The Goddess Redemption #2 - Spellbound (a Paranormal Romance) (7 page)

****

Sara was lying on the ground. Breathing was made difficult with the broken rib she had suffered when the shifter had struck her, sending her flying through the air. She winced in pain as she struggled to stand. Meg was gone. Sara had sent her running when she had used the first potion. Since, she had used them all with little luck. The shifter in front of her seemed entirely impervious to anything she tried. It changed shapes according to what it wanted at the time. It had been a wolf when she first encountered it, but it had quickly walked on two legs when it started beating her. Sara could still taste the blood in her mouth from that first blow.

She struggled to her feet. She didn’t have time to worry about Victor as she fought to keep her own life, but still the thoughts invaded and she had to blink back tears as she realized that he was probably dead.
What else would keep him from me?
She fought mentally with reason as she watched the shifter pace around her, toying with her.
The next blow will kill me
, she thought as she spat blood at the beast circling her. She heard it laugh, cruelly, mocking her. She braced herself for the next strike. It never came.

Two naked men
dragged Victor from behind the trees, each with a firm grip on his arms. She watched him struggle against his captors, but he looked weak and drained. The tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she started to run to him, but he stopped her with a look.

“He killed many of us, including Kiru.” One of the men holding Victor captive said to the one who had been tormenting her. In an instant
, she recognized the beast. He was one of the first she had created. Why was it not beholden to the moon? The answer came forward in her mind as if summoned.
Because, I have lost my power
.

“Let him go!”
she screamed at the alpha and the words echoed around them and went ignored. She watched as the man removed the quiver and bow from Victor’s back.
Ice
was pulsing intensely from within. Sara watched as the shifter moved to hand the weapons over to the alpha, but before he made it a single step, the creature crumpled to the ground in a heap and time seemed to slow down. The arrow sticking out from the shifters back caused the other one to crouch down in instinct, bringing Victor with him to squat low on the ground.

The Alpha looked around, eyes wide.
Sara felt the same way, only she knew her look was mixed with relief as she realized that a hunting party had been sent after them. That was the only thing that made sense. She closed her eyes and sent a brief prayer upward, fearful that her hopes were falling on deaf ears, as the arrows started to rain at the beasts from out of nowhere and everywhere all at once.

Sara watched a silent exchange between the Alpha and the only other shifter left standing. With a quick nod, the beast vanished into the trees. She looked down at the dead shifter and her eyes were drawn to the bow. Victor could barely stand much less defend himself, he was so badly beaten
and as the alpha turned his attention on him, Sara knew she had to do something. But, her feet felt like anchors weighing her down, she wasn’t in much better shape than her lover.

She knew if she stayed still, that
another volley of arrows would be on its way. She could already see two arrows sticking out from the alphas body, but none were close enough to the mark. She heard one scream and then another followed by silence. There was still another shifter running loose and it was killing off members of the hunting party, one by one. She needed to act soon as the alpha crossed the distance to Victor. Time was never on her side, had never been on her side, she realized.

With determination in her heart, she vowed to speak with Chronos, the moment she returned home
, refusing to listen to the negatives inside her head. As she darted across the distance between herself and the fallen weapons, it was as if she left Sara standing and became Artemis, leaping forward without fear, rolling past the looming alpha and snatching the bow and quiver. She winced as the broken rib bit into her inside, cutting off her air. She heard another scream break off quickly from the distant hunting party as she ran, luring the beast away from Victor. From behind, she heard the alpha transform, his angry shout becoming snarls and snaps as fangs cracked together biting at the air.

The human part of her turned back to see and when she did another roun
d of arrows struck the beast. She watched in horror as one drove chest center and still the monster rushed forwards clawing the earth.
To kill an immortal beast, it takes an immortal weapon
.

As if by instinct, she brought the bow up and found the striking cold of
Ice
in her hand as she drew it across the string. She saw the irony. The same arrow she’d once used to kill her love would now save him.
No, the irony is not lost, father,
she whispered as she released the arrow, splitting the one already worn by the alpha. She watched it drop to the ground in a heap of fur that soon gave way to human skin as the alpha drew its last breath.

Nearly a month had passed since the death of the Alpha and Sara was still recovering from her broken rib. Each day went by with a little less pain. Victor had taken hunting parties out nearly every day since he had been able, gathering stragglers and curing those who could be taken alive. His recovery seemed quick compared to her own. Some days she forgot she was a goddess at all. Life had taken on a timeless quality, though she couldn’t say why. She was completely happy with her life and yet she longed to return home. Victor felt the same way.

Sara watched Meg as she and some of the other women from town weeded the garden and prepared it for the next year’s planting season. After a week of Victor playing dumb to Meg’s advances, she
had moved on to the next man. The new stable boy seemed quite taken with her, also. Sara predicted a wedding soon.
My own can wait
, she thought as she turned her gaze to the clouds.

****

“You must be softening, your Grace,” Aphrodite said. “You let her stay.” She watched Zeus’s back as he turned and didn’t even try to hide her smile.

“
It is not finished, goddess. You’d do well to remember that,” he said, though his words were anything but angered. “She has done well. Tell me of this next task,” he commanded her and she didn’t know where to begin.

“First of all,” she started, “let me say that all precautions have been made and your daughter’s safety is of utmost importance.”

“I am not sure I like the sound of this at all,” he said.

“Then restore her power and end this
,” Aphrodite countered, boldly.

“She is my daughter, she is still too headstrong, and it will take more than two challenges to restore faith. You know this, goddess
,” he said and his voice sounded weary. Aphrodite found it odd, but did not press.

“
She must go in,” the Goddess of Love said, coming to the part she would argue over with him. “We need to know why the shifters have waged this war and we need to find weaknesses.”

“I hear the same from the
God of War, though he does not propose to use my own daughter in this manner. How can you possibly ensure her safety, goddess?”

“I have found one who has never tasted human flesh. She is pure. I will imprint Artemis inside this shifter. She is protected in the shifter kingdom. She is part leopard and part virgin female and considered sacred. We must know why, my king.”

“And the hunter, you will imprint him also?”

“Yes
,” she answered, still unsure what his course of action would be. If he forbade the task, could she bring herself to disobey his orders? And if not, could the gods afford it?

****

The Unul Pur, or ‘pure one’ in the common tongue, curled her tail around the bedpost. She was stretched out and awaited her
guests
. While others fed off the humans, she fed from the veins of shifters. Her bloodline had remained pure for a thousand years. Her master demanded it and she could only comply. She was a virgin and she would remain that way until the mating season, when she would come of age. It was a gift for her people and a promise that one day, they too would be able to mate and reproduce. Her master promised it.

She could feel the heat inside her as it grew with each new moon. So far
, she had been presented with many mates, none to her liking. Perhaps the odds were in her favor now.

“Come in
,” she called, when the sound of a knock interrupted her thoughts. She sniffed the air, she was hungry.

There was nowhere for them to run. The bears were hunting for them on the northern ridge and the wolves were following the river south. The cheetahs had circled around to meet them and the lions were closing in from behind. Tatiana was right. He had been foolish. There was only one thing he could do. Luca would challenge Buru. It was the only way. Could he defeat the alpha?
 
Probably not
. Buru was stronger, faster and more agile. He was a better hunter and a better fighter. Either way, Luca was bound to die.
 

If not by Buru’s hand, then by another. He had stolen the
 
Unul
 
Pur
, the promise of the shifters, their hope. And he had tainted her with his seed, spoiled her in their eyes. When they found him, they would kill him. He would not paint the picture a pretty color when the forecast was so bleak.
 

He could see the fear in her eyes. He never hesitated. He left the human cabin with his love inside and transitioned under the pale moonlight. His heavy paws crunched into the firmly packed snow as he raced into the night.
 

If he was lucky, he could take Buru by surprise. His soft mane felt inadequate in the cold crisp wind as it became heavy with the freezing mist. Twice he shook it to dislodge the crusts of ice that gathered around his face. The air was a cold rush in his lungs as he moved through the uneven terrain. He could hear the wolves howling to one another off to
the south, but it wasn’t their howling that brought him to a sudden stop. The loud roar of a lion behind him made the forest quiet and froze him in place.
 

“You disappoint
, Luca. You are a fool and there is no room for fools in this pride. I will kill you for your disobedience to me.” Luca heard Buru growl out the words. He didn’t dare to turn around for fear the end would come sooner.
 

“Better to die in battle
, Buru, than to be hunted by the multitude and torn to shreds,” Luca said and slowly turned around.
 

“Your words sound brave, but your actions have a different ring. You wish a quick death. You will have it.” The great lion said just before his paws left the ground.
 

The Goddess Redemption Book Three

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