Bared Before the Gods Page 6

  “I do. And I think I know where to start.”

  ***

  Two days.

  That was how long it took for Mal to do some investigating and figure out the location of the thieves’ den who had stolen the crown. I mostly stayed at his place, getting used to my new body and relearning how to fight.

  If we were about to go into a lair of rapscallions and vagabonds, then I wanted to be able to run, throw a punch, and be able to defend myself. The learning curve was steep, but I’d been a fighter since I was old enough to hold a stick, and old habits came back quickly, even if I didn’t have the strength I’d once been accustomed to.

  But as for the nights, I spent those in Mal’s arms. We didn't have sex again, as much as I was tempted to. He never so much as tried to kiss me, but his closeness comforted me, and made me feel safe. In a strange way, it made me want him even more that he didn’t try anything. I had to fight the strange emotions, reminding myself that his friendship was more important to me than a quick lay would ever be.

  He had always been such a good friend to me, always looking out for my safety and trying to keep me out of trouble while I tested the limits of my mortality, often recklessly and without regard for the danger I was putting him into. I had taken him for granted for so long. I was lucky that he was still around, even though I had put him through so much pain. I really didn’t deserve him.

  The morning of the third day, Mal walked into the bedroom when my hand was between my legs. I quickly jerked my fingers from below my skirt, but he caught the motion. He didn’t say anything about me getting to know my new feminine form, but the knowing look he gave me spoke volumes.

  He barreled past me as I righted my clothing, and said, “I found them. Get ready. It’s time to get you that crown back.”

  ***

  I looked at the cave in front of us, hoping my dubiousness wasn’t as plain on my face as it was in my head.

  “This is it? You’re sure?” I asked.

  He nodded. “I have it from a very reliable source that this is where they’re staying.”

  “That reliable source is a thief you beat up, isn’t it?”

  “…maybe.” He smirked at me and gestured for me to enter. “Ladies first.”

  I huffed and walked past him into the gloom. The dark passage lasted only a short while before I could see the illumination of torches up ahead. It seemed that his informant had been right.

  My hands ran over my chain gauntlets nervously, light bracers clinking against my shins. They were all a bit big on me, tied as tightly as they could be with their fastenings, but it was still better than nothing. I didn’t want to go in looking vulnerable. These men were like the sharks that sailors warned us about. When they smelled blood in the water, they would all attack, anxious for a meal.

  After several minutes of walking, we came to a pair of armed men who stiffened and eyed us warily, clearly not having expected to see anyone at their post in the passage. I stopped a good way away from them and let Mal approach first. I would rather them underestimate me just in case we needed that later. While I didn’t have a sword, I had more daggers on my body than I could count. If things went south, I fully intended to put up the best fight I could.

  “We’d like to talk to your leader,” Mal said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

  “And who are you?”

  “Some people interested in buying something you might have.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  They turned to each other and discussed something that we couldn’t hear before replying. “Come with us.”

  We followed them down more of the craggy hallways that had been hewn into the rock, and the tunnels soon opened up into a massive cavern.

  Nearly thirty guys lounged around us, all rather hard types with scars on their faces and weapons close at hand. In the center of them, sitting on a rather ridiculous-looking throne of bones, was the largest, most weather-beaten man that I had ever seen.

  “Hah, what’s this now?” he asked, scratching his patchy beard.

  “Commoners, Chief. Come to buy something they think we have,” one of the guards growled.

  “Oh, really now?” The Chief studied us, and I noticed that he only had one eye. “And what could we have that you could possibly want?”

  “Nothing important really—just a family heirloom we think some of your people may have stolen from my family’s grave.”

  “Last I knew, we weren’t in the business of desecrating the dead.”

  “Perhaps not usually, but our path led us here. Look, all that matters is that I’m willing to pay you for your time and resources you no doubt spent in procuring it.”

  “And just what might this item be?”

  “Something simple, really. A crown of oak leaves.”

  I admired how cooly Mal was handling the conversation, as if talking to a pompous bandit on a throne of bone were an everyday activity for us. I didn’t think that I could be so calm, especially in my current form, but I still got the uncomfortable sense that the chieftan was toying with us. I fingered one of my hidden daggers nervously, counting up the men in the room once again. There were thirty at least.

  The Chief bellowed with laughter, rearing back in his chair. “Something simple! He speaks of this, the crown of Zeus, like it’s only a family trinket!”

  The Chief held up the crown with reverence. My heart fell. Crap. Even with Mal's smooth talking, it didn’t seem to matter. They knew what they had, and they knew how valuable it was. The Chief’s face hardened as soon as his laughter stopped, and a chill ran up my spine.

  “There is no amount of money you have that would have us give this crown up. It is ours.”

  “Surely there is something we might be able to work out! My family is—”

  “Going to miss you terribly, I’m sure. I do not know how you found us here, but I’m afraid I cannot let you return to your people to bring a bigger crowd back here and try to force my hand. It’s a shame really. You’re obviously a determined fellow.”

  Several people rose and started to close in on Mal. They made the mistake of passing me, however, leaving their backs exposed.

  Part of me wanted to stay still and small and nonthreatening. But that part was small, and my hands flew to my hidden daggers. It was time to stop being afraid of my new body and show them just how well a woman could fight.

  I darted forward, dipping low to slash at the ankles of the closest two. Spinning, I moved onto the next one, catching him off guard and driving my dagger deep into his side.

  Mal heard me and went in as well. Soon we were in an all-out brawl, blood going everywhere. We ended up back to back, battling the group of them.

  Everything became a haze, and we sank into a familiar cadence that we’d developed from many years of combat. Sure, some of my movements were different, weighted more heavily to the earth, but I also moved with a fluidity that I didn’t have before. It felt good to be fighting again—like I was slipping into a familiar world I’d thought was lost to me. A sick satisfaction came over me as I flicked the dagger I'd hidden in my boots into the fleeing Chief.

  Everything was a weapon to us. From other’s bodies to tables that we jumped onto, to the swords that our fallen opponents dropped. It was exhilarating and terrifying and wonderful, all at the same time.

  But as much as we were holding our own, there were just too many of them. We were strong, skilled, and brave, but I was still smaller and weaker than our opponents, and two people could only do so much. We were badly outnumbered, and not in the odds-are-just-barely-against-us kind of way. Still, we’d killed enough of them to make them wary, and evidently the bravest ones first. I realized that we might still get out of here alive if we moved fast.

  Mal had apparently been having the same thought. As our remaining foes circled, he grabbed my arm, urging me toward the exit. “Time to cut our way out of here.”

  "Wait! The crown!"

  Mal's eyes flickered around us, but he nodd
ed. I slid toward the fallen Chief and the crown beside him, feinting with my daggers to keep our foes at bay. I’d barely hooked my fingers around it before Mal yanked me backwards, out of the way of a hasty slash.

  "I'm sorry," he said.

  "No, I got it." I felt triumphant as I slid it over my arm, just like the last time I’d held it.

  Mal feinted the way we’d come, but then burst in the other direction, slaying two men as he led the charge out of the chamber. Angry voices shouted behind us, but Mal pressed onward relentlessly, running through the tunnel as I struggled to keep up. I could tell he was going more slowly for my sake, even though it put him at risk, and again I felt a twinge of gratitude to my partner in crime. Up ahead, I saw a light that looked brighter than torchlight, and I shared an excited glance with Mal.

  Could that be another way out? Really?

  Hand in hand, we pelted down the rocky hall as quickly as we could. The crown slid back and forth on my arm, wobbling along with our frenzied motion.

  My breath was rushing, and my chest was burning. My heart beat erratically, but still I was proud of how well I had done in the battle. For the first time since I had changed, I felt right in my body. Everything was connected and limber, powerful in different ways, yes, but still strong. Even with blood coating my hands and face, I still felt like I was made in Aphrodite’s image.

  We erupted out of the side of the cliff and into more forest. We didn’t pause, however, knowing that there were dozens of angry thieves rushing after us. But I was panting harder and harder as we fled. Try as I might, even with Mal slowing for me, I didn’t have the speed I was used to, and I could feel my body starting to give out. I didn’t have years of training and hardening to benefit me in this new, beautifully soft form. Even with my three days of trying to limber up, I still was nowhere near where I once had been.

  “There! I hear water!” Mal cried.

  I let him pull me, internally yelling at my body to just go a little farther. Somehow it listened, and we made it to a rushing stream.

  I glanced behind us once to see that the thieves were closing in. It looked like we had no choice about where we were going.

  “Take a deep breath,” Mal said, as he squeezed my hand and hooked his arm through mine. I did as he’d ordered, and the next thing I knew, we were flinging ourselves into the rushing water.

  Instantly I was swallowed up by the cold, and I fought heroically toward the surface. The water was rushing so quickly; I could feel my lower body being smashed into rocks as we were swept along, which sent me spinning off and away from Mal, but I held tightly to the crown above all else.

  I screamed for Mal, reaching out desperately to try to get to his side once more. He tried to get to me as well, calling my name and fighting the current. But it was too strong, and we swirled around and around, always just tauntingly out of reach. Suddenly, a rushing sound filled my ears. It was thunderously loud, and I turned my gaze in its direction to see a waterfall, spilling over the edge of a tall, rocky cliff.

  I only had time to throw one more desperate glance at my best friend before we flew over the edge together.

  Chapter 7

  I sailed through the sky in a whirling flurry of ice-cold water and grasping, tumbling winds. My world was reduced to the water cascading around me, filling my ears, and stealing the breath from my lungs as I swallowed and spit mouthful after mouthful of it. I could feel the most intense pressure against my eyes and ears.

  It seemed as though I had been falling forever, and I briefly imagined that my spirit had left my body once again, cast down to the Underworld by drowning currents as surely as I’d been slain by Zeus’s lightning. But then I knew that I was still alive because the stomach-dropping sensation of falling never ended, even when I plummeted into the water beneath me.

  My body crashed into the churning froth at the base of the falls, and then I was completely submerged. Instincts kicked in and I swam away desperately, opening my eyes to see clear water, but nothing else in sight. I released my breath slowly and kicked for the surface, where I gasped for air and flapped my arms around as I tried to secure my bearings.

  I felt a little embarrassed when I felt my feet touch the bottom of the river. I stood to see that the water was only up to my shoulders where I’d swam, despite my small female frame. I rolled my eyes at how panicked I’d felt and brushed my hair back with my hands, rubbing the water from my eyes and mouth.

  True panic filled me as I realized Mal was nowhere in sight. I frantically looked around for him.

  “Mal? MAL?!” I called. My voice sounded weird and hoarse. It seemed I had gotten some water in my throat somehow. I cleared it and called again, listening hard for some sign that he could hear me.

  “Lucia! Over here!” I followed the voice to see Mal standing on the shore of a creek a bit of distance from me, waving excitedly.

  I splashed over to him, and he grabbed my hand and pulled my dainty frame up, out of the water, and straight into his arms, kissing me square on the lips while holding me tightly to his body. I was a bit taken aback by the sudden burst of affection after he had been so nonchalant with me the past few days. However, the panic of almost losing each other had clearly shaken us both, and the relief we felt to be reunited clouded everything else.

  The heat from his body was warm and reassuring, particularly after the torrent of ice-cold water we had just been in. We kissed passionately, grabbing at each other as if we were trying to make sure the other was completely okay.

  I was so elated that my frenzy of kisses knocked us back into the water of the creek, but it was low enough that it came to our shoulders. Mal immediately pressed me up against the edge of land we had just been standing on, a mud wall behind me. A moment’s glance into his hungry eyes, and I knew at once I needed to show him how glad I was to be reunited to him.

  I latched my lips to his neck, planting soft, deliberate kisses in some places and sucking in others, leaving small purple marks. I reached down into the water and found his member, already hard from the attention I’d been paying to his neck. I fondled him aggressively, stroking through his clothes. His blood must have been up, hot with need and adrenaline, and it turned me on as well to think I made him so excited. How could he still be so warm in this cold water? My nipples were hard and pointed from the chill, but I hardly noticed, as I was so focused on my lover.

  I stroked his hardened length faster, and he sighed, hands tightening around my body. Mal didn’t seem to like giving me the control, however, and he jerked my hands away and pinned my small frame against the mud bank.

  Then he kissed me again, wild and intense, and it wasn’t just him keeping me warm anymore. My own blood was up and hot and wild with need.

  The spark he’d kindled within me had been ignited into a full-blown flame. Mal's hands were on my breasts now, groping them tightly, and I gasped with pleasure and simply clung to his neck as my head lolled. With each squeeze, I could feel the hot embers of need being stoked in my loins. He tweaked and pinched my nipples between his fingers, drawing small, involuntary squeaks of pleasure from my lips. If I had known that this was how the maidens I’d bedded felt, I might have prayed to have Aphrodite transform me sooner! The ecstasy was transcendent, made all the better by the savage closeness we both clearly felt from nearly loving our lives.

  I wrapped one of my legs around his waist, crushing his body against mine, desperate to feel his length against my core. He held the leg up for me, apparently liking the position. He liked it so much that he used the opportunity to lift my meddlesome dress out of the way, exposing me, and slip right into me.

  A low moan escaped my lips as I felt his unexpected length part my lower lips and slip inside of me. I was surprised it had gone in so easily beneath the water, but I realized I must have been hot and wet with need, my flood of juices fighting against the cold river currents. This time, I felt no pain when he entered me—only the shock of pleasure, the joy at being filled. My hands tightened.

>   He held my leg tightly and started to move, sliding his member out and then into me again. He was moving slowly, but I didn’t want that. The thick girth dragging against the walls of my pussy was absolute torture, no matter how good it felt. I wanted him to go faster. I needed it. I tightened my hold around his neck and deepened our kiss, thrusting my tongue deep into his mouth. He growled, and slammed a good, hard thrust into me that bucked my hips up and rammed raw pleasure through my form, forcing another moan from my lips around our dancing tongues.

  He must have liked that, because he started to quicken his pace. I dug my nails into his shoulders, gripping on for dear life. It was all I could do to hang on, yielding to him and letting him have his way with me. My cheeks colored as I remembered what my old self, my manly self would have thought of me now, and I forced myself to focus instead on the wild, erotic sensations coursing through my womanly body.

  Mal didn’t seem to have any problem with my transformation, though. He lifted my other leg, holding both of them with ease, and drilled me aggressively with a rutting, grunting motion, using my back against the mud wall to anchor me for his pleasure. I could feel the mud sliding around on my back, but I didn’t care. The fire in my loins was building into a roaring inferno, spreading warmth through my body as his rock-hard manhood moved within me at an alarming speed. This time, Mal wasn’t being sweet, gentle, or tender. He was taking me, using me like the woman I was now. It was primal in its ferocity, and I yielded to the mate that was claiming me no matter how much a tiny voice inside of me shouted that I should be ashamed.

  He kept plunging into me until I was a mess of limbs begging for release. I became feverish as his plowing picked up to blinding speed, the water thrashing around us and my loud moans filled the air until the pyre within in me exploded in fiery bursts throughout my body.

  “Oh, Mal!” I cried as my orgasm ripped through me, sending me into convulsions against his hot, hard body. The feeling was indescribable, ripping through me like a shockwave of the rawest, purest pleasure imaginable, and it never seemed to end. My wild movements through Mal over the edge as well, and he grunted and made a final, intense thrust that released his hot seed deep into my pussy. My pulsating and quivering continued, milking his body for every drop.