It took several seconds for Ari to realize Silas was talking to him. Tearing his gaze away from the female, Ari turned out of the living room with its high-beamed ceiling, roaring fireplace, and leather furnishings and headed for the kitchen. He was still covered in blood and slime from his battle with those daemons, tracking mud through the house Silas worked hard to keep clean, but couldn’t think about anything other than the nymph lying half dead in the other room.
Silas was right. There was no reason for a nymph to be alone in those woods. She’d clearly been running. From who though, he didn’t know. Before he could stop it, Ari’s mind tumbled back dozens of years to another nymph he’d found alone and injured in the wild. To a moment that had cursed his existence for all eternity.
His vision darkened, and a flood of emotions that would only mess with his control threatened to overwhelm him. But he slowly beat them back. This was the reason he chose to isolate himself. Because he was unpredictable. Because he’d been cursed by the gods. Because some days, he was as much a monster as the daemons he’d sworn to destroy.
“Ari! The rags! She’s bleeding, man!”
The sound of Silas’s voice penetrated Ari’s consciousness. He grabbed the items Silas had asked for then moved back into the living room. After handing Silas the materials, he stepped away again and watched as Silas cleaned the wounds then held his hands over the female and used his sensing gift to search for infection.
Long seconds passed. Finally, Silas eased back on his heels and lowered his hands to his thighs. “It wasn’t an archdaemon. You can seal these now.”
When Ari didn’t make a move forward, Silas turned to face him. “I can’t do this part myself. You know that. It has to be you.”
The claw marks across Silas’s face seemed to dance in the firelight as he stared at Ari, waiting for a response.
Scowling, Silas pushed to his feet. He was tall—over six feet—with broad shoulders and sandy blond hair in need of a trim, but he was no match for Ari. Thanks to his link to the ancient Greek gods, Ari was taller, more muscular, bigger everywhere. And he was never intimidated.
Except now. Right now, Ari wished he was anywhere but in this room, not only near a nymph but being forced to touch one.
“She’ll die if you don’t do something,” Silas said. “You know this.”
Still Ari didn’t move. Didn’t trust himself near a nymph. Nymphs were as dangerous to him as Sirens. Nymphs left him just as unbalanced and reminded him of a life he’d left behind without a second look.
“You brought her here,” Silas said, stepping forward. “You could have left her in the woods to die, but you didn’t. She’s just a female, Ari. Show her the same mercy you showed me.”
Just a female... She was. Ari had used his gift to heal dozens of females and males over his years. This female was no different.
History tried to hold him back, but that damn duty inside pushed him forward. Silas stepped to the side as Ari moved toward the couch and looked down. The nymph’s head was tipped his way on the throw pillow, long, dark lashes feathering her alabaster skin, her dirty hair falling over her bruised shoulder and the remnants of her bloody dress. But even injured and unconscious, Ari could tell that she was attractive. Alluring. A nymph created to torment any male who crossed her path.
A heat he hadn’t felt in years stirred low in his belly. One he didn’t like and definitely didn’t want. The fastest way to get rid of her was to heal her. Then forget he’d ever stumbled across the female in the first place.
He lowered to his knee and avoided looking at her face or the swell of her breasts pushing against the thin, once-white fabric, and focused on the red, bleeding wounds. Laying his hands over the gashes, he focused his strength until heat and energy radiated from his palms, permeating the skin beneath and knitting the wounds back together.
The nymph didn’t even stir, even though it was a process he knew caused intense pain. She laid still, her eyes closed, her body deep in sleep. Soft. Vulnerable. Minutes later, Ari lifted his hands and pushed to his feet, intent on getting as far from her as possible.
He stepped back from the couch, turned so he didn’t have to look at her longer than necessary, and moved for the archway that led to his wing of rooms. “As soon as she’s alert and able to travel, I want her gone.”
“Ari.” Silas sighed. “Maybe she’s—”
“As soon as she’s able,” Ari repeated, not waiting to hear Silas’s protest. He knew what Silas was thinking. That a female in the house might do him some good. But Ari knew only bad could ever come from this situation. “I’ll not have her here disrupting my schedule. Not a minute longer, Silas. Get rid of her. That’s an order.”
He disappeared through the doorway, but at his back he heard Silas mutter, “Maybe a little disruption’s what you need, dipshit.”
CHAPTER THREE
Daphne blinked several times and tried to make sense of her surroundings. She definitely wasn’t on Olympus.