A commanding voice broke him out of his thoughts. "The beast is on the move. Everyone prepare for an altercation." Myrine. Once an Amazonian queen, always one. He found her sexy as hell, and not because she was beautiful—which she was—but because she radiated authority, confidence, and attitude. He liked that in a woman.
Wait... What beast and what altercation?
Chrys needed to shake this fascination he had with the queen and focus. Did they mean Destroyer had shown himself? "Let me out!" he shouted. "I can help you."
"Quiet." One of his guards smacked a spear against his railing.
A shadow fell over him. He knew without being able to see her clearly that it was Myrine. He stared up at her and brushed his hair from his eyes. Sweaty, stripped down to his pants alone, and needing a shower, Chrys prayed she saw him for the man he was. "I can help. I've trained in combat."
She shook her head. "Once he knows you're here, he'll destroy this place to get to you."
"He'll try. But I can lead him away from here. Let me know where you want to take this fight, and I'll herd him in that direction."
Myrine mumbled something to the guards who quickly unlatched the door and opened it. A rope ladder was dropped in for him. Not willing to waste his time wallowing in the hole any longer, he climbed out before they could change their mind. He been about to lose his shit down there. Considering he'd had to basically sit on his hands and not act while Theron tortured Calix for months, among other things, all in order to keep Hermes informed of what was happening in that house, he was geared up for a fight. If he had to take out all his pent-up rage at his inaction on a dragon, then so be it.
As he reached the top and stood to his full height, he almost missed the way Myrine's gaze ran down his body in a slow perusal. When her stare met his, he suppressed a groan. Appreciation shone in those eerie yellow eyes of hers. Chrys tried not to flex on impulse.
"You're foolish," she said finally. "You have a death wish."
"I'm tired of sitting around. I came out here to see this thing, to deal with it. Let me help."
"You're a big shot CEO of a big company." She crossed her arms. Her ebony hair had been secured in small braids, and then tied back out of her face. He wanted to touch her, but kept his palms clenched at his sides. "Shouldn't you be sitting behind a desk instead of slinking around in the jungle?"
He moved closer to her, leaning ever so slightly into her tall height until only a hairsbreadth separated their lips. "Lady, I was a Greek warrior cursed into something I didn't want to be, not too different from you." She opened her mouth to interrupt him, but he held his hand up to stall her. The motion caused his hand to brush her arm and it took all he had in him not to reach back out to caress her smooth skin. "No, I wasn't mind-controlled by a snake lady, and I hate that it happened to you, but I have my own problems. So, let me be useful instead of wasting two of your warriors on guarding me."
Myrine arched an eyebrow, and her amusement grated his nerves. She must find him completely incapable, and it chafed. "Are you quite finished?" she asked. "We're wasting valuable time bickering."
He was prepared to defend himself verbally but didn't know how to respond. She was…agreeing with him? He'd expected more of an argument. "What do you need me to do?"
Tilting her chin to the direction over his left shoulder, she said, "Take a spear and head northeast until you come to the river. Follow it south until you hear the roars, then head in that direction. You have to make it seem as though you did not arrive with us in case we fail; otherwise, New Amazonia is lost before we can truly build it."
The subtle break in the word lost gripped at his heartstrings. This fierce warrior queen of a woman had already lost so much in her lifetime. She wanted to reclaim her life, her people, build anew, and once again some monster sought to destroy it. "Not on my watch."
Chrys would slay the beast if he must. For Myrine, for the Satyroi, and for the good of the world who remained blissfully oblivious to the truth of the creatures that lived among them. And if stabbing a winged reptile ended up being cathartic for him, who was he to complain? It wouldn't be as simple as that though, and he well knew it.
He nodded to the queen and turned in the direction she'd said he could claim his weapon. The vrykolakas arming themselves looked up at his approach and turned to stare behind him at their queen. Myrine must have nodded, as the blonde woman closest to him shrugged and handed him a spear and a wooden shield. He thanked her.
Myrine stopped next to him and retrieved her own weapon. His gaze landed on the sword she had strapped to her back. "Do I get a blade?"
She cut him a look and snorted. "When I trust you."
"I'm facing a dragon with you. What's not to trust?"
She shook her head and chuckled. "That's a death wish."
Perhaps so, but to die at her side would at least be exciting and honorable. "I guess we both have one of those." They locked eyes once more.
"Go, we move much faster than you, and you have a bit of a hike. But if you're wise, you'll find your way out of this place and back to your desk in your office building far away from here."
Chrys was getting real tired of being patronized. Without thinking, he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him. "You don't know me.
