Authors: Marisa Chenery
HerEternalWarrior
Her Eternal Warrior
Book two in the Warrior Hunger series.
Protecting mortals from the evil preying upon them is Tor’s
number-one job. His dying pledge to serve the Egyptian god Anubis gave him
immortality and a life of solitude as a jackal shifter—for thousands of years.
But all that changes when he saves a young woman from being attacked. The
moment he sees her face, his blood stirs—as does his cock. For the first time ever,
Tor’s reluctant to wipe himself from a victim’s mind. She becomes the center of
his existence, and nothing but total possession will do.
Kenna can’t believe her luck when the sexy-as-hell stranger
approaches the hotel reception desk and asks her out. There’s something
familiar about him, but she just can’t place it. She falls hard and fast, and
scorching sex is the icing on the cake. Tor’s guarded secret could change
everything, however. Sure, she was open to settling down, but life with Tor
would put a whole new meaning on the word “forever”.
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Her Eternal Warrior
ISBN 9781419939600
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Her Eternal Warrior Copyright © 2012 Marisa Chenery
Edited by Grace Bradley
Photography and cover design by Syneca
Model: Georgio
Electronic book publication April 2012
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Her Eternal Warrior
Marisa Chenery
Tale of Anubis’ Warriors
To help battle the evil that lurked in the mortal realm,
Anubis created his warriors. Each one was taken from a battlefield, near death,
crying out for another chance at life. Only the pure of heart did the Egyptian
god of the underworld choose. Men who would serve him, and would help him bring
the mortals who would harm others of their world before Anubis for judgment.
With their last dying breath, the warriors would pledge themselves to Anubis,
bound for all eternity. In return, the god of the underworld granted them
immortality and the means to defeat the ones who preyed upon others. Marked as
one of Anubis’ own, the warriors were sent out into the world, never to meet
another of their kind, always alone.
Chapter One
After a long night of hunting evildoers, Tor was more than
happy to call it quits with the coming dawn. Las Vegas wasn’t called Sin City
for nothing. Most nights he found more than enough prey to keep him on his
toes. There were so many tourists around. Evil liked to stalk them, try to
steal from or harm those who were weak or unaware of the danger that lurked
around.
Tor now called Las Vegas his home, but that hadn’t always
been so. He’d been born in ancient Egypt. He was also the very first warrior of
Anubis. He’d given his vow to the god of the underworld when mortally wounded
during a military expedition to Sinai Peninsula in Egypt while serving his
pharaoh, Djoser. Tor had been a soldier during his pharaoh’s reign in the third
dynasty in the Old Kingdom. He’d stayed in the land of his birth for thousands
of years before moving on to the New World.
Tor spotted his sports car ahead and his steps lengthened.
The car was a flashy red, and a recent purchase of his. Since the invention of
the motorized vehicle, he’d always had an automobile. Every couple of years
he’d see a newer model and would have to have it.
Tor got into the car and the engine roared to life with the
turn of the key. He pulled away from the curb and headed for the center of the
city. He knew it was stupid of him, but from time to time he liked to take a
drive by the Luxor hotel to look at the pyramid-shaped building and the Sphinx
outside it. The hotel was the closest thing to remind him of Egypt and the time
he’d been born into.
As he drove closer to the Luxor, Tor felt the familiar pull
of evil. He knew he had to follow it. Once felt, he couldn’t ignore it, had to
follow it to the evildoer and ultimately determine if he had to send the mortal
to Anubis in the underworld to be judged. It was his duty, what he’d vowed to
uphold to the Egyptian god, to protect mortals from those who would harm them.
Tor followed it to the hotel’s parking lot. He parked his
car and got out, the pull of evil growing stronger. He headed for the darkest
shadows, spotting the figures of two people—a man and a woman. He heard the man
say, “Give me all your money, bitch,” as he threatened her with a knife. When
she didn’t hand over her purse, his prey tried to snatch it from her, breaking
the strap, but the woman didn’t let it go.
The change tore through him. He shifted into his half-human
and half-jackal form. The pain of it washed over him, but Tor didn’t even break
stride, he was so used to it by now. Even after going through it for thousands
of years it still felt as if someone took a shredder to his skin and a knife to
his insides—the sound of his bones shifting and realigning loud in his ears.
Reaching the pair, Tor grabbed the man by the shoulder with
a furred hand and yanked him away from the woman. He threw him against the
nearby wall, stunning his prey. He barely glanced at the woman as he grabbed
the man again and pulled him to his feet. At seven feet tall in this form, he
towered over the evildoer. Tor forced the mortal to look into his eyes. He
pushed into the man’s mind, not caring if he caused him pain.
The man yelled, “My head, god, stop. Let me the fuck go!” He
tried to throw a punch at Tor, but Tor easily deflected it with a brush of his
arm.
Tor took hold of his prey by the throat, the scent of evil
that only he could smell wafted around him as he finally succeeded in getting
into the man’s mind. All the crimes and assaults his prey had ever perpetrated
flashed through Tor’s head. The screams of the man’s victims echoed inside it.
Tor lived each one as if he’d been the one on the receiving end. He felt their
pain, their terror.
“Guilty,” Tor said in a voice that was much deeper and
gruffer than his normal one. “Time for you to face your judgment.”
He held up his free hand and willed a hardened gold dagger
into it. The blade had hieroglyphs carved on it—the spell Anubis had infused to
send evildoers to the underworld. All it took was one cut to do its job. Tor
didn’t hesitate. He sliced it across his prey’s chest, cutting through to the
skin.
The man gasped before he let out a scream. His body slowly
lost solidity before he disappeared completely. He’d been sent on his way to
face the god of the underworld. There, Anubis would weigh the man’s heart on
the Scales of Justice. If he was evil, his heart would be fed to Ammit to be
consumed.
That done, Tor turned in the direction of the woman. He
willed the dagger away as her gaze seem to land on it, her eyes widening. The
sound of her rapid heartbeat was loud in his ears. She slowly backed up, as if
she thought she could get away from him.
Tor caught her by the arm and took his first real look at
her. He found her beautiful, and was instantly attracted to her, his cock going
hard under the snow-white Egyptian-styled kilt he wore. He couldn’t remember
the last time a woman had stirred his body so quickly. Her hair was long and
blonde and fell over her shoulders in a river of silk. Blue-green eyes stared
at him with fear clearly showing in their depths. She was a small thing, only
standing around five-foot-four. Dressed in a blue short-sleeved blouse—matching
the color of her eyes—and black dress pants, her figure was slim and curvy.
The sound of a soft whimper brought Tor’s gaze back up to
her face. Her fear was thick between them. By how fast she breathed, he could
tell she was on the verge of hyperventilating. If he’d been in his human form,
he would have calmed her down by kissing her senseless. He could almost feel
her soft, pouty lips under his, the taste of her on his tongue. But he
couldn’t. He wouldn’t shift again until he’d finished the job at hand—wiping
himself from her memory and everything she’d seen associated with the evildoer.
Tor gently took hold of her chin and forced her to look him
in the eyes. “Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. Let me in.”
He carefully pushed into her mind. Her name was Kenna and
she worked at the Luxor at the reception desk. She’d just gotten off her shift
when the evildoer had accosted her at her car before pulling her into the
shadows. She was also scared out of her wits of him.
For the first time in the long time he’d been one of Anubis’
warriors, Tor didn’t want to wipe his memory from a mortal’s mind. He wanted Kenna
to remember him. Not necessarily in the form he was in now, since she was
terrified, but some part of him. But he knew it had to be done. Anubis didn’t
allow his warriors to let a mortal retain the knowledge of what they were.
Tor ran his fingers from her chin, then across her cheek in
a caressing stroke. He sighed deeply. Reluctantly, he set to work wiping
Kenna’s mind. Once he finished, she stared off into space, deep in the daze
he’d put her in. She’d stay that way until he left the parking lot.
Backing away, Tor hissed in a breath between clenched teeth
as the change overtook him. Now back in his human form, he stopped his backward
movement. His gaze remained riveted on Kenna. Why the hell did he find it so
hard to walk away from her?
Tor shook his head and mentally kicked himself as he closed
the distance between them once again. He cupped Kenna’s face in his hands and
placed a soft kiss on her lips. He groaned as that simple touch had his cock
jerking in his jeans.
He released her to back away again. He turned on his heel
after giving her one last look, memorizing Kenna’s face. Tor got into his car
and drove out of the parking lot before he did something stupid like bring her
out of her daze and make her remember everything he’d erased from her mind.
* * * * *
Kenna blinked and looked around her. She found herself
standing in the shadowed corner of the Luxor’s parking lot. Hadn’t she been at
her car not a second ago? She had no memory of walking to where she now stood.
She shook her head as she headed back to her silver sedan. She must be a lot
sleepier than she’d thought. By the end of her shift she’d caught herself
falling asleep on her feet a few times. She guessed that was what she got for
trading shifts with someone who worked nights. And the worst part of it all was
she had to come into work in the morning, back on her regular hours. Never
again.
At her car, Kenna climbed in and started the engine. She
yawned as she pulled out of the lot and headed in the direction of her
apartment. Her bed was calling her. Once at her place, she parked in the
underground parking garage before she took the elevator up to her floor.
With her purse clutched in her hand, she used her other to
fish inside it for her keys. It was then she noticed the strap was broken. How
had that happened? Kenna knew for a fact it had been in one piece when she’d
left the hotel. She distinctly remembered putting it on over her shoulder. She
really must be exhausted. First sleepwalking in the Luxor’s parking lot and now
not remembering how she wrecked her purse.
Kenna opened the door, then stepped inside before she locked
it behind her. She threw her purse on the coffee table, deciding she’d deal
with it in the morning. Now that she was home, her tiredness seemed to weigh
heavier on her.
She went through the routine of changing out of her work
clothes and getting ready for bed. Kenna let out a contented sigh as she
climbed under the sheets and pulled them over her. The next time her coworker
asked her to trade shifts, she was going to tell him to get lost. There was a
reason why she preferred days. A night person she was not.
Kenna closed her eyes. She was just on the verge of falling
into a deep sleep when an image of a man with black hair appeared in her head.
He bent to kiss her softly on the lips. Kenna shivered as their mouths met. She
couldn’t see his face, but she felt drawn to him, wanted him to kiss her
deeper, but he pulled away and disappeared. Readjusting her pillow, she hoped
she’d dream of the faceless man. For some reason, she didn’t want to let go of
his image.
* * * * *
“You look about ready to fall over.”
Kenna turned toward the counter of the reception desk and
looked at her male friend, Nick, who worked as a blackjack dealer at the Luxor
casino. Most people thought he was gay, since he came across as a bit on the
effeminate side, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. Nick went
after anything female. He loved women, and usually ended up getting laid more
often than not.
“Thanks,” she said with sarcasm. “Tell me something I don’t
already know.”
“Wish you hadn’t decided to trade shifts?”
“Big time. I know I didn’t get enough sleep before I had to
come back in here.”
“Well, this should be a lesson learned. You want to go do
something tonight?”
Kenna shook her head. “Naw. I wouldn’t want to cramp your
style. Plus, I’d probably end up falling asleep on you. I think my night will
be spent taking a long soak in the tub, maybe watching a movie, then early to
bed.”
Nick gave her a look that said he found her plans boring. “That
sounds like a perfect night. Not.”
“Maybe I’m just getting old.”
He snorted. “Yeah, right. You’re just an old granny at age
twenty-six. You just need to get laid.”
Kenna laughed. “And you’re the man to do it?”
“Hell no. We’re better as friends than lovers. You know
that. Besides, I’m not your type.”
“Oh, really. And what exactly is mine then?”
“Tall, dark, handsome and built like a brick shithouse. I’m
none of those things.”
Nick had her pegged. She did find herself attracted to men
who had all those characteristics. Like the man she’d dreamed about last night.
Even though she didn’t know what he looked like, she bet he was handsome as
sin. He was her dream man, after all. Her friend, on the other hand, was
five-foot-eight, had a slim build and spent more time on his dark-blond hair to
get it just right than she did on her own. After they’d first met, it hadn’t
taken them very long to decide they’d only be friends.
“Okay,” she said. “You know what I like. And maybe it has
been a while since I’ve gotten laid, but, unlike you, I don’t sleep with
anything that moves.”
Nick put a hand on his chest and gasped dramatically. “Did
you just refer to me as a slut?”
“Man whore, slut, all the same.”
He chuckled. “And I wouldn’t want it any other way. At least
I don’t have to go home night after night to an empty bed if I don’t want to.”
“Only because you never take any of your conquests to your
place. You always manage to talk them into inviting you to stay the night at
theirs.”
“I prefer it that way. Then I can leave when I want. It
would be much harder to convince them to leave my apartment. I wouldn’t want to
be rude after they gave me a night of pleasure.”
That was Nick. He might whore around, but he respected all
the women he slept with. “You’re just a nice guy.”
He smiled. “I know I am.”
“And conceited too.”
With a roll of his eyes, he asked, “Are you ready to go? I’m
done with my shift and so are you.”
Kenna nodded. “Just let me grab my purse.” She reached under
the counter and retrieved it before she walked out to stand next to Nick.
Her friend gave her a quizzical look. “Is that a new purse?
I thought you’d just bought one the other week.”
“This is an old one. And I did. Somehow I managed to break
the strap on the new purse last night after my shift.”
“You don’t remember how you did it?”
“No. I guess I was pretty tired and wasn’t paying much
attention. I didn’t realize until I got home that I’d damaged it.”
“No more night shift for you,” Nick said as he shook his
head and got them walking toward the hotel’s exit.
“My thoughts exactly. Do you have your car back yet?” Nick’s
car was a beater, and he seemed to have it in the shop a lot for repairs.
“No. I should get it tomorrow. Do you mind giving me a ride
home?”