EmbracedbyaWarrior Read Free Page B

control long enough
to find out more about the man who’d asked her out. Rushing into intimacy
didn’t necessarily mean a relationship would work out. Oh who was she kidding?
If Darius put the moves on her again like he’d done back in the parking lot,
she wouldn’t be able to resist. He was just too gorgeous and made her want to
jump his bones every time she looked at him.
    * * * * *
    The following morning Darius awoke looking forward to what
the day would bring for the first time in a long while. Being immortal, he’d
started to lose interest in the people and places around him. He did his job
each night as one of Anubis’ warriors, but had long since stopped associating
with mortals. Their lifespans seemed too short. Eighty years was nothing to
him. And what family he’d had before he’d gone on crusade, he’d never kept
track of. Having never married or had children, he’d thought it best to stay
away from the land of his birth.
    After eating a late breakfast, he took a shower. That done,
Darius stood in front of the steamed mirror with a towel wrapped around his
hips. He used a small hand towel to clear some of the glass in front of him so
he could shave. His gaze landed on the mark the god of the underworld had
placed on him once Darius had taken his vow to become one of his warriors. It
was situated on his chest, over his heart. It was a picture of Anubis with a
jackal’s head. In one hand he held an ankh while in the other was a flail. The
whole thing was inside a cartouche, colored black.
    Darius picked up his razor and proceeded to shave off the
stubble that was a shade darker than the hair on his head. He combed his hair
and left it to dry by itself. After stepping into his bedroom, he headed for
his closet. He frowned when he found nothing but jeans and jackets that were
leather and denim. Without having to look, he knew the rest of his wardrobe
would consist of t-shirts and long-sleeved ones. He didn’t have anything that
would be considered “dressy”.
    Figuring there wasn’t much he could do about it now, Darius
pulled out a pair of blue jeans from the closet before he picked a light-gray
t-shirt from the dresser. Once clothed, he sat on the bed and put on his shoes.
As he did so, he thought of what he wanted to do with Brisa that day, besides
thinking about getting her in bed. He’d never “dated” anyone before. When he’d
been mortal, there had been no such thing. There’d been more arranged marriages
than not. At least that was the case in his station. His father had been a
knight, as had Darius. He still had his armor, sword and spurs to prove it.
    Before leaving his bedroom, Darius picked up the piece of
paper he’d taken out of his pants pocket when he’d changed out of his clothes
the night before. He stared at Brisa’s handwriting. It was small and neat,
unlike his hen scratching. He’d had a minimal amount of education when growing
up. Learning how to read and write hadn’t been part of it. He’d had to learn in
the years after becoming immortal.
    He headed down the stairs and into his living room. His cell
phone sat on an end table, charging. Like Brisa, he didn’t have a landline. He
liked to keep a minimal paper trail, since every thirty years or so he had to
change his identity. The only pain in the ass side effect of never aging in
this day and age. It wasn’t like the old days where he could just move to
another city or country and be done with it, keeping his same name.
    Darius unplugged his cell and pocketed it, then went to the
room that was meant to be a den. Inside, there was a mini-temple he’d created
for Anubis with religious pieces to the god of the underworld that Darius had
picked up in Egypt shortly after he’d taken his vow. Through worshipping
Anubis, Darius kept the link between them strong. That way he could call upon
the god whenever he needed him.
    After going through his morning ritual, and placing a bit of
beer and bread on the altar in offering