Love’s Fiery Arrow Marisa Chenery Goddess Revealed, Book Two. Aric thinks he’s losing his mind when a lioness appears in an alleyway to defend him from some thugs—when she turns into a gorgeous woman, he’s even more confused. Before he can even ask her name, though, she disappears. That night, the gorgeous woman shows up at his apartment and tells him that he’s her mate—the man meant to stay with her for all eternity. The passion blazes between them, but they have to make a choice—for them to be together, Aric has to accept immortality and Menhit must agree to leave her home in the immortal realm, never to return. An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication www.ellorascave.com Love’s Fiery Arrow ISBN 9781419926600 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Love’s Fiery Arrow Copyright 2010 Marisa Chenery Edited by Meghan Conrad Cover art by Syneca Electronic book publication February 2010 The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing. 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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. L ’ F A OVE S IERY RROW Marisa Chenery Love’s Fiery Arrow Chapter One Aric Driscol groaned as he took in the rush hour traffic on Toronto’s busy Yonge Street. As a bike courier, the heavy traffic didn’t help him do his job any faster. Adjusting the strap of his messenger bag across his chest, Aric slowed his bike. He’d just picked up a delivery, the last one of the day, and wanted to get it over and done with. The package he had to deliver wasn’t heavy, but it was long and narrow. The end of the box stuck out the top of his bag and lay against his back. Thinking there was nothing for it, he changed direction. He would have to cut through the back alleyways if he wanted to make up some time. While he raced down some smaller side streets, a car pulled up behind his bike and started to follow him. At first, he thought the car only happened to be going the same way, but as the car’s front bumper edged closer and closer to his bike’s back tire, he started to think otherwise. Picking up speed, Aric decided to try to lose them in the back alleys. He zig- zagged through them, taking short turns, but the car continued following him. He soon cursed under his breath when he realized he’d taken a wrong turn. Paying more attention to the car than where he should be going had cost him—he had stupidly trapped himself in a dead-end alley. The car quickly pulled in behind him, blocking his way out. Aric turned his bike around and pushed at the brim of the black bicycle helmet he wore as two tough-looking characters stepped out. They slowly walked toward him. Aric let his gaze skip over them. The first guy had dark brown hair, which he wore in a buzz cut. He also looked as if he were built like a brick shithouse with fists the size of hams. His partner appeared equally big and wore his reddish brown hair down to his shoulders. Neither of them looked friendly. Buzz cut spoke first. “It doesn’t look as if you’re going anywhere. Why don’t you get off your bike so we can get this over?” 5 Marisa Chenery “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay right where I am.” Aric could fight with the best of them, but he knew he didn’t stand a chance against these two. He was muscular, but not bulky muscular. He spent too many hours a day on a bicycle to have massive muscles. Long hair shook his head. “We didn’t corner you just to let you go.” Aric had no idea why these two had singled him out. What made him so special? “If it’s money you want, I only have five bucks. As for what I have in my bag, I doubt it would be worth much to you.” “Who says we want your money or the package you have in your bag?” Buzz cut asked, cracking his knuckles. Had he somehow managed to piss these two off? Aric didn’t think he had cut them off with his bike. He knew some taxi cab drivers took exception to cyclists weaving in and out of traffic, but he hadn’t done much of that today. The only thing Aric could come up with was maybe these two got their jollies from beating the crap out of bike messengers. Either way it didn’t look good. As the two guys stepped closer, the package resting against Aric’s back started to heat up, warming enough for him to feel the heat seeping through the cardboard of the box and into his black t-shirt, straight through to his skin. It grew so hot Aric wondered if he would get singed. A loud roar of a large cat suddenly filled the alley causing the two thugs and Aric to freeze in place. What the hell was that? Aric thought while searching the alley. At first he couldn’t see anything, then his heart jumped into his throat as a large lioness stepped from the shadows at the back of the alley. The look of real fear that suddenly appeared on the two thugs’ faces would have been comical if he weren’t in the same danger of being attacked as they were. The lioness slinked closer while she curled her upper lip and growled with menace at the two men. She stopped when she drew up alongside with Aric and let loose 6 Love’s Fiery Arrow another ear-splitting roar before her body started to blur and shift. Unable to look away, Aric’s mouth hung open as the lioness disappeared to be replaced by a woman. He swallowed audibly as he gazed at her in shock. She had straight black hair that hung past her shoulders. Only able to see her profile, Aric definitely liked what he saw. She had delicate features, a complete contrast to her body, which was slim and muscular. She wore what looked like a kilted skirt that only reached her mid-thigh. Her top, sleeveless and tight, showed a great deal of her midriff. Aric had to wonder if her skin felt as soft as it looked. He then gave himself a mental shake. Was he crazy? Right about now, he should be questioning his sanity not admiring the woman’s good looks. He also should he hightailing it out of there, but obviously his flight or fight instinct had completed deserted him. The woman reached behind her, drawing Aric’s eyes to the quiver of arrows she carried on her back. A bow appeared in her other hand as she selected an arrow and placed it in the bow. The arrowhead burst into flame when she aimed it at the two thugs, who looked as if they were ready to piss their pants. Aric focused his attention on the two men who had both jerked into motion at the same time. They dashed to their car and drove away as if the hounds of hell were on their heels. Now alone with the woman, he swung his head back in her direction. When he didn’t find her, Aric quickly searched the alley. She didn’t appear to be anywhere. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted something, drawing his attention. In the spot where he had last seen the woman, a single arrow lay on the ground. He pushed his bike over to it and picked it up. Where could she have gone? The alley had a dead-end and it wasn’t as if he could have missed seeing her leave. She had simply disappeared. Aric touched the arrow’s head with the tip of his finger and quickly jerked it away. The metal still felt hot. Thinking he had to be seeing things, he swung his bag to his front and shoved the arrow inside. Once he had the bag against his back, he hopped onto his bike and continued on his way. He still had his delivery to make. Later he could come to grips with the fact that he had lost his marbles. 7 Marisa Chenery * * * * * Aric reached the corporate high-rise ten minutes later. He locked his mountain bike to a lamppost before he went inside. After he rode the elevator up to the right floor, he pulled the package out of his bag as he approached the reception desk. He smiled at the woman behind it. “I have a package for a…” Aric stopped and read the name off the package. “For a Mr. Black.” The woman nodded. “Just a sec. I’ll let him know. He’s been expecting it.” Aric shifted from one foot to the other. He just wanted to get back on his bike and go home. At least Mr. Black didn’t keep him waiting—a short, heavyset, middle-aged man soon came out to meet him. Mr. Black took the package when Aric handed it to him. Before Aric could give him the piece of paper he needed signed to confirm the delivery, the man grabbed a pair of scissors from the reception desk and cut the box open. He reached inside and pulled out a single arrow. Aric shifted nearer and studied the arrow. If he wasn’t mistaken, the arrow Mr. Black held in his hands matched the one still inside his bag, right down to the fletching. It seemed too much of a coincidence that the woman had possessed the exact same one back there in the alley. Mr. Black smiled as he noticed Aric’s interest. “I see you’re admiring my latest acquisition. Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s purported to have belonged to the Egyptian goddess Menhit, who was a goddess of war. She went ahead of the Egyptian army, bringing down Egypt’s enemies with her fiery arrows. With arrows like this one.” Aric swallowed. Fiery arrows? The woman in the alley had aimed a fiery arrow at those thugs. It couldn’t be. Even if he did believe in those sorts of things, which he didn’t, Aric felt pretty sure a goddess of war would not just suddenly appear in some alley in the middle of downtown Toronto. It seemed too farfetched. “Interesting.” Aric held out the piece of paper Mr. Black needed to sign. 8 Love’s Fiery Arrow Mr. Black gently put the arrow back inside the box before he took the paper. As he signed, he said, “It is. I’ve done a lot of research on Menhit, she who massacres.” “Oh.” Aric just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. Obviously Mr. Black was the type of person who liked to tell people lots of useless information whether they wanted to hear it or not. Finally, Mr. Black had signed the paper. Before he gave it back, he said one last thing. “I particularly like that Menhit was a lioness-goddess, as most goddesses of war were depicted.” Aric took the paper and shoved it into his bag. As Mr. Black opened his mouth to speak once again, Aric cut him off before he got a chance to say anything else. “That’s all very interesting, but I have another delivery to make.” “Oh, yes, of course. I won’t hold you up. Thanks for delivering my package unharmed.” With a nod of his head, Aric crossed to the elevators and pushed the down button. The information Mr. Black had given him about Menhit swirled inside his head as he rode the elevator down to the lobby. He really must have lost it, because at the moment, he couldn’t say for sure it hadn’t been Menhit in that alley. Too many facts seemed to match—the fiery arrow, and the fact that the woman had first appeared as a lioness. Aric gave himself a mental shake when he stepped outside and unlocked his bike. He’d go home and have a couple of stiff drinks. Maybe then he would be able to come up with another plausible explanation as to what had happened in the alley. When Aric arrived at his apartment building, he hefted his bicycle onto his shoulder and took the elevator to his third-floor, one-bedroom apartment. Leaving his bike against the wall by the entrance, he turned and locked the door. He ran his hands through his hair once he took off his bike helmet. After a long day of deliveries Aric was hungry, so he grabbed a yogurt before he took a much needed shower. It had been a scorcher of a day. 9 Marisa Chenery He headed for his bedroom as he pulled off his bag. Aric set it down on the floor by his bed and took out the arrow. Still not ready to think about how he had come by it, Aric put it down on the bed. He quickly stripped out of his clothes and headed for the bathroom. Feeling human again after his shower, Aric dressed in a dark blue tank top and a pair of khaki shorts. He made his way to his small living room and went to the window air-conditioning unit. Cool air blew against him, making him sigh in relief. If not for it, his apartment would be unbearably hot. Satisfied that he wouldn’t sweat to death any time soon, he went to his kitchen, which was even smaller than the living room. Too tired to cook, Aric grabbed a frozen pasta dinner out of the freezer and threw it into the microwave. Once he could handle his dinner without burning himself, he picked it up, grabbed a fork and headed back to the living room. He sat on the couch, propped his legs on the coffee table and switched on the TV. The combination of food and being outside in the hot sun all day made Aric tired. It was way too early to go to bed, so he pushed back his tiredness and forced himself to focus on the TV. Deciding he needed a beer to round out his meal, he went to the kitchen and grabbed one from the fridge. Aric sat back down on the couch and took a few sips from the cold beer bottle, but all too soon, his eyes started to droop. Feeling as if he was he could fall asleep at any time, his eyes snapped open when he felt something warm and furry brush up against his shins. When his gaze landed on the lioness that stood between him and the coffee table, Aric jumped. The beer he held dumped in his lap. Cursing as the cold liquid seeped through his shorts to his dick, Aric lurched to his feet and ran to the kitchen for a dish towel. As he patted down his shorts he purposely kept his back to the living room. I’ll turn around and the lioness will be gone. She was just a figment of my imagination. He threw the beer-soaked towel into the sink and took a deep breath. Aric spun around and once again locked gazes with the lioness that had come up behind him. She looked pretty damn real to him. 10