Read Dark Hunter 00 - Dark Bites (Novellas) for Free Online

brushed back a piece of hair from her face. He knew that they would never be physically intimate, and while a part of him craved that experience, he loved her enough to not ask for something he knew he couldn’t have. Something he wasn’t worthy of. But at the same time, the thought of not sharing these quiet afternoons alone with her, of not having her drill him with random odd and embarrassing questions, hurt more than he could bear. “I am.”
    Suddenly, she pulled her amulet off and placed it around his neck. The stone amulet was still warm from her body temperature. “What are you doing?”
    She placed her hand over it. “You gave me your heart. It’s only fair that I give you mine.”
    He smiled at her precious and innocent sweetness that touched him all the way to his soul. “It doesn’t work like that, my lady. Love isn’t about fairness. It’s about emotion.”
    “You are about emotion. I’m about fairness.” She patted her necklace. “This is fair. I don’t need two hearts and you can’t live without one. So I have yours and you have mine.”
    And he would never treasure anything more. He placed his hand over hers and reveled in the inner beauty that was his goddess. “Thank you, my lady.”
    Bathymaas inclined her head to him as she stared at their joined hands. For the first time, she was beginning to understand why people did the strange things they did.
    Not for themselves, but for others.
    As she’d told Ari, she couldn’t be hurt or killed. But that wasn’t true of him. And the more she thought about something happening to him, the more her chest tightened. The harder it was to breathe. Even without asking, she knew this was physical pain. Something she should be completely ignorant of.
    Yet that was no longer true.
    Somehow, they had exchanged hearts, and if anything ever happened to Ari…
    She honestly feared what she might do. When her father had given her a heart, he’d never said what would happen should it break or shatter. All her life, she’d kept it safe. But now that Ari had it, she could no longer keep it from getting hurt.
    Most of all, she couldn’t keep him from harm.
    “Be careful for me, Ari.”
    “Always, my goddess. You are the very air I breathe.”
    Warmth spread through her at those words. For some reason, they were important to her.
    Just like him.

August 23, 12,251 BC
     
    As soon as they dismounted in the small town nearest the cottage where they’d been born, Galen pulled Aricles to the side so that he could whisper while Bathymaas looked about at the people who called Didimosia home. “Why is the goddess with us?”
    “She wanted to see a wedding.”
    Glancing back to where she waited with their horses, Galen grimaced. “She makes me nervous.”
    Aricles smiled at his brother. “Relax. She won’t harm you.” He clapped his hand against Galen’s shoulder then returned to the woman he loved and adored.
    Dressed in the finest white silk, she was beauty incarnate and looked extremely out of place in the mortal realm. For his brother’s wedding, he and Galen were dressed in their best chitons and chlamyses. But compared to her, they looked like the rubes Galen accused them of being.
    Her ethereal gaze swept his body, making him even harder than he’d been. “Ari… It is so strange to see you in clothing.”
    Aricles blushed as several people turned to stare at them with great curiosity.
    Bathymaas frowned as she noted their reactions. “Did I say something inappropriate?”
    “No, my lady. They thought something inappropriate.”
    To his shock, her cheeks darkened. “Is this embarrassment?” she whispered to him.
    “Do you want to fall into a hole where no one can see you, and take back your words?”
    She nodded vigorously.
    “Then yes, my lady. That is embarrassment.”
    The most adorable scowl contorted her beautiful features. She leaned closer to whisper in his ear. “I don’t like this emotion, Ari.”
    “Most people don’t.”
    “How