Bab 336: Life of the Part

Jos let out a long sigh as she gave the hand resting around her should a light kiss before pushing it away.

"Where are you going, kitten?" Arei asked as he began to push up from the sofa they'd been sharing and caught her hand.

Jos held her hand out to stop him. "No, it's alright. I'm just going for a walk... I'm feeling a bit restless... You stay and enjoy your family's company." She sent him a weak smile. "It's hard to tell the next time everyone is gathered together like this."

A frown curved his lips as he searched her eyes before finally nodding and releasing her. "Don't wander too far away. Father and Uncle are not getting along at the moment so even this place isn't completely safe."

"Alright... I'll keep that in mind and stay inside the library..." Her eyes moved around the expansive room. "It's not like there isn't plenty of space to move around in..."

His smile perked. "Maybe the better warning would be: try not to get lost." He sent her a wink as he sat back down. "If you're not back by the time things wrap up here, I'll send out a search party."

Jos smiled back at him as she nodded. She bent and gave him a quick kiss before making her excuses to the others. Poseidon had gone directly to his office after a very quick hello, promising to take Ry and Russ back to the island as soon as the get-together was over and the urgent work he was working on was finished. Shelly and Rin had already turned in for the night over an hour ago. Drake, who had followed her down after their brief but confusing conversation, had returned to his room after only a quick hello as well. "I'm sorry guys... I'm kinda tired and... um probably going to call it a night... or at least get some air." She gave a shrug. "What can I say I feel like I've been dragged through hell and back."

"Ba-dunck-chink!" Chary laughed, making air drum movements. "If we don't see you before we leave, stay outta trouble... or at least some for us." She sent Jos a wink.

"I'll try to save all of it for you from here on out." Jos said with a nervous chuckle.

"Promises, promises!" Chary giggled drunkenly.

Jos rolled her eyes unable to fight off the smile that curved her lips. "Until next time, then. You guys, be safe with work."

"Aye, aye!" Chary saluted as she laid back in the submerged lounge chair.

Russ watched as Jos nodded toward him and Ry before turning from the seating area and heading toward the back staircase. Russ wanted a few minutes, forcing his gaze to stay focused on the conversation around him, before pushing up from his seat.

"Where are you going?" Ry asked, catching Russ's wrist.

Russ shot a glare between Ry's questioning eyes and the massive hand still wrapped around his wrist. "I gotta talk to her before we leave."

Ry arched a brow. "Are you sure that's a good idea? After what you said earlier, ya know..."

A muscle in Russ's cheek twitched with irritation. "It's part of what I have to talk to her about, and it may be the last chance I get... besides..." He sharpened his glare. "You owe me at least this much for all the shit you've pulled, don't you think?"

Ry released his grip with a low growl, sending a skeptical glance toward Arei. "I'll only distract him as long as he stays in this area. If he comes after her, you're on your own kid. So don't do anything that will get your ass kicked."

Russ nodded before giving a crooked smile. "I don't know what you're worried about. I'm way more afraid of her than I am of him nowadays." He gave Ry's thick arm a playful tap. "But just in case, if he gets up, hit my phone with a quick text."

Ry shook his head. "Triffling... that's what you are..."

"Just say you'll do it." Russ held the large man's hazel gaze until he finally gave in and nodded in agreement. "Thanks!" Russ said with a smile as he turned toward the stairs. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, following Jos's familiar scent until he finally found her.

She hadn't gone up the stairs, instead, she'd found a quiet nook on the bottom level. It was closed in on one side with a bookcase lined with sun-bleached old books. The other two walls were floor-to-ceiling windows that stretched past all the floors giving a wide panoramic view of gardens and skies outside. Her shoes were sitting beside her at the edge of one of the many pools, her feet dipped in their reflective depths.

Russ admired her beautiful silhouette as he slowly approached, kicking off his shoes as he went. "Mind if I join you?"

Jos let out a huffed laugh. "Go on two murderous rampages less than a year apart from each other and suddenly everyone is asking for your permission to breath..." She patted the floor beside her as she sent him a faint smile. "I assume you guys are getting ready to leave?"

Russ nodded. "Probably here soon. Poseidon hasn't come down from his office yet." He rolled up the hem of his jeans as he sat down and placed his feet into the water as well. He watched as the ripple sent the reflection of hundreds of stars shimmering across the pool. "It's a nice spot, I can see why you chose it."

A smile curved her lips as she propped her elbow against her thigh and rested her head in her hand. "What can I say. I thought it would be far enough away from everyone that no one would bother me here..."

Russ patted his nose with a chuckle. "Werewolf, remember..." His expression grew serious. "I didn't mean to bother you, I know you've been through a lot lately... hell, for the past several years... longer really... But I wanted to talk to you privately, and I figured this was the only chance I'd get."

Jos let out a long sigh as she laid down with her feet still in the water. Her head turned toward the shoes he'd taken off, and she lifted one with the tip of her finger. "You have to be the only soon-to-be king in history to wear crocs."

"Hey, those are totally the business casual style!" He said with forged upset as he snatched it away. "Besides..." He shrugged. "They're so comfortable, I'm even going to wear these bitches to my coronation. You just watch and see." He set it back down as he leaned back supporting himself on one hand, studying her forever youthful face. "You'll be there, right? By my side?" He whispered as he reached out to brush the loose hairs that framed her face away.

Jos gently pushed his hand away, but he entwined his fingers with hers instead. Her expression became serious tinged with unspoken sadness. "What is it you really came here to talk about?"

Russ frowned as he stared deeply into her eyes. "Jos... I... it killed me to see you laying there unmoving, looking... dead..." He shifted his gaze to the pool as he ran his hand over his long hair. "Then to see what those bastards put you through... and..."

She arched a brow as she sat up. "And to actually witness what I'm capable of?"

Russ shook his head as he turned his attention back to her. "No, to see what hell you have to go through to feel the need to protect yourself." He pressed her palm to his pounding heart. "It hurt so bad to watch that... to know what level of desperation you had to be going through to lose control like that."

Jos frowned as she looked away. "And what if I told you, I hadn't actually lost control? Granted it took a few minutes for my memories to return once I'd woken up... but I never lost cognitive function... my shifted form was completely under my control... That was all me, and the years of built-up rage that had been brewing for all the bad things that had happened... all the people I'd lost because of them... Just everything..."

Russ nodded in understanding. "It's completely understandable. No one could have held back after everything you've been through. Hell, I barely have around Drake and Mattie, and they have had very little involvement in all this." He caught her other hand and tugged them both to his chest, drawing her closer. "Let's run away to someplace that's never heard of the Kraken. Somewhere the curse can't reach you... Somewhere it's just the old Jos and Russ... no titles... no fucked up council or demi-god drama."

Jos tugged her hands free as she shook her head. "I believe you're forgetting all the people you'd be leaving behind... abandoning... who count on you."

He caught her chin and brought her eyes up to meet his. "No, I know very well what and who I'd be giving up; but you have to know regardless of anything else, I'll always choose you. You'll always be most important to me." Jos shook her head as she pushed his hands away from her and lifted from the ground. "No, you don't mean any of this. It's just the curse... just like it always has been."

Russ sprang up behind her and caught her hand, tugging her back around to face him. "I don't care anymore whether it is or isn't. I personally don't believe it could be. How could a curse be so selective over who it affects? My father, Rin, Ry, Georgos... fucking Fern... There are so many men around you who were never affected. There has to be more to it. Hell, Mattie was in your room earlier and never tried anything..."

Jos's frown deepened. "I'm sure murderous intents bypass horny curse nearly every time..."

He cupped both sides of her face. "You're missing the point I'm trying to make. I love you and will always regardless of a curse or anything else."

Jos's brows knitted in growing frustration. "And what about Jaden? Are you going to throw everything with her away? Are you going to call the obvious connection you have with her fake? Russ, she's your soulmate, the one you should have been with from the beginning... not me." Jos clasped his wrists and pushed him away again. She shook her head as she continued. "Even if neither of us had met our true other halves and had somehow stayed together, it would have never worked in the long run. You will always be a prince meant to lead a nation... and I'm a monster who will only ever be seen as such..." When he moved to grab her again, she blocked him. "No, just let it end already... here and now..."

Russ took a step back from her, standing rigid as he watched her slide her shoes on. "You're the only one who continues to see yourself as a monster, no one else..."

Jos let out a tired sigh. "Maybe so... but it still changes nothing. Go back to your palace and the people who need you... go back to Jaden..." Jos didn't stop walking until she was inside the comfort of Arei's bedroom. The darkness enveloped her soothing her raw, scattered nerves. She kicked her shoes off once again and tugged off the tight, uncomfortable dress she'd been wearing, and replaced it with one of Arei's oversized tee shirts. She crawled into the window seat and curled into a ball resting her head against the cool glass. Tears burned her eyes as her traitorous mind played back all the pains of the past year. It didn't take long before her emotions became too overwhelming and sleep began to tug at her eyelids. Jos fought hard against its pull, but the long finger of the god of sleep was already wound tightly around her ankles pulling her deeper in.

A whimper escaped Jos's lips as she was tugged from the early recesses of sleep and the tortures that lay within. Thick, warm arms held her tightly as the gentle sway of being carried threatened to put her back to sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and up to the shadowed features of the man carrying her. A smile curved her lips as she raised her fingers to trace the curve of his full bottom lip. "Arei..." She whispered his name as sparkling Caspian blue-green eyes met hers.

Arei kissed the fingers that traced his lips teasingly. "I didn't mean to wake you. I just figured you'd sleep better in bed versus pressed up against the window." He whispered as he set her in the center of his large bed.

Jos watched as he tugged his tight shirt over his head, amazed at how a shirt the exact size of the one she was currently lost inside of could fit him so snuggly. Her eyes followed his hands down to his belt as he unfastened it and tugged it free of his jeans before tossing it to the floor. She licked her lips as his jeans followed the belt down.

Arei chuckled. "Keep it up and you may not sleep at all tonight..."

Jos cleared her throat as her eyes roamed hungrily over his body. "You say that like it's a bad thing..."

A seductive smile curved his lips as he crawled across the bed to her and captured her lips in a teasing kiss. "In that case..." He didn't waste any time sliding his hand under the baggy shirt and caress her soft skin. He carefully guided her onto her back as he continued to kiss and tease her body. "I'll not lie, I've been wanting to do this most of the night..." He tugged the tee free from her and kissed a flaming trail from her throat all the way down to her most sensitive area, not missing the smallest millimeter of flesh between. "I love you kitten." He whispered as he leaned across the bed and took a condom from the nightstand. He ripped the pack open with his teeth and began working it onto his hard shaft as he lowered his mouth back to her moist folds.

Jos's heart both sank and raced with that one action... {Even after all that has happened... he's still dead set on using protection...}