Broken: Hidden Book Two (18 page)

Of course, I knew logically that the nightmares were because I was feeling guilty over not only the kisses I’d shared with Brennan the night before, but more, the effect they’d had on me. Kissing Nain had been passionate, hot, almost violent. His kisses had turned me on, without a doubt.

I thought that was it. I expected the same reaction when Brennan kissed me. But his kisses had been soul-shattering, toe-curling, mind-numbing. Like a slow fire that spread from my lips to the rest of my body, until I was consumed. Immediate connection, at the deepest level.

I put my fingers to my lips, closed my eyes, remembering. My heart pounded at the idea of seeing him again. I looked at the ceiling, as if I could see up into his room above mine.

I wondered, if I felt all of this from a kiss, what he could do to the rest of my body. I blushed and tried to shove the thought away. I flopped onto my stomach, pulled my pillow over my head. My stupid body was still thrumming from just the memory of being in his arms.

I tried to go back to sleep. Tried thinking of nothing. Tried counting sheep. I ended up reliving either Brennan’s kisses or my dreams about Nain, no matter what else I tried to force my mind to focus on.

I gave up after a while, got up and showered and dressed. Told myself I wasn’t paying more attention to my appearance than usual. I was only wearing lip gloss because my lips were dry.

Right.

I started to leave my room, figuring I’d check my messages and figure out what immediate disasters I’d need to deal with that day before heading into the Nether to meet with my mother and aunts. I was about to open my bedroom door when I felt him out in the loft. I felt a flush rise to my skin, closed my eyes and tried to settle myself down.

“Stop acting like a pre-teen girl with a crush. You’re the daughter of gods, for Christ sake,” I muttered to myself. I took a breath and opened the door, walked out into the loft. Brennan was in the kitchen, making coffee. Jeans, t-shirt that fit him better than seemed fair. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, though I did try. And when he turned and looked at me, and grinned, I felt a ridiculous blush rise to my cheeks.

“Good morning,” he said, smiling at me.

I stopped a couple of feet away from him. “Hey.” I glanced up at him. He was still smiling at me, and he winked when I looked at him. I looked away. “You’re up early.”

“So are you,” he said.

“Did I wake you up?”

“Maybe.”

“You should go back to sleep. We were up late last night.”

“Only if you come with me,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice, even though I was still doing my best to avoid looking at him. Damn blushing.

I gave a little laugh, and he stepped closer to me.

“Look at me, Molly,” he murmured. And I did.

His eyes met mine. God, he was mesmerizing.

“That’s better,” he said. “Did you sleep all right?”

“Not really.”

“Me neither,” he said.

“Brennan?”

“Yeah?”

“Can you kiss me again?”

He lowered his lips to mine, and it was just as soul-shattering as it had been the night before. Hot, sweet, sensual, soft, and insistent all at the same time. He put his arms around me, and I clung to him. His hands ran up and down my spine as he kissed me, over my backside, and when he cupped my behind in his big hands and pulled me closer to his body, I whimpered.

“Oh, I like that sound,” he murmured.

I clenched my thighs together against the heat pooling there. After a while, he pulled back, slowly. The desire, white-hot need pouring off of him only added to everything else I was feeling.

He kissed my cheek, my jawline, then kissed his way down to where my pulse raced at the base of my throat, and a small moan escaped my lips. After laving that spot with attention for a bit, he finally stepped back. His eyes met mine again.

“This is going to be an adjustment,” he said, and his voice was hoarse and husky.

“Yeah?” I could barely breathe.

“Now that I’ve kissed you, it’s all I want to do. Even more so than before,” he said, and he smiled down at me.

I smiled, felt a bit of a blush rise to my face. “I don’t think you’re going to get much of an argument from me,” I said.

He leaned down and kissed me one more time, briefly, just a brushing of his lips over mine. “Guess there’s a first time for everything, huh?” he murmured against my mouth before he pulled away again.

I laughed and shoved him. He laughed, too, then went to get me a cup of coffee. We sat in the living room, on the couch. He pulled my legs onto his lap, and I turned toward him, unable, now, to get enough of the sight of him. We sat, and went over the day ahead, the meetings I had scheduled. His hand ran up and down my leg, from my knee to my toes, then back up. Light pressure, a massage, and when he massaged the back of my calves, touched the area behind my knee, I gasped and the sensation went straight between my legs. He laughed a little, kept talking about meetings as if nothing was happening.

When he did it again, I bit my lip against the sensation, and he laughed again.

“You’re doing that on purpose,” I said, smacking his hand away.

“Doing what?” he asked innocently.

“You know damn well what you’re doing,” I said, laughing and taking my legs off of his lap.

He grinned. “There’s a certain advantage to being involved with a shifter who’s bonded himself to you, Ms. Brooks.”

“Oh?” I asked, knowing my face was burning.

“I know when you’re tired, or hungry, or in pain,” he said, running his hand through my hair, resting it at the back of my neck. Then he leaned in. “The other side applies, too. I know when you’re feeling good. I know when something I’m doing drives you crazy with need. My body is completely attuned to yours.”

I just stared at him, involuntarily clenched my thighs together. He noticed (of course) and laughed. “Why do you think divorce is so rare among bonded shifters?” he asked, grinning.

He stood up, leaned down to kiss me. “Better focus, Molly. Your first appointment will be here in a few minutes.”

I grabbed his shirt, held him close to me. “I love you, Brennan,” I whispered.

He grinned, and I felt pure happiness from him. “I know you do. I was just waiting for you to admit how crazy you are about me,” he said, laughing when I smacked him. “I love you too.” Then he kissed me again and walked away, and I tried not to stare at him as he did. I failed.

I managed to get through my first several meetings with the appropriate amount of seriousness and acting like a badass. In between, increasingly toe-curling kisses from Brennan that left me breathless and needy.

The man was going to kill me. But I had a feeling I’d go out smiling.

Once I’d taken care of the few things I had to deal with, I got ready to head to the Nether for my meeting. Brennan kissed me, told me to be careful, like he always did, and I could feel how much it bothered him that I was going back. He wasn’t the only one.

♦ ♦ ♦

When I arrived in the Nether, via the gateway, it was much calmer than it had been the day before. Demon guards in their black uniforms lined the walls around the Pit, guarded the tunnel between the Pit and the gateway. They bowed and thumped their chests in respect as I passed, and I greeted them. Or, I tried to. I was mesmerized by my surroundings. I’d taken in only the barest of details during my last visit. This time, I studied everything. The amethyst sky, those blackish, grayish trees. The buildings were a jumble of architectural styles, mostly I guess what we’d call Gothic style architecture in the mortal realm, but with a good mix of classical Greek and Roman architecture mixed in. Statues of the various gods of the Nether were a regular sight as I walked the road between the Pit and the residence of the Furies. I guessed even the gods enjoyed having their egos stroked.

Maybe even more than mortals did.

I arrived at the large black building I’d been in the previous day. It was simple, very stark and plain in appearance. I knocked on the heavy door, which was some kind of ebony wood. I waited.

After a few moments, Alecto answered, greeting me with a small smile. She took my hand and led me in.

“Lovely to see you again, my dear,” she said in a soft voice.

“Thank you. Likewise,” I said. I let her lead me through the house, down the long hallway we’d gone down the last time. This time, however, she led me through a door on the right.

I almost laughed when I took in the room she’d led me into. This was clearly the Furies’ living area. We were in a living room that instantly made me think of a 1980s music video. Pink and purple everything, including low, modern-looking sofas covered in what looked like bright pink velvet. Pillows were everywhere. The carpet was dark purple. There were posters on the walls: Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett. I stared, and I didn’t even realize my jaw had dropped until Alecto laughed. I tore my gaze away from the 80s vomit that was my family’s living room, and looked at her.

“We enjoyed the 1980s,” she said with a shrug. “Especially Megaera. Don’t get her started on Richard Marx.”

“Are you speaking of my love, the only man I’d ever give my virginity to?” a voice said behind us, and Megaera entered the room, followed by my mother.

I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing, and I couldn’t stop. I bent double, and tears started streaming down my cheeks. It was like a crazy, alcohol or drug-induced dream. I was standing in this room with probably the three most terrifying beings I’d ever met, and they were fangirling over Richard Marx and their house looked like three teenage girls lived there. I heard them laughing, too, mostly over my reaction.

I tried to get myself under control, and only succeeded in erupting in another fit of giggles. My mother came over to me, laughing, and led me over to one of the pink sofas. I took deep breaths, wiped my eyes, and looked around again as my aunts settled themselves, smiling and shaking their heads.

“I’m sorry,” I finally said. “This was so not what I was expecting to see here.”

“And you haven’t even seen Alecto’s bedroom yet,” my mother said. “Elvis, everywhere.”

“If only you’d let me punish him when he came through,” Alecto said dreamily. “I would have made his time here something….”

“Al…” my mother said, laughing.

“I thought you all, well, except for you,” I said to my mother, “had the maiden goddess thing going.”

They nodded. “Oh, we do. Doesn’t mean that certain men don’t send our lady parts all a-tingle,” Alecto said. “Every age has its particularly spectacular examples of manhood.”

I shook my head. “Does anyone else know about this?” I asked, waving around the room.

“No. And who would believe it? We are the terror, we are vengeance. We do a great job of maintaining our image, don’t you think?” Megaera asked, smiling at me.

“That, you do,” I agreed. “It’s so weird. You guys, Eunomia…you all feel so warm, so alive to me. I would not have expected that.”

My mother nodded. “We and the Guardians have a lot in common. And if you think this is something, you should see the home of the Guardians,” she said, shaking her head.

“I think we all appreciate beauty and life a lot more than the other gods,” Alecto said, gaze intent upon my face, as if she was studying me.

Megaera nodded. “Yes. We deal in death. It makes beauty so much more precious to us.”

“And we are better at carrying out our duties because of it. We are not so far removed from the daily lives of mortals that we believe ourselves separate from them, the way many gods do,” my mother said.

“Which brings us to why you’re here,” Alecto said, getting serious. “You agreed to serve as a Fury, at Hades request.”

I nodded.

“We have been discussing it. We are happy to have the help, and you proved yourself to be more than capable of punishment with the Nosoi,” Megaera said. I waited for a reprimand for my behavior, but none came.

“Based on your history, we have decided that we have the perfect assignment for you,” Alecto said. I waited.

My mother watched me. “You will be responsible for punishing those who have caused harm to girls and women. You shall avenge the world’s lost girls, daughter.”

I bowed. ”It will be so. And I will be ruthless in my duties.”

“We would expect nothing less,” my mother said, and I felt this new part of my reality sink in, absorbed this truth as I had so many others. Something changed in me, just a little, as I fully felt the role of Fury take hold. I only hoped that I was up to the job.

Chapter Fourteen

My mother led me, eventually, out of the 80s living room, across the hall, to the room we’d been in before, with the Nosoi. “We work in here,” she said softly as she unlocked the door. We stepped in, and I looked around. I hadn’t noticed, before, the doors that led off to the sides of the room.

“I’m trying to think of how to explain what we do. I’ve done this so long, I know of no other reality,” Tisiphone began. She crossed her arms, studied me, thinking. “You know that the Guardians collect the souls of the dead,” she said.

I nodded. “Yes. And they bring them to Hades for their final judgment, and then they come here, and the Furies carry out the punishment they have coming to them.”