Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(58)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“What? You’re going to cut off my hair?”

“Sorry. It was your brilliant idea to break the bond.”

I shook my head no. “Isn’t there another way?”

“Emma please, honey. It’s only hair.”

“Oh, Christ.” I turned my back to him and felt the swift execution of my red curls immediately followed by his soft lips and rough stubble brushing against my neck. Images instantly pulsed through my mind of his bronzed hard body sliding over me, his thick strong hands massaging my br**sts, his hot wet tongue plunging in my mouth.

I shuddered and sucked in a deep breath.

As if reading my thoughts, he whispered in my ear, “I too wish we had more time, my sweet. There are many things I need to tell you…and to do to you.”

I shivered again. “Like what?” I said, my breath suddenly moving as fast as my pounding heart.

Again, he whispered in my ear, “Like ridding you of that nasty virginity.”

Oh, yesss. That sounded nice. Wait. You’re suddenly forgetting everything? You’re just ready to jump in the sack with him? I paused for a moment. No. I wasn’t. He didn’t love me. In fact, I had no clue what I really was to him.

“I meant—what did you want to tell me?”

He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me into him. His thick strong lips, his fierce eyes, and his black brows all worked together to form the breathtaking expression on his face. My heart swooned.

“When I come back,” he said, “we’re going to finish this.” He brushed the unruly curls from my face and kissed me softly before pulling me into him. He began reciting words I didn’t understand, nor could ever repeat. But they were beautiful, like they’d been created by the wind.

“What did you say?” I asked, tilting my head almost straight up to see his face. His height still fascinated me.

“The Prayer of Loyalty and Protection.”

“It was beautiful.”

“Tonight, you need to light a small fire outside and burn the hair together,” he instructed.

“Our hair? Why?” It sounded so…witchy. Would eye of newt be involved too?

He shrugged as if the answer were obvious. “We are sending a smoke signal to the heavens, proclaiming our bond.”

Wow. That wasn’t pagan at all. It sounded endearing and romantic. Then I remembered the entire Uchben clan was bonded, too. “How do you guys get so much hair?”

“Sorry?” he asked.

“The Uchben, they get your protection, too, don’t they?”

“It’s not the same. What I’ve given you is a piece of my essence, a piece of what humans call the soul. It weakens me somewhat, but it enables me to sense how you feel and ties me to you. I gave it to your grandmother when she was five, and I think you inherited it because you carry a piece of her inside you.

“The Uchben, on the other hand, have taken vows, binding themselves to us, to serve us, and to live by our laws. The penalty for breaking their oath is death.”

I guessed “thou shall not kill” wasn’t one of the gods’ commandments. They seemed more like an eye-for-an-eye kind of crowd. Case in point, Guy’s title. But he was clearly so much more than just the bringer of death; he had an abundance of compassion, which is why I suspected he bound himself to my grandmother. “Why my grandmother of all the people in world? Why did you choose her?”

He hesitated suspiciously. “I wanted to be able to track her after I killed the Maaskab. I needed to find out how she was made and why.”

“Seems silly to weaken yourself right before battling Scabs.”

He shrugged. “Well, no one ever said I was perfect or thought things through all the time.”

“You say your perfect all the time,” I pointed out.

“See how wrong I can be?” He grinned.

“Guy, now’s not the time to be flawed. Please, don’t do anything stupid. Those men, the Maaskab, I swear they’re not even human. They’re something dark.” I shuddered just thinking about the shadows hugging the Scab’s body.

He pecked me on the cheek. “Emma, I’ll be back in two days, and then we’ll sort everything out, and deal with…your situation. I promise.”

He practically floated from the room. If I didn’t already know where he was going, I would have guessed he was going to see his favorite soccer team, or maybe buy a new sports car. He looked utterly jazzed.

Yes, nothing like a little death and war to get the old god pumping.

***

Every time I felt like things couldn’t possibly get any worse, they did. I found myself wishing I could go back one week earlier when all I had to worry about was a bossy man with a steamy voice living in my head and only one family tragedy to deal with. I’d give the rest of my curls to have that old life back. It’s funny how things work out that way.

Now Tommaso was likely dead because of me. Guy was running off to confront the only monsters in the world who could actually harm him. My life and the lives of my family were at risk.

This time, I was not going to ask that stupid, fate-tempting question, “Could things possibly get any worse?” Because if I did…ka-blam! Fate would find a way to do it.

I spent the entire morning alone—well, except for the other gods whose lovely buzzing voices were still just as incomprehensible as before—pacing around Guy’s quarters, cleaning up the mess I’d left on the patio from burning our hair, chewing my nails, and asking Bill and Ted, or Bing and Bong—whatever—about any updates from Command Central.

Finally, right before noon, there was a knock at the door. Xavier entered with a long, dread-filled face. I knew it wasn’t good news. “But I didn’t ask. I swear,” I said aloud unintentionally pleading with fate.

“I don’t want you to be alarmed, but—”

“Did they find Tommaso? Is Guy all right?” I interrupted.

Xavier raised his palms, cautioning me to slow down. “We don’t know what’s happening. The last communication we received, the men and Guy arrived and were getting into position. Then there was a lot of noise through the satellite feed and everything went dead.”

“Dead? Oh, god. No!”

“Oh, heavens. I meant silent.”

I took a deep, calming breath. Okay. Okay. Get a hold of yourself. “So, what’s next? What are they going to do?” I asked.

“I don’t know, my dear. The chiefs are deciding now.”

“This is awful.” I turned my back, whisking away an escaped tear.