Her brow wrinkled as she tried to make sense of him. "What does that mean?"
Pan's words echoed in his memory, like they were spoken only yesterday. "I hope one day you find a nymph who desires you more than anyone else ever will, and your own hubris prevents you from reciprocating it."
The sting of his fingernails pressing into his flesh made him loosen his fists, but he didn't feel any better. "It means you were to be my salvation, but I can never desire you or gain my freedom." Adonis put his hands on her shoulders and met her gaze, leaning in close. "We can never have sex. It's physically impossible for us. I'm sorry for interrupting your…" He released her and gestured at the candles. "Dance."
3
Sage wanted to be offended by his annoyance and harsh tone. How was she supposed to have known she was a nymph and not a witch? There hadn't been a handbook to accompany her abilities! But the anguish in his voice and his eyes made her wonder if there wasn't a way to help him. More than that, she couldn't believe satyrs were real! When she'd opened her eyes and caught him staring...
A delightful shiver passed through her. She was still aroused—and naked—as hell, and there was nothing to be done for it apparently. What had such a handsome man done to get cursed? Was he truly unaffected by her, or did he only mean he couldn't touch her until the eclipse?
There was one way to find out: stick with him and see what happened next. She wouldn't pressure him, but now that the possibility had presented itself, she couldn't walk away. Her curiosity about him, not just his erotic nature, intrigued her far too much. Because she was a nymph? Perhaps…but here was the evidence that something had happened to her, and he had answers she needed.
Being a nymph made a hell of a lot more sense than witchcraft, come to think of it. Her attachment to nature, to plants. Interest in Gaia, Persephone, and Demeter. Why else would she have found herself in this predicament, drawn here specifically? Everything had happened a particular way for a reason…to lead her to Adonis.
"You didn't interrupt anything," she replied finally. She wanted to know more about him, and couldn't if he wasn't willing to talk to her. "I was dancing for you. It was supposed to draw out a lover whom Gaia deemed worthy of my offering. It sent you." If Gaia were real, why send a satyr that Sage couldn't touch unless it was a test of some sort…but for whom?
He shook his head, and long blond hair shimmered in the candlelight. His horns were glorious jet-colored pillars shooting up from his head. The tips looked sharp, and she wanted to touch them—wanted to touch him again. He stood there, in nothing but worn, ripped jeans and a black T-shirt with a Led Zeppelin logo on it. His hooves were barely visible in the darkness, but hard to ignore once noticed. How far past his feet did he look different? Now that she was paying attention, she could see the slight unnatural curve of his legs. How fascinating. Would he be offended if she ran her hands over them? Her curious nature wanted nothing more than to see him in his full glory, but from his scowl, that wouldn't be happening. Not yet, anyway.
"We aren't going to happen, sweetheart." His tone was flat. The hard, thin line of his mouth matched it. "You're mistaken. Gaia, and the rest of the Primordials, are long gone. Let's say that, maybe, your nymph magic had sway over me coming out here when I did. It doesn't cancel out the fact that it's impossible to act on anything of a sexual nature together."
"I very much doubt that." She took a step forward, and he retreated one in turn. "Nymphs and satyrs go together like peanut butter and jelly. What's not right about us joining? Smushing together like a sandwich."
It was difficult not to giggle as he blinked in disbelief. "Did you just compare sex—us having sex—to a peanut butter sandwich?"
"And jelly. Don't forget the jelly. The messy bits are the best parts."
He didn't say anything but gawked at her. She got that reaction a lot. Since she didn't really have a filter most of the time, it didn't bother her. Perhaps the fact that he had to wait for the eclipse was his problem. Sexual frustration tended to make one quite the grump, after all.
"Well?" she pushed. "How about it then? I can wait until the eclipse."
"Y-you...you." He cleared his throat. "Are out of your mind. I told you, not even five minutes ago, that I am in-ca-pa-ble of going through the Satyr Moon ritual with you, and you are insisting on doing it anyway. And how is that going to work, hmm?" He crossed his well-toned arms and she barely suppressed the urge to lick her lips. Arm porn at its finest. "My body is not responding to you. Do you understand that? Do I need to spell it out in cruder terms?" He rushed forward and took her hand. Before she could decipher his intention, he placed her palm against his groin. "I'm cursed. More than any of the others of my kind. I cannot have sex with you…even if I want to."
The pain and anguish in his tone broke her heart for him, even as the words sank in. Some of her arousal deflated, but not all. She pulled her hand away. His touch on her skin had sent tingles through her. Surely Gaia wouldn't have set them into each other's paths if there was nothing
