But hating Kyrian had been impossible.
"What did Valerius do to you?" Julian asked.
Kyrian drew a deep breath. "Trust me, you don't ever want the exact details."
Julian saw Kyrian flinch as if some memory flashed in his mind. "What?"
"Nothing," Kyrian said sharply.
Julian's thoughts turned to Kyrian's wife. Small and blond, Theone had been more beautiful than Helen of Troy. Julian had seen her only once, and then at a distance. Even so, he had known instantly what attracted Kyrian to her. She had possessed an irresistible aura of grace and sexual expertise.
Barely twenty-two when he met her, Kyrian had fallen in love instantly with the woman who was eight years his senior. No matter what any of them said about her, Kyrian had never listened. He'd loved that woman with every fiber of his body and soul.
"What of Theone?" Julian asked. "Did you ever find out why she did it?"
Kyrian tossed the salve back into the bag. "She said she did it because she was afraid I couldn't protect her."
Julian cursed.
"My thoughts were somewhat stronger," Kyrian said quietly. "You know, I lay there for weeks trying to figure out what it was about me she hated so much that she could hand me over to my worst enemy. I never knew I was that big an asshole."
Kyrian clenched his teeth as he remembered the way his wife had looked when they had started his execution. She had met his gaze levelly, without even the tiniest bit of remorse.
It had been then he'd known that even though he had given her only the very best of himself, the whole of his heart and soul, she had never given him anything of her. Not even her kindness. If only she'd had one flash of regret in her eyes, one tiny bit of sorrow...
But only morbid curiosity had darkened her face.
It had torn his heart asunder. If she couldn't love him after all he had given, then he must truly be unlovable.
His father had been right all along.
"No woman can ever love a man of your standing and wealth. Face it. All you will ever be, boy, is a hefty purse."
To this day, his heart wept from the truth of it. Never again would he allow a woman that much hold over him. He refused to let love or anything else blind him from what he needed to do. His duty was all that mattered.
Now more than ever before.
"I am so sorry," Julian breathed.
Kyrian shrugged. "We're all sorry for something." He reached for his torn, bloodied shirt.
"Listen," Julian said, stopping him, "why don't you take a shower and let me loan you some clothes?"
"I have a hunt to finish."
"No offense, Kyrian, but you look like hell. Granted it's been a long time since I fought, but I know how much easier it is with a full stomach and a hot bath."
Kyrian hesitated.
"Fifteen minutes?"
"Make it quick."
Kyrian let the soothing water slide over his battered body. The night was still young, but he was tired already. His shoulder throbbed and ached and his side wasn't much better.
Yet what held his attention was the woman downstairs.
Why was he so attracted to her? He had saved countless humans over the centuries. He had felt nothing for them other than a passing curiosity.
And yet this woman with open, honest eyes and a beguiling smile tugged at a heart he had banished centuries ago. He didn't need that. Dark-Hunters were forbidden to take steady lovers. Out of necessity, their sexual encounters were relegated to one-night stands.
They were reborn to walk alone through time. Each of them knew it. They had sworn themselves to it.
Never before had it bothered him.
There had only been one other time in his long life that he had felt this strange giddy feeling in the pit of his stomach when a woman smiled at him.
He cursed at the reminder.
"Oh, come on, Kyrian," he said as he bathed himself. "Get out of the house, kill Desiderius, and go home. Forget you ever saw her."
Pain cut through him at the very thought of never seeing her again.
Still, he knew what he had to do. This was his life and he loved the night he was bound by oath to. His duties were his family. His loyal oath his heart.
His job was his love, and it would remain that way for eternity.
"Amanda?"
Forcing her thoughts away from her handsome Dark-Hunter, Amanda looked to where Grace was seated in the armchair.
"Would you mind going up to the babies' room and getting a diaper for me?" Grace asked. "If I walk up those stairs again, I might not come back down."
She laughed. "Sure. Be right back."
Amanda went up the stairs, then headed down the hallway. She passed the bathroom at the same time Hunter came out of it, wrapping a towel about his waist.
They collided. Hunter put his hands on her shoulders to steady her, his eyes widening a degree as he recognized her.
Amanda froze as she realized her silver charm bracelet had gotten tangled in one of the terry-cloth loops.
Worse, the sight of all that lush, tawny skin and the feel of his strong hands on her body made her mouth water for a taste of him.
Her heart hammered at the sight of all the lean power and strength. At the smell of his warm, clean skin. His wet hair was slicked back from a face so well sculpted that she doubted any man could ever be more handsome.
He fixed those dark eyes with sinfully long eyelashes on her. The raw hunger in them made her hot and shivery. He looked as if he could devour her, and in truth, she wanted to be devoured by him. Completely. Utterly.
And with relish.
"Now, this is interesting," Hunter said with a hint of amusement in his voice.
Amanda didn't know what to do as she stood there with her wrist dangerously close to the sudden bulge under the towel. Why was it they kept getting attached?
Her gaze slid over the multitude of scars covering his body and she couldn't help wondering how many of them were from the torture he'd mentioned to Julian.
"Most of them," he whispered as he moved one hand over to cup her neck in his hand. She felt his fingers stroking her hair. His grip on her shoulder tightened ever so slightly.
"What?" she asked, looking up.
"Most of them are from the Romans."
She frowned. "How did you know what I was thinking?"
"I'm eavesdropping on your thoughts much the same way you listened to me and Julian."
A chill went down her spine as she considered his psychic powers. "You can do that?"
He nodded, but he wasn't looking at her, he was staring at his hand in her hair as if he were committing the texture and feel of it to memory.
His gaze returned to hers so fast it actually made her gasp. "And in answer to the question you're too afraid to think, all you have to do is move your arm and you'll know."
"Know what?"
"If I look as yummy without the towel as I do with it."
Her face flamed at the way he used her own words to describe exactly what she was too terrified to think.
Before she could move, he released her and dropped the towel to hang from her bracelet.
Amanda gaped at the sight of him completely naked before her. His hard, well-toned body was perfectly sculpted. And she quickly learned that his skin was golden all over. It wasn't a tan, it was his natural skin color.
She wanted him with a desperate need.
All she could think of was taking him into the bedroom and pulling him on top of, over, and then under her for the rest of the night.
Oh, the things she wanted to do to this man.
A half-smile hovered on the edges of his lips, and by the light in his eyes, she knew he was reading her thoughts. Again.
He leaned forward, his face just to the side of hers. His hot breath fell against her neck, scorching her. "Ancient Greeks never had a problem with public nudity," he whispered in her ear.
Her breasts tightened.
Slowly, he lifted his hand so that he could tilt her chin up. His gaze held hers enthralled as he appeared to search her mind for something.
Before she could move, he lowered his lips to hers.
Amanda moaned at the contact. This kiss was different from his last one. This one was gentle. Tender.
And it made her burn.
He left her lips and trailed a blazing path down her jaw to her neck, his tongue laving her skin ever so lightly. She wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders and surrendered her weight to him.
"You are so very tempting," he whispered, then traced the curve of her ear with his tongue. "But I have a job to do and you hate all things not human. And everything paranormal." He pulled back and gave her a wistful look. "Pity."
He freed his towel from her bracelet, tossed it over his shoulder, then headed to the bedroom. Amanda clenched her teeth at the sight of that luscious, gorgeous backside.
Her body on fire, she watched until he closed the door behind him.
Suddenly, she remembered the diaper.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than Hunter opened the door, tossed her one, then closed it again.
Kyrian leaned against the closed door as he fought the raging need inside him. It was raw and vicious, and it made him ache for things he knew he could never have.
Things that could only hurt him more. And he had been hurt enough to last ten thousand lifetimes.
He had to put her out of his thoughts.
But even as he stood there, the loneliness of his life settled down on him with a vengeance.
"You let your heart lead you far too often, boy. One day, it's going to lead you to ruin." He winced at his father's warning in his head. Neither of them had any idea at that time just how true those words would one day prove.
I am a Dark-Hunter.
That was what he needed to focus on. He was the only thing standing between Amanda and annihilation.
Desiderius was out there and he must stop him.
But what he really wanted to do was go downstairs, scoop Amanda up in his arms, and carry her back to his house where he could spend the entire night exploring every inch of her body with his lips, his hands. His tongue.
"I am such a fool," he snarled, forcing himself to dress in the clothes Julian had left for him.
He would think no more of her or of his past. He had a higher calling. One that couldn't be ignored.
He was a protector. And he would live and die as a protector, which meant that physical comforts such as a woman like Amanda were strictly off limits to him.
A few minutes later, dressed in Julian's jeans and a black V-neck sweater, he left the room with his leather coat over his arm, and went downstairs where Julian, Grace, Amanda, and the children were waiting.
Julian handed him a small paper sack.
"Gee," Kyrian said as he took it, "thanks, Dad. I promise to be a good boy and play nice with the other kids."
Julian laughed. "Smart-ass."
"Better than a dumb-ass." Kyrian sobered as he looked at Amanda and a burning wave of desire scorched him. What was it about her that made him unable to look at her without wanting to taste that mouth? Feel her warm body in his arms?
Kyrian cleared his throat. "Make sure she stays here until morning. The Daimons can't enter without an invitation."
"What about tomorrow night?" Grace asked.
"Desiderius should be dead by then."
Julian nodded.
Kyrian turned to leave, but before he could reach the door, Amanda stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm.
"Thank you," she said.
He inclined his head to her.
Leave . Because if he didn't, he just might yield to that demanding need inside him.
He looked past Amanda to Julian's wife. "It was nice meeting you, Grace."
"You too, Commander."
As he started out the door, Amanda caught him again and turned him about. Before he knew what she was doing, she kissed him on the cheek.
"You be careful," she whispered as she pulled away.
Stunned, he could do nothing more than blink. But what touched him most was the concern he saw in her crystal-blue eyes, the concern he felt in her heart. She really didn't want him hurt.
Desiderius is waiting.
The thought tore through his mind. He had to leave.
Yet walking away from her was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do.
"Have a nice life, Cupcake," he said to her.
"Cupcake?" Amanda asked in an offended tone.
He smiled. "After the 'buff stud in black leather' remark, I figured I owed you one." He patted her hand, then reluctantly removed it from his arm. "It's almost eight, you better go call your sister."
Kyrian let go of her hand and instantly felt the vacancy.
He exchanged a knowing look with Julian. This would be the last time they saw each other and they both knew it. "Good-bye, adelfos."
"Good-bye, little brother," Julian said.
Kyrian turned around, opened the door, and made his solitary way to his car.
Once inside, he couldn't resist looking back. Though he couldn't see Amanda, he could feel her on the other side of the door, staring after him.
He couldn't remember the last time anyone had been sorry to see him go. Nor could he recall ever feeling this insane need to keep a woman with him at any cost.