Occasionally, she’d glance down at the pool of light and watch as even the ashes continued to be eaten up by the light.
When the arena was empty at last, she glanced down once more and spoke aloud. “Marius, look.” She gestured to the sunlight. Only a few specks remained.
“Unbelievable.”
Both Adrien and Lucian added the same sentiment.
“He’s gone now.”
Somehow, even the air felt cleaner.
* * *
When the last of the cleanup crews were taking care of the few remaining corpses, and the regiments had returned to their respective continents, Gabriel and Rumy drew close, both hovering in the air with ease.
Marius held Shayna close. Even though she could siphon his increased power and levitate alongside him, he didn’t want to let her go.
He smiled as he met Gabriel’s gaze. “What happens next? Because I have a feeling this is only the beginning. Am I right in thinking you probably already have a government ready to fall into place?”
Gabriel nodded. “And a new set of laws. We’re adding a representative Senate as well. Corruption will always be part of our world, as it is on human earth, but we need a law-making body to at least hem in the unsavory elements. We must either dismantle the Ancestral Council or set different regulations in place on who can serve and how they get there—maybe by Senate appointment. And yes, I know, bribery will take a lot of people far. But if we’re careful, we’ll see some progress that will protect not just our own civilization”—here he shifted his gaze to Shayna and nodded—“but the human world as well.”
“So I’m curious,” Shayna began. “How do you plan to create the Senate? Will there be a voting process or do you already have a group of ‘elders’”—she used air quotes—“who will be choosing the first candidates? And is this based on geography and cavern systems, or something else?”
When all the men started chuckling, she drew away from Marius enough to ask him with raised brows, “Are my questions inappropriate?”
He laughed. “As usual, you just have so many of them.” He gestured to the arena. “And the timing might be a little off.”
Shayna lifted a brow. “Oh, I see what you mean. Me and my damn curiosity. And would you look at the size of this cavern. And Marius, you won’t believe what’s below. There were dozens, maybe hundreds of rooms, like an enormous office building.”
Gabriel said, “Yes, there are hundreds of rooms below, possibly thousands. I’ve had my men checking. There’s a massive dormitory where the slaves who run Daniel’s organization live. This was the heart of his operation, right here, and you were absolutely right, Shayna, about the women being separated out of the Dark Cave system based on IQ tests. The smartest landed here. And yes, I can see that you have a few more questions you’d like to ask about Daniel’s operation, but I have a question for you, if you’ll allow it.”
Shayna loved questions. “Of course.”
He glanced at Marius and his expression softened. Do I have your permission?
Marius knew what Gabriel meant to ask, and for some reason he was okay with it. He’d have to open the dialogue with Shayna soon enough, but he thought it might be a good thing for her to understand that he wasn’t the only one who valued her.
He nodded and Gabriel shifted his gaze back to Shayna. “Here goes. Do you think we might be able to persuade you to stay in our world?”
Marius felt Shayna grow very still in his arms, a pensiveness that brought his own heart to thudding heavily. She turned to Marius. “I think that’s something Marius and I need to discuss, probably at some length. Do I want to stay? Part of me does, absolutely. But should I stay? That is another question entirely.”
Rumy smiled. “You’d be so welcome in our world. I want you to know that. We’ve kept our world separate from yours because of Daniel and because we need to find a way to govern ourselves better before we tackle a serious connection with the human world. But we’ve always had humans who’ve come to live here, to be with us, to embrace our cavern-based society. So please don’t feel like you’d be the only one. You’re not. Besides the women you met at my villa”—he jerked his thumb in Lucian and Adrien’s direction—“just look at these two.”
Adrien nodded. “And I hope you’ll have a chance to speak with Lily before you make a final decision.”
“Claire as well,” Lucian added. “They’ve both heard a lot about you and want to meet you.”
“I’d like that,” Shayna said. She then smiled. “I might even have a few questions for them. Imagine.” Because she laughed, the men joined her.
With the arena now cleared out except for the cleaning crews, neither Marius nor Shayna could resist taking a quick tour of the extensive network of administrative rooms below. Marius kept them in altered flight the whole time so that they could pass through walls with ease.
When he reached the extensive dining hall, thousands of women were there celebrating the demise of Daniel’s operation. Rumy had already taken charge and had flown in dozens of cases of champagne for the event. Paper cups might not have been as elegant as glass flutes, but it didn’t matter. Daniel was dead.
Rumy promised to meet up with Marius and his brothers, as well as their women, for a shared meal. They needed their own celebration for what had begun as a terrible ordeal four hundred years ago and was now at an end.
* * *
After having seen the full scope of Daniel’s Himalayan infrastructure, Shayna held tight to Marius as he flew her back to the Pharaoh system. She felt changed in a way she really didn’t understand, except that Marius’s power had taken her over. She’d even shifted into altered flight for a few seconds all on her own.
As he touched down in their guest suite and she caught the scent of the ancient tablets, she didn’t know what she should be feeling. Mostly she felt dull, as though all the terrible things that had just happened along with the visual impact of the battle in the arena had laid a veil over her mind and heart.
“I’m feeling so strange, Marius.” She stepped off his booted foot, enjoying the cool feel of the tile beneath her now bare feet. She was safe with Marius. No one could get to her here anymore. Only Daniel had been able to, but he was dead now as well as his powerful sons.
She felt beneath her arm then turned her back to Marius. “Can you get this out of me?”
“With pleasure.”
Marius had to us a sharp knife and it hurt like hell, but Shayna was relieved when the device was out of her. Of course, she healed up in a few seconds because of Marius’s power, but she finally felt as though the last of the connections to Daniel had been broken.
She could breathe. “I guess I just can’t believe it’s over. All of it. Finished.”
Without thinking, she moved into the room with her computer and a few of the clay tablets spread out on the adjacent worktable. Marius followed, though he remained in the doorway, leaning his shoulder against the stone surface. She knew he was watching her and waiting, but she couldn’t exactly figure out which thought to have first.
She crossed to the tablet broken on the floor and picked up the pieces, cradling them in her arms. She turned to Marius to make her confession. “Absolutely without thinking, when Daniel showed up I threw this at him. But they’re really heavy. It missed him by two feet and landed in front of him.”
She placed the remnants on the table. “I can have this repaired.”
Marius moved toward her and put his hands on her shoulders. “No one is going to care that you broke this tablet. No one. And I’ll see that it gets repaired. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Her throat seized all on its own. Gabriel had asked the only really important question and she didn’t know how to answer it.
She turned toward him and settled her hands on his arms, just below the shoulders. “I want to stay, but—”
“You’re having doubts, a lot of them. I can feel it.”
“Marius, I want to say something and I need y
ou to really hear me and believe. Apart from whether I decide to stay with you or not, I’m in love with you. I swear I fell hard even when I thought you were a hallucination. I don’t honestly know how that’s possible because I’ve never been a big believer in love at first sight. Not really.
“And over the past several days, since we’ve been together, you’ve proven yourself repeatedly. I trust you with all my heart—more than any other man I’ve ever known.” She drew in a deep breath, then swallowed hard. “But the work I do isn’t just a profession, it’s a calling, maybe in the same way you were called to battle on behalf of your world. I just can’t feel good about walking away from the commitments I’ve made. Does that make sense?”
Marius had grown very still and for the first time since she’d held the blood-chain in her hand, she couldn’t read him, she couldn’t sense what he was feeling.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited for him to respond.
Finally Marius offered her a smile and even had a glimmer in his eyes. “Actually, I have a suggestion.”
“You do?”
He nodded. “Well, since I’ve already made the decision that I will do whatever it takes to have you in my life, what if I got a sweet apartment in the Cascade system, not far from Seattle? It’s a bit pricey, but I can afford it. And I’m sure, if I worked hard, I could find the same setup, or build one, in Malaysia. How long do you plan on doing your fieldwork?”
“A year. At least. Maybe more if I feel the need.” Her throat once more seized. “You’d really do this for me?”
He took her in his arms. “In a goddamn, righteous, fucking heartbeat. I’m in love with you, Shayna, all that you are, not just how you might fit into my life. I know how important getting your doctorate is to you, your education, and your hope one day to teach.”
“But in my world, not yours. I realize that I could have a place here.” She gestured at the stack of tablets. “Just working with these could be a lifetime’s effort. But my calling is to the human world. We have so much that needs to be done in our civilization worldwide and I’ve come to believe that not much will get accomplished without people like me who work hard to really understand each culture. With that understanding, real progress can be made. Without it, it’s like trying to dig a trench using soup spoons.” She took a deep breath. “Can you live with that?”
He smiled and smoothed her hair away from her face. “Shayna, you helped my world get rid of its biggest threat in the last millennium. I’m telling you that if you told me that the only way we could be together is if I stood on my head the rest of my life, I’d do it. I’d be crazy not to.”
She blinked a couple of times. “You really are serious.”
“Damn straight I am. But I should warn you that if you leave, I’ll come knocking on your apartment door. I’d bring flowers, thousands of them, bottles of wine, chocolate by the ton, anything you desired to try to win you over.” He lowered his voice. “I’d bring you books, too, lots of books, on anthropology, history, science. I’d even steal some of these tablets and put them on your doorstep just to get you to open the door for me. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
Tears burned her eyes. She grabbed his vest at the shoulders and tugged a couple of times, then slid her arms around his neck and held him tight. He did that thing he often did, rubbing his hand up and down her back, comforting her.
“Shayna, I’m teasing you about coming after you. Say the word, and I’ll take you home and you’ll never see me again. But I want you to know how grateful I am for who you are. This time with you has been incredibly healing for me, something I didn’t expect when Rumy sent me to Seattle because you had the highest score on the computer game he designed. You brought so much into my life that had nothing to do with either Daniel or the extinction weapon. For that, you will always have my undying loyalty. If you ever need anything, you have but to ask and I’ll come running.”
* * *
Marius held himself in check, utilizing the tight control he’d learned from living as long as he had. He felt so much right now that he had to work extremely hard to keep his emotions from swamping Shayna. He didn’t want to say too much or too little. Sometimes the war was won holding tight to the middle ground and letting the moment breathe.
Finally she drew back and said, “I trust you, Marius. If you truly believe you can do what you’ve said, that we could have a cave apartment somewhere near Seattle, that I can pursue my studies or anything else I feel is important, then I’m all yours.”
Marius didn’t realize he’d levitated with Shayna in his arms until he hit his head on the cavern ceiling. “Ow.”
Shayna laughed. “I did the same thing. Remember? That happened in Sweden.”
He searched her eyes, his heart so full he couldn’t speak.
Instead, he kissed her. Hard. And as soon as she parted her lips, he slid his tongue inside, thrusting and making all kinds of promises.
When he drew back, her beautiful sexy scent filled the air, a perfect match to his own need to take her to bed and make love with her.
As he slowly levitated back down to the floor, he realized Shayna’s emotions were as euphoric as his own, as though a fog lived in her mind. She kept stroking his neck, his shoulders, his pecs, and pushing her fingers beneath his vest at an awkward angle. She was as anxious as he was to get down to business.
He picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He may have bumped into a couple of doorjambs as he made his way to the bedroom and the blue silk sheets once more.
Because he’d bulked up, he struggled a bit to get his leathers off and ended up on his ass.
Shayna laughed so hard and at first he thought it was because of his stupidity. Instead he finally realized she’d gotten her hair stuck in the zipper of her dress. “I need help!”
He got his boots off and his leathers then went to her aid, working her long white-blond hair out of the zipper.
By the time he helped her get her dress off, he was undressed and she wore a sexy bustier and a thong. He had his mouth on the mound of her breasts, lifting them out of the bustier at the same time, before he knew what he was doing. She’d already started panting when he latched onto one of her nipples and began suckling.
“Oh, God, Marius!”
His hands got busy, having a mind of their own, teasing her between her legs, stroking her bottom, lifting her knees, or squeezing her breasts while his lips kept working her.
“I need this bustier off. It’s pinching me.”
He flipped her over and untied the strings. She moaned with relief and he could see why. Her back was crisscrossed from the indentations the lace-up had created. He rubbed her back and slowly worked her out of her thong. But he kept her on her knees.
“Shayna, I have something I want to do with you, but only if you’re comfortable with it. Do you remember what I did in the Dark Cave system, how I split into two separate entities and both of us fought?”
She turned to look at him over her shoulder. “Of course. And I still have so many questions.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you do. But here’s my question: I can make love to you like that as well. I can split into two parts, a primary and a secondary, and we can both have our way with you. What do you think? Interested?” He leaned close and kissed a line down her back.
She froze.
“What is it?”
“Two Mariuses. I think I’d faint if I wasn’t already lying down. I swear it.” She drew in a hissing breath through her lips. “Oh, two of you. My God.” The sudden rock of her hips and the groan that left her mouth told him all that he needed to know.
“I take it that’s a yes.”
“Oh, yes, that’s a yes.”
With the added power he’d gained, it only took the smallest thought to split.
With his secondary self above, and lifting her into the air, his primary self slid beneath her.
Her eyes were wild, her nipples peaked. “I didn’t know you could do this. You’re tou
ching me from behind and yet here you are beneath me. I think I might faint.”
He nodded and smiled, levitating just enough to reach her lips and kiss her.
Drawing back, he said, “See if you can levitate and hold your position in the air. You’ll be able to reach more of me with your hands that way and Shayna, I want you touching me. I love the way you touch my body, fondling every part of me.”
She nodded, and he felt her rise into the air just a few inches, then slide her hands over her shoulders. “Make a sandwich of me in the air. Can you?”
“Hell, yeah.” His secondary self stretched out over her, then he levitated so that he made solid contact under her.
“I’m going to die and go to heaven right now. There’s so much of you. Oh, my God, two cocks.” Her body writhed so that she rubbed him in front and behind at the same time.
“Damn that feels good, Shayna.” He kissed her again, and the secondary Marius began working his mouth from the base of her neck down her body.
She whimpered and cried out. He suckled her buttocks from behind while in front he nipped at her throat, warming up her vein. He was in a state, locked onto her body and craving her blood.
His secondary self shifted so that he could catch Shayna behind the knee with one hand and draw her leg against his hip. At the same time, holding himself with levitation, he used his hand to guide his cock to her opening.
Her hands were driving him crazy. She plucked at the muscles of his arms and pecs. Her fingers played with his nipples, then his ass.
At one point she surprised him by turning her head so that his secondary self caught her mouth and kissed her. He watched the sensual movement of his secondary tongue pushing in and out of her mouth as he began to drive inside her low.
Keep kissing my other self. I love watching.
This is so unbelievable. Her voice sounded breathless inside his head.
She panted against his secondary mouth. He took the opportunity to begin licking a line up her throat since her neck was so beautifully exposed.
Hold this angle, Shayna. Just keep kissing my secondary mouth.
Okay, but this feels amazing. Two of you. I can’t think. Oh, my God.