Myrine was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, and everything within him demanded he should stay with her. But he had so much more he had to see done before he could shack up with a gorgeous woman for more than a night. If Dionysus told the truth, it could take a year before he could do such a thing. It sobered him despite the satisfaction good sex brought.
She collapsed onto his chest. To his surprise, Myrine didn't immediately leap to her feet to get dressed and leave. Instead, she ran her fingers over his chest and glanced up at him. "I suppose you'll do the opposite of what I want and have to return to your big corporate office again."
Though he wished with all his heart he could stay, he had to answer honestly. "I do."
They lay in silence for some time before she asked, "So what was the hold up on your arrival? You said something happened?"
He'd forgotten he'd promised to explain his delay. It shouldn't surprise him that she'd remembered, considering her plan wouldn't have worked if he never showed. "Dionysus is alive."
Myrine stilled. Slowly, she rose to a sitting position, sliding off him with one hand resting on his chest. "How is that possible. I saw his decapitated body, his butchered heart. He was dead."
Chrys shook his head. He wished he had some kind of clue. "He thinks he's the catalyst of the next pantheon of gods or something. Told me I'd see Destroyer twice before he was defeated, and that a weapon that will take a year to be forged by Hephaestus is needed to defeat him—wielded by a satyr."
"A year?" She shook her head, expression revealing the same dismay he'd felt at the thought. That dragon could do so much damage in that amount of time. "No, you must be mistaken."
Her disbelieving tone wouldn't do, so he sat to face her, righting himself and his pants along the way. "Look, I don't make the rules here."
"Are you sure it was Dionysus and not someone pretending to be."
Good question. Many of the gods had the power to change their form, and he hadn't considered before. Could it have been a deception? Chrys shook his head. "There's really no reason someone would go through the trouble of setting me up as CEO of his company in order to play this sort of trick on me. He sent me here through what I found in his files. I think it was really him."
Myrine stood and pulled her pants back on, followed by her boots. "Then, I guess this is where we part ways for now."
Whoa, that's it? He got up and took her hand in his. "Come with me. With the resources at Bach Industries, I can get you and the others set up in some nice condos, and we'll figure this out together until I learn more about this weapon. And your organization for women and children—let me help with that."
She pulled her hand away. "You mean well, and I may see you when I travel back and forth to check on my affairs, but until this weapon is found, the vrykolakas are needed here in New Amazonia. Destroyer doesn't harass the villages around here—yet—because we interfere. Without us, there's no telling what destruction he'll bring about."
"And when he leaves the area to look for satyrs or the Olympians to avenge his mother?"
Horror clouded her eyes. "Do you think he will venture outward? He seems happy to return to hiding within the vastness of this jungle."
"Dionysus seems to think he will." And quite frankly, so did Chrys. The creature would grow restless, driven by hate and revenge.
Myrine looked away and sighed. "Well, then maybe we'll see each other again before a year is up. But my place is with my people." She held a hand over her heart. "It always will be."
The finality in that statement hit him hard. Amazons were not known for long-lasting relationships with men. Chrys wasn't sure what he had expected to come from their little tryst, but he didn't want her to go.
After she gave him back his phone and panpipes, a torch to light his way, as well as directions to the nearest village to get out of the jungle, he watched her walk away. Every cell in his body screamed at him to follow her. He knew, without a doubt, this was the woman meant for him. No, she wasn't a nymph, but he'd lived with his curse long enough to accept he wasn't going to ever break it. Unfortunately, his sense of responsibility was too strong and though he tried to make himself follow her, he couldn't.
Still, his mind was made up. He could let her go, for now, but after Destroyer was dealt with and Theron was no longer a threat, he would do whatever it took to convince her that he was the man for her, and he'd love every minute of that challenge.
18
Adonis felt as though he'd been hit by a truck, which made perfect sense considering that's basically what happened. By some miracle, the van hadn't been going as fast as it could have been, so he hadn't broken a bone. Might as well have though since the soreness increased as time dragged on, as the bruises fought to heal. "Theron took our phones, and Calix's panpipes." Not that the flute mattered at the
