Dark Fates (A Paranormal Anthology)(40)

“She has a point,” Hasani said.

“Besides, I’m a sucker for the underdog. Ha. Dog. Get it?” No one thought her particularly funny even as she continued. “And with that puppy in her belly, I think—” Chig slapped a hand over her mouth.

But the damage had been done.

“What?” Eden didn’t have to ask because now she could feel that spark low in her belly, and the dreams she’d once had of dark-haired little boy with her eyes and Tariq’s features came back to knock her right in the…gut.





Chapter Seven


Tariq wanted to muzzle the interfering valkyrie. Granted, of the lot, he had a fondness for Lowe, who seemed as much an outcast to her kind as he felt among his. But he hadn’t wanted Eden to find out she was pregnant this way.

His poor mate looked on the verge of passing out.

“Puppy?” She put a protective hand over her belly and glared at him accusingly.

“Whoops.” Lowe sounded less than apologetic. “Sorry, I’m sensitive to younglings.”

“Chig, keep an eye on Lowe. The rest of you, get ready for war. We’ll be right back.” Tariq took Eden to his quarters, concerned with her silence.

He needn’t have worried because, once in the privacy of his room, she exploded. “Pregnant? Really? What was all that bullshit about giving it time?”

He sighed, knowing she wouldn’t want to hear how like Rehema she seemed right then. “I was going to tell you. It wasn’t my intent to plant my seed so soon. The mating instinct is older than time. My jackal just knew…”

She stared at him with wide eyes. “So it is a puppy?”

“What?”

“The baby. Will he be like you?”

“He or she will be like us. The jackal is part of me, as is Anubis’s blood, as is your ability to dream. The best parts of us will be in the child.”

She blinked through watery eyes. “This is a lot to take in.”

“I know, sweet.” He took her in his arms and hugged her, willing her the strength anyone would need after so many life-changing events in such a short span of time. “But our child will always know love.”

She hugged him tighter. “He’ll always be protected?”

He again. “Yes, Eden. With my life.”

“Rehema,” she mumbled. “I’m starting to remember a lot more than you might think. You horny dog.”

He flushed, recalling that last time he’d taken her under the stars. A perfect night, ending four years of a perfect marriage and nonstop f*cking before his father had given him over to Set…

“Eden, Rehema, I—”

“I can’t help being scared. This is all so new, and yet it’s not. I loved you as Rehema, but I didn’t know you when I was Gretchen or Marguerite. The knowledge of those other lives is starting to seep into me, and I’m scared.” In a low voice, she confessed, “When you left me the first time, it devastated me. I can’t lose you again.”

He pulled back to dry her tears. “We’ll find a way, habibti. No matter what, I won’t let anyone keep us apart.” He wanted to reassure her again, but what felt like an earthquake rocked the house.

“What—”

Tariq, my pet, Set whispered. I want my prize.

“We’ve run out of time.” He dragged her with him back to the command room, where the others stared at monitors showing crowding Dogs, Greeks, Romans, and worse surrounding the warehouse.

“You’ve got problems. And you need to make a decision. Now,” Lowe said. “Where’s the vial?”



Eden stared at the security monitors showing a raging storm outside, along with centaurs, minotaurs, monsters, living trees, mummies, sharkmen, and more. Talk about a rude introduction to the greater mythos of Ludos Deorum.

“They—they’re all so…”

“Freakish? I know.” Lowe sighed. “Come on, Eden. Time to give up the ghost. You want out of this mess alive? Give me the Elixir.”

“But I don’t know where it is.” She panicked. “I made it in a dream. Set told me what to do, where to go, how to mix it…” She covered her belly, fear for her child, for Tariq, making it hard to think.

In one area outside the warehouse, a dragon made of fire breathed on the door. It buckled, and a slew of barbarians ran inside.

“They’re in the lower west sector,” Manu reported. “But the spells will hold them for a while.”

“The outside is protected by weaker spells, to lure those mighty enough to break them into dying inside,” Hasani said with a smile. He didn’t sound frightened at all, and his excitement both amused and unnerved her.

Chig muttered, “Trust Hasani to look forward to getting his ass handed to him. Pain junkie.”

“Oh my God.” Eden bit her thumbnail. Where was that vial?

“Relax. Focus. You made the potion. It disappeared, so that’s got to be part of its spell. Think,” Lowe urged.

“Yes, sweet. Think. You can bring it back.” Tariq spoke with confidence. He pulled her close and put his hand over her heart. As before, the warmth in their connection blazed.

Clarity returned, as did the inborn knowledge to find what she’d hidden.