Chapter 3: Revelations and Passion's Promise

Mirage waited, knowing that the buzz of the insanity was coming, that she'd just ruined Hunter's life. She kept her eyes tightly closed, her wrist still pressed against his face.

"Mira?"

His voice, still soft and completely sane had her opening her eyes and staring up at him in shock. "You're not..." She couldn't even finish the question. "You're..."

"No, I'm not," he said, just as shocked as she was. He lifted his hand, his fingers trembling just a bit as he unfastened the hood on her head and pushed it back. "Are you..."

Mirage didn't even flinch. She held completely still when his hand touched her face, his palm cupping her cheek. "I'm touching you," he whispered, his blue eyes shining. "I'm actually touching you."

"How is this possible?" she gasped, turning her face into the strange feeling of heat, of skin against skin. She could smell him, a very masculine, very raw smell that had her breathing quickening. "How can you touch me?"

"I don't know." He shook his head, looking up when Dianna walked up next to them. Her gaze went from his hand to Mira's face.

"I knew it," she crowed. "I just fucking knew it."

"But how?" Hunter couldn't stop touching her, his hand resting against her neck, feeling her pulse pounding under her skin. "How could you have known?" He used his teeth to unclasp his second glove, pulling it off his hand with a sound of aggravation.

"It just made sense." She barely glanced at Beast when the hairy man walked up next to them, his eyes almost popping from his head. He yowled loudly, his hand reaching out to touch Mira as well.

Hunter slapped his hand, knocking him away from her. "I might not be going insane but I really don't think I broke her so that anyone can touch her. Hands off, furry boy."

Mira seemed to come out of her trance. "You won the bet, Hunter. Now if you'll quit touching me, I'm going to change clothes and go home. Unless you need me for something else?" she asked Dianna. When the tall beauty shook her head, Mira turned without saying another word and headed into the locker room. She snarled at anyone who even thought to speak to her, quickly changing back into the outfit she'd worn to work and grabbing her pack that held her keys.

She hurried to the door of the locker room just as Dianna came in from the gym. "We should talk about this, Mira." They could both hear the buzz of whispers as the news spread through the room and out into ASP. Mirage would be the most talked about women here tonight.

Mira shook her head, barely glancing back as she left the locker room and headed out toward where she parked her car. She ignored everyone and anyone who tried to speak to her. Her tires squealed as she headed toward the entrance to the parking garage. And then she was out on the streets and heading for home.

She'd bought one of the bigger, ornate houses that graced the outskirts of town and had revamped it to suit her own needs. There was a gate at the end of the driveway and she only stopped long enough to pick up her mail and then entered the code to get inside. She sighed as she sped up the rest of the drive, feeling a bit of satisfaction at seeing her home, the lights shining with warm welcome out the big windows.

She pulled her car into the attached garage, picking up the mail and going into the house. She dropped her pack on the dining room table and then dropped her mail on the small desk in the hall. Climbing the steps, she pulled open her bedroom door and reached into her closet.

The dress was exactly what she'd been looking for. Tiny straps held the diaphanous material to her shoulders, the slim folds emphasizing her slender curves. It was soft, the colors sweetly muted and intimately feminine in every way it could be. She smiled. The dresses were her own little secret, what she wore when she was home alone without having to prove to anyone what a badass she actually could be when she wanted to. They were something she would never admit to or allow anyone of her team to see her dressed in this way.

Mira peeled the white leather off her body, dropping it into a pile on the bedroom floor. In the morning, Beatrice, her housekeeper/keeper, would be in and she would make sure it was cleaned and put back into her closet, ready to wear.

She took the dress and a clean pair of silky lace panties into the bathroom, reaching into the grass enclosed shower stall and turning on the water. When it got warm, she slipped inside, relaxing back against the shower to let the spray beat against her back.

The hot water beat against her muscles and she smiled under the heavy spray. The day had been a long one, the ending had been a bit too shocking to believe. Hunter, the bane of her existence, the man who haunted her nightmares and inhabited her brain when she least expected it, could touch her.

She rinsed out her hair and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around her slim body before grabbing another to dry her hair. Before she left the bathroom, she looked into the mirror. "I know you're there. Talk to me."

The figure that coalesced in the steamy mirror was dressed in flowing, almost transparent white robes. A thin gold chain wrapped around her slender waist. Her hair was held up at the top of her head, the rest pulled through to fall to her shoulders in a waterfall of golden curls. She had beautiful blue eyes that were almost startlingly innocent.

"You know what happened," Mirage said.

"Yes, I saw." Her voice was soft, musical. The words were spoken in a voice that was strangely accented. She reached forward and touched Mira's soft hair. "You should dry this."

"It'll dry on its own. How the hell did he touch me?"

"He's the one."

Mirage stared at her. "The one what?"

The woman smiled and then walked out of the bathroom. "Have I ever told you how much I like what you've done with this house?"

"Aphrodite, if you don't stick with the topic at hand and tell me what the fuck is going on..."

"You're threats don't scare me, Mira. You've always been attracted to Hunter, maybe he's the one to end the curse."

"I've been working with him for five years, there's no way he could possibly be the 'one'. Besides, what's with the maybes? I thought you knew all."

"I know all I'm allowed to see, Mira. I'm not allowed to see it all." Aphrodite picked up the dress that Mira had dropped on the bed, lifting it critically between her hands. "This will be beautiful on you, my darling, but you should wear brighter colors, especially with your hair and eyes."

"I'm at home and I wear this for my own pleasure, no one else's. Now could we get back to Hunter and the fact that he touched me? I've got to know how." Her head shook slowly as the Greek goddess sauntered around her bedroom, touching the little bits of feminine frippery that Mirage bought for herself. There was lace on her curtains and on the thick comforter on her bed.

"You know, Mira, you are a fascinating creature, so many different sides that make up one complicated and thoroughly irritating woman. I can almost understand why Bia did what she did." She held her hands up when Mira gave her a scowl. "I said almost, Mirage. Almost understand. But you've been under her curse for over three thousand years, haven't you wondered when it would end, when she would stop hurting you the way she has?"

"Did you talk her into this? Or is having it be Hunter to be able to touch me another little giggle on her part?" Her scowl was fierce. "Why did it have to be him?"

"Because you desire him, Mira. Admit it. You've wanted Hunter since the first day you met him. What woman wouldn't?"

"What female of any species wouldn't?" Mirage countered. "Even if I wasn't cursed, I'd have held him at arm's lengths. I've seen what he does to females. He can't be serious about any of them."

"No, he hasn't been serious about any of them." Aphrodite stepped closer to the free standing mirror, her hand moving across the surface even as her eyes grew hazy and distant. "But there are reasons for Hunter's actions, reasons he will tell you if you but ask the question. Your future is not set, Mirage. It splinters and changes with each thought that races through your incredibly active mind. With that, I can not help you." She shook her head, moving away from the mirror.

"I thought you'd know, you've always known what I should do before..."

"Perhaps I've done you wrong by directing your actions," she said with a small wave of her long-nailed fingers. "Perhaps this day would have come more quickly if you hadn't listened to my words."

Mirage pressed her fingers against her temples where a headache had begun to pound through her head. She glared at her friend. "Then go."

Aphrodite looked as if she wanted to say something else, but she didn't, turning toward the mirror and disappearing into it.

"Thanks for nothing." Mira grabbed her dress and slid the soft material over her head, pulling her towel off from around her body and then straightening the flared hem. She took her towel into the bathroom and hung it neatly from the towel bar, grabbing the panties she'd left on the counter and pulling them on. She brushed her hair, wincing as a knot caught in her brush. Then she picked up something else that she wore only for herself.

A light, spicy scent wafted through the air and Mirage smiled, setting the bottle down. She twirled, watching the skirt of her dress flare out and then fall, hiding her slim thighs as it did. Grabbing her favored pair of sandals, she slid them on her small feet and headed down the stairs.

It was a vastly different looking Mirage that stepped out the front door of the big house than the one that had walked in. This Mirage looked young, feminine and beautiful, as if stepping out to meet her beau on a date. She smiled, but without that menacing bite that scared so many of the foes she'd faced in her life, in her very long, very violent life.

Half of them would have sworn this was a different woman, one that was sexy and sensual, one they wouldn't mind risking insanity to be able to touch. Her skin was tanned, smooth and soft, a slight sheen of health glistening off of it. Her hair bounced against her shoulders. She wasn't heavily armed, though she was armed. She never left the house without something.

She could hear the traffic of the city racing by her front gate and she shuddered. Humanity had hurt her almost as much as that Greek bitch, Bia, had. She longed for a moment where she might call the bitch out for the hurt she had wrought, not only on Mirage but on her family.