She wildly shook her head. “No. I remember everything. I remember what happened in the parking lot at the Luxor, why I feel uneasy there. It was you.”
“I would never do anything to hurt you. I saved you that night from an evildoer.”
“Yes, but you did something to make me forget. I’ve had a nightmare about you in that…that other form. Using your gold dagger, making another man disappear after you cut him with it. It scared the crap out of me. I thought it was a figment of my imagination, but now I know it was real. I’ve been sleeping with a murderer.”
This time Tor closed the distance between him and Kenna. He didn’t touch her. “No, I’m not. They’re alive when I start them on their journey to the underworld. It’s my job to send mortals who are full of evil to Anubis to be judged. The god decides what their fate will be.”
Kenna took a step to the side so he wasn’t directly in front of her. “You talk about Anubis as if he’s truly alive. A freaking ancient Egyptian god.”
“Because he is. I’m one of his warriors. The first one. When I lay dying on a battlefield in Egypt, having fought for my pharaoh, Djoser, in a military expedition to Sinai Peninsula, Anubis answered my call when I pleaded to one of my gods to save me. In return for restoring my life and giving me immortality, I took a vow to serve as a warrior of Anubis for all eternity.”
She rapidly shook her head. “That can’t be. If your pharaoh was Djoser that would mean you’ve been alive since the twenty-seventh-century BC. I did a project in school on the step pyramid he had built in Saqqara for his tomb. I remember it. You’d have to be thousands of years old. It’s not possible.”
“I am, and it is. I watched the Pyramid of Djoser being built, as I watched the pyramids at Giza. I stayed in the land of my birth for thousands of years before I came to the New World. I eventually ended up here in Las Vegas.”
Kenna laughed, the sound borderline hysterical, as her tears continued to flow. “And here I thought I was some kind of freak. But now that I think about it, you had to be the cause of it. I want you to take it back.”
Tor furrowed his brow. “I don’t understand.”
“My ability to heal in seconds,” she yelled. “I didn’t have it until I met you. You had to have done something to change me. Whatever you did, reverse it.”
He sighed, knowing what he had to say next Kenna would not want to hear. “I can’t. And it’s more than just your ability to heal rapidly.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re my mate, Kenna. When I bit you yesterday, I claimed you as mine. You are as immortal as I am. Our life forces are now joined. It can’t be undone.”
“What the hell are you saying?” Kenna breathed so fast Tor was afraid she would hyperventilate. “Mate? You actually did this to me without giving me a choice? Did I even have any say in it?”
Tor ran a hand through his hair in agitation. “I was to give you the choice. I didn’t want to bite you before you knew what I truly was. Somehow a demon who has escaped the underworld managed to work a spell that allowed him to take control of me. I knew you were my mate the first time we were intimate, because my eyeteeth dropped and I had the urge to bite you. I fought it, but when the demon took over, I couldn’t stop myself. Anubis wanted me to ease you into my world before I claimed you. The demon took that option away from me.”
“A demon? Ease me into your world? From what I’ve seen of it so far, I don’t want to be in it. Right now all I want to do is get as far away from you as I can get.”
She sidestepped a few more paces in the direction of the door. Tor stopped her. “You can’t leave. You have to stay with me. Only I can protect you from the creature who has set his sights on me. The demon is the one who sent the evildoer to my home to attack you. He must know you’re my mate. If he gets the chance again, he will try to use you against me.”
Kenna fisted her hands at her sides. “I can’t stay here with you. Do you have any idea how afraid I am of you at this moment?”
Unable to not touch her any longer, feeling as if he was losing her by the second, Tor cupped her face in his hands. “Look at me, Kenna. Really look at me. Have I ever done anything to hurt you?”
“No.”
“And I never will. I love you. I’ve been alone for centuries. You’re my mate, someone I’ll always cherish and protect. I don’t want to go back to my old life. I know this is all so very hard for you to understand and accept. I might shift into something you’re afraid of, but the man is still inside there. It’s still my heart that beats in that chest. I’m still the same person. I just look different. And believe me, I didn’t want you to find out what I was this way.”
Kenna’s bottom lip trembled. “I don’t know if I can accept all of this. And now you’re telling me there’s no going back. I would have wanted the choice.”
Tor pulled her close. She pushed at his chest, but after a few seconds Kenna relaxed against him, her tears wetting his skin. He let her cry herself out before he leaned back and lifted her chin so she looked up at him. Her eyes were red and puffy.
“Stay with me, Kenna. Please. I realize you’re going to need time, and I’m willing to give you that. We have an eternity, after all. You said you loved me once. I can make you feel that way again.”
“And if I can’t?”
“I’m not giving up on you. We’ll make this work.” He kissed her forehead, and when Kenna didn’t pull away, he took that as a good sign. “I need to go talk to Anubis. I’d like you to come with me. It might help if you hear his voice.”
She stepped out of his embrace and wrapped her arms around her middle. “What exactly would I have to do? I don’t have to cut myself, do I?”
Tor could still hear the fear in Kenna’s voice, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it’d been a few minutes ago. He smiled to reassure her. “No, you don’t have to cut yourself. We just have to go upstairs to the small temple I have set up in one of the spare bedrooms. You should be able to hear Anubis since a bond has formed between us.”
“All right, I guess. I don’t know how much more freakiness I can take without wanting to huddle in a corner and rock.”
“It’ll be fine. You’ll just hear Anubis in your head.”
Tor held his hand out to Kenna, but she gave a short shake of her head. He dropped it at his side. He wasn’t going to push her. He turned and walked toward the stairs. Kenna fell into step beside him. He took her to the bedroom set up as a temple.
Inside, he headed for the altar where he’d already made his offering of food and beer that morning. Tor glanced at Kenna to find her looking around the room, taking it all in.
“Anubis, I have to talk to you,” he called to the god of the underworld.
Yes, Tor?
Kenna let out a quiet gasp and took a half step closer so her arm brushed up against his. She obviously heard Anubis as clearly as Tor did.
“The demon who hunts me has made another move. He found out about Kenna being my mate and sent an evildoer to my home to attack her. I need a way to draw him out. I don’t want to risk him harming Kenna.”
I saw it in the evildoer’s memories when he arrived. Challenge the demon, tonight.
“How should I do that?”
Call to the demon, he’ll hear you.
“I tried that once. He ignored me.”
Play upon the demon’s pride. He won’t be able to ignore the insult. Just be prepared for him not to fight fair.
“All right. I have Kenna here with me, is there anything you can do to protect her from the demon?”
I know she’s there. I can also feel her fear. There’s no need to be afraid, Kenna. Tor needs you in his life to make it complete. He loves you just as much as you love him, though you can’t see past your fear to believe that you still do. I’ll fix that. Anubis fell silent, and Kenna stiffened beside Tor. It only lasted a matter of seconds, then the god spoke again. As for your request to protect Kenna from the demon, I can use a spell that will shield her against an attack from demon-kind, but it won’t extend to others with evil intent. As you know, my abilities aren’t as powerful as some of the other gods.