Dark Stranger Immortal (The Children of the Gods #3)(45)

Wiping the drool off his mouth with the back of his dirty hand, Dalhu ogled her, looking just as awestruck as one of her students. But that was where the resemblance ended.

Dalhu was a magnificent specimen of manhood, and in comparison, all her prior partners were mere boys. Shirtless and sweaty, he looked just as amazing as she had imagined he would.

He was big, not even Yamanu was that tall, and Dalhu was more powerfully built. Nevertheless, his well-defined muscles were perfectly proportioned for his size with no excess bulk; he looked strong, but not pumped like someone who spent endless hours lifting weights at a gym.

Following the light smattering of dark hair trailing down the center of his chest to where it disappeared below the belt line of his jeans, she wasn’t surprised to find that he was well proportioned everywhere. And as he kept staring at her, mesmerized, his jeans growing too tight to contain him, she held her breath in anticipation of her first glimpse of that magnificent shaft poking above his belt.

Oh, boy, am I in a shitload of trouble.

There was just no way she could resist all that yummy maleness. Amanda knew she was going to succumb to temptation.

She always had.

Except, this time, she would be stooping lower than ever. Because she could think of nothing that would scream slut louder than her going willingly into the arms of her clan’s mortal enemy…





4 1

K I A N

A nnani arrived.

In addition to the goddess, the large helicopter landing on the stronghold’s rooftop carried her two servants, Oridu and Ogidu, and the two Guardians Kian had dispatched to pick her up from the clan’s private airstrip.

Kri exited first, bending her head under the chopper’s rotating blades, and offered her hand to help the small, black-robed figure down and away from harm’s way.

Kian rushed forward to embrace his mother’s slight form, shielding her with his large body from the whirlwind created by the helicopter’s slowing blades.

The great, formidable Annani was so tiny and light, he’d been afraid she might get blown away.

Once inside the rooftop vestibule, he let go of her and went down to one knee, kneeling so he wouldn’t tower over her.

Annani pulled back her hood, the mass of her red, wavy hair spilling forward and cutting some of the lambent light cast by her luminescent, pale face.

Looking at Kian with eyes full of mother’s love, she clasped his scruffy cheeks in her warm palms and bent slightly to kiss his forehead. “I have not seen you in such a long time, I forgot how handsome you are, my beautiful boy.”

Ignoring her shameless effort to lay a guilt trip on him, Kian sighed with relief; her tender touch and the sound of her soothing, melodic voice were a salve on the growing fissures of his psyche. “I’ve missed you too, Mother. I should have visited more often. I allowed myself to get distracted by all things mundane, forgetting what’s really important in this miserable life.

Forgive me.” He hung his head, the truth of his words adding to his despondent mood.

His whole life was work. He neglected his relationships with his sisters and mother, got angry when other family members dared to disturb him, and for what? So he could spend more endless hours bent over reports and contracts? It all felt so meaningless now as his world was falling apart.

“Get up, Kian, and stop that self-flagellation you have got going on. I raised you to be a strong and capable leader. You cannot allow yourself to wallow in self-pity when fate challenges you. Let us go and help your girl pull through.” Annani patted his cheek and waited for him to rise.

As he got to his feet and looked down at his tiny but formidable mother, Kian had to smile. She was the strongest, most willful person he knew.

Letting nothing bring her down, she relentlessly pushed forward when others would have given up.

Later, in Syssi’s room at the clinic, Annani removed her heavy robe and handed it to Kian, then sat on the hospital bed next to Syssi.

Her long, sleeveless, black silk dress was plain, but it clung to her body in a way that made the lack of a bra quite conspicuous. She never wore one.

And though his sisters had tried to convince her it was unseemly, she had retorted that as gravity had no effect on her never-aging body, she saw no reason to bother with something so uncomfortable in deference to the transient sensibilities of others. Why should she? After all, she was the goddess, and it was everyone else’s duty to show deference to her. Not the other way around.

And who could argue with that?

“She is so lovely,” Annani said quietly, running her fingers through Syssi’s thick, multicolored hair.

“On the inside as well.” Standing next to his mother, Kian was tormented by gut-wrenching worry.

Taking Syssi’s hand and holding it between both of hers, his mother asked, “Does she feel as strongly for you as you feel for her?”

“She does.”

“And if she pulls through the change, do you plan to mate her for life?”

“Yes, I’ve never felt like this about anyone. I thought I loved Lavena, but I’m not sure anymore. I know it seems improbable and maybe even foolish for me to feel this way about a woman I’ve known for such a short time. But I’ve known Syssi was the one from the first moment I laid eyes on her. Since then, all I’ve done is prove to myself that my initial gut response was right.

I’ve yet to find even one thing that I don’t like about her. I love everything.