As they lay spent on the too narrow couch, wrapped in each other's arms, Anandur felt at peace. He had all he needed right there. As long as he had Wonder by his side, he could weather out whatever else life threw at him.

Moving to Alaska? No problem.

Saying goodbye to his brother and his friends? A problem, but he could live with that. A five-hour flight in each direction wasn’t that bad. He could come home on weekends.

“Annani wants to leave tomorrow,” Wonder said.

“I assume she wants you to join her in the near future.”

Wonder snorted. “Apparently, you don’t know your Clan Mother well. She wants us to fly back with her tomorrow.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah, I know. On the other hand, there is no reason to delay. We have to go, and the longer we drag it out, the harder it’s going to be on everybody.”

He stroked her arm. “Do you want to go?”

“I don’t have a choice. But even if I did, I would’ve accepted Annani’s offer.”

“Why?” He chuckled. “Do you remember all your why questions?”

“Yes, and I also remember how patiently you answered them.” She lifted her face and kissed the side of his jaw. “Annani needs me.”

“That’s all? She needs you? What about what you need?”

Resting her cheek on his chest, Wonder sighed. “In a way, I need to be with her too. Not permanently, though. I like it here too much. I’d miss everybody.”

“So would I.” He stroked her back. “What does she need you for anyway?”

“Officially, I'm to be her companion and bodyguard. When she goes on her excursions among humans, she takes the Odus with her, but they are not the same as a companion she can share her experiences with.”

“What about Alena?”

Wonder chuckled. “The excursions Annani refers to are not the kind a mother takes her daughter on, if you catch my drift.”

“Oh.” For some reason, he’d never given much thought to the goddess’s day to day life. In his imagination, she sat on an elevated dais all day and issued commands to her underlings. Except, Annani was also flesh and blood and had needs like any immortal female.

A goddess, he corrected himself. Which meant that she was probably more lustful than the lustiest of immortal females.

“I don’t want you going with her on hunting trips. You’re mine.”

She raked her fingernails through his sparse chest hair. “I’m just the bodyguard. I’m not going to watch or partake. Besides, this is what Annani wants, so this is what Annani gets. Right?”

“Doesn't mean that I have to like it.”

“No, it doesn't.”

“Tell me about Esag.” That was another thing Anandur wasn’t going to like but needed to hear about.

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything. Who he was, what he did, what kind of a male he was, how you felt about him, how he felt about you. Those kinds of things.”

Wonder shifted, turning to her back. Her head resting on his arm, she took his hand and threaded her fingers through his. “Esag was Khiann’s squire. He was tall, not like you, but taller than me, which was very important to me back then. I always felt too big, and no one treated me like a girl, assuming I was manly.”

Cupping one ample breast, Anandur humphed. “There is nothing manly about you, lass. You’re all woman to me.”

“Thanks. Anyway, as I told you before, he was also very charming, smiling a lot and flirting constantly. He was the first guy to show me any attention and treat me like a girl, so naturally, I fell for him.”

Anandur’s heart sank. “So you loved him after all.”

“At the time, I thought I did, but it was only an infatuation. Or maybe not even that. I was probably only attracted to him physically and mistook it for something more. Now that I know how real love feels, I realize it was only a youthful crush.”

“Did he love you?”

“He liked me, and he desired me, but he didn't love me enough to break off his engagement to a girl he didn’t even like. His family needed the connection with his intended’s, and Esag believed that by breaking the engagement he was going to ruin his family’s business and his sisters’ chances of good matings.”

“He didn’t love you. If he did, nothing and no one would’ve stood in the way of his claiming you for himself and pledging himself to you.”

“That’s exactly what I thought.”

“Is that why you ran away?”

She shook her head. “It’s too embarrassing to repeat. Let’s just say that he did something I found offensive.”

Anandur felt his fangs punch out, which was a testament to how angered he was because after biting Wonder twice, his venom glands should’ve been spent. “Tell me what the bastard did.”

It was good the dude was dead. Otherwise, Anandur would’ve had to do something about that.

Wonder hesitated for a moment. “Annani didn’t think it was so horrible, so maybe I overreacted a little. Although I still feel it was an offensive proposal.” She sighed. “Since he couldn’t break the engagement without ruining his family, but he still wanted to be with me, he asked me if I was willing to be his concubine.”

Anandur knew what a concubine was, but maybe the term implied something else in ancient Sumer. “Like a mistress?”

“Kind of. He said that it would be in name only, and that he would take care of me and treat me as if I was his official wife. He promised to spend most of his time with me.”

“How old was he?”

“Nineteen.”

Anandur wanted to hate the dude for hurting Wonder’s feelings, but he could understand a young guy like that not having the guts to go against his family and trying to find a solution that would make everyone happy.

“Esag was a coward. But it seems to me that he really cared for you. I understand that you didn’t want to accept his proposal, and I’m glad you didn’t, but I don’t think you should’ve been offended by it either. He didn’t mean it as an insult.”

“I know he didn’t mean it. But what you don’t understand is that he expected me to accept the proposal because a girl like me wouldn’t have gotten a better one. That was what I found so offensive. Also, at the time I thought that a concubine was just a step above a prostitute, but that was a misconception which Annani later corrected.”

Anandur hadn’t heard much after the “Girl like me wouldn’t have gotten a better one.”

“What do you mean, you wouldn’t have gotten a better proposal? Why not? You’re beautiful and smart and kind. What more can a guy ask for?”

Turning to her side, Wonder threw her arm over his chest and kissed his cheek. "I love you so much.”

“I love you too, but you didn’t answer my question.”

She sighed again. “I was the daughter of an immortal mother and a human father. Back then it meant a lower status than those born of two immortals. There was a hierarchy. The gods were on top, the direct offspring of gods with immortals was second, the children of two immortals third, the children of immortals with humans fourth, and humans were the lowest. I was also a head taller than most men and had the shoulders to match. Add to that my freakish strength, and most guys, even the nice ones, thought of me as one of them and not as a girl, let alone a prospective mate.”

He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head. “Their loss is my gain. I think you are as perfect as a woman can get. And I think that any guy who fails to see that is a fool. How about that?”