Chapter Five
“What are you doing, Miss?” Bibi, glanced over to where Samiyah’s mates stood. “Shouldn’t you be offering yourself to them?”
The girl had so much to learn.
“This is called playing with your mates. You don’t have to roll over for them.” She trailed them as they entered the crowd on the dance floor.
“But the alpha … and …”
Yes, Samiyah knew all about the alpha and what he did. “Not all are the same. Some, are kind, even generous. They don’t force a mating. They don’t make you choose between clean water or food. A great alpha protects those around you at all costs, not thrusts you into the fray to shelter yourself.”
“It’s a wonderful concept, Miss, but not practical. I’ve seen what alphas can do.” Bibi’s sadness wouldn’t do.
“For tonight, I forbid you to think about such things. Tonight, you are Bibi, my assistant and friend. You’re here as my plus one and you are here to have fun.”
A small smile tugged at her lips. “Okay.”
“Samiyah,” a man said. “It’s good to see you again.
She turned. Edmundo. Perfect. “Ah, Mr. Stellari. The pleasure is all mine.” She pointed to Bibi. “This is my friend, Bibi.”
“Hello, princess.”
Bibi bowed her head. “Hello.”
“She is a timid one, Sam.” He chuckled.
“She is.” She smiled. “But, I promised she’d have fun tonight. How about you take her a turn around the venue.”
“It would be my pleasure.” He held his arm out to her. “I promise I won’t bite, petite.”
Bibi placed her hand on his arm and followed. The anxious energy crawling through her disrupted even Samiyah. It made her jittery and unsure of herself. The girl needed to relax and breath.
When the girl and the God of Saturn were out of view, she set her attention to playing with her little chew toy. Samiyah grinned. He was a pretty toy after all. The minute she stepped into his personal space, she breathed in his spicy scent of desert sun and something wild. The muskiness of it drove her senses into overdrive. She wanted to rub all over him. Make sure she coated herself in his scent. Walking away from him had been the hardest thing she’d ever done.
A goddess, however, doesn’t give in too quickly to her baser needs. She glanced at the people on the dance floor. Why should she be the only enjoying herself? She cast a small spell over those surrounding her. As the goddess of fertility and life, allowing these mortals to release their inhibitions and enjoy themselves would also give her time to seek out her prey.
The music changed as the chimes tolled midnight. The structure around them opened up, and a DJ took his spot on the small stage she’d been curious about when she’d entered the event. A deep, throbbing beat took hold of the patrons moving around her. Their bodies were pressed close, even those who were old enough to know better, but they didn’t care.
She spotted her mate-to-be and growled. He’d pulled the bowtie from his neck and opened the first few buttons on his shirt, exposing his sun-kissed skin to her perusal. Sam licked her lips. Excitement coiled low, causing her to ache for the man. His jaw clenched and his hands were fisted at his sides. He lifted his head and inhaled, she swore she orgasmed at the sexy as sin sight of him trying to find her.
Not yet though. The night was still young. She wanted him to continue to track her, and when she was ready, she’d give over. On her terms, of course. She turned, and came face to face with Wilhem’s twin.
“My brother has been searching for you.” He reached for her before quickly yanking his hand back. “Are you doing this to us?”
Depended. “Define this.”
He swallowed hard. She watched in heated fascination as his throat worked. What she wouldn’t give to bite him there and mark him as hers. She might be considered greedy for wanting both men, but she was a goddess after all and she could have her pleasure any way she wanted it, at any time.
“This urge to fuck. To strip you bare and watch you climax over and over.” A scent matching his brother’s filtered from the man in front of her. “I can’t keep you. But, I can’t let you go.”
She ran her hand down his chest, not ready to give him the same answer or to tell him she’d take both. Instead, she went with the easy answer. “Yes. It adds to the party, don’t you think?”
“So, none of this is real? Tomorrow we’ll wake up and this will all be a dream?”
Oh, it was real. Completely and totally real. She just took away their self-restrictions. “It’s all real. How much. Who they end up in bed with, is their decision. I’m helping them…find themselves.”
“And us?” He stepped closer. His scent intoxicating her. Overwhelming her ability to think. She had to put distance between them, but couldn’t do it. “What will happen to us?”
Shit. His lips were the barest of inches from hers. His green eyes bore into her own dark-brown ones. The intensity built, lashing them together and stealing her ability to breathe. “Whatever your heart desires.”
He gripped her hip. The heat of his palm soaked into her skin, sensitizing it. She licked her lips. “I want you, but I don’t even know your name.”
“Samiyah,” she whispered, then ran her tongue across his bottom lip. “But you can call me goddess Bastet.”
He growled. “Goddess it is.” His lips pressed to hers, sending her tumbling with pleasure.
Every suck of her tongue, or lap of his, built the growing arousal inside of her. It would be so easy to take him to a dark corner and give over to this insatiable need to have him. However, she couldn’t. Not without Wilhem. That didn’t mean she couldn’t have a good time with Christoph. She rubbed against him, enjoying the sounds he made at the back of his throat and the way his lust fed her own.
“No,” he whispered. “I can’t.” He pressed his forehead to hers. “You belong to Wilhem. I shouldn’t have done this.” He took a step back. “I’m sorry.”
Before she could say anything, he disappeared into the writhing crowd. Weak-kneed, she stood there listening to the sound of her blood whoosh through her ears and drowning out the music. A part of her missed the budding connection between them. The way it sizzled along her skin, leaving her pleasantly lightheaded.
She started to give chase, but stopped when Bibi bumped into her. The girl’s wide, frantic gaze bothered her. She opened and closed her mouth several times as she paled before Samiyah.
“What’s wrong?” She grabbed Bibi, holding her steady, as her lips parted. “Whatever it is we can fix it. Tell me.”
Her assistant whimpered and shook her head, before yanking out of Samiyah’s hold. “No…I…I can’t. I must…please forgive me.”
“Wait. Don’t go. I’ll come with you. Keep you safe. I promise.”
Bibi glanced over Samiyah’s shoulder, her mouth fell open on a gasp. “Yes, okay please come with me. We must go now though. No more delays.”
“What happened?” Samiyah trailed Bibi as they wove their way through the crowd. “Wait. I can’t leave yet.” She grabbed her things from the attendant. “I have one quick thing to do.”
Bibi tucked her lip between her teeth and nodded. Her energy was off. Anxiety mixed with fear and a hint of something else. Her scent had been off, almost noxiously so. It didn’t make any sense to Sam, but then again, the girl had been through enough shit to gag a dung beetle in the last few days.
She opened her purse, retrieved a business card, then wrote her cell phone number on it. “Can you please see that Wilhem Bosse receives this card.”
The attendant nodded. “I will. Enjoy your evening, Miss.”
She grinned. “Thank you.”
When she turned to gather Bibi, the girl was already gone. She hurried outside and found the young hyena stepping into a cab. She held her hand up, to catch the girl’s attention, but she was gone before Samiyah could stop her or the car. She looked behind her and spotted Edmundo coming straight for her.
“Where did she go?” The god glowered. Energy, more powerful than hers sparked around him.
“I’ll remind you, you’re with humans. On the human plane. Whatever happened, showing yourself now won’t fix this situation.” She instinctively took a step away from him, praying to Ra, Saturn would gain control of himself.
“She has taken my ring. Your assistant will pay for this.”
Samiyah closed her eyes. Of all the nights for Bibi to do something stupid. “I am sure it was a mistake. You can find her at my office in the morning. You have my word.”
Edmundo stared at her for a moment. “I will be expecting the girl in the morning. Do not interfere, goddess. My kindness extends only so far and for so long.”
“Understood.” She turned to walk away. Then pivoted. “Saturn?”
“Yes?”
“Be gentle with her. Things aren’t what they seem.” She wouldn’t give Bibi a free pass. The desperate girl did something stupid and dangerous. Whatever punishment the god doled out, the hyena deserved.
“I will take your words under advisement, goddess.” With a snap of his fingers, Edmundo disappeared.
“Child, what have you brought upon yourself?”