Night of the Tiger (Hades' Carnival) (33 page)

He sifted his fingers through her hair before trailing them over her neck. Tingles of pleasure followed in their wake. “I did that without asking you. There was no time to do so. I do not regret what I have done. Do you?”

She caught his hand in hers and raised it to her lips, planting a kiss on each finger. “No, I don’t regret it. How could I?” The man had risked everything to save her life. That showed her the true depth of his commitment to her.

But she still had questions. “Do I have powers now? Will I heal faster? Am I the same other than the fact I’ll live forever?” Her mind whirled with the possibilities.

Roric shook his head, sending several strands of his hair to brush against her face. The sensual caress stole her breath away. “I don’t know. We will have to learn as we go. This is a first in my world. None of the warriors has ever done such a thing. As I said, I had no idea it could be done.”

Aimee thought about that and nodded. “I guess that will have to be good enough for now.” She shifted, ignoring Roric’s shaft, which was stirring to life next to her hip. Honestly, the man was an animal. She almost giggled aloud at her unintentional joke. The man really was an animal. Her tiger.

She tightened her arms around him and gave him a hug. “Where do we go from here?”

She felt the change in him immediately. Tension thrummed though him, his muscles hardening beneath her touch. “I have to find the carnival and the carousel.”

Aimee shook her head. “No.
We
need to find it.”

Some of the tension seeped out of him, but he was still on alert. “Hades has lost his hold on me. He will not accept this defeat lightly. He will make it all but impossible for us to find the others.”

What went unsaid between them was that they had no idea how Hades would deal with the other warriors due to the loss of the tiger. Of the four released, only one had gone over to the dark side. Two had been killed, and only one had escaped the clutches of the vengeful god.

“We’ll look. In this day and age, it’s almost impossible to hide anywhere. I don’t care if you are an ancient god. People have cell phones and post pictures online all the time. We’ll just start watching all the social networking pages and the news.” There was a lot they could find out by surfing the Internet. Aimee’s mind began to race with everything she’d have to do to get the search started.

Roric caught her chin beneath his fingers and lifted it until she was looking right at him. “Thank you, Aimee. You have no idea what it means to me that you’re willing to take on this burden.”

She swallowed hard as emotion threatened to push her to tears. The look in his eyes was almost her undoing. She could see hope and love shining through, but it was tempered by his fear and longing for his comrades and the goddess he claimed as his own.

“They’re a part of you. I understand that. They came before me. You can’t just forget them and you shouldn’t. You wouldn’t be the man I fell in love with if you could. Besides—” she gave him a watery grin, “—I didn’t save your life so you could go traipsing off on your own and get killed.”

He laughed and gave her a gentle squeeze. “Enough lolling in bed, woman. Time to dress and eat and get down to business”

He threw his legs over the side of the bed and rose with her still in his arms. The man was as strong as an ox, treating her weight as though it was nothing. It made her feel sexy and cared for. Not exactly what an independent, modern woman should admit, but that didn’t change the fact that it aroused her.

She ignored the sexual pull low in her belly. She really was too sore for another bout of lovemaking, and they did have other business to attend to. And speaking of business. “I have to finish the sketches for the comic I’m working on. If I push it, I can have it done in a few days. That check will buy me some breathing room, and I’ll be able to take some time off and really dig into the search for the carnival. In the meantime, I can get the basic searches going.”

Her mind was already making lists of things she had to do. Buying more groceries was a priority. Feeding an immortal warrior wasn’t going to be cheap. “We’ll need to go to town and do some shopping for you too.” Roric would need modern clothing if he was going to fit in.

Roric paused halfway between the bedroom and the bathroom. “I know you have obligations you need to tend to. It would not be honorable to do otherwise. But, Aimee, you do not need to worry about money.”

The last thing she wanted him to think was that she was more worried about money than about searching for his friends. “I’m not worried,” she hurried to reassure him. “I’ve got savings. Plus, I don’t have many expenses. I own my home outright. My parents had a good insurance policy that took care of that.”

He squeezed her tight. “Thank you. It means everything to me that you would share your wealth with me. But there is no need. I will take care of you.” He continued walking down the hall toward the bathroom.

“How?” She couldn’t exactly picture Roric getting a job at the local gas station. He was too independent to work for anyone else. Then there was the fact that he still didn’t know much about the modern world and its technology. Well, he knew about it in theory, but the practical applications were going to take him a little longer to adjust to. It was going to be a steep learning curve, but she knew he’d pick things up quickly. There was no doubting his intelligence.

Roric settled her on the top of the vanity before leaning over the tub. The white tiger tattoo that covered his back stared up at her. She could sense the beast within Roric, felt its commitment to her. She knew the tiger was as committed to her as the man was, that the beast would protect her with its life. A sense of rightness, of peace, settled over her.

A second later, it was shattered as Roric gave a roar and jerked back from the water that shot straight down on his head. He looked so disgruntled and put out that Aimee couldn’t help herself. She started to laugh.

He shot her a glare, which only made her laugh harder. She slapped a hand over her mouth, but it didn’t help much. After a moment, one corner of Roric’s mouth kicked up. “Think that’s funny, do you?”

Aimee jumped off the counter and gave him a quick lesson in how the center tap regulated the flow from the showerhead. “If I wanted a bath, I’d just turn off the center tap, put in the plug and let it fill.”

They were both soaking wet by the time she finished her explanation, standing beneath the steady spray. Roric grabbed a bar of soap and began to lather it between his large hands. Her body began to pulse, and she began to rethink the aches in her body. Maybe she wasn’t too sore after all.

Roric caught the gleam in her eye and shook his head. “I will not let you distract me this time, woman. I will take care of you.”

“You certainly will,” she agreed.

He shot her a distrustful look, but she just gave him an innocent smile. Then she frowned. “What did you mean when you said I didn’t need to worry about money?”

Roric shrugged, totally unconcerned. “Now that my full powers are restored, I’ll find some way to get whatever money we need.”

That wasn’t exactly reassuring. “As long as it’s not anything illegal.”

He chuckled. “Have faith in me, Aimee. I have a strong back and sword arm.”

She had all the faith in the world in him, but the world had changed quite a lot since he’d been here last. There was nowhere for him to wield his sword as a mercenary. He’d need to learn a lot to fit into the modern world, and she was just the woman to help him.

He chose that moment to place his hands on her shoulders. The lather bubbled up as he rubbed down her arms. Her nipples puckered. She’d worry about everything else later. Now she wanted to shower with her man. Reaching for the soap, she rubbed it between her hands before dumping it back onto the ledge. Then she reached for him.

Epilogue

“Why is she running upstairs? That is not a good defensive position.” Roric reached into the large bowl of popcorn that was resting in Aimee’s lap and popped two fluffy white kernels into his mouth. It melted in his mouth. Over the past two weeks, he had discovered a passion for buttered popcorn and the horror movies Aimee seemed to enjoy so much.

He was surprised she could even watch them after everything she’d been through. When he suggested as much, she’d pointed out that she knew the difference between fact and fiction, and the movies weren’t nearly as bad as her nightmares.

Thankfully, the nightmares seem to have abated, at least for the time being. Neither of them was hopeful they were gone for good. Aimee even wanted one, hoping it might give them some clues to aid their search.

“That’s the whole point.” Aimee snagged a couple of pieces of popcorn and started to munch. “Most of the characters are throwaways, fodder for the serial killer or monster. Otherwise it wouldn’t build suspense when the heroine is under attack.”

It still didn’t make sense to him. “Why would they allow that? Why don’t they fight harder?”

“Because it’s a movie. They’re not really dead, just actors who get paid to act like they’re getting killed.” She pointed to the woman on the screen. “That’s Kellsie Morris. She’s a favorite of mine. She’s in a ton of horror movies. Sometimes she’s the heroine, other times she’s one of the victims.”

He shrugged. He couldn’t imagine not giving everything he had in order to win, but then again, these people were not immortal warriors. They were people doing what they had to in order to earn a living. Which was much harder to do in this modern world than he’d imagined it would be.

It was a point of contention with him that Aimee was paying for everything. It didn’t bother her in the least, but it bothered him. That had to change. He’d figure something out.

He settled back against her new sofa in the freshly painted living room. It had taken them several days of cleaning to get rid of the damage the demons had wrought. Roric had enjoyed working side by side with Aimee, helping with the repairs.

He’d even helped her shop for new furniture. The sofa they were sitting on was large enough for him to lounge on comfortably. It had become their habit to sit there at the end of each day and watch a movie. A date, Aimee had called it the first time. Whatever it was, Roric enjoyed having her snuggled up close to him.

Each day they searched on the computer for information about the carousel. So far, they’d come up empty handed. It was as though the carnival had disappeared into thin air. Roric knew they were lying low, waiting for the magnetic pull to the right town where a woman lived who was capable of freeing the next warrior. Who she was or where she lived was a mystery.

Aimee had tried to talk about Mordecai and the other missing warriors several times, but he always put her off. He wasn’t ready to deal with that yet. His friend’s defection to Hades’ side had shaken him to his very core. He’d always believed that their honor and commitment to one another and the goddess was unshakable. It brought all his other beliefs under question, and that was difficult.

He knew he’d have to talk about it to Aimee and soon. She kept pressing. She’d even managed to slip in that she thought Mordecai had actually let her go at one point instead of killing her. Roric didn’t want to tell her that the warrior had only been toying with her. There was no honor, no kindness left in him now that he was in league with Hades.

“Look.” Aimee brought his attention back to the present as she pointed at the screen. The scene had changed and there was now a different woman, one with dark hair and very large breasts, taking a shower.

“Wait for it.” Aimee grinned and stuffed several more pieces of popcorn into her mouth and munched as they watched the latest victim, a screaming woman, get caught naked in the shower as the villain stabbed her repeatedly. Aimee turned to him and poked him in the chest with her finger.

“See, I told you the woman who stays home alone always gets it.”

He caught her finger, brought it to his mouth and nibbled on it. Much tastier than popcorn. “So you did.”

Aimee was much smarter than the women in these movies. Stronger too. She wouldn’t give in. She’d take on the devil himself. Not only that, she’d win. He thanked the goddess every day that it was Aimee who’d freed him from his prison. She’d even insisted he give her lessons in sword fighting. Just in case, she said. He knew she expected to meet Hades and his demons again someday, and she wanted to be ready.

The search for the carnival and his fellow warriors would continue for however long it took. Neither of them would give up.

But that time was not now. And he had more pressing things to deal with. He shifted, but it did nothing to alleviate the pain in his balls. His swollen cock pressed against the zipper of the new jeans Aimee had purchased for him. He did like his new clothing. They were very comfortable, and better yet, easy to remove.

He drew her finger farther into his mouth, licking his way down to the sensitive skin at the base. Her breathing hitched and became faster. The screams from the movie disappeared into the background as he slowly released her finger, dragging his teeth over it as he did so.

She licked her lips, letting her tongue trace the plump lower one. Roric growled and yanked her to him. The bowl of popcorn went flying to the floor, forgotten, as he rolled Aimee beneath him and began to make love to her. She had claimed both him and his tiger, and Roric knew he would never get enough of his lady of the beast.