Mark of the Bear

Chapter Eleven

Marko knew there was nothing he could do to help Kellsie assimilate everything. He knew the exact moment she truly started to believe this could be real. She had a very expressive face. One he would never tire of watching.

His heart ached for what she was going through. He wanted to turn back the hands of time to when they were locked in each other’s arms. After thousands of years imprisoned, he’d had sex with a woman, but not just any woman, Kellsie. And it had been well worth the wait.

But their interlude was at an end. The time had come to face the battle at hand. He had no time to despair about what had been or worry about what would be. There was only the here and now. Each tick of the clock took them both closer to safety.

But Marko knew that was nothing more than a false sense of security. Hades was out there somewhere. Watching. Waiting for Marko to make his move.

He could take Kellsie and simply run—far and fast.

For a brief moment, he considered doing just that. But deep in his heart he knew it wouldn’t work. Nor could he simply walk away from his trapped brethren and his Lady.

Nor did he think Hades would allow it.

No, Hades was giving him, both of them, some leeway. The question was why?

Kellsie fidgeted constantly. She shifted from one foot to the other while rubbing her hands up and down her arms. He knew she was cold and rubbed his hands up and down her back to help warm her. It was also an excuse to touch her one more time.

He was procrastinating, but he wanted these few final moments of peace between them. Once they left the sanctuary of this cave and started back to the carnival all bets were off. Hades and his minions were out there waiting for their chance to pounce.

Marko knew he had to separate himself from Kellsie. He could not allow his attraction to her to distract him from his mission. Both their lives were at stake. Reluctantly, he set her aside. He tried not to notice how devastatingly cute she looked with her tousled hair and slightly swollen lips. There were dirt stains on her clothing and it was more than obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her unbound breasts swayed with every movement she made, which distracted him from the matter at hand. After all, he was male and couldn’t help but notice.

He reached into his pocket and stroked the flimsy material of her bra. He’d tucked the garment in there while she’d been dressing, her attention turned away from him. Her silky panties were hidden in his other pocket. They were talismans, a token of their time together.

“We must go.” Angry with himself for harboring fantasies about what had happened, he spun and stalked out of the cave with Kellsie hot on his heels. It was just sex. Incredible sex. But sex nonetheless. Nothing more. There couldn’t be anything more.

He rolled his shoulders, shaking off his thoughts and mood. He had to put all emotion aside or he was useless. He paused and sized up the best path back to the carnival. He wanted to make sure they always had some kind of cover in case they had to make a run for it. Not that he was afraid to stand and fight, but with Kellsie with him, he might have no choice but to retreat, even though the very thought of having to do so made his stomach curdle.

“How long do you think it will take us to get there?”

If he was alone, maybe an hour at most. With Kellsie slowing him down it would take much longer. “Two, maybe three hours.” He cast a glance over his shoulder. “If you can keep up.” The bear claw on the necklace she wore seemed to glint in the moonlight. Every muscle in his body tensed and his body sang. She belonged to the bear. A low rumble broke from him before he could stop it.

Possessiveness. It was a strange feeling and one not easily shaken. He wanted to examine it more closely, but now was not the time.

Anger flashed across her face, making her cheeks flush. Her lips thinned and her shoulders squared with determination. “Oh, I can keep up.” She eyed him up and down, blatantly pausing when she got to the bulge in his pants. The double-entendre made him want to toss her over his shoulder and head back to their cave.

Shit. He whirled around and started through the woods, setting a grueling pace. It wasn’t their cave. There was no their anything. They were two strangers thrown together in a life-and-death situation, forced to depend on one another for survival.

In fact, it made perfect sense that she’d had sex with him. Since the beginning of time women had used sex to attract the strongest males, the ones who could protect them and their children.

And he didn’t believe a word he was saying. Neither did his bear. Kellsie wasn’t the type of woman who’d depend on a man for anything, which perversely made him want her to depend on him for everything. He should be thrilled she could stand on her own two feet, wasn’t whimpering or cowering behind him.

If the muttering and swearing he was hearing from behind him was any indication of her mood, Kellsie could probably defeat Hades single-handedly. The thought brought a smile to his lips. No doubt about it, Kellsie was one tough lady.

But she had a soft side too. One he’d been privileged to see firsthand. She was a generous lover, holding nothing back, giving herself freely, at least with him. Marko didn’t think she was that open with most men. Only the fact that she’d thought it was a dream at first had allowed her to lay down the shields she normally kept erected around her and allow him to see the real woman beneath.

He realized he could no longer hear her litany of complaints and spun around, cursing himself under his breath. He knew she couldn’t keep up with him—she didn’t have his preternatural night vision or his speed—but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.

He sniffed the air and caught her scent. Then the low sound of her muttering reached him. His claws were extended and the lower half of his jaw was contorted, teeth bared, sharp and deadly, ready to rip to shreds any threat to Kellsie.

He forced himself to relax as he headed back up the trail. She was about fifty feet behind him. He’d been moving way too fast for a human to keep up.

She was sitting on a log and her right shoe was off. She didn’t even glance his way as she dumped the rocks from her shoe and shoved it back on her foot. He waited as she laced her footwear and climbed to her feet. Her hair was plastered to her skull. She was sweating and shivering.

Again, he cursed himself under his breath. She wasn’t immortal, but human. The cold didn’t affect him but it did have a huge impact on her. At this rate she’d be too sick to fend off any attack. “You need to get warm.”

She gave him a look that would have withered a lesser man. But Marko was impervious. All he cared about was making certain she was all right. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He’d manifested his pants, boots and a sword, so why not more? Maybe it was time to try his powers again.

He’d had a cloak. One lined with the pelt of one of his brethren. The ancient creature had lived more than eight thousand years ago and Marko had watched him raise a family and die in its defense. He’d taken the beast’s pelt to remind him of the fierce strength that his brother had used to protect his mate and cubs. They had lived and Marko had watched over them and their line until he’d been imprisoned. He couldn’t manifest it earlier, but maybe now he could.

Softness, rich and thick, filled his hands. He heard Kellsie gasp and he opened his eyes. The long cloak was draped across his extended hands. Kellsie was standing now, her eyes wide and her lips parted. He walked toward her and went down on one knee before her. “For you. To keep you warm.”

She reached out her hand and tentatively touched the fur lining. She looked at him and back at the cloak, burying her fingers in the fur. “It’s incredible.”

He came to his feet and shook out the cloak. It was short on him, which meant it would come to her ankles. Marko wrapped it around her shoulders.

“How?”

“My powers are coming back a bit at a time. I’m still not at full strength and don’t know if I will be in time to fight Hades. I could not manifest this earlier, but I am glad I can now.” He fastened the simple tie at her neck, wishing he had a fancy silver and gemstone broach to close it with.

“Thank you.” Her heartfelt gratitude filled him with pride. She’d needed and he’d provided. His bear approved.

As much as he wanted to bask in the warmth of her appreciation, it was time to leave. “Come. We must move fast.” He held out his hand and she took it. He told himself it was because he didn’t want her to fall behind again. He couldn’t afford to lose her. The closer they got to the carnival the greater the danger became.

It had nothing to do with the fact he wanted to touch her, to feel her small hand tucked firmly into his much larger one. He tightened his hold on her and began to move at a much slower pace through the thick forest.

The lights of the carnival flickered in the distance. Kellsie had no idea how long they’d been walking but it had to be hours. They’d stopped twice for her to have a short rest and once at a small, trickling stream so they could drink. The sky was growing lighter so she knew it had to be close to dawn. She was exhausted and her feet hurt. It had been one heck of a long night.

Somewhere between leaving the cave and now she’d come to grips with the fact this was real. Marko, Hades, the curse. All of it. So she had to deal with the facts.

One, this wasn’t really a movie set. Two, she probably wasn’t going to live to spend that lovely money that had already been put in her bank account. Three, Marko really was a shapeshifter and could morph into a bear, which was kind of cool, but scary too. If he had strange powers then Hades’ demons probably did too. And that brought her to point number four. Hades was real. She knew deep in her soul that he’d been the voice in her dream, the one that had scared her half to death. Which only made sense considering who he was.

But that begged the question, who did the female voice belong to? She didn’t want to think about some woman being trapped in Hell. Kellsie shivered and pulled the cloak tighter around her.

And that was another thing. The way Marko had conjured the cloak out of thin air was astonishing. She only wished his powers had allowed him to bring the thing out when they’d been in the cave. It would have made things much more comfortable. But she understood that his powers were coming back a bit at a time. She was grateful to be wearing the cloak now. Rubbing her hand over the plush fur, she imagined how it would feel sliding over her naked flesh while Marko made love to her.

No, she sternly reminded herself. They had not made love. They’d had sex. There was no way they could be in love. They’d just met. She didn’t really know anything about him other than the fact that he was loyal to his friends and was a god when it came to sex. Both great things, but certainly not enough to base a relationship on.

She had to fight this growing connection she felt toward him. It was nothing more than proximity and the dangerous situation they were facing. It was heightening her emotions and making every reaction more extreme than it would be under ordinary circumstances.

It had nothing to do with the fact that she’d dreamed of him before she met him. Nor that she felt as though he belonged to her in some strange fashion since she was the one to release him from his captivity. It didn’t have anything to do with her deep connection to the bear, which happened to be his animal form. She touched the pendant at her neck to make sure it was safe and snuggled the fur cloak around her. And it certainly had nothing to do with how she felt when they’d made lo—had sex, she reminded herself yet again.

Hot, sweaty sex that had culminated in the most mind-blowing orgasm she’d ever had. Marko was the perfect male specimen. And why not? He was an immortal warrior after all. His body was a honed weapon, strong and sure. He was massive and muscular, but would that be enough to defeat Hades? According to the legend it hadn’t been enough the last time.

Which brought her back to her list. She quickly ran through them again in her head and found the place she’d left off. Number five on her list was the most frightening. If all the rest was real then they had to survive until midnight tonight or Marko would lose his soul to Hades. In the meantime, Hades and his minions would try to either kill them both or convert Marko to the dark side.

Kellsie frowned and came to a stop. Marko was still holding her hand and tugged her a few feet before he’d realized she was trying to pull him to a halt. He turned to her and frowned. “Are you feeling okay? We need to keep going. Are you thirsty? There’s a brook off to the right.”

She cocked her head and listened but heard nothing. “How do you know there’s water there? I can’t hear anything.”

He tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell it. And I can hear it.”

“Really?” She wondered if all his senses were enhanced.

He nodded. “I can also hear the squirrel in the tree behind you, the owl in the tree off to the left and there are several bears in the vicinity.”

She shivered and moved a little closer to Marko. The corners of his mouth twitched and she knew he was fighting a smile. Easy for him to laugh it off, he was a bear. She, on the other hand, was very human.

“It’s perfectly safe,” he told her. “They won’t come near unless I ask them to.”

Good to know. This situation was well beyond the realm of her experience. In fact, some of it made no sense at all to her, and she asked him the question that had been bothering her for quite some time now. She’d had plenty of time to think while they were walking and everything boiled down to one question.

“Why does Hades want you? Any of you?” The Lord of the Underworld had manufactured this opportunity. “Hades set up this entire thing. He had to know I’d release you. Or at least one of you.” She nibbled on her bottom lip as she thought through everything. “What does he want?”

Marko ran his fingers through his hair. She frowned when she realized there wasn’t a tangle in his hair or a smudge of dirt on his face. Must be more of those super-duper powers.

And she really was getting sleep-deprived if she was concerned about Marko’s hair, no matter how sexy and touchable it looked.

Still, she wished she looked half as fresh. She was sweaty and dirt coated her clothing where she’d tripped once or twice during their hike through the thick woods. She didn’t even want to think about what her hair looked like.

“He wants us to lead his armies.”

Now that wasn’t exactly what she’d expected to hear. “Why? Doesn’t he already have plenty of demons for that?” Didn’t sound sensible to her, but then again, she really didn’t know Hades, and she hoped to keep it that way.

He shrugged. “Why do the gods do anything? Power. He can’t risk the other gods knowing he plans to overthrow them and steal their power. Our energy is already here in this world. They would suspect nothing until it was too late.”

Now that wasn’t exactly comforting. “What exactly do you mean by power?”

He framed her face with his hands, his expression grave. Kellsie got a sinking feeling in her stomach. This wasn’t going to be good. “He wants to rule the world—your world. Hades has always craved power, never been satisfied with what he had.”

A light bulb went off in her head. “That’s why he attacked the Lady of the Beasts.”

Marko nodded. “He wanted her power, though it was starting to fade by then.”

Now Kellsie was lost. “Why was it fading?” Didn’t gods and goddesses have a set amount of power? To think of it as a fluid thing was a new concept, and a scary one. Because if a god could be stripped of his power as Hades seemed to want to do with his contemporaries, then a god could gain a heck of a lot of power too. Unlimited. Out of control.

Marko dropped his hands and she immediately missed his touch. He spread his arms wide to encompass the forest and mountains around him. “Mankind changed. Developed. No longer did they worship nature or live in harmony with it. They settled in towns and cities and subdued nature. They worshiped new gods, ones that would bring them money, wealth and power.”

His arms came back down by his sides, the muscles rippling. She marveled that he could walk around bare-chested and not even notice the cool night air swirling around them.

“A god or goddess gains power when people worship them. The Olympians were gaining strength as the old gods were weakening and dying. My Lady was weakened but still happy. The children of man would always need food, and therefore animals were still held in esteem. She was content and craved no more than she had.”

“But not Hades?” She knew the answer before he gave it.

“No, Hades wanted what she had, but he misjudged her. And us.” Pride rang from his voice as he continued. “We battled, long and hard.” He shook his head. “I have no idea for how long the battle raged. Eventually, the sheer numbers of Hades and his brothers’ minions began to take their toll. Even we could not hold out much longer.”

It was easy for Kellsie to picture Marko fighting in both forms—man and bear. Relentless. Powerful. Massive. There would be no quit, no give in him. If the rest were like him they would be formidable foes. Yet Hades had defeated all but one of the warriors released.

Something painful swelled deep within Kellsie. Marko could not die. Hades could not have him. The thought of him being tormented for eternity was unbearable.

Marko’s voice brought her back to the present. “The Lady used the last of her waning power to cast the spell, to place the curse on us.” He practically spat the last word. “I would rather she saved herself and let Hades kill us than to end up his prisoner.”

“Marko.” Kellsie didn’t know what to say. There was such pain, such self-loathing in his words.

“No. We have been imprisoned in our animal forms for these thousands of years, but we’ve been able to absorb the world around us and learn. It’s enabled us to keep our sanity when all seemed lost. We could only share thoughts on occasion, but we had each other. Our Lady has been alone, locked in the darkest pits of Hell all these years.”

His shame was palpable even though she knew it wasn’t his fault his Lady was imprisoned. Marko would have fought until the bitter end. Kellsie went to him and rested her hand on his forearm. It felt like a steel slab beneath her fingers. “Maybe she knew something you didn’t. Maybe the curse was her hope.”

A new tension invaded Marko as she continued. “Maybe she gave you this chance because she trusted you’d defeat Hades this time.” She thought about it another moment and nodded, certain of her reasoning. “If you escaped the curse and Hades and gained back your strength wouldn’t that mean she would get stronger?”

Marko stared down at her, dawning wonder on his face. “You are amazing, Kellsie.” He leaned down and kissed her. The embrace was hard and fast but still packed a powerful punch.

She shrugged off his praise, not willing to admit to herself how much it meant to her. “It only makes sense.”

“We have to get going.” He grabbed her hand and started back down the trail toward the carnival. “Maybe we can release Arand and Leander. At the very least, we can get your netbook and try to contact Roric. Maybe he can tell me how to defeat Hades and rescue the Lady.”

Kellsie realized she’d momentarily forgotten her role in this drama. She was last on the list, the most expendable. The Lady and his fellow warriors came first. Once again, she was last.

The ache in her heart made breathing difficult but she battled through it. What had she expected? That he’d suddenly declare his undying love for her after spending a few hours with her? She wasn’t an idiot.

It had taken her a little time to figure out what was going on, what was real, but now that she had, she would face it head on. She knew she was a pawn in this game between immortals and gods. Bitterness swelled inside her, but as suddenly as it had risen, it receded.

This was bigger than her. The fate of mankind was depending on the outcome. Marko had to survive. His mission meant more than her life. She was in a life-and-death situation, but this time it wasn’t a movie. It was real.

It was the role of a lifetime.

She wondered if they eventually defeated Hades if anyone would remember her part in it or if she would be a forgotten footnote in history.

No. Not only no, but hell no. She was Kellsie Morris, scream queen extraordinaire. This role was her chance of a lifetime, even though it wasn’t quite in the way she’d expected. No way was her last starring role being forgotten. They were going to win. If nothing else, Marko would remember her. And strangely, that was all that mattered.

Shaking off the exhaustion that clung to her, she followed Marko along the dark forest trail toward the lights of the carnival.