Holly's Pledge Read online

  Holly’s Pledge

  Anh Leod

  Book 3 in the Men of Myth series.

  Glaukos, a legendary Greek warrior, hunts for an ancient killer in modern-day Los Angeles, but finds a desirable beauty instead. Meanwhile, Greg Levendakis fantasizes about a curvy redhead instead of his girlfriend. It turns out both men want the same woman.

  Holly Bowles wants a boyfriend and thinks she’s found one in Greg, but he’s unavailable. Luckily, there’s another man right around the corner. Sparks fly when she spends the night in Glaukos’ arms, but he has been given only thirty days to live in the mortal realm.

  Greg breaks it off with his girlfriend and sets out to make Holly his own. He hopes he hasn’t waited too long. It’s a good thing he believes if you love someone, you take the threesome, because that’s just where he ends up—in bed with both Holly and her mysterious new lover.

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Holly’s Pledge

  ISBN 9781419926730

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Holly’s Pledge Copyright © 2010 Anh Leod

  Edited by Pamela Campbell

  Cover art by Dar Albert

  Electronic book publication February 2010

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Holly’s Pledge

  Anh Leod

  Dedication

  For my Leanders.

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction.

  Agent Provocateur: Agent Provocateur, Ltd.

  Alexander McQueen: McQueen, Lee Alexander Individual

  Armani: GA Modefine S.A. Corporation

  BlackBerry: Research In Motion Limited

  Donna Karan: Gabrielle Studio, Inc.

  Gucci: Gucci America, Inc.

  Hotmail: HoTMaiL Corporation

  Prada: Prefel S.A. Corporation

  Scooby Doo: Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.

  Starbucks: Starbucks U.S. Brands

  Valentino: Valentino Fashion Group S.P.A. Corporation

  Chapter One

  A chime turned Glaukos’ attention from a glowing filing cabinet back to his computer. He poked at the flashing icon and a new sub-screen opened but before he could look at the contents he was interrupted.

  A delicate brown hand tipped with sharp red nails pulled his fingers from the liquid gel monitor. “Pay attention to me.”

  “Go away, Desdemona,” he told the demoness as he extricated himself from her hot grip. “This isn’t my downtime.”

  The beautiful demoness pouted. “It’s never playtime with you anymore. Why won’t you fuck me?”

  “I’m busy,” he muttered, moving his gaze from the almond-eyed beauty to the email on the screen from caoneandonly@hotmail.

  Torc is in Los Angeles.

  Hades! Damn him! Glaukos swore aloud. He pushed his chair back and was standing before he realized it. The old enemy had resurfaced, spotted by his half-divine friend. Email was new in the Underworld, but certainly useful.

  “Leave!” he ordered the irritating creature. Their relationship had been over for centuries, but demonesses liked nothing better than abuse, so periodically she revisited him for some.

  Her full lower lip poked out even further. “No.”

  “Son?”

  He turned and saw his father, King Minos, once ruler of Crete and now a judge in the Underworld, standing at the door. Minos’ long tunic glittered with gold braid as he plucked a fig from a tray by the door and bit into it. When his father caught sight of the demoness he dropped the fig and raised his hand.

  Desdemona’s mouth formed a circle of surprise. She blinked rapidly then vanished before Minos could take a swipe at her.

  “Cherokee has found Torc,” Glaukos told his father. His fists clenched at his waist. He couldn’t wait to get them around Torc’s neck.

  Minos selected a date next. “I see. You know you can’t go after him.”

  “Why not?” Glaukos pushed thick black curls out of his eyes and refreshed his screen. No new emails.

  “How old are you now?”

  “Three thousand, five hundred, thirty-nine,” Glaukos said, knowing his father was perfectly aware of that. “Each day the same since we came here. Good souls move to Elysium. The others move to Tartarus. I schedule your hearings, protect you and Uncle Rhadamanthus from the violent ones in court then file the paperwork.” The gods knew he was sick of the routine.

  “If you go up to the mortal world you’ll lose your immortality,” Minos warned.

  “I will not be gone that long,” Glaukos said. “I know you need my help here. But Torc must be cast down at Hades’ feet and made to repent for his sins.”

  A flash of light sent Minos stumbling back as Hades appeared in the room. Glaukos knelt at the god’s feet.

  “You are leaving us?” Hades thundered, his black eyes as dark as the pits of the Underworld.

  News traveled fast. Was Hades snooping in his email again?

  “Only to retrieve your servant Torc, Invisible One. Cherokee, son of Ares, who lives in Los Angeles now, has told me of his whereabouts.” Glaukos kept still, not sure how Hades would react to his plan.

  Hades raised one long, pale finger. “Be back in thirty days or your immortality will be terminated.”

  “My lord.” Glaukos kept his expression blank and bent his head, knowing that seeing the radiance of the god as he flashed out of the room would blind him.

  Minos sighed when the god was gone. “Thirty days isn’t much in the mortal world.”

  Glaukos stood. “It will be enough. How long could it take to snatch Hades’ bastard and bring him back here? Especially when Hades is not interested in complicating the capture.”

  “Complications may ensue regardless. The half-divine are unpredictable.”

  Glaukos hooked his thumbs in his belt. “I will take that risk. Torc stole my sister’s immortality. It is only fitting that I be the one to cast him into Tartarus.”

  Minos winced at the mention of his daughter, his tunic fading from gold to deepest black as his mood darkened.

  Glaukos turned back to the computer and sent Cherokee a one-line message.

  I’m coming.

  Then he hit the button that blanked the screen.

  Minos’ voice faded into the distance as he exited from the room. “Avenge your sister. She has been dead so long I can scarcely remember her face.”

  “She went to Elysium too long ago,” Glaukos said quietly. “I will avenge her.”

  He stepped into the center of the ro
om then raised his hands high. “Hades, I am ready.”

  He felt his soul and body overtaken with light. When the sensation stopped, he opened his eyes, expecting to find himself in Cherokee’s presence. Instead, he saw chaos and strangers. What trick had the god played on him?

  He appeared to be in a shopping district. A long line of cars zoomed down a very busy street. The noise was worse than the cries of the damned waiting for ultimate judgment and the smell had its equal in the sulfurous pits. Thank the gods for the internet, he thought, or he’d be thoroughly confused, but he knew he was in Los Angeles. He could see a palm tree in the distance and it was quite sunny for this time of year in the mortal realm. Now all he needed was to contact Cherokee. He pushed open the first shop door and entered, hoping to find a clue as to Cherokee’s whereabouts—or Torc’s. His hand closed tightly on the dagger at his belt.

  * * * * *

  Holly knelt in front of a bookshelf to adjust the strap of her Prada platform heels. The slim silver strap was really biting into the tender skin on the top of her foot, but the shoe looked adorable so it was worth the pain. Plus, they made her taller.

  She’d heard that Friday night at a bookstore was a good place to meet men. Presumably, it would attract a nerdy, bookish kind of guy. She liked nerds who hid hard, exercised bodies under flannel and glasses. Of course, she was supposed to be hanging out around the business and computer books to find that kind of man, but couldn’t bring herself to stand there and pretend to be interested. She’d spent far too much time recently learning HTML so she could do a good job for Brandi D’Angelo, her new boss at Moving Pictures. Anyway, it was the day after Thanksgiving and she should be thinking about gift shopping. Especially with new people in her life. Since she had two jobs right now, she could afford nice presents for once. She had more than her administrative assistant salary at the production company to count on thanks to Brandi.

  Brandi was her brother Dylan’s girlfriend, so she was predisposed to good behavior, but Holly still wanted to do a good job for her. She knew it was hard to be a businesswoman, even if your father was famous and you were rich. And then there was Cherokee, who was her brother’s boyfriend. She didn’t quite understand how three people could make one relationship work, but it was obvious they had fun trying.

  The noises that came though the thin wall between Dylan’s bedroom and hers at night made her squirm and reach for her vibrator. Home life at the house she and her brother had bought together had been quiet until Brandi and Cherokee had entered their lives earlier in autumn. Now noise and fun and lots of sex that she wasn’t taking part in was the order of the day.

  Usually, Holly’s hobby was shopping for shoes. Books too, since she hadn’t found anyone great to date lately. Her favorite bookstore spot was the trade paperback romance section, where the really steamy romances lived. She liked them hot and she loved it when the books were total fantasies. Give her a faerie, a dragon or a god and she was in heaven.

  Cool! As she stood, she saw a sexy pirate novel she’d been meaning to read and pulled it from the shelf.

  From the corner of her eye, she spotted something glittering on the floor and she looked down again, frowning. That couldn’t be one of the crystals from her shoes, could it? She’d paid nearly nine hundred dollars for them!

  As she bent to pick it up, her head slammed into something hard. She lost her balance and fell backward, away from the shelves. Her short skirt slid up along her thighs, exposing the Agent Provocateur panties Brandi had given her as a gift.

  Without thinking, she clutched at her crotch. The sheer, bright red panties were from the Holly line, which explained her boss’s choice. She was as obsessed with the lingerie line as Holly was with shoes.

  “H-Holly?” said a tentative male voice. A familiar male voice.

  Holly blinked. She had fallen flat on the floor of a bookstore and someone she knew had witnessed it? Slowly, she moved her hand to her hip.

  “I’m so sorry. We bumped heads.” A male hand came into view, his wrist dusted with silky dark hair. On the tip of one long finger was an iridescent heart sticker.

  So that was the glittering culprit. At least her shoes were okay.

  She struggled to her elbows then wanted to drop back when she saw who the guy was. Ohmigod! It was Greg Levendakis, the bass player she’d been crushing on since Halloween! He was in Rotten Tomatoes with her best friend Claudia’s boyfriend Sam Nash.

  At least it was only fair that he saw her panties, since she’d seen his package when he’d split his vampire costume wide open before a show and she’d been the one to stitch it up. He might be a banker by day but she knew he had the equipment to be a sex god at night. When she pulled out the vibrator at midnight, Greg’s cock was the one that came to mind. The thought had her body responding with hot cream as it always did to thoughts of his thick cock.

  Greg wasn’t looking at her. Well, not at her face at any rate. His piercing jade gaze was fixed on her panties. She felt her face go as red as the fabric and hoped he hadn’t seen any visible dampness.

  Eventually, his eyes moved to her face, and she was able to push her skirt back down over her crotch. Thank god she’d let Brandi and Claudia talk her in to a Brazilian wax three days ago.

  “You have great taste in clothes,” he said, then pointed to the book resting under her right elbow. “And books too. I read the e-book version of that one months ago. You like pirates?”

  She blinked some more, unable to figure out what to say. “I like fantasy books. I really liked the faerie book you recommended to me on Halloween.”

  “Yeah, that was great. And you have to read Chrysanthemum if you like fantasy. It’s hysterical.”

  “What’s that about?” Was he trying to carry on a normal conversation to spare her embarrassment, or was he just clueless?

  “Dragons, King Arthur.”

  “You had me at dragons,” she said, deciding the pinkness of his ears meant he was embarrassed, just as she was. “I adore dragon books. I’ll have to get that one too.”

  She took a deep breath, summoning her courage. “Would you help me up please?”

  “Of course. I’m sorry.” When he took her hand, a spark of electricity leapt between them. Holly felt the sensation dazzle down her spine and tingle her toes, plus all the places in between.

  “Sorry,” Greg muttered and changed his grip. She positioned her shoes under her knees so she wouldn’t overbalance on the platform heels when she stood.

  She set the book back on the shelf so she wouldn’t bang it up any more. It seemed they took turns embarrassing themselves in front of each other. “Thank you.”

  “Any time.” He paused, as if unsure what to say. “Wow, it’s great to see you again.”

  “You too.” She smiled at him, glad her shoes put her in range of his six-foot, lanky frame. Claudia thought he was a nerd since he was a banker by day, but Holly disagreed. Maybe she should ask him for coffee. Starbucks was next door and this was a bookstore on a Friday night so maybe he was here looking for a date, just like her.

  She opened her mouth to ask him, but a woman appeared around the corner of the classic novels section to their right. Her stride was purposeful, her gaze on Greg possessive. Holly’s heart sank with every step of the woman’s low-heeled discount store boots.

  The woman was about twenty-five and wore her mousy brown hair pulled into a French braid. Her face was pointed. Holly guessed she worked at the bank with Greg and had probably come right from work in that sensible white shirt and black skirt with black hosiery. Maybe they were just friends?

  “I found my book,” the woman announced. She slid her arm around Greg’s biceps, then frowned as she saw the sticker on his finger. Quickly, she plucked it off and folded it in half then pushed it into his pocket.

  Way to use the guy as your own personal trash can, Holly thought. She noticed the woman was holding the latest business bestseller, despite being on a date. Exactly what she should be reading, instead of pirat
e sex fantasies, though from her point of view, that’s exactly the kind of book that should be purchased on a date. All the better to lead to sexy activities later.

  Greg cleared his throat. “It was great to see you again, Holly. I’ll probably catch you at Claudia’s apartment one of these days, or at Torc’s club.”

  “Are you playing at Torc’s again soon?”

  “Absolutely. Tomorrow, in fact. Do you want to come? I’ll put your name on the list.”

  Holly nodded eagerly then flushed as she saw the irritated expression on the woman’s face.

  “I’m sorry,” the woman said with a sickly smile. “Have we met?”

  Greg turned to her. “No, Jewel. Holly works with Claudia, who is Sam’s girlfriend.”

  “Sam in your band?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Oh.” Her lip curled as she gave Holly the once-over. “Nice shoes.”

  “Thanks,” Holly said, insulted by the colorless adjective describing her amazing footwear.

  “I’m ready to go.” Jewel pulled at Greg’s arm.

  Holly could see Greg’s jaw clench. Maybe this relationship wasn’t in very good shape. She could hope.

  “Fine. Let’s go then,” Greg growled. He sketched a wave at Holly as Jewel steered him in the direction of the cash registers.

  “Excuse me,” an accented male voice said above her ear.

  Holly looked to her left, away from Greg’s departing back. She blinked when she saw the black-haired stud in front of her, dressed in some kind of long, ornate T-shirt that completely covered his shorts. Gay actor, her Los Angeles man sensor told her. But maybe not. You never knew. There were so many pretty people around here that it got confusing.

  “May I help you?” she asked, picking up her book.

  “I heard you say Torc, before,” he said. She detected a hint of steel and determination in his words, a hint of maturity that belied his youthful appearance.