The Wild Moon by Riley Storm

Chapter Forty-Five

“No,” I whispered. “That’s not possible. It can’t be.”

The face of a wolf stared back at me. Giant yellow eyes stared down the snout. Horns of blue fire curved up from the top of its head. The rest of his body was the same, minus the wings of darkened something I saw fold in against his back. Whatever it was, it wasn’t feathers.

One hand–human, like everything from the shoulders down–was reaching out to the side, a long golden spear gripped firmly in his oversized fingers.

“Impossible. It’s not real,” I said. “This isn’t real. I’m dreaming. You don’t exist. None of you exist.”

The warrior-wolf hybrid faded, replaced by the face of the sexy shirtless man in sweatpants I’d come to recognize.

No, I corrected, the sexy shirtless god.

“I assure you,” the god said, speaking to me directly. “I am quite real.”

He spoke. To me. A god, a freaking god, was speaking to me.

“I need to sit down,” I said, snapping the book closed and staggering past Mr. Mysterious and gently finding my way into a sitting position.

He wasn’t Mr. Mysterious to me any longer, I noted in a distant corner of my mind. I knew his name now. I knew who he was.

“You’re Vir,” I whispered as if saying it louder would make it any less true. “I’ve read about you. You were the Champion of Amunlea. Empress of the Gods. You were–”

I stopped speaking abruptly. If he was real…

“She’s not here, is she?” I hissed, looking around suddenly.

“No,” Vir said quietly. “No, she is not.”

I laughed once. My side ached from the sound. “This is supposed to be fake. It’s all just legends of people we worshipped in the past. You’re not a real person. You can’t be. I have to be dreaming. Maybe Johnathan slammed my head to the ground, and I don’t realize it. If I’d hit my head any differently, I’d probably have thought you were Zeus or Hades or something. Just as made up.”

Vir snorted.

“What?” I asked, surprised by the outburst.

“Oh, nothing. I’ll just be sure to tell Hades he doesn’t exist the next time I see him.” Vir tapped his chin. “Though, I suppose it’s been a few thousand years already, so it might be a while yet before he gets word.”

My jaw fell open so hard it popped. I winced in pain.

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I just found out that gods are real. That you’re real.”

And I wanted him to fuck me earlier. Ha. Now that would have been an interesting experience, I’m sure.

“I’m sorry if this is a lot to take in,” Vir said gently.

I giggled, hating how hysterical I sounded. It was warranted, though, wasn’t it? Who wouldn’t be feeling a little unstable?

“So, Hades is real, too? They’re all real? What about the Roman gods? Mars, Jupiter?”

Vir nodded.

“Oh, dear,” I said. “I don’t feel so good.”

The room was spinning gently around me as my mind raced to try and adapt to all the new information it was getting, rewriting thousands of years of history, not to mention everything I knew about the world.

“Dani?” Vir said, my voice sounding like heaven coming from his lips. “Dani, are you okay?”

I swooned. Or fainted. Probably fainted, but swooned has such a better sound to it, so that’s how I prefer to think of it. Either way, all the information was too much, and I passed out. I have no idea for how long.

When I came to, I was lying in a bed. A very comfortable bed. I stretched my arms and my legs out but no matter how far I reached, I couldn’t find the edge. It was a very large bed. Which could only mean one thing.

I was sleeping in a god’s bed. I blacked out again. This time when I came to, Vir was nearby, sitting on a chair. The copy of Froller’s The Ancients was in his hands. It looked like a pocketbook when he held it, his hands were so large.

“It’s been some time since I’ve read this,” he said, noting I was awake. “Lots of interesting stuff about my kin I’d forgotten.”

I frowned. How could he have forgotten about his kin? That was weird. But I guess when you’re immortal, that happens.

“How long was I out?” I asked.

“A few minutes,” he said. “Nothing more. You should relax, though. You need to rest. You were hurt worse than you thought in that fight.”

“Maybe,” I said, but I didn’t struggle to get up. The bed was sinfully comfortable, which was befitting of a god, I decided. “But I have so many questions. I can’t sleep.”

Vir closed the book and turned to look at me, his eyes boring into mine. “Ask them,” he said, a smile tugging at one side of his mouth.

“Where am I?” I asked.

“My lair,” he said. “A safe spot.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know,” he said with a nod, his voice not quite condescending. “But you will. Once you’re stronger. When you’ve recovered.”

“Was the place I saw in my dreams real?” I asked, staring at him. “The place with the giant stone wall and the gates?”

Vir just stared at me. I doubted I was going to get an answer to that one just yet.

When you’re stronger, I thought to myself, mocking his voice.

Vir quirked an eyebrow, and I panicked. He’s a god. Could he read my mind? Did he know I had just been making fun of him?

No further reactions or comments came, so perhaps he’d just read something on my face.

“Good talk,” was all I ended up saying. “While it lasted.”

Vir shrugged. “My turn.”

“Your turn for what?” I asked. “You’re a god. What do you need to wait your turn for?”

“Information,” he said. “I want to know how you got here.”

I sighed. “I told you the truth back at the tunnel,” I said. “I don’t know. Just like I don’t know how I got here in my dreams either.”

Vir grunted. “When you’re ready to talk, so am I.”

“I am ready to talk, you kidnapping sonofabitch,” I snapped, forgetting for a moment I was talking to a being who could quite literally erase me from the face of the Earth with little more than a snap of his fingers. “I don’t know how I got here. Probably the same way everyone else does. They go through the barrier.”

His eyes burned brighter, but when he spoke, his voice was quiet. “Nobody goes through the barrier.”

I faltered, my anger vaporizing. “Nobody?”

“Nobody,” he repeated. “Until you.”