Chapter 3 Royally Screwed #2
“But it was only when he brought Hippolytus back from the dead that it riled the Gods, despite him doing so at Artemis's request,” he told me, and the second his skin made contact with mine, I couldn’t help but suck back a quick breath.
My scars were tingling and reacting, just like they had done that day at the gate when we first made contact.
And like then, it wasn’t pain that assaulted me… No, it was comfort.
A soothing balm for my soul as his touch enveloped me in a net of safety, making me feel grounded and anchored to his strength.
And it looked as if I wasn’t the only one affected by it.
Not when he too stilled his actions the moment my scars started to glow.
He even closed his eyes for a few seconds, his fingers tensing slightly.
I purposely held back a gasp as they momentarily dug into my flesh before relaxing and leaving behind the whispered shadow of his possessive touch.
Honestly, the whole moment nearly left me breathless and close to asking him what had just happened. But in the end, I was too much of a coward and too afraid to delve into the reasons why. So instead, I composed myself enough to push past it, trying to feign indifference enough to speak.
“Artemis?” I questioned, needing something to say just to try and move past the startling moment.
“She is the Goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, and its untamed animals, but she is also associated with the moon, childbirth, and chastity. However, in this story, she was also the twin sister of Asclepius’s father, Apollo.”
“So, bringing this er… Hippo guy back to life, he did it for his aunt?”
He smirked at my name for him, his lips twitching in a way that told me he was trying to hold back a full grin.
In truth, I almost begged him for it. I would have done anything he asked just to see him smile, because there was a completely irrational part of me that secretly craved to see that side of him.
I knew it would completely transform his features, replacing a stern, handsome face with one of soft beauty.
I knew he must have a slice of humanity in him.
And one he no doubt reserved only for those he cared for.
“Hippolytus and, yes, it was for his aunt, who some believed he was in love with.”
“Oh… Oh!” I said, the last ‘oh’ reaffirming my understanding as it dawned on me.
He meant it as a lot more than just the affectionate love for a family member.
Again, he smirked at my reaction, making me wonder if he ever actually laughed and what that would sound like with that deep voice of his.
Would it be a soft rumble or a rolling timber?
“Yes, oh indeed,” he said as he continued to rub the unknown substance into my skin.
“So, I am guessing that bringing this dude back to life was a big no-no?” I asked, making him raise a brow.
“Dude?” he asked, and I couldn’t help it, but it actually made me giggle. A sound he seemed weirdly fascinated with because he tipped his head slightly to one side, as if questioning where it came from.
“The Hippo guy,” I joked, and Jesus Christ, this time he finally did smile, and just like I knew it would, it was devastating!
If I thought he was handsome before, then this was off the ‘holy hotness’ scale for sure!
It completely transformed his face, and for a second, I completely forgot that he was this big, bad, scary ass General that commanded his army of Myths.
Although I also forgot to breathe and it was enough that he questioned my reaction by saying my name.
“Alexandra?”
I cleared my throat to try to hide the fact that I was close to blushing from embarrassment.
“So, ahem… what happened to the guy?” I asked, no longer sure that I even cared to know.
All my mind could focus on was breathing and keeping my heart at a steady rate.
Now, my feigned curiosity was simply masking my reactions to him, using it as an excuse to get the conversation going again and my mind from the way his hands felt on my skin.
Off the memory of how damn handsome he looked when he smiled.
“Hades took offence to him stealing his subjects from the Underworld and complained to his brother Zeus,” he told me, his dark eyes raising from my leg to mine for a split second, and my heart jumped once more.
“Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good,” I commented, making him smirk, his hands leaving my thigh long enough to reapply more of the strange liquid from the glass bottle.
Again, I focused on his actions, I wasn’t brave enough to look him in the eyes for too long.
Although the sight of his large hands on my skin wasn’t much better, it was messing with my mind and making it wander to dangerous places.
Like how his hands would look elsewhere on my body.
Jesus, I needed help!
“No, not when Zeus was afraid that Asclepius would teach other mortals the art of resurrection. So, he made an example of him, hitting him with bolts of lightning until death befell him.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like fun,” I quipped, receiving a wry look in return.
“No, indeed not, but out of respect for Apollo, Zeus immortalized him as a star,” he said, ignoring my slight flinch as he brought his hands back to me. “I need to get higher to your hip. Can you twist to the side?”
I swallowed hard, and because I couldn’t speak, I nodded before twisting and putting more weight onto my good side.
This time, when his hand slid further up, crossing over the side of my panties, there was no story that came with it.
The air around us felt sexually charged and dangerous.
As if it were combustible and only in need of a tiny spark to ignite.
That crackle of heat building inside me and a single step past the point of no return was all that was needed to burn us completely.
It was like a swinging pendulum, one held precariously on a thin chain held dangling between us, at the ready to snap at the slightest cause.
“I need to apply heat, and then it will start to heal the muscle,” he stated, breaking the deafening silence between us that was screaming for one of us to fill it.
His hands left me once more, but it wasn’t for long, because it seemed he had a plan in mind to bring the heat he spoke of.
Which meant my next question died before I had a chance to speak it, as his hands suddenly clapped together, making me jump at the sound.
“Easy, little bird,” he cooed softly as he started to rub his palms together, easing them apart slowly until a whiteish glow could be seen emitting from the center.
I sat wide-eyed and spellbound by the sight as he created the energy in his hands.
I could feel the slight heat, and I wished I felt comfortable enough to ask how he could do that.
But like a lot of things when it came to him, I didn’t have the courage in me to do so, afraid of what I might discover.
But the biggest question was whether any of those answers would flip the precarious scales that could tip either way at this point.
Because on one side was the big, bad General I had always known.
The one I had almost conditioned myself to be terrified of.
And then on the other side was this new version of him.
The one that was warping that villainous vision I had so firmly planted in my mind.
Now, as for the sexual element I had manifested in my dreams, well, that I had no idea where it came from, nor on which side of the scales it sat. But either way, that pin was skittering along the dangerous edge, creating an inner turmoil that provoked far too many emotions in me.
“Try to hold still, for this might feel uncomfortable, but trust me, the feeling will pass,” he told me, and I wasn’t convinced he was right.
Because I was unsure whether this feeling between us would ever pass.
I didn’t think it was ever possible, not unless he went back to being the villain in my story.
And even then, I wasn’t convinced it would be enough to let him go and eradicate him from my mind once and for all.
Not that he had meant it this way, but that’s what my mind clung to. The question now was, why? Was it all some spell he had cast? Was it my connection to the Rift? I didn’t know, but I did know that I didn’t want to feel like this around him. I wanted Riley. I loved Riley…
Didn’t I?
Of course, I did. What was I thinking? It shouldn’t even be a question I asked myself.
“Do it,” I said with a little too much of a grimace, making him frown down at me before taking my reaction for another reason.
“It won’t hurt, I assure you,” he said, and I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
Although this became a moot point as the second he placed his hands back on me, I gasped aloud as soothing heat injected into my skin.
A strange feeling seeped deep and penetrated my bruised flesh, soon followed by a tingly sensation.
One that, this time, had me closing my eyes tight.
I couldn’t look at him because he was the one to cause this intense feeling to take hold of me. One that was starting to consume me to the point that it was getting harder to not react… and he knew it too. Which was why, in the end, he leaned forward and whispered,
“Let it go, little bird.”
As if this was the only thing needed to sever the threat of my restraint, I let my head fall back to the wall behind me and moaned the second his hands tightened on my flesh.
And as if he knew this would happen, the next sound to fill the room came from him as he released his own groan of satisfaction.
A sound barely registering over my own pleasure that, thankfully, wasn’t enough to plunge me over the edge.
But it was enough that when he finally let me go, shame filled me at my reaction.
Holy fuck, I had nearly just come!
Jesus H Christ, what the hell was wrong with me?!
My eyes snapped open, and clarity came rushing back to me with a sharp jolt.
Which was why I started to scramble for my trousers, ready to wrench them back up my legs, surprising him with my sudden reaction.
But it was when doing this that he saw the inside of my thigh, my scars that matched those at my wrists and behind my ear.
“Be still!” he ordered suddenly, making me instantly obey as if flipping a switch.
Then he gripped my knee, his hold firm but strangely gentle as he kept my gaze before forcing my legs to open.
My breath started coming out in struggling gasps at the dominant action, before his eyes finally lowered to the twin scars.
“These appeared with the others the day the Rift opened?” he asked quietly, making me nod, my features tight as my muscles tensed and refused to relax in such a position.
Because it was one thing letting him heal me, but this felt like crossing a line and overstepping into a far more intimate territory.
“I see,” he stated, his voice thick and coated with some underlying emotion I couldn’t detect.
But then something in my vulnerable gaze must have snapped within him as he unexpectedly used his thumbs to caress the scars.
As if his touch had the power to heal them.
Had the power to take the memory of them away and to erase the trauma I had suffered that day.
It was a touch I could shamefully become addicted to.
Which was why I asked, “Have you… er… finished healing me?” My voice came out shaky and uncertain, and I watched as he swallowed hard, as if holding himself back from saying more.
As if working through what he wanted and what I needed in this moment, his jaw tensed. His resolve quickly snapped when he suddenly gripped me behind the knees and yanked me toward the edge of the table.
Then he rumbled, “Have I finished touching you… is that what you wish to know?”
The strength of his voice caused a shiver to travel down the length of my spine.
I couldn’t answer because it felt like willingly walking into a trap to do so.
But this only seemed to anger him further, and his lips straightened into a flat line before his hands came to my waist. His grip had a bite of something darker than before.
Something that felt more like a brand of ownership.
I held my breath as he paused long enough to dip his head, with his eyes lowering to capture my unsure gaze.
“That is one conclusion you can come up with by yourself, my clever little, mortal pet,” he said, but before I could comment, I was suddenly on my feet, and in a whirl of motion that left me dizzy, he had my trousers back up my legs.
Then he was across the other side of the room in seconds, leaving me questioning what just happened.
He was once more facing the window with his back to me. I, on the other hand, was left fumbling with the zipper on my pants and feeling flustered by this abrupt reaction. Although I was also amazed by the fact that the pain had disappeared, and I could once again put my weight on my leg.
“We leave for the Capitol building within the hour. Your uncle may accompany us if you wish,” he stated, making me question what that meant exactly.
But more than anything else, I wondered why we were leaving this place and what awaited me at this ‘Capitol building’.
But then, in my contemplative state, as I questioned my fate, I had obviously missed the part where he was dismissing me, something I couldn’t ignore, when he repeated, “I said you may leave, Alexandra.”
My mouth dropped slightly, and my cheeks heated with shame, wishing I had been the one to ask to leave first. But when I didn’t immediately rush out of there, he glanced over his shoulder at me. And with that haughty, arrogant expression back in full force, he then raised a brow at me in question.
What else was there to do but respond in the most sarcastic way I could think of? I rolled a dramatic hand in the air in front of my stomach, before bending like he was royalty.
My face said everything I wasn’t voicing, but this time, his said even more, and with it, I walked away feeling…
Royally screwed.