Styxx (Dark-Hunter 22)

Chapter Twenty-Three

She shook her head. "You're not well enough for that."

"I know, and it's not really why I came here today. I just needed to be with someone who cared about me for a little while."

Bethany's stomach lurched at the sincerity in his voice. "Your family loves you."

"No, they don't. I sometimes pretend they do, but I know better. You and Galen are all I have in this world. And you're the only one who has never hurt me."

Tears pricked her eyes at the raw pain he unknowingly revealed. "I would never hurt you."

"And that's why I came even though I'm fevered. For two weeks I've been with people tending me because they had to. It's very different than being with someone who tends you because you matter to them."

"Hector-"

He placed a finger to her lips to silence her. "I don't want your pity, Beth. I want the fire in you that warms me. I live for your insults and taunts."

"I don't mean them."

"I know. Believe me, I can tell the difference between your good-spirited teasing and the barbs that are meant to bleed me." He pulled her against him. "Just let me hold you for a little while and then I'll leave you in peace."

She set her cloth aside and closed her eyes, savoring the warmth of his fevered body against hers. Her Hector broke her heart and yet he held so much quiet strength that he never ceased to amaze her. She didn't understand the bits of his life he shared. How could his family be so reckless with their care of him?

His heart was so gentle and sweet. He tried so hard to please and take care of others. Why would anyone be unkind to him? But the scars on his body and the inner ones his words betrayed told her exactly how careless and heartless the people around him were.

And she hated them for that.

The mere fact he'd come to her when it was obvious he wasn't fit to travel, and no one had stopped him, said it all. How could they have left him alone in this condition? For even a heartbeat?

She ran her hand over the muscled ripples on his stomach. The heat from his skin was searing. "Have you eaten?"

"Mmm."

She frowned and smiled at his noncommittal answer. "Are you awake?"

"I'm awake," he mumbled.

Bethany toyed with the trail of hair that ran from his navel to his groin.

"If you keep doing that, I'm not going to rest."

She ran her hand down the length of him. He sucked his breath in sharply. "Sorry," she whispered.

"It's all good. Right now, you could set me on fire and I wouldn't complain."

Knowing she should be out looking for Apostolos, she placed a kiss to his hard abdomen. It was so strange how calm he made her. Whenever she was with him, nothing else mattered.

She remembered asking her mother once when she'd been a small child why her mother had chosen an Egyptian god to be her father.

"Gods are boring creatures, Bet. Most are nothing more than spoiled children with powers they never hesitate to use against those weaker. And while your father can be juvenile at times, there is a danger to him. He understands his power and he's fierce with it. More than that, he doesn't prey on those weaker, he only attacks those who are stronger. That was what drew me to him and why I agreed to be the mother of his daughter. His strength, and the fact that never once did he use it against me. Your father is like having a lion for a pet. You know that it's a creature of utter and supreme violence whose mere nature and only talent is murder, and yet it lies down at your side and purrs for your touch alone. There's nothing more titillating.

"But more than that was how your father made me feel. He awoke something inside me that had never lived before. He breathed life into my soul, and I was a better person for having known him. It was why I wanted to have you as a piece of him that I could keep and love even though we weren't allowed to be together. And it's a decision I've never once regretted. Not even when your father almost destroyed our pantheon because Archon refused to allow him access to you. Your father doesn't give his devotion lightly or carelessly. When you are given a piece of someone like that, someone who doesn't naturally trust others, it's more special than when it comes from those who are capricious with their love. As with all things, the rarity makes it all the more precious."

Hector trusted no one. Not even his own family. And he'd never given his heart, body, or his love to any other woman.

Only her.

And while he was young in human years, he held a maturity and understanding far beyond that of any ancient.

Most of all, whenever she was with him, she felt beautiful and powerful. Things that were a given as a goddess and yet ...

She'd never really felt them until he'd stumbled into her world and made her laugh.

That was why she loved him and why she risked the anger of Archon and the others to be with him.

He was worth it.