All Wrapped Up: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 2) Read online

  “Don’t, Thes…” she said, voice hard and afraid, which was a little odd. Why was she suddenly so scared? Was it because Horus had offered to tell me the truth? What was so scary about that? Why was it better for me to remain in the dark?

  “You shall be silent, Horus,” Set boomed from behind me, and despite my better judgment, I turned to see what was happening. “You’ve caused more than enough trouble for one day.” Set stood over the falcon, one hand around Horus’s throat, his other hand raised high in the air. Glittering golden blood dripped down Set’s fist and Horus’s jaw was distended and broken.

  “Stop,” I said, pulling my hand loose from Sekhmet’s, and as I did so, the goddess seemed to deflate a little. I marched back toward Horus as Khufu grabbed my arm, but I threw him off of me without stopping.

  “Tell me,” I said, kneeling down in front of Horus, and I got the sense I was making a huge mistake. Only, I couldn’t take the words back now, could I? No… No, I had to know, one way or the other.

  Set eyed me carefully, and with an explosive exhalation of breath, released the bird god. “Do what you will, Thes. But be warned. There is no unlearning this secret.” He shook his head and put one hand on my shoulder. “You once told me it was sometimes better to have not known things. I think that when you told me those words, you were thinking of this moment. Dwell on that.”

  Set moved away from me and stood at my back, hands on his hips as the sun blazed down from above. Horus began to laugh, and the sound made the hair on the back of my neck ache and the pit in my stomach grow three sizes. This was a bad idea. I knew that, but… I had to know. Right now, it felt like I was tumbling out of control, like there was this big secret everyone knew except me… well, I was tired of that.

  “Tell me, Horus.” As I said the words lightning crackled overhead in the cloudless sky, and the falcon grinned, his white teeth flashing.

  “Thes,” he said, savoring the words in his mouth like they were fine wine. “You’re the Dunewalker.” And with those words, everything changed.

  Chapter 27

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with that?” I screamed, grabbing the Horus by his stupid throat and shaking him like I could make his words stop reverberating in my head. People were dragging me backward then, hands around my body as Horus’s laughter filled my ears and beat against my brain.

  I looked around, realizing Sekhmet and Khufu were holding me back as I fought and kicked to get at the falcon god. Wepwawet growled inside me, and the sound elicited from my lips, low and angry as I flung them off of me and charged at Horus. I didn’t even feel my fist connect with his jaw, but I saw him flop backwards onto the ground still laughing like he’d won. And the sad thing was? I was pretty certain he was right.

  “How can I be the goddamned Dunewalker? Do you people know what that means? It means I’m cursed!” I screamed, rage bubbling up just beneath the surface of my skin as everything but the god’s smirking face faded into the background. “No, it can’t be true. The Dunewalker is a legend. A myth. Some story told to cubs to… to… to…”

  “If you search inside yourself, Thes, you’ll know it to be true,” Horus replied just before Set decked him across the face and sent him tumbling across the sand.

  “I told you to be silent, child,” Set snarled, marching off toward the fallen god and seizing him by the throat. He hoisted Horus in the air like he weighed less than nothing.

  “Me staying silent won’t change the truth,” Horus sneered and spat a gob of saliva at Set. It hit the God of Chaos above the left eyebrow and dripped down into his eye. Set swore, and wiped away the gunk with his free hand as the air around them darkened.

  “Thes, it’s okay,” Sekhmet said from behind me. I felt her hand on my shoulder and knew she was trying to turn me away from Horus. I let her.

  “Is what Horus says true, Sekhmet? Am I really the Dunewalker?” I asked, already knowing the answer based on the expression of hopelessness that flashed across her face. It was only for an instant, but I saw it nonetheless.

  She dropped her head, stared at the sand, and said nothing. It was infuriating.

  “Answer me,” I growled, so angry I could barely see straight. “Tell me the truth. Tell me I’m the most cursed werewolf to ever exist.”

  “You’re not cursed, Thes,” she mumbled, still not looking at me. “You’re amaz—”

  “This is why you knew our kiss wouldn’t break open the gate, isn’t it?” I snapped, cutting her off. “Because the Dunewalker…” I shut my eyes and focused on not flipping out. I counted to ten slowly. When I opened my eyes, Sekhmet was staring at me, eyes like deep wells that threatened to pull me in and never let go. Only… only that wasn’t happening. Not now, not ever.

  I turned away from the war goddess and stared at the spot where Horus and Set had been. They weren’t there anymore. The sand had turned into a patch of blackened earth. Awesome.

  Sekhmet reached out, trailing her fingers down one of my arms. The gesture made me shiver.

  “Please stop,” I said, my voice cold and empty. “You know this is all a lie, so just don’t.”

  Her hand jerked away like she’d touched a live coal. I glanced at her over my shoulder and realized she was crying, tears slipping from the corners of her eyes. It made me feel like the worst person ever, but, and this was the thing, it was better this way.

  “You need to leave before the prophecy takes effect.” I swallowed, staring down at her and barely resisting the urge to wipe away her tears, to pull her into my arms, to tell her everything would be okay. Because it wouldn’t.

  “I don’t care about the prophecy,” she whispered, trying to smile at me. “All I want is you…”

  “You should care about the prophecy,” I snarled, pushing her away even though it broke my heart. “Three wives. One of the past. One of the future. One of the present. All destined to die at his hand. Three wives for whom the Dunewalker will walk the sands of eternity to find. Three wives who will be taken from him. And through their loss, the world will be saved.”

  “I know the prophecy, Thes. You don’t have to tell me it,” she murmured. She hadn’t moved from the spot where she’d ended up after I’d shoved her like a jackass. “I’m telling you I don’t care.”

  “You should care,” I said, my hands curling into fists. “If what we have is real, it means I’m going to kill you. If not, well…”

  “If she’s not, you can still make the most of right now,” Khufu said, and his voice made me jump because I hadn’t realized he was still there. “Thought I left with the gods? Nah…” He reached out, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward Sekhmet. When he reached the goddess, he took her hand and forcibly held it to mine. “I’m telling you, you’re being a fool, Thes. You can’t live your whole life afraid of your destiny, afraid of falling in love because someone might die.”

  “I can, actually. It is my destiny.”

  “Your destiny is stupid,” Khufu snapped. “And it doesn’t say anything about an Egyptian goddess.” He glanced sidelong at Sekhmet and smiled at her. “Sorry, a super-hot Egyptian goddess with a promise she needs to keep.”

  Sekhmet blushed hard enough to almost make me laugh. “You’re not understanding the gravity of the situation…” I said, and as the words left my mouth, Khufu looked at me like I was the dumbest person on the planet.

  “Look dumbass, you just cut your way out of Apep’s serpent form and thwarted his plans for destruction.” He pointed at the sun. “Apep isn’t dead, just defeated. We’ve won a battle, not a war. I think you should take a minute and celebrate while you can.” He let go of our hands and stepped backward. “Because we still have to rescue Ra and fix this mess in time to get you home so you can save your friend.” With that, the pharaoh began to walk off, leaving us to our own devices. “And before you get all up in arms about Connor’s soul, remember one thing, we’re in the past. I’ll make sure you get back in time to save him. So don’t squander your moment being upset.”


  His words struck me a little strange coming from him, but even still, I knew he was telling the truth. Khufu would try his best to make sure I got back in time to save my friend. Besides, I was in the past, wasn’t I? What was to stop me from going back ten seconds after I came to Egypt and helping Connor? Nothing, right?

  Sekhmet intertwined her fingers into mine, breaking my concentration as she pulled me close to her so I was staring into her face. “You seem distracted, Thes,” she purred. “But maybe I can help with that?”

  “I think it’s a bad idea for us to… well,” I said, shaking my head so I wouldn’t have to look at her lips because right then, the only thing I wanted to do was to press our mouths together. But that couldn’t be…

  “I don’t, Thes,” she said, smiling up at me. “You’ll have to trust me.”

  I swallowed so hard it nearly hurt and shut my eyes for a moment. “I think I love you, and if that’s true, it could be your death.” I opened my eyes as she put her hands around my waist. “The door in the abyss may not have opened, but it moved…”

  “I know, Thes,” she said and her breath was hot on my throat. “I know.”

  “You don’t seem to understand,” I whispered as her hands snaked up my back, and wrapped around my neck. “My love could kill you.”

  “I understand, Thes. I’m a big girl.” She pulled me down until our lips were nearly touching. “I’ll take my chances.” She smiled at me, and I let out a small breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

  “Okay,” I said as a golden dagger exploded through her mouth and wrenched sideways, covering me in gore. I stood there, unable to move as her body slumped against mine, unmoving, unseeing as the top of her head toppled to the sand with a horrible, wet thud.

  My world ended. My heart fragmented into a billion shards. I fell to my knees, unable to breathe as a woman with hair like milk and the pale skin of a freshly frozen corpse stood with one hand outstretched toward me. She was gripping the hilt of a gleaming golden dagger still dripping with blood. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into my face.

  “Dunewalker, where have your allies taken my son, Horus?” she asked, and as the words left her lips, the heavens opened up and rain began to fall in thick, heavy droplets.

  Glossary

  I’ve decided to include a glossary of Egyptian terms and deities that are found within this book. This list, more or less, falls into line with the actual Egyptian mythology and some of them have been twisted slightly in my story. Hope this helps.

  Ammit – The Deification of divine justice. He was the creature who consumed the hearts of the unworthy in the underworld.

  Anubis – One of the gods associated with the underworld in Ancient Egypt. He had the head of a jackal and was responsible, primarily, for coordinating where souls in the underworld went.

  Apep – Apep is the Egyptian deification of darkness and chaos. He is doomed to fight Ra every day. Night was said to fall because he swallowed Ra who cut himself free in the morning. He is also sometimes called Apophis.

  Aziza – A name meaning precious in Egyptian.

  Bast – A cat-headed goddess. She is primarily a war goddess and is said to be married to Anubis.

  Book of Thoth – A book written by Thoth thought to contain the wisdom of the gods.

  Duat – The supernatural realm in which the Egyptian gods dwell.

  Giza – A temple built in around 2,500 BC. It was constructed by the Pharaoh Khufu and is one of the largest pyramids. It is considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

  Hathor – A goddess of healing and medicine who was merged with Sekhmet over time.

  Horus – The falcon-headed god of the sun and pharaohs. He is the son of Isis and Osiris.

  Imhotep – One of the most powerful priests of Ra. He designed the pyramid of Djoser within Saqqara.

  Isis – The goddess of Magic. She is the sister of Set, the wife of Osiris, and the mother of Horus.

  Khufu – A Pharaoh who ruled Egypt in around 2,500 BC. He commissioned the building of Giza, and is considered to be one of the greatest, and most terrible, pharaohs of all time.

  Menhit – One of the original warrior goddesses before Sekhmet and Bast came into popularity. Her name literally means “She who massacres.”

  Mummy – The Egyptian dead went through a process to preserve their corpses called mummification. These became known as mummies.

  Neferkaptah – An Egyptian prince who stole the book of Thoth. He was punished for this and entombed with the book so he could guard it forever.

  Nesert – Egyptian for “the flame.”

  Nile River – A river in Egypt. It is considered the longest river in the world and is almost two miles wide in places.

  Osiris – The ruler of the underworld. The god of the dead and the afterlife. He is the father of Horus.

  Pharaoh – Basically, the Egyptian word for king or ruler.

  Ptah – Ptah is a green-skinned older god who was originally responsible for creation. He is the husband of first Bast and then Sekhmet. He is thought to be the father of Imhotep.

  Ra – The sun god who ruled in Ancient Egypt. He was the leader of the gods until Isis tricked him into giving his power to Horus.

  Saqqara – A vast burial ground in ancient Egypt. This was the primary site of burial for Egyptian royalty before Giza was built.

  Scarab – A type of beetle in Egypt. Believed to be magical by the Egyptians.

  Sekhmet – A lion-headed war goddess. She is said to be an example of the rage of Ra and was often unleashed to destroy his enemies. She is said to be merged with Hathor, who is the goddess of healing and medicine.

  Set – One of the Egyptian gods of chaos. He is neither evil nor good, but somewhere in the middle.

  Setne – A boy who stole the book of Thoth and was driven into madness by the ghost of Neferkaptah.

  Sobek – God of crocodiles, strength, and the Nile River. He had the head of a crocodile. He was feared and worshiped, mostly because people feared crocodiles.

  Sphinx – The Sphinx was a creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human.

  Thoth – The god of time and wisdom. Considered to be one of the most powerful Egyptian deities. He was said to interfere with Ra and Apep’s battles to ensure neither would win.

  Wepwawet – A wolf god who came to be associated with Anubis. He was a god of hunting.

  Thank you for reading All Wrapped Up. If you wouldn't mind, please leave a review. If you are wondering what happens to Thes next, please check out Unwrapped. As a special bonus, I have included the first chapter on the next page.

  You may also want to check outmy other series. The first book, May Contain Spies, is currently free on Amazon.

  Want to know when my next book is available? Sign up for my new release e-mail list here. If you do, I'll send you my short story, Alone in the Dark, for free.

  Visit my blog at JACipriano.com for all the latest updates.

  Chapter 1

  As my eyes shifted from the goddess standing before me to the corpse of the girl I loved lying at my feet, time seemed to stop. Golden ichor leaked from her body as my eyes traveled along the butter yellow sand to rest on the top half of her severed head a few feet away.

  My vision went ten kinds of blurry as I stared at her lifeless lips, still frozen in horror and pain, even though only three seconds before they’d been pressed against my own. I could still feel the warmth of her kiss, the strength of her embrace. How could that have been only a few moments ago?

  Sekhmet had just broken our kiss, and as she had looked up into my eyes, a goddess as pale as death itself had driven a knife through the back of Sekhmet’s head before wrenching it violently sideways, decapitating my girlfriend in one gruesome blow and splattering me with her blood.

  Rain spattered across the sand, drenching me in the space of a breath as I turned my gaze back toward the goddess. She stood before me, a golden dagger clutched in one hand, and the sight of her made panic ris
e up inside me. Her skin had the tight, pale texture of a corpse left in the morgue for a month. My eyes traced up her body, taking in every detail and committing it to memory. Blue veins throbbed beneath her porcelain flesh, and even from here, I smelled cinnamon in the air. Was it coming from her?

  Her eyes reminded me of the milky marbles of an unseeing cadaver, only hers were fixed upon me. Her brows were crinkled in desperation. Her white as snow hair was piled upon her head in tight buns.

  She took a step toward me, barely disturbing the sand beneath her bare, alabaster feet. Her shimmering blue dress whipped around her in the winds of the storm, but she paid it no mind. As she pointed her dagger at me, a drop of my girlfriend’s blood hit the sand. Rage boiled inside me, chasing away the last vestiges of fear clinging to me and tingeing my vision with scarlet.

  It was unlike anything I’d ever felt before. The werewolf inside me came rushing forward, desperate to take over in a flurry of hatred. My vision went black around the edges as I held up one hand, palm out. If she moved even one more inch, I was going to change completely. If that happened, I would attack her. That wouldn’t end well for either of us.

  I was barely keeping the beast trapped within me as it was. Already, the bones beneath my flesh writhed and twisted. Fur thick, coarse and black as the heart of a girlfriend killing goddess sprouted along my arms, my neck, my chest. Pain filled me as a distant sort of throb, but I ignored it as my body changed even though I didn’t mean for it to do so.

  She hadn’t stopped moving, but before she’d managed even one more step I transformed. I stood before her, a hulking mass of muscles and rage. My inner wolf had been brought to the surface, and he was pissed. No, that wasn’t quite right. He was ready to bring down the wrath of an angry, old-testament God upon her.

  The goddess cocked her head to the side, examining me like I was some strange kind of bug. Maybe she’d never seen something like me before. Maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, she should have been scared, but her scent, so full of cinnamon it stung my nostrils, hadn’t changed. She was too worried about something else. Well, that would change. She would know fear soon enough. That would curb her desperation.