by Alessa Thorn
Athena went to ask him what rules they were, but Kon's mouth closed over her, and she emitted an inarticulate cry. "Kon…"
Kon's hands tightened on her ass, spreading her legs wider as his tongue swirled. "Yes, Athena?"
"Get inside me," she begged.
Kon hummed against her clit, and Athena's back arched. "I don't think I will. I think I'll keep you wet and needy and not let you come at all. Then you'll have to sit through the rest of the night, wishing you had just asked politely."
"Please, aşkım," she said, rising up on her forearms.
"You only call me that when you're about to die or want to be fucked," Kon growled and pressed two fingers inside of her. Athena trembled underneath him, pushing her hips back onto him, needing the relief.
"Because that's when I love you most," she admitted breathily.
Kon made a strangled sound. "Fuck, Athena." He removed his slick fingers and thrust his dick inside her. Athena cried out, fingers gripping the carpet, trying to get purchase as he pounded into her. This was precisely why she only used it during sex. Calling Kon her love drove him crazy like it flicked a switch in his head, and he had to be in her as quickly as possible.
Kon's arm went around her, and he hauled her up and slung her over the edge of the bed. His hand curled around her face, and his fingers went to her mouth. Athena sucked on them, and he shuddered behind her.
"Say it again," he demanded. His hand moved from her mouth to clasp around her throat. "Say it, Athena."
"Or what?" she said breathlessly. She reached around her to grab at his thigh that was resting on the edge of the bed. He shifted angles and slid back into her, and she babbled something inarticulate against the sheets.
Kon bit her shoulder and licked the sweat on her back. "Now that I have you unable to escape, there's something I need to tell you…."
"Don't you dare," Athena warned.
Kon laughed like the devil he was. She started to wriggle to throw him off. His hand hit her ass, so she jerked forward. "So predictable. I love you, my mean, beautiful girl." Athena surged forward and off him. He lost his balance, and she rolled him over, climbing on top of him, and slid back on his hard dick.
Kon laughed breathlessly underneath her. "You hate that you love hearing it so much. Just say it, güzelim."
Athena rode him, her orgasm starting to dance inside of her. Kon clasped one of her breasts, eyes hot as they watched his dick slide in and out of her. Athena gripped him with the inner walls of her pussy, and his eyes rolled in the back of his head.
"Say it," he groaned, growing harder inside of her.
Athena gripped his face, kissed his parted lips. "I love you," she hissed like it was a curse. "Now fuck me until I scream."
Kon got her on her back, legs around his hips as he drove into her. Athena pulled his hair hard, dragging his mouth to hers. "I love you," she repeated and then shattered underneath him.
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Kon purred with a satisfied smile.
"Shut up and come for me," Athena demanded, dragging her nails down his back. Kon obliged her, his teeth clamping down hard on her breast.
"Fuck, Athena," he murmured against her sweaty skin. "You sure like to make me work for it."
Athena brushed his sweaty hair back from his brow, studied his sharp, unforgiving face. "And you do every time, without fail."
"Devil woman," he murmured and kissed her, his lips and tongue claiming her.
Downstairs, someone banged heavily on the warehouse door. Kon looked down at her, his expression full of love and mischief.
"You ready to begin the hunt again, Ms. Edgeworth?" he asked.
"All depends. Is there going to be danger, magic, a psychopath to kill, and lots of hot sex in exotic locations?"
Kon ran a thumb over her lip. "Would I offer you an adventure without your favorite things? Are you in?"
Athena kissed him hard and with all the love she had in her violent, demented heart. "As long as it's with you, aşkım."
About the Author
I believe that all monsters and villains deserve their happy endings. I prefer my clothes black, eyeliner winged, and books full of hot romance.
Come say hi to me on Instagram, or keep track of all of the gossip early by subscribing to my blog newsletter at:
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Need more mercenaries? Keep reading for a sample of SET, a book about the Egyptian God of War working as a soldier of fortune in a modern day Egypt.
SET
Prologue
Long ago, the world was void and chaos. Out of the churning mass of the dark and wild waters of Nun, the god Atum rose. He began to do what he did best, and started creating.
In time, and with no small effort on behalf of Atum's children Shu and Tefnut, the turbulent waters receded. Geb, the primordial earth, and Nut, the sky, separated. Re, the sun, finally found a place to rest, and everything started to get warm.
And thus, the world was born along with four new gods: Set, Osiris, Nephthys, and Isis.
Then life started to get really complicated…
1
Once, he had been a god of the deserts, with the storms and fiery, red sands in his veins. He was a wild dog, a beast of cunning, strength and protection, annihilation and destruction.
Every night, he fought Apep, the demonic serpent of the Duat, to save the worlds and the petty gods that ruled them.
Set had been war on the wind and burning lust between the sheets. He had been worshiped, revered, feared.
Now, his typical day was reduced to guarding a group of drug dealers as they ran cocaine out of Cairo.
How the mighty have fucking fallen, he mused, stubbing out a cigarette in the hot, sandy street.
The world changed; stories became myths, and even those were more twisted than the waterways of the Nile. Set had seen Egypt change so many times throughout the centuries, he had lost count.
Currently, just about every city and nome, or district, in Egypt was run by a different government party, and the majority were puppets to gangsters or warlords. He never bothered to keep up with current power changes unless they affected him directly.
The only thing that time never changed was people. The strong preyed on the weak, the rich on the poor, and only power ever seemed to matter.
Set knew all about power because he was the strongest of them all. The men he worked with didn't need to know that. He tended to keep a low profile these days.
Only his boss, Kader Ayad, knew of his divine status, but he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut about it.
"Hey, he wants to see you now," a prison guard said from his booth at the front of Cairo prison.
Set ducked under the boom gate and made his way through security. They let him keep his phone because he was well-known, and they knew better than to try and take it from him. He relinquished his two handguns and an ancient khopesh sword that hung on his back.
Set was kind of pleased to see swords being used more often. Bullets were expensive, but blades could be used over and over. He liked his sword, and his back felt naked without its weight.
A guard escorted Set even though he knew his way around the labyrinth of cells. It was all for show; they were all ready to play pretend as if Kader Ayad didn't run the whole place.
Kader himself was a well-built man in his early fifties. His cell was bigger than everyone else’s, decorated with rugs and a proper bed. He had a desk with neat notebooks stacked in one corner.
"Ah, Set, it does my old heart good to see you," Kader greeted as the guard opened the cell door to let Set in. They shook hands, Kader acting like a benevolent father figure who was always worried that Set wasn't taking care of himself.
"Why don't you get yourself a decent house already?" Set asked him, leaning against the cool iro
n bars. He checked that the guards were gone, and they had some measure of privacy.
Kader chuckled. "You know as well as I that this is the safest place for me."
Set did know. He was the only one of Kader's men that actually supported him going to prison. It was a lot harder for his rival bosses to get to the richest man in Egypt if he was behind bars. It kept the killings in Cairo down, and that was good for business.
Kader owned the prison like he owned the judge who had sentenced him. Kader was kept comfortable, and he kept his business running as efficiently as he had ever had.
"So tell me what's on your mind, boss?" Set asked.
Kader scratched his graying stubble. "I have a problem, and I don't trust anyone to handle it but you."
"Sounds serious." He'd had Kader give him death squad orders with more cheer.
"It is. I received word this morning that Moussa Omar has...found my daughter."
Set cocked his head. "What daughter?"
It was rare that Set was surprised. He’d thought that Kader couldn't say anything that would shock him anymore.
"My daughter, Ayla, that I've kept hidden for the past thirty years. I don't know how that slimy shit found out about her."
"Does she know who you are?"
"Of course not! I'm a bastard, Set, but I would never do anything to compromise her safety or her mother, Amara. I loved them, so I walked away from them and kept them hidden." Kader raked his hand through his hair. Set had never seen him so shaken.
"I've kept tabs on her over the years, making sure she had enough money for school, that sort of thing. I never made contact with her, even after her mother died. Never wanted to risk it."
"How do you know the Adder is after her?" Set asked.
Moussa Omar had been the leader of their rival syndicate for the past five years. They had an uneasy truce with the Adder and his snakes, but that didn't stop both men from circling each other and wearing down each other's businesses.
They were a few insults away from a skirmish, and if Moussa killed a family member, it would be an all-out war.
"Abasi got intel from one of our spies that are working their way through the Adder's ranks. Moussa was boasting that he would topple our family as soon as he had Ayla. They are going after her tonight." Kader sat heavily on his chair. "This is the exact reason why I kept her a secret, so she would never be used as a bargaining chip."
"Looks like they have men in our ranks, too, if they have found out. Better get Abasi to plug that leak," Set said.
Abasi was probably the only other person Kader trusted implicitly. His second in command had been like a true son to him and was good at getting information out of people. Kader liked to say that Set was his hammer and Abasi was his scalpel.
"Where am I heading, and what information can you give me?" Set asked.
Kader opened one of his books and pulled out an envelope. He passed Set a photo of a woman wearing a white doctor's coat and an easy smile. Her long, curly brown hair was held up in a messy bun, her arms around a group of laughing children. Set took a picture of it with his phone and handed the photo back.
"Pretty. She must take after her mother," he teased. The old man managed a smile.
"She does. She's a doctor with Panacea. They are a Doctors Without Borders sort of setup, run on philanthropic funding. She's been working all over Egypt and Africa but is currently based on the malaria outbreak just north of Aswan," Kader said, pride in his voice. His expression clouded. "They said they are going to snatch her tonight. I need you to take the helicopter and get there first."
"How messy do you think it's going to be?" Set asked, mentally going through his inventory of weapons.
"I would like you to get her and get out of Aswan before they can reach her and cause a fuss. Panacea is important to her, and I want to keep civilian casualties at zero if you can." Kader's fatherly face slipped away, leaving only the cold mob boss behind. "If you encounter Moussa's men, you can be as messy as you like. He needs to know that there are some lines he can't cross without consequences."
"Understood. What should I tell the girl?"
"The truth, if you have to. Get her out of there. I don't care what it takes," Kader replied. "When things cool down, I'll set her up somewhere. Until then, she's your responsibility."
"You said this was an extraction, not a fucking babysitting job."
"Just do as you are told, Set," Kader snapped. He flinched at his tone and added apologetically, "Please do this as a favor to me." A favor carried a lot of weight in their world, so Set nodded.
"Fine. I'll let you know when it's done."
Set headed out of the prison and breathed a little easier as he slung his sword on his back.
He checked the picture on his phone, the doctor smiling up at him. He didn't know her, but he was sure she didn’t deserve the shit that was about to rain down on her.
Set climbed onto his motorbike and headed towards the airfield where Kader kept his helicopter and an excellent collection of weapons.
He grinned at the afternoon sky. He knew when a good fight was coming, and he could just about taste blood in the air.
Moussa didn't hire complete idiots. At least he wouldn't use the idiots for a job this important. Set would get in and get out before they knew he was there.
As for the doctor, how much trouble could she be?
2
Doctor Ayla Neilos was trying to tackle her never-ending amount of paperwork and wished for the hundredth time that they could hire another medical administrator.
Only on days when it got out of control did Ayla miss the private practice she had worked at in Alexandria.
At least with Panacea, she felt like she was making a difference, and that was worth it. It didn’t matter if she was working out of demountable buildings, and tents with no air-conditioning. Even the moments of utter boredom felt more endurable.
Helping people who really needed it and seeing the good their work did was worth the painful paperwork and justification for every pound they spent.
Ayla put down her pen and rubbed at her tired eyes. She would need more tea if she was going to finish the stack of work before midnight.
Ayla had been working north of Aswan for the past month where a strange case of malaria had broken out at Nagaa Al Hajar. With any luck, she and her boss, Pierre Abras, would wrap up the inoculation project soon, and she would be able to go home to Alexandria for a few months.
Ayla hadn't had a break in years, and she was exhausted emotionally and physically. She had been avoiding going home since her mother had died of breast cancer.
The apartment felt too empty without her, and only when she was there, did Ayla feel truly lonely.
Can't run from it forever. Maybe not, but she had been doing a damn good job so far.
Outside, the sun was setting, staining the Nile River with red and gold streaks of light. Ayla stopped to admire it for a few moments, so she didn't see the man making his way to her through the small demountable buildings.
"Are you Ayla Neilos?" a voice asked behind her.
"Yes?" she said, turning around. She didn't have time to scream as she was struck in the face, and a black bag was put over her head. Rough hands pushed her to the dirt, pulling her hands together. Ayla wriggled until something cold was pressed to the back of her neck.
"Relax, little mouse. I really don't want to shoot you," a man said. Plastic ties were looped around her hands and zipped together. "Your father should have hidden you better."
Her father? "You have the wrong person. My father is dead!"
The man only laughed as someone grabbed her feet and arms. She was tossed into a van, more voices shouting outside as they drove away.
Ayla tried to keep her breathing steady under the hot hood, her cheek throbbing in agony.
She had some self-defense and weapons training; it had been a prerequisite for working in the war-torn places Panacea went to. She was someone whose presence would be missed, and
if her attackers wanted a ransom, Panacea would pay it.
All Ayla had to do was stay calm and wait for an opportunity to get away. At least, that was what she told herself over and over.
The drive wasn't long. The sounds of traffic were loud, and the smell of the city coming through the open windows told her that she was probably in Aswan.
"If you make a sound, I'll put a bullet in you. Understand?" someone asked, nudging her in the ribs with a gun.
"Yes," she replied. He hauled her upright and out of the van. Night had fallen, and through the fabric of the hood, Ayla could make out the glare of streetlights. A door opened, and she was marched up a flight of stairs.
"So this is the lost princess?" a new voice sneered, and the bag was ripped off her head. A man stood in front of her, a scar curving along one black cheek and disappearing under a cap. A serpent had been tattooed on his neck in white ink. "Ah, it's going to be a shame to wreck such a pretty face."
"What do you want with me? I have money. My company will pay you. Just let me go," Ayla said, licking her dry lips.
"It's not about money. It's about the respect your father owes us."
"I'm telling you, my father is dead. Look, the locket around my neck." Ayla turned her head so they could see the silver chain. "There's a picture of my father in it. He died in a car accident when I was a baby."
The man tugged the necklace out, Ayla flinching when his fingers stroked against her breast to pull the locket free. He opened it and started to laugh.
"This is not your father, and you know it. Tell us how he is getting his cocaine into Cairo," he demanded.
"I'm not lying—" The man struck her hard and fast in the ribs and stomach, and Ayla dropped to the dirty floor wheezing.
"Lock her in the room." He stared down at her with pitiless eyes. "You have an hour, and then if you don't start talking, I'm going to get creative."
