Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(50)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

He gathered himself together, burying his pain. I still need to protect her. I still need her help. He suddenly felt drained, like someone had pulled the plug from his body and every ounce of energy had been ripped away. His heart ached. His head throbbed. He wanted to simply wither away quietly. Alone. Facing eternity as the coldhearted God of Death and War.

Her eyes flipped open and her gorgeous mouth held a wicked smile. “It’s your move, Mr. War and Death. The bond is broken, and I’m not putting up with your bully tactics any longer. I’m not your plaything and if you ever cared for me, even one tiny arrogant cell in your pea-sized brain, you’d let me go.”

“Fine. You win,” he said, removing his grip. “You’re on your own. I only ask you do one thing.”

“What?” She remained against the wall, holding herself upright.

“Remember when I told you in the car that the other gods are trapped in the cenotes?”

She nodded yes.

He shoved his hands through his hair. “We need you to go back to Mexico and free them.”

Her expression was unreadable and without the bond, he couldn’t sense her emotions like before. Was she frightened or just angry?

“Are you serious?” she responded. “That place is crawling with Scabs.”

“You were able to free me, so you can free them, too. There is no one else to do it.”

“I almost drowned, Guy,” she protested.

“We’ll take precautions, but I need the other gods free, Emma. I can’t coordinate the Uchben, hunt Cimil, and take care of the Maaskab by myself. It’s ultimately your choice. But know if you don’t do this, women will continue being stolen from their families and slaughtered. Your family will continue to be in danger.”

“Sure. No pressure. Can I ask you something?”

Guy nodded.

“Did you ever care about me? Or was it always about this?”

“Emma, I care. More than you’ll ever know. But you’re right to push me away. I’m a coldhearted being, incapable of truly caring for anyone. As soon as this is over, you shall be free from me.”

Chapter TWENTY-NINE

Adrenaline shot through every crack and crevice of my smoldering body. He had each one of my cells aching for him. Yes. I wanted him. So badly it almost split me in two and left me hollow. It took every ounce of strength in my quaking body to lie to him. But I couldn’t allow him to further his dangerous, emotional strangle-hold on me. I needed it to end because I needed to belong—lock, stock, and barrel—to one person and one person only: me.

That’s what I believed, anyway, until I spouted off that phrase, breaking our bond. Afterward, I felt anything but free. It felt like a piece of me had been ripped away. Empty.

Why didn’t he feel the same? How could he go from a chest-pounding, feral, seduction machine to Mr. Cool-As-A-Cucumber? Because our link was meaningless to a deity like him. He had plenty other humans he was bonded to, according to Tommaso.

Yes. I’d made the right decision. It had to be this way.

“Fine. I accept. Oh, and there are two conditions.”

He waved his hand lazily through the air. Was he bored by all this? Sure, he was. “Go on.”

“First, you tell me everything you know about my grandmother. Second, Tommaso has to come with us, and you let him pick his assignment after.”

Guy’s eyes twitched the moment the word ‘Tommaso’ left my lips. “That’s three.”

“Yeah, I guess it is, but those are my three conditions. Take it or leave it,” I said, as if I were in a position to negotiate. Ha. Finally, unquestionable proof. I really was insane.

“Agreed,” he said as if utterly uninterested by the whole situation.

What was with this man?

He walked over to the bed and lay down, lacing his fingers behind his head before shutting his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He cracked open one shimmering turquoise eye, then snapped it shut. “Now that you’ve released me, I thought I might enjoy the serenity and relax.”

“You’re supposed to tell me everything you know about my grandmother.”

“I agreed to tell you, but you didn’t specify when. So, I’m going to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning.”

Damn that man! Damn him to hell. When would I learn? “You can’t sleep there,” I said.

“You don’t need me, remember?” he said drowsily. “And, these are my quarters. But just to prove how gracious of a god I can be, you can have the couch,” he mumbled.

“I’d rather sleep in the dirt than be in the same room with you.”

He pulled the covers over his shoulders. “Fine by me, little girl. Just stay on the compound since I’m sure the Scabs have people waiting outside hoping for the opportunity to snap you up.”

“Maybe I’ll go see where Tommaso is sleeping.”

“He’s already gone.” He rolled over and gave me his back.

“Where?”

He yawned. “I saw you talking to him at dinner and knew you’d insist he go to Mexico with us. So, I sent him on ahead to start scouting.”

Sneaky jerk. Tommaso hadn’t been sent to Siberia.

“What are you doing, Guy? One minute you’re ready to tear off my clothes and the next you’re—”

“Emma, you’ve made yourself clear. Take glory in your success. You have no need for me, nor desire me in your life. I concede. And now if you’ll let me get some rest, I’ve been seventy years without sleeping in a bed.” He turned off the lamp.

***

It was almost midnight, but I figured it was worth taking a chance. I knocked quietly on the door and waited, listening for some movement inside.

The door cracked open. “Emma! What a pleasant surprise. A late one, but…come in.”

Xavier wore a navy blue jogging suit. I guessed those were his pajamas. “Yeah. I hope you don’t mind, but I asked the guards at the gate where to find you. It took me a while; this compound is gigantic.”

He smiled warmly. “I get lost all the time. Just wait until you see what we have underground—oh.” He placed his hands over his mouth. “I’m not supposed to talk about that. It’s such a bad habit of mine, saying things I shouldn’t.”

I’d definitely come to the right place.

Xavier offered me green tea, and we sat down at his kitchen table. The small cottage had a charming feel despite the piles of books in every corner and the dried-out plant hanging from the ceiling near the soot-coated chimney. In fact, every building I’d seen on the compound had some kind of rustic charm. Everything in Uchben Land—my new name for this crazy place—was remarkably beautiful. Stone walkways, fountains, blossoming gardens with marble statues, and perfectly preserved stone buildings; these people had to have significant means to maintain everything so immaculately.