught her wrists before she made a connection. “What are you doing? It is me, Thaddeus.”
“I know who you are,” she said, struggling to get out of his grasp. “What are you doing in my house?”
Thaddeus pulled her roughly against his chest and looked down at her. “I was here last night, remember? I took you to your bed.”
The thought of him kissing her and arousing her and leaving her in her bed alone stilled her. “I remember that,” she said stiffly. “But why are you still here?”
“I told you I did not want to leave you.”
“So you slept on my couch?”
“Yes. And it was most uncomfortable,” he said, moving his neck to get rid of the kinks.
She relaxed. “You could have slept in the bed if you were so intent on staying with me.” She hated that sound of hurt that crept into her voice, hated that she felt as if she were throwing herself at a man who didn’t want her.
“If I had slept in that bed I would not have been able to resist making love to you.”
His words poured over her and heat pooled in her center. He had that effect on her. “That’s what I wanted,” she admitted, refusing to play the coy game with him. She planned to put all her cards on the table, and she expected the same from him in return.
Thaddeus brought her hands to his lips. “I wanted it, too.” When she would have spoken he covered her lips with a soft kiss. “But it cannot be.”
“Why?”
He released her hands and moved away from her. “I have nothing to offer you.”
Tayla looked him up and down. “From where I’m standing you have a lot to offer me.”
He turned to her then and smiled. “You would want more than the physical. You deserve more than the physical.”
This had to be a first, Tayla thought. A man foregoing his basic needs for the emotional needs of a woman. But he was probably right. Though she’d claimed to just want sex last night, she’d never had meaningless sex before and here he was, telling her that he wouldn’t give it to her. She had to admire him for that, if nothing else. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat,” she said and moved toward the kitchen.
Thaddeus followed her, taking a seat at the table just as he had yesterday. He’d slept horribly. The couch was too small for his large frame, but that wasn’t why sleep had eluded him. It was hard for a man to sleep with a burning erection. And each time he inhaled, her scent had entered his body, claiming his soul. She was deep inside him to the point that several times throughout the night he’d gotten up, gone into her room and watched her sleep. He’d witnessed the play of moonlight on her bronzed skin, the fan of eyelashes on her cheeks, the small pout of her lips and the serene sound of her breathing. He’d wanted to touch her, to kiss her awake and then to make sweet love to her until the sun rose.
But he could not.
She put a pot of coffee on and took two muffins from the breadbox. They were heating in the microwave when she took the seat across from him.
“Okay, so since we cannot explore our attraction to each other, I might as well get these questions out of my head.”
Thaddeus nodded. “You are going to ask me who and what I am again, aren’t you?”
Tayla opened her mouth, quickly shut it, then opened it again. “Yes, I am.”
He looked at her, reached out and touched the long, flame-colored hair she’d left loose. “I am your protector. The man that will die in your place.”
His voice sounded so ominous, so final in the quiet room. So honest. Of all the answers she’d replayed in her mind, that was the one she’d least expected. “Why?” That was all she could come up with in response.
“Where I come from we have certain persons that are set apart to do specific deeds. There are some who only wreak havoc, create chaos as their life’s work. There are some who manifest the feelings of love, ensuring happy couples everywhere. And there are some, like me, that have the awesome job of protecting, of righting the wrongs of this world. I was sent to right the wrong that occurred in your life, to prevent chaos from going any further.”
“But why me? How do you know about me?”
“I did not at first. I mean, I never know about my assignments until it is time to complete them. Then I arrive, I protect until the dangerous situation has passed, and then I return to my home. But with you—” He paused. “With you things have become difficult.”
His voice was like that hot cup of tea she’d had yesterday, moving slowly through her system, filling each gap with its warmth. “Where are you from? Why do you seem so different? And what happened in the forest yesterday?” She remembered that moment clearly, remembered that he was different and he’d killed an animal that was unlike anything she’d ever seen before.
Thaddeus chuckled. “Slow down.” He took her hand in his, rubbed his thumbs over her smooth skin and thought for a moment about how to explain things without sending her running. “At your school I teach history.”
Tayla nodded her head. “Right.”
“When, in fact, I am a part of that history.”
“Aren’t we all to some extent?” she replied. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“Specifically, I am part of what you call Greek mythology. Are you familiar with the gods of Olympus?” At the mention of his home, of his family, a part of him warmed. Even though he spent an incredible amount of time trying not to be like them, he was proud of his heritage and his noble relations.
“So you specialize in teaching Greek mythology?” What the hell does this have to do with you shape-shifting in the forest?
Thaddeus was looking at her hands and chuckled. “Shape-shifting? Is that what you call it?”
Again, Tayla opened her mouth to speak, only to snap it shut. How did he know she’d just been thinking that?
He looked into her eyes. “I am a descendent of a Greek god, Tayla.”
She chuckled at how sincere he seemed. He did look as if he could be a god, a descendent of Adonis, to be exact! “I would say that, too, if I were built and looked like you. Come on, Thaddeus, tell me the truth.”
He liked to hear her say his name. Keeping his features serious so that she would believe him, he continued. “I am the son of Poseidon and Lythica.” He was almost positive she’d know who his father was; his mother, however, was not in the history books.
Her hand stiffened beneath his. “You’re serious, aren’t you?” He looked damned serious, and she racked her brain for recognition of the names he’d given. “Poseidon is—”
“God of the sea,” he finished for her, noting the little spark in her eyes that threatened to believe him. “That is correct.”
“Uh uh.” Tayla began shaking her head, trying to pull her hand away from his. “No. You don’t have to sit here and feed me this line of bull. If you don’t want to tell me who you are and why you’re really here, you can just leave.” She was still trying to pull free, but he held her steadfast. “But don’t sit here and insult my intelligence by telling me this half-baked story.”
“It is not a half-baked story.” He held on to her with one hand while caressing her arm with the other one. “Look at me, Tayla. Look at me and tell me a part of you does not believe what I am saying.”
She did look at him, because he’d asked her to and because she wanted to see that he was lying, wanted proof that this story was concocted. But that’s not what she saw. In his eyes she saw sincerity and warmth; in his grasp she felt safety. “You would be a merman or whatever.” She looked down at his legs, thinking this still had to be a joke. “If I take you to the sea, will you morph again?” she said sarcastically.
Thaddeus heard the obvious cynicism in her tone and smiled. “No, I am not a merman. While I can live in the sea, I do not possess the legendary fin. I am half my father’s creation and half my mother’s.”
“And your mother was—” Tayla struggled to remember the name he’d said and how it related to history. She wasn’t an expert on Greek mythology but knew some of the basics.
“Lythica. She was a rare and beautiful bird.” And he would leave it at that. To discuss the details of who and what his mother was would bring about the one piece of his reality that he did not like to think about.
“A bird and a sea horse, those were your parents.”
Thaddeus threw his head back and laughed aloud. “Not a sea horse, one of the gods of Olympus who chose the sea to rule.” Outside it was raining again, and Thaddeus knew that his father was enjoying this as well.
“I don’t believe you.” She looked up at him and whispered, then turned away.
“But you want to.” He cupped her face in his palms, forcing her to keep her eyes on him. “You want to believe I am what I say, just like you want to trust me with your life, with the feelings you have for me.” He watched her questioning glare. “I know because I have heard your every thought since I arrived. Well, not all of them,” he corrected. He hadn’t a clue what she was thinking now but wished to Zeus he did.
Goodness, he was one beautiful man. Her eyes kept falling to his mouth, remembering those hot kisses from last night. Dammit, stop confusing everything about him with sex. This is serious, what he’s telling me is serious…if it’s true. “You read minds too? So you’re a psychic Greek god?”
“I am a combination of all that is reported to you as legend and myth. My powers are limited in some respects and magnified in others. I can read a person’s mind—a person that I am connected to in some way. With you I assumed the connection was my assignment, but I find it increasingly harder to step inside your head when you are looking at me so intently. When you seem to be focusing in on my very own thoughts. Does that sound possible?”
Tayla blinked. “Ah, newsflash, Thaddeus, none of this sounds possible.” She pulled away from him then, standing with her back to him. What the hell am I doing here alone with this lunatic? Does he really believe he’s some Greek god, or half of a Greek god? Does he really expect me to believe that? Well, she didn’t. She wouldn’t. He was a man. A lying and conniving man just like all the rest of them! And she wouldn’t believe him. She wouldn’t be touched by him.
Thaddeus touched the nape of her neck. “I am what I am, Tayla. I am not a liar or a conniver. I am your protector.”
Her eyes closed involuntarily. She should have jumped out of her skin. She’d walked away and he’d been sitting at the table. Now he was right behind her and she hadn’t heard a sound of his approach. Why did she feel so calm with him? Turning to face him, her next question died on her lips as he leaned forward until his face was only inches away from hers. His eyes seemed luminescent. In them she saw waves, then flickering flames. She opened her mouth to speak and he placed his mouth on hers and thrust his tongue inside, halting all words.
It only took a few languid strokes of his tongue against hers before her arms moved around his neck. Thaddeus moaned, sucked her tongue, then nibbled on her bottom lip.
Tayla felt a swarm of heat between her legs and tried to clamp them shut. His hands moved quickly, his fingers scraping over one hardened nipple. His lips devoured hers and she gasped.
This was too much. He was too much. As much as she loved kissing him, Tayla tore her mouth from his. Still trying to catch her breath, she turned away and busied herself by retrieving the muffins from the microwave. He didn’t touch her, which was a good thing. He’d given her a lot of information, almost too much information. But then she’d asked for it, repeatedly. She wanted to know who and what he was and now that he’d told her she didn’t know what to think.
But then she remembered what she’d seen and what she’d felt in the last week. He was different. She’d known that instantly. She never would have imagined his differences to go as far as Greek mythology could take her, but something told her that Thaddeus was telling her the truth. He really had no reason to lie. It was not as if he were trying to get her to sleep with him. She’d already offered him that. And as far as pick-up lines went, ‘Hi, I’m a Greek god,’ wasn’t what she normally heard.
Her hands shook a bit as she set the plates with the muffins on the table and made them two cups of coffee. He was sitting again and she joined him.
“So if I believe what you’re telling me—and I’m not saying that I do—but if I did, I would have to ask what that thing in the forest was yesterday.” She broke off a piece of the muffin and stuffed it into her mouth because despite being nervous, she was hungry.
Thaddeus mimicked her motions, savoring the flavor of the fruit-filled muffin. “What is this flavor?” he asked after he’d consumed almost half of it.
“Yours is strawberry.”
He looked down at the bright red spots inside the muffin. “Mmm, it’s tasty. What flavor is yours?”
Tayla looked down at her plate because, truthfully, she hadn’t tasted a thing. She was too consumed by him. He was built like a god, big, chiseled, masculine, mouth-watering. And his face was void of imperfections, unless you counted the square jaw and thick eyebrows, which she did not. “I have blueberry. Do you want to taste it?”
He smiled sheepishly. “Yes, I would like to.”
Tayla pushed her plate with the partially eaten muffin on it closer to him. He broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. She watched him chew. That looked normal enough, but then from what she understood, Greek gods were fairly normal, if you discounted their mythical powers. “Do you like it?”
“I do.”
She smiled, suddenly feeling a warmth at having made him happy. She sipped her coffee. “So, the forest? That thing?” she reminded him.
“Oh, yes, the forest. That was Cerberus.”
“So the beast has a name?” she said dryly.
“A name and a purpose.”
“And what was his purpose?”
“To frighten you.”
She chuckled. “Well, he did a damn good job of that.”
Thaddeus laughed with her, although he didn’t feel the least bit happy about Cerberus’ appearance. “He guards the Underworld. Which has his appearance puzzling me.”
Tayla shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “The Underworld? As in hell?”
“Yes. That is what you would call it.”
“So not only do I have to worry about Jerome stalking me, but now the devil wants a piece of me too?” What did she ever do to deserve this fate in life?
Thaddeus finished off both muffins, then drank the warm liquid he knew was called coffee. He’d had the concoction before and wasn’t that fond of it. Surprisingly, he liked the taste of it this time. “What did you put in this?”
Tayla blinked. He liked to change the subject. “Cream and sugar. Why?”
“I don’t think I have ever had it this way. But I like it.”
For a moment he looked like a young boy who’d just received a new toy. It was just coffee, she thought. How could something so menial please a Greek god? “I’ll give you the recipe,” she joked. “Now back to the demon from hell chasing me.”
Thaddeus stood. “Let’s get to your office. You want to have it cleaned before anyone else sees what happened.”
He took her hand and Tayla stood with him. “Are you trying to get out of answering my questions?”
He led her out of the kitchen toward the front door. “Tayla, you are very inquisitive. I doubt I will ever be able to avoid all of your questions successfully.” She turned, opened her mouth to speak and he covered her lips with his free hand. “However, I will try my best to answer what I can. Right now I am not sure about Cerberus’ appearance. Just know that I will be keeping a much closer watch on you now that he’s here.”
“Here?” she mumbled beneath his hand.
Thaddeus opened the door and pushed her forward. “Cerberus is immortal. He does not die.”
“But you burned him?” she was saying when he had closed and locked the door.
“That was just a momentary reprieve. Either he will return or someone else from the Underworld will take his place. The question is, why? There must be some connection between your husband and the Underworld, but that seems so unlikely.”
They were on the path headed toward the school when she sighed. “He’s my ex-husband, and I’m not so sure how unlikely that is. Jerome can be the devil incarnate when he wants to be.” That thought sent chills down her spine.
Thaddeus felt those chills and watched as she tried to disguise her sudden discomfort. He moved closer to her, taking her hand in his. “Don’t worry. I will take care of it.”
She gave him a small smile. She wasn’t totally believing him. That would undoubtedly make her crazy.
But she wasn’t completely discounting his explanations either.
That frightened her. She cringed because she’d fought fear for so long and now it seemed to be seeping slowly back into her world. Eventually it would claim her, and she prayed she’d have the strength to survive when it did.
* * *
“She is not alone.”
“What do you mean, she’s not alone?” Jerome kept his voice carefully leveled as he talked to his informant. He’d paid good money for his information on Tayla and for the room and board on this monstrous mountain.
“There is someone with her. He stays very close to her.”
Jerome clenched his fists. The thought of Tayla with another man was much more than he could stand. And too much to be tolerated. “Get rid of him!” he ordered.
“It’s not that simple.”
“What the hell do you mean, it’s not that simple? I’ve given you loads of money. This has to be perfect. Our reunion must be perfect. A threesome is not what I envisioned.” He walked across the wooden floors, detesting the earthy smell that surrounded him, the blast from nature that he’d subjected himself to just to bring her back.
“I told you he never leaves her. He walks her to work, he walks her home, they have dinner together, they have breakfast together. They sleep together.” This was said with a lower tone. Jerome’s wrath had been displayed once, and that had been sufficient for all time.
“He’s sleeping with her?” The veins in Jerome’s forehead pumped fiercely, puckering beneath his skin. “Another man is sleeping with my wife?”
“I…I believe so.”
“You believe so? Have you seen them?”
“I’m not a Peeping Tom. I just assumed it since they are now staying under the same roof.”
“I didn’t ask you who or what you were. And I didn’t ask for assumptions!” Jerome bellowed, clearing the contents of the mantel with a swoop of his arm.
“I understand what you are asking and I am telling you what I know. He slept in the same house with her last night.”
Jerome roared, a beastly sound that shook the walls. “I’ll kill him!”
“Why don’t you just go get her instead?”
“It is not time yet. I cannot go to her yet. That’s why I’m paying you to keep an eye on her. You aren’t doing your job.”
The man sighed, went to the door and let himself out. “I don’t know what the hell my job is.”
* * *
Ms. Dudley was already in Tayla’s office when they arrived. Thaddeus tried to convince the older woman that they could handle the clean-up alone, but she’d been steadfast in her duties. He was positive her duties as the administrator did not include cleaning the principal’s office. He had a hunch that Ms. Dudley was trying to find out all she could about the break-in and his connection to Tayla. And he was certain that Tayla knew this too.
Still, Tayla had gone about the task of getting the office back together without a word. She was thinking about their conversation. He’d felt her questioning glance several times throughout the afternoon so that reading her mind was not necessary. She did not seem overly concerned about her ex-husband now that his heritage was on her mind. He did not mind, really. Telling her the truth was only a bad thing if he were getting personally involved with her. In which case the look of disbelief or the act of repulsion would have hurt him beyond words.
It was a good thing he was not getting involved with her on a personal level.
“Let’s talk a walk,” she said when they were leaving the building.
The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly down on the thick greenery of their mountain surroundings. His father and uncle must have found something else to occupy their time today. Thaddeus thought he might as well take advantage of this good fortune.
“A walk sounds fine,” he answered.
He could handle a walk. She’d probably ask more questions and because there was no personal involvement he figured he could handle that also. What he could not handle was the moment she took his hand in hers and began walking toward the forest. He looked down on her questioningly. She only smiled and kept walking.
“So tell me about your home? Where is it that you live exactly?” she asked when they were some distance away from the school.
Thaddeus had been lost in his own thoughts—of her, of course. Even the touch of her hand in his caused deep waves of desire to ripple through him. He had to fight it off. She was talking, asking him questions about his home. That was a safe subject. If he talked about his lifestyle before he met her, then he couldn’t likely focus on this growing attraction between them.
“I live on Mt. Olympus. Well, that’s where we all come from. My home is actually in the deepest part of the mountainside.”
“You live alone?”
The trees grew thick with low hanging branches. Thaddeus lifted one out of Tayla’s way before answering. “Yes. I live alone.”
“That explains it,” she replied softly.
“That explains what?”
She shook her head. “Nothing. Ah, do you have a…I mean, are gods allowed to have girlfriends?”
Thaddeus smiled. Tayla had candor to go along with her natural curiosity. “We are allowed to do just about anything we want. I mean, we have laws that protect us from others who take their godly status over the limits, but generally we do just as mortals do.”
“I see.” She nodded. Always there was a hint of sadness in Thaddeus’ eyes. She believed that sadness most likely stemmed from his solitary existence. “So what do you do for fun?”
He took to the sky, letting the wind ruffle his feathers and soothe his weary soul. He stretched his wings and traveled great distances at high rates of speed. That, to him, was relaxing, rejuvenating, fun as she called it. “I have my own private place I go when I need to get away.”
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 protect 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.