Accidentally in Love with…a God?(Accidentally Yours #1)(65)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“No, wait.” I pulled my arm away from Tommaso. “I’m not going with you.”

Though his face was obscured by the night, I could see he looked irate. “Emma, you’re coming with me. Don’t make this hard.” Tommaso reached for me as I turned toward the pool.

I was halfway over the edge of the cenote when something plucked me out of thin air. I found myself suddenly surrounded by trees, encased by two dark arms. The smell made me gag instantly. Ick. Fresh Scab.

“Release her,” said a deep, familiar voice. The Scab flung me to the ground and vanished right before my eyes. I instantly caught a whiff of black licorice as a menacing shadow emerged from the trees. “Emma, it’s so nice to meet you in person, although, I’ve really enjoyed our dreams together.”

I could barely see his face, but that part of my brain, which meticulously catalogs all things to be deathly afraid of, recognized it. Let’s see…lions, undercooked chicken, jumping out of planes at night while strapped to angry men named Brutus, dark alleys, venomous snakes, insane people with guns—oops, that’s me—and Guy’s brother: the sinister, sexual predator from my dreams. My brain hit the “Panic Now” button, big time.

Igniting the fire-ball in the pit of my stomach, I stepped backward with my hands extended. I was going to launch that evil deity into the next state if he touched me.

A movement flashed from the corner of my eye, and there was Tommaso, latching something around my wrist. “Sorry, Emma. Can’t let you do that.”

I felt cold hard stone pulse against my skin as the power drained from my body instantly. Black jade.

“Get her to the temple,” Guy’s brother commanded.

Then I knew, fate really did hate me.

Hiccup!

Chapter THIRTY-FIVE

“Well, great job, lover boy,” Cimil seethed. “What the hell was that? ‘I love you?’ Did you honestly expect her to jump to our aid with that sad line? Now we’re going to be stuck in this festering aquarium for eternity.”

“Shut the hell up, Cimil.” He’d meant every word he’d said to Emma, but it mattered little now; he’d failed her. and now those evil cretins were going to end her life. He could not face the thought of an eternity without her. And to think, she’d die alone, frightened, and believing he never really loved her? He’d go mad. He’d f**king go mad.

Dammit! How could he have so sorely miscalculated? Once Emma had made up her mind and gotten on that plane in Rome, heading for Mexico, Guy panicked. He thought of nothing but her safety. And how furious he was that the Uchben had disobeyed him.

But instead of telling her the truth, Guy decided that if she were to survive, she needed to go into battle filled with anger—easier to tap into her powers that way. That was one reason he’d said such coldhearted things to her on the plane.

He also knew that as much as he needed her, she deserved better. She deserved a normal life, to live in peace. That was not his world. Those were things he could never give her. He was the God of Death and War. He always had been. He always would be. And his mere presence in her life was a threat to her existence.

Cruelly pushing her away was the right thing to do. So he thought.

Gods dammit! Why hadn’t she listened and stayed in Rome? But she hadn’t, and when Tommaso tried to lure her to her death, Guy simply had to change tactics. Guy had to tell her the truth. He’d been tied to Emma since her birth, before that even. And although he didn’t quite understand why or how, she had become a necessity in his life. She was his fate—Cimil had even foretold it to be so.

Yes. He was silly to believe he’d be able to let her go. He’d had a taste of her light, her essence inside him. He realized that if anything happened to her, he’d spiral into a venomous rage so destructive that the Maaskab would look like a gang of unruly Muppets in comparison to the f**king apocalypse he’d bring to world’s doorstep.

“And where in gods’ creation is your pack of Uchi-morons?” Cimil barked, pulling him back from the precipice of his first panic attack ever.

“Shut it. I’m trying to think.” Guy didn’t have the faintest clue where Gabrán and his men were. They were likely fighting Scabs, but he knew his men could take care of themselves. Emma, on the other hand… “They’ll be here. Gabrán won’t fail.”

“That bloated sack of Scottish bull? Honestly, Votan, of all the people you could have picked to be your right hand for all eternity.”

“I’m very sorry that my choices displease you,” he said with bitter sarcasm, “but you can hardly hate the man for refusing to be your pet, Goddess of the Underworld—

“Don’t call me that! I hate that title. And there is no damned underworld. There’s just Las Vegas, and that doesn’t count.”

“All right. Fine,” he continued, “since you’re such a plethora of knowledge, I’d love to hear your take on our current predicament.”

“Tisk, tisk. Up until now, I’ve avoided being caught and have been gathering information so we can wipe these bloodthirsty vermin from the Earth.”

“Did you manage to figure out why they want the Payals?” Guy asked.

“No…no. But I’ve been able to narrow down the Maaskab’s hide-out to one square kilometer.”

“Did you figure out which one of our brothers made the Payals?”

“Um—no, but whomever it was has been helping the skanky priests—teaching them.”

“We know that already. But do you know why one of our own would help them?” Guy asked.

“Well, not exactly. But they’ve been experimenting with those damned jars all over the place, and they’re really nasty.”

“How impressive. You’re a regular Goddess of Unsolved Mysteries,” Guy said.

“You laugh, but they’ve got this entire area warded with those damned black rocks. This jungle is an invisible labyrinth. And those malodorous priests have learned how to create temporary portals and sift in and out of thin air. They can move a hundred meters at a time, maybe more.”

Astonishing. So that’s how they were able to get the upper hand on the Uchben. Not even the gods could do that. “Anyway to stop them?” he questioned.

“No. Other than to snap their necks between sifts.”

“You’re a wealth of strategic information, my sister,” he said.

“Screw you, lover boy. Next time we face the apocalypse, I’m teaming up with Kinich. At least he has his own pyramid and knows how to handle the ladies.”