Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) Ash counted to ten three times while he clenched and unclenched his fists. She had a way of making him want to lash out and hurt her that came dangerously close to breaching all of his control.
"Don't get me started on that one, Artie. It seems to me 'obey' isn't a word that belongs in the same sentence as your executioner."
Driven mad by his confinement and thirst for vengeance, the last Thanatos had ripped throughEngland with such force that Ash had had to fabricate stories of a "plague" to keep the humans and Dark-Hunters from learning the truth of what had actually destroyed forty percent of the country's population.
Ash raked his hands over his face at the thought of what Artemis had unleashed onto the world again.
He should have known when he asked her to recall it that it was too late for her to do so.
But like a fool, he had counted on her to do as she promised.
He should have known better.
"Damn you, Artemis. Thanatos has the powers to gather Daimons and make them do his bidding. He can call them from hundreds of miles away. Unlike my Hunters, he walks in the daylight and is impossible
to kill. The only vulnerability he has is unknown to them."
She scoffed at him. "Well, that's your own fault. You should have told them about him."
"Told them what, Artemis? Behave or the bitch-goddess will unleash her insane killer on you?"
"I am not a bitch!"
He moved to stand before her, pressing her back against the column. "You have no idea what you have created, do you?"
"He's nothing more than a servant. Ican recall him."
He looked at her trembling hands and the beads of perspiration on her forehead.
"Then why are you shaking?" he asked. "Tell me how he got loose."
She swallowed. But wisely gave him the information he sought. "Dion did it. He was bragging in the hall about it right before I came to tell you."
"Dionysus?"
She nodded.
Ash cursed himself this time. He shouldn't have removed the god's memory of their fight inNew Orleans
.
He should have let the idiot know exactly what he was dealing with. Left Dionysus so scared of him that the Olympian god would never again dare to confront him or any of his men.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) But no, he'd sought to protect Artemis. She didn't want her family to know who and what he was.
To them he was only her pet. A human curiosity, easily discarded and dismissed.
If they only knew…
He'd removed enough of everyone's memory of that night so they would only recall that a fight had happened and who the winners were.
Not even Artemis remembered everything.
Artemis had promised him Dionysus wouldn't go after Zarek for retribution. But then Artemis had thought to kill Zarek herself.
When would he learn?
She could never be trusted.
Ash moved away from her. "You have no idea what it does to someone to lock them away. To place them in a hole where they're forgotten."
"And you do?"
Ash fell silent as suppressed memories flooded him. Painful, bitter memories that haunted him whenever he dared to think of the past.
"You'd best pray that you never learn what it feels like. The madness, the thirst. The anger. You've created a monster, Artemis, and I'm the only one who can kill it."
"Then we're in for a bit of a problem, aren't we? You can't leave."
He narrowed his eyes.
She stepped back again. "I told you, I will contact the Oracles and have them bring him home again."
"You better, Artemis. Because if you don't get him under control, the world is going to become the very thing that makes you wake up screaming at night."
Zarek lay on the beach, still inside Astrid, as the waves ran over their bodies. This dream was so real and intense that he never wanted to wake from it.
What would it be like to have her for real?
But even as he thought about that, he knew the truth. A woman like Astrid had no use or need for a man like him.
It was only in his dreams that he could be wanted. Needed.
Human.
He moved to her side so that he could watch the water run over her naked body. Her hair was wet, plastered to her skin. She looked like a sea nymph that had just swum ashore to bask in the warm sunlight and seduce him with her curves and silken skin.
She looked up at him with a sweet smile that made his heart pound as she ran her hand over his arms and chest.
Astrid lay in silence, watching him, too. Zarek looked so lost now, as if their lovemaking had left him confused.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) She wondered what it would take to tame this man, just a little. Only enough so that other people could see what she saw.
At least now he let her touch him without cursing or withdrawing from her.