The Fury (23 page)

When Dagan came in, he shook all the snow off his coat and hair, wiped his feet and then locked the door. Reese walked over and handed him a large mug of coffee laced with whiskey.

She smiled. “To warm you up.”

“I could think of other ways to do that.” The fire ignited the devilish gleam in his eyes.

She stepped back eyeing him warily. There was a pyramid of reasons why getting more involved with Dagan was a bad idea. Feeling a little breathless, she put distance between them. “Dinner will be ready soon. I hope broiled steak is okay.”

“Delicious,” he hissed.

His gaze stroked her as if it were his large, fully capable hands. She swallowed hard.

Dagan downed the contents of the mug and set it on the small end table before he moved closer to her. He took her cup and set it aside then ran his fingers and lips in a tantalizing trail along her throat and finally landed on her mouth.

Warmth flooded her as she felt the press of his body along her length. He sucked her lips lightly, angled his head and covered her mouth with his. It felt like a tsunami had crashed over her body leaving quivering emotional turmoil. Her lips parted readily and he delved inside, raking his tongue boldly against hers. Her mind spun and her body floated on heady waves. He tasted wonderful.

“Am I interrupting?” A smooth, amused voice came from behind them.

Dagan stilled. Reese made a small sound of distress when he broke the kiss. He caught her jaw, forcing her to look at him when she tried to see the man who had interrupted their erotic interlude. And it damn sure was erotic.

He brushed his lips across hers again with an apologetic look in his eyes. “Hello, Enki.”

Horrendous embarrassment flashed across her face. How did this keep happening?

Dagan moved aside.

“So this is Reese?” Enki walked over to her, holding out his hands.

When she raised her right hand, he took it in both of his and then kissed the back with a bow.

“Uh, nice to meet you.” She struggled to get past the total humiliation of being caught kissing Dagan by her grandfather.

Enki tilted his head and amusement gleamed in his eyes. “Is something burning?”

Her eyes widened and she screeched. “Dinner.” She ran into the kitchen to check the steaks. Luckily, she arrived in time to save them. She could cut off the charred bits.

Reese busied herself in the kitchen setting the table, dishing out the food into bowls and pouring the wine. She had managed to hear some kind of whispered, heated discussion going on between Dagan and Enki when she passed by the doorway, but she couldn’t tell what they were saying.

She walked into the living room. “Let’s sit down to eat, gentlemen.”

They followed her into the kitchen, picked spots and waited for her to be seated before seating themselves.

“So, what do I call you?” Reese asked Enki as she passed the potato salad.

“You can call me Enki.”

She shook her head. “Okay, Enki. Why haven’t you visited my father, your son in his time of need?”

Dagan’s hand stopped. He shot a freaky glance her way and then turned his eyes on Enki.

Enki continued to shovel food onto his plate. “You have every right to ask, Reese. As it happens, I have gone to see him, but he never knew. Sometimes, I came in dreams letting him relive moments with your mother. Other times, I made sure he slept deeply and came to talk about how he felt and why it was important to get past the debilitating emotions.”

“He loved her more than life, I think.” She lowered her eyes to her plate.

“Yes, I believe that too. But it does no good for you to lose both of them and I tried to get him to understand that.” He smiled at her. “Actually, he had started coming out of that void.”

“So you were the reason he finally began doing things around the house again.”

He loaded a fork full of food into his mouth and nodded.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“I have kept an eye on all of you since you were born.”

“All of us?”

“There are others to be sure.”

She broke a small smile. “Of course, there would be. You are the
water
god after all.”

He pointed his empty fork her direction. “Exactly.”

Reese chewed a bite of food before turning her blue powered gaze on Enki. “So why are you here?”

“Of all the children, you are one of the strongest. Not just in spirit though, your blood or to be more precise, the part of my blood that flows in you, is powerful. I have placed protective wards around your home, plus added more of my own energy to make them extremely powerful. However, you are vulnerable when you are not here.”

“I understand.”

“Although Clive is
nephili
, you did not inherit any powers.”

“So I’m told.” She sipped her wine. Dagan silently watched them.

Enki loaded his mouth with more food and swigged his wine to wash it down. “I have come to offer you an opportunity.”

“What kind of opportunity?”

“To come to Dilmun and train with Gilgamesh.”

Dagan choked on a piece of meat. Reese got up and patted him on the back. He grabbed for his wine glass and guzzled down the entire contents. “Thanks,” he finally said when he could speak.

Glaring at Enki, Dagan said, “No human has ever been brought to Dilmun before. Not in the entire history of our life here.”

“You are correct.”

“The Pantheon will not allow that.”

“You forget that I am one of the four. I have the power to do this without their consent.”

Enki looked on her expectantly. “Well, what do you say?”

“Gilgamesh? The first hero of record. The one the stories were written about?”

Enki nodded.

Dagan poured himself more wine. “Gilgamesh trains warriors.”

“I’m not a warrior,” she announced.

“All too true, however, you are bright, strong and have already shown you are unafraid of these creatures. Without the proper training, you fight them.”

“Fight for my life.” Now she downed her wine. “And who said I’m not afraid? I’m scared shitless.”

“If you work with Gilgamesh, you will also have the talent to hold your own against them. You do not have their brute strength but even that can be gotten around if you have the knowledge.”

She sat quiet for a few minutes, pushing the meat around on her plate, contemplating this new twist.

Dagan had quit eating, but poured more and more wine into his glass, which couldn’t seem to stay full.

“I’ll think on it,” she finally told him. “It’s a bit much for me to absorb.”

“I understand, my child. The offer is open to you for as long as you need.”

Enki pushed away from the table. “This was a lovely meal. Thank you for your hospitality.”

Reese walked up to him, hesitant to touch his person. He gave her a wide smile and pulled her into a bear hug.

“We will see each other again, have no doubt.” Enki turned to Dagan. “I will see you soon, Time Walker.”

Dagan bowed to the deity, who vanished.

She turned to him. “Well, that was interesting.”

Dagan grunted his response. “I’ll make one more sweep of the property before closing us in for the night,” he said and marched into the next room.

“Okay, Grumpy,” she mumbled and began clearing the table.

“Training with Gilgamesh,” Dagan mumbled while spearing his hand through the arm of his duster. “Like hell she will.”

Making circuitous passes around the property in the cold night air helped cool his temper a bit. Still, he would be damned if he would let her go through that rigorous training when he could very well protect her.

But he wouldn’t be here forever.

“No, she’s not doing it.”

Ticked that he hadn’t run into any of the creatures when he was bursting for a fight to settle him down, he plowed into the house, locked the doors and windows with the will of his mind, and raised his hand while chanting the incantation that would seal the home. The concealment spells were enough, he knew, but knowing that she would be unable to leave made him feel better. He had a sneaky suspicion that what Enki offered her would be quite a draw for her curious nature.

His temper still simmered. How dare Enki offer her something like that? It was his job to protect Reese—his. He trudged into the kitchen.

Reese caught a glimpse of him as she turned to place another plate in the dishwasher. She straightened. He caught her wrists, jerking them behind her back and securing them as he spun her around to face him and shoved her back against the door, pinning her between the panel and his hard body.

“What are you doing?” she gasped.

He growled, tangling his fingers in her hair as he swooped down to bury his tongue in her startled mouth.

Reese’s knees buckled but he had her pinned too tightly for her to worry about falling. One knee pressed between her thighs. She thought her body would combust from all the heat building between them.

His body quaked even more than her own. He tore his mouth from hers and gasped for air in greedy gulps. Covering her cheeks and neck with open-mouthed kisses, he melted her surprise until she clung to him with desperation.

Through the volcanic rush of hot blood coursing in her veins, she felt a cool breeze across her midsection. Dagan’s thigh kept the pressure between her legs, and with determination, he lifted her shirt free of her body. Goose bumps rose on her exposed skin but were quickly chased away by Dagan’s warm hands as they roamed over her arms, waist and ribcage. Her nipples pushed against her lacy bra, the cold making them stand at attention. It didn’t take long for Dagan to cover first one then the other with his hands, massaging and kneading her sensitive flesh and making her sob. The delicious pressure building inside her focused on the spot where his thick thigh muscle rubbed against her core. She grabbed onto his massive shoulders and tried to move her body in just the right way against his leg to get what she craved.

He squeezed and plucked her nipples. Her inner muscles clenched. He took her mouth again, stealing her breath. She felt him slide his hand between their bodies and into the front of her pants. She whimpered when one long finger stroked her weeping cleft. She thought she would die from the sheer vibration of her breaths and his when he found her opening and slowly pushed his finger inside.

Tearing his mouth from hers, he leaned heavily against her. “You feel so good, so tight and wet for me.”

Her heart stammered at his breathless words and how they made her stomach quiver and her muscles tighten around the finger still imbedded deep within her channel. She heard the sound of a zipper and anticipation kicked her heart rate up another notch.

Dagan reached behind his back and pulled out a long, thin blade. “Don’t move sweetheart. I can’t wait another minute.”

It barely registered to her fuzzy brain what he was about to do. His hands were now steady as they cut down the front of her pants and underwear, leaving them hanging wide open. He put the knife on the counter and stared hungrily at the bold position he held her in. He cupped the globes of her ass and raised her hips. She looped her legs around his waist instinctively.

His cock felt like steel covered in silk as it eased its way into her passage. He panted and her breath hitched when he curled his hips and plunged into her. He shuddered and his hips jerked, driving him deeper into her depths. She closed her eyes and arched her back, accepting the intrusion and reveling in the feel of his thick shaft stretching her sheath. Reese cried out as her body exploded into a million sensations and rapture. Dagan pumped harder and faster until with a howl his body froze but his cock jumped inside her, spewing hot fluid to coat her womb.

It had happened. He fought his way through the blind desire screaming through his taut body. The
fury
had taken over and he was helpless against it. All his senses were now focused on Reese. Her need called to him and drove him mad with desire, the desire to pleasure her in every way, the desire to bury his cock in that luscious channel and make her scream his name for days on end.

For now, the intensity of it had settled. Still joined in that erotic position, he gently massaged her ass and ran light lips over her mouth. She circled her arms around his neck and leaned into him. Fully carrying her weight, he did an about face, walked through the hallway and down to the bedroom where he lay them on the bed without breaking the contact of the kiss or separating his body from hers.

He spent several moments kissing Reese, letting his tongue slide up the sides of her mouth, dance with her tongue and drive a moan from her. Hesitantly, he broke away and stood. He snapped his fingers, causing all the lights to go out. He waved his hand and the fireplace in the bedroom leapt to life.

First, he removed the tattered clothes from her body, kissing the valley between her breasts when he took away the bra, and running his tongue around her belly button when he discarded the remains of her pants. She watched him with such passionate longing he didn’t think he’d be able to wait long enough to take off his own clothes. No, this time, he wanted to go slow and make it better, make it last longer for the both of them.