Sun God Seeks…Surrogate? (Accidentally Yours #3)(34)
Author: Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

“Are you sure you did your little spell correctly?” I asked.

He cocked his head. “Of course. Why?”

I’m tingling down there. “No reason.” I stood up and stepped away, massaging my temples. “Maybe I need a minute for your little spell to fully kick in.” There was a nagging little thought ticking away in the back of my brain. I felt angry about something. And sad. Really, really sad.

“My mom! Those monsters took her. Why?”

“I’m uncertain, Penelope. But I will tell you everything I know. Sit.”

“I want to stand.” Being so close to you is too distracting.

“I want you to sit.” Something in his voice tugged on my resolve.

“Hey! I thought you made me immune to you.”

“To my scent and energy, yes. Not to my voice. Sit.” I felt my willpower melting away. Now I really, really wanted to sit.

Ugh! He doesn’t fight fair. “Look,” I said, “I’m sorry I accused you earlier of being a god-slut and man-whore—that was wrong of me to say—but that doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you for using your gifts on me that night or give you permission to keep doing it.”

He lifted one delicious brow. “Is that what you believe? That I used my ‘man-whore’ gifts on you?”

I nodded.

“I see.” He rubbed his chin. “So you are saying there is no possible way you would ever want me of your own free will.”

“That’s right.” Oh, that’s the biggest load of BS, Penelope. He could be lying in mud, covered in pig poop, and you’d still want him.

Would not.

Would too!

“Okay. Yes! Yes, you’re gorgeous. You make my girly parts melt like butter on a hot sidewalk. But that doesn’t give you permission to be a Mr. Bossy Britches or use your voice to get your way.”

Another charming, breathtaking smile crept across his face. “Noted. I will refrain from being a…Mr. Bossy Britches.” He patted the spot on the couch to his side.

I took a deep breath and sat.

“Let me start from the beginning.” Nick began telling a story that could only be described as the most unbelievable, horrific tale ever told. About eighty or so years ago, his brother Chaam, the God of Male Virility, lost his marbles and began plotting to wipe out mankind. And, because all of the gods were “hardwired” (as Nick called it) to protect humanity, they didn’t know why or how Chaam changed, but they did know he discovered a substance called black jade.

Chaam and his army of evil priests used the jade for all sorts of sinister deeds. Example: They once trapped the gods by poisoning the water inside these pools called cenotes—the gods use them as portals. Then Chaam figured out he could grind the stuff up and inject it into people to make them his evil minions. But sickest of all, Chaam discovered that if a woman wore this jade, he could sleep with her and make little Chaams. Or Chaamettes. Turned out, though, only the firstborn children carried Chaam’s deity genes—including any firstborn children from subsequent generations. So then he started to sleep with lots and lots of women. If the children were male, he gave them to the Maaskab for their army. Females—Payals—on the other hand, weren’t so lucky; once grown, they were slaughtered and used as deity-charged biofuel for his weapons—some sort of black jade pyramids he’d built.

“How sick. How twisted,” I said. Then I remembered something, “The necklace I wore the night we were together, was it made from the same stuff?”

He nodded yes.

I cringed. “You made me wear the evil jade?”

“I suppose I did, although I do not recall that night. The jade, however, is not evil by itself. It is merely a substance capable of storing particular kinds of energy, supernatural energy. If it is exposed to good energy, then that’s what it will contain. If dark energy, the same. Luckily, only one being knows the secret to releasing the charge—Chaam—and he’s not talking.”

“Because he’s stubborn like you?”

Nick frowned. “He does not speak because he’s locked away inside his pyramid under constant surveillance by our human allies, the Uchben.”

That didn’t seem like a sufficient punishment. He’d purposefully had children only to enslave or murder them. But perhaps a punishment befitting his crime didn’t exist.

Those poor, poor women.

“Did any of his daughters survive?” I asked.

“Yes. And they lived to have more children. Emma is Chaam’s great-granddaughter and is engaged to my brother Guy. But we believe there are more Payals scattered across the globe and hundreds imprisoned somewhere by the Maaskab. We’ve been searching for them for over a year without success. And though Chaam is contained, his Maaskab still roam free, determined to carry out his wishes. We hope to find the women before there are none left.” His serious expression changed to dread. “Penelope, I must ask you something. They took your mother, according to Viktor, and are now after you. I assume you are both firstborn females?”

“Yes, but—”

“Do you know anything about your family’s history?”

No! He wasn’t saying…he couldn’t be saying…“That can’t be right. I knew my grandmother. She was a nice, normal person who raised horses on a farm with my grandfather in Indiana. He and my grandmother died when I was little, but I can tell you for sure she wasn’t…different. Neither is my mother.”

“It’s possible they never realized it. We don’t have much to compare to, but Emma had no clue what she was until—”

“No! This can’t be right.” My heart thumped.

Nick brushed a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “Perhaps I am mistaken, but all of the signs are pointing to only one explanation.”

I stood up and began pacing. No! No! Not possible. “Wouldn’t I know if that disgusting brother of yours were my great-grandfather? And…Oh no! You and I might have slept together! And you’re his brother! You’ve turned me into an incestuous skeez!”

Nick stood and made little waves with his palms. “Slow down. I only call him my brother, just as I call Cimil my sister, but we are not related in such a way. We did not have a mother or father.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “So how were you made?”

Nick shrugged. “We do not know. We simply awoke one day, approximately seventy thousand years ago. Aware. Existing.