Page 27 of The Demigod Complex
“I don’t know. She disappeared under a wall of water.” And he couldn’t do a fucking thing about it.
“We should go back.” Marrok reached for the button to lower the window between them and the driver, but Castor shook his head.
“She’s a water nymph,” he said. “She can handle it. Besides, she’d be upset if we ruined her work by giving away the secret to everyone. She’ll be fine.” She’d promised him she would, and he’d made sure Kaios had left with the crowds.
You’d better be fine,he thought. If she wasn’t, he’d wring her neck for taking that kind of risk.
The rest of the interminable ride was completed in silence. Castor shifted his position a few times. While the worst of the pheromones were released with the mating, being near the couple was still like a constant bombardment of lust, like standing chest deep in ocean waves. Marrok couldn’t stop touching Tala—not overtly, just constant contact. All Castor could picture was Leia’s big blue eyes, her hair fanned out on a pillow like a golden halo as he moved above her, the sound of her husky voice groaning her pleasure.
Where was she?
The valet handed them out onto a red velvet carpet. A woman with deep red hair approached with a come-hither light in her eyes. “Congratulations, Alpha. You as well, Alpha.” She nodded to Tala and Marrok in turn. Then she hooked her arm through his. “And who might you be, handsome?”
“Mine.”
Relief and lust warred for dominance at the sound of Leia’s warm voice behind him. He shrugged off the redhead and turned, the impact of just seeing her like running chest first into a gorgon’s fist. He pulled his nymph in close where he could wrap his arms around her and feel for himself that she was unharmed and inhaled her rainy-day scent.
“I can take a hint.” The other woman’s parting comment hardly penetrated.
He was too busy with the woman in his arms, bending his head close to murmur in her ear. “I didn’t see you after the ceremony.”
Wolves had phenomenal hearing, which meant he couldn’t ask her straight out if she was okay. A question like that would sound odd to anyone who overheard.
“I made it safe and sound.”
She did appear to be unharmed. In fact, she looked perfect, her hair back up as it had been at the wedding, not a drop of water in sight anywhere on her person. Unable to resist the urge, he leaned forward and planted a light kiss on her unsuspecting lips. He wanted to linger, sample, taste, and take. However, now wasn’t the time. Not yet at least.
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t protest.
He grinned, relief and triumph raising his spirits like a balloon in strong wind. Question and answer time could come later. After she faced the werewolf who’d destroyed her life.
Castor sobered. Be damned if that werewolf would ever harm her again. He offered her his arm. “Shall we beard the lion?”
Her lips quirked, but she accepted the gesture, hooking her hand through. “By all means.”
Forcing his body to calm—at least he wasn’t the only man walking around in discomfort—he led her into the hotel.
Off to the right the sounds of a lively gathering drew them through a set of double doors into a ballroom with windows all along one wall and the original bar along the other. A dance floor took up one end, and the rest of the room was dotted with large, round tables set with fancy linens and china. Large bouquets of flowers graced each table, filling the room with the sweet fragrance of spring, helping to mask the natural outdoorsy scent put off by the large gathering of wolf shifters.
Castor searched the room for Kaios, tensing against the werewolf’s presence, but didn’t see him among those gathered. Leia found their table while he was detained by one of the elders from Marrok’s pack. As he watched, she circled the table, fiddling with something by the plates. Then she dropped off her purse in a chair and rejoined him.
Before he could ask her what she’d been doing, the newly mated couple was announced. Then everyone found their assigned places for the sit-down dinner.
“My, my, my,” a rough male voice intoned from behind them. “I thought that was you earlier, Lyleia.”
She didn’t so much as twitch, but her sudden tension radiated to Castor nonetheless. The demigod in him wanted to wrap himself around her and shoot lightning bolts through the man, but he understood this was Leia’s fight. Holding back with effort, he reached under the table to take her hand, which was clenched in her lap. Her fingers loosened up to link with his. She plastered a fake smile on her lips, one Castor recognized from when she’d first started working with him, and turned to face her tormentor.
“Kaios.”
No doubt even the wolf shifters starting to join them at the table picked up on the tension radiating from her. It pulsed like a living thing.
“How lovely to see you after all this time.” The werewolf actually had the audacity to lean in for a kiss.
“Touch me and I’ll stab you with my fork.” Leia delivered the threat with her polite smile in place and a friendly tone to her voice.
Pride swelled along with his dick. Damn, she was amazing.
For his part, Kaios froze, took a moment to assess how serious she was, and apparently concluded she meant it. Castor had zero doubt she did. He kind of wished Kaios would try something, just to see Leia fork him somewhere that would cause permanent damage. Weren’t werewolf balls a delicacy in some societies?
