Catch, Curse, Release (Immortal Warriors #1) ✅ Completed

Chapter Five: The Archway

The Archway

Earlier that day…

“Magnificent,” Lori breathed, gazing upon the latest exhibit.

The Lover’s Archway looked older than anything else in the entire museum. It was cut out of a thick stone with runes and other ancient glyphs inscribed over every inch of the structure. She was amazed at the detail given to each marking that covered the entire stone structure. The writing was not even remotely uniform and was wholly unlike anything she’d ever seen before.

Normally only replicas travelled the nation’s exhibits, but if this was a fake it was a damn good one she thought. She wasn’t an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but she’d never seen anything that looked as old as time itself. The very air around the archway seemed to vibrate with its essence.

“Yes, she is,” Desmond agreed softly. Unlike Lori, his eyes were not trained on the archway. He knew every rune, glyph, crack and chip by heart. It was the mortal woman next to him that took up all of his current attention. She was perfect.  

Lori never felt Desmond’s intense gaze as he watched her walk around the archway. He was studying her much the same way she’d studied the different paintings and sculptures in the museum – noting every fine detail and appreciating the work as a whole. Even he had to admit Lori Mayer was a fine specimen of the female form. Perhaps even a woman he may have sought for the comforts of his own bed a long, long time ago.

She had long, unruly black hair that was barely tamed under the cover of her ballcap. Her large, almond shaped eyes were a perfect match to her midnight colored tresses. Her high cheekbones gave her a regal quality and her lips were an inviting temptation for any man. She was tall, slender around the waist, yet round and inviting everywhere else.

As she nibbled her lower lip studying the archway, Desmond felt a pleasurable warmth spread across the lower half of his body. 

“How old is it?” she asked, getting as close to the exhibit as she could without crossing the velvet barrier that kept onlookers from getting too close.  

“Ancient. Older even than Stonehenge,” he replied huskily, taking in her scent. She was a woman in her prime. He could smell it like the most erotic of aromas. He leaned closer, a stray hair just tickling his face just as he felt a small zap tear through his lower extremities.

Alright, I get it! No need to burn the damn flesh off my balls.

Checking himself he glanced quickly at the archway and regained control of his libido. As part of his curse, should he seduce a woman that he was destined to help, he’d find himself condemned for another five hundred years on top of his already excruciatingly long sentence. If he should try it anywhere near the archway, he had the pleasure of having his most favorite body part burned to a crisp in addition to another half millennia of torture. There was no way in hell he was going to live this way for another five hundred years. All he needed was to help out a few more love-starved women and he was done. Free of his infernal curse and able to indulge in any wanton activity his horny little heart desired.

“But that’s over five thousand years old!” Lori exclaimed, turning back to stare at him and breaking him out of his dark thoughts.

Desmond nodded solemnly, “You are correct. It is much older.”

“The glyphs, do you know what they say?” she asked now, missing the hard glint that bled into his eyes.

“Aye, ‘tis an ancient language,” he answered, his voice low and seductive, “In the common tongue it says ‘Lovers collide across the sea, of time lost and now regained, to fall in love upon Beltane’s eve, true love united again.’ It’s foretold anyone who walks under the archway on the first new moon of Lughnassadh shall find their true love by midnight on Beltane’s eve.”