Warrior Rising (Goddess Summoning #6)(31)

The tips of her breasts pressed against his chest. Her body gave, molding into his. There was so little separating their skin, just her silky robes and his thin tunic. The tips of her sensitive nipples tingled and hardened. Kat moaned into his mouth and deepened the kiss, demanding more of him, and suddenly Achilles’ hands were cupping her buttocks and his legendary strength was holding her as his mouth possessed her and the hard length of his cock throbbed hot and insistent against her stomach. She rubbed herself against him, wishing they were lying down… wishing they didn’t have these damn clothes between their bodies… wishing she could—

“No!” With a strangled cry Achilles pushed her away from him as he practically vaulted off the rock, stumbling several paces away from her.

“What is—” she began, moving toward him.

“Stop!”

The word was an icy command Kat automatically obeyed. His voice had deepened, gone rough and harsh and unfamiliar. She froze where she stood and stared at him. Achilles had one hand up and held it palm out toward her, as if he expected to have to push her away again. The other was wrapped across his waist, and he was bent over a little. He seemed to be in pain as he gasped for breath.

Kat thought she understood at least some of what was happening to him. She’d tripped some kind of trigger, and Achilles was fighting to control what the goddesses had described as his berserker rage. Okay. Fine. This she could handle.

“Achilles, you should get in the water,” she said in a calm, clinical voice.

He looked up at her then and Kat had to quell a surge of fear within her as she saw that his face, his entire body, literally seemed to be changing, growing bigger, stronger. His eyes flashed in the darkness with an eerie scarlet fire that reminded her of old blood.

“What are you saying—” He struggled to speak between heaving breaths.

Kat forced herself to continue sounding calm. “You have to break the cycle of what’s happening inside you—confuse the reaction that’s trying to take place in your body. Get in the water,” she repeated. “That might do it.”

He started backing toward the waves with lurching, almost painful-looking steps. Just before he threw himself into the sea he yelled a single word to Kat.

“Run!”

* * *

CHAPTER TEN

Even though it was decidedly unprofessional, Kat ran. What in the hell had started to happen to Achilles? She’d seen men struggle with fits of rage before—she’d even seen men literally mad with out-of-control anger. None of those men had changed physically, yet she was sure Achilles’ body had become bigger, stronger, scarier and—

“Oof!” Kat ran directly into Odysseus.

“Easy, Princess, easy,” he said, grabbing her elbow to keep her from falling on her butt. Then his eyes narrowed as he took in her white face and generally disheveled appearance. “Achilles.”

“Yes,” Kat said, gasping for breath.

Odysseus moved her defensively behind him as he peered back toward the shore. “I don’t hear him coming. Was it one of Agamemnon’s men who attacked him?” He spoke while he continued to keep watch behind them.

“No.”

“The men attacked you?” He took her elbow again and began leading her to the campfire. “The Myrmidons will never stand for this. I must tell them of—”

“Odysseus, wait. No one attacked me. Ur, well, I mean no one sent by Agamemnon attacked me.”

Odysseus slowed and gave her a considering look. Then his eyes widened in understanding. “Ah, I see. The berserker took him while he was alone with you.”

“Yes.”

Odysseus looked seaward again. “It seems he has controlled it. He did not follow you.”

“I told him to get into the sea,” Kat blurted. “He did, and told me to run.”

“You ordered the great warrior Achilles to get into the sea as his rage was coming upon him!” Odysseus laughed. “I would have given much to have seen that.”

Kat frowned at him. “It’s not funny. He… he changes.”

Odysseus’s look sobered. “He does. It is the price he pays for the choice he made long ago. Or rather, one of the prices he pays.”

“I don’t understand. I thought—well, I thought when I heard the, uh, rumors about him that he just had an anger problem. But what was starting to happen to him was way more than that.”

They’d come to Achilles’ tent and Odysseus motioned for her to sit on the bench just outside it. The warriors who had been eating were gone—the fire was neatly banked. Kat could feel that the camp was still awake and watchful, but there was no one within hearing range of their conversation. She met Odysseus’s intelligent gaze.

“I’d like to ask you to explain to me what happens to Achilles.”

“Princess, I am not certain if I should—”

“Athena wants me to help him,” Kat broke into his denial. As she expected, evoking the name of the famous warrior’s patron goddess had an instant effect on him.

“What is it you wish to know?”

“I saw him start to change. Physically. What happens to him?”

“I’ve witnessed it many times, and each time it is newly terrifying and awe inspiring,” Odysseus said. “When Achilles is roused enough—whether by pain or fear or even passion—the berserker rage Zeus gifted him with comes upon him. It is as if Achilles becomes possessed by a rage-filled god.”