Guardian (Daughters Of The Gods, Book 2) Read online

  Cat shook the ridiculous thoughts aside. She was a Goddess. A Hunter and Guardian. Feelings didn’t factor and especially feelings for a Titan. The enemy of her kind. And yet–”

  “Cat got your tongue?” he asked, his gaze mocking.

  “I like to play with my food,” she replied. “And don’t kid yourself if you think feelings were ever involved. I’m here to do a job. I was sent because I never fail. And I won’t with you.”

  He stalked toward her and her stomach somersaulted. She inwardly swore at her body’s betrayal at such a time.

  “I think you lie.” Lelantos came to stand before her. Cat wanted to run her hands against his naked form. To touch him one more time. She clenched her fists and refused her body its demand. To desire him, feel anything for him meant, imprisonment for her in Tartarus. She couldn’t risk it. To be placed within those prison walls meant a fate worse than death, and she, as an immortal, wasn’t ready to accept that..

  “Test me.”

  His mouth arched into a grin as her words came out less than menacing. If anything they came out as if she’d been running the New York Marathon.

  “You look even more beautiful in that robe.” He brushed his lips against hers and Cat frowned but didn’t push him away. How could she not relish his touch, his soft lips that beckoned and teased her? Damn him.

  She pulled the dagger hidden in her gowns pocket and held it against his throat. The golden blade sparkled in the moonlight. Lelantos stilled, knowing the weapon she held had the ability to kill an immortal deity. With one flick of her wrist, he would be dead. He silently watched her, the tension between them humming like electricity.

  Lelantos touched the top of her breasts, his finger gliding across her skin like a feather. Cat warred with herself over what she should do before she threw the dagger, lodging it in a chair across the room. She lifted herself up against him and sighed when his mouth came down on hers, punishing and hard. Cat savored the anger and need she felt within him, Lelantos was hot at any time, but when furious, he was scorching.

  He kissed her, the little nips against her lips and harsh hold against her hips making her wet. She moaned as he hoisted her up against the wall and kissed down her throat. Cat fumbled with his zipper and pushed down his pants using her feet. He moaned as his heat slid against hers. Teased her flesh, reminding her body of what he could do, had already done to her.

  And she wanted more. Needed him to have her. Cat lifted herself higher against his chest and lowered herself onto him. The most delicious pressure consumed her. He felt so large and hard. Yet the control that he harbored was stronger than she could ever hope to master. He thrust into her repeatedly. Heedless as to whether he hurt her or not.

  But he did not. “Yes,” she said, clasping his shoulders as he rode them both to bliss. Tension coiled inside her, his relentlessness, nothing like she’d ever had before. “Lelantos,” she gasped.

  “I should hate you,” he said, his face strained as he waited for her to come. “But I can’t.”

  Cat gasped as he thrust into her, sending her over the edge and into ecstasy. She came, hard and fast. Her body clamping onto him like some sort of lifeline. He followed her, his breathing ragged, his moans against her neck sending shivers down her spine. Making love with Lelantos was wholly addictive.

  Cat started at her thought. Lovemaking? It was just sex and nothing more. To read anything further into their embrace would be a mistake on her behalf. And Cat didn’t make mistakes. Ever.

  He pulled back and stared at her a moment before lifting her off him and setting her on her feet. “I’m leaving.” He turned his back to her.

  “What?” Cat followed, grabbed his arm and turned him to face her. “That’s all you have to say after what we’ve just done. Again?”

  “I won’t kill you, so I’m leaving before you make me. I refuse to fight you and your father will not allow me to remain free.”

  The pain that crossed his features made her feel ill. Goddess or not, she was a terrible person and to know he now thought the same was unbearable. “I’m sorry.”

  “Are you?” He smiled yet the gesture didn’t reach his eyes. “I don’t think you are. Like you said, you’re a hunter of the gods. Zeus’s daughter, and you have a job to do. It isn’t your fault I’m a good fuck, something by the feel of you, you haven’t had for a very long time.”

  Cat frowned and stepped back. “I know what you’re doing and it won’t work, Lelantos. If you think I’m going to run away crying, you’ve got the wrong girl.”

  “I would be disappointed in you if you did.” He picked up his shirt and pulled it over his head. Cat didn’t miss noticing his shaking hands as he tucked the shirt into his pants.

  “If you weren’t a Titan and the man responsible for my sister’s abandonment from her rightful life at Mount Olympus, I may be swayed to lose you, tell my father that I missed my target. But I can’t.” Her father’s words rang out in her mind, threatening punishment should she fail to rid the world of this being. She shuddered at the thought.

  “I know you can’t kill me here, so where’s it to be? Greece? Mount Olympus? Times Square?”

  “You should know where we’ll fight.”

  He grinned. “I like fighting with gods. You should know I once fought among my kind against Zeus and his pathetic followers.”

  “I remember,” she said, willing her knife back into her hold. She flipped it around in her grasp without taking her eye off Lelantos.

  “You remember the War of the Gods?” He asked her, crossing his arms against his chest.

  Cat refused to react to what his movement did to his arms. His shirt pulled taut over his body and she bit the inside of her lip, sad that she’d never feel them wrapped about her again.

  “Of course.” She walked around him and he was unable to resist touching the curve of his back before she came to stand in front of him. “You’ve forgotten me haven’t you?”

  His eyes narrowed in thought.

  “Let me remind you.” Cat touched his chest and watched as his body jerked. Her mind conjured up the image of the battlefield that day. Of deities fighting, dying, being imprisoned by her father, the victor, all those moons ago.

  “Until we meet again, my beautiful goddess.” Lelantos bowed to the beautiful warrior and then cloaked himself in invisibility and turned away.

  “Stay and fight like your fellows, you coward,” she yelled, holding her sword out to an enemy she could no longer see.

  Him...

  He pushed her away and she stumbled. Cat righted herself and glared at him. “When you’re angry I can read your emotions. I know what you felt that day and that’s why I knew you were still there, just walking away like the coward you are. You will fight me, Titan, and I will win. You don’t have a choice.”

  “The apple did not fall far from the tree, I see. You’re as cunning as your father.” He paused. “You want a re-match? Well then, let’s have one. Titan against Olympian. Same battlefield, but this time I’ll be in my natural form, and we’ll see who’s victor this day.” Lelantos walked over to her and gripped her jaw almost painfully.

  Cat pushed away the longing that rose up in her at his touch. “It won’t be you, Lelantos. You’re out of practice whereas I’m not.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, kissing her quickly and then walking toward the door.

  “Two days and we’ll meet. You know where.” Cat kept her gaze on the view of the high-rise buildings outside the suite’s windows. To look once more at Lelantos would undo her resolve. He was a Titan. Her enemy. The man she would kill or die trying.

  “Good luck, Cat.”

  The door clicked shut and she closed her eyes. Pain tore through her chest and she dropped to her knees. A strange trickle ran down her cheek and she swiped at her skin, surprised to find tears. Taking a deep breath she calmed herself. She had two days. Plenty of time to prepare herself for battle and the death of the only man who’d ever touched her soul and her heart. A heart
hardened with time and the endless cycles of revenge at the behest of her father.

  Zeus.

  CHAPTER

  Eight

  “Zeus will not be pleased when I tell him you’ve failed yet again to kill the bastard Titan.”

  Cat jumped, startled to see Hermes lounging on her settee, a bored expression on his face as she landed back at her hotel room.

  “I’m giving him the opportunity to die with honor. We meet in two days. He’ll be dead after that and so your little plan to expose me to father isn’t necessary.” She glared at him with menace and willed him to keep baiting her. She would love nothing more at this moment than to kick the shit out of her pompous brother whose arrogance irritated her more than his snide voice.

  “Where?”

  “The Titan knows and that’s all that matters. Your services will not be required.” Cat moved across the room and kicked his feet off the coffee table. “Get out and try not to let that backstabbing tongue of yours spill lies in Mount Olympus. I have everything under control and I expect no complications with Lelantos.”

  “Lelantos? So we’re on a first name basis with this Titan now, Cat?” Hermes stood and placed a strand of her hair behind her ear. She pulled away, his touch making her skin crawl. He laughed. “It’s not like you to turn on your own kind. To be a traitor to Zeus.”

  Nerves settled in her stomach at her brother’s words. His angelic features belied a cunning mind and one that would stop at nothing to gain favor with her father. Why, he’d even turned against their sister Chloe when the Council had banished her all those eons ago. He wasn’t to be trusted and if there was any animal he resembled the best it would be a snake. To say they weren’t friends was an understatement. But still, Cat would have to be careful. Zeus listened to him and held him in high esteem after the many years he’d been crawling about their father’s robe, doing his bidding without an iota of conscience. At least she’d always killed cleanly and with full knowledge of crimes committed by her victims.

  Stories of her brother’s treatment of gods often made her skin shiver with unease. Hermes may have gained power and trust, but his soul was as corrupt as Hades himself.

  “I couldn’t exactly call him Titan when we first met. Use your brain Hermes, even you can see such an error would’ve given me away.” And her slip of his name had in the end done just that. Given her away to him. Had made Lelantos loathe and detest her for the deity she was. The War of the Gods had been such a long time before, it seemed silly now to continue to hold grudges. But Lelantos had helped Chloe and pulled himself into a family argument that had spanned a millennium. He really only had himself to blame...

  “Don’t look so pathetic, Caitlin. You’re sulking like a child who’s lost her favorite toy. Remember who you are by birthright before our father is required to make you remember by any means available to him. Lelantos is the enemy no matter how good a fuck he is. You’re not born for anything other than our kind. Many males on Mount Olympus would like to remind you that the divine are just as good if not better in bed than any traitorous Titan.”

  Cat gagged at the image his words brought forth in her mind. “No thanks, Hermes. Save your legendary lovemaking friends for those who are desperate.”

  He grasped her arm in a punishing grip and she refused to react. No way would she give him the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting her.

  “Don’t push me, Caitlin.”

  His menacing words spiked her temper and she kneed him in the groin. Instantly his hold loosened as he doubled over in pain. “What did you do that for?”

  Cat leant down and whispered against his ear. “Tell father this. In two days Lelantos will be dead and if you ever touch me again you’ll join him. Do you understand, brother? Because if you don’t, I may be inclined to tell Zeus just who Hera is sleeping with. I doubt he’d be too happy to find out his wife is sleeping with his favorite son.”

  Hermes glared and stood up still holding his groin. “So be it, Caitlin,” he said, bowing. “We expect a report in two days. If it’s only silence we hear, we’ll know what to do next, threat or no.”

  Cat shrugged, not intending to fail in her duties as a hunter, no matter how hard delivering the final blow to Lelantos would be for her. “You’ll have it.”

  With these final words, Hermes vanished and left her alone. Cat looked about her hotel room, at the lush furnishings, not equal to those at Mount Olympus but still beautiful in their simplicity and fine craftsmanship. For the first time in her long life she felt alone and unsure. With a battle ahead of her neither emotion was helpful.

  CHAPTER

  Nine

  Lelantos paced the hallowed ground near Thessaly, Greece, and waited for Cat to appear. His body thrummed with the expectation of the imminent battle. She would come prepared, would be the goddess he remembered fighting all those years ago. And she wouldn’t be an easy defeat.

  For years, Cat had executed her role of a hunter and guardian of the gods. Had probably killed more than she’d loved. Regret threatened to swamp him and Lelantos pushed the feeling aside. His plan was clear and his insight into Caitlin wasn’t wrong. He was counting on it.

  “You’re here, Titan. And I can see you this time.”

  Lelantos turned and sucked in a breath of air. She was exactly as he remembered her from the War of the Gods. In full golden armor, all he could see of her face was her little pert nose and sensual mouth. The metal hugged her slim body and made the viewing of every delicious curve easy. His body hummed remembering kissing every inch of her skin. Of hearing her delightful moans and requests for more of what he could give her. She unsheathed her sword and rolled her shoulders. He grinned remembering this action also. Lelantos marveled at the passage of time and how lives could come full circle. Here they were again, enemies about to face each other in battle. But this time only one would walk away alive.

  “I’m back to Titan already, Cat? You disappoint me,” he said.

  She shrugged. “I call it as I see it. And speaking of which, why are you not in your natural form?”

  Lelantos didn’t buy her flippant remarks delivered with such carelessness. He knew deep down somewhere in her soul she had emotions. Feelings even, for him. He just had to figure out how to make them surface. “I thought––”

  “That by being in the form of a human it would make me go easy on you?” She laughed. “You’re a fool.”

  “I’ve become accustomed to this form and way of life. I will stand before you as I am now not as I was born.” Her hand flexed on her sword but she made no move toward him. She was an accomplished hunter for the gods, and she was quick. With one strike from the golden sword, he’d be dead.

  “Pull out your weapon and let’s be done. I’ve grown bored of this human world.” Her perfectly shaped brows lifted with impatience. “Well?”

  “I will not fight you, Caitlin. You’ll have to kill me.”

  Her eyes widened with shock before anger settled on her features. “Don’t be a fool. I will not fight you if you’re unarmed.” She stood back, her weapon at her side. “Pull out your sword, Titan.”

  Her voice took on the commanding power of a god and his hand reactively flexed. “I cannot.”

  “You cannot? Or you will not?”

  “I will not,” he said.

  Confusion settled on her features before she disappeared then appeared a foot away from him. The small dagger she’d held against his skin only days ago again pressed hard against his neck. “Pull out your sword. I won’t ask again.”

  Lelantos held fast to his hope that she would think before she reacted. His life. Their life together, one he’d never thought possible only weeks ago, hung in the balance. To be determined by her actions over the next few minutes. Her eyes flickered with anger and wariness as he removed her helmet, yet the knife remained firmly against his throat. His heart thumped hard in his chest at her stunning, ethereal beauty. Hunter and guardian of the gods she may be, but to him she would never be anything
other than the enchanting woman who’d picked him up in a bar only days ago.

  His life among the human race had bestowed on him one gift at least. Humanity.

  “No,” he repeated.

  Lelantos watched as power emanated from her. He’d angered her and perhaps too much this time. He could disappear and walk away, but to do so would mean the end for them. And after what they’d started in New York the last thing he wanted was to lose Cat now. His body ached to have her again. Her wit and easy nature suited his reserve and manner. He couldn’t live without her.

  “Lelantos, what are you doing? Why won’t you pick up your sword?”

  Her tone was pleading and sounded more like the Cat he’d recently discovered, not the goddess confronting him here this day. His body thrummed with increased hope. “I can’t hurt you. I won’t. No matter what that means for me.” Never would he raise a hand in anger toward her. He had found a new commitment in life: to protect the immortal female standing before him. She was everything to him. She was like him in many respects and she understood him. She was a goddess in every way, not just by birth.

  “I love you.”

  She paled, her delectable lips opening on a gasp of breath. Never had he told another such words. Seeing her shocked response to his declaration, he wondered if perhaps he would have done better to have kept his mouth shut.

  “What?” Cat stepped back and glared. “Stop stalling and pull your weapon.”

  “I’m not stalling,” he said, pulling her against his chest. “I meant what I said. I love you. I want you every minute of every day and I’ll not let Zeus and his unending revenge on his enemies destroy what we feel for each other.” He shook her a little to emphasize his words. “Admit it.”