The Untamable

Chapter 8

The Untamable

Chapter 8

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"We cannot delay any longer."

"This isn't right."

"No good will come of this."

The voices in my head were overlapping. I heard words that strung together but didn't form sentences until I realized who was speaking them. Taurus' voice was soft, muted. Pisces sounded frustrated. Eventually it was the voice I couldn't hear that prompted me to wake.

"Leo?"

A hand caught mine and it was familiar. A feeling of rightness washed over me, like stepping through a waterfall. Consciousness returning, I lifted my drowsy eyes to see him and my heart sank. Those eyes were glittering aquamarine, streaked with lightening and guilt. "You are the stupidest human I have ever met."

His words didn't sting as badly as the lack of emotion in his voice. It was as if he could not allow himself to even speak with inflection. Although, he had changed to his usual short cropped hair, his white uniform in its place. His eyes were all wrong.

"Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to stare?" An auburn eyebrow arched.

Flushing, I pulled my hand out of his and rose to sit on the bed. It was Leo's and the rest of the fallen deities stood around like a silent vigil. I paused and held the sheet closer to my chest. It was a nervous gesture. Not because I was not dressed, but mostly because I felt like they'd seen something deep inside me. Their eyes sad and pitying.

"Out."

Head snapping around, I saw a muscle work in Leo's jaw, his eyes narrowed on the others.

Taurus opened his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it. The rest of them looked just as reluctant to leave. Pisces tried to offer me an encouraging smile, but it only set my nerves on edge. Something had gone horribly wrong. Something that worried them all.

When the door closed, I glanced up at the deity silently sitting beside me on the bed, his back against the ornate headboard, but his mind somewhere else.

I wanted to give him a moment, but I was afraid. "Giving a favor? Changing the flow of time?" Stubbornly, his eyes remained somewhere in the distance. I sighed and shook my head. "And here I thought you were so smart."

"And what would you have me do!?" The sudden snap of his accusation cut through me and I jumped; his eyes furious as they turned to me. His carefully rein on his emotions slipping. "What exactly did you want me to do Storm, because I grow tired of trying to live up to your expectations."

"Me?"

"YES you, you infuriating woman." I gasped when I felt his hands wrap around my shoulders and shake me slightly as if to bring me to my senses. "Have I not done exactly what you wanted?"

I stared up at him in confusion. "I don't understand."

His eyes narrowed into slits, the lightening color leaking from them as he drew me closer, my nose nearly level with his as he growled. "This is what you wanted, right? What you were constantly wishing for?"

And for the life of me I had no idea what he was talking about. "Leo, you're scaring me."

"I'm scaring you!?" He laughed incredulously and was across the room in a flash, a strange vibration building in his tall frame as he began to pace. "That is the one thing you have never done Storm. Was that so hard to do?" He glared at me across the room and it was then that I realized he was using my name. I didn't know if it was infinitely gratifying or heartbreakingly sad. "I am your god. It is your duty to love me, fear me and obey. But have you done any of them?"