Eros' Arrow Read online

  "I don't know what I was thinking,” he confessed. “I know I have to shoot her. I was just hoping for some way ... it's just, when do I get to be happy and in love? Do I ever get to find someone for me? I'm beginning to think the mate-mark is a story you made up for me and that it doesn't even exist,” he ranted “Look, I'll do it today, I promise,” he told his mother as she handed him the day's list and leaned over to kiss his stubble covered cheek.

  After kissing him, Aphrodite took his face in her hands and looked him eye to eye. “Eros, you will have your true love, I know it. It will happen when the time is right, when it's the right woman. The mark will appear and you will know she is the one,” she brushed back the hair from his face then suddenly disappeared from his room as quickly and quietly as she'd arrived.

  Eros let out a heavy sigh and picked up his bow from the table, holding it in his hands. He and Amanda would never be together. Never! He turned and threw the bow across the room. It hit the wall and broke into pieces.

  "Damn it!” he went to pick up the pieces of the bow. As soon as his fingers touched the broken wood, it turned back into one solid piece again. He picked the bow up and tossed it back on the table, totally exasperated with everything in his life.

  * * * *

  Eros completed all of the names on his list that night but one; Amanda Jonson. He told himself he was doing the right thing, that his mother was right and that she deserved her own happiness even though it wouldn't be with him. He convinced himself he would just go to her, shoot her and be done with it; it was out of his hands now anyhow and there was nothing he could do.

  Eros appeared in Amanda's bedroom to find her sitting up in bed awake, reading a book. As he took a step towards her and reached behind him for an arrow from the quiver, she looked up at him, directly into his eyes making him stop dead in his tracks.

  "Finally,” she stated as she put her book down at her side. “I've been waiting for you all night you know. It took you long enough to come back,"

  "You can see me?” he whispered

  "Yes, I can see you, Eros,” she told him sarcastically. “You were here yesterday when I was watching TV in the living room, right? You touched me here,” she brushed her cheek exactly where he had touched her the night before.

  Eros nodded. He didn't know what was happening and he certainly didn't expect to have a conversation with Amanda. He assumed that somehow the Fates were behind this, screwing with him for not shooting her when he should have. They were big on payback.

  "How can you see me? You're not supposed to be able to see me at all,” he moved closer to her next to her bed, only an arms length away.

  "And you're real, not just a made up man in my dreams. Who are you?” She looked at him seriously as she brushed her long hair back off her shoulders before she continued. “I deserve an answer, you know. I love you and I don't even know who you are."

  Eros swallowed hard and felt his heart flip in his tightened chest at the words she'd spoken. He loved Amanda too with all his heart, but he knew it wasn't meant to be between them.

  "Amanda, those are the most incredible words anyone has ever spoken to me, they really are. But after tonight you won't even remember me,” he told her as he reached out and touched her face again, his open palm against her softest cheek.

  Amanda turned her face into his open palm smelling the scent of him for the first time before she spoke again. It was a new, wonderful sensation for her. She had never smelled him in her dreams.

  "Why? What happens after tonight?” Fear made her voice quake. She couldn't think of anything that could ever make her forget him.

  "Amanda, this might be hard for you to believe, but I'm Eros, the god of love. Tonight I'm supposed to shoot you with my arrow and tomorrow you'll be in love with someone else. You'll be in love with another man and you won't even remember me being here tonight, or the dreams we've shared together."

  "But why tonight? I don't understand. You were here yesterday. I know you were. I felt you. Why didn't you do it yesterday?"

  "Yes, I was supposed to shoot you yesterday, but I didn't,” he confessed to her and those amazing blue eyes of hers that held him enthralled.

  "Why didn't you shoot me yesterday then? Why did you come here and touch me and then leave?” She fixed him with a look that threatened to break his immortal heart into pieces.

  Damn the Fates and their cruelty for doing this to them, to him. All he wanted to do was gather Amanda into his arms and never let her go.

  "You love me too, don't you? That's why you didn't shoot me the night before. You couldn't do it, you couldn't shoot me. And you told me in our dream you'd make love with me forever if you could. If you're a god, why can't you? Why can't we be together?"

  Eros shook his head. “It's just not meant to be between us, trust me. We can't be together,” he stated to her matter of fact, hoping she would just accept his answer, but knowing from the way the conversation was going that his answer would never be enough for her.

  "But why? We're fantastic together. You know we are,” Amanda's voice cracked and shook. This was the first time she'd seen him in person and he was already telling her it would be the last time as well. Amanda knew that tears were welling up in her eyes, and she fought hard not to let them start flowing because she didn't think she'd be able to stop them once they started.

  Eros removed the quiver from his back, placing it on the floor along with the bow in his hand and sat down on the edge of her bed next to her. Eros reached over and took her delicate hands into his before he spoke. He had never hated being a god until that moment. He had never wished in his entire existence to be a mortal man, but now he would do anything to be human.

  "There's a rule for me to be able to be mated with a woman, Amanda."

  "What? What is it?” To be with him, Amanda would walk all the way to Hell and back. Anything she had to do to be with him would be worth it.

  Eros let go of her hands and placed his on his lap, uneasy at what he was going to tell her. He knew he had to tell her everything even despite his discomfort or her embarrassment.

  "Eros, what is it?” She looked up at him expectantly. The longer he waited the worse Amanda started to feel. She knew in her gut he was going to tell her something that she wasn't going to want to hear.

  "The rule is the woman has to be a virgin,” he told her, trying to read her face for a reaction.

  Amanda turned her head away from him, not wanting to look at him after what he had just said. Well, she was certainly out of the running on this one she thought to herself. She had lost her virginity years ago and had a few lovers since then as well.

  "Oh...” she mumbled to him as her face turned red, embarrassed. She didn't know why it bothered her so much that he knew she wasn't a virgin. She was an adult in her thirties.

  Finally, a few moments had passed and what he had said had the time to sink in. Amanda looked back at Eros.

  "Well then, if those are the rules, I guess there's nothing we can do about it then. But I do have a favor to ask of you Eros. Can you make love to me one more time before you shoot me?"

  Eros looked at her shocked by what she had just asked him. It wasn't the exact reaction he was expecting from her.

  "What?” he asked her in disbelief. Maybe he had misunderstood what she had said to him.

  "Can't we make love one more time, but for real? If I'm not going to remember anyhow, can't we just have now, this moment?” Amanda quietly asked him. Even if she wasn't going to remember being with him after that night she thought the idea of experiencing him for real might make everything easier for her to bear.

  Eros looked at her sitting there, waiting for his answer, her hair tousled and full lips slightly parted. He felt a tightening in his groin as he turned hard just from looking at her. He rationalized to himself that their making love just one time before he shot her would be all right. They'd be able to experience being together one sweet time, and by tomorrow, she'd forget it even happened. He on th
e other hand would be able to carry the memory of having her with him.. He decided he would give her the moment she wanted, and that he wanted as well ... maybe even more than she.

  Eros leaned into her to place a kiss on her lips. Without thinking her face was suddenly between his open palms, his tongue caressing hers, rubbing against hers. There was a heat between them that hadn't existed in their dreams. It was real, tangible. He moaned as her tongue found his again and his cock hardened to the point of discomfort.

  Amanda turned her head and Eros started kissing her neck, finding her earlobe and lightly nipping at it with his teeth, sending shivers down her body. She pulled away from him and pulled off her cotton nightgown throwing it to the floor, letting Eros now see she had worn nothing underneath.

  "How can you be more beautiful?” he stood up and undressed. Amanda was lying on her back, waiting for him to come to her. Once naked, he joined her on the bed, and climbed over her, straddling her.

  Amanda reached up to run her fingers along the contours of his abs just as she'd always done in their dreams. They were exquisite. She looked up at him as he was looking down at her, his hair falling forward around his face but not enough to hide the smoldering look in his eyes. She sat up while he still straddled her, desperate to experience his soft lips somewhere on her body. Anywhere. She didn't care. He leaned in to kiss her again and she ran her hands through his silky dark hair that flowed through her fingers. She grabbed a fistful of his pulled his head back so his neck was exposed. She leaned in and ran her tongue down his neck as her hands held his muscular shoulders.

  He let out a moan of pleasure as her tongue moved from his neck across his shoulder. She moved her mouth down to one of his nipples and the tip of her tongue circled the hardened nub. Finally Eros couldn't take it any more and reached up to move her hands from his shoulders. He placed them on her own thighs and started kissing her neck. He then eased her gently back down onto the bed, resting her head on the pillows. He worked his way down to her breastbone with his fiery kisses. He paused for a moment considering which breast to go to first. As his tongue started circling an erect pink nipple his hand palmed the other, so both were tended to at the same time. Amanda closed her eyes and a low purr, almost inaudible, escaped from deep in her throat. She doubted if whatever magic Eros possessed would ever be able to make her forget this night. Every touch of his lips on her body seared her.

  Eros raised his head from her breast and looked up at her with the most adorable boyish smile before he bent down and planted a raspberry directly into the center of her belly button, causing her to squeal out in delight and try to push his head away.

  "I always wanted to do that,” he laughed at her as he raised himself on his knees and moved his body back, down to her knees.

  "I hate raspberries on my bellybutton,” she told him trying to sound angry, yet not quite succeeding as she rubbed the spot where he had blown on her stomach.

  He was still smiling as he shifted his body above hers to part her knees so that he was now kneeling between them. With one hand, he softly grazed the dark red hair between her legs before he looked down to her sex and slid a lone finger inside of her. He inhaled a sharp breath as her body's tight wetness surrounded him. He was only able to slide his finger in and out of her a few times before the urge for his fully aroused erection to be buried inside of her consumed him.

  He removed his finger, coated with the cream from inside her. He placed himself up over her body and placed one arm on the bed next to Amanda's side then raised his body up over her. With his other hand, he guided himself toward her and slowly slid inside her as far as he could enter. He couldn't help but moan at the sensation of her totally surrounding him, her muscles tightly grasping his cock. He closed his eyes and lowered his other forearm onto her bed so he lay on top of her. He moved his hips against hers, grinding himself against her as she lifted her hips to meet his.

  Eros leaned down to kiss Amanda's opened mouth, sliding his tongue into her mouth as he started to move in and out of her in slow, sliding movements.

  Suddenly he stopped, startled. A tingling sensation on his chest right above his heart stilled his movements. He pulled his head back from her and lifted himself above her again, looking down at his own chest, confused. He stopped moving though still buried deep within her. He stared at his pectoral where he could see the very faint appearance of letters forming there. He blinked. He must be mistaken. He was reading the letters upside down, but he could see that they spelled Amanda.

  How could this be possible? How could this be happening? His mate-mark was slowly getting darker on his skin, the name Amanda now totally legible.

  Amanda was looking to where Eros was staring and saw her name appear, as if someone had written it on him with invisible ink that had just started to show. “What is that?” she whispered to him. “Why is my name on your chest?” she questioned, reaching her hand to his chest. She didn't touch his skin for fear of hurting him. As the letters became even darker, the skin started to slightly raise, her name appearing like a brand on his chest.

  "Does that hurt you?” she hoped her name wasn't causing him pain or discomfort.

  "No,” he told her as he shook his head. “It just tingles, like there's something there, but it doesn't hurt at all,” he explained to her, seeing her concern for him in her eyes. He wanted her to understand he wasn't in any pain. “I don't know how this is happening,” he confessed to her. This was the moment he had waited for, Amanda was his mate. “For me to mate with a mortal woman, she has to be a virgin,” he told her still looking confused.

  "What did you say?” Amanda's eyes widened. Surely, she hadn't, heard him correctly.

  "To mate with a mortal woman she has to be a virgin,” he repeated. How could she not understand?

  "Wait. That's not what you said earlier when you first got here,” she told him, suddenly knowing why his matemark was appearing. “When you came here earlier, you told me that in order to mate, the woman had to be a virgin. You never said anything about being mortal,” she looked at her name on his skin.

  "Now I don't understand,” Eros told her as he shifted his body's weight, his cock still rock hard inside her.

  "It's easy to figure out, Eros. You said a mortal woman had to be a virgin.... I'm not mortal. Well half of me is, but the other half...” her voice trailed off letting him absorb what she was saying.

  "You're only half mortal?” Her words surprised him just as much as the appearance of the mark on him. “I never sensed a god in you,” he told her, “only mortal."

  "Yeah, well my mom was mortal and I mostly take after her, so I'm not surprised you missed it. Plus I've lived as a mortal my whole life. My mom raised me since my dad didn't want a half mortal daughter, so I never even saw him. I never had any special powers or anything like that either; at least I never did until yesterday. I think that was how I was able to tell you were in the room last night.” She looked at the mark again, now written in bold letters clearly on his skin. “Can I touch it?"

  He nodded yes, and she reached up to touch her name with trembling fingers. She traced the letters, glancing at his face every so often as she did as if to assure herself she wasn't hurting him.

  "So now, does this mean...” she started to ask, but felt strange saying the words out loud. He that he'd thought they were only going to make love one time, but now he'd ended up mated to her. She wasn't entirely sure how he would feel about their situation, but she definitely knew how she felt. She would love him forever with her body and soul.

  "It means—It means you're my mate. It means now you're immortal like me. It means I'll never have another lover but you, Amanda, and it means I will love you and take care of you forever,” he promised to her as he started to slowly move his hips against hers again.

  As Eros began to ease himself in and out of her he kissed her gently on the lips.

  She thought of how he'd once told her he'd make love to her forever if he could. She looked up at him, int
o those intense bottomless brown eyes that were promising her unending love and knew he would do just as he'd said.

  The End

  You can find Annmarie Ortega's books at the following places besides Red Rose Publishing.

  New Concepts Publishing

  The Diary of Annalise

  Twilight Fantasies Publishing

  Possessing Poseidon

  What a Knight coming soon

  Whiskey Creek Press Torrid

  Summer Solstice Scorchers

  Jack's Frost coming this winter

  Dark Castle Lords

  Dream Man coming soon in print

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  Visit www.redrosepublishing.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.