Devi (9 page)

Maybe he’ll be okay with it.

Parker and Allie had accepted her and Ashia. They had become friends, and they knew about them. She had never thought she would trust more humans, yet she had, and knew they would not betray her. Hell, she even liked Dave. He and January dating took some getting used to, but at least she seemed happy.

So why aren’t you happy, too? You have a great man. Friends and a life for a change.

Devi squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t need to think about telling him now. She would—much later.

* * * *

Indulgently, Devi watched as Rhodes ran after his niece and nephew up the trail. She liked seeing him so carefree with the two kids. They were precious and fun. They had taken to her and she was already half in love with them.

The kids shrieked as Rhodes chased them. She strolled behind them. She nodded to the other park patrons as she kept an eye on Rhodes and the kids. Rhodes trotted back to her with a child held under each arm. C-man, as Rhodes called his nephew, reached for her. She took him and cuddled him.

“This is fun. I wish we could have brought Pebbles,” C-man said.

“I know. But she needed her shots, so we left her with Ashia. We’ll get her later,” she promised.

“Okay. Down.” He squirmed.

She put him down. Rhodes put down his sister. The two dashed up the trail.

“Not too far,” she called.

“You would make a great mother,” Rhodes said.

Devi looked at him, startled. Rhodes put his arm over her shoulder and they walked behind the children. Devi glanced towards the kids. Not seeing them, she frowned. She hurried away from Rhodes, towards the crossway of the path.

“Where did they go?” Rhodes asked.

C-man stumbled from the bushes, crying hysterically. They ran to him.

“Where’s your sister?” Rhodes said.

“The man grabbed her,” he whimpered.

“What man?” Rhodes demanded.

Devi narrowed her eyes and flared out with her power. Feeling him, Devi hissed at the familiar taint of evil. She shimmered, and appeared by him. The man glanced up from the prone body. His eyes widened.

“I warned you.” She bound him in place.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it!” he cried.

His cap was pulled low over his eyes, shielding his features from her and rendering him visually unrecognisable. She waved her hand, magically knocking off his hat. The same man who had accosted her in the park before now gazed at her. His eyes were wide and frightened.

She waved her hand and his hourglass appeared. “Your time is up.”

The empty hourglass rotated. She made him vanish.

Devi leant down over Rhodes’ niece. She healed the little girl and wiped the memory of what had happened from her mind. Thankfully, he hadn’t touched her inappropriately, just frightened her into falling.

The little girl sat up. There was confusion on her face.

“No more wandering away.” Devi pushed her hair back from her face.

“Sorry.” The little girl smiled sheepishly.

A sound made Devi look up. Rhodes stood a little way away from them. The grim look on his face made her breath catch. He walked over and lifted his niece.

Devi opened her mouth.

“Later,” he said stiffly.

She shut her mouth.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Rhodes asked.

”I’m okay. Sorry.”

“For—?”

“I took the memory from her and C-man,” Devi interrupted.

Rhodes looked at her sharply. Devi didn’t say anything else.

He turned and strode back to the trail. In silence, they returned to the SUV and headed home. That, too, was done in silence.

At his house, Rhodes helped the kids out of the car and they all went inside. He set them up with a video. Rhodes strode into the kitchen, then outside. Devi followed him, noticing how rigid his back was.

“What are you?” His voice was soft and angry.

“I’m a goddess,” she admitted.

“What is your name?”

“Devi.”

“Your real name.” Rhodes glanced at her, his eyes fierce.

“Renpet.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he demanded.

“I wasn’t sure if you could accept it.” Devi’s chest was tight.

“You didn’t even give me a chance to.” He turned away.

Devi touched his arm. Rhodes glanced at her hand, then her face. She took her hand away.

“It looks like I was right,” she said bitterly.

He headed to the door.

“At least Parker and Allie are more understanding.”

Rhodes stilled, then said harshly, “They know? Do Ashia and January know, too? They probably do. Am I the only one you decided to keep this from?”

“Ashia knows. She’s a goddess, too. But not January.”

He faced her, stalked towards her, then stopped in front of her. He lowered his gaze. When he raised it, she gasped at the pain in his brown eyes.

“You should have told me that this was just sex.” Rhodes walked away.

“It was more than that!” Devi cried.

He stopped before the open door. “Right. That’s why
I
wasn’t told who you are. Wasn’t good enough to even put more into this—whatever we
supposedly
had—than some great sex.” He bowed his head. “I thought we could have more, but I can see I was wrong. You couldn’t even trust me enough to tell me the truth.”

“I trust you, Rhodes,” she insisted.

 “You don’t,” he gritted out.

“I do!”

“Empty words. Show yourself out.” He walked away.

This time he went inside, closing the glass door behind him. The lock closing sounded final.

Devi shook as she stared at the closed door. Tears burnt her eyes. Moving away, she tried to breathe, but it seemed impossible. Weight seemed to crush her. On heavy legs, she walked across the yard to the gate and fumbled with the latch. Unable to open it, she made wild, animal sounds, fighting with it.

Warmth enveloped her and she disappeared.

Inside, she collapsed. Arms closed around her.

“Shhh, little one. It will be fine,” Ashia crooned.

Devi hugged her tightly, wailing at the loss of him.

Ashia rocked and comforted her.

Chapter Seven

Devi rose from her bed and padded through her apartment to the hammock on her deck, wearing nothing more than a camisole and shorts. She had the day off from work, which was good—it meant she didn’t have to call in. Settling into the white-roped swing, she lay back and began to move in a gentle, hypnotic motion.

Last night she’d spent hours crying in Ashia’s arms. When she’d left, Ashia had taken the puppies with her, so the place was entirely empty aside from her and her sorrow. She was grateful, for company wasn’t what she wanted. She longed for oblivion.

Curling over onto her side, she stared off at nothing. Her heart hurt.

If this pain is what most mortals feel, then they can keep it. I have no use for it.

With a single thought, she transported herself to a solitary spot in the Garden of the Gods’ vast acreage. Dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and hiking boots, she began to walk. Where she was venturing, she was unlikely to run into another person, but on the off-chance she ensured she would remain invisible to human eyes.

The day was unusually cold and the scent and feel of an impending storm hung in the air. Unaffected as she was by temperatures, Devi merely continued walking and tried to come to terms with losing Rhodes. Sure, she could go to him and force a confrontation, but she didn’t want that. She wanted him to accept her for who and what she was.

Not likely to happen, given how they’d parted.

She longed for him to look at her with hunger and deep-rooted feelings in his eyes, not the loathing and antipathy his gaze had contained the last time he’d looked at her. She sighed and shoved her hands into her pockets.

“Why are you way out here instead of going after your man?”

Devi didn’t stop her progress through the forest as Aisha appeared at her side. The other goddess fell into step beside her, clad in her typical attire.

“Let it go,” Devi said.

“How do you think it will work itself out if you do nothing?”

Biting back a scathing remark, Devi shrugged and walked on.

“Do you not love him?”

That question stopped her in her tracks and she faced the goddess head-on. “Please, let it go. Leave me alone. I need to work this out for myself.”

“I told you that you needed to tell him who you truly were,” she said, her tone almost smug, it was so matter-of-fact.

Devi’s control snapped. “Well,
excuse
me for not bowing to your infinite knowledge on human relationships!” she barked. “What was I thinking? You have such extensive experience with them.”

She flashed away, leaving Ashia alone in the forest.

Devi slowly emerged from the crevice in the rock formation and looked around. Snow whirled and blew around her. Vast whiteness as far as she could see. Nepal was a cold and dangerous place. She’d long been coming here to get away from everything.

After her heartbeat returned to normal, she stepped back out of the storm and headed for the large bed in the cavern. This time, when the tears returned she didn’t try to stop them.

Her exhausted body slipped into slumber, only for her mind to be continually battered by images of Rhodes turning away from her and ordering her out of his house. The final lock of his door was like the last nail in the coffin. It hurt so much.

When she awoke, she waved a hand and dressed for work, composed her features, and flashed away from Nepal back to Colorado. She had one stop to make before heading in to work.

All emotion buried deep, she reached out and knocked on the door she was standing in front of. It swung open soundlessly. Seeing no one, Devi entered and made her way to the living room. Her intended target sat there, a cool expression on her dark face.

Swallowing once, she began. “I apologise for my outburst, Amaunet. It was crass and uncalled for. I showed you immense disrespect when all you did was point out the obvious. I am sorry.” She dipped her head and took herself to work before Ashia could give a response.

Thankfully, the hospital stayed busy over the next week and therefore her mind remained relatively away from thoughts of Rhodes Liatos. Right up until the early afternoon on the Friday, when his sister was supposed to arrive. She was standing at the nurses’ station, chatting with a nurse and scanning over a patient’s chart when a prickle skated up her spine. The one that told her who was near. The one that her body responded to on a sexual level.

She lifted her gaze from the words on the chart and spied him strolling down the hall to the desk. Even with two packages in his hands, he still moved with the ease of a predator. Her nipples tightened and her clit throbbed with the need for his touch.

Schooling her face into a blank slate, she focused back on the papers in her hand. He’d made his position very clear and she wasn’t about to act like a whining human, as she’d seen so many do in her time. The pining woman who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—let the man go when he said it was over. She was a goddess, not a mere mortal. She wouldn’t act in such a way.

His scent reached her before he did and she almost had to lock her knees to keep upright. She knew the moment he spotted her, for his steps faltered a bit before picking back up again.

Allowing herself two deep breaths, she tightened her fingers around the clipboard and looked up. He was amazing. His dark hair with spiked blond tips made her fingers itch to touch it. Tanned skin over those hard-as-iron muscles that felt so wonderful beneath her hands. Her gaze met his. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the emotion she saw in it, so she girded herself for anything he might say.

The air around them thickened and she blinked, then moved past him without a single word. Leaving him there had been so hard, but she refused to beg. She never looked back at him but she could feel his gaze upon her as she strode around the corner.

Rhodes felt like he’d received a direct hit to the stomach. Devi Petner—Renpet—had looked so beautiful; all he wanted to do was gather her close and forget the incident at his house. His soul called out for hers. Sure, he was still angry, but his feelings for her went beyond that. They had to—otherwise, why couldn’t he get her out of his mind?

Every night he dreamt of her. How it had been with her. Even the scent of her. That same mysterious, erotic smell that lingered under the light cocoa butter one. A scent he’d been unable to identify, even at her place. There weren’t any other lotions aside from the cocoa butter, nor scented shower soap, that smelt like she did. Now he could pick up on it. It floated to his nose and teased him to a state of uncomfortable hardness.

He’d expected her to say something to him. After all, she’d wanted to talk the night he’d told her to get out. But she hadn’t. In fact, there hadn’t been any emotion on her face when she’d stared at him…then dismissed him, walking away without a backwards look.

Why am I feeling so bad? I’m the one who told her to get lost.

He took back the pad from the nurse who’d signed for the packages and entered her first initial and last name. Then he met her gaze and licked his lips.

“Can I have a word with Dr Petner?” he asked.

She glanced at him before lifting a receiver and pressing a button. When she hung up, she gazed at him. “I paged her.”

Not much later, the phone rang and she answered it. “There’s a man here who would like to talk to you. Yes, him. I’ll let him know.” She returned the phone to the base. “She’ll be out as soon as she can.”

“Thank you.” He glanced at his watch and decided he could wait a little bit before he had to get back to his route. He wiped his hands down the sides of his pants, then wandered over to the waiting area and sat down on a plastic chair.

Five minutes passed before he looked up to see Devi coming into view. She was talking animatedly with another woman in scrubs, who was tall, blonde, and gorgeous, with a smile on her face. His heart clenched painfully as he realised again how much he missed her, and again when her gaze met his and cooled to a void of nothingness.