warrior. She shouldn't have given up so easily, anyway. Before she could find him on her own, however, she'd been whisked here.
He isn't the man for you, a quiet voice whispered. He loves another.
She stiffened. One of the gods, definitely. The voice had belonged to a female, soft and lilting, one she'd heard before a few of the challenges. 'No. I don't believe that.'
Even seeing him, you refuse to believe? was the confused response. Even hearing him?
Even then. She'd come to know him, his stubbornness. He was holding on to the past, not because he still desired his mate, but because he felt responsible for what had happened to her. 'He needs me.'
There was a crackling pause. Why do you still want him?
'I love him.' And she did. He was a part of her. He was a man of devotion and passion, darkness and light. He was loyal and strong, a warrior to his core. He was the other half of her, the piece she'd always been searching for.
Your sister has failed me, time and time again. That leaves you, and I will not be kept out of Atlantis because you have fallen in love, Amazon. This time, there had been no confusion in the voice. Only anger. He is distracting you, a distraction neither of us can afford.
Be kept out of Atlantis? How could such a powerful being be kept from anything she desired? 'Yes, he's distracting me from your cruel game, but I don't care. I love him, and I'm not giving him up. Just take us home. Please. We don't deserve this. Whatever's keeping you out of Atlantis, I'll help you find a way in. I swear it.'
A cold laugh. You should care. I will not lose. Which means you cannot lose.
Lose? Lose what? As far as Delilah knew, only she and the other creatures were participants in the challenges, not the gods themselves. But there was no time to reason it out as she doubled over in pain. Intense heat invaded her, every muscle in her body constricting. She felt as if something were being pulled right out of her, the thing scratching at her organs, her veins. Then, suddenly, she was…free of it. Completely free.
Her emotions—gone. Her feelings for Layel—gone. She didn't love him, didn't hate him, she simply felt nothing for him. Nothing for anyone. She frowned, waiting for confusion, anger, or even relief to fill her; her obsession with him was over. Still nothing.
One day you will thank me for this, for I have just assured our victory, the goddess said.
Something's wrong with me, she thought, but she couldn't find the will to care.
Layel was still at the pool when her feet were freed, but she didn't walk to him as she'd planned. She simply turned on her heel and ambled away. She was tired. Perhaps it was time for a nap.
CHAPTER 22
'YOU HAVE INTERVENED for the last time, Hestia,' Poseidon growled as he materialized in the forest, mere inches away from the goddess in question.
The dark-haired goddess cast him an innocent glance, not the least ashamed of her actions. Or fearful because she'd been caught. 'Me? What have I done?'
'Cheated, that's what.' Ares appeared in a blink. 'Again and again. I should strike you down.'
Apollo quickly followed, a blinding light surrounding him. Artemis was beside him a second later, ice to the sun god's heat, seeming to drain his power and diminish the aura around him. Interesting. Poseidon had never noticed that before.
Hestia gave up the innocent act and glared at them. 'Like any of you are blameless. I've watched each of you save your chosen contestants and lash out at their enemies. And don't try to deny that some of you have even offered your players tips. Besides, I grow weary of waiting for the finish line. I want this game over and done, the winner declared.'
Poseidon crossed his arms over his massive chest. He agreed. Evidently the other gods had the same fickle attention span and restless need for constant amusement as he did. The game had begun to lose its appeal, the weeks dragging by. He wanted back inside Atlantis, its citizens his and his alone to enjoy, and he wanted to ensure these gods remained out of it.
'How about one final challenge?' Artemis said. Her demons had been eliminated, therefore she had lost the competition already. Atlantis would not be hers, yet she hadn't left the island, apparently too curious about the end result. 'A winner could be declared today.'
Excitement saturated the forest. Poseidon fairly shook with it. One final challenge…surely he could help a dragon win. Somehow, some way.
'What shall the challenge entail?' Apollo asked eagerly.
'And what should we do with the losers?' Hestia added, rubbing her hands together.
'I have an idea,' Poseidon said. They huddled closer to him, each grinning with anticipation.
LAYEL WAS STILL RAW an hour later, when the gratingly familiar challenge horn sounded. He stiffened in dread but pushed to his feet. Once Susan's image had faded, he'd dressed and begun tracking Delilah's footprints. He'd been hunkered on the ground, following her trail, but her prints had seemed to disappear.
He needed to find her, talk to her, hold her. He just…needed her. If necessary, he would beg for her forgiveness. He should have fought for her, should not have driven her away. Hopefully it was not too late.
She'll be at the challenge, he thought, quickening his footsteps, dread shifting to anticipation. I will make her talk to me.
These past few weeks, he hadn't drunk any blood, hadn't slept, hadn't really eaten. He'd been tortured with thoughts of Delilah and Susan, with need and want and pain and bone-deep suffering. All he'd wanted was Delilah, he realized now, but he'd hidden the need with memories of the past. A curtain, a shadow.
Finally he'd allowed the light inside. Nothing and no one would do but Delilah.
I've been such a fool. He'd wasted all of this time. Time he could have spent in Delilah's arms. I'll make it up to her.
The sky was brightening as he broke through the forest's trees, and his heart was pounding. Everyone was already in place. Delilah was there, too, and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. Mine. Her back was to him, and that blue hair he so adored hung to her waist in silky waves. He wanted his hands in it, fisting it, jerking her face to his for a kiss. Never again would he deny himself those delectable lips.
My mate. My love. He needed her to love him, which meant he needed her to give him what she'd offered before: a chance. And once he had her, he was going to get them both the hell off this island and safely back to Atlantis, where they could be together in peace. He'd go wherever she wanted, live in the Amazon camp if necessary.
His focus stayed on her as he stalked to the beach. She didn't stiffen when he drew near her side, didn't act as if she cared at all.
Tagart, who stood guard at her other side, was less nonchalant. He hissed at Layel with the feral intensity of a hungry predator.
Layel paid him no heed. All he cared about was Delilah. 'Delilah,' he said, savoring her name on his tongue.
She flicked him a bored glance. 'Go away.'
I deserve that. Once, she would have turned to him with longing in her violet eyes. Once, her arms would have opened for him and she would have proudly embraced him. 'Delilah, I want you to know I care nothing about the dragon you were with. My past has hardly been perfect. I—'
'Will leave,' Tagart growled. 'You aren't wanted here. By any of us.'
Brand strode to the warrior's side and gripped his arm, probably holding him back from a sure fight. A fight Layel would have craved only hours ago, with blood, with death and staggering amounts of his enemy's pain. Today, there was only one thing Layel wished to fight for and it wasn't the death of a dragon.
He breathed in Delilah's scent, a fragrance of femininity, the essence of pleasure, and savored every drop in his lungs, his mind accepting his adoration without protest. Peace truly was his for the first time in centuries.
'I need you,' he told her, and they were words straight from his soul. 'I need you more than I've ever needed another.'
Her gaze finally returned to him, but her eyes were devoid of emotion. Violet yet…blank. Gone was her
